THE END OF THE COMMONWEALTH ERA
A.W. Maldonado

It was no surprise. Five months before the elections, June 1, 2008, I began a column:
“The Popular Democratic Party is headed toward a catastrophic defeat with historic consequences for Puerto Rico. “

It was evident that Acevedo was doomed by the economic crisis. Long before the March 27, 2008 federal indictments for campaign finance irregularities, the polls showed that there was no way that Acevedo could get reelected. A November , 2007 poll had him losing to Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño by no less than 37 points.

But he made a fateful decision after the indictments. Against reality, he convinced many Popular Party leaders, including the mayors that are crucial in elections, that he would pull off a “political miracle.”

Acevedo has always been a resourceful politician. Now he used the federal indictment to convince many PDP leaders that the U.S. government had immorally, undemocratically, abusively intervened in island politics to destroy him and favor Fortuño. The Puerto Rican electorate, we now know, did not believe him. But many PDP leaders, in patriotic indignation, did and rallied to his side.

Fortuño and Resident Commissioner-elect Pedro Pierluisi represent a new generation and they will bring energy in attacking Puerto Rico’s overwhelming economic and fiscal crisis. They are both intelligent and honest and there is no doubt they sincerely want to serve this island well.

But they will have to suppress two forces within their party. One consists of a number of vindictive and destructive leaders, passionately loyal to ex-governor Pedro Rosselló, that dedicated themselves to obstruct the Acevedo administration, and then to destroy Fortuño himself. Fortuño’s first test, crucial to the success of his administration, will be whether he will prevent these militants from controlling the Legislature.

The second force that Fortuño will have to suppress is the status passion within the New Progressive Party. With absolute control of the government of Puerto Rico – the governorship, the resident commissioner, the Legislature, the vast majority of the municipalities, and eventually the island Supreme Court – the NPP will have the power to launch a crusade for statehood, here and in Washington, as never before in island history.

Fortuño and Pierluisi are statehooders. They repeatedly declare that they will do nothing here nor in Congress that is not consistent with statehood. This was precisely the mentality that drove then governor Rosselló in the 1990’s to go to Congress to eliminate Section 936.

But they will face the reality that to lift Puerto Rico from the deepening economic recession they will have to do things that are inconsistent with statehood. The island economy depends on manufacturing and manufacturing depends on Puerto Rico being part of the U.S. but exempt of U.S. taxes. We know today that the elimination of Section 936 was a serious blow to manufacturing costing this island thousands of jobs.

So the fundamental question is whether Fortuño’s and Pierluisi’s extraordinary electoral victory means the end the Commonwealth Era.

Let’s define precisely just what the Commonwealth Era was. This is not just about a political status, but about an era. In most of the first half of the 20th century, it seemed nothing worked in Puerto Rico. Nothing pulled this island out of deep extreme poverty, not hundreds of million in federal funds. The politics was superficial, irrelevant. Everyone in Puerto Rico said that the fundamental cause was “colonialism.” But in fact, Puerto Rico has placed itself in an impossible dilemma. It was believed that the only way out of “colonialism” was statehood or independence. But statehood was economically, culturally, politically impossible. And the vast majority of the Puerto Ricans rejected independence.

It occurred to a number of island leaders, and Congress agreed, in the early 1950’s, to liberate Puerto Rico from this paralyzing dilemma by creating a new status, Commonwealth. It was unique, and in some ways defective, but it was a solution. And it worked. By the end of the 1950’s, Puerto Rico’s liberated energy and talent has carried out an “economic miracle” and made this island a Mecca for world-famous musicians, artists, poets, intellectuals.

The Commonwealth Era did not, of course, end the status conflict. But it did bring about a kind of truce. If someone invented a meter to gauge the ups and downs of status passion in island history, I think it would show a correlation: the higher the status passions, the more superficial island politics, the more ineffective the government.

So the question is: how high will Fortuño and Pierluisi raise the status passion meter? They say their priority is attacking Puerto Rico’s economic and fiscal crisis. But will they resist the enormous pressure to launch another statehood crusade?

And this brings us back to Acevedo’s fateful decision. Closing one’s eyes to reality is never a good idea. For a political leader the consequences can be serious. Acevedo did and led the PDP to the worst defeat in its history. The stakes were too high to depend on his promise to pull off a “miracle.” He should have given way to someone else with a better chance of at least avoid the PNP landslide: with at least a chance of winning, say, control of the Senate.

Will Fortuño and Pierluis also close their eyes to the reality that if they revert Puerto Rico to the sterility, the futility of the impossible status dilemma, all the enthusiasm and promise of their big victory will flounder in failure? The reality that this is what will happen if they bring aboutthe end of the Commonwealth Era.

A SPECTACULAR SHIP COMES TO SAN JUAN
A.W. Maldonado

In the doom and gloom of the economic news, its good news that six cruise ships will visit San Juan for the first time in the coming months. One of them was the Celebrity Solstice this Tuesday. In fact, San Juan was its first port-of-call in its first voyage.

USA Today travel writer, Gene Sloan, wrote that Solstice is “the most innovative, stylish, beautiful ship in the seas.” This is the kind of reviews the 2,850 passenger, 122,000 ton ship has received when the media was invited to preview it this past weekend.

But first the good news about the cruise industry in Puerto Rico. The head of the Ports Authority, Fernando Bonilla, and Tourism Company head Terestela González Denton, announced that this past fiscal year, 2007-2008, there was an 8.9 increase in cruise passengers arriving in San Juan: a total of 1,496,853, 118,116 more than the previous year. What is impressive, they pointed out, is that this is significantly higher than the worldwide growth of 5 percent, the 2 percent increase in the U.S. , the 1.7 percent in the East Caribbean.

In addition to the Solstice, also making first visits to San Juan this winter season are the 2,044 passenger Holland American Eurodam and the 1,800 passenger Statedam, the 3,000 passenger Carnival Spendor and the Carnival Pride, the 3,600 passenger Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas, and the Artemio of P&O Cruises.

Bonilla and González also announced that two other big ships, the 3100 passenger Caribbean Princess and the Carnival Victory have made San Juan their winter season home port.

Now, why the rave reviews for Solstice?

A group of journalists and travel writers were seated at one of the ten restaurants on this ship. Yes, ten: each one different where you will find from exotic Asian fusion to Italian to classic and modern continental cuisine. We were at the main dinning room, the spacious Grand Epernay that features a two-story tall glass wine tower.

I was curious to get the reaction of the veteran travel writer, Dr. Laurence Miller, who told me that he has made “well over 300 cruises.” What do you think, I asked? He answered with a thumbs-up gesture. Since Celebrity has the reputation for outstanding food, Miller wondered if Solstice will be able to improve on it. Everyone seemed to agree with Gene Sloan: this is a “beautiful ship.” There are, of course, differences between cruise ships: between, say, the Queen Mary II, the Crystal Symphony, the new Caribbean Princess. I must say that I have found every ship I’ve been in one way or another “beautiful.”

But the moment one walks into this ship, and looks up at the 15-story atrium and see a real, full-grown tree, up there half way up, you know this is indeed different. Or when you go up to what is called the “Lawn Club Desk” because there is a real lawn there: to be exact, over a half acre of real grass. As you walk around, there seems to be live music everywhere – from a classical string quartet, four pretty young women, to a full dance orchestra. And one keeps coming up to a work of art, some of them exquisite, or coming up to still another bar, some of them half hidden so they will surprise you.

Up on the Lawn Deck one will come across several furnaces were a number of Corning master glassblowers demonstrate how they make beautiful glass objects. This too, I must believe, is different.

We spent two nights on the ship and saw two shows in the huge Solstice Theater, built especially for European style theatrical circus shows, with acrobats flying all over the place. I sat up in the balcony and suddenly where was this acrobat dress as a ram flying by, inches away from my nose. Yes, this is different.

The media had an opportunity to meet and question the Chairman of Royal Caribbean, the parent of Celebrity, Richard Fain, the President of Royal Caribbean International, Adam Goldstein and the President of Celebrity Dan Hanrahan. Yes, they said, the company as the entire cruise industry has been hit by the world-wide economic and financial crisis. But it will weather the storm because cruising, they said, is still such a “big bargain.” Hanrahan several times compared the price of a cruise, with food, entertainment and a lot more included, to “spending $300 a night for a hotel room in San Juan.”

Fain and Hanrahan demonstrated their optimism pointing out that there are four other “Solstice class” ships on line to be inaugurated in the next four years. Asked if the economic crisis may force them to change their plans, Hanrahan answered with a firm “no.”

The “naming ceremony” (once called the “christening”) of the ship, at the home port in Ft. Lauderdale last Saturday, was also “different.” It was held inside the Solstice Theater. We were told that for the first time a scientist is Godmother: marine biologist Dr. Sharon Smith, who has spent her life around the globe studying the ocean food chain, mostly the minute zooplankton. A moving video of her life work was projected, including her battle, twice, with cancer. Then a live video was projected of a Champaign bottle sliding down a cable and crashing into the hull.

The Celebrity Solstice, arrived at San Juan at two pm Tuesday, from the outside looked pretty much like the other new big ships. But from the moment I walked inside, the word that kept coming to mind was: “spectacular.”