The U.S. military action in Venezuela which culminated in the seizure of Nicolas Maduro has prompted a range of reactions from Puerto Ricans on the Island and in the states.
The Independence Party
Juan Dalmau, presidential candidate for PIP, the Puerto Rico Independence Party, made a formal statement on X:
“PIP condemns the unilateral military aggression by the government of Donald Trump in Venezuela in flagrant violation of international law and behind the back of the United Nations,” he began. Following a message calling for peace and quoting a variety of leaders doing the same, he concluded,”Today more than ever, the PIP – as the spokesperson for the undeniable majority will of the Puerto Rican people – reaffirms its commitment to peace, diplomacy and the defense of life in our hemisphere and the entire world.”
Peace, diplomacy, and the defense of life are certainly popular concepts, but the PIP cannot realistically call itself the spokesperson for the Puerto Rican people, even if we agree that most of us would favor peace. The Independence Party has never had a successful candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico or as resident commissioner, the representative of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress. The independence option has never attained a significant number of votes in any plebiscite, either. In 2024, independence got 11% of the votes, more than double the number ever previously attained in a plebiscite…but still a small fraction of the vote.
Most of the responses to the X post were angry:
Many called Dalmau out for supposed connections to Maduro and pointed ou that Maduro took power illegitimately. “When did you condemn this aggression against the will of the people expressed at the ballot boxes?” one asked.
The Governor
Governor Jenniffer González Colón made a statement describing the action in a more positive light. “For years I have denounced the socialism that has kept Venezuela in chains,” she said. “I reiterate my solidarity with this brave people and my hope that this process opens the door to an orderly, peaceful, and democratic transition that allows Venezuela to regain the freedom and prosperity it longs for. As Governor of Puerto Rico and a U.S. citizen, I am happy because Venezuela will have peace without Nicolás Maduro’s narco-dictatorship and his gang.”
According to Politico, she told local reporters, “As Governor of Puerto Rico, I am proud that Venezuela will finally have peace without the narco-dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and his cronies. The US Armed Forces and our Nation may continue to rely on Puerto Rico as a strategic partner in the mission to support our national security and bring stability to our hemisphere.”
Stateside separatists
One stateside separatist group, Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora, “strongly condemns the U.S. military actions in Venezuela, which are an affront to the sovereignty of a fellow Latin American nation and which place Puerto Rico in imminent danger.” Claiming that the United States has made Puerto Rico a target for Venezuelan aggression, the group says that “It’s time for all people of conscience who believe in peace and justice to declare their support for Puerto Rico’s independence and to join the growing movement to free our nation from Trumpism, imperialism, and colonialism that threaten our future.”
This group stopped short of supporting Maduro, but also did not recognize the illegitimacy of his rule. Nor do they consider how the regime change in Venezuela is likely to affect independent nations in the Caribbean. The connection between independence and the military action in this argument is that Puerto Rico, because it has U.S. military forces in place, is in greater danger than if there were no U.S. forces there. This is not as self-evident as the essay implies.
Puerto Rico is central to U.S. national security, and an independent Puerto Rico might support the U.S. military just as Trinidad and Tobago has. Perhaps the real message is that an independent Puerto Rico, like Cuba, would have been an ally of Maduro. Cuba is not, however, currently in a strong position, and the fall of Maduro is likely to make things worse.
The man in the street
Reporters used to talk about “the man in the street” — the ordinary person and how he or she answered a roving reporter’s questions about events of the day. No polling in Puerto Rico has yet been published, but discussions on social media show much the same range of views as seen in the states: hopes for a positive outcome for Venezuela combined with concerns about what might happen next.
No responses yet