Captured in the Spanish-American War of 1898, the Caribbean
island of Puerto Rico has been an American possession ever since.
Spain possessed Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite
attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British. Given the
long history of Spanish rule, while Spanish and English are both official
languages, Spanish is the island’s primary language.
In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship and
since 1948 have elected their own governor. In 1952 a constitution was adopted
and ratified by the electorate, turning the unincorporated territory into the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with its own democratically elected legislative
and executive branches and its own Supreme Court.
Puerto Ricans are American citizens and can come and go to
the mainland as they please; they also need no permits to work. It is estimated
that some two million Puerto Ricans have migrated to the United States, and there
are more Puerto Ricans living in New York than in the capital, San Juan.
However, the 3.6 million residents of Puerto Rico pay no
federal income tax, nor can they vote in American presidential elections. And
the United States Congress still legislates over many aspects of Puerto Rican
life, including the currency, the postal service, foreign affairs, military
defence, communications, and commerce.
This anomalous situation has made the political future of
the island a constant preoccupation. In 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists led a
three-day revolt against U.S. domination, known as the Jayuya Uprising, in
various cities and towns on the island, decrying the island’s colonial status.
Two Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman
in Washington. But since the island achieved Commonwealth status as an
autonomous polity, there has been little violence.
Still, politics continue to revolve around the question of
Puerto Rico’s future and its three major political parties have been formed
around the preferences of statehood, independence and the current commonwealth
status. The Partido
Popular Democratico (PPD) seeks to maintain or improve the current
status, the Partido
Nuevo Progresista (PNP) wants to fully incorporate Puerto Rico as a U.S.
state, and the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueno (PIP)
calls for national independence.
Since 1998, Puerto Ricans have cast their ballots in three
plebiscites regarding their relationship with the U.S., the most recent held in
November of last year. Voters were asked first whether they agreed that Puerto
Rico should continue to have its present form of territorial status. Regardless
of how voters answered that question, they were asked secondly, to express
their preference among three non-territorial alternatives: statehood, complete
independence, or a form of sovereign nationhood in a “compact of free
association” with the U.S. The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau in the
Pacific have such arrangements with Washington.
On the second ballot question, of the 1.3 million voters who
made a choice, nearly 800,000 supported statehood, some 437,000 backed
sovereign free association and 72,560 chose complete independence. But nearly
500,000 left that question blank, as the pro-Commonwealth PPD instructed its
supporters not to answer it at all, since the Commonwealth option wasn’t
listed. Puerto Rico’s Governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, a member of the PPD, also
supports the current Commonwealth status.
However, the PNP organized pro-statehood marches in both Puerto
Rico and on the U.S. mainland on March 2, demanding that the American
government honor the results of the referendum. On May 15, the island’s
non-voting Congressman, Pedro Pierluisi of the PNP, introduced the Puerto Rico
Status Resolution Act in the House of Representatives, which if passed would
ask Puerto Rican voters if they want Puerto Rico to be admitted as the 51st
state of the Union.
Regardless of whether Pierluisi’s bill becomes law, yet
another plebiscite may be in the island’s future. The budget President Barack
Obama sent to Congress in April includes $2.5 million for a status plebiscite
in Puerto Rico in 2014.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico is in financial trouble. It has about
$87 billion of debt, counting pensions, or $23,000 for every person on the
island. Governor Padilla, has frozen the biggest of the island’s public pension
funds, raised utility rates sharply, imposed new taxes and stepped up
enforcement of existing taxes. The territory will postpone most long-term
borrowing for the rest of 2013.
Should Puerto Ricans opt for statehood, would they even be
admitted? Congress has ultimate authority over the admission of new states and
is under no obligation to admit states even in those areas whose population
expresses a desire for statehood. The Republican Party might not like the idea
of millions more Hispanics, who would probably vote Democratic, added to the
electorate. It therefore remains an unlikely prospect.
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