Puerto Rico Governor Acevedo Vila Is Indicted.

On Thursday March 27, 2008, the 110 year old territorial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico which began on July 25, 1898, took a serious hit when the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Hon. Anibal Acevedo Vila, (a democrat), was indicted recently on federal charges by the (republican) interim U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico, whose office waged a protracted probe of some 8-10 years, often overlapping the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth government in a manner that raises legitimate questions about the cost to U.S. taxpayers of this probe that netted approximately 12 individuals who received indictments.
It is interesting to note, that when Governor Acevedo Vila appeared for the arraignment, the federal judge presiding over the Arraignment was flown in from the state of Maine out of long held concerns that the U.S. District Court in San Juan, Puerto Rico has allegedly become a political clubhouse for the pro-statehood- oriented New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista). Federal judge Margaret Kravchuk of Maine, did not require that the Governor be shackled or hand cuffed upon entering the Federico Degetau federal building in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico yesterday. Bail was not demanded, and the Judge did not require the Governor to surrender his passport. The Governor entered a plea of "not guilty". He has hired the services of the very able and experienced defense attorney Thomas Green, a respected Washington, D.C. trial lawyer.

It remains to be seen what will happen in the trial. The indictment has clearly dealt a death-blow to the Commonwealth-status itself, and to the sovereignty of the Commonwealth Constitution which had been approved in 1952 by Congress and the voters of Puerto Rico following a Constitutional Assembly. Many of the legal areas touched on by the long arm of the federal government in this matter, are issues that the Commonwealth Courts can and should have been allowed to address in their Courts. Until the trial is over and a verdict is reached, I will not make any remarks about the Governor of Puerto Rico, nor will I cast any aspersions on him in this terrible time for him and his family. I will not join the cruel chorus of detractors who have jumped on the bandwagon blasting noise and clatter that "kicks" the Governor when he is down. Cruelty is the order of the day it seems. I pity all who indulge in this insidiousness.

It is not lost on many citizens who see and suggest there could be the appearance of a taint or a politically motivated witch hunt designed to bring down democratic governors throughout the United States and Territories. This lamentable indictment in Puerto Rico suggests a political vendetta directed against the Governor of Puerto Rico who is a pro commonwealth advocate, and who had protested the tragic circumstances in the death of a pro-independence renegade advocate who died by gunfire at the hands of the FBI when they allegedly raided his home a few years ago. The Governor had directed his Secretary of Justice (Attorney General) to investigate the tragedy, and to subpoena the FBI agents who were implicated in the death of Filiberto Ojeda Rios.
The Governor had also previously (2007) sent a pointed letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice several months ago, asking her to clarify if the United States had in fact "lied" to the World in 1952 when it told the United Nations that the creation of Commonwealth-status for Puerto Rico ended it's colonial status of then, and thus did not require the U.S. to report annually on the "progress" of Puerto Rico as was the protocol of the U.N. at that time in our history. The federal government's involvement in Puerto Rico in the 1930s, 40s, 50s was often violent, and some times tragic.

The Governor has also previously claimed with ample evidence of press clips and TV reports that he was subjected to a concerted effort of unprecedented press leaks attributed to the U.S. Attorney's office in San Juan, designed to heighten speculation and turn public opinion against him, in regard to the Grand Jury inquiry into the Governor's fund raising practices when he ran for Resident Commissioner to Congress in 2000 and for Governor in 2004.

Many observers who watched the drama unfold on Thursday March 27, 2008 in San Juan, Puerto Rico have been publicly asking:
1-Is the motive behind the indictment of the Governor of Puerto Rico designed to shatter Commonwealth status once and for all, and to force statehood, while destroying Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila in the process?
2-When Governor Acevedo Vila won election as Governor in November, 2004, a federal judge who was a dinner friend of the defeated "republican" candidate for Governor, "coincidentally" was assigned to the case -suit filed by the defeated candidate, and he held up a recount that was already underway, some have suggested this was so, to buy time for his friend, in the hope that the defeated candidate could find the votes to be declared the "Winner". The federal Appeals Court of Boston stepped into the matter, probably suspicious of an "attempted fix" and overruled the local federal judge, while publicly citing his "abuse of discretion", and Governor Acevedo Vila was declared the winner of the 2004 gubernatorial election.
3-Does it really make any sense to have the federal government bullying the Commonwealth government in a way that shows Orwellian arrogance, condescension that is neither necessary or fair, while displaying such outward and brazen contempt for the Laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in a manner that is so disrespectful of the special relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico?
4- Two pro-statehood advocates goaded the local FBI and US Dept of Justice to conduct a federal probe of the Governor, which resulted in his indictment on March 27, 2008. Many are openly asking: Is the office of the U. S. Attorney in Puerto Rico at the beck and call of one particular political group in Puerto Rico ? The fact that the feds pursued the probe at the request of two statehood advocates does this taint the indictments handed down yesterday? Does this kind of pursuit of the Governor not show a vengeful process of pursuit that is selective in prosecution?
5-Should the federal government make incursions that interfere with the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's system of Laws and ordinances?
The federal government at any level, should not impose its' will on the People of Puerto Rico under the color of an "indictment", and if Commonwealth-status must end, should this not be the prerogative of the People of Puerto Rico in consultation with the Congress? If democracy is the sacred protocol of enacting Laws with the consent of the governed, shouldn't the federal government allow for democracy to play out this process where Puerto Rico is concerned?
5-The Indictment was announced just 8 months before the next election for Governor. Was this done to deliberately help the PNP candidate for governor of Puerto Rico and to push the tide of public opinion in favor of the statehood party? The candidate for governor of the statehood party was instrumental in pushing the nomination of the current interim U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the Governor, and who is seeking to be permanently appointed as U. S. Attorney by Congress.
6-The sovereignty of the Commonwealth Territory of Puerto Rico warrants no role or interference by the federal government in local matters. This has been a long standing principle for over 200 years, and a benchmark that guides most of our states especially in the South West United States where our citizens publicly resent the Orwellian incursions of the federal government in their local matters. It is the guiding principle long defended by our American Indian tribes who denounce the technical and often supercilious incursions on their sovereignty as Nations, by agencies of the federal government. The U.S. Attorney firings in the U.S. points to what appears by some critics as a pattern of selective prosecution of democratic governors. Even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson warned that the federal government must never be allowed to become a tyranny in and of itself over the citizens that gave birth to our system of laws.

Puerto Rico's Jurisdiction Appears To Be
Under Unfair, Unwarranted Intrusion By The Federal Government.

We recall how a few years ago, a federal district judge in Puerto Rico interloped his way into a local election matter and he brazenly interfered with a local election where a candidate who was "republican" like the judge, was defeated , and the judge interceded in a manner that was highly unusual and unethical for a federal judge. Since at least the year 1993, the role of the federal government in the internal matters of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has increased by over 500 percent. Pro-commonwealth supporters in the Popular Democratic Party appear to be targeted for scrutiny in a manner that is unprecedented by the federal government.
Even White House efforts to discredit Commonwealth-status point to what appears to be a concerted effort to discredit Commonwealth, "by any means necessary".
The cruelty of one pro statehood advocate's arrogance is glaring in the recent indictment of the Governor of Puerto Rico. It is truly sad and the height of arrogance for the republican candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuno to be casting stones of aspersion on the Governor. Surprisingly, this individual too is under scrutiny by the U.S. Dept. of Justice in regard to his own fund raising activities. Not surprisingly, the interim U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico who is a counting on the republican candidate for governor to get her a permanent designation as U.S. Attorney, has interestingly recused herself from that probe.
Is this what that office has become? A peddler of deals where inncoent citizens are prosecuted in what appears to be an effort to advance a career or enhance a republican office holders' chances of becoming governor of Puerto Rico in November, 2008 by smearing the democratic governor of Puerto Rico?
It was Jesus Christ who exhorted us to remember when we become possessed of condescending arrogance to cast judgment on others in their time of misery to remember Christs' Scriptural exhortation: "He who is without sin, may cast the first stone." Demagoguery is the bench mark of those who have no compassion.

I am praying for the Governor and his family and for all the others implicated in this terrible saga. I am probably not in the "popular majority" who has called for Governor Acevedo Vila to resign now. An indictment is a formal charge of accusation where a bill of particulars in tendered with the charges laid out. The discharge of his duties as Governor are not disabled by the indictment, and if he has legal counsel, it is really the prerogative of the Governor of Puerto Rico if he feels he can stay in office during this tumultuous time. I will not throw stones at him as others have been doing since yesterday.

I have never met the Governor of Puerto Rico, but I sense he is a good man with a compassionate heart. May our Heavenly Father guide him and protect him, and may he give the full measure of his worth during this trying time in his life, God bless him.
Let the ends of justice take their course. If any one subverted our Laws, they will eventually answer for their malfeasance. The Governor of Puerto Rico must answer the charges. Until then, I suggest we keep an objective mindset.
What do you think? Let me know your opinions and thoughts.
Even those found in the wanting on the scales of justice can also hear what Isaiah the Prophet said: "And ye shall seek me, and ye shall find me when ye shall seek me with all of thine heart." Amen.
Thanks for reading my comments.

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