Written by Carlos T Mock, MD   

“There are only two ways to be Puerto Rican: either you were born there, or its soul runs through your veins.” Carlos T Mock

It’s been a long time since most Independentistas in Puerto Rico have theorized that the way for Puerto Rico to achieve its independence would come from Washington, D. C. They believe that independence would be most convenient to both The USA and The Republic of Puerto Rico.

However, The White House Interagency Committee reported on March 16, 2011, its plans for the colony. The White House wishes are a two-part referendum: in the first referendum they would ask Puerto Ricans if they want a continuous association with the USA, either through Statehood or the Commonwealth (ELA). The second referendum would ask Puerto Ricans if they desire to brake their relationship with the USA: either via Independence or a loosely association with the federal government.

In the present Island conditions: dependent, federalized, and traumatized by an economic crisis never seen before in our generation, the results would lean toward the first option: decide between Commonwealth and Statehood. This in part would lead to a virtual tie, giving the powers that be in Washington D. C. an excuse to do nothing and keep the colony as is.

The American Solution for Puerto Rico is to maintain the colony just the way it has been for 113 years—not desiring to relinquish the political advantages nor the commerce the Island provides for the American Republic.

The White House Interagency Committee Report would federalize the island even further. A new model of annexation would ensue. Education, health, security, communications, energy, and even the judicial branch of the colony would be controlled directly from Washington D. C. as delineated by the Report taking over the Colony’s internal forms of government.

I’ve always believed that Puerto Rican Independence will only be achieved when Puerto Ricans come as a nation and decide to personally fight for that end. It is imperative that the country achieves a Patriotic and National Unity. Once we accept that independence will not come from Washington, perhaps we will not only achieve our Unity, but also we’ll start working on the necessity and viability of a Puerto Rican Republic.

The next step would be to demand that Puerto Rico be recognized as a Caribbean and Latin American independent entity. We would demand the government of the United States to accept its responsibility for subjecting our country to 113 years of colonialist abuse, to release all of our political prisoners, and we would ask for indemnification for damages caused to Puerto Rico:

Damages such as: destroying our agriculture, using our land for military bases without paying for them, sacrificing our youth as lab rats in their imperialistic wars, the poisonous damage to the Vieques and Culebra residents caused by the US Navy target practice in those islands, forcing us to use their merchant marine at higher prices as they impede our commerce with the rest of the world, and finally taking the productive and working soul of our people and turning them into unproductive and useless individuals.

We propose to use the millions of dollars from this indemnification to establish the nascent Republic of Puerto Rico and to repair the damage of 113 years of colonial abuse.


Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com