Resolution - Impact on Price of Oil
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WHEREAS, the substantial increase in the price of oil has had a profound impact in our Nation’s economy; particularly, in sectors such as the airline industry. WHEREAS, various airline companies have decided to eliminate various routes that they had traditionally flown for years, as well as further increasing the cost of flying. WHEREAS, such decisions are sometimes subject to the influence of powerful political and economic interests; oftentimes detrimental to less powerful groups such as Hispanics. WHEREAS, the Luis Muñoz-Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico has been a Regional Hub for American Airlines for many years due to its ideal location with respect to the many Islands and countries of the Eastern Caribbean. WHEREAS, flights to and from Puerto Rico were seemingly always full because of the dependence of Puerto Ricans on the airline industry (like in the case of our fellow citizens from Hawaii) in order to travel for business and/or pleasure to the rest of the Nation. WHEREAS, recently American Airlines has decided to eliminate many of the routes that it offered to and from Puerto Rico to cities in the mainland such as Orlando (where there would not be any more flights to a city with a population of close to 3/4 of a million Puerto Ricans), New York, Washington, DC (where there will not be any more flights to our Nation’s Capital and a city with such a substantial Hispanic population), etc. WHEREAS, American Airlines also announced the elimination of more than 400 jobs from its workforce in its Regional Hub in San Juan. WHEREAS, this decision, regardless of the current oil crisis, seems totally disproportionate and discriminatory with respect to Puerto Rico and to Hispanics who travel for business and/or pleasure back and forth between the mainland and the Island. WHEREAS, this decision will have a profound and compounded impact in our Island’s economy. THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the League of United Latin American Citizens will encourage American Airlines to reconsider its decision. Approved this 11th day of July 2008. |