Political status of Puerto Rico

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Political status

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Free Associated State of Puerto Rico') is an unincorporated territory of the United States. As such, the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico is neither a sovereign nation nor a U.S. state.

The U.S. Constitution does not apply directly or uniformly in U.S. territories in the same way it does in the U.S. states. As a territory, Puerto Rico enjoys various "fundamental rights" of U.S. citizenship, but lacks certain others.[1] For instance, in contrast to U.S. states, Puerto Rico residents cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, nor can they elect their own senators and representatives to the U.S. Congress. On the other hand, and in contrast to U.S. states, only some residents of Puerto Rico are subject to federal income taxes.[a] The political status of the island thus illustrates how different Puerto Rico is, politically, from sovereign nations and from U.S. states.

The status of the island is the result of various political activities within both the United States and Puerto Rican governments. The United Nations removed it from the list of non-self-governing territories in 1953,[18] but it remains subject to the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution. According to the Insular Cases, Puerto Rico is "a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States within the revenue clauses of the Constitution".[19][b]

American and Puerto Rican political activities regarding the status question have revolved around three sets of initiatives: presidential executive orders, bills in the U.S. Congress, and referendums held in Puerto Rico. U.S. Presidents have issued three executive orders on the subject, and Congress has considered four major bills on Puerto Rico's political status. Puerto Rican status referendums have been held four times to determine the desired political status of Puerto Rico in relation to the United States of America. None of them have been binding on U.S. Congress.

Internationally, several organizations have called for the U.S. government to expedite the process to allow self-determination in Puerto Rico while considering Puerto Rico a Caribbean nation with its own national identity.[23][24][25][26][27] For instance, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization has called for the United States "to allow the Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a sovereign manner, and to address their urgent economic and social needs, including unemployment, marginalization, insolvency and poverty."[28] Over the next twelve years four referendums were conducted; with each one, the most favored option was to become a State of the Union. Becoming a state is not just a matter for Puerto Rico but also for the U.S. itself and legislative work in the United States Congress began in the 2020s on the Puerto Rico Status Act.

  1. ^ "Puerto Rico and the U.S. Constitution". www.pr51st.com. October 13, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  2. ^ "Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs". Archived from the original on June 10, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Puerto Rico". wellsphere.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Tax Topics – Topic 903 Federal Employment Tax in Puerto Rico". irs.gov. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  5. ^ "Puerto Rico hopes to gain from U.S. healthcare reform". Reuters. September 24, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  6. ^ "U.S. Is Not Innocent Of Colonization... Puerto Ricans Pay Up, Too... No They Don't". Puerto Rico Herald. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  7. ^ "Doing Business in Puerto Rico". Archived from the original on April 29, 2011.
  8. ^ a b "D.C. Voting Rights: No Representation? No Taxation!". The Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  9. ^ "Federal and Local Incentives | Where We Are, Where We Want To Be | If We Just Had A Crystal Ball ..." (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2007.
  10. ^ JCT 2006, p. 9.
  11. ^ JCT 2006, pp. 14–15.
  12. ^ "U.S. GAO – Puerto Rico: Fiscal Relations with the Federal Government and Economic Trends during the Phaseout of the Possessions Tax Credit". gao.gov. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  13. ^ "SSA Handbook § 2114". socialsecurity.gov. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  14. ^ "Island Parity Puerto Rico needs full payments from federal programs". Archived from the original on May 11, 2011.
  15. ^ "Deceitful Tactics Used To Make Puerto Rico A State". eagleforum.org. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
  16. ^ "BRIA 17 4 C Puerto Rico: Commonwealth, Statehood, Or Independence?". Archived from the original on June 10, 2009.
  17. ^ a b "Committee Reports, 110th Congress (2007-2008), House Report 110-597, Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007". thomas.gov. Retrieved February 22, 2005. (Note that for the official U.S. Congress database website, you will need to resubmit a query. The document in question is called "House Report 110-597 – Puerto Rico Democracy Act of." These are the steps to follow: http://www.thomas.gov > Committee Reports > 110 > drop down "Word/Phrase" and pick "Report Number" > type "597" next to Report Number. This will provide the document "House Report 110-597 – Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007", then from the Table of Contents choose "Background and Need for Legislation".)
  18. ^ "Cessation of the transmission of information under Article 73 e of the Charter in Respect of Puerto Rico".
  19. ^ Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244, 287 (1901); Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 U.S. 298 (1922).
  20. ^ Consejo de Salud Playa Ponce v. Johnny Rullan, p.28: "The Congressional incorporation of Puerto Rico throughout the past century has extended the entire Constitution to the island".
  21. ^ Hon. Gustavo A. Gelpi (2011). "The Insular Cases: A Comparative Historical Study of Puerto Rico, Hawai'i, and the Philippines" (PDF). The Federal Lawyer (March/April): 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 27, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2011. In light of the [Supreme Court] ruling in Boumediene, in the future the Supreme Court will be called upon to reexamine the Insular Cases doctrine as applied to Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.
  22. ^ "Definitions of Insular Area Political Organizations". Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior. June 12, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2021. [...] [a]n unincorporated United States insular area, of which there are currently thirteen, three in the Caribbean (Navassa Island, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands) and ten in the Pacific (American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, the Northern Mariana Islands and Wake Atoll).
  23. ^ "XIV Ministerial Conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations. Durban, South Africa, 2004. pp. 14–15" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 31, 2009.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference United Nations. General Assembly. Special Committee on the Situation With Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples 1971 https://books.google.com/books?id=4nEyLDpKZjMC&pg=PA10 10–11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ 2011-06-20. Special Committee on Decolonization Calls on United States, in Consensus Text, to Speed up Process Allowing Puerto Rico to Exercise Self-Determination: Nearly 25 Petitioners Underscore Gravity of Situation on Island, Buckling Under Economic Strain; Vigorous Opposition to Death Penalty Also Expressed. June 20, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  26. ^ 2009-06-15. Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Self-determination Process for Puerto Rico: Members Hear Petitioners Speak up for Independence, Statehood, Free Association. June 15, 2009. Retrieved Sept 3, 2010.
  27. ^ 2006-06-13. Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling on United States to Expedite Puerto Rican Self-determination Process: Draft Resolution Urges Probe of Pro-Independence Leader's Killing, Human Rights Abuses; Calls for Clean-up, Decontamination of Vieques. June 13, 2006. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  28. ^ "Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling upon United States Government to Expedite Self-Determination Process for Puerto Rico". United Nations. UN. June 20, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2017.


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