Now, which one of these Puerto Ricans bloodied you?

Puerto Ricans considered those claims hypocritical.

But these PR's are different. They multiply. Like cockroaches.

Puerto Ricans were basically for statehood.

Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans had played a significant role in United States history.

Every Puerto Rican in the island and abroad has been united.

Since then, Puerto Rican lovers of justice and freedom have been struggling against that infamous regime.

Under its current status, Commonwealth associated with the United States, Puerto Ricans enjoyed certain rights.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr. Ramos Rosado (ProLibertad) took a place at the petitioners' table.

Hence, the national liberation struggle has been organized not only by Puerto Ricans living in the island, but also by Puerto Ricans living in the territory of the metropolitan Power.

Almost half of the total number of Puerto Ricans resided in various parts of the United States where, for many generations, Puerto Ricans had intermarried with other ethnic groups.

In 2004, Puerto Ricans were once again addressing the Committee as representatives not of a free and sovereign nation but of a colonial people exposed to racism, discrimination, impoverishment and exclusion.

The Puerto Rican people had a rich Hispanic cultural background with a worldwide reputation, wished to preserve their cultural identity and should not be culturally assimilated into the United States.

Puerto Ricans further requested the Committee's and the international community's support in seeking full empowerment, which would allow them along with the other peoples of the world to participate in addressing world problems.

Since, moreover, some Puerto Rican political prisoners had been released by a Democratic president's decision, it was unlikely that Democrats would criticize a similar decision that the current Republican administration might take.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans lived and participated in presidential, congressional and municipal elections in the United States, where the Spanish speaking electorate as a whole played an ever greater role in domestic politics.

Over the years, Puerto Rican political prisoners too had also suffered torture, including solitary confinement, pressure to renounce their political convictions and various forms of hardship.

The artificial problem of Puerto Rico's colonial status could be definitively solved by making Puerto Rico the fifty first state of the United States, whereby Puerto Ricans would automatically enjoy the same rights as other United States citizens.

Mr. Ramos Rosado (ProLibertad Freedom Campaign) said that Puerto Ricans were at the mercy of the United States Government's foreign and domestic policies, could not vote in presidential elections and were not represented in the United States Congress.

Puerto Rican soldiers had given their lives in order to defend the democracy, freedom and interests of the United States, yet the island's development was being hindered because its inhabitants were not represented in Congress or the Senate and were not permitted to vote in Presidential elections.