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    Letter To UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding PROMESA

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    Julio C. Colón
    Letter to UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding "PROMESA", the federal legislation enabling the unelected financial board sweeping powers in Puerto Rico over taxation, spending, and transfer of public assets. The unelected board set up by the Obama administration was considered a grave affront to the sovereignty of the still yet to be decolonized nation, and a major blow to its self-determination.

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    Letter To UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding PROMESA

    Uploaded by

    Julio C. Colón
    58 views5 pages
    Letter to UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding "PROMESA", the federal legislation enabling the unelected financial board sweeping powers in Puerto Rico over taxation, spending, and transfer of public assets. The unelected board set up by the Obama administration was considered a grave affront to the sovereignty of the still yet to be decolonized nation, and a major blow to its self-determination.

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    Letter to UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding PROMESA

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    Letter to UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding "PROMESA", the federal legislation enabling the unelected financial board sweeping powers in Puerto Rico over taxation, spending, and transfer of public assets. The unelected board set up by the Obama administration was considered a grave affront to the sovereignty of the still yet to be decolonized nation, and a major blow to its self-determination.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    58 views5 pages

    Letter To UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding PROMESA

    Uploaded by

    Julio C. Colón
    Letter to UN Special Procedures HRC Regarding "PROMESA", the federal legislation enabling the unelected financial board sweeping powers in Puerto Rico over taxation, spending, and transfer of public assets. The unelected board set up by the Obama administration was considered a grave affront to the sovereignty of the still yet to be decolonized nation, and a major blow to its self-determination.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 5

    Submission of Information to Special Procedures Report 53xtpzq8

    Reference: 53xtpzq8 Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2017


    Type: Bill, legislation, policy or practice Original: English
    Consent: Not required

    Related mandates

    Submitted by

    Name: Puerto Rican Veterans for Change Type: Group


    Email: [email protected] Telephone: 512-363-2006
    Address:
    P.O. Box 49342, Austin, TX 78765
    Describe the activities of the group/community, civil society or other entity:
    Puerto Rican Veterans for Change is an association of Puerto Rican veterans of the United States military and their children. We write letters to
    raise awareness of matters meaningful to the Island.
    Contact persons of the group/community, civil society or other entity:
    Julio C. Colón, Esq.

    Case details

    Country where the incident allegedly occured/is occuring/might Province/district/area: Puerto Rico
    occur: United States of America
    City: All
    Date(s) as may be relevant:
    On October 25, 2016, I sent a letter (attached) to the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Counsel. On January 9, 2017, it was announced
    that Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky requested the United States to invite him to carry out a fact-finding visit to Puerto Rico. As a follow up, I mentioned
    to you that my association wrote letters to the following congresspersons concerning PROMESA:
    1) Congressman John Carter, Rep. for the 31st district of Texas on Oct. 8, 2016;
    2) Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Rep. for the 35th District of Texas on Oct. 7, 2016;
    3) Senator Ted Cruz, on June 20, 2016; and
    4) Senator John Cornyn, on June 20, 2016.
    The only response was from Senator John Carter, who merely that the "bill passed" by "excluding a provision to transfer Vieques National
    parkland to the territorial government [i.e. prohibiting the sale of more public land to private corporations]."
    We wrote this congressmen because there are over 130,000 Puerto Ricans in Texas, including the vast majority of veterans.

    Additional information
    If Mr. Bohoslavsky wants to visit Puerto Rico to conduct research, we will proudly host him.

    United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 1/1
    Puerto Rican Veterans for Change
    P.O. Box 49342 Austin, TX 78765

    October 25, 2016

    Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council


    The United Nations
    8-14 Avenue de la Paix
    1211 Geneva 10
    Switzerland
    [email protected]

    Re: PROMESA

    Dear Expert of the Special Procedures:

    On behalf of Puerto Rican Veterans for Change*, I offer the following

    communication concerning PROMESA and urge you to intervene on between the United

    States (alleged perpetrator) and the people of Puerto Rico (alleged victims). The

    reviewing Expert is requested to analyze the Puerto Rican Oversight, Management, and

    Economic Stability Act (“PROMESA”), its passage, legislation history, and current

    implementation in light of the 1) United Nations Declaration on the Granting of

    Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples; 2) General Assembly resolution 1803

    (XVII) of 14 December 1962, "Permanent sovereignty over natural resources"; 3)

    Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; 4) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples

    Convention, 1989 (No. 169); 5) Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to

    National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; 6) Declaration on Social

    Progress and Development; and 7) the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and

    Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105).

    Recently, an act commonly known as PROMESA was passed by both houses of

    the United States Congress, and signed by President Obama. Among other things, this
    legislation created a non-elected, non-Puerto Rican “financial control board” with the

    ostensible power to, inter alia:

     Commandeer the governor of Puerto Rico and other Puerto Rican

    governmental staff. Sec. 103(e), Sec. 201(a).

     Take funds from the Puerto Rican treasury to fund its operations without

    public approval or even representation. Sec. 107.

     Prevent any public employee of Puerto Rico from striking or participating in

    lockouts and subject them to prosecution by the Federal (United States)

    District Court. Sec. 104(h).

     Certify or reject the Puerto Rico budget, or create and approve one of its own.

    Sec. 202, 203, 204, & 205.

     Exploit natural resources and expedite energy projects without public

    approval of Puerto Rico. Sec. 503(F).

     Privatize or sell essential services of Puerto Rico without public consultation,

    including electricity, water and education. Sec. 503(F).

    In considering that the citizens of Puerto Rico as alleged victims, one must bear

    in mind that Puerto Ricans have no representation in the Congress that passed this law,

    nor can they vote for the president that signed it. At the very least, this is a form of

    taxation without representation. Furthermore, this is a form of law that may not be

    applied to another territory under the jurisdiction of the United States, this is a violation

    of the principal of equal protection under the laws of the United States Constitution

    because several of the above-cited provisions of PROMESA permit the financial control

    board, a non-elected body of non-Puerto Ricans, to command the actions of both elected

    and nonelected public servants in Puerto Rico. This is violative of established


    jurisprudence of non-commandeering of local governments, as this unelected and non-

    democratic board is charged with the supposed authority to direct the governor and

    legislature of Puerto Rico to act according to its mandate. That is on top of other

    provisions of the bill which commandeer the local governments by the very act itself;

    e.g. to pay for its operation. The law as applied to states within the United States

    proscribes the US federal government from commandeering locally elected officials or

    local agents to take action to enforce a federal law. See Printz v. United States, 521 U.S.

    898 (1997) (Federal government may not direct state law enforcement officers to

    participate in the administration of a federally enacted regulatory scheme). The very

    passage of PROMESA denies Puerto Rico the same protection, forcing its residents to

    pay to fund a board that does not operate within Puerto Rico, and to pay for public

    servants to follow that unelected board’s mandate.

    In analyzing this communication, do bear in mind that this may not be classified

    as a matter of internal, state politics. This year, the United States Supreme Court ruled

    in two cases, Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust and Puerto Rico v.

    Sanchez Valle, that that Puerto Rico is a territorial possession of the US with no

    legislative, judicial or political sovereignty whatsoever. Therefore, it is not possible for

    this matter to be resolved politically within the United States legislative framework

    because Puerto Rico has no national representation or vote, nor does it have

    autonomous legislative authority according to the above-cited cases. The actual text of

    PROMESA reiterates the decision of the US Supreme Court in its Sec. 4 which states,

    “The provisions of this Act shall prevail over any general or specific provisions of

    territory law, State law, or regulation that is inconsistent with this Act.” The above-

    stated facts alone merits a review the United States’s obligation under under Chapter XI,
    Article 73 (b) of the United Nations charter, with respect to Puerto Rico to “develop self-

    government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist

    them in the progressive development of their free political institutions, according to the

    particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and their varying stages of

    advancement.”

    I thank you for your consideration of this message and attention to these issues.

    Please contact me with request for more information, particularly in regard to non-state

    actors in the passage and implementation of the law which is the subject of our

    complaint.

    Sincerely,

    Julio C. Colón, Esq.


    512-363-2006
    Puerto Rican Veterans for Change
    P.O. Box 49342
    Austin, TX 78765
    [email protected]

    *Puerto Rican Veterans for Change is an association of Puerto Rican veterans of the United States
    military and their children.

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