Puerto Rico’s Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) says Resident Commissioner in Washington Pablo José Hernández puts himself in the same position as U.S. President Donald Trump by rejecting debates in the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization. In a written statement on Saturday, October 24, PIP Secretary of Organization and Senator Adrián González Costa said the remarks by the president of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) show "there are no differences between Donald Trump’s foreign policy and the PPD’s institutional policy" on decolonizing Puerto Rico.
Hernández, who heads the PPD, called the committee’s debates on Puerto Rico inconsequential and a "waste of time." Since 1973 the committee has approved resolutions 44 times backing Puerto Ricans’ right to self-determination and independence. On October 15, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Tammy Bruce urged the UN’s Fourth Committee to eliminate the Decolonization Committee and criticized its interest in Puerto Rico’s colonial situation.
Responding in writing to El Nuevo Día, Hernández called Bruce’s request "inconsequential," said the U.S. government should prioritize other matters, and ruled out the PPD appearing at a future hearing under his leadership: "I don’t believe in allocating resources to waste time, and that is what that annual hearing has become." González Costa said Hernández ignores the aspiration of the majority, who since 2012 rejected the colonial condition.
At least five PPD presidents, including governors Aníbal Acevedo Vilá in 2008 and Alejandro García Padilla in 2016, have testified before the committee.