Against the judicial coup in Puerto Rico
The legal persecution of the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana represents a great anti-democratic outrage in the North American colony
Let the people decide at the polls
On Thursday, March 21, a Court in Puerto Rico disqualified five national candidates from the political party Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (Citizen Victory Movement), all aspiring to the main positions in the government and the legislature. Of these, three are current incumbents in the Puerto Rico legislature. All had been previously certified by the country’s State Election Commission.
This action is part of an entire strategy to derail the Alianza País, a union of progressive electoral forces that threatens the dominance of the neoliberal parties that have governed Puerto Rico for the past six decades, the Popular Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party.
The disqualification is the most recent and forceful attack in a process that has included the imposition of a new and undemocratic Electoral Code, the illegalization of electoral alliances and a lawfare campaign against one of the Movement’s incumbents in the House of Representatives.
Those of us who sign this declaration oppose this judicial coup that attacks the democratic processes in Puerto Rico, which is part of the attacks on democratic processes in the region by conservative forces. It the people of Puerto Rico themselves who must elect their representatives, not the Court. For these reasons, we join the demand “Let the people decide at the polls” and demand that the disqualification of these five candidates be reversed.
