The US Department of Defense

finally rears its head:debt as an excuse

MARÍA DE LOS ANGELES TRIGO

MAY 2016

Did you wonder why I mentioned the Department of Defense several times in my articles analyzing the monstrous PROMESA?

Did you wonder why I singled out the language about the squashing of dissent, and mentioned the FBI’s history of persecution and violence against Puerto Ricans?

Wonder no more.

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My suspicions have been confirmed.

The final wording of the PROMESA Act and the denouement in the US Supreme Court of the search for a judicial answer as to Puerto Rico’s political status have been foreshadowed.

No surprise: they will not favor Puerto Rico.

My “back to the future” theme has proven right.

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A WARNING

My profile summary in LinkedIn says that I believe Puerto Rico’s “analyses must consider the historical background of Puerto Rico’s constitutional development, as well as its relationship with the US: Puerto Rico’s legal framework, constitutional boundaries, and political realities and limits are unique.”

This is the first article I publish that shows my readers how unique and harsh Puerto Rico’s “political realities and limits” really are.

You have been warned.

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Stirrings of

Misgiving

MY SUSPICIONS

THAT THINGS WERE NOT

WHAT THEY SEEMED

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My suspicions that things were not what they seemed (that they had nothing to do with the payment of the debt incurred by the Puerto Rico government) started on 1 October 2015 when the US Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Sánchez Valle case.

They got stronger with the incredibly offensive 18th-century-likebrief the Solicitor General filed in that case.

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When the brief was made public last December (and what a Christmas gift it was!), I thought the reason for its language was that soon Puerto Rico would be, once again, overrun with US soldiers.

And that the double jeopardy issue was to protect the US’s soldiers from ever having to face Puerto Rico’s justice, as well as saving the DoD the aggravation and the expense of taking them off the country.

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Puerto Rico v. Sánchez Valle

The Sánchez Valle case presents to the US Supreme Court the question of “Whether Puerto Rico and the federal government are separate sovereigns for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution.”

Double jeopardy is the legal doctrine that prevents a person from being tried twice for the same charges, in the same jurisdiction, following an acquittal or conviction.

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Puerto Rico has been considered a separate jurisdiction from the US Federal government for purposes of this clause for crimes committed in Puerto Rico. That is implicit in Puerto Rico’s self-government. Until now.

In these absurd situations that only happen in this colony, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court held that Puerto Rico’s political statusdid not grant it a separate jurisdiction for purposes of the jeopardy clause.

The Puerto Rico government presented a petition for certiorari to the US Supreme Court.

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A little background

US soldiers stationed in the many bases the DoD has in Puerto Rico are subject to Puerto Rico’s criminal laws.

However, it is easy for the DoD to get them out of the country and prevent them from standing trial before Puerto Rico courts.

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For sure, Puerto Rico is not the only place where the DoD did this. It also did it in Okinawa, and it was just a few years ago that the US consented to have its soldiers stand trials for rape in Japanese courts.

(Okinawans wanted the base closed and the US soldiers gone, and who can blame them. The pressure on the Japanese government got so bad, that the US consented to several “reforms” so it could keep its base.)

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Prediction, lite

The Sánchez Valle opinion will adopt the Obama administration’s 18th century view of Puerto Rico, so the DoD will not have to spirit anyone away anymore.

As long as the US government presents charges first, it will block the Puerto Rico government from charging soldiers of any crime.

This way, the US government will have control of the criminal repercussions of its employees’ actions.

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Say what?THE ROLE OF THE PRESS

PROMOTING

AN AGENDA

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The Wall Street Journal

I kept suspecting things were not what they seemed when the Wall Street Journal wrote on 7 April 2016 a glowing editorialfavoring federal judge of the District for Puerto Rico José Fusté.

An editorial that the Committee on Natural Resources of the US House of Representatives added to its newsroom webpage!

Coincidence?

The WSJ said that “a federal judge like Mr. Fusté would be best situated to mediate negotiations, determine creditor classes, resolve claim priorities and rule on whether the readjustment plan is fair and equitable to creditors.”

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This, in the paragraph following the praise it gave him for his “scathing rebuke striking down the tax as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause” on a tax case in which he ruled against Puerto Rico and favored Wal-Mart.

It was an editorial so improper and out-of-the-blue that made us in Puerto Rico ask what-in-the-name-is-going-on-here.

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It so happens that the next day, on 8 April 2016, it was confirmed Mr Fusté would retire from the Federal court on 1 June. And not to a semi-retirement to a position of Senior Judge, as is customary, but a full retirement.

Coincidence?

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Afterwards, on 21 April 2016 it was made public that Mr Fusté had issued 17 orders to independentistas to submit DNA to the FBI (the order publicly available in the internet is dated 18 April 2016).

The orders, issued on behalf of the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service orders the extraction of DNA (“tissue and saliva samples via buccal swabs”).

The orders have no information as to why they were issued nor to what proceeding they relate, nor what evidence or testimony “establish the probable cause to search and seize.”

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What-in-the-name-is-going-on-here?

Coincidence?

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The New York Times

In between Mr Fusté’s appearances in the news, on 12 April 2016 The New York Times published a piece on the financial consulting business owned by the wife of Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in the US Congress, Pedro Pierluisi.

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The New York Times

The NYT admitted that the two ethics lawyers that examined the issue at the newspaper’s request said they did not find “violations of the [House ethics] rules” in the work Ms Carrión had done.

Even so, the paper ran the piece, and with the yellowish headline of “Couple Gains in Island’s Crisis.” (The headline online was “Puerto Rico’s Prosperous D.C. Power Couple.”)

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The NYT was running a piece that was clearly not-news for its readers in the US, so I wondered why were they publishing it.

Mr Pierluisi has gone so far as to say, in Congressional hearings, that if Congress is not willing to work to find a sensible solution to Puerto Rico’s crisis, the alternative is Puerto Rico’s independence.

As skeptic as my readers know by now that I am, I was curious as to who was behind this attack.

Coincidence?

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Go East,

Young Man,

Go East

PUERTO RICO’S ROLE

IN THE US’S COMMERCIAL AND

MILITARY STRATEGY

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Meanwhile we read in the news about the US threatening ISIS and ISIL with attacks; Syria with invasion; Russia with reprisals; and more US troops going to Iraq and Afghanistan.

And promoting a NATO’s expansion.

To the east.

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Did you notice all those places of future “engagement” are to the east?

Did you notice those wars go through Puerto Rico?

Coincidence?

And I am not even mentioning Venezuela.

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Did you notice that there is no “enemy” nation between Puerto Rico and those places I mentioned?

Did you notice that Puerto Rico is the first “American” jurisdiction between the 50 states and those places?

Did you notice that the 200 nautical miles of national air and sea space that belong to Puerto Rico, the US controls under international law?

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Did you notice that the air and sea area the US gets from controlling Puerto Rico lets the US control the world’s air and sea access to

the Caribbean Sea,

the northern coast of South America,

the eastern coast of Central America and Mexico,

the Gulf of Mexico, and

the southern coast of the US?

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Did you notice that the US can block every nation’s access to the southern North American Continent solely because it controls Puerto Rico?

Because of Puerto Rico, the US controls the access to the Gulf of Mexico from the North Atlantic Ocean, as well as the route from Europe to eastern North America through the North Atlantic Ocean.

If not for Puerto Rico, the US would have to wait for its “enemies to be at the gates” before being able to legally engage.

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Indispensable, Still Today

It was the ability to block the route from the North Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and, therefore the Gulf of Mexico, that made the US decide to wrest Puerto Rico from Spain years before the Spanish-American War.

However, some people believe that today, in this era of drones and satellites and unmanned aircraft, there is no as much need for naval bases or fueling stations as before.

They think Puerto Rico is not as militarily important anymore.

To that I say, pfft.

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First, oceans and countries are in the same place they were a century ago (and people and things still do not teleport).

Controlling Puerto Rico lets the US control all the area around its southern coast and gives it plenty of warning to protect its five states in the Gulf coast as well as the lower states in the east coast.

Think about it: the security several US states is strengthened because of the US’s control of Puerto Rico.

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Second, even drones must be refueled. Unmanned aircraft must be refueled. The US Air Force still exists and still uses airplanes, and they must be refueled.

Even if some refueling could be done on-air, the aerial refueling station eventually must come down to land. To refuel and for maintenance.

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In this first link it is clear how important Puerto Rico is to the military strategies of the US and its defense. The rest of the links will help you understand why any opposition by Puerto Ricans to the US’s unbridled control brings out the DoD.

Marine Regions, Exclusive Economic Zones (use the OpenStreetMap view)

Limits in the Sea, Maritime Boundary, US and Venezuela

Limits in the Sea, Maritime Boundaries in the Caribbean, US and the UK

U.S. Maritime Limits and Boundaries Webmap

US Department of State Limits in the Seas

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No one should be asking “Why are we in the US putting up with Puerto Rico.”

Just look at a map and the answer will be staring at you.

You will see not only the military necessity and incalculable military and commercial advantages the US has by controlling Puerto Rico, but also the protection Puerto Rico provides for the US’s maritime and air routes.

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The DoD

Historically, increases in the US’s political repression over Puerto Ricans and particularly independentistas have immediately preceded upswings in the DoD activity in Puerto Rico.

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Therefore, I expect the DoD will commandeer again the bases of Roosevelt Roads (the biggest naval base outside of the US), Ramey, and the most-desired — Vieques.

No paying of rent. No paying of property tax.

Not a token payment for anything.

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As with prior US’s war efforts, Puerto Rico will be used as a nuclear heads warehouse, ordnance and weapon warehouse, refueling station for both US and its allies, leave for soldiers (the tropics provide good weather, and with the US controlling criminal jurisdiction, the ambiance is even better, for the US soldiers and the soldiers of the US’s allies).

And all of this with the advantage that Puerto Rico is the only place in the US where the DoD really controls the location, since the US Constitution does not constrain the DoD in Puerto Rico as it does in the 50 states.

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I think the DoD’s presence in Puerto Rico in the following months will be ramping up, and may be similar to the level of activity the War Department conducted in Puerto Rico for WWII.

And note that during that time, Puerto Rico had no Constitution.

Coincidence?

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Puerto Rico and

Municipal Analysts

THE IGNORANCE OF

HOW PUERTO RICO

REALLY FITS WITHIN

THE US’S POLICIES

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One of the many problems Puerto Rico faces when dealing with the financial world of rating agencies and credit analysts is how much they ignore how Puerto Rico really fits within the US’s policies.

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I do not forget how, three years ago, during a training given by The Municipal Bond Club of New York and SIFMA, the President of one of the most-often quoted municipal analysis firms mentioned to the analysts there (and those of us listening through the web) how he did not understand why the US did not let loose Puerto Rico already, considering it was an island down there that had been strategically important in the past, but had no military importance whatsoever any more.

Pity I do not have a transcript, so I cannot use quotation marks.

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If you already saw the maps and the demarcation of maritime zones, you will understand why I about fell off the chair when I heard him.

I sure hope he knows more about the municipal market than he knows about Puerto Rico’s indispensable role in the US’s international, trade, and military (offensive and defensive) strategies.

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The dangerous thing is that his words were being soaked up by the new cadre of New York municipal analysts.

What criteria do these analysts have to analyze Puerto Rico and the real political risks if they have no idea how the US and Puerto Rico relate to each other?

And when the experts who are supposed to teach them the fine points do not know any better?

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But his comments were also revealing of how incompletely municipal analysts analyze Puerto Rico, and how little they know about the factors that come into play in the reactions and decisions the US government makes concerning any issue related to Puerto Rico.

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Political RealitiesDESPOTISM,

18TH CENTURY-STYLE

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The US is signaling Puerto Ricans that a new era of political and social repression is about to start.

The DoD needs absolute control over Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, again.

The Sánchez Valle case is, for all purposes, the repeal of Public Law 447, through which the US Congress approved the Constitution of Puerto Rico that Puerto Ricans had approved through a referendum.

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As with the Insular Cases, it is easier for the US government to have the US Supreme Court provide it with the legal “cover” of the territorial clause to annul Puerto Rico’s self-government (limited as it is), than to openly repeal Public Law 447.

Back to the Foraker Act, indeed.

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These are my predictions: the US Supreme Court will hold in the Sánchez Valle case that the Constitution of Puerto Rico has no practical political purposes, placing the lid on the coffin for self-government.

And in the Franklin California case the US Supreme Court will hammer the last nail by holding that the territorial clause trumps the uniformity requirement of the bankruptcy clause (a possibility I had mentioned months ago).

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Because what the DoD wants, the DoD gets.

That will always be “rational basis,” the only justification the US Supreme Court has held the US government must comply with to “treat Puerto Rico differently.”

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Someone once told me: “I do not believe in conspiracies. Nor in coincidence.”

Amen.

Still think this is about the debt?

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Suggested

ReadingsFOR THE CURIOUS MIND

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“The Plot Against Puerto Rico,” Michael Moran, Foreign Policy, 29 April 2016

Strategy as Politics: Puerto Rico on the Eve of the Second World War, Jorge Rodríguez Beruff, Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2007

Lessons of the War with Spain and Other Articles, Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1899 (in the public domain, kindle edition)

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Island At War: Puerto Rico in the Crucible of the Second World War, Jorge Rodríguez Beruff and José L. Bolívar Fresneda(Editors), University Press of Mississippi, 2015

Battleship Vieques: Puerto Rico from World War II to the Korean War, César J. Ayala and José L. Bolívar, Markus Wiener Publishers, 2011

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Puerto Rico en la Segunda Guerra Mundial: Baluarte del Caribe, Jorge Rodríguez Beruff y José L. Bolívar Fresneda (Editores), Ediciones Callejón, 2012

Puerto Rico en la Segunda Guerra Mundial: El Escenario Regional, Jorge Rodríguez Beruff y José L. Bolívar Fresneda (Editores), Ediciones Callejón, 2015

Las Memorias de Leahy: Los Relatos del Almirante William D. Leahy sobre su Gobernación de Puerto Rico (1939-1940), Jorge Rodríguez Beruff, Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín, 2002

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And Once Again

The first two books that follow because, although not obvious from their titles, they give an overview of Puerto Rico’s military importance for the US, and how the US’s decision of taking possession of Puerto Rico predates the Spanish-American War by a decade. This naval strategy informed the arguments adopted by the US Supreme Court on Puerto Rico’s place within the US, as decided in the several Insular Cases.

The third book? The title says it all.

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The Insular Cases and the Emergence of American Empire, Bartholomew H. Sparrow, University Press of Kansas, 2006

Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World, José Trías Monge, Yale University Press, 1999

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony, Nelson A. Denis, PublicAffairs Books, 2015

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Originally published in LinkedIn

The DoD finally rears its head: debt as an excuse

3 May 2016

An attorney and CPA, I help clients understand Puerto Rico’s public finance market and its legal and regulatory framework. I aim to provide you with insights and information rooted in Puerto Rico’s history, and legal and political status, so you can better understand Puerto Rico’s fiscal and legal structures.

If you found the article helpful, please share it with those who might find it interesting. If you would like to read future articles, just click the follow button, here in SlideShareand in LinkedIn.

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