No.
That could well be the answer to a question like the one posed by the subtitle of this column. Above all, if you want to escape the always effective euphemisms that are used when describing Puerto Rican democracy. They are not few. Let’s go to the most popular ones…
There is talk of a democratic deficit in the most neutral spaces, or it is argued—with increasing weariness and shame—that the formula of the Commonwealth (the current status of Puerto Rico in relation to the United States) is something different from a colonial condition in the postcolonial era, that it is a “pact” and that self-governance is part of the equation, although for decades the relationship itself has proven otherwise, or at least has revealed its profound limitations.
If these are euphemisms to describe Puerto Rican “democracy”, we should also mention those who, in a waste of elasticity, affirm that in Puerto Rico democracy is constantly rehearsed, as if a rehearsal were a function with an audience, lights and significance. . There are also those who defend “symbolic” elections (that happens) of American presidents or those who go in very limited numbers to vote in primaries of the Democratic and Republican parties of the United States, whose candidates and policies have the last word on Puerto Rico, and for which the Puerto Ricans who live on the island — with everything and a blue passport—have never voted or could vote from the island in the general election. These are the same ones who advocate resolving the colonial mess with a discourse of “equality” based on annexation; project and chimera that feeds the coffers of the party that promotes it but whose possibilities in the Congress of the United States are so limited and—forgive me the redundancy—of a symbolic and enormous value as that which emerges from the political space in which it takes place. They discuss the issues of Puerto Rico in Congress: the Natural Resources Committee. Island landscape. People? Fine, thanks.
But perhaps it would be cynicism or absolutist thinking to dismiss the electoral process that we face this Sunday and, later, in November as a total imposture. Numerous Puerto Rican communities in the diaspora have spent decades organizing in favor of the various nuances of the Puerto Rican cause in the United States and have achieved concrete victories in the US elections. The same thing happens on the island. The people – although less and less – have maintained an electoral participation in the country that would be the envy of any powerful democracy, although the population decline and the frustration of the electorate have affected us just as much as anyone else. The lack of enthusiasm for this primary, the disenchantment with the two-party system that has dominated power since the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1952, are evident.
Party alliances have the temperament of tribe and religion in many homes and the awareness of going out to vote does not feel at all like a lost cause for thousands of Puerto Ricans for whom their vote has, even and despite so much disappointment, the value of his will. Or at least, they vote because they vote, for convenience, for tradition, for anything. Although this will is limited to the confines of Congress, of a foreign president, of a distant Supreme Court and of a Fiscal Control Board – appointed by Congress – that ties the hands of any ruler elected by the people and decides, as it has done since 2016, which is an essential service for the citizens of Puerto Rico. Obviously, health, social well-being, education, access to housing, security and everything that is fundamental and for which citizens would like to be able to vote in a “democracy”, has not been a priority.
To this complex aspect of Puerto Rican reality and politics, we must add that, as often happens in the colonies, political parties have traditionally been organized around the country’s relationship with its metropolis. That is, in the party that promotes annexation to the United States there may be figures aligned with, say, a Bernie Sanders waving the same flag as a Trump supporter. Not that they do it by loving each other, but there they are. The same in the party that promotes the status quo, in which there are liberals and conservatives from across the spectrum aligned in their ambiguity. Meanwhile, in the party that promotes independence, although its government platform and causes supported in local politics demonstrate a left-leaning profile, it is possible to find many conservatives among its followers. On the other hand, and in contrast, in recently created parties such as Victoria Ciudadana and Proyecto Dignidad, it is possible to find among their leaders voices of diversity of positions regarding status, but with greater alignment in terms of the direction to the left, center or right. what the country should take. The effectiveness of a democracy also has to do with the ability of citizens to align themselves with their values. In Puerto Rico there may be a decent degree of participation, but there is a lack of clear and massive channels in terms of direction. Key element in a democracy.
I insist on participation because it is no small thing. Well, if something is salvageable—and more than salvageable, commendable—in this political scenario, it is the fact that in the least fertile soil for its flourishing, Puerto Rico has managed to cultivate a democratic culture. Many people vote (whether out of conviction, convenience or tradition), they get involved in the process and, as recent social struggles have shown (being the departure of the US Navy between the end of the last century and the beginning of the current century and the forced resignation due to popular protest of former governor Ricardo Rosselló in 2019, the most dramatic and forceful) there is still a social understanding that there is an important degree in the collective imagination around democracy that is real. A ruler was removed from the executive mansion because there is a notion that whoever inhabits that space is a visitor to a foreign house, property of that abstraction that, at times, seems to be the concept of country, but that becomes concrete when there is a will of massive town running.
Currently, democracy, both as a tool of Government and as a value in itself, is in danger worldwide. It is under siege, constantly questioning the cleanliness and integrity of the process and fueling the frustration and fatigue of so many populations globally, to whom the fissures and failures of the system have led them to prefer what Martín Caparrós calls “efficiency”, a Government that works. , even if it costs the civil liberties so bloodily won. In the midst of this dangerous moment, answering with a categorical “No” to that question posed above would be accurate, but somewhat insufficient. Even when Puerto Rico does not escape this skepticism and crisis due to the well-posed questions about its own “democratic” process, which have called into question more than one result and generate distrust in the population.
Even so, it is convenient to talk about democracy in Puerto Rico, as it is convenient to do so on any platform. And perhaps even more so, because one of the
things that most affects democracy worldwide at this moment is the erosion of its culture, its institutions, and the trust of citizens in a process that has failed too many. So, to talk about democracy in Puerto Rico, a country that does not fully enjoy it, is to return to a substantial element of its own essence: culture, the idea that the people can be sovereign over themselves. Without that creed, there is no democracy. If that creed is all rehearsal, it is imposture. Ours probably is. A test of the possible will occur today.
#democracy.. #cultural
