Two years ago, I wrote a post titled Reflecting on Puerto Rico’s 72-Year Constitutional Legacy. As the island approaches the 74th anniversary of its Constitution on July 25, I decided to update that post. At some point, Americans will have to decide what to do not only with Puerto Rico but also with American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Staying informed about what is happening in these territories will become increasingly important. 

I think these territories need to do a better job of informing Americans on the mainland so they can encourage Congress to make a decision about the future of all U.S. territories. After all, Congress is the only body with the authority to do so.

I’m not sure most Americans are aware of what is happening in these territories, and that’s understandable because the federal government rarely talks about them. Instead, public discussion often focuses on ideas such as annexing Canada or Greenland rather than resolving the status of the territories the United States already has. Puerto Rico has spent decades trying to find a permanent solution to its political status. I can only speak about Puerto Rico because it is where I’m from and where I stay connected through local news and, of course, my family, who still live there.

I’ll begin, as I did two years ago, with a brief history of the creation of Puerto Rico’s Constitution.

The United States government authorized Puerto Rico to draft its own constitution through legislation passed in 1950. The Constitutional Assembly met for several months between 1951 and 1952 to draft the document. The law required the framers to meet only two basic requirements: establish a republican form of government and include a Bill of Rights. The proposed constitution was approved overwhelmingly by nearly 82 percent of voters in a referendum held on March 3, 1952. The United States Congress and the President approved the constitution but required that Article II (the Bill of Rights), Section 20, which guaranteed the right to education and various economic rights, be removed. They also required language to be added to Section 3 of Article VII regarding non-governmental schools. On July 10, 1952, Puerto Rico’s Constitutional Convention reconvened and accepted those conditions. The changes were later ratified by voters in a referendum held in November 1952. Finally, on July 25, 1952, Governor Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rico’s first elected governor, proclaimed the Constitution to be in effect.¹

To better understand how Puerto Rico reached this point, it’s also helpful to briefly review its history.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces landed on the island of Puerto Rico and defeated Spain. The following year, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States under the Treaty of Paris. In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship, and in 1947 Congress authorized the island to elect its own governor. Luis Muñoz Marín was elected in 1948, and the Constitution was approved in 1952, officially establishing Puerto Rico as a commonwealth.

Politics in Puerto Rico can be chaotic—possibly even more than in the mainland United States—and many people treat politics almost like a national sport.

For many Puerto Ricans, July 25 commemorates not only the adoption of the Constitution but also two other significant and painful events in our history.

The first occurred on July 25, 1898, when the United States invaded Puerto Rico and, within a few months, gained control of the island from Spain.² Ponce was among the first major cities to surrender on July 28.³

The second occurred on July 25, 1978, and is known as the Cerro Maravilla massacre. At Cerro Maravilla, two young Puerto Rican pro-independence activists, Carlos Enrique Soto-Arriví and Arnaldo Darío Rosado-Torres, were killed in a Puerto Rico Police ambush.⁴ I still remember watching news coverage of the investigation on television.

The events set in motion by Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1493, followed by four centuries of Spanish rule and the United States’ victory in the Spanish-American War, created a complex political identity that continues to shape Puerto Rico today.

Puerto Rico faces many challenges, but corruption and government mismanagement remain among its most serious problems.

In 2014, Puerto Rico defaulted on its debt after accumulating approximately $72 billion in bond obligations and an additional $55 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.⁵ On June 30, 2016, President Obama signed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) into law, creating the Financial Oversight and Management Board—known locally as La Junta.⁶ Ten years later, the board remains in place.

Many Puerto Ricans oppose the oversight board, although I believe it played an important role in stabilizing the island’s finances. Eliminating the board will not make Puerto Rico’s debt disappear. Only responsible fiscal management and long-term financial discipline can accomplish that. Whether people support or oppose the board, one reality remains: Puerto Rico has little authority over its operations. In May 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the board enjoys sovereign immunity, limiting lawsuits against it by local plaintiffs.⁷

Then came Hurricane Maria in 2017, one of the most devastating disasters in Puerto Rico’s history. More than 3,000 people died as a result of the hurricane, and nearly a decade later, parts of the island are still recovering.

Rather than focusing solely on reconstruction, Governor Ricardo Rosselló’s administration became consumed by scandal. In 2019, Rosselló resigned after leaked Telegram chats revealed offensive, sexist, homophobic, and misogynistic remarks made by him and members of his administration.⁸

Because Puerto Rico did not have a Secretary of State at the time, the governorship passed to Secretary of Justice Wanda Vázquez, who completed Rosselló’s term before losing the 2020 election. In August 2022, the FBI arrested Vázquez on federal corruption charges.⁹ She later pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and was pardoned by President Trump earlier this year. Some news reports have questioned the circumstances surrounding that pardon.¹⁰

Now Governor Jenniffer González and members of her administration are reportedly facing allegations that could become another corruption scandal, although it remains too early to know how those investigations will unfold.¹¹

The people of Puerto Rico are still searching for a path forward. Most are divided between statehood and maintaining the current commonwealth status, while a smaller group supports independence.

Interestingly, the latest history book I finished—Puerto Rico: A National History by Joel Meléndez-Badillo—provides considerable detail about the island’s independence movement and its revolutionary tradition. It is one of the most comprehensive accounts of the subject that I have read so far. It is an outstanding book, although I believe the author overstates the strength of the independence movement. Puerto Rico never experienced a revolutionary moment comparable to Cuba’s after the Spanish-American War. Today, supporters of independence must persuade the people of Puerto Rico that their vision offers the best future for the island, but they have not made significant progress in doing so.

Congress has shown little interest in resolving Puerto Rico’s political status. Until that changes, I believe Puerto Ricans would be better served by focusing on reducing corruption and improving government management.

I agree with Resident Commissioner Pablo Hernández that Puerto Rico should continue improving under its current status while Congress remains unwilling to act.¹² However, I disagree with his characterization of the island’s relationship with the United States.¹³ Although Puerto Rico is a self-governing territory, Congress ultimately retains authority over the island.¹⁴ That reality continues to fuel debate over whether Puerto Rico’s current status should be considered colonial. The United Nations also continues to discuss the issue periodically.¹⁵

This week, Puerto Ricans will commemorate the adoption of their Constitution. For many, however, July 25 will also serve as a reminder that Puerto Rico’s political status remains unresolved. Whether one calls it a territory, a commonwealth, or a colony, the island does not enjoy the same political rights and representation as the fifty states.

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Puerto_Rico ↩︎
2. Jimenez de Wagenheim, Olga. Puerto Rico An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900. (P. 195). Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006  ↩︎
3. Pico, Fernando. History of Puerto Rico A Panorama of its People. (P. 236). Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2017. ↩︎
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Maravilla_murders ↩︎
5. https://oversightboard.pr.gov/faq/ ↩︎
6. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2328 ↩︎
7. https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/05/justices-puerto-rico-public-records-dispute/ ↩︎
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegramgate ↩︎
9. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-puerto-rico-governor-wanda-vazquez-garced-bribery-arrest/ ↩︎
10. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pardoning-puerto-rico-former-governor-wanda-vazquez-officials-say/ ↩︎
11. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article316188931.html ↩︎
12. https://hernandez.house.gov/media/op-ed/opinion-puerto-ricos-democrats-their-commonwealth-status ↩︎
13. https://www.sanjuandailystar.com/post/at-washington-event-resident-commissioner-insists-pr-is-not-a-colony ↩︎
14. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/09/supreme-court-puerto-rico-independent-sovereign/85155382/ ↩︎
15. https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1ab0p6z0q ↩︎

• History