Annotations for People: Mirabal-manny

One of the reasons we're holding this process is to ensure that there will be, to show the Congress that not only our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico are concerned about this issue and want it resolved once or for all, but also people who actually vote and elect the Congress of the United States. 143 Congresspeople whose electoral districts have significant Puerto Rican populations, I think will get a message that they better start dealing with it.

We were attacked by the leaders in Puerto Rico as having ulterior motives for the vote. We've been attacked from members of our own Puerto Rican community here for having political reasons for holding the vote. The bottom line is that we were not holding this vote so that when it was all over we could carry the banner of Ella and say, "That's what we want." We're not going to do that. If statehood should win, we're not planning on carrying the banner for statehood. What we are planning on carrying the banner for is that 30,000 plus people, came to the polls, cast their ballot, and they all said the one thing and they all said that together, "We want to be part of this process."