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José R. Sánchez
   Chair
Edgar DeJesus
   Secretary
Israel Colon
   Treasurer
Maria Rivera
   Development Chair

Hector Figueroa

Tanya K. Hernandez
 Angelo Falcón
   President


 

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NiLP Guest Commentary
The National
Puerto Rican Agenda (NPRA)
Reaches New Heights
By Jose E. Velazquez Luyanda
The NiLP Report (July 27, 2016)
 
Over 150 delegates and dozens of Puerto Rican organizations met in Camden, NJ on July 25, 2016 in the Constituent Assembly of the National Puerto Rican Agenda. This was the culmination of an effort that began on October 14, 2015 in Orlando, Florida with subsequent meetings in Washington, D.C. and New York.  The mission of the NPRA will be to "unite, organize, mobilize, and empower stateside Puerto Ricans to advance the interests of the Puerto Rican people." (please note that all further references to the NPRA platform are based on the actual approved motions from the plenary session of the Constituent Assembly).
 
The NPRA Constituent Assembly represents the greatest effort in a long time to gather diverse political tendencies and elements of civil society of the Puerto Rican Diaspora on a national level.  The platform adopted by the NPRA has the potential of creating a political agenda that can guide Puerto Rican elected officials and organizations at all levels throughout the Diaspora.  If successful, the Puerto Rican Diaspora should develop the political power that would dictate American policy toward Puerto Rico, and in coordination with other Americans help to develop a government of justice and equality.
 
In response to political and economic crisis in Puerto Rico, after extensive debate the NPRA, by a vast majority of its members, voted to oppose the imposition of a Fiscal Control Board in the PROMESA legislation and to recognize the gravity of the potential effects of PROMESA on Puerto Rico's socio-economic development.  The NPRA also called for the implementation of a plan of action to advocate for the interests of the Puerto Rican people that includes serving as an advocacy watchdog on policy matters in Washington. DC and coordinating educational and action campaigns on relevant and urgent policy issues. The NPRA avoided the problem that an imposed PROMESA legislation could serve as a divisive poison pill within the Puerto Rican Diaspora.  More importantly, the NPRA will focus on policies that will go to the heart of the future development of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans stateside.
 
The NPRA platform also calls for Congressional and Presidential action for decolonization or ending the territorial status of Puerto Rico, in compliance with international law and the United Nations principles of self-determination as detailed in General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV). Furthermore, the NPRA states that the process should be inclusive of stateside Puerto Ricans who shall have the right to participate as equals in any referendum, constituent assembly or any other consultation process on the political status options for Puerto Rico.
 
Other parts of the NPRA program on Puerto Rico called for an exemption from the Jones Act, stimulus for renewable energy sources and alternatives to fossil fuels, climate resilience planning, the clean-up of Vieques and Culebra, and support for the Martin Peña Channel project.
 
Similarly, one of the greatest points of unity was the call for the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera, who languishes in Federal jail for more than 35 years, principally for the overt political charge of sedition.  The NPRA joins all of the political parties and civil society in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican organizations in the United States, and humanitarian forces worldwide in urging President Obama for his immediate release.
 
The NPRA Assembly approved an extensive platform for political, economic, and social progress for Puerto Ricans in the United States.  Highlights of this platform include:  
  • Improving Puerto Rican electoral and political engagement beyond elections while in this election cycle, focusing on Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, swing states with a sizeable Puerto Rican population and the greatest potential to impact significantly the upcoming presidential elections.
  • Working to strengthen the educational pipeline, support our youth transition to adulthood and college completion, and creating pathways to economic opportunity.  The platform includes support for pre-school programs and Head Start, support for English Language Learners; increase in the high school graduation rate; increasing school to work pathways; support for free public community colleges; and various strategies to close the gap in college graduation rates.
  • Implementing a transition from low wage jobs into occupations that offer family sustaining wages, health benefits, pensions and to close occupational disparities.  The platform calls for protecting worker's rights and the right to organize unions and for raising the minimum wage.
  • Recognizing that access to quality affordable health care for all is a fundamental human right regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, social status, sexual orientation, immigration or economic status.  Furthermore it recognizes the need to attack diseases having an adverse affect on Puerto Ricans, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, cancer and obesity.
  • Calling for environmental justice, transforming public spaces, and engaging residents in building their communities.
  • Affirming the urgent need to supporting cultural organizations, and the education and engagement of Puerto Rican youth.  It calls for a national network of Puerto Rican cultural and historical preservation organizations, artists and community leaders in a national celebration and preservation of Puerto Rican culture.
  • The development of strong alliances with other advocacy and political organizations to advance the Puerto Rican agenda and to reciprocate in solidarity in issues of great significance such as comprehensive immigration reform, criminal justice reform, gun control, access to health services and eliminating disparities in education and employment.
  • Support for multi-racial and intersectional coalitions aimed at eliminating the vestiges of racism and discrimination in the United States.
An important feature since its initial meeting in Orlando, Florida has been the formation of an organization of Puerto Rican elected officials from the local level to Congressional leaders, whose representatives will serve on the NPRA Board of Directors.  The adopted By-Laws characterize the NPRA as a coalition of National, State, and local Puerto Rican organizations, as well as an individual membership organization.
 
Congratulations go out to Edwin Melendez of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies and to the interim steering committee formed in Washington, D.C. (of which I was a member) for developing the process under trying conditions that led to the Constituent Assembly.  Now the hard work of consolidating the process begins, with the legal incorporation, the consolidation of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, the recruitment of new members in the formation of State Chapters, the further recruitment of Puerto Rican elected officials, and the development of an action plan to meet the challenges faced by our people in Puerto Rico and the United States.  All Puerto Ricans should wish the NPRA great success and participate in its efforts according to their abilities.
 
Jose E. Velazquez Luyand , M.Ed. is a historian and educator, with a long history as a political activist in the Puerto Rican community. He is co-editor, with Andrés Torres, of The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora (1998)., working as a social studies teacher in the Newark, New Jersey, public school system. He can be reached at [email protected].
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The NiLP Report on Latino Policy & Politics is an online information service provided by the National Institute for Latino Policy. For further information, visit www.latinopolicy. org. Send comments to [email protected].