Puerto Rican House Members and Scholars Participate in a Panel on Territory’s Status, Debt at AUWCL

On March 21, 2016 the Program on Law & Government at American University Washington College of Law and the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law co-hosted a panel, “Puerto Rico’s Public Debt and Political Status: Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle & Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust.”

Osvaldo M. Medina Hernandez LLM ’13, who serves as a legal advisor to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, moderated the panel. In addition to the audience of approximately 40 people in the room, the panel was watched online in the United States and at multiple locations throughout Puerto Rico.

Professor Charles Venator Santiago of Cornell University and Neil Weare, the founder of the We the People Project, provided background for the discussion. Venator Santiago discussed the historical context of Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States, while Weare explained the cases before the Supreme Court regarding Puerto Rico’s political status. Venator Santiago explained that prior to the United States’ acquisition of Puerto Rico in 1898, all U.S. territories were created with the goal of the territory eventually becoming a state. Weare told the audience that Puerto Rico’s debt of nearly $70 billion is due to Congress being unresponsive to the island’s needs.

The panel of legal scholars and politicians discussed the major options for Puerto Rico’s political status and the impact they believe each option would have on Puerto Rico’s future and economy.

Carlos Pesquera, who is currently running currently running for Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner seat, represented the proponents of Puerto Rican statehood. Representative Luis Vega Ramos provided the Free Association perspective on the panel. Vega Ramos is a member of the Puerto Rio House of Representatives and the Popular Democratic Party. Carlos Gorrin Peralta, professor of constitutional law at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law, examined the Independence perspective.

Although the representatives of the three options have many differing views, there were several topics they all agreed on. All three said that the challenges facing Puerto Rico are historic and in order to deal with the challenges, the territory’s political status in relationship to the United States will have to change. Additionally, they all mentioned that the courses currently before the Supreme Court will likely alter the future relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico.

Following the descriptions of the political status options for Puerto Rico, Luis Romero Nieves LLM’10, associate professor at Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law, posed questions to the panelists about the pros and cons of each option. Medina Hernandez closed the panel by thanking the speakers for their contributions and the audience members for attending.

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Diana Sawyer is a program coordinator for the Program on Law & Government. She began working at American University Washington College of Law in 2010 and has served as program coordinator since 2014. Diana is the main point of contact for students' administrative needs while in the program. She previously worked for Senator Blanche Lincoln and Representative Vic Snyder. Diana earned a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas in Political Science and International Relations with minors in Spanish and European Studies.