Maduro affirms that he wants to “liberate” Puerto Rico by force of arms; Governor calls him a “dictator”
CNN Spanish
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The governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, said this Monday that she takes with “great caution” the statements of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, about “liberating” the island using “troops from Brazil.”
In a context of a lot of populist rhetoric, exaggerations and historical reminiscences, Maduro’s statements were made this Sunday at the closing of the International Anti-Fascist World Festival for a New World, which took place in Caracas from January 9 to 11, on purpose of his much criticized inauguration. For the Venezuelan government, fascism is not what it is historically called as such but another definition in which it wants to include all dissidence.
“We take Maduro’s words with great caution because we are talking about a dictator who has the economic resources, who has not hidden himself from talking about independence for Puerto Rico,” González said in statements sent to CNN by email.
“Just as in the north they have an agenda of colonization, we have an agenda of liberation, and the agenda was written for us by Simón Bolívar,” said Maduro. “The freedom of Puerto Rico is pending and we will achieve it with the troops of Brazil. And Abreu de Lima will go to the front. Abreu de Lima Battalion to liberate Puerto Rico,” he noted, in reference to the Brazilian soldier who stood out in the campaign for the independence of Venezuela.
Puerto Rico has been an unincorporated territory of the United States since 1898. In 1952 the island adopted, with the approval of the US Congress, the Commonwealth formula, with which its inhabitants can elect a governor and the members of its Legislative Assembly.
In the general elections of November 5, 2024. There was also a plebiscitary consultation. Voters expressed themselves between three alternatives: Sovereignty in free association with the United States, statehood or independence. This plebiscite vote was also approved by the Island’s Government, but it is not binding, nor does it have legal validity because it lacks the approval of the US Congress.
The State Election Commission of Puerto Rico reported that, preliminarily, statehood obtained a majority with 56.8% followed by independence with 30.85% and in third place sovereignty in free association with the United States with 12.33 %.
CNN requested a reaction from the US State Department, but has not yet received a response. CNN also asked the Brazilian government for comment.
“These types of expressions speak of the interference of a country that wants independence the hard way when that is not what Puerto Ricans want and how good it is that the people can see concrete expressions of a dictator who violates the civil rights of the people, that arrests people just for meeting or thinking differently,” added González, a member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) in Puerto Rico, which supports the island being the 51st state of the United States.
