Spotlight on Puerto Rico
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-06-15/spotlight-puerto-rico
As a U.S. senator, Barack Obama visited Puerto Rico and promised to return. Yesterday, he did. It was the first official visit to the territory by a sitting U.S. president in 50 years. Home to high unemployment and beautiful beaches, Puerto Rico gussied itself up and gave the president a warm welcome. The trip was fulfillment of a past promise, but also a look to the future. 2012. Nearly 10 percent of Latino voters in the U.S. are of Puerto Rican descent. And they don't always vote Democratic. We'll talk about Puerto Rico - its people and economy, and whether it will ever become the 51st U.S. state.
Guests
Luis Fortuno
Republican governor of Puerto Rico.
Rafael Fantauzzi
president and CEO, the National Puerto Rican Coalition.
Mauricio Cardenas
director, Latin America Initiative, the Brookings Institution; formerly Colombia's minister of Economic Development and Transportation.
Fernando Pizarro
Washington correspondent, Univision.
Laura Meckler
White House correspondent, The Wall Street Journal.
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
Some people on these boards complain about the election cycle but I wonder if they would tie the hands of the current president in using the office like Barack Obama has for trips like this to lure voters and fund raisers to fill his bank accounts for the upcoming election. The opposition would not have a chance if it waited a minute longer determining the front runner and then gathering the funds to compete.
It's estimated the Barack Obama will have a Billion dollars at his disposal to spin his mantra of wealth redistribution in the 2012 election, more specifically the promise to those who have no problem stealing money from others to fund all the social welfare programs that they believe they have some kind of right too. The sad thing is these programs are doomed to go broke. Why should Obama care even if he loses he is a millionaire from being a full time candidate and nothing more and the idiots will line up to hear his twisted message for years to come at 100k per speech, not to mention a book or two.
On a positive front, at last Wisconsin Governor Walker prevailed in his efforts to stop collective bargaining "rights" (right to steal that is). As hard as the unions and the state democrats have tried to paint the debate between outside forces and the unions the tax payers of Wisconsin the real victim of the unions have had enough. As a Wisconsin resident, THANK YOU Governor Walker.
yes i know they cannot vote for president in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has very serious social and economic problems. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment rate is 16.4% as of April of 2011. Furthermore, crime is rampant and thus far there have been more than 490 homicides in the Island this year. It appears that chaos rules in Puerto Rico, that the quality of life is very poor, and thus so many Puerto Ricans have moved to places like Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. My question for the panel is how do these issues affect the Island’s relationship with the mainland and does it make it more or less likely that Puerto Rico will become a state or an independent nation?
Puerto Rico has very serious social and economic problems. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment rate is 16.4% as of April of 2011. Furthermore, crime is rampant and thus far there have been more than 490 homicides in the Island this year. It appears that chaos rules in Puerto Rico, that the quality of life is very poor, and thus so many Puerto Ricans have moved to places like Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. My question for the panel is how do these issues affect the Island’s relationship with the mainland and does it make it more or less likely that Puerto Rico will become a state or an independent nation?
PR has been a colony from inception. First Spain and then the US as a war bounty. The problem is that even though it's not a state it cannot even try to lure foreign investment as other states have done because Congress would have to authorize it. Thus it's harder for its economy to recouperate. When the US has a cold, PR has pneumonia. It's one of the reasons why I came to the mainland to seek job opportunities in Florida. Furthermore, I don't believe any job creation incentives will be able to reach PR. It's a smart move from Obama to court Puerto Ricans as we're the second biggest Hispanic group in the US mainland though. In PR, politics is almost a religion. The percentage of voters is over 80% and even ex-pats follow carefully any and all local developments. The policies of the incumbent governor (i.e., letting go 17,000+ public employees) have only deepended the dispair of the people in the middle of the Great Recession and crime has increased dramatically since I left in 2004. Local parties are defined by the Island's political status and aspirations regarding the relationship with the US. You have local politicians from different local parties who are democrats or republicans as well. The people are divided status wise. A slight majority want to stay as a Commonwealth and other than a minority that seek independence (less than 3%) the rest would like statehood. Personally, I think there's no way Congress will ever allow PR to become a state. Think of it, if PR becomes a state it would have 2 senators and approximately 7 representatives. Same as Alabama, Colorado, and Louisiana and more than 24 other states. There have already been 3 referendums on status. The people have supported the status quo. Status is not an issue. In addition, I don't think Puerto Ricans would be able to afford it. They already pay state taxes PLUS 7% sales tax (6% state and 1% municipal).
What will happen to Puerto Rico in terms of language if it becomes the 51st state? Will it be a bilingual state or an English-only state? Will Spanish and English remain as the official languages (as it is today) or will it be forced to use English as part of daily life (as US Americans attempted to do 100 yrs ago)?
Thank you
Can somebody explain how would people living in Puerto Rico would pay more taxes under Statehood? As far as I know, the maximum Tax level in PR is 75%?
I do not think that the culture would change necessarily. Looking at Hawaii, they have managed keep and in some cases to enhance their cultural identity. Spanish will still be spoken; English if I recall, is only official in 28 states on the main land.
I am a military wife who lived in Puerto Rico at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads from 2001 until the base closed in 2004. The previous governor made it clear to the administration that the military was not welcome because of Vieques but when the bases closed, there was a huge outcry towards the U.S. because the bases generated a great deal of money into the economy. It was difficult to feel warmly towards a community that was at the same time expectant of support and resentful of being dependent.
Because the U.S. made Puerto Rico a welfare state.
Please stop saying Puerto Rico is a country, it is not.
Slavery refers: 1) to the restrain of liberty and 2) to dispose of their labor against their will. In other words, we might point out that slavery is when an entity, a person, has absolute power over another including life and liberty.
Following that definition, we might uncover other type of slavery: Colonialism. “The establishment of domination of a geographically extended political unit, most often inhabited by its people of a different race and culture, where its domination is political and economic and the colony exists subordinated to and dependent on the mother country” (Blauner quoted in Wolpe, 1975).
In 1917, at the midst of the First World War, the U.S. imposed in a non-democratic way the U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans. In that way, Puerto Ricans, being U.S. citizens, were obliged to join the U.S. army in the WWI. Similar to the slavery system, the U.S. disposed the bodies of thousands of Puerto Ricans to pay with blood the U.S. citizenship in WWI and thereafter until the Vietnam conflict.
There are just two possible solutions to end that bondage: independence or statehood. Backing up colonialism, a third option and the root of the problems, is to “solemnly bind to be false to the future.” After all, we, the U.S., proclaim around the world justice, freedom, and democracy. Conversely, that is not morally possible while retaining colonies such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This visit of Obama was really disgraceful and a lack of respect for PR, especially at this moment in its history. Obama came and comported himself as a colonial master. For him to come to Puerto Rico at this time in history and say that "When Puerto Rico decides" is when the US is going to do something is an embarrasment, an unbecoming attitude for any president, but even more so for one who should know better
Contrast JFK's visit. JFK made an official "visita de estado" (a visit of a head of state to another head of state) like it or not, he treated PR with the respect that a free associated state/commonwealth deserved at the time. He came with the First Lady, they had a state dinner at Fortaleza with local and regional consuls, etc. Pablo Casals and the cream of the crop of PR art world was there. The visit was reciprocated with Muñoz and wife visiting the White House on another state visit, and Casals performed there and the guests of honor, sitting on first row, next to JFK and Jackie, were Don Luis and Doña Ines.
The thousands who lined up the road from the airport to Fortaleza was 5 - 10 deep, uninterrupted.
Obama came alone. Went to Fortaleza, signed a basketball, used the toilet, and then went to meet with the DNC representative of PR, eating a Cuban sandwich, not even a "monfoguito", took his 1.8 million and left. That was the first (and probably last) presidential visit of Obama, the culturally sensitive. Obama's first visit to Puerto Rico as president? A partisan campaign stop.
First of all, I just want to thank Mrs. Rehm for taking the time to spotlight Puerto Rico on her show.
In my opinion, the political environment in Puerto Rico has been detrimental to the development of the economic and social stability of the island's habitants. The lack of vision of the current and past leadership has placed the population in a seamlessly neverending cycle of dependency on government programs and the increasing loss of industry, agriculture, and entrepreneurship. As one of your panelists stated, there is a complete lack of a viable economic model under which the Puertorican people can support and further develop.
The educational system is in a state of decline, as it is in the U.S., and in my opinion this is most likely one of the leading causes of the increased crime rate in addition to the current economic status.
To summarize my comments, the people need to be educated, the government and private sector need to develop an economic plan, and the Commonwealth needs to become either an independent country or an autonomous state. This will lead the island and it's people to finally become a part of the global, political and economical stage that it has longed for over 100 years.
Is not? Maybe you are correct. It is a colonial possesion.
I definitely agree with your comments. The people on the island were blinded by the media build up and did not see the visit for what it was. A political fundraiser.
Just heard the last half-hour of the conversation. It was very frustrating. Yes, Puerto Rico has problems. But the ahistoricism of the conversation made it sound like those sad, sorry, Puerto Ricans just can't help being dysfunctional weaklings and somehow have earned both their peculiar political status and economic devastation.
American agricultural interests destroyed Puerto Rican agriculture in the 20s and 30s... The standard-bearers of democracy didn't allow an island that was taking its first fitful steps toward autonomy in the 1890s to develop authentically representative institutions and indigenous leaders for decades, stunting the growth of Puerto Rican democracy.
The FBI and other American agencies harassed and hunted leaders radicalized by the treatment of the island and its people, making eventual armed resistance no surprise at all.
And in all the talk of living standards and unemployment, the fate of the Spanish language and so on... it would have been nice to hear one simple point discussed:
If Puerto Rico was a poor, but independent and self-governing country today, would it really be that much worse off than it has been under American domination for much of the last 110 years?
one more thing....
Again and again the Puerto Rican people were portrayed as supplicants, asking great big Uncle Sam for statehood, food stamps, and so on...
The conversation should have spent a little more time reminding people that Puerto Ricans never asked to be Americans. They were never asked by the United States whether they wanted to be invaded, wrested away from Spain, and absorbed into yet another empire.
The country was invaded, taken over, absorbed, with NO consultation, NO democratic process, not even the slightest recognition of Puerto Rican self-determination.
To make it sound like the place now has its tin cup out and that this is somehow unfair is infuriating. You took us, and now you want to complain about it? We're here because you were there!! Live with it!
Puerto Rico does need to decide! They never decide at the votes that are held for that expressed purpose!
Puerto Rico needs to learn to respect itself. The flagrant abuse of the people's patience, ignorance and resources are obvious in the way affairs are handled there. And we won't even touch the subject of the sense of entitlement ...
I listen to this show rather frequently, and was surprised and disappointed by the lack of balance among the selected presenters. This seems indicative of the way that Puerto Rico's status has been handled throughout its history, with the independence movement repressed and criminalized ever since the Spanish American War. As a non-Puerto Rican, I agree that it is up to the Puerto Ricans to determine their future, but as US citizens, we all have a responsibility to insist that the process be free, fair, and conducted in accordance with international law.
I listen to this show rather frequently, and was surprised and disappointed by the lack of balance among the selected presenters. This seems indicative of the way that Puerto Rico's status has been handled throughout its history, with the independence movement repressed and criminalized ever since the Spanish American War. As a non-Puerto Rican, I agree that it is up to the Puerto Ricans to determine their future, but as US citizens, we all have a responsibility to insist that the process be free, fair, and conducted in accordance with international law.
Lol. I'm glad to see that this was a completely unbiased and well reasoned post. Lol. Yes, it's only Barack Obama that does these things and, yes, all Republican politicians are poor and barely making it. Barack Obama is mega rich and republicans had nothing to do with the mess...lol. I'm sorry, your post is too funny. I'm still laughing. That was a very humorous post. Thank you. It helped make my day.
I agree heartily!
It is ridiculous what goes on there, at the instigation of independentistas. Ceiba is a ghost town now that there is no Navy base there. I understand the problems with the military activity there, but for independence, they need to be constructing a healthy framework for their people, as in EDUCATION that is adequate, infrastructure and social well-being.
They do have their tin cup out. They should then devise ways to take care of themselves. NO more PAN, WIC, PLAN 8, Social security disability benefits... and create schools that work, set up proper environmental management...the list can go on. IF you desire your own "country" then someone needs to create that!
As if once Puerto Rico "decides" the decision will be respected and embraced by the United States. Dream on!
What's the difference between Puerto Rico and Palestine? The US occupied PR in 1898, and while Puerto Ricans were given US citizenship in 1918, nonetheless they could not elect their own governor until 1954. Puerto Ricans not residing on the mainland cannot vote for the US president, nor have representation in Congress. They do not pay US Federal taxes, but do get social service benefits.
They have the right to become independent, or to become a state in the union, but have chosen not to do either, and to remain a so-called "Commonwealth." There is so such status in the US Constitution. You are either a US territory or a US state, and this designation of "commonwealth" is unique to Puerto Rico and is fundamentally not constitutional. As a commonwealth it is not independent, cannot have an independent army or foreign policy, and certainly cannot have a foreign base on its soil. It's not all that different from the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
If Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia (all technically commonwealths) and Washington D.C. (not a state or commonwealth) have all the rights and privileges of the 46 states (including voting for president), why doesn't Puerto Rico?
I would have just one question, had I been in the press pool: "Mr. President, how does it feel to take money for your campaign from a people who can't vote for you, and yet you can send their sons and daughters fight and die abroad?"
I certainly appreciate this podcast and some of the questions Ms Rehm made, but this was really one-sided by pro-statehood representatives who clearly just want PR to be a state. The caller Santiago had VERY valid questions but the ? was not answered and i forget his name skirted around the issue and Ms Rehm never challenged him to really answer it. This is precisely why PR is in the shape it is today-Even the governor was so wishy-washy, providing only glittering generalities about PR and how wonderful it is to be an American and how the soldiers fought bravely in wars (he mentioned it twice). I certainly applaud for the issue being discussed, but a more complete debate could have been made including a political analyst that favors independence for PR because as much as the "experts"in this podcast claim to make this into a domestic issue with US, really PR is more international and unique and entitled to be treated as what it is, a trapped country who is being managed by owners whose only solution to its inability to deal with PR and to maybe keep it around is to provide welfare and by the governing parties who use that as leverage to win elections. As many know the issue of losing welfare benefits is what moves PR elections, no to vote for president or because they love USA.
I heard today's show and I couldn't believe my ears. The guest that stated "how will Puerto Rico survive if it becomes independent?" obviously has an agenda. Anybody that has learned about the US control over Puerto Rico will undoubtedly know the import/export restrictions placed on the island. This is considered to be the main obstacle in the way of independence but they don't want Puerto Ricans to investigate too much into it.
I grew up in Puerto Rico and I'm also a military brat so I have love for both the US and my island but it is incredibly irresponsible for the guest to say this and for NPR not to have any facts or historical material to put forth on the show. The problem this creates is that people who didn't know much about this will now consider this man's statement as truth.
As for statehood, I think independence has a greater chance of succeeding. I don't think most Americans understand the attitude and culture of Puerto Ricans the way they would need to in order for statehood to work. A lot of people on the island have supported statehood in the past but would balk at the majority of laws, policies and financial rules that would be put in place. I would compare it to when a kid begs their parents for a dog but they don't understand the responsibility and by the time the puppy comes home, it's too late.
It might not seem like it to some listeners but radio shows like today's, TV interviews, articles, reports, etc. spend so little time on the basics and not enough time on the heart of the problem. Every couple of years Puerto Rico is mentioned in the news and quickly forgot about. This won't change until somebody finds the fortitude to stop beating around the bush and get to the facts.
Unfortunately, I expect no action to be taken because our people are used to being ignored. I love NPR and I have incredible respect for Diane Rehm but this was just gross negligence.
You and I share some paralells..