< Bilinguial Information About The Quest For An Independent Puerto Rico

Almost Everything You Need to Know About Puerto Rican Independence

Independence is the fastest-growing status alternative in Puerto Rico. While support for other status formulas has sunk or plateaued, sovereignty has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, particularly among the youth.

Find out why Puerto Rico should strive to become the world's youngest independent nation and embark on a new era of self-reliance and sovereignty.

1. Key Points on Puerto Rico and its Colonization.

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean archipelago composed of three inhabited islands: Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Culebra. In the 1500s, the Spanish Empire colonized Puerto Rico and conquered its inhabitants, who, at the time, were the Taino people. When the Taino population began to dwindle due to the genocide perpetrated against them, the Spanish supplemented their forced labor with enslaved people brought from Africa.

By the end of the 1700s, Puerto Rico's population began to identify as a unique people with an identity that was separate and distinct from that of the Spanish colonizers. They drew from the culture of their Taino, African, and European ancestors. During the last decades of the 19th century, this feeling of uniqueness transformed into a sense of national consciousness. This led to the birth of the first independence movements, which fought to break away from Spain and establish an independent republic.

In 1898, the United States went to war against Spain, initiating the Spanish-American War. After overpowering the Spanish troops, the American Navy invaded Puerto Rico and took possession of the archipelago. Since that day, the United States has exercised colonial control over Puerto Rico. For more than 127 years, the United States has denied Puerto Rico the right to self-government, while at the same time forcing the archipelago to live under laws and regulations enacted, unilaterally by the U.S. and without voting representatives from the Puerto Rican people.

2. Background on the Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence.

For more than six generations, Puerto Ricans have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty, first seeking independence from the Spanish Empire and, for the past 126 years, from the colonial domination of the United States of America.

The long usurpation of the right to sovereignty by foreign governments has not extinguished the right of Puerto Ricans to the unfettered control of their destinies. Independence is an inalienable right that cannot be extinguished except by the destruction of the Puerto Rican people.

The right of a people to the ownership of their nation is a fundamental right recognized by international law. This right takes precedence over any other civil or political right because without sovereignty the citizens of a nation are prevented from truly, enjoying all other rights.

Puerto Rican independence is part of the larger liberation struggle that started, in the 1800s, by Simon Bolivar and other patriots throughout Latin America. It is inconsistent to claim to be in "support of Latinos" or have an "agenda for Latinos" and at the same time deny Puerto Ricans the right to Bolivar's dream.

Puerto Rico's status as a territorial possession of the United States is inconsistent with the ideals of freedom espoused by the American people, regardless of whether one considers it to be consensual in nature. A nation cannot consent to giving up its freedom, just as a person cannot consent to becoming a slave.

3. Puerto Rico’s Current Economic Crisis.

In June of 2015, Puerto Rico entered into one of the worst economic crises in its history when its local government revealed that it was on the brink of defaulting on its $73 billion debt.

In response to this fiscal crisis, the U.S. Congress passed a special bankruptcy law for Puerto Rico known as PROMESA. Under PROMESA, Puerto Rico's financial affairs are placed under the control of the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB, aka "La Junta" in Spanish), an unelected body with the power to impose severe austerity measures on essential government services and to issue mandates on a wide range of matters that include education, the environment, labor relations, medical insurance, and the electrical grid.

La Junta has promoted the privatization of government services, particularly the privatization of the electricity network. The effect of this privatization program has been disastrous. Puerto Rico now experiences constant power outages, blackouts, and voltage fluctuations that cause severe economic damage to small businesses and make it very difficult to attract foreign manufacturing investments.

Puerto Rico suffers from rampant unemployment and an unhealthy dependence on federal funds. A significant portion of the population relies on welfare, with over 40 percent of residents receiving benefits through the Nutritional Assistance Program (NAP) (the local counterpart to SNAP). Moreover, Puerto Rico imports 85 percent of the food that it consumes.

The current economic crisis has caused Puerto Rico to become one of the countries with the highest migration rates and the lowest fertility rates in the world. Since 2010, almost half a million people, or 12 percent of the population, have left due to economic challenges and limited opportunities, contributing to a decline in population growth. By 2023, the fertility rate had dropped below 1, reflecting a broader trend of demographic shifts.

4. Colonialism is the Main Cause of Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis.

Puerto Rico's fiscal woes are rooted in its colonial relationship to the United States. Throughout history, colonialism's main purpose has been to extract wealth from the colonized territories and transfer the realized profits to the metropolitan power. This pattern of colonial exploitation has been the hallmark of Puerto Rico's 127-year-old relationship with the U.S.

Although government corruption and mismanagement are to blame for many aspects of the current fiscal crisis, the principal cause of Puerto Rico's economic debacle lies in its colonial status, which has allowed large amounts of capital to flee without sufficient reinvestments in the local economy. As a colony, Puerto Rico lacks the power to control this capital flight and does not have the ability to foster a strong local economy with a reliable tax base.

Since the days following the U.S. invasion in 1898, economic policies in Puerto Rico have heavily favored large foreign capital at the expense of local workers and entrepreneurs. For example, immediately after the invasion, the U.S. government devalued the Puerto Rican currency (the peso) by 40% and confiscated all revenues generated in the ports at customs and sent them to the U.S. Treasury. The devaluation of the Puerto Rican peso devastated the local economy. Furthermore, the confiscation of all proceeds from customs also resulted in an economic collapse because, prior to the invasion, all the funding for Puerto Rico’s local government came from the collection of tariffs and dues paid at the ports. These actions severely impoverished Puerto Ricans, particularly local landowners, who, due to their dire financial situation, had to sell a significant portion of their land to American sugar companies. By 1929, 51 percent of Puerto Rico's wealth was in foreign hands; the government had a $18 million deficit, unemployment was at 46 percent, and the illiteracy rate was at 40 percent.

Contrary to the popular belief of many, United States rule did not bring wealth or opportunities to Puerto Ricans. On the contrary, its presence brought a long era of extreme poverty and underdevelopment that lasted up to the 1960s.

The pattern of unrestricted economic extraction continued in the 1930s and 1940s, with the advancement of an agrarian monopoly held by just a handful of American sugar companies. In the decades after World War II, Puerto Rico underwent a process of industrialization, which raised the standard of living of many workers. However, the vast majority of the capital generated during this time fled to the U.S. with very little reinvestment in the Puerto Rican economy. Furthermore, during this period, the government strongly promoted the mass migration of Puerto Rican workers to the U.S. in order to artificially improve its economic statistics.

In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Puerto Rico's government relied on tax incentives provided by the U.S. Tax Code as a means to attract industrial investments. During these years, Puerto Rico became an important manufacturing hub for many foreign companies. Unfortunately, these companies contributed very little to the Puerto Rican treasury and had very few linkages to the native economy.

The 1970s and 1980s saw the birth of many locally owned businesses, farms, and banks. However, aggressive penetration from large multinational chains, such as "box stores" and poultry producers from the "Broiler Belt," constantly assailed the native markets. Since Puerto Rico's government lacked the power to protect local entrepreneurs effectively, most of them struggled to stay afloat, and many eventually shut down.

In 1996, the U.S. Congress repealed Section 936 of the IRS Code, which used to give tax exemptions to foreign manufacturers operating in Puerto Rico. Due to this Congressional act, Puerto Rico lost one of the few means that it had under colonialism to promote economic development. Even though giving massive tax breaks to businesses was not an ideal strategy for growing the economy, at least, the existence of Section 936 helped to keep Puerto Rico from falling into the fiscal abyss that is currently in.

Another colonial policy that has negatively affected Puerto Rico's economy is the application of the "Merchant Marine Act of 1920" (also known as the "Jones Act") to its maritime commerce. This law grants a monopoly to American container ship companies by forcing Puerto Rico to exclusively use American-registered ships in its commerce with the U.S. This results in exorbitant additional costs for consumers and forbids Puerto Rico from using significantly cheaper shipping alternatives provided by non-American companies. Recent studies have shown that the Merchant Marine Act increases the costs of bringing goods to Puerto Rico by 151%. It is estimated that, due to this law, Puerto Rico loses approximately $1.5 billion a year and that it has lost approximately $73 billion since its enactment in 1920. Note that, coincidentally, the figure of $73 billion is practically the same amount as the public debt that led Puerto Rico to its fiscal crisis in 2015.

Capital flight has been a recurrent theme in Puerto Rico’s colonial economic model. Over the course of several decades, companies based in the U.S. have repatriated more than $36 billion in earnings from Puerto Rico on an annual basis. Up until 2010, when the government finally imposed a minimal tax of four percent, these businesses had not paid any taxes to Puerto Rico at all.

The pattern of economic extraction in favor of foreign capital continues to this day. Nowadays, Puerto Rico finds itself in a situation similar to the one it faced shortly after the U.S. invasion. Due to the economic crisis, many Puerto Ricans are being forced to sell their properties to foreign speculators who are taking advantage of a tax shelter known as Act 22, which is a law that allows mega- millionaires to move to Puerto Rico and pay less than 4 percent in local taxes and, zero percent in federal taxes.

5. Neither Commonwealth nor Statehood are Viable Options for Puerto Rico.

Those who want the United States to continue to have sovereign control over Puerto Rico, advocate for one of two political formulas: commonwealth or statehood. The Commonwealth formula is the political system that currently operates in Puerto Rico. The statehood option, on the other hand, refers to the proposal to make Puerto Rico one of the states of the United States. As explained below, neither one of these political options is a viable alternative for Puerto Rico or, for the United States.

Pursuant to international law and the United Nations decolonization framework, the Commonwealth formula, in its current form, is a colony because it is a territory, with peoples, who have not yet attained a full measure of self-government. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has reiterated in several recent decisions that, as a territorial possession, Puerto Rico is subject to the U.S. Congress's plenary powers under the "Territorial Clause" of the U.S. Constitution. This means that Congress has complete and absolute authority over any specific area or issue pertaining to Puerto Rico, with no limitations or restrictions on its exercise. By reiterating this holding several times since 2016, the Court has unmasked the Commonwealth and demonstrated that it is in fact, a colonial political formula.

Since the current Commonwealth status is colonial in nature, it cannot continue to be the legal framework for Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States. For this reason, the first step toward resolving Puerto Rico's status question should be the exclusion of the existing Commonwealth formula from consideration in any future decolonization processes.

The option of Puerto Rico becoming a state of the United States (statehood) faces strong opposition due to the fact that Puerto Rico is culturally a distinct nation with a different language (Spanish), its own traditions, history, and idiosyncrasy; and, most importantly, a long-standing struggle for independence. The annexation of a culturally distinct colony into the colonial metropolis, inevitably results in the radical transformation of the two countries that agree to unite. In many instances, it results in a violent clash between both nationalities. Take for example the case of Algeria, which, after its annexation to France, as a province, ended its union in one of the bloodiest decolonization wars in history. For Puerto Rico to be able to join the fifty states, the U.S. would have to agree to become a nation composed of more than one nationality, such as is the case of multi-national states or federations like the United Kingdom, Spain, or the former Yugoslavia. The history of annexed territories such as Scotland, the six counties in the north of Ireland, the Basque Country, and Catalonia speaks loudly for the troubles that nations may face when becoming multi-national states.

Another significant obstacle that those who want to make Puerto Rico a state of the United States face is the taxation issue. Under the current status, Puerto Ricans do not pay federal income taxes to the U.S. government. However, if Puerto Rico were to become a state, its residents would have to begin paying federal income taxes to the U.S. government just like the residents of the other fifty states. This would bring great hardship and possible financial ruin to many Puerto Rican businesses and professionals because they would be hit with a significant increase in their tax obligations. Note that currently the local Puerto Rican government needs to have a very high income tax rate to be able to fund its services. (For example, a person in Puerto Rico making $200,000 is obliged to pay an approximate tax rate of 26% in income taxes to the local Puerto Rican government.) Consequently, due to the application of new taxes, the annexation of Puerto Rico as a state of the U.S. would result in the acceleration of the current economic crisis because it would impoverish the local upper and middle classes and dramatically increase capital flight to the U.S.

Those who support annexing Puerto Rico as a state of the United States have portrayed their proposal as an economic boon since, purportedly, Puerto Rico would get more federal monies as a fully integrated part of the country. Despite the fact that this might appear to be the case, it is important to note that the cost of paying federal taxes would offset any benefit from these additional funds. Furthermore, the new funds potentially received by Puerto Rico would come primarily from two welfare programs: SSI and Medicaid. These programs exist, exclusively, to help individuals who are indigent and unable to work due to disabling conditions or age. While these programs are an important safety net for persons in need, they do not promote the economic development that Puerto Rico desperately needs.

With respect to statehood, there seems to be some confusion among some liberal and progressive organizations in the U.S. Although well-intentioned, these groups mistakenly think that supporting statehood is a way to defend the rights of a group of people who have been historically overlooked and subjugated.These groups worry about being singled out for discriminating against Puerto Ricans should they oppose statehood. Supporting statehood is, they naively think, a means of demonstrating their inclusiveness, diversity, and openness to other cultures. They overlook, however, the fact that Puerto Rico's status issue is a colonial one rather than one related to the denial of equal rights to a minority under the laws and the United States Constitution. While Puerto Ricans who live in the United States, struggle for full individual civil rights, the problem of Puerto Rico is one of national liberation, where there is a violation of the collective right to the self-determination and independence of a colonized people.

6. Independence is the Rightful, and Most Pragmatic Alternative for Puerto Rico.

Independence provides colonized nations with the only rightful alternative to their subordinate political condition. Fundamental ethical tenets, which are part of the foundation of nations like the United States, mandate that all peoples must have the freedom to make their own decisions, take control of their land, and be free from meddling in their affairs by other nations. This is why, almost all former colonies have opted for independence and the reason why, independence for Puerto Rico is the correct moral choice.

Independence is not only the rightful choice for Puerto Rico but also the most pragmatic solution, offering economic and political benefits for the archipelago. At its core, sovereignty provides the people the power to control their own commerce and promote the creation of local capital. With complete control over economic policies, Puerto Rico can initiate a path out of the current crisis and pave the way for a thriving, self-sufficient economy, fostering long-term prosperity for the archipelago. For example, under independence, the government of Puerto Rico could regulate crucial economic factors like interest rates, minimum wage laws, and immigration policies, empowering the archipelago to tailor its commerce to its specific needs.

Upon obtaining independence, Puerto Rico will have the power to establish its own monetary policy. The ability of a nation to determine its exchange rate is a critical component of economic development, as it functions as a mechanism to increase exports and decrease imports. Puerto Rico's economy could be stimulated by the devaluation of its currency, which would increase the competitiveness of its exports in the global market. This is the reason why Puerto Rico would likely experience increased export volumes with its own currency, which would serve to stimulate domestic production.

If Puerto Rico became an independent nation, it would have its own central bank with the authority to determine interest rates. Currently, the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) determines interest rates for the whole United States and Puerto Rico. The Fed's interest rate policies are intended to address the overall demands of the United States economy, rather than the archipelago's specific day-to-day business needs. For these reasons, the Fed's choices might sometimes worsen Puerto Rico's economic conditions. Under independence, Puerto Rico's central bank would be better positioned to respond to developments in the local economy and lead it in a way that benefits the archipelago.

Another significant advantage of independence compared to other status formulas is the capacity to govern its territorial waters and airspace. Under independence, Puerto Rico would have the power to charge fees on those who use its ports and, charge tariffs on goods that enter the archipelago. Analysts of this subject, such as Javier Hernandez, author of Puerto Rico: The Economic Case for Sovereignty, have found that with independence, Puerto Rico could generate as much as $12 billion a year in revenues from fees and tariffs. In addition, under independence, Puerto Rico would save approximately $1.5 billion a year because it would not be subject to the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.

Independence unlocks new avenues for Puerto Rico in global commerce, offering opportunities to establish trade agreements, expand market access, and foster mutually beneficial economic partnerships. As a sovereign nation, Puerto Rico could establish its own trade agreements, join existing trade agreements, expand access to global markets, and foster an economic partnership that is beneficial to both Puerto Rico and the United States.

Puerto Rico can reduce its reliance on U.S. social programs and develop its own sources of revenue. For example, U.S. firms have repatriated over $36 billion in revenues from Puerto Rico annually for decades. Companies paid no taxes to Puerto Rico until 2010, when the government levied a modest 4 percent tax. A fair tax of 10 to 15 percent on these businesses may go a long way toward fostering a self- sufficient economy.

Puerto Rico's inclusion in the chorus of independent nations will result in a much-needed paradigm shift, boosting its people's self-esteem and encouraging self-reliance and economic responsibility. To achieve its long-awaited independence, Puerto Rico seeks the solidarity of its friends in the U.S, as well as the unshakable support of nations and individuals throughout the world who believe in the fundamental principle of freedom.