Word: statehooder
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Munoz Marin's only non-religious opposition, the Statehood and Independence Parties, won together less than 34 per cent of the vote...
...their way to see that there was no mistaking their meaning: not only was a vote for Muñoz "inevitably a sin" but Puerto Rican Catholics were bluntly urged to vote for the church-sponsored Christian Action Party rather than for the opposition Independence or Republican Statehood Parties. To this the chancellor of the Ponce diocese, Msgr. Victor Nazario, added a warning. "Any Catholic who preaches or publicly supports the program of the Popular Democratic Party . . . not only commits a mortal sin but also can be excommunicated...
...three Roman Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter forbidding Catholics to vote for Governor Luis Muñoz Marin and his Popular Democratic Party, Puerto Rico's gubernatorial campaign was a race without an issue. Muñoz' opponent, Luis Ferré, candidate of the Statehood Republican Party and a partner in the island's largest private enterprise (Ferré Industries), had demanded a plebiscite on statehood, but foxy old Muñoz sidetracked that issue. His party slipped a rule through the legislature that no statehood plebiscite could be held in an election year, thus reducing...
...against the bishops. "The day you begin to follow the political orders of the clergy," he cried, "that day you will lose your freedom." Muñoz pointed out that the legality of birth control, one of the bishops' points of protest, was established in 1937 by the Statehood Republicans, not by his Popular Democrats...
...likely to have a decisive effect on the governorship. Like other Latin Americans, Puerto Ricans traditionally make a sharp distinction between religion and politics, and cannot be expected to desert Munoz for the bishops. What is likely to cost Muñoz more votes is the old statehood question. For all the maneuverings in favor of commonwealth status (which gives Puerto Rico the advantages of being part of the U.S. without federal taxation), the statehood vote is growing. In 1956, the Statehood Republicans polled 172,000 votes. This year the experts predict a 60% jump to 275,000 or more...