Puerto Rico's Perspective

PRO
1. There are lots of advantages to statehood both economic and political. With
populace about four million, statehood will Puerto Rico seven house representatives
and two senators with a total of politically relevant nine Electoral college vote.
2. PR costs the United States more than 22 billion dollar a year. On the other hand,
being a state it will add close to 2 billion dollars to the treasury of the US every year.
3. About fifty percent of people living in this country reside under poverty. Complete
integration to the economy will give more job and income benefits.
4. People of Puerto Rico dont exercise independence with their personal affairs.
With statehood they choose a governor and comprise a state government that same
as the American states.
5. This present colonial standing doesnt allow people of Puerto Rico to elect for
President of the US or have some say in the developing of the regulations as well as
statutes which apply.
6. With this statehood, PR will be become an open market to sell with many country
around the world which are in coalition with the United States.

CON
1. People of Puerto Rico are afraid that they will drop their culture and Spanish
heritage once they become a US state. They will not be determined as individual
country in various competitions such as Olympic Games or have a candidate in the
Miss Universe Pageant, wherein the hold the record of winning 3 times.
2. English is obligatory in the public schools; however it is educated as an overseas
language. Students not often get 50 minutes of more of English teaching for every
day. 20 percent of PR only knows how to speak English.
3. Once it become state, people of Puerto Rico they will not exempt from tax and
people will be pressured on the Department of Labor and Employment as of the
impacts of enhanced taxation on a hostile economy.

PRO
Full Political Rights and Citizenship
Currently, Puerto Ricans do not receive full political rights and equal representation,
despite their partial American citizenship. Although it has its own Governor and
legislature which handles some domestic matters, inhabitants of Puerto Rico receive
no say in US federal matters or foreign policy, despite being heavily affected by
them (more so than most current American states, as Puerto Rico sits in the
Caribbean surrounded by other island nation-states). If Puerto Rico became a US
state, Puerto Ricans would then share as everyone else in full benefits from the US
government, while paying taxes like everyone else.
The status quo perpetuates a semi-colonial situation in Puerto Rico, where American
citizenship, which they have held since 1917, carries fewer rights than in the US
proper. This has been the situation since the US captured Puerto Rico in 1898, and
no other US territory has been held in limbo like this for so long. During this time
Puerto Ricans have supported the US by serving in large numbers, both voluntarily
and through conscription, in the US military in every major war since the SpanishAmerican War.
However the island's current status still prompts United Nations to still debate
whether Puerto Rico is a colony. US congressional inquest into Puerto Rico's political
situation has found that, despite the divergent views that Puerto Ricans have with
respect to their preferred political status, all factions agree on the need to end the
present undemocratic arrangement whereby Puerto Rico is subject to the laws of
Congress but cannot vote in it.
The former chief justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, Jose Trias Monge, has
written a book on the political status of Puerto Rico entitled Puerto Rico: The Trials
of the Oldest Colony in the World. Therein he argued that just prior to the U.S.
invasion, the Island enjoyed greater freedom and rights in certain areas than it does
now, including an insular parliament that could legislate in matters of monetary
policy, banking, import/export duties, and public credit; the ability of Puerto Rico to
negotiate its own commercial treaties; Puerto Ricans were Spanish citizens, equal in
all respects to mainland Spanish citizens; the Spanish Constitution applied in Puerto
Rico in the same manner as it applied in Spain proper; the Autonomic Charter of
1897, which governed Puerto Rico's relation with Spain, could not be changed
except with Puerto Rico's consent. The political rights currently enjoyed by Puerto
Ricans, such as their right to elect their own Governor, are not even guaranteed to
them in the status quo. In 1993, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh
Circuit stated that Congress may unilaterally repeal the Puerto Rican Constitution or
the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act and replace them with any rules or
regulations of its choice. To perpetuate this current second-class status is morally
unacceptable in a nation which pledges itself to liberty and justice for all.

PRO
Economic Benefits from Statehood
American statehood would lead to significant economic growth for Puerto Rico.
Statehood would mean that the island would shed its ineffective and costly reliance
on preferential tax credits and more fully integrate into the national economy. In a
study by Hexner, Jenkins, Lad and Lame, "Puerto Rican Statehood: A Precondition to
Sound Economic Growth," the case is persuasively made that statehood is
necessary for the island's economic growth. As an American state, the standard of
living in Puerto Rico would profoundly improve for the average person. With
average income going up, families would be able to pay their fair share of taxes
while still improving their net income and standard of living. For those with low
incomes, the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico would have the same access to tax relief
and federal support programs as any other citizen of the country, unlike under the
present status where significant disparities exist. This is particularly significant as
approximately 50% of Puerto Ricans live under the federal poverty line.
Many areas of US Federal funding to Puerto Rico would actually improve. For
example, the current 50 states can receive up to 90% reimbursement through
Medicaid for critical health information technologies; Puerto Rico is not eligible for
these supplements. According to 2005 Congressional testimony by Governor Anibal
Acevedo-Vila, had Puerto Rico been treated like the other states, it would have
received $1.7 billion dollars in federal Medicaid support instead of the $219 million
received. Translated to monthly amounts, federal Medicaid support in the states
approximated $330 per month per participant; the amount in Puerto Rico was about
$20 per month. The US is one of the richest countries on earth, and being a full part
of it would give Puerto Ricans a lot of practical advantages that the independent
countries of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean lack. The right to move to the USproper and work there legally, for example, is extremely valuable. Overall,
therefore, there is a compelling economic case for Puerto Rico to seek American
statehood.

PRO
English is not an Issue for Statehood
Some have made the argument that Puerto Rico should not be a state because
Puerto Ricans do not speak English, and that the US should not have a non-English
speaking state. This argument does not hold up for the following reasons: English is
already an official language on the island with the same status as Spanish. Puerto
Ricans are already citizens of the U.S., and have been since 1917. There was no
language requirement with the granting of citizenship then, so it makes no sense to
ask this question now. In fact, there has never been a language requirement of
territories entering the union in American history. English is a required subject in
public schools through high school. English is the only language of the Federal Court
system and all U.S. government agencies in Puerto Rico and is the common
language in banking, commerce, real estate and the tourism industry. Learning
English as well as Spanish just makes good sense. English is the international
language of business, science, and increasingly, diplomacy. Puerto Rico should do
all it can to increase English language capability. But, making it a requirement of
statehood would ignore the precedents of Enabling Acts of Louisiana, New Mexico,
Oklahoma and Arizona, all of which similarly had issues of large non-English
speaking populations and gave or give these other languages some official status in
law.

CON
The Language Barrier and Puerto Rican Identity
Puerto Rico should not become an American state because linguistic and cultural
differences continue to divide the other 50 states and Puerto Rico. This would mean
that Puerto Rico would either fit incongruously into the union, or it would lose its
distinct cultural identity. Historically the US administrations of Puerto Rico have
pursued 'Americanization' campaigns there, focusing especially around imposing
the use of the English language and casting aside 'old values'. This policy was
deeply resented and strongly resisted by most Puerto Ricans, and it failed. Thus,
after 91 years of intimate association, Puerto Rico remains a separate cultural
nationality.
Furthermore in terms of national identity, Puerto Rico joining the US would result in
it losing the semi-independent (or at least distinct) identity which it currently has in
the eyes of much of the world. To name but two examples, Puerto would no longer
have its own representative in the Miss Universe Pageant (which Puerto Rico has
actually won on three occasions) and they would not be recognized as an individual
nation in the Olympic games, as it currently is. These international representations
would be curbed under statehood, as Puerto Rico would be required to participate in
the same manner as the other 50 states, and to compete to represent the United
States collectively, and not Puerto Rico individually, in these international events.
Changing language policies would also undermine Puerto Rican culture: the
territories that became Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma (who all had large and
historically rooted non-English-speaking populations) were all admitted to the union
by congressional enabling acts that required that schools shall always be
conducted in English in order to ensure assimilation. This would likely also be the
case with Puerto Rico, and could undermine the access of future generations of
Puerto Ricans to their Hispanic heritage and culture, subsuming it within the
overpowering tide of English-speaking American culture. Thus the Puerto Rican
people are highly independent and have immense pride in their district and rich
Latin culture and Spanish language, and they should not be deprived of that culture,
which statehood would arguably contribute towards.

CON
Puerto Rico is not Economical for the United States
If Puerto Rico were to enter the US in such a way as to harm the US economy or if it
were to become a burden to the US, this could lead to resentment of Puerto Rico by
the rest of the US and hamper integration. The unemployed in Puerto Rico will at
least have higher welfare benefits to fall back on if statehood is granted, meaning
more money lost to the U.S. treasury. Puerto Rico's per capita income of $8,509 is
less than one third of the US average, and about one half that of Mississippi, the
poorest state. The government sector in Puerto Rico generates approximately
380,000 jobs, or 33% of total employment can be unfavorably compared to the
percentage of the economy of Puerto Rico from tourism: About 6%. The average
monthly per capita income in Puerto Rico $709 per month. Social Security Disability
payments are at least $790 per month. Rank of a state of Puerto Rico as a state
among states based on population: 25th. Rank of Puerto Rico currently if included
among states based on persons receiving disability income: 16th. Even with the
gain to the U.S. Treasury of taxes now not being paid by Section 936 companies, the
CBO put the cost of Puerto Rican statehood as $9.4 billion in the first four years.
These costs do not include matters like government and court translation expenses
should Puerto Rico declare itself to be a solely Spanish-speaking land. Nor does it
include the costs to the U.S. Treasury of as many as seven representatives and two
Senators whose continuance in office will depend on their pleasing an impoverished
constituency. Legislation to increase federal spending on social programs of all sorts
need not fail narrowly in either house of the U.S. Congress, as it does at the
moment, if Puerto Rico's delegation (twice the size of West Virginia's) enters the
equation. Clearly neither the United States nor Puerto Rico can afford Puerto Rican
statehood, and it makes no sense for Puerto Rico to enter into such an unstable
relationship where resentment against Puerto Rico (and Puerto Ricans living in the
US) will breed fast.

CON
Statehood Would Prevent Puerto Rican Independence
The US has treated Puerto Rico as little more than a colony for 100 years, and this
has seeped into the Puerto Rican mentality in harmful ways. According to
educational scientists Francesco Cordasco and Eugene Bucchioni, in their 1973 work
The Puerto Rican Experience: a Sociological Sourcebook, the belief that Puerto Rico
cannot survive on its own results from teachings since grade school. Puerto Ricans
here and in Puerto Rico are taught three things: Puerto Rico is small and the US is
big, Puerto Rico is poor and the US is rich, Puerto Rico is weak and the US is strong.
Popular author and Puerto Rican culture enthusiast Jess Omar Rivera similarly
argues that in Puerto Rico, ever since you are a child, you are told that you live on
a tiny island that has no natural resources, nothing. This is what they teach you in
school, on TV, the media, and its always negative. He argues says this perception
is a by-product of the islands political dependence on the U.S.. There is this
colonized mentality that everything from abroad is better.
None of this would change under statehood, and arguably would get even worse as
Puerto Rican culture, still perceived as 'inferior' to all things American, would decline
even further. Puerto Rican nationalist Juan Mari Brs has argued Only through a
great unified movement looking beyond political and ideological differences, can the
prevalent fears of hunger and persecution be overcome for the eventual liberation
of Puerto Rico, breaking through domination by the greatest imperialist power of our
age. Attaining Puerto Rican independence us the only great cause which can unite
all Puerto Rican people and allow them to break out of this colonized mentality and
reclaim their dignity as a people and as a nation. To enter into US statehood would
simply be to accept this colonized mentality and the denigration of all things Puerto
Rican, to the advantage of the all-consuming American culture.