Did Puerto Ricans End Their Colonial Status When They Voted in Favor of the Commonnwealth Constitution?

When Puerto Ricans voted for the “Commonwealth” status in 1952 (which in Spanish is called Estado Libre Asociado) they were actually voting for the approval of a local charter or constitution setting forth the organizational scheme of their territorial government. They were not voting to alter or change, in any way, the colonial relationship that had existed between Puerto Rico and the United States since the 1898 Treaty of Paris. For this reason, the vote in favor of the Commonwealth in the 1952 referendum did not end Puerto Rico’s colonial status.

However, for generations, Puerto Ricans were duped into thinking that when the People of Puerto Rico voted in favor of the Commonwealth, they voted to approve a “new” relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. In fact, they were told by then governor Luis Muñoz Marín, that through this referendum, Puerto Rican’s had supposedly approved a “pact” or a “covenant” between Puerto Rico and U.S. As is turns out, the tale regarding this nonexistent pact would end up becoming one of the most prolonged political frauds perpetrated in contemporary political history.

The 1952 referendum was authorized by an Act of Congress. On March 29, 1950, during the 2nd Session of the 81st Congress, Senator Joseph C. Mahoney of Wyoming (D-WY) introduced S. 3336 in the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. This bill accompanied H.R. 7674 in the House. The bill became Public Law 81-600 and called for a local referendum to vote on the organization of a constitutional government for Puerto Rico. In the Congressional hearings of this Bill, then Resident Commissioner Antonio Fernós Insern, (who was Munñoz Marín’s man in Washington, D.C.) stated before Congress:

“As already pointed out, S. 3336 would not change the status of the island of Puerto Rico relative to the United States. It would not commit the United States for or against any specific form of political formula for the People of Puerto Rico. It would not alter the powers of sovereignty acquired by the United States over Puerto Rico under the terms of the Treaty of Paris.” (Emphasis added.)

Public hearing S. 3336, A bill to provide for the organization of a constitutional government by the people of Puerto Rico, 2nd Session of the 81st Congress,1950.

Moreover, on the final report of H.R. 7674, the House of Representatives stated: “the bill under consideration will not change Puerto Rico’s fundamental political, social and economic relationship to the United States.” House Report No. 2275, 2nd Session of the 81st Congress,1950.

Notwithstanding, the irrefutable fact that the approval of the Commonwealth Constitution did not alter in any way the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico”, the United States and Muñoz Marín told the world that the Island had voluntarily entered into a new non-colonial relationship with the U.S. In 1953 the United States and Muñoz Marín presented the Commonwealth to the United Nations as a bilateral pact that ended their colonial relationship. Consequently, the U.S. requested that Puerto Rico be removed from the list of non-self- governing territories monitored by the U.N. In fact, on November 3, 1953, Frances P. Bolton, U.S. Congressional Delegate to the U.N. stated in part:

“…there exists a bilateral compact of association between the people of Puerto Rico and the United States which has been accepted by both and which in accordance with judicial decisions may not be amended without common consent.”

As anyone can see, the statements made by delegate Bolton before the U.N. regarding the nature of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. were totally false. Unfortunately, it would take the U.N. 30 years before it would finally decide to re-open Puerto Rico’s case and conclude that Puerto Rico is still a colony. Since then, the Committee has issued more than 40 resolutions supporting Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination and independence.

Despite all of the evidence that clearly shows the Puerto Rico’s relation with the U.S. did not change in 1952, the Popular Democratic Party continued to tell Puerto Ricans and the rest of the world that Puerto Rico’s colonial problem had been solved with the passage of the Commonwealth Constitution. For more than six decades the Popular Democratic Party disseminated this insidious lie. This pattern of deceit was finally unmasked in 2016, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, 136 S.Ct. 1863 (2016) In Sanchez Valle, the Court held that the enactment of the Commonwealth Constitution did not change the nature of the relationship that existed prior 1952 between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Moreover, the decision was a clear rejection of the idea that a pact or a bilateral agreement was created when the Puerto Ricans ratified the Commonwealth Constitution.