[Peace-discuss] FW: FREE PUERTO RICO!
Boyle, Francis A
fboyle at illinois.edu
Fri Sep 29 13:48:53 UTC 2017
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (phone)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)
From: Boyle, Francis A
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 8:20 AM
To: Action Greens <actiongreens at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: FREE PUERTO RICO!
Free Puerto Rico!
Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans
Versus
115 Years of Yankee Imperialism and Colonialism and Belligerent Occupation
By Professor Francis A. Boyle
University of Puerto Rico
September 19, 2013
(Revised)
© 2014 by Francis A. Boyle. All rights reserved.
Introduction
In order to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's invasion of the Americas, in early 1992 I was asked by the Organizers of the International Tribunal of Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the U.S.A. to serve as Special Prosecutor of the United States of America for committing international crimes against Indigenous Peoples, People of Color, and Oppressed Nationalities, including and especially against Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans. The Tribunal was initiated by the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) with the support of representatives of the Puerto Rican People, the New Afrikan People, the Mexicano People, and "progressive White North Americans." Of course, I do not consider myself to be a "White North American." I was born Green and Irish. During the past 850 years of resisting one of the most brutal and cruel colonial occupations in the history of humankind, we Irish know full-well what the denial of self-determination, genocide, and gross violations of our most fundamental human rights are all about in our beloved Ireland and abroad, which atrocities still continue as of today.[i] We Irish still fondly remember and greatly appreciate that Pedro Albizu Compos stood up for us at Anglophile Harvard University a century ago when no one else would defend our rights to self-determination and independence.
In my capacity as Special Prosecutor of the United States Federal Government, I drew up an Indictment under international law and human rights law that was served upon the Attorney General of the United States and upon the United States Attorney in San Francisco prior to the convening of the Tribunal in that city just before so-called "Columbus Day" on October 2-4, 1992 with a summons that they appear to defend the United States government from the charges. I take it they saw no point in trying to defend the indefensible because no one showed up to defend the United States government, though they did publicly acknowledge receipt of our service of process. I will not go through all 37 charges of my Indictment here. But the proceedings of this pathbreaking International Tribunal have been recorded in a formal Verdict by the Tribunal; in a Video of the Tribunal; and in a Book on the Tribunal--all under the title U.S.A. On Trial: The International Tribunal on Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the United States. There is also a copy of this video available for free download on the internet.[ii]
Six months after the conclusion of these San Francisco Tribunal proceedings, I was the
Lawyer and Ambassador for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina arguing its case for genocide against Yugoslavia before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the World Court of the United Nations System. There I would single-handedly win two World Court Orders overwhelmingly in favor of Bosnia against Yugoslavia to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Bosnians on 8 April 1993 and 13 September 1993.[iii] This was the first time ever that any Government had won two such Orders in one case since the World Court was founded in 1921. In addition, on 5 August 1993 I also won a so-called Article 74(4) World Court Order for Bosnia against Yugoslavia over genocide to the same effect. According to I.C.J. Statute Article 74(4), when the full World Court is not in session in The Hague, the President of the Court exercises the full powers of the Court and can issue an Order to the parties in a lawsuit that is legally binding upon them. I treated the San Francisco Tribunal proceedings with as much care, attention, dignity, respect, and professionalism as I did the World Court proceedings for Bosnia. And the results were the same: massive, overwhelming, and crushing victories for my Clients against their adversaries at both the World Court and the San Francisco Tribunal!
Eight Unanimous Guilty Verdicts
For the purpose of this Lecture, I want to briefly discuss the eight charges that I filed against the United States government for committing international crimes against the People and State of Puerto Rico only. I believe that these eight charges succinctly state the fundamental principles of international law and human rights law concerning Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans. Obviously, these eight charges of my Indictment cannot answer all the questions the Puerto Rican People might have with respect to international law and human rights law. But I do submit that these eight charges provide a solid foundation for providing guidance to the Puerto Rican People on your basic rights under international law and human rights law that can be used in the future in order to navigate problems and issues as they arise to confront you, including and especially the liberation of Puerto Rico as a free and independent state if that is your desire.
The distinguished Judges composing this International Tribunal consisted of seven independent Experts on human rights drawn from all over the world. In their Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order of 4 October 1992, the Indigenous Peoples' Tribunal did not accept all of the 37 charges that I filed in my Indictment against the United States government for perpetrating international crimes against Indigenous Peoples, People of Color, and Oppressed Nations. But most strikingly, when it came to Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican People, the International Tribunal ratified all eight of my charges against the United States government, and by a unanimous vote at that on all of them. In its own words, the exact findings of the San Francisco Tribunal on the People and the State of Puerto Rico were as follows:
Puerto Rican People
With respect to the charges brought by the Puerto Rican People, the Defendant, the federal Government of the United States of America is, by unanimous vote, guilty as charged in:
Since its illegal invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898, Defendant has perpetrated innumerable Crimes Against Peace, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes against the People and State of Puerto Rico as recognized by the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles.
The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Genocide against the Puerto Rican People as recognized by the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The Defendant has perpetrated the International Crime of Apartheid against the Puerto Rican People as recognized by the 1973 Apartheid Convention.
The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of violations of the most fundamental human rights of the Puerto Rican People as recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two aforementioned United Nations Human Rights Covenants of 1966.
The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of violations of the 1965 Racism Convention against the Puerto Rican People.
The Defendant has denied and violated the international legal right of the Puerto Rican People to self-determination as recognized by the United Nations Charter, the two United Nations Human Rights Covenants of 1966, customary international law, and jus cogens.
The Defendant has illegally refused to apply the United Nations Decolonization Resolution of 1960 to Puerto Rico. Pursuant thereto, the Defendant has an absolute international legal obligation to decolonize Puerto Rico immediately and to transfer all powers it currently exercises there to the Puerto Rican People.
The Defendant has illegally refused to accord full-scope protections as Prisoners-of-War to captured Puerto Rican independence fighters in violation of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I thereto of 1977. The Defendant's treatment of captured Puerto Rican independence fighters as "common criminals" and "terrorists" constitutes a "grave breach" of the Geneva Accords and thus a serious war crime.
As Special Prosecutor for the San Francisco Tribunal, it came as no surprise to me that the Judges unanimously confirmed all eight of my charges against the United States government with respect to the People and the State of Puerto Rico. This is because the principles of international law and human rights law with respect to Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans are crystal clear and incontestable, and thus so glaringly obvious for the entire world to see. I most respectfully submit that the Puerto Rican People must use this analysis and the Tribunal's Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order in order to support, promote, and defend your basic rights under international law and human rights law, including and especially your rights to self-determination and pursuant thereto, to establish the independent state of Puerto Rico if that is your desire.
The Gist of My Arguments in Support of the Eight Unanimous Convictions Against the United States for Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans
1. A Nuremberg Crime Against Peace
Now obviously I do not have time here in this brief Lecture to go through all the arguments and all of the evidence that I used to win these eight unanimous guilty verdicts against the United States on behalf of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans. But to begin with: In 1897 Spain had given away so much autonomy to Puerto Rico that effectively what you had here was a de facto, not yet de jure, but a de facto independent state.[iv] And the United States government came in here and robbed it from the Puerto Ricans. There is no other way to describe it. A clearcut act of aggression. What would later be called a Nuremberg Crime Against Peace when the United States government was prosecuting the Nazis after World War II for their heinous international crimes and atrocities. I will return to this Nazi analogy toward the end of my Lecture.
2. Genocide
Second, the Defendant has perpetrated the international crime of genocide against the Puerto Rican people as recognized by the 1948 Genocide Convention. You do not need six million dead Jews to constitute genocide. Indeed, in its final 2007 Judgment on the merits, the World Court ruled in the Bosnia case that even seven thousand murdered Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica were enough to constitute genocide.[v] So with all sincere and due respect for the Jewish people, yes they are the paradigmatic example of genocide, but they are not the only victims of genocide. The Puerto Ricans have been so victimized as well too by both the United States of America as well as by Spain before the Yankee invasion in 1898. 520 years of White Racist, Colonial Imperialist genocide against Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans.
If you look at the Genocide Convention, which I argued to the San Francisco Tribunal, you have several elements that would constitute genocide: in particular, killing members of the group; and inflicting severe mental and physical harm on members of the group, etc. I would submit that here in Puerto Rico for the last 115 years now of Yankee colonialism and imperialism and belligerent occupation you have been continually subjected to genocidal traumatic-stress-disorder. If you look around you, why are there serious social and psychological problems here in Puerto Rico? I have studied a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.) arising from the Vietnam War. In addition, certainly from the work I did in Bosnia, where almost everyone there suffers from P.T.S.D., 115 years of continuous and ongoing Yankee-imposed genocidal traumatic-stress-disorder can explain most of what some Yankee law professors might say to be somewhat dysfunctional and self-destructive social behavior, crime, and mental disorders here in Puerto Rico today.
3. Apartheid
Third charge: The Defendant has perpetrated the international crime of apartheid against the Puerto Rican people as recognized by 1973 Apartheid Convention. That was unanimous. You have an apartheid system here in Puerto Rico. Not only that, but as I argued to the San Francisco Tribunal, you have an apartheid system in North America against Puerto Ricans. I have not spent time in New York with the Puerto Rican community there, but I certainly grew up in Chicago, with a major Puerto Rican neighborhood there, and it is certainly apartheid practiced against Puerto Ricans in Chicago and, pari passu, elsewhere in the North American Puerto Rican Diaspora. And of course all across Puerto Rico today the Yankees have had 115 years to construct their apartheid system against Puerto Ricans. You can read the Apartheid Convention for yourself. I won't go through all the elements there that qualify. I don't have the time here like I did at the San Francisco Tribunal.
But I will point out that the 1973 Apartheid Convention clearly states that apartheid is a crime against humanity. In terms of severity, a crime against humanity is just short of genocide. And in the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, which, of course, the United States is not a party to because they don't want to be prosecuted by it, it states quite clearly: Apartheid is a crime against humanity. And that's what we have here in Puerto Rico and I would also submit for Puerto Rican communities living in their North American Diaspora, and certainly in Chicago -- Crimes Against Humanity.
4. Human Rights Violations
Next charge, fourth: The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of violations of the most fundamental human rights of the Puerto Rican People as recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two United Nations Human Rights Covenants of 1966: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the United States government is a party; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights that the United States government has signed and is thus under an obligation not to defeat the object and purpose of that Convention, though it does so every day here in Puerto Rico. Remember, I won these points unanimously. There was no dissent by the seven human rights Experts sitting on the San Francisco Tribunal.
5. Racism and Racial Discrimination
Next, fifth charge: The Defendant has perpetrated a gross and consistent pattern of violations of the 1965 Racism Convention against the Puerto Rican People. We all know everything about Yankee racism against the Puerto Ricans. You live here in Puerto Rico and suffer from it every day. I certainly see it up in the United States against Puerto Ricans living in their Diaspora there. You can read the Yankee press and watch the Yankee media, it's pretty clear what the Yankees think of Puerto Ricans. It fits the definition of racial discrimination as set forth in and prohibited by this Convention which, by the way the U.S. government is a party to. Though when the Yankees ratified this Racism Convention, they attached so many reservations and declarations and understandings to it so as to maliciously gut the significance of their ratification. Effectively to make it almost impossible for us lawyers to file claims in U.S. courts for victims of racial discrimination by the United States government, including and especially against Puerto Ricans, whether living in Puerto Rico or in the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States, under this Convention.
Furthermore, in this regard, in its condemnation of the United States government for its numerous crimes against African Americans, the San Francisco Tribunal also unanimously found the U.S. government guilty as charged in that: "The Defendant is the paradigmatic example of an irremediably racist state in international relations today." Ditto for Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans, including both the Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico and those Puerto Ricans living in the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States.
6. Self-determination
Next, sixth charge: The Defendant has denied and violated the international legal right of the Puerto Rican people to self-determination as recognized by the U.N. Charter and these two U.N. Covenants of 1966. Nothing could be clearer. The Puerto Ricans are a people with a right of self-determination that is set forth in the U.N. Charter and as recognized by these two U.N. Covenants that state quite clearly: "All peoples have the right of self-determination." It doesn't say "all peoples but Puerto Ricans have the right of self-determination." That means you have a right to freely determine your own future and not have the Yankees decide it for you. As a result of this, and in the next charge, both of which I won unanimously, the United States has illegally refused to apply the U.N. Decolonization Resolution of 1960 to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is still on the agenda of the U.N. Decolonization Committee today. [vi] Thank heavens for that! It is still there because even the United Nations considers Puerto Rico to be a colony.
Indeed, it is interesting that everyone down here in Puerto Rico agrees that Puerto Rico is a colony, if you follow the proceedings of the United Nations Decolonization Committee. The pro-Statehood party gets up there and says we're a colony; the enhanced Commonwealth people get up there and say yes, we're a colony; and the independentistas get up there and say we're a colony too. Everyone agrees Puerto Rico is a colony. Nothing could be clearer than that conclusion and that the United States government has an absolute obligation to apply that U.N. Decolonization Resolution immediately to Puerto Rico.
7. Decolonization
So the seventh charge: The Defendant has an absolute international legal obligation to decolonize Puerto Rico immediately and to transfer all powers that it currently exercises there to the Puerto Rican people. That was unanimous. It's so clear, it's so obvious.
A. Plebiscite
Now, recently you had here what was called a "plebiscite," but of course we all know it was a joke and a fraud. It was simply more playing games by the Yankee imperialists and their compradors here in Puerto Rico designed to prevent the Puerto Rican people from freely exercising your right of self-determination. If there were to be a genuine plebiscite in Puerto Rico, what we would need is as follows: First, it would have to be supervised by the United Nations Organization in order to guarantee a free, fair, impartial, objective electoral process in accordance with historically recognized international standards and procedures. Well certainly we've never had this here in Puerto Rico. In 1951 you had a fake vote setting up this bogus Commonwealth that is designed to hide and cover up Puerto Rico's colonial status under the illegal Yankee belligerent occupation of Puerto Rico.
Second, prior to the beginning of the plebiscite process, the United States government must withdraw its military forces, security agencies, intelligence services (F.B.I., C.I.A., D.E.A., D.I.A., N.S.A., B.A.T.F., D.H.S., etc.) to their military bases and offices where they would be confined for the duration of the electoral process here in Puerto Rico. So that they do not intimidate people by their mere presence, and their confinement should be supervised and ensured by the U.N. Organization while this process goes forward. For those of you who are interested, certainly one could look at the precedent and example of the role that the United Nations played in brokering and supervising the transition of Southwest Africa from the illegal, colonial apartheid occupation by the then criminal apartheid regime of South Africa to genuine full-fledged independence as Namibia. I think that's a pretty good and analogous model of what should be done here to oust the criminal apartheid regime of the United States from Puerto Rico.
Third, after all United States military forces and security agents and intelligence services have been confined to their bases and offices, the Puerto Rican people would need a substantial period of time in which they could engage freely and without fear of Yankee threat and intimidation during the process of educating themselves and publicly debating among themselves the various options available, together with free and fair and meaningful access to the mainstream news media for this purpose, so there could transpire a genuine debate.
Finally, it must be guaranteed before the process begins that the Will of the Puerto Rican People is determinative and will be honored and respected whatever the results of such a plebiscite might be, including independence.
B. Options
i. Statehood?
Now, it's not for me here to tell the Puerto Ricans what to do about your right of self-determination. That is for you to decide, not me. But with all due respect and speaking as a friend, I doubt very seriously that I will ever see the United States of America making Puerto Rico the 51st state of the Union. Why? Because most Puerto Ricans are Brown and Black and the United States Yankee Elite are White Racist. Second, Puerto Ricans speak primarily Spanish and the United States is chauvinistically English-speaking first and foremost. Third, Puerto Ricans are nominally Catholic, whereas the United States Yankee Elite consider themselves to be White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) and are proud of it.
So I personally do not see both Houses of the United States Congress ever agreeing to make Puerto Rico the 51st State of the Union. Indeed White racist colonial imperialist Yankee Elites in the United States are already today trying to figure out how to divest themselves of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans for all of the above reasons. Now that the Roosevelt Roads Naval Base has been shut down, the Yankees believe they no longer need Puerto Rico to control and dominate the Caribbean and their access to the Panama Canal, as well as to threaten and to intimidate Latin America.
ii. Independence?
Which leads to independence. Of course you fully deserve independence and I fully support a free Puerto Rico as an independent state in the world with full-fledged state membership in the United Nations Organization. The sooner the better! But this is for you to decide, not me. I am only here to help out if that is what you decide to do and you want my assistance with that independentista project.
iii. Compact of Free Association?
Independent statehood might be perceived to be a bridge too far for some Puerto Ricans at this time. So instead of Independence you could opt for a status like the three states of Micronesia (i.e. the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau) who have substantial independence from the United States of America by means of a Compact of Free Association including state membership in the United Nations Organization, which is critical.[vii] You have to obtain membership in the United Nations Organization in order to have your own Voice and your own Vote in the world directly and immediately by yourself. And certainly it is the case that no state which has ever obtained membership in the United Nations Organization has ever been destroyed.
Very important, I found that out for Bosnia. Without Bosnia's membership in the United Nations Organization, Bosnia would have gone the same way the Jews did during World War II. Likewise now the work I have been doing with Palestinians since 1988 starting with the then Palestinian Declaration of Independence and their creation of the Palestinian state. As you know Palestine obtained recognition by the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 2012 as a United Nations Observer State. Palestine today has all the votes for admission to the United Nations itself as a U.N. member state. I have already devised the means for Palestine to overcome any threatened veto of U.N. membership at the Security Council by President Obama, who likes to constantly bully and threaten and beat up upon the Palestinians whenever they try to express their independence from the will of the Yankees. But of course, it is for the Palestinians to decide when to push for that vote for full U.N. state membership itself.
Today Palestine is also de jure recognized as an independent nation state by about 135 states bilaterally. All that has been accomplished since 1988, to give you a time frame, that's 25 years working with them. But what are 25 years in the life of a People, whether for the Palestinians or for the Puerto Ricans? It's just the bat of an eyelash. It's about a third of a lifetime. But in any Compact of Free Association with the United States, Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans must preserve your right to change your mind at any time pursuant to your right of self-determination and to vote for independence in the future and at a time of your own choosing and by means of a procedure of your own choice, and not subject to any veto or control by the Yankees. That's what "free" association is supposed to be all about.
8. Puerto Rican Freedom Fighters and Prisoners of War
The eighth and final charge that I obtained a guilty verdict from the San Francisco Tribunal, unanimously was: The Defendant has illegally refused to accord full-scope protections as Prisoners-of-War to captured Puerto Rican independence fighters in violation of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I thereto of 1977. And: The Defendant's treatment of captured Puerto Rican independence fighters as "common criminals" and "terrorists" constitutes a "grave breach" of the Geneva Accords and thus a serious war crime.
Back at the time of the San Francisco Tribunal we had a large number of Puerto Rican independentistas in Yankee prisons. I did some work on that F.A.L.N. case up in Chicago. Their attorney of record, Ms. Jan Sussler, whom you know, and a very distinguished graduate of our law school, after the F.A.L.N. were indicted, called me up and said: "Would you be willing to come up here into United States Federal Court, and argue that the F.A.L.N. are a national liberation movement under international law and therefore are entitled to being treated as prisoners-of-war under the Geneva Conventions and thus not subject to prosecution for these alleged crimes?" I immediately said "Yes. Of course. I would be willing to argue those points in the United States Federal Court in Chicago." As most of you know, the F.A.L.N. decided not to present any defense at all. They decided not to recognize the jurisdiction of the court to any extent, even including having me come in there to argue that the court had no jurisdiction to try them for their alleged crimes because they were freedom fighters and prisoners-of-war. That was their principled decision and I honor and respect them for it. Not surprisingly, the F.A.L.N. all got extensive prison sentences as you know.
Years later, when President Clinton offered a pardon to these same F.A.L.N. Members, Ms. Jan Sussler again called me up, and said: "Can the F.A.L.N. accept the Clinton pardon without compromising their status as national liberation fighters for Puerto Rico?" I said that I would investigate the matter, which I did. I wrote Ms. Sussler an Opinion Letter to the effect that, of course they can: Even under United States Army Field Manual 27-10, The Laws of Land Warfare (1956), whereby the United States itself recognizes that prisoners-of-war can accept a parole out of confinement on conditions including not resuming hostilities. So I gave Ms. Sussler that Opinion Letter, and I also pointed out that, and by the way, if the I.R.A. can accept conditional paroles out of British concentration camps, then certainly the F.A.L.N. can accept conditional paroles out of Yankee prisons.
A. Free Oscar Lopez!
Today, we still have one Puerto Rican freedom fighter and prisoner-of-war from that time left over remaining in a Yankee prison, Oscar Lopez. It is up to all of us here today to do all that we can to bring Oscar Lopez home, back here to Puerto Rico, back to his family and to his friends. Free Oscar!
B. F.A.L.N. as a National Liberation Movement
For many years, I argued that the F.A.L.N. was a national liberation movement under international law, exactly along the lines of the I.R.A., the P.L.O., the A.N.C. in South Africa, S.W.A.P. O. in Namibia, and Z.A.P.U. and Z.A.N.U. in Zimbabwe. Indeed, I think I was probably the first and only United States law professor to have published an article in a Yankee law review arguing that the F.A.L.N. is a national liberation movement under international law along the lines of the P.L.O., the I.R.A., A.N.C., S.W.A.P. O. and Z.A.P.U./ Z.A.N.U., having just previously argued that point in public debate at Whittier Law School.[viii] The legal regime is exactly the same for all of these national liberation movements and their freedom fighters such as Oscar Lopez.
To be sure, today the F.A.L.N. has decided to stand down and this is their decision that we must respect. This is what self-determination is all about. The Provisional Irish Republican Army has done the same. But several of the dissident Irish splinter groups have reconstituted themselves into a new Irish Republican Army. So long as Britain occupies Ireland, the Irish will resist. That is our right of self-determination too that must be respected as well.
The U.S.A. Is a Nazi Government
In the final section of its Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order etc., the San Francisco Tribunal also rendered the following unanimous decision that directly concerns the international legal rights of the People and State of Puerto Rico:
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS
In light of the foregoing findings, this Tribunal also, by unanimous vote, finds the Defendant guilty as charged in paragraph 37, which, as amended, reads:
In light of the foregoing international crimes, the Defendant constitutes a Criminal Conspiracy and a Criminal Organization in accordance with the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles and the other sources of public international law specified above, and the Federal Government of the United States of America is similar to the Nazi government of World War II Germany.
This powerful Finding speaks for itself and requires no explanation by me. In light thereof, and in reaction thereto, everyone should do what his or her conscience tells them to do.
Cease-and-Desist Order
The Tribunal concluded its Verdict etc. with the following Order to the United States government: "Now therefore, it is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the Defendant cease and desist from the commission of the crimes it has been found guilty of herein." Pursuant thereto, I then filed a copy of this San Francisco Verdict etc. with its Cease-and-Desist Order upon the Attorney General of the United States of America in Washington, D.C.
In return, I later received a 5 February 1993 Letter from the U.S. Department of Justice that acknowledged the receipt of the San Francisco Tribunal Verdict etc. and its Cease-and-Desist Order against the United States government. This U.S. D.O.J Letter then advised me: "If you, or the Tribunal, have any evidence of the violation of federal criminal law, we ask that you provide that information to your local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
As I saw it at the time, and still see it as of today, historically this would be analogous to the Nazi Ministry of "Justice" advising a German lawyer representing the German Jews to file his Complaint of criminal law violations by the Nazi government against the Jews with the Gestapo. The F.B.I is and has always been the American Gestapo -- especially for all Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color living within its imperial domain, including and especially the Puerto Ricans, both living in their United States Diaspora and in Puerto Rico.[ix]
The San Francisco Tribunal Precedent
Nevertheless, the Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order of this San Francisco Tribunal qualify as a "judicial decision" within the meaning of Article 38(1)(d) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Pursuant thereto, this Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order constitute "subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law" for international law and practice. Furthermore, the Statute of the International Court of Justice is an "integral part" of the United Nations Charter under Article 92 thereof. Hence the San Francisco Tribunal's Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order can be relied upon by the International Court of Justice itself, by the International Criminal Court, by some other International Tribunal, or by any other domestic Court in the world today, as well as by any People or State of the World Community -- including and especially by Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans. The Verdict etc. of the San Francisco Tribunal still serves as adequate notice to the appropriate officials in the United States Federal Government that they bear personal criminal responsibility under international law and the domestic legal systems of all Peoples and States in the World Community for designing and implementing these illegal, criminal and reprehensible policies and practices against Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Color, and especially against Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans.
Conclusion
Obviously, in my brief presentation here today, I do not have the time to go through each and every one of these eight unanimous convictions; to discuss all of the factual evidence that supported these eight charges; or to provide you with an analysis of the international legal bases for each one of these eight unanimous convictions. For that type of information, I refer you to the Video and the Book on the San Francisco Tribunal as well as to its Verdict, Preliminary Findings, and Order itself. But in the discussions that follow today, I will be happy to respond to any questions you might have. Thank you.
Answers to Questions
1. There is the book available on the San Francisco Tribunal which you can get if you write the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, they have copies of the Book there. There is also a Video available that you could use for educational purposes to show to college students, high school students, even 8th graders, what was decided and why and having some of the evidence that went before the Tribunal. So if you contact Mr. Alejandro Molina at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, they can send you the book, and he can give you information on obtaining the Video. It's a one-hour video. And there was a substantial Puerto Rican contribution in San Francisco. I know my client and my friend Rafael Cancel Miranda just walked in, and he was there to speak.
2. Let me say first: The distinguished attorney, Pedro Albizu Campos, who is a graduate of Harvard Law School, my dis-alma mater, and being Irish American I remember that 100 years ago Harvard decided to have a debate on the right of the Irish to self-determination and an independent state of their own. Harvard always was, and still is today, being Anglophile, no one would represent the cause of us Irish and then stepped forward Pedro Albizu Campos, and he spoke for us Irish 100 years ago at Harvard. And so, we Irish and Puerto Ricans, have always been joined at the hip since then, thanks to Pedro Albizu Campos.
Unincorporated Territory
3. Now as for Puerto Rico being an "unincorporated territory," you're right technically. The United States government in terms of U.S. constitutional law considers Puerto Rico nothing more than property of the United States. That's it. You're a piece of property that they own, and that's what that unincorporated territory means. And basically they consider Puerto Rico spoils of war that they stole from Spain in the 1898 war. Now, not to justify anything Spain did down here to you Puerto Ricans, but as I said, in 1897 they did give you so much autonomy that you were basically acting as a de facto independent state that the United States attempted to destroy by means of the Spanish-American War that was a war of aggression, and then extorting Puerto Rico as part of the war booty, along with Guam and the Philippines from Spain. And so Puerto Rico was considered by the United States spoils of war, a piece of property, and nothing has changed in your constitutional status today in the U.S.A.
U.S.A. Is an Illegal Belligerent Occupant of Puerto Rico
4. Indeed, I think a very good argument could be made, and I have made it, that the United States since 1898, has been and is still today nothing more than the illegal belligerent occupant of Puerto Rico under the international laws of war and of belligerent occupation. In the case of belligerent occupation, sovereignty does not go into the hands of the belligerent occupant. The sovereignty remains in the hands of the occupied state and the occupied people. Certainly I would take, and have taken, that position with respect to Puerto Rico. So the United States is a colonial power, it is a belligerent occupant, but sovereignty still resides in Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican People, and it's been there at least since 1897 for sure.[x]
5. Thank you again. Yes, as I was saying under, my reading of historical record - now I do know we have Puerto Rican historians here, so I do defer to your judgment - but my reading of the record is that in 1897 Spain gave you all the powers of a de facto independent state, sort of like the British Commonwealth or something along those lines, where Commonwealth states pretty much had all the independence that they needed, and then the Americans came in here and stole Puerto Rico and destroyed your state and robbed you of it.
The Commonwealth Is a Puppet Government
6. Now, as for the current government here in Puerto Rico, and please understand that I'm not here to offend any of the Puerto Ricans or even any of your officials or to question their good faith one way or the other. But under the laws of war, with the United States government being the belligerent occupant of Puerto Rico since 1898, what we have here is a puppet government that was set up under the laws of war and belligerent occupation to administer Puerto Rico. Under the laws of war there is nothing wrong with a belligerent occupant setting up a puppet government if they want to. But that does not alter the legal and political fact that it is still a puppet government. So I agree completely with what you are saying.
7. Now, as for the Treaty of Paris. First that war was clearly illegal, the United States government issued an ultimatum to the Queen of Spain, she accepted the ultimatum, and they went to war anyway and stole Puerto Rico. And as you correctly pointed out, the wishes of the Puerto Ricans were never consulted. The Treaty of Paris ceded Puerto Rico and others to Spain, as booty of war, which is why they treat Puerto Rico as property, as unincorporated territory, which basically means nothing more than property of the United States government to be disposed of as it wishes. And so that cession in 1898 was coerced to begin with, in violation even of contemporary standards of international law at that time, and was certainly null and void with respect to Puerto Rico and was against the right of the Puerto Ricans to self-determination and still is today. And third, and finally, the Yankees destroyed the de facto independent state that you Puerto Ricans had here in 1897.
8. I point out that belligerent occupation, which is what the US government has here today, together with its puppet Commonwealth government administering Puerto Rico, cannot change the fact that sovereignty still and has always remained in the hands of the Puerto Rican people together with your right to self-determination.
Conclusion
9. Where we go from here, I guess we're having a session this afternoon to talk about it. But my objective this morning was simply to set out the legal framework for you Puerto Ricans to consider. Again, it's your right of self-determination, not mine, I'm just here to help, not tell you what to do.
Before we conclude, I wonder if Rafael Cancel Miranda would grace us with a few words. Please, Rafael, come up here to the podium. [Instead he spoke from the audience in Spanish.]
Appendix
Statement by Professor Francis A. Boyle Before the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization on Behalf of the National Sovereign State of Borinken
June 23, 2014
(Check against oral delivery.)
In 1492, Columbus illegally invaded the indigenous Kingdoms of America and proceeded to exterminate the indigenous peoples living there including the Tainos in Puerto Rico starting in 1493. The story is told in graphic detail by Professor Howard Zinn in the first chapter of his classic book The People's History of the United States. So in the interest of time I am not going to recount here that sordid history of serial aggressions and genocides perpetrated by Columbus and the other Conquistadors upon the Indigenous Peoples and Kingdoms of America at the behest of and as agents for Spain and Portugal.
Certainly Puerto Rico was not terra nullius -- the land of no people. The Tainos lived there in a political community organized into their own Kingdom. Therefore, the supposed European doctrine of "discovery" did not justify Spain's genocidal invasion, conquest, and occupation of Puerto Rico and the Tainos. Moreover, the Borgia Pope Alexander VI had no right to attempt to steal Puerto Rico from the Tainos and give it to Spain by means of his so-called Inter Caetera "Bull," which is nevertheless appropriately called "Bull" in English. The invasion, conquest, and occupation of Puerto Rico and the Tainos by Spain grossly violated the prevailing customary international law rule at that time known as the Just War Doctrine that was legally binding upon Spain.
That is precisely why at that time His Holiness Bartolemé de Las Casas, the Bishop of Chiapas strenuously remonstrated against the Conquistadors with the Government of Spain because of their destructions of the numerous Kingdoms established by the Indigenous Peoples of America together with their extermination:[xi]
In one of the rules in his Confesionario, Bartolemé trenchantly maintains that everything that has been done in the Indies "has been against all natural law and the Law of Nations, as well as against all divine law,...and consequently, null, void, and without any validity or legal effect" (O.E. 5:239b)....
Consequently, His Holiness Bishop Las Casas informed the Government of Spain that the Indians of the Americas were entitled to the public international law right and remedy of restitutio in integrum -- restitution of their Kingdoms:[xii]
...For Bartolemé, the Spanish sovereigns themselves are obliged to restitution, since they have ultimate responsibility for events in the Indies. In response to Sepúlveda he even declares that "the illustrious doctor or anyone else seeking to justify or excuse [those unwilling to make restitution] sin most mortally and are obliged to the same restitution" (Aquí se contiene, 1552, O.E. 5:343b). The injury to be repaired has been in goods both material and moral. Restitution, therefore, must include the restoration of the destroyed monarchial societies of these lands, in which the Indians had led a civilized life in conformity with their customs. This will require the rehabilitation of their legitimate political authorities....
That is exactly what the National Sovereign State of Borinken has done. We have restored the Sovereignty of the Indigenous People of Puerto Rico pursuant to the international law right and remedy of restitution in integrum and the Sovereign Right of the Puerto Ricans to self-determination.
In 1897 Spain devolved the powers of self-government upon Puerto Rico sufficient to constitute Puerto Rico a de facto independent state.[xiii] Nevertheless, under completely bogus pretexts, the United States of America illegally invaded and conquered the de facto independent state of Puerto Rico the very next year, and proceeded to set up a regime of genocidal military occupation over our Homeland. In the 1898 Treaty of Paris ending the so-called Spanish-American War, Spain never had sovereign title over Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans in order to hand them over arbitrarily to the United States in the first place. The Spanish Genocidal Thief never had valid title or sovereignty over Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans to convey to the Yankee Genocidal Thief!
Since 1898 the United States of America has been nothing more than the illegal belligerent occupying power of Puerto Rico, subject to the international laws of war, including therein the international laws of belligerent occupation, which the United States has grievously violated and completely negated ever since 1898. Under the international laws of belligerent occupation, the illegal Yankee occupying power never obtained sovereignty over Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans. Thereunder, to the contrary, Sovereignty over Puerto Rico has always remained in the hands of the Displaced Sovereign of 1897 and the Puerto Ricans. The National Sovereign State of Borinken has restored the Sovereignty of the Puerto Ricans over Puerto Rico pursuant to our right of self-determination.
After 116 years of Yankee genocidal belligerent military occupation, it is now beyond time for the United States government to withdraw from and evacuate Puerto Rico immediately so that the National Sovereign State of Borinken can proceed to exercise the right of the Puerto Ricans to self-determination. In order to accomplish that sacred objective, we hereby respectfully request that the Special Committee on Decolonization officially accredit the National Sovereign State of Borinken so that we can proclaim our unique Voice and Vision to the entire world here. Finally, we demand that the Yankees immediately release Borinken's Freedom Fighter and Prisoner-of-War Oscar Lopez. Thank you.
Endnotes
Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (phone)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)
________________________________
________________________________
[i] See Boyle, United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law (2012)
[ii] See American Indian Movement, Verdict of the International Tribunal of Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the USA (San Francisco, CA: Oct. 4, 1992); Puerto Rican Cultural Center, USA on Trial: The International Tribunal on Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the United States (Chicago, IL: 1996); Mission Creek Video, USA on Trial (Parts I & II): The International Tribunal of Indigenous Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the USA (San Francisco, CA 941141-1271), free download available at http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_131_usa_on_trial.
[iii] See Boyle, The Bosnian People Charge Genocide! (1996).
[iv] See José Trías Monge, Puerto Rico 12-15 (1997).
[v] See Boyle, United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law, supra at 26-32.
[vi] See the Appendix to this Lecture.
[vii] See, e.g., Chimène I. Keitner, From Conquest to Consent: Puerto Rico and the Prospect of Genuine Free Association, University of California Hastings College of Law, Legal Studies Research Paper Series No. 111 (rev. Aug. 20, 2014); Chimène I. Keitner & W. Michael Reisman, Free Association: The United States Experience, 39 Tex. Int'l L.J. 1 (2003). But see generally W. Michael Reisman, Puerto Rico and the International Process (1975) (pro-Commonwealth).
[viii] See Boyle, Preserving the Rule of Law in the War Against International Terrorism, 8 Whittier Law Review 735 (1986).
[ix] See Swearingen, F.B.I. Secrets: An Agent's Exposé (1997).
[x] For Spain's illegal invasion and belligerent, colonial occupation of Puerto Rico see the Appendix to this Lecture.
[xi] See Gustavo, Gutiérrez, Las Casas 369 (Orbis Books: 1995) (citing Obras escogidas by Las Casas).
[xii] Id. at 366 (emphasis added).
[xiii] See José Trías Monge, Puerto Rico 12-15 (1997).
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