barriomulas.com - Comunidades Especiales as Small Republics

I had much hope for the Comunidades Especiales program when it was initiated almost a decade ago by former Governor Sila Calderon. The project had aims to empower poor and disadvantaged communities by allowing them to create formal resident juntas who in turn would coordinate with the Comunidades Especiales agency to decide which projects are a priority for the residents. The agency would then carry out the project.

Unfortunately the program has been a widespread failure for a number of reasons. First of all, Calderon initially received criticism from her opponents for the large Comunidades Especiales signs that were posted up next to all of the communities, which allegedly labeled communities and identified them as the poorest of the poor. Second, like any other government agency the Comunidades Especiales office was sluggish, bureaucratic, and found it difficult to follow up on projects with community leaders. Third, as the bureaucratic process dragged on projects would suffer downsizing, initiatives would have to be scrapped for cheaper ones, and in many instances the community would be left without any project at all. After almost a decade of the program's founding it was only until recently that the agency's director announced that funds had been assigned for all of the program's 742 projects, after downsizing a number, of course (El Vocero 4/29/08).

Throughout the previous years I have studied in depth popular organization during revolutions and times of chaos. During the absence of a central government communities have traditionally organized themselves in a sporadic form and have taken control of their own communities in an attempt to fill the power vacuums. Spain had its juntas, Russia its soviets, and the U.S. had its town square meetings, and so on. Thomas Jefferson referred to them as "small republics". The sporadic nature, efficiency, and democratic potential of such a phenomenon had always impressed me and since exposed to the subject have been trying to find ways to incorporate it into modern public policy.

With the intention of increasing the permanency and democratic tenancies of the Comunidades Especiales I have devised the following reforms:

I. Make every community a Comunidad Especial. The power to communicate directly between a junta and the government should be something that every community enjoys despite their economic standing. Also, it would be beneficial for every community to adopt a standard method of legitimizing its community organizations.

II. Allow the community's junta to carry out their project directly. As long as the project is carried out by the state it will be inefficient, slow, and costly. Hanging a check over to the community junta, giving them the space to execute the project directly, and then submitting them to an audit process will render more projects with less funds and much quicker as well.

II. Assign a portion of the annual budget to the community. Give them a remesa of sort. This will assure an active community and will relieve the state of much of its responsibilities.

These reforms, I believe, will convert the communities of Puerto Rico into authentic mechanisms of self-governance.