Puerto Rican Independence Party Totally Explained

Everything about The Puerto Rican Independence Party totally explained

The Puerto Rican Independence Party (Spanish: Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, PIP) is a Puerto Rican political party that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. It is one of the three main Political Parties in Puerto Rico and second oldest among all registered parties.
Those who follow the PIP ideology are usually called independentistas, pipiolos, or sometimes just pro-independence activists in the anglosphere.

History

The party began as the electoral wing of the Puerto Rican pro-independence movement. It is the largest of the independence parties, and the only one that's on the ballot during elections (other candidates must be added in by hand).

Foundation

The party was founded on October 20, 1946 by Gilberto Concepción de Gracia (deceased in 1968). He felt the independence movement had been "betrayed" by the Partido Popular Democrático, whose ultimate goal had originally been independence.

Federal Bureau of Investigation persecution

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's persecution and surveillance of any person or organization advocating Puerto Rico’s independence has been recognized by the FBI's top leadership..
The FBI’s past surveillance of the pro-independence movement is detailed in 1.8 million documents, a fraction of which were released in 2000.
Then FBI Director Louis Freeh made an unprecedented admission to the effects that the FBI had engaged in egregious and illegal action from the 1930s to the 1990s, quite possibly involving the FBI in widespread crimes and violation of constitutional rights against Puerto Ricans.

1970s

In 1971, the PIP gubernatorial candidate, Rubén Berríos led a protest against the U.S. Navy in Culebra. During the 1972 elections the PIP showed the largest growth in its history while running a socialist, pro-worker, pro-poor campaign. One year later during a delegate assembly Rubén Berríos declared that the party wasn't presenting a Leninist-Marxist platform and took the matter to a the PIP’s assembly which voted in favor of the party’s current stance in favor of Social Democracy. The Marxist-leninist faction called the "terceristas" split into several groups the biggest of them went into the Movimiento Socialista Popular, while the rest went into the PSP.

1990s

In 1999, PIP leaders, especially Rubén Berríos, became involved in the Navy-Vieques protests started by many citizens of Vieques against the presence of the U.S. military in the island-municipality (see also: Cause of Vieques).

2004 election

During the 2004 elections, the PIP was in serious danger of losing official recognition, obtaining 2.4% of the gubernatorial vote and 10.5-25.5% of the legislative vote.
The party's historic leader, Rubén Berríos, announced that if that happened, party leaders and its wide-periphery constituency would make sure that it would be quickly re-instated. True to his commitment, in less than two weeks after the election, the PIP's leadership and its membership obtained more than one-hundred and five thousand notarized signatures (105,000) from Puerto Rico's able voters. Popular island-wide support for the PIP’s legislative candidates hovered around 10%-25% and the PIP elected one Senator and one Representative (at the island-wide level) who are the respective spokepersons for the Puerto Rican Independence Party at the Puerto Rico Senate and the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. On a positive note, María De Lourdes Santiago made history that year by becoming the first woman of the PIP to be elected to the Puerto Rico Senate. Victor Garcia San Inocencio, for his part, was re-elected for a third term at the Puerto Rico House of Representatives where he's served as a Representative and PIP Spokesperson since January of 1997.

International support - Gabriel García Márquez and others

The PIP cause receives ample moral support by international organizations and world-renowned figures. Examples of these are the Socialist International (the largest organization of political parties in the world), including fifteen political parties which are in power in Latin America, and, also Cuba as well as the President of Panama, Martín Torrijos, as well as a wide group of world-recognized writers and artists.
On January 26, 2007, Nobel Prize laureate Gabriel García Márquez joined other internationally renowned figures such as Mario Benedetti, Ernesto Sábato, Thiago de Mello, Eduardo Galeano, Carlos Monsiváis, Pablo Armando Fernández, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Pablo Milanés, Luis Rafael Sánchez, Mayra Montero and Ana Lydia Vega, in supporting independence for Puerto Rico and joining the Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico’s Independence, which approved a resolution favoring the island-nation's right to assert its independence, as ratified unanimously by political parties hailing from 22 countries in November 2006; García Márquez's push for the recognition of Puerto Rico's independence was obtained at the behest of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. His pledge for support to the Puerto Rican Independence Movement was part of a wider effort that emerged from the Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico’s Independence.

PIP anti-war mobilization and protests

As reported in the Canadian press, for the past half-decade, the PIP's leadership and active members have participated in anti-war protests and mobilization to resist the war in Iraq and oppose the U.S. government's efforts to encourage Puerto Ricans to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces: "The Puerto Rican Independence Party five years ago began distributing leaflets encouraging high school students to prevent military recruiters from obtaining their personal information. Last year, 57 per cent of this Caribbean island's high-school sophomores, junior and seniors signed the forms to keep their information from recruiters.

PIP stance on Puerto Rico’s economic crisis and taxation system

During the 2005-2007 Puerto Rico economic crisis, the Puerto Rican Independence Party submitted various bills that would have taxed corporations making $1 million or more in annual net profits an extra ten percent, above from the actual taxation average these corporations pay, which hovers around 5%. The PNP and the PPD parties amended the bill, taxing the corporations the traditional lower rate, while the general population was taxed at a ceiling of about 33.3% for income tax plus a 7.5% sales tax. Despite objections presented by the PIP, the PNP and PPD also allowed the companies to claim the additional tax as a credit on next year's bill, making the "tax," in effect, a one-year loan.

Party symbol

To the PIP, the green color signifies hope of becoming free, and the white cross, the sacrifice and commitment of the party with democracy.
"Nordic Cross" flag, or "Latin cross" flags are a common design in Scandinavia and other parts of the world, and in theory, the PIP's emblem belongs to this family of flags. The PIP's flag is based on the first national flag ever flown by Puerto Ricans, and the current flag of the municipality of Lares. Lares hosted the first relatively successful attempt of revolutionary insurgency in Puerto Rico, the Grito de Lares, on Wednesday, September 23, 1868. The Lares flag is, on the other hand, similar to that of the Dominican Republic, since the Grito's mastermind, Ramon Emeterio Betances, not only admired the Dominican pro-independence struggle, but was also a descendant of Dominicans where he was admired as throughout most of Latin America. This nationalist uprising was the foundation for other uprisings to come in the future, such as the Grito de Yara in Cuba, the March 1st Movement/3·1 운동 in Korea or evoked others in the past, such as Catalonia's National Diada.

Disfranchisement due to residence in Puerto Rico

United States citizens residing in the U.S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico are not counted in the U.S. Census and don't hold the right to vote in U.S. presidential elections. Although Puerto Rican residents elect a Resident Commissioner to the United States House of Representatives, that official may not participate in votes determining the final passage of legislation. Furthermore, Puerto Rico holds no representation of any kind in the United States Senate.
Both the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the New Progressive Party officially oppose the island's political status quo and consider Puerto Rico's lack of federal representation to be disfranchisement. The remaining political organization, the Popular Democratic Party, is less active in its opposition of this case of disfranchisement but has officially stated that it favors fixing the remaining "deficits of democracy" that the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations have publicly recognized in writing through Presidential Task Force Reports.

Controversies

Many among the general public have associated the Independence parties, including the Partido Socialista Puertorriqueno with violent acts of terrorism such as those committed by Los Macheteros. However, the party has never acknowledged links to any attacks, insisting that it pursues independence through peaceful means. No proof has ever been found to corroborate these sporadic allegations. The PIP has participated in frequent congresses of international non-Marxist socialist parties corresponding to its supranational-affiliation, the Socialist International (SI).

Important party leaders

Rubén Berríos, Esq. - President, former Senator and Honorary President of the Socialist International (SI)
Manuel Rodríguez Orellana, Esq. - Secretary of Relations with North America
Fernando Martín, Esq. - Executive President, former Senator
María De Lourdes Santiago, Esq. - Vice-President and PIP Senator at the colonial Senate of Puerto Rico
Juan Dalmau Ramírez, Esq. - Secretary General & Electoral Commissioner
Prof. Edwin Irizarry Mora, Ph.D. - Secretary of Economic Affairs
Roberto Iván Aponte - Secretary of Municipal Organization
Dr. Luis Roberto Piñero - President of the Pro-Independence Advocates' Campaign in favor of unifying both Houses of the Legislature into a single, unicameral colonial Parliament
Victor García San Inocencio, Esq. - PIP Representative at the colonial House of Representatives of Puerto Rico
Jorge Fernandez Porto, M.S., Adviser on Environmental Sciences and Public Policy Affairs
Jessica Martínez, Esq. - Member of Pro-Independence Advocates' Campaign in Favor of a single, unicameral colonial Parliament
Dr. Gilberto Concepción de Gracia - Founding President and respected Latin American Leader

Further Information

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