In recent months, Americans have been rightfully concerned about threats to the nation’s democracy, from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol to new restrictive voting laws in states across the country.
At the same time, America’s oldest democratic crisis rages on: Puerto Rico remains, for all intents and purposes, a U.S. colony — its more than 3 million residents granted neither full sovereignty nor full political rights in the United States. That immoral status quo rarely garners much attention, but it urgently demands action from all Americans who defend democratic values.
Puerto Rico has been a U.S. possession for 123 years. The U.S. Congress, in which Puerto Ricans lack full voting representation, exercises plenary power over the island. Puerto Ricans cannot vote for the president who may send them to war or, indeed, order or impede life-saving disaster aid.
Too few Americans have adequately grappled with how Puerto Rico’s political status perpetuates the interconnected socio-economic crises that afflict the island, and remains an enduring hindrance to the well-being and prosperity of its people.
For decades that status quo persisted, in part, because a majority of Puerto Ricans tacitly supported it. That was never adequate justification: “Colonialism by consent” is a grotesque concept, and it does not exempt the United States from its moral responsibility to free the island from political limbo.
But the U.S. has consistently shirked that responsibility. Puerto Rico has held six status plebiscites in the last 55 years; the last four have marked, in one way or another, a rejection of the current status, but Congress has not taken any meaningful action to decolonize Puerto Rico. And why should they? Puerto Ricans can neither reward nor punish U.S. politicians for their action or inaction on this issue, and Americans, convinced that it’s “not their place,” implicitly support the status quo through their indifference.
It’s happening again now. Last year, 53 percent of Puerto Rican voters chose statehood in the latest plebiscite. But, in Congress, a proposal to annex Puerto Rico is dead in the water. To be clear, there are good reasons to not support statehood, which won only a slim majority in a “yes or no” vote which included no other options.
Most importantly: Puerto Rico is a nation and Puerto Ricans a distinct people. For our homeland to be absorbed into the country that once invaded it in an imperialist frenzy is far from a just and decolonial outcome.
Still, Congress’ refusal to act on Puerto Ricans’ stated preference should belie once and for all the notion that the United States will simply “heed the will of the people” on the status question. Nor should anyone expect a supermajority consensus to emerge anytime soon. Puerto Ricans have spent decades divided on this issue because it turns on fundamental questions about nationhood, identity and culture that are not easily reconciled.
The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act introduced by U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez in the House, and by Bob Menéndez in the Senate, outlines a process by which Puerto Rico would hold a convention to deliberate on non-territorial status options, draft transition plans and hold educational campaigns before a vote. The convention would work with a congressional bilateral commission, which would ensure that plans and alternatives are realistic and politically viable. Most importantly, it would create a framework to untangle a complex colonial legacy, place independence and statehood on equal footing and compel the United States to finally end this shameful chapter in our shared history.
Whether they favor statehood or — as I do — independence, millions of Americans rightfully support “self-determination” for Puerto Rico. It is past time for leaders to act on it.
Alberto Medina is a member of Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora, a group of U.S.-based Puerto Ricans that advocates for Puerto Rico’s self-determination and decolonization.