Puerto Rican DU'ers: What do you think about Puerto Rico's Future Status?

[liberalpragmatist]

I'm curious what Puerto Rican DU'ers think the island's future status should be? Statehood? Independence? A revised commonwealth or free-association status?

Just an issue I hadn't heard much of lately and wanted to know what they thought?

[LaReservaPr]

1. I have grown up in a very pro statehood/pro United States family

and for the longest time the option of statehood seemed to me like the obvious choice. But then i got to actually go to the United States and it just does not seem like a possibility and neither does independence. The majority of americans don't care about Puerto Rico and most don't even know that puerto ricans are US citizens. I once got asked if i needed a green card or visa to be over there and i couldn't even be angry cause they just didn't know anything about us. And my uncle once got asked how long is it from Puerto Rico to Atlanta by TRAIN? And English Only just wouldn't go here in Puerto Rico.

And people here are to scared of loosing their US citizenship to ever vote for Independence. Its obvious beacuse when rumors start spreading that the US is getting fed up with us you see people making huge lines for their passports since they get so scared of not having their US citizenship.

This pic was taken this year at 6am in Old San Juan of people waiting in line for passport appointments after those rumors spread.




The increasing deficit problems this island has and the fact that it keeps squeezing its middle class entirely is just creating this huge majority of educated middle class puerto ricans leaving for the US because they can't find jobs in Puerto Rico. So right now this island is in limbo and will remain so unless something seriously changes. Sorry i can't give you a more upfront answer but if you haven't already you should read the Report by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status: http://www.house.gov/fortuno/pdf/PuertoRicoBooklet.pdf
Its basically a history of the status conflict.

[liberalpragmatist]

2. Do you think Americans would learn more if it became a state?

I mean, US familiarity with Hawaii and Alaska increased a lot after statehood came. Do you think statehood would increase tourism to the island and make people more aware that Puerto Ricans are US citizens?

The biggest problems, from what I've heard, are financial. While PR is one of the richest Caribbean entities, it is half as well-off, per capita, as Mississippi, the poorest US state. So there's a huge wealth gap that might demand big transfer payments that may not be politically popular and may only make limited or slow gains.

How accurate is that view? And what of my questions on US attitudes?

[LaReservaPr]

3. I think that statehood would inevitably achieve more

familiarity of americans with Puerto Rico. Whether the attitudes of accepting Puerto Rico as a state would be positive, that I'm not sure about. As to the tourism, well i think that yes it would increase but not by much. The thing that i believe attracts tourism over here is the security of being in a US territory, a tropical island, and a small piece of the old world all rolled into one. At least from a tourist pint of view because mostly they stay in the posh areas.

To me at least the financial problems will always be the main concern in our status debate. Because the citizens can debate it all we want but in the end the only opinion that matters is big business. All the pharmaceuticals, etc. they would freak if they had to actually pays us the same that they pay americans in the US and the fact that the have certain economic breaks by not having to pay what they have to pay in the US for their manufacturing, etc. And there are already huge transfer payments from the US to Puerto Rico its that allot of americans don't know about it and many puerto ricans never get to see it. Because it gets stolen by our politicians or they find a way to get lost. Puerto Rico has an incredible corruption problem in government that is so damn embarrassing. So we have a huge problem because the funds for education get stolen and our public schools are shit. The middle class over here sends their kids to private schools(the tuition is much lower than in the US) because sending your kids to public schools here is a mess.

And its not only the gap between the US and Puerto Rico its also the huge wealth gap in Puerto Rico. And its actually very visible all around. In one area you have a closed community where the houses range from $300,000-$700,000 and right next to that community you have $50,000-$100,000 houses. Living in Puerto Rico is very expensive, maybe more than many states in the US and we get payed less for our work.