Roland Gutierrez: “This is a very serious decision that we are entering into. I know we have had this debate about statutory citizenship…”

“This is a very serious decision that we are entering into. I know we have had this debate about statutory citizenship all day and it is just very important to me. It is important because I think that we have shown that the 14th amendment should apply to all the people of Puerto Rico. Think about it. The 14th amendment of the Constitution of the United States will be simply thrown up in the air if we adopt this. That is wrong. It is wrong to all those citizens on the island of Puerto Rico. I want a fair process. I want a process that says here is independence, and a version of independence a little kinder and gentler and a little more realistic than the one offered here; a version of statehood, a realistic version of statehood, the kind of statehood that I lived in Puerto Rico. I would like to tell everybody that in 1972, when I was 19 years old, I registered to vote. The first time I voted was in San Sabastian, Puerto Rico, so take it from me, I know what the statehooders propose, what the independence people propose, what the commonwealthers propose, because I was there listening for many years.”