UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The UN Special Committee on Decolonisation adopted a Cuban-sponsored resolution urging the United States to expedite a process that will allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise their right to self-determination and independence.

The resolution was adopted without a vote Monday at the end of a day-long debate in which 22 people appealed for the island's colonial status to be resolved and many backed independence. Several supported a recommendation by Puerto Rico's Legislative Assembly in 2003 for a constituent assembly to determine the island's future.
No US representative spoke duringthe session.

Puerto Rico has been a US commonwealth for more than 50 years, giving those born there American citizenship but denying them full representation in Congress.

Polls consistently show most residents support either maintaining commonwealth status or full statehood, with only about five per cent supporting independence.

The resolution also urged US President George W Bush to release all Puerto Rican political prisoners serving sentences in US prisons, and all those serving sentences related to the effort to end US military activities on Vieques Island.

While a major victory has been won with the closure of the US Navy bombing range there last year, Francisco Velgara of the Vieques Support Campaign said the civilian population still lives in a death trap that could only be described as "genocide on the installment plan".

He said the dire situation in Vieques was being ignored by the United States, "the colonial power".

Edoardo Villanueva Munoz, chairman of the Committee for Human Rights of Puerto Rico, said the process of decolonisation required amnesty for political prisoners and demilitarising the island.

Cuban diplomat Orlando Requeijo Gual, whose country sponsored the resolution, said Cuba had a historical commitment to Puerto Rico that went back to the era when both countries were subject "to the same colonial yoke".

The tie meant both countries supported each other's efforts towards independence, as if fighting for a single homeland, he said.

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