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Puerto Rico a colony again (if it was not already one)?

Governor of the island demands "right to self-determination" at the UN as political crisis linked to debt crisis hardens · Both independence and US statehood supporters criticize colonial status of Puerto Rico

USA and Puerto Rico flags.
USA and Puerto Rico flags. Author: Arturo de la Barrera
Puerto Rico's years-long economic crisis is shaking politics in the island as it is bringing again to the forefront the debate over its current and future status. The UN does not consider it to be a colony since 1953, but after the current debt crisis, can it still be argued that the island really manages its own affairs? Ironically, the answer to that will be "no" whether pro-independence or US statehood supporters are asked. The governor of Puerto Rico, yesterday speaking at the UN, called for a solution.

The current crisis stems from Puerto Rico's massive public debt, estimated to be worth USD 73,000 million -i.e. USD 21,000 per inhabitant. The Puerto Rican government does not have enough money to cope with it all, and thus it needs to restructure the debt in order to be able to pay it on more favourable terms. But the US Supreme Court ruled last week that the Puerto Rican government has no powers to take such a decision, but only the US Congress has.

Members of the US Congress are close to pass the PROMESA bill, which will effectively allow debt restructuring besides bringing other changes, such as lowering the minimum wage for young people. The alternative to PROMESA is a possible collapse of pension payments and of the health system -at a time when the Zika virus is spreading throughout the island-, and defaulted bonds worth USD 2,000 million that expire on 1 July. Puerto Rico has already skipped other debt payments in recent months.

The PROMESA bill, as it comes, is not in exchange for nothing. The US Congress will impose on Puerto Rico a supervisory board which will have broad powers in fiscal policy. This will in practice curtail Puerto Rican self-government. The seven board members will be picked by the President of the United States from a list proposed by the Congress.

And here is the crux of the debate: Puerto Ricans do not have the right to vote in US Congress or presidential elections, so the island will be overseen by a board on which the islanders will have had no say. This is a problem of democratic legitimacy, the whole Puerto Rican political spectrum agrees. The island may not be a colony according to the UN, but it does have some colonial features in terms of inadequate political representation.

Independence, sovereignty or integration

Governor of Puerto Rico Alejandro García Padilla yesterday requested the assistance of the UN Committee on Decolonization to ask the UN General Assembly "the exercise of the right to self-determination" of Puerto Rico. García Padilla's Popular Democratic Party (PPD) is calling for a referendum on whether the island should join the US as its 51st state. The PPD is internally divided on the issue: some want Puerto Rico to become a US state, while others prefer a sovereign status short of independence, following a model similar to the Marshall Islands, Palau or the Federated States of Micronesia -all of them are UN members but maintain special agreements and close links with the US.

The island's other main party, the New Progressive Party (PNP), rather prefers Puerto Rico's reinstatement to the UN List of Non-Self Governing Territories. PNP leader Ricardo Roselló yesterday told the Decolonization Committee that "the colonial status of Puerto Rico can not be ignored." This anti-colonial rhetoric, however, in fact pursues the complete annexation of the island by the US as its 51st state, as this has been the PNP's stance on the issue for decades.

An alternative to both annexation and conditional sovereignty is full independence. This is the stance adopted by the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), which enjoys far less popular support than the PPD and the PNP. The last weekend, the Mesa de Diálogo Independentista -a pro-independence alliance to which the PIP is part- gathered 500 people at a pro-independence rally in the island's capital San Juan. The independence camp believes that the current crisis gives wings to its claim that now it is clearer than ever that Puerto Rico is a US Congress dependency.

Puerto Rico held a referendum on its future in 2012, with a double question. In the first one, "Should Puerto Rico continue its current territorial status?", 54% voted against. In the second one, "Which non-territorial option do you prefer?", 61% of voters chose US statehood. But the second question was boycotted by almost 500,000 voters, who complained that the referendum did not include an option to obtain further self-government while at the same time maintaining the basic lines of the current status.

In the US, both Republican and Democrat politicians felt that, all in all, the referendum results were inconclusive. Subsequently, it was decided that the case of Puerto Rican statehood would not be followed for the time being. It is also necessary to bear in mind that surveys show that American citizens generally show little enthusiasm for an eventual admission of Puerto Rico to the union.