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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Fortuño for VP, and the Constitutional question

In today’s WSJ, William McGurn posits,
Fortuño Favors the GOP
Puerto Rico’s Republican governor would be a fine choice for vice president.

He’s young, dynamic, and well-spoken. As a Republican vice presidential nominee, he could help with Latino voters in 2012.

And he’s not Marco Rubio.

His name is Luis Fortuño, and he’s part of a rising generation of Republicans pushing pro-growth, small-government agendas. Like many of these men and women, Mr. Fortuño is a governor. What makes him striking is that he’s governor of an American territory, Puerto Rico, rather than an American state.

“I’m flattered,” says Mr. Fortuño when a reporter pitches the vice presidency to him. “But what I’ve done in Puerto Rico hasn’t been about my own re-election or advancement. It been about doing what I think is right.”

Spend any time with Mr. Fortuño, and you will learn that high on his list of doing what’s right is ensuring government lives within its means. When he was elected governor in 2008, one out of three Puerto Ricans were working for the government. When he was sworn in, there wasn’t enough money to meet the payroll. In response, Mr. Fortuño cut spending and 20,000 government workers, provoking angry protests.

The governor stood his ground. Earlier this year, he signed a bill slashing individual and corporate taxes—and he says there’s much more to do. For example, because Puerto Rico is not connected to the U.S. electric grid, it gets 68% of its electricity from oil (against about 1% for the U.S.), making its economy especially vulnerable to high oil prices. Just last week, Mr. Fortuño won a huge victory when the Army Corps of Engineers issued a favorable preliminary ruling on a natural-gas pipeline that would run 92 miles from southern Puerto Rico toward San Juan.

Just yesterday I posted the Stossel interview,

Newt also interviewed Fortuño,

Fortuño is certainly a long-standing Republican member of the RNC, a Conservative whose speech at CPAC last year brought down the house (the people running the CPAC website are linking the wrong video, in case you try, but here’s an amateur video of the event), who worked as Resident Commissioner in Washington, DC from 2005-2009.

The first thing he did when he took office as governor was give himself a 10% pay cut. He’s cut red tape drastically, making Puerto Rico the second-most competitive economy in Latin America.

He’s also announced that he’ll run for a second term as governor of PR.

The article makes one glaring error, however,

Puerto Ricans have been American citizens since 1971

Puerto Ricans have been born American citizens since 1941.

The Constitution, Article II, Section 1, stipulates,

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Now, here’s the situation: Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth.

Since the Office of Vice-President by definition means its holder is eligible for the Office of President, the discussion in the WSJ comments section focuses on whether Fortuño is eligible. He definitely was born a Citizen of the US, as are all Puerto Ricans born on or after January 13, 1941

All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are citizens of the United States at birth

All of us who live in the 50 States can, and do, vote in all elections, including for President.

I’ll leave to you the discussion.

The larger issue, though, is, who will the Republicans have in the 2012 ticket?

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The Independence Day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

ARGENTINA
Los últimos días de Néstor Kirchner

BRAZIL
French Giants Vie in Brazil
Retailers Carrefour and Casino Face Off Over High-End Chain in Hot Market

CHILE
Carta de la semana: “Decapitar la capital”

COLOMBIA
Por qué entré y por qué salí de las FARC

Preview of GMT’s upcoming title Andean Abyss

CUBA
Hugo Chavez’s Secret

Bono’s Love Song

HONDURAS
Take a ride with me

JAMAICA
Via Gates of Vienna, Poll: Most Jamaicans believe UK rule better

MEXICO
Crime and politics in Mexico
A turning tide
With a year to go until the presidential election, voters are tiring of the drug war

“In Spain, I would still be living off scholarships.”

Project Gunrunner Assault Weapons Showing Up At Phoenix Crime Scene

U.S. opposes Mexican’s execution
The Obama Administration takes the rare step of urging the Court to block temporarily a state from executing a convicted individual — in this case, a Mexican national who contends that Texas violated his rights under an international treaty, the Vienna Convention.

July 4 warning: Texas says don’t go to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

PERU
NATURAL RESOURCES IN PERU
The trials of miners

Hydrocarbon production surges in Peru

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Governor Fortuno Signs Deficit-Reducing 2012 Budget
Worst Budget Deficit in the Country Cut by 81 percent in Just Over Two Years, Puerto Rico Continues Progress Toward Balancing its Budget

Among the reforms implemented since 2009, Gov. Fortuno enacted the largest tax cut package in Puerto Rico’s history, which will lower taxes an average 30 percent for businesses and 50 percent for individuals. And after launching one of the most advanced Public-Private-Partnership programs in the country, the Governor announced in June that Puerto Rico will receive $1.436 billion in private infrastructure investment—the largest such investment in any U.S. jurisdiction this year and the first infrastructure P3 in the country since 2006 – to upgrade and manage two of the Island’s major toll roads.
…
Fortuno took a 10 percent pay cut, required agency heads to take a 5 percent cut, froze all salaries for two fiscal years, reduced political appointments by 30 percent, and got rid of government cell phones and credit cards. Because payroll expenses dominated 70 percent of the budget, government employee ranks were reduced by 23,000 through voluntary and mandatory measures, achieving a $935 million or 17 percent reduction in total payroll.

Puerto Rico police chief quits amid crime concerns

VENEZUELA
Spanish newspaper: Chávez has colon cancer and the first surgery was a “mistake”

How bad is Hugo Chavez’s cancer? Very bad, say physicians

Hugo Chávez’s cancer puts 2012 Venezuela elections in doubt
As President Hugo Chávez fights what some experts say is an aggressive form of colon cancer, some wonder what it will mean for next year’s presidential race I was talking to a physician friend who had not read this article but who reached the same conclusion based on the information that we have so far:

He also said it’s possible that the original abscess drainage procedure itself could have contaminated the area with cancer cells. Treatment, doctors agreed, would be aggressive radiation and chemotherapy.

“Prostate tumors normally do not cause this kind of abscess,” said Leon Lapco, president of the Venezuelan-American Doctors Association and a surgeon at Mercy Hospital. “I would say it’s his colon, the large intestine. It’s the most likely to cause diverticulitis, perforations and abscesses.”

Why Hugo Chavez’s Illness Matters

Chávez should get credit for economic miracle

After Chávez
What awaits Venezuela if he dies?

U.S. – Venezuelan Relations – Just Frozen or Beyond Repair?

What Hugo Chavez’s Illness Means for Venezuela’s Future

Noam Chomsky denounces old friend Hugo Chávez for ‘assault’ on democracy
Renowned American intellectual accuses the Venezuelan leader of concentrating too much power in his own hands

Noam Chomsky honesty appeal…

The week’s posts
Chavez back in Venezuela VIDEO
The Invisible Hugo and the list of rumors
BREAKING: HUGO CHAVEZ HAS CANCER
HACER: The must-read on Latin America
The Invisible Hugo cancels summit
Today’s installment of The Invisible Hugo: The Video
The Invisible Hugo post of the morning: the speakerphone call

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The high caloric intake Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerWelcome to this week’s Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Since Hugo Chavez is urging the Venezuelan people to go on a diet as the country faces food shortages due to his ineptness, this week we have all the calories.

Chavez has lobbied in recent weeks against what he calls the evils of capitalism, including alcoholism, breast implants and violent television programs.
…
Since taking office in 1999, he’s preached against supposed capitalist-fueled vices ranging from alcohol to cholesterol, vowed to curb whisky imports and ordered beer trucks off the street.

But make sure to chew on coca leaves while attending a summit.

LATIN AMERICA
iPalestina Libre!

Oakland County Sheriff Confirms South American Drug Cartel Arrests

Drug Wars Push Deeper Into Central America

Responding to the pressure — and opportunity — the cartels have spread out quickly. Five of Central America’s seven countries are now on the United States’ list of 20 “major illicit drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries.” Three of those, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, were added just last year.

A welcome as warm as the weather

ARGENTINA
Argentinean Government Sold Their Souls To The Devil Mad Mullahs (h/t Public Secrets)

BOLIVIA
Bolivian president: Isn’t it time to revoke Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize?

BRAZIL
From last year, Brazil’s huge new port highlights China’s drive into South America
Investments guarantee Chinese access to soy, oil and other badly needed resource

AP: Obama Playing ‘Grand Tourist’ in Rio ‘Sure to Endear Him Even More’ to Brazilian People

How the Wall Street Journal Set Off a Firestorm Against Petrobras

COLOMBIA
China syndrome
China plans to build alternative to Panama Canal

WikiLeaks: Colombia began using U.S. drones for counterterrorism in 2006

CUBA
Air Cover for Libyan Rebels, None for Cuban Freedom-Fighters

A Cuban Horror Story

VIDEO: Cuban dissidents repressed

EL SALVADOR
Obama abdicates commander-in-chief authority, Germans pull forces out of NATO Med operations

GUATEMALA
Guatemala’s First Couple To Divorce For Presidency

And, Julie Lopez, can you tell us first, is this a sincere divorce, or a divorce of convenience for the president and the first lady?

Ms. JULIE LOPEZ (Freelance Journalist): Well, both the president and the first lady have said that the reason why they are divorcing is to prevent their case going to the constitutional court because a divorce would make her qualify as a candidate.

Guatemala’s ruling couple
Divide and rule
The president and first lady split up—leaving her free to run for office

HONDURAS
New teacher union demands; same old chaos

An October 2009 cable, signed by Mr. Pascual, reported that Mexican Undersecretary for Governance Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez lamented that the early phase of the Merida Initiative ($400 million for the drug war approved by Congress in June 2008) did not contain “enough strategic thought.” There was too much focus “on equipment, which they now know is slow to arrive and even slower to be of direct utility,” and not enough focus on institution building.

The cable continues: “[Mr. Gutierrez Fernandez] went on to say, however, that he now realizes there is not even time for the institution building to take hold in the remaining years of the Calderón administration. ‘We have 18 months,’ he said, ‘and if we do not produce a tangible success that is recognizable to the Mexican people, it will be difficult to sustain the confrontation into the next administration.’” And: “He expressed a real concern with ‘losing’ certain regions.”

Mr. Pascual reported that soon after 15 Juárez high school and university students, with no links to the cartels, were massacred in January 2010, Mr. Calderón “created an unprecedented level of engagement by every level of government to address the violence in Juarez.” He also wrote that the U.S. was “well-placed to support efforts to implement new and creative strategies.” The 2010 drug-war death toll in Juarez reached more than 3,000.

In November 2009, Mr. Pascual wrote that Mexico’s security strategy “lacks an effective intelligence apparatus to produce high quality information and targeted operations,” and also that there was resistance to information sharing because some units viewed “local military commands as often penetrated by organized crime.” In another cable Mr. Pascual charged that the Mexican army sat on intelligence that the U.S. gave it in the hunt for drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was later killed by the Mexican navy.

MEXICO
Dispatches From the War on Drugs
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual loses his job for telling the truth.

TV Show Host Kidnapped, Murdered and Dumped, Local Police Investigated

PERU
Peru Candidate Offers to Give Up U.S. Citizenship

Peru’s presidential election
Inside out

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico’s Budget Gap Will Be Closed in 2 Years, Fortuno Says. Puerto Rico had its first credit-rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s this month.

ABC to Start Filming Pilots in Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Oil Pledge to China Unlikely to Be Fulfilled

Chavismo Shows Its Non-Democratic Nature in Choosing Delegates to International Meetings

The week’s posts,
At the WaPo: President Obama’s weak message to Latin America
Hypocrisy on the fly: Obama does Latin America
Islamist terrorists crossing the border,
Memeorandum does the hemisphere
A Chavez terror network?

Post re-edited to include omission.

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Puerto Rico: The budget, and the statehood proposal in #superpowernation

While the trend in the 50 US states is bigger government, more government jobs and more spending, Luis Fortuño, Puerto Rico’s governor, is making big strides in bringing the island’s economy to a more competitive standing.

Puerto Rico bets on public-private deals in 2010

Puerto Rico’s government is preparing public-private partnerships to jump-start the island’s stalled economy and wants several of the big-ticket deals in place by year’s end.

Governor Luis Fortuno has in 15 months in office eliminated thousands of government jobs, put in place multibillion-dollar cuts in expenditures and pledged to eliminate the big municipal debt issuer’s persistent budget deficits.

His administration’s partnership initiatives are meant to lure outside investment to a Caribbean economy in recession since 2006 and come as the pace of global infrastructure deals between governments and businesses quickens.

Why the initiatives?

In Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth with big debts, chronically severe unemployment now at a 15.9 percent rate and per capita income half that of mainland America, officials are readying requests for qualifications for eight partnership projects.

There’s a new Public Private Partnership Authority, which is working on deals to privatize

  • the Luis Munoz Marin Airport in Isla Verde
  • a $1.4 billion school modernization program
  • Highway 22

and other proposals are in the works.

A different kind of proposal is also in the works: Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Congress, Pedro Pierlusi (D-PR), has introduced the Puerto Rican Democracy Act. The bill would provide for a referendum on Puerto Rico’s status, and it’s endorsed by governor Fortuño but it’s problematic. As Tim Schultz explains another point to consider on the bill, that of language,

The foreignness of English in Puerto Rico is greater in magnitude than it was in any state at any time in our national experience. Census data show that just 20 percent of the island’s residents speak English fluently. By comparison, California has the lowest proficiency rate among the 50 states, but its 80 percent proficiency rate dwarfs Puerto Rico’s. The deeply rooted preference for Spanish makes Puerto Rico’s 1993 elevation of English to “co-official” status practically irrelevant. Authentic “official English” policies increase English learning, but they will not work when English is merely an add-on to a pre-existing official language that is spoken in 95 percent of homes. Congress should condition statehood on making English the sole official language, which would still allow Spanish translations for a population in transition while insisting on acceptance of the lingua franca of the Union.

I would add another issue: Now that governor Fortuño is trying to set the island on the right track to prosperity, is it appropriate to spend millions of dollars on the referendum process – something already done several times during my lifetime – which will be repeated again, according to the bill?

I’ll be one of the featured bloggers in the BBC International #superpowernation from 9AM to 9:30AM Eastern. Read about the show at BBC Blogworld. Their tweeter feed is bbc_blogworld.

UPDATE
More articles on business in Puerto Rico,
Buyers for Puerto Rico Banks?
FDIC Has Three Institutions to Sell; Downside Is They May All Need Capital
‘Caribbean rum war’ making waves all the way to Washington
Captain Morgan’s move to Virgin Islands means billion-dollar loss to Puerto Rico

Diageo, a British liquor conglomerate that owns the popular spiced-rum brand, was lured to the Virgin Islands by $2.7 billion in rebates over 30 years on the taxes that mainland residents pay every time they buy a bottle of rum. The company also will get a new $165 million distillery and a 90 percent income-tax break.

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The end of the batatita?

In Puerto Rico, a government job – which you got by being a member of the political party in power – where you don’t have to actually do any work, is called a batatita (batata being a sweet potato, batatita a small sweet potato).

Now it looks like the governor of Puerto Rico is aiming to cut back a lot of batatitas:
Puerto Rico slashes gov’t work force en masse

Puerto Rico fired nearly 8,000 government workers Friday, the start of a wave of layoffs aimed at closing a budget deficit as the island struggles through its third year of recession.

The first round included mostly temporary clerical workers in the education, treasury and health departments. Gov. Luis Fortuno has said he needs to cut 30,000 public sector jobs on an island where more than one-fifth of the people work for the local government.

The layoffs come as Puerto Rico faces an unemployment rate of nearly 15 percent, higher than anywhere on the U.S. mainland. Many fear the new job losses will ripple through the economy in the form of unpaid mortgages and failing businesses.
…
The layoffs were immediate for 4,000 workers, while the remaining will be dismissed by early July, according to Carlos Garcia, president of the island’s Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico.
…
Those affected will receive health insurance coverage for up to six months. They also can choose to receive $5,000 to go back to school or start a new business, or $2,500 for relocation costs, among other offers.

Fortuno announced the cuts in March, saying they would save about $2 billion a year and will affect about 14 percent of the public work force. Police officers and teachers are exempt.

“The problem is that we cannot afford to pay these people,” he said. “This is a difficult process, but the alternative was to increase sales tax, income taxes and other measures that would have affected even more people.”

About 2,500 government workers already have agreed to voluntary buyouts, which translates into $51.2 million in savings, according to the government.

Fortuno declared a fiscal emergency shortly after taking office in January.

He said the cuts are needed despite the government’s injection of $500 million into the economy earlier this year. Fortuno also has promised to reduce his $70,000 annual salary by 10 percent and that of his Cabinet officials by 5 percent over the next two years.

Puerto Rico has a bloated and well-established bureaucracy, which for decades has encumbered the economy.

Does this mean the end of the batatita? Probably not, but it’s a good start.

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