https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/12/15/puertoricostatusactpassed/ Fri, 16 Dec 2022 16:12:54 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/12/15/puertoricostatusactpassed/#comment-137925 Fri, 16 Dec 2022 16:12:54 +0000 https://www.latinorebels.com/?p=203756#comment-137925 Kudos for your excellent reporting on H.R. 8393, which marks an important milestone in the century-long quest to resolve Puerto Rico’s colonial problem. As you rightly point out, the 2017 referendum that showed 97% support for statehood is unreliable due to the low 23% voter turnout and was hopelessly skewed by a boycott from local parties and groups favoring the independence and free association options as well as those who support the current territorial status (dubbed “commonwealth”). However, that referendum was not the last of the six held in the last 50 years (1967, 1993, 1998, 2012, 2012 and 2020). The most recent local referendum was held contemporaneously with the last general election in November 2020 and was an (in my opinion) misguided “yes or no” vote on statehood (all other referendums offered a choice between statehood, independence and commonwealth with some including free association and at least one including a “none of the above” option). In point of fact, then, the Nov. 2020 non-binding referendum is the most recent one held and statehood won that one by a more realistic 53% against 47% voting “no” on statehood. The larger point to be made, however, is that the 2020 referendum was intrinsically misleading and unreliable because it lumped into the “no” category several disparate and mutually exclusive groups favoring radically different alternatives ranging from full-fledged independence to continued territorial status. In that regard, H.R. 8393 provides a fairer and much clearer mechanism by excluding the present territorial condition (which is colonial by definition) and clearly delineating statehood, independence and free association as separate options.

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