A State in constant crisis
Preparations for yet another referendum on the country’s relationship with the US are well underway but the real crisis is in the unpayable debt
Puerto Rico’s citizens will go to the polls June 11 when they will be asked again if they want to maintain their existing relationship with the United States in a plebiscite which has little resonance in Washington. The Puerto Rican executive however, wants to change the island’s peculiar political status. It is the 5th of such votes which began in 1967, with the last being held in 2012, none of them binding
The new governor of the island territory, Ricardo Rosselló, proposes a law for the immediate decolonization of Puerto Rico, one of the basic points of his election programme. Rosselló is president of the New Progressive Party (PNP), ideologically on the right, whose raison d’etre is to fulfill the dream of joining the “American nation” and convert Puerto Rico the 51st state of the USA.
As a protectorate since 1952, the island enjoys a latitude of autonomy with certain areas of government controlled by Washington. Opposition parties are against the idea and want Rosselló to concentrate on measures to end the semi-state’s $70 billion debt. The coffers are empty and as Puerto Rico brings nothing economically positive to the Union, Washington is certainly not interested in welcoming the possible new state as one of its own. The $5 million set aside for the non-binding vote is also a bone of contention as most likely, with the unpayable level of debt and outright bankruptcy, Puerto Rico will benefit from a new US law which will effectively pardon debts in US territories that do not have statehood. The law however tightens Washington’s control on local politics and has already caused protests and conflict.