Today I saw a story on a Puerto Rican newspaper highlighting that three Republicans are joining our delegate in Congress, Jenniffer González, in support of H.R. 2757 to enable the people of Puerto Rico to choose a permanent, non-territorial, fully self-governing political status for Puerto Rico. U.S. Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), and Republican delegate Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa are co-sponsoring the Puerto Rico Status Law bill.1 Jenniffer González is a member of the New Progressive Party (NPP), which is advocating for statehood for the island, something that the majority of Puerto Ricans living on the island do not want.
While Puerto Rico is struggling, especially after Hurricane Maria, because of inadequate governance, the leadership on the island is trying to force statehood on the people instead of focusing on the current needs that are impacting the island, such as education, corruption, a high crime rate, and recovery efforts from natural disasters. Statehood is not going to solve these problems, but good leadership will.
Let me provide a quick historical background of the island for context. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces landed on the island of Puerto Rico and defeated Spain. In 1899, Spain ceded the island to the United States under the Treaty of Paris. In 1917, the U.S. granted citizenship, and in 1947, the island received approval to elect its own governor. Luis Muñoz Marín was elected as the first governor of Puerto Rico in 1948, and the first constitution was approved in 1952, making the island a commonwealth. The first referendum asking Puerto Ricans to decide on an official status was held in 1967, and since then, there have been five additional referendums. Wikipedia has a nice table summarizing the results of Puerto Rico’s plebiscites (see below).
Results of Puerto Rico’s status referendums, vote total (% total)
| 1967 | 1993 | 1998 | 2012 | 2017 | 2020 | ||
| Independence | 4,248 (0.6%) | 75,620 (4.4%) | 39,838 (2.54%) | NA | 5.5% | 1.5% | NA |
| Commonwealth | 425,132 (60.4%) | 826,326 (48.6%) | 993 (0.06%) | 46.0% | NA | 1.3% | NA |
| Free Association | NA | NA | 4536 (0.29%) | NA | 33.2% | Included with independence | NA |
| Statehood | 274,312 (39.0%) | 788,296 (46.3%) | 728,157 (46.49%) | NA | 61.3% | 97.2% | 655,505 (52.52%) |
| None of the above | NA | NA | 787,900 (50.3%) | NA | NA | 592,671 (47.48%) | |
| Electoral turnout | 66% | 74% | 71% | 79% | 22.9% | 54.72% | |
The first two referendums were pretty straightforward, asking the people of Puerto Rico to decide between Commonwealth (current status), Statehood, and Independence. But in 1998, things started to change under the NPP Governor, Pedro Roselló. Manipulation and misinformation to get to the status that the NPP wanted was in full force. In 1998, the government added “Free Association” and “None of the above” to the ballot. Then in 2012, under the NPP Governor, Luis Fortuño, the government asked two questions on the ballot. The first question asked voters if they wanted to maintain the current U.S. territorial status; if not, then the second question was to select between statehood, free association, or independence. Statehood won, but there were 500,000 ballots that were left blank in protest. If those were counted as the “none of the above” option, then the percentage for statehood would drop to about 44%.2 The next referendum was in 2017, under the NPP Governor Ricardo Rosselló (son of Pedro Roselló). The people boycotted that referendum, and only about 22% of the electors (mostly NPP and pro-statehood) participated. The last referendum was in 2020, under another NPP governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, drawing 54% of the electorate, asking to select between statehood and none of the above. Again, another tactic to entice people to choose statehood.
My sense is that the people of Puerto Rico want to remain under the current territorial status with some changes, such as modifying the Jones Act of 1920 to ease the transportation of goods to the island. If this is the case, the leadership in Puerto Rico should focus on governance instead of pursuing statehood for the island. I’m constantly monitoring what the U.S. Congress is doing, and there is no interest in working on a path for the island to become one of the states. Technically, Washington D.C. has better chances to become a state, but that effort is not going anywhere, so the chances for Puerto Rico are very low. The NPP leadership should stop their lies and manipulations and lead the island so that it can prosper.
I’m currently researching and studying our history to find out why Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S. but not Cuba back in 1899. Also, the whole political background of the three main parties, the NPP, the Popular Democratic Party, and the Independent party, and why they are unable to clearly explain the options to the people of Puerto Rico. There are a couple of new political parties that are penetrating the electorate and started to occupy positions in the government that are worth researching their real motives. I believe that a deep study of our history will answer these questions and the reason that the island is not prospering as it should.
Thoughts about leadership, history, and more 
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