Question 40: How does a dependent municipality become an independent country over night?
Short Answer: It doesn’t. It takes five to ten (or more) years of investigation, negotiation, consensus making, planning, designing systems, building organizations, training, etc., to transition into an independent, sustainable entity that can run and mange itself.
Question 41: Without money, businesses, experience, training, and all of the community infrastructure and systems in place, how can Vieques possibly begin a transition much less run as an independent country?
Short Answer: It can’t. The following questions break down the problem into smaller parts for which solutions are offered.
Question 42: Our local political leaders barely manage our municipality, how are they possibly going to run a country?
Short Answer: Before we can talk about who will run the country, we need to decide what the government organization should look like so that the people we have can govern Vieques. Our municipal government is structured and funded by PR – it is part of a totally unmanageable, broken system that must be redesigned from the ground up to meet our needs.
Expanded Answer: Communities of our size should have governments that are horizontal with three levels: elected council or board, hired professional management, and contracted services.
Question 42A: What about a Constitution and Bill of Rights?
Expanded Answer: Read More
Question 43: Who in Vieques is qualified to govern a small country?
Short Answer: We are. Among us are many with experience in government, public works, utility services, education, healthcare, transportation, etc. Our lights have been hidden by the bushel of broken systems implemented by PR so that it has not been obvious that our own citizens have the appropriate capabilities.
Expanded Answer: Vieques has talent, and with the proper structure and systems, the community can pull together and govern itself quite handily.
Question 44: How can we do this on our own?
Short Answer: We don’t – we hire expert consultants to assist and guide us through the entire process from the design of our government and the required systems (including education, healthcare, social services, legal, and the many other others required), through recruitment of management staff, selection of contractors, and implementation. We also have a number of full and part time residents who are experts, or well connected to experts, that can provide many services pro bono or for little cost to help our efforts.
Question 45: What is planned for the new systems for education, healthcare, social services, legal system, justice system, and land use?
Short Answer: These plans must be developed by representatives selected by Viequenses and ultimately approved by referendum.
Expanded Answer: As starting points for discussion, the following are offered:
Education. Read More
Healthcare. Read More
Social Services. Read More
Legal System. Read More
Justice System. Read More
Land Use. Read More
Question 46: Vieques is poor. How can we possibly provide viable opportunities for new businesses to locate here?
Short Answer: We change the rules. Neither Puerto Rico nor the US are particularly business friendly any more. With our excellent geographic location, attractive climate, and through the creation of an appropriate tax and regulation environment, Vieques can become a desirable business destination.
Expanded Answer: Most of the developed countries in the world have grown their regulatory and taxing bureaucracies beyond reasonable limits. They’ve become gigantic, inefficient, and undemocratic. We can provide an efficient, level playing field that attracts sufficient business to generate the jobs and taxes required to fund our operations and social programs.
Question 47: How can we support new businesses in Vieques with the existing transportation system – the ATM?
Short Answer: We add a private contracted service. Without logistical support Vieques dies a slow death: that’s what we are seeing now. The ATM will get even worse.
Expanded Answer: We need an efficient system running the short route for cargo, residents, and tourists.
Question 48: How do we guaranty access to the main island and a stable, efficient terminal facility under our control?
Short Answer: We buy Roosevelt Roads.
Question 49: Why would PR sell Roosevelt Roads to Vieques?
Short Answer: PR has been unsuccessfully trying to develop the former Navy base for a decade and can’t. They bought the facility for $16 million because they couldn’t sell it to developers.
Expanded Answer: Roosevelt Roads and Vieques have been codependent for 70 years. As a new country without debt and with a favorable business climate, we can develop some of our new business utilizing the remaining infrastructure built by the Navy. Any business we develop will benefit PR, especially the surrounding areas.
Question 50: The problems with the electric and water companies are legion. How do we provide high quality systems under our control at predictable, affordable prices?
Short Answer: We build our own, environmentally clean, sustainable, electrical generation and desalinization plant.
Expanded Answer: Through the use of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) systems, we can become totally independent, continue to supply Culebra, and actually send both water and electricity back to Roosevelt Roads and other main island destinations.
Question 51: What types of business development would be viable for Vieques?
Short Answer: We know for certain that eco-tourism is a winner for us, but we have strong reasons to believe that medical tourism, spaceport operations, and shipping could be very viable. We have a population of under 10,000 so we don’t need (nor can we handle) much.
Expanded Answer: In addition, there are so many potential opportunities that we have only a little knowledge of that could provide exceptional success.
Question 52: How does Vieques raise sufficient funds from taxes to be sustainable?
Short Answer: The tax system is created to be fair, simple in structure and in filing, easy to enforce, and attractive to both businesses and individuals.
Expanded Answer: Nobody likes taxes, period. But, the governments of the world have made bad systems even worse. Not Vieques!
Question 53: How do we fund a transition from our current disenfranchised state to an independent country?
Short Answer: With a little help from our friends: government assistance and grants.
Expanded Answer: We will attempt to negotiate financial and service support at the current levels from the US and PR while funding the design and implementation of the new systems via grants.