Rep. Nydia Velázquez breaks down the politics of Puerto Rico’s referendum

Rep. Nydia Velázquez remembers the Somos conference in its infancy. While serving as director of the Department of Puerto Rican Community Affairs in the United States in the late 1980s, Velázquez saw firsthand the need for collaboration between New York state lawmakers and the Puerto Rican government, and over the years, has witnessed the conference’s evolution. Now a 16-term member of Congress, she heads to this year’s conference with an array of priorities for her constituents in New York and to foster change in Puerto Rico. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

As a person who is Puerto Rican who represents New York, what do you view as your role, heading into Somos?

Well, it is a tradition, right? And let me give you a little history here, because it’s important for people – the new generation of Latino leaders in Albany – to understand why was this created, and why the decision to hold a conference in Puerto Rico (was made), because this didn’t happen until 1989. 1989 was the first Somos in Puerto Rico. In 1988, there was the presidential election, and all the Latino elected officials in New York endorsed Jesse Jackson up to that moment. Basically the governor of Puerto Rico was the central figure in the Puerto Rican community in the mainland, whether it was Florida or New York City or Cleveland, Ohio, or Bridgeport, Connecticut. So what happened in 1988 during that presidential Democratic primary was that the governor of Puerto Rico endorsed Michael Dukakis. The government of Puerto Rico since the 1930s used to have an office in New York that helped provide services to Puerto Ricans arriving in New York, help them connect to bilingual services, jobs and so on. So I became the head of that office. And when this happened in 1988, I warned the governor that that was a big mistake. And, of course, the Puerto Rican leadership was insane, because they all endorsed Jesse Jackson, right? And this, this really made my work really impossible. And I reached out to the governor and said, “You’ve got to clean up this mess.” This is a real political mess, right? And so the governor of Puerto Rico invited the leaders, elected officials, to Puerto Rico, and they decided – the governor invited them – to come to Puerto Rico to hold a conference so that we could jointly discuss the Puerto Rican agenda. And this is what led to the Somos conference in Puerto Rico.

With that context in mind, obviously, bringing that tradition to Somos is important, but what are your goals heading into the conference?

Well, look, the conference has always been about emphasizing and strengthening the ties between Puerto Rico and New York state, right? And this is why it’s so important that the conference remains in Puerto Rico. It’s a tradition, and so my role is Puerto Rico continues to struggle right after Hurricane Maria, the bankruptcy that it’s facing, the restructuring of the public debt. So this offers an opportunity for me to touch on those issues, but at the same time, continue to strengthen those ties, because every time there is a crisis in Puerto Rico, the first responders are the Puerto Rican community here in New York, and the governor, so they see it as an extension of that symbiotic relationship between New York and Puerto Ricans.

What should the federal government be doing to help with the electrical grid crisis in Puerto Rico? What do you see as the path forward?

Look, unfortunately, the public-private partnerships have not brought the benefits that their proponents promised. And I’m talking about the government of Puerto Rico. They decided to privatize a public corporation, and after the Puerto Rican government contracted with both Luma and Genera, Puerto Ricans had gone through the worst energy privatization failures in the history of this nation of the United States. Puerto Rico’s consumers pay three times more for electricity than U.S. mainland consumers. I guess that says it all. Puerto Rico, they’re going through this economic crisis, dealing with bankruptcy, dealing with the effects of Maria, trying to rebuild that power grid and so on. They privatized this. That was a promise that everything is going to be fine. And yet, look, the average consumer in Puerto Rico loses power at least once every five to six weeks, compared to one to two times in the United States. So it has been a complete failure. And so it’s not, on the one hand, you have a local government that really, basically has not been able to exercise proper oversight over the contract that gave Luma billions of dollars, and they are not complying with it. And then also the federal government, who doesn’t like to interfere with the local government, because, you know, when you give money to rebuild, it is not the business of the federal government to dictate to the local government how to rebuild, but every day, they see in the news how bad this privatization is going, that I would like to see a more aggressive, proactive federal government and the U.S. Congress to exercise the type of oversight and to bring these people and these executives that are making millions of dollars to be able to respond and answer and provide answers to all the mess that is going on in Puerto Rico. How could Puerto Rico get out of bankruptcy if you do not have a power grid that is reliable and resilient? It’s the backbone of any economy. I think that my blood pressure is going up.

When you’re talking about oversight from the federal government as it pertains to energy executives, what does that look like to you? Hearings? Some kind of audit?

Look – the representative from Puerto Rico in Congress (Jenniffer González-Colón), who is a Republican, she has been in Congress for eight years, never asked for a hearing, right, an oversight hearing, until a month ago. So after eight years in Congress, and since Luma got the contract, never asked for an oversight hearing until a month ago. The only hearing that took place, it was at my request, and not only that, she asked for this hearing just recently, because she’s running for governor, and now she’s saying that she is going to recede the contract with Luma. That’s her commitment to the people of Puerto Rico.

Do you support that? 

Well, look, (Luma) should go, definitely. But it’s irresponsible for her to make such a promise when she knows that this is not going to be easy. They will take them to court.

Thinking about oversight and sort of the government structure in Puerto Rico, it has the upcoming referendum vote on Election Day.

Another political stunt. The current governor, who was running for reelection, and he was defeated by the resident commissioner – she is a Democrat, he is a Republican who supports Donald Trump. And they know that they are at risk politically, because people in Puerto Rico are fed up with the Republicans in Puerto Rico, the (PNP), that is the party that is in power, the New Progressive Party. And it says it’s progressive, but they are very conservative. So they know that they’re in trouble to get their base to come out and vote. So this is a political trick by the governor of Puerto Rico, who thought that he would be running for reelection now, but he lost the primary, and to get people to come out, because they’re saying, “If you want to become a state, you need to come out and vote in big numbers to show that the people of Puerto Rico support statehood.” It’s a political trick and is a political stunt, because this referendum that will be taking place in November, it’s not sanctioned by the U.S. Congress. So they could win overwhelmingly – that doesn’t change the reality of Puerto Rico, the political reality.

Aren’t there three different options: statehood, independence or a free association?

That’s my legislation. It passed the House, but it has not been taken on by the Senate, so there’s no vehicle for Puerto Rico to resolve the political limbo. So the referendum that they are doing in November is nothing – it doesn’t have any legality, doesn’t have any sway. It doesn’t change anything.

Could Congress do something or move on it after the fact?

Well, the reality is, this is not going to happen. You know why? Because the Republican leadership in the House and in the Senate and Donald Trump, they do not want to support they do not support statehood for Puerto Rico.

Why is that? 

Because they feel that if Puerto Rico became a state, first, those people? Latinos? Mm. That’s very hard for them to swallow. And two, they feel that it will become a Democratic state – the majority of the people will be Democrats – and that they will be sending, I don’t know, between four or five Congress members who will be Democrats.

Even if it is a stunt, I mean, it does show where public opinion is.

Wait. We’ll see. People are so insane that they’re very frustrated. They feel hopeless. So I don’t know if you’re aware that in 2019 was called the summer of 2019 where Puerto Ricans took her to the street and forced the governor of Puerto Rico to resign. And Puerto Rico, historically, has been a two political party system. In 2019, five political parties sent representatives to the Puerto Rican legislature for the first time in history. And mark my words: The summer of 2019 initiated a political transformation for Puerto Rico.

How so?

People are not voting any more by political parties. They are fed up with a two-party system, and they are becoming more independent and looking to support who they consider the best candidates to clean up corruption in Puerto Rico. The major issue in this election is corruption.

Clearly in many different forms, not just in the party, but also regarding statehood and everything else we’ve talked about already.

Yeah, but the corruption is from the administration that is in power and so the municipalities are, you know, you have mayors that are from the popular Democratic Party, and you have the New Progressive Party that is the one that is in power. Members of both political parties have gone to jail for stealing money from taxpayers and money from the federal government. Puerto Rico is going through a crisis.

You recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to get Puerto Rico back in Region 2. What is the latest on that?

Well, historically, Puerto Rico’s office was in New York in Region 2. Secretary Jack Kemp moved it to Atlanta because there was a scandal that involved Sen. (Al) D’Amato and another person that was working at HUD in Region 2. So in order to clean up that, they decided to move the office to Atlanta. But that office belongs in Region 2, like every other office – you have HHS, Small Business Administration, Commerce and I don’t know what other offices for federal agencies are here. So yeah, I just spoke to the secretary of HUD, who is an interim, and they are considering (it) right now as we speak.

Before I step away from Puerto Rico for a moment – I should start by saying congratulations on the portrait hanging. I’m sure it’s a complete honor.

It’s nothing like what we have seen in Congress, or you will see in Congress. I think (Rep.) Hakeem Jeffries said, Congress will never be the same, when it comes to the next portraits that will be hanging Congress. It is very different and colorful. Yeah, and is the first time that a (lawmaker) of Puerto Rican descent has a portrait painted by a Puerto Rican.

Who do you see sort of taking up the fight for Puerto Rico in the New York delegation moving forward? You’ve created such a legacy in Congress, and the portrait is such a reflection of that. But there’s a lot of work to still be done.

Well, first, I’m going nowhere. I’ll be here. Two, I believe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has demonstrated her commitment to Puerto Rico. … She worked very closely with me on my Puerto Rico status bill, and I know that she continues to invest her energy in dealing with issues that are important to Puerto Rico. The most pressing one is the colonial situation of Puerto Rico, and that we need to resolve – providing a vehicle for the people of Puerto Rico to decide what the political future should be: independent, a free association or a state of the union. And she has invested a lot of time and energy in working with me. We were just in Puerto Rico, maybe two, three months ago, together with the secretary of energy, visiting residents that have benefited from the $1 billion that was provided to create an energy resiliency fund and empowering Puerto Ricans with solar power. So she is invested in climate change in Puerto Rico, how it impacts Puerto Rico and the type of policies that will enable Puerto Rico to face an existential threat.