http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/politica/nota/juanrtorruellasspeechinthejohnjaycollegeofcriminaljustice-2190500/
This is the point that anyone who really cares about redressing a remedy for Puerto Rico, should begin with DEMANDING the U.S. Congress to IMMEDIATELY renegotiate the return of Puerto Rico to Spain so the now U.S. Colony could return to its status as a Province of Spain with full delegate representation and rights, something Puerto Rico has NOT achieved during 177 years of U.S. Colonialism. The story we have been told, that Puerto Rico was a colony of Spain is simply NOT true. Puerto Rico at the moment of the negotiation of the infamous Treaty of Paris of 1898 was a Spanish province, the equivalent of what state is in the U.S.A.
Notice how Judge Torruella emphasizes:
"The starting point to this dismal path is the Treaty of Paris of 1898, which ended the Spanish-American War. In providing for the cession of Puerto Rico from Spain to the United States, the Treaty stated, in its Article IX, that "[t]he civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants . . . shall be determined by Congress."[21] This provision was contrary to the unwavering practice and prevalent constitutional law up to then regarding all other territorial acquisitions by the United States. In all prior cases, upon acquiring additional territory, U.S. citizenship and rights were granted to the inhabitants of the newly acquired lands, irrespective of the means used to add those territories to the Nation's domain.[22] "
"The new practice instituted after the Spanish-American War effected not only a departure from past practice by the United State but a retrogression from how things were in Puerto Rico during Spanish rule, under which the Island was a province of Spain (the equivalent of a state under the U.S. form of government), and Puerto Ricans were full Spanish citizens with the right to elect sixteen delegates and three senators to the Spanish Cortes (the equivalent of our Congress).[23] "
"Although shortly after his arrival General Miles had proclaimed to the Puerto Rican population that the United States would "promote their prosperity and bestow the immunities and blessings of [U.S.] enlightenment and liberal institutions and government,"[24] the United States instead imposed a military regime that abolished all forms of democratic representation in local government. Furthermore, despite Miles's bombastic promises, the colonial powers negotiated the Treaty of Paris and enacted Article IX without Puerto Rican participation or even consultation. The treaty and its Article IX were announced to Puerto Rico's inhabitants as a fait accompli, in which they were stripped of their Spanish citizenship and rights and required to give allegiance to a new colonial overseer under whom they would be without any rights except those that Congress, in which they had no vote, chose to grant in the future. As an matter of American constitutional law, Article IX was clearly unconstitutional, for as Justice Kennedy stated in Boumediene v. Bush, "[t]he Constitution grants Congress and the President the power to acquire, dispose of, and govern territory, not the power to decide when and where its terms apply."[25] And, of course, it does not take a rocket scientist to conclude that neither the Treaty of Paris nor any treaty can trump (pardon my language) the Constitution by granting Congress powers that exceed those allowed by that document."
This was and remains as of this day, a historical tragedy that has had sever political and socio-economic consequences for the people of Puerto Rico.
