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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
Less than two weeks out from the November 5th election, we look now at how voters in Puerto Rico have a chance to deal a blow against the two parties that have dominated politics there for decades. In a packed conference — press conference in Puerto Rico last week, two Puerto Rican members of Congress, Nydia Velázquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both Democrats of New York, formally endorsed the candidates of the Puerto Rican center-left alliance known as the “Alianza,” which brings together the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizen’s Victory Party. It’s appealed to Puerto Ricans fed up with corruption scandals, austerity policies and the disastrous privatization of the electrical grid. This is New York Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress, addressing reporters in Spanish.
REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ: [translated] If political parties with different positions dare to make an alliance to fight for a change in Puerto Rico, the logical step for me is to support them. … Today, in front of the sun, I welcome hope and give my endorsement to Juan Dalmau for governor of Puerto Rico, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén for commissioner in Washington, Manuel Natal for mayor of San Juan, and the rest of the candidates of the alliance.
AMY GOODMAN: The pro-independence candidate for governor, Juan Dalmau, did not attend the news conference because his wife was in the hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm, is now reportedly in stable yet very delicate condition. This is New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also spoke in Spanish, as she addressed the news conference in San Juan.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO–CORTEZ: [translated] I’m here because I know that Puerto Rico is ready for a change. I don’t have to say it to the people of Puerto Rico, our communities that have suffered so much, from blackouts, storms, because there are two types of disasters: natural disasters but also disasters of corruption and deficient leadership. Now it’s the moment to choose a government that works for all the people, and not only a few privileged. The people of Puerto Rico deserve a government free of corruption, false promises and scandals. The corruption has cost us so much. It has cost lives.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to San Juan, where we will speak with one of the candidates who won these ringing endorsements, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, minority leader in the Puerto Rico Senate, now the first Black and LGBTQ woman running for what’s called resident commissioner. That’s Puerto Rico’s sole member of Congress, albeit a nonvoting member.
Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. If you can talk about the significance of the Alianza, a party that has pulled together the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizen’s Victory Party?
SEN. ANA IRMA RIVERA LASSÉN: Thank you very much for the opportunity.
The Alianza, or the Alliance, is the first opportunity for the people of Puerto Rico, a historic opportunity, to push aside the corruption of the government right now and have the opportunity to build a new phase for Puerto Rico. And we are trying to give that opportunity to Puerto Rico, but it’s very hard, because the main parties — Partido Nuevo Progresista, Partido Popular — is going around a lot of lies, because they say that if Alliance wins, we are going to try to make Puerto Rico independent, and this is a [inaudible] opportunity for Puerto Rico, something like that.
So, we are pushing aside those lies and trying to get people to see that this opportunity really is opportunity for a good governance and Puerto Rico to get out of, for example, the fiscal control board and have the opportunity to grow our economy and our human rights to be defended and all the issues that make us a better society. This is the opportunity, the historic opportunity, for Puerto Rico.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Senator, could you talk about the battle that you have had even to be able to run as an alliance, what laws prevented you from having a one-party run?
SEN. ANA IRMA RIVERA LASSÉN: Yes, precisely. That’s one of the examples. We tried to do this in the same ballot, to put the candidate for governor, Juan Dalmau, and my case, myself, for resident commissioner in only one ballot. But we tried. We went to the court, but they did not allow us to do that. So we decided to do it anyway, and we are running. We call it the Alianza.
But people have to vote, for example, for Juan Dalmau in the part of the Puerto Rican Independence Party and have to move to the Victory Movement, Citizen’s Victory Movement, and vote for me. That could be a little difficult, but we are doing a lot of campaigning, teaching people how to vote. And we hope that people can do it, because it’s only to put the name, the cross beside the name and the cross beside the other name. And all the other ballots, for example, for San Juan abogado, they only have to put an X under the sign of Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana, Citizen’s Victory Movement, because those are all for the alliance. So, we are teaching people in this campaign of how to vote. And I think that’s going to be our main issues, is to explaining people, teaching people how to vote for the alliance.
They tried to, and couldn’t — they take out — they took out two of our candidates, for the Senate and for the representative, Chamber of Representatives in Puerto Rico. And those are going to be in write-in candidates. So, they are also in the campaign teaching people how to vote for them. In my case, they try to get out of me also from the ballot. But I went to the federal court, because resident commissioner is a federal position. And they have — I won, and they had to put me in the ballot. So, in my case, I’m in the ballot of the resident commissioner position, and the people can vote for me, just putting an X beside my name.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I wanted to ask you about the situation, continuing problems with the electrical grid in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, of course. And the financial control board managed to privatize the electricity, and LUMA Energy came in. But things have — not only has the price of electricity increased, but blackouts have increased, as well, across the island. Could you talk about the efforts of the government to get rid of LUMA, but the control board won’t let them?
SEN. ANA IRMA RIVERA LASSÉN: Well, the government, no effort to get rid of LUMA. Now they are talking about that. But really, the only efforts to get rid of LUMA is from our alliance, for the Puerto Rican Independence Party and for the movement. We are the only ones talking about that before the elections. Now they’re talking about get rid of LUMA.
LUMA is the worst contract that you ever believe, a contract that’s made with a private contract. We have to talk about that, to explain to people of Puerto Rico that we have to control again the electrical power authority and make it function, because the only way to do that is get out of LUMA and start to travel or start to go through the sun or other sources of electricity that you are supposed to do. In Puerto Rico, we are supposed to do that. And they are not doing that, neither. So, we are talking about, yet again, the control of the electrical grid and also to take the phases to sun and other sources for electricity.
AMY GOODMAN: Ana Irma —
SEN. ANA IRMA RIVERA LASSÉN: So we’re doing that right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, we want to thank you for being with us, minority leader in the Puerto Rico Senate and the first Black and LGBTQ woman running for resident commissioner, which is the equivalent of a congressmember, albeit nonvoting. We’ll be speaking to her in Spanish after the broadcast and posting it on our Spanish website.
Coming up, as New York Mayor Eric Adams resists calls to resign after being indicted on federal corruption charges, we’ll speak with a New York state lawmaker who’s just announced he’s running for mayor next year. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: “There Is a Country in the World” by the Puerto Rican musician Estrella Artau, released on Paredon Records. That’s the label, co-founder Barbara Dane’s label. She died this week at the age of 97.
