PUERTO RICO WANTS INDEPENDENCE OR STATEHOOD

PUERTO RICO WANTS INDEPENDENCE OR STATEHOOD

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is a fascinating case for anyone interested in statehood. Effectively a colony of the United States, time and time again it has rejected independence. Instead, opinion seems balanced between those who want to keep the status quo and those who want to see the territory join the USA as the 51st state. 

In this post we are going to explore why the option of independent statehood is so heavily rejected and why, if full integration with the US is a possibility, so many people on the island seem happy to keep Puerto Rico's current status. It's usually taken for granted that colonies wish to break away from the control of an imperial power and forge their own place in the world. Indeed, the history of the last seventy years has been fundamentally shaped by the end of colonialism and the emergence of new states. Of the 193 current UN members, over 80 were once colonies. However, just occasionally one comes across a territory that, for one reason or another, seems reluctant to leave behind its colonial existence. In some cases, this may be because independence is not a feasible aspiration. For example, it may be simply considered too small for statehood. This would include some of the tiny island territories in the South Pacific. In other cases, ending colonial rule would simply mean that the territory would be passed to another sovereign authority that the people in question may well strongly oppose. Examples include Gibraltar and the Falklands, which would be transferred by Britain to Spain and Argentina respectively. Then there's Puerto Rico. 

Unlike other territories, it most definitely could expect to gain full independence if it wanted it. No other state has a claim over it. And there's certainly no issue of size. At 8,900 square kilometers, or three and a half thousand square miles, it's just smaller than Cyprus or Lebanon. And with 3.2 million inhabitants, it would nestle in amongst Bosnia, Armenia and Jamaica. To be sure, it would be a smaller UN member. But it certainly wouldn't be the smallest. And yet, when the question of independence has been put to the people of Puerto Rico, it has consistently been rejected. Why? Puerto Rico lies of the Caribbean, sandwiched between the Dominican Republic and the British and US Virgin Islands. Made up of a main Island and a series of smaller ones, it lies approximately 1,600 kilometres or a thousand miles southeast of Florida, the nearest part of mainland United States. Having been a part of the Spanish Empire, the story really starts at the end of the nineteenth century. Following its defeat in the Spanish-American war in 1898, Spain was forced to accept Cuban independence and cede a number of territories to the United States. These included the Philippines and Guam in the Pacific and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. 

In the years that followed, rapid Americanization took place as Puerto Rico now became an unincorporated territory of the United States. And in 1917 the United States granted citizenship to the inhabitants of the island. The first major questions about US rule over Puerto Rico came with the establishment of the United Nations, in 1945. Chapter 11 of the UN Charter, the Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories, required all member states to provide a list of all territories they were responsible for administering, "whose people had not yet attained a full measure of self-government". In other words, a list of colonial and quasi-colonial holdings. This listed over 70 non-self-governing territories around the world, including the US territories of Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, the Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In an attempt to address this, in 1952 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was created. This granted the island extensive self-rule. However, while the island remained subject to US federal laws, it still had no say on how those laws were made. Indeed, to this day it can only send one non-voting 'Resident Commissioner' to the House of Representatives. Balanced against this, the island was largely exempted from US federal taxes. 

These changes were enough to satisfy the UN that the people had exercised their right to self-determination and had achieved self-government. In 1953, UN General Assembly Resolution 748 removed Puerto Rico from the list of non-self-governing territories. However, in the years that followed, the debate over Puerto Rico's status evolved, both internally and internationally. This in turn led to five non-binding referendums on its status. The first of these was held in 1967. This offered voters three options: Commonwealth, Statehood or Independence. The status quo option of retaining the Commonwealth beat statehood by 60.4% to 39%. Just 0.6 percent chose independence. The next referendum, held 25 years later,in 1993, was more evenly balanced. Retaining the Commonwealth won 49% of the votes cast. In contrast, 46.6% supported US federal statehood. Meanwhile, support for independence rose to 4.5%. Then, in 1998, a third referendum took place. This offered five options: statehood, independence, free association, territorial Commonwealth and "none of the above". Following a dispute over the definition of these terms, supporters of the Commonwealth actually voted for "none of the above", which got 50.5%. Statehood got 46.6% and independence registered just 2.6%. In 2012, a fourth vote was held. 

This used a two-part question. First did voters want to continue the current arrangement? 46% said Yes. 54% said No. Of the alternative options, statehood again won with 61.2%. Free association was next, with 33.3%.And independence scored 5.5%. Finally, the most recent was held in 2017. Due to a boycott by the main political party in favour of the status quo, turnout ran at just 23%. Of those that did vote, 97.2% voted for statehood. Just 1.5 percent voted for independence or free association. In the meantime, the international debate on Puerto Rico status has reignited over the past decade. The UN Special Committee on Decolonization has repeatedly taken up the question of the island's status, passing annual resolutions calling on the United States to take responsibility for facilitating the territory's self-determination and independence. Although it should be made clear that the membership of the body can hardly be described as particularly friendly to the United States. Likewise, the debate trundles on in the United States. Over the years, there have been numerous bills presented to Congress calling for steps to address the island's status. In October 2019, the Resident Commissioner introduced the Puerto Rican Statehood Admission Act, the latest of these. While this envisaged yet another non-binding referendum on Puerto Rico's status, it never even made it to a vote. So, what is the future of Puerto Rico? Roughly speaking, as the referendums have shown, there are five broad options for discussion. 

The three main ones independence, federal statehood and maintaining the status quo as a Commonwealth. In addition there are two variations on the status quo and independence: an Enhanced Commonwealth and Free Association. What really stands out is just how little support there is for independence. In truth, this is hardly surprising. It would carry significant costs. For a start it would almost certainly see Porto Ricans lose their rights to live and work in the United States and their US citizenship. Independence would also pose wider economic risks as Puerto Rico would lose the other economic advantages it enjoys. It is significantly wealthier than almost any of the independent states in the region. According to the World Bank, its 2018 gross domestic product per capita was US$31,651. This put it just a shade behind The Bahamas at US$32,220 but far ahead of all the other countries in the region. The next-in-line, St Kitts and Nevis stood at US$19,275. Meanwhile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, the other large Caribbean island states, stand between US$5,000-8,000 per capita. Of course, the proponents of independence say all this cannot change the reality of the situation. Puerto Rico remains what it is: a colony. However, given the option of retaining close links with the United States, if not attaining full statehood, remain on the table, pursuing independence is not nearly as attractive as one might otherwise expect. As it stands, therefore, the debate is centered on maintaining the status quo and pursuing federal statehood. Here the situation is seemingly less easy to explain. One would expect that statehood would have a huge lead. And yet the status quo has tended to be the preferred option. Again, this may be a little easier to understand than one might expect. While Puerto Rico may not have a right to make federal laws, the fact of this exempt from many US federal taxes seems to be an important factor. Not just for individuals on the island but also for many US businesses based there. 

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The current relationship therefore offers a distinct economic advantage. On top of this, support for the status quo may also be based on a pragmatic realization that statehood might not be achievable anyway. Although the US Constitution of course permits the entry of new states, there's a sense that Puerto Rico would face an uphill struggle. As Puerto Rico would almost certainly lean to the Democrats, there's a sense that the Republicans are in no hurry to see it admitted - although it has formally endorsed the idea. Its 5-10 members in the 435-seat House of Representatives might not make much difference. However, its two seats in the 100-member Senate could have a huge impact - not only over legislation but over senior appointments, such as justices to US Supreme Court. Others have questioned whether statehood would also affect the island' s culture and heritage. Some have argued that joining the US would force Puerto Rico to adopt English, rather than the currently used Spanish,across all official state institutions. And yet, statehood does seem to be gaining ground. In part, this seems to be driven by a growing realization that its current status allows the US to treat it in a second-class manner. This was brought to a head by several natural disasters, including hurricane Maria in 2017, which exposed what many viewed as the mainland's indifference to its existence. 

Also, while it may be wealthy in regional terms,Puerto Rico languishes behind every US states. As well as the three main options on the table, it is worth quickly addressing the last two possibilities: Enhanced Commonwealth and Free Association. With regard to the former, it's not certain how Puerto Rico could really gain a greater status within the US political system without becoming a state. As for free association,this is often regarded as independence light. Porto Rico would take control of all its own laws, but likely cede control over foreign affairs and defence to the United States. But, again, it's not clear whether the US would be willing to continue to offer the wider benefits to Puerto Rico that it currently enjoys, such as citizenship. We have a tendency to assume that colonial territories want independence. While this may not be possible in certain cases, where it is an option, we expect peoples to take it. However, Puerto Rico is an interesting case of where this doesn't hold true. Time and time again, polls have shown the appetite for independence is negligible. Instead, Puerto Ricans seem balanced between either accepting the status quo or pursuing full political integration with the United States. While it may seem strange to consider why they would want to retain their current status over statehood, when one looks into it there are good reasons why the current situation is not just tolerable, but even beneficial in some senses. Then again, there does seem to be evidence that this is changing. Federal statehood is gaining ground. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, one is left with the nagging sense that Porto Rico will remain a US colony for a while yet. I hope you found this post useful. If so here are some more that you might enjoy. And do please consider giving it a Like.