Months of inactivity regarding Puerto Rican statehood has caused an uproar, with nonvoting Congressman for the island Pedro Pierluisi threatening to go over the White House to get it. Pierluisi said Monday that he would take the issue to the United Nations if U.S. President Barack Obama did not act immediately. The resident commissioner made the comments in a meeting before the UN Special Committee on Decolonization, the Huffington Post reported.
"Let me be clear, Mr. Chairman," Pierluisi said. "In the absence of concrete and timely action from the U.S. government, I will not hesitate to raise this case before the United Nations or any other appropriate international forum."
The New Progressive Party has been particularly adamant about statehood after a non-binding referendum in November that indicated that 54 percent of the island's population opposed the current status of Puerto Rico-U.S. relations. A two-part referendum took place Nov. 6, revitalizing the statehood movement. The U.S., however, has not yet acted upon the situation.
"The current status has lost its democratic legitimacy," Pierluisi said. "The only path forward is statehood or nationhood."
About 61 percent of Puerto Rican voters favored a statehood option when weighed against other alternatives such as becoming a sovereign state or independent country. The UN Special Committee on Decolonization voted 12 times in support of Puerto Rican self-determination. The issue has yet to appear before the General Assembly. Meanwhile, the Committee passed a resolution presented by Cuba solidifying the island's right to self-determination and asked the U.S. government to release independence fighters Oscar López Rivera and Norberto González Claudio.
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