This is one of the more inspiring pieces of oratory by a U.S.-based Puerto Rican politician I’ve ever seen. Most interesting is the battle set off by Resident Commissioner Pierliusi’s island-centric critique. The irony is that most of the island’s intelligentsia agrees with Gutiérrez–he even says in the video he’s far from the first person to express the sentiments he does. If its propaganda and repression weren’t so postmodern, you could say the PNP has been enforcing a 21st version of “la mordaza.”

Makes you wonder what Fortuño and his crew are thinking when they purport to be the standard bearers of making Puerto Rico the 51st state. Wouldn’t statehood only expose his party’s corrupt and repressive tactics to continued scrutiny in inconvenient forums like the Congress of the U.S.? Or do they think that by the time statehood is approved all 50 states will be ruled by Scott Walker and Chris Christie clones?

At any rate, the message is clear. Stateside Latinos should become more involved in Puerto Rican politics. At the very least when human rights are in question.