Remarks from BUDPR Collaborator Ms. Christina Mojica to the United Nations’ Special Committee on Decolonization

My name is Christina Mojica, a Puerto Rican born in New Jersey and now living in Puerto Rico. I am a collaborator of a national advocacy organization, Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora, a group of displaced Puerto Ricans in the US and around the world who have come together to eradicate colonialism and to advocate for a fair, prosperous, and free Puerto Rico. This long-standing crisis of democracy and human rights demands action from the international community. I speak in English so Americans understand our message. 

We are not a minority in the US. We are a nationality. We are Puerto Ricans. Right now, a draft bill is being discussed in the US Congress to deal with the 124 years of US Colonialism in our occupied nation. We welcome its presentation and an open and transparent discussion. But the bill in its current form does not comply with the minimum requirements of International Law and shows overreach from the US in what it dictates, especially for independence. Free association is defined in such a way that it could be a continuation of the current status and not that which is internationally recognized. We should be wary of a situation where ultimate power rests on the United States Congress, its laws, and institutions.

Although these processes started by Congress are inherently unfair, we prefer to be at the table. We will do our best to push for the inclusion of international standards for a self-determination process in any Congressional bill. We will continue our international efforts for decolonization.

Thus, we ask the C-24 Bureau to:

1. Start a formal dialogue with the U.S. as an administrative power;
2. Organize a visit and mission to Puerto Rico;
3. Include this topic in the agenda of the Regional Caribbean Annual Seminary;
4. Request a report from the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs on the applicable state of procedural law; and
5. Recommend to the Fourth Commission that it include this case in its agenda.

Puerto Rico is a classic colony and this organization must get more involved in the liberation of our people. 

Through decolonization colonies become independent. Those who favor absorption into the oppressing country are for colonization, not against it. Statehooders who are here will say anything to preserve the privileges of a few, similar to colonial elites in Africa and Asia when they decolonized from European powers in the twentieth century.