wfn.org | United Methodist official urges support of Puerto Rican

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independence

August 12, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
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By United Methodist News Service

A United Methodist official has asked the United Nations "to strengthen
its position in favor of the de-colonization of Puerto Rico."

The statement by the Rev. Thom "White Wolf" Fassett, general secretary,
United Methodist Board of Church and Society, was presented during the
Aug. 11 meeting of the U.N. committee for de-colonization. The Rev.
Eliezer Valentin-Castanon, a Puerto Rican pastor and Church and Society
executive, read the statement of Fassett's behalf.

Noting that the United Methodist Church has long supported
self-determination for the people of Puerto Rico, Fassett added that the
denomination also supports "affirmative United Nations policies and
actions to assist peoples of the world, particularly of developing
nations, in achieving self-determination."

In 1952 - after 50 years of direct colonial rule by the United States -
Puerto Rico became a "commonwealth" of the United States. But that was
just a new form of colonial rule, Fassett argued.

"The control over this 'U.S. territory' has neither been in the hands of
the Puerto Rican government nor the Puerto Rican people," he stated.
"The control has always been in the hands of the U.S. Congress."

The 1996 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top
legislative body, endorsed a resolution first adopted in 1980 which asks
that "the people of Puerto Rico be accorded full opportunity for
self-determination of their future political status under conditions
that assure a genuinely free choice with generous provisions for any new
status chosen."

Fassett urged the committee to bring the case of Puerto Rico before the
U.N. General Assembly. 

The committee later passed a resolution affirming the right of Puerto
Ricans to self-determination and independence. The resolution will be on
the General Assembly docket this fall for action.

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