Spanish
San Juan.- Senator of the Puerto Rican Independence Party Adrián González on Monday called the grand reception given by the Governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, to the Secretary of War of the United States, Pete Hegseth, "submission."
González emphasized from the Capitol building of Puerto Rico that this act represents that the Government has assumed "an attitude of complete submission, of complete surrender, of do what you want".You may be interested in: The Israel Defense Forces prepare for a decisive phase in the war against Hamas
"The important thing is that you see that I am behaving well with you," after the "evident rejection by the United States Government of making Puerto Rico a State," he added. These statements come after Hegseth visited Puerto Rico today to support the U.S. troops conducting maneuvers in the archipelago, where these exercises have sparked controversy due to the increased tension in the Caribbean with Venezuela. The political status of Puerto Rico as a Free Associated State of the U.S., established in 1952, grants the archipelago a certain degree of autonomy and a local Government and Parliament, but leaves under Washington's control areas such as defense, borders, and diplomatic relations. "The governor receiving with so much celebration, with so much pomp, the visit of these people who in Chicago and California would not have been received in the same way, because we are seeing jurisdictions in the United States repudiating the military presence, as here, where we experienced it much worse," González asserted. Thus, González referred to the military presence of the United States Navy in Vieques and part of Culebra, islands that it used as a firing range until May 2003 and where, to this day, the cleaning of the remains of unexploded ordnance has still not been completed. "It is truly shameful for the people of Puerto Rico that the governor is lending herself to that role," sentenced the pro-independence senator. The maneuvers of the US Armed Forces include amphibious landings and flight operations on the island, which is also preparing to receive ten F-35 fighter jets. "The Government of Puerto Rico is committed to this fight against drug trafficking. We are going to continue to see these maneuvers, we are going to see the presence of many of these teams in Puerto Rico," the governor said today at a press conference. In his opinion, this U.S. military presence is "a direct message to the leader of the cartel in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, that the United States will not let him get away with anything else." The governor's support for military maneuvers is not shared by many citizens, hundreds of whom demonstrated yesterday in front of the Muñiz Air Base in rejection of these exercises and a possible reactivation of the former military bases in Puerto Rico.
