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 Emanuelli urged Gov. Fortuño to stop once and for all the
abuses against entities that protect the local culture.
“(NPP Rep.) Liza Fernández wants to destroy the Ateneo just as she
wanted to destroy the Puerto Rico Bar Association,” the pro-statehood
analyst said.
Fernández’s measure wants to use the money for the operations of a Bone
Marrow Unit at the Pediatric Hospital. She noted that the Ateneo wants
to advance Puerto Rico’s decolonization, something it should not do.
Emanuelli says the NPP also wants to work for Puerto Rico’s
decolonization.
“The Ateneo Puertorriqueño is the key entity that carries expressions of
the Puerto Rican people, be it from the independence, popular or pro-statehood
sector,” he said.
He said the money for the Bone Marrow Unit should come from the earmarks
given to dubious nonprofit groups. Besides the Ateneo, the Institute of
Puerto Rican Culture also has a very thin budget even though they give
pride to the people.
Emanualli said the NPP is acting wrongly. “We have to seek an openness
to live all together in tolerance,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ramón Luis Nieves, who is an aspiring Senate candidate for
the Popular Democratic Party, also attacked Fernández’s measure. He said
that if the measure were ever to be approved, he will introduce a
resolution, if elected, to return the money to the Ateneo.
Nov. 11 was the last day to pass bills so the resolution will have to
wait for the January session.
“Once more the San Juan district is a witness to the frontal attack of
Rep. Fernández to Puerto Rican entities that have served the people of
Puerto Rico well,” he said.
Nieves noted that the Ateneo was founded in 1876 and is one of the
oldest cultural entities of Puerto Rico.
He noted that Fernández seeks to punish the Ateneo for its free speech
rights. “Why doesn’t the money for the Bone Marrow Unit come from Gov.
Luis Fortuño’s $300 million advertising expenditures?” he asked.
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