Ny Safidinao

Say sayonara to the 50 stars on our grand old flag. If speculation can be believed, the United States of America could soon add two more brethren to its ranks. And no, it’s not Canada or Mexico. Odds are, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico could soon claim statehood,  OZY  reports. The movement to make Washington, D.C. a state gained momentum in the spring of 2016, when 86 percent of D.C. voters approved a petition on the matter. The district later drafted a state constitution during a summer convention. Meanwhile, proponents also attended the Republican and Democratic national conventions to advocate for their cause. “We’ve accomplished a lot in educating Americans around the country,” says Paul Strauss, the district’s two-term “shadow senator.” D.C.’s representatives may sit in Congress but do not vote. Although the district’s population is bigger than Wyoming’s or Vermont’s, concerns regarding the legality of its statehood have sinc...

Up from the ashes of the D.C. statehood movement has risen a fresh idea: to present D.C. and Puerto Rico as a pair of vote-neutering twins, where the territory’s right-leaning representatives in Congress would cancel out the District’s left-leaning ones. Never mind that Puerto Rico, home to about 3.5 million vote-starved brethren, who are more or less evenly split along party lines, has five times more people than the District.  Our dispatch from the latest, and somewhat pointless, statehood commission meeting. Puerto Rico Features in New Statehood Strategy

IVETTE FELICIANO:  Along the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, graffiti reading “No more abuse” and “Fascism in Puerto Rico” are a window into the unrest sparked by the largest financial crisis in the island’s history. Since January, thousands have protested austerity measures and cuts to public services imposed on this U.S. territory that’s home to 3.4 million U.S. citizens. But Puerto Rico currently owes creditors a massive $72 billion. Last year, following a series of defaults on debt payments, Congress passed and President Obama signed the Puerto Rico Oversight Management and Economic Stability Act, or PROMESA, which means “promise” in Spanish. The law gave a financial oversight board veto power over Puerto Rico’s budget and provided a process to restructure the debt. Did you realize what you were getting yourself into? JOSE CARRION:  I did not. IVETTE FELICIANO:  Jose Carrion, who runs a large insurance brokerage in San Juan, chairs the appointed seven m...

The economic crisis afflicting Puerto Rico for the last decade has also taken a toll on the island’s only zoo, with critics saying it is sorely understaffed and struggling to care for its animals on a limited budget. Conditions at Dr. Juan A. Rivero, a 45-acre zoo featuring over 300 species in the western coastal town of Mayaguez, have deteriorated so far as to catch the attention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which cited dozens of violations at the park in its most recent report from this spring. They included a distressed cougar housed in a tiny enclosure; a lack of working fans for camels and deer exposed to tropical heat; expired food and medicines; and a tiger that inspectors said was underweight and had not had any medical exams or lab tests for two years. “It makes you want to cry,” said Susan Soltero, an animal activist appointed to a newly formed government committee charged with investigating conditions at the zoo. “This is unacceptable to me as a human being....

Introduction On July 10th, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló announced three new appointments to the newly formed Democracy Commission. Those three appointees join four others who were appointed earlier this year. The commission is tasked with lobbying Congress to approve Puerto Rico’s request for statehood. Puerto Rico’s latest push for statehood resembles the strategy Tennessee used in 1795 to become a state, known as the Tennessee Plan. But what exactly is the Tennessee Plan and how could it help Puerto Rico achieve statehood? What is the Tennessee Plan? The Tennessee Plan refers to the strategy that Tennessee used in 1795 to gain membership into the Union. The territory of Tennessee, then known as the Southwest Territory, was under the jurisdiction of North Carolina from 1777-1788. In 1789, North Carolina ratified the United States Constitution and ceded its Tennessee territory to the federal government. The territory was governed under the Northwest Ordinance, whic...

First, there was silence, as none of the other three Brevard County commissioners in attendance would second a resolution by Commissioner John Tobia, calling for Congress to reject statehood for Puerto Rico. Then, there was a loud cheer from members of the audience who opposed Tobia's resolution, as they realized his proposal had died for a lack of a second. Tobia introduced his proposal shortly after the start of Tuesday night's County Commission meeting. He contended that Puerto Rico's debt issues would affect all taxpayers if Puerto Rico became a state. Buy Photo At the Tuesday, July 11 meeting, the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners rejected a resolution by District 3 Commissioner John Tobia (seen at far right in this photo) requesting that the U.S. Congress refrain from extending statehood to Puerto Rico. Several speakers in favor of statehood addressed the commissioners, including Colonel Dennis Freytes, U.S. Army, retired, seen at the podium.  (Phot...

The pro-statehood governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, invited the people of the island to vote in favor of statehood on a plebiscite held on June 11, 2017. It was a nonbinding vote, held after the U.S. Department of Justice rejected the first proposed ballot for not complying with the Constitution and federal law, and then kept silent on the ballot that was offered to the people. Showing a great deal of political maturity, Puerto Ricans massively declined the invitation. Even though our rate of participation in elections and past plebiscites has been between 60 percent and 80 percent, this time 77 percent of those entitled to vote decided to pass.  The plebiscite was boycotted by the two major opposition parties and every important civic and political organization. The pro-statehood party spent millions of dollars on a fear campaign, telling people that if they did not vote for statehood they would be deprived of their U.S. citizenship and promising millions in federal...

There is a well-known and somewhat worn-out adage that warns against wasting a crisis, in great part because critical moments provide opportunities to take action on important issues that are commonly avoided and often misunderstood. But it seems like Puerto Rico’s political leaders are doing just that by opting to invest valuable political capital in Washington, D.C. on a recent referendum vote, while vital issues like budget cuts and fiscal consolidation threaten to compromise the socioeconomic prospects of generations to come. Much has been written on the impacts of the debt crisis that is crippling the island, but significant knowledge gaps remain. On numerous occasions, I have heard businessmen, politicians and others suggest, with conviction and authority, that we are too indebted because the government spent too much, and now, in order to solve the problem, we have to do the opposite: slash public budgets until a recovery is in sight. It is an appealing proposition, in part, ...

The current major push by the Island’s Governor and his party to make Puerto Rico the 51st state has created a new momentum for this movement - as well as an increased strong response by its critics. While we're aware of significant divisions in United States politics, this is no less the case among Puerto Ricans. But despite this divide on the status question, what is currently most interesting is whether or not the current statehood push will get a positive (or any) response from the U.S. Congress or the White House. If Congress does respond, will that put an end to the debate or fuel further divisions? If it doesn’t, would that mean the end of the statehood movement and the opening to a renewed focus on the possibilities of independence? An American flag and Puerto Rican flag fly next to each other in Old San Juan.   Joe Raedle / Getty Images What are the elements of this current statehood push? First of all, the statehood movement has, since 1973, tied its argument...

In the midst of an unprecedented economic and fiscal crisis, Puerto Rico held its fifth status referendum in 50 years last Sunday. Producing a 97 percent victory in favor of statehood, New Progressive Party (PNP) Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has made it clear that he will lose no time leveraging the mandate to push Congress to admit Puerto Rico as the 51st state. Despite this, Rosselló will surely exclude from his sales pitch any reference to the successful electoral boycott organized and supported by practically every movement, party, and sector other than the PNP. Though Puerto Rican voters traditionally churn out en masse for electoral events, only about a quarter of voters participated in Rosselló's referendum. Turnout rates for previous votes on the matter in 2012, 1998, 1993 and 1967 boasted participation rates of 78 percent, 71 percent, 74 percent, and 60 percent, respectively. The boycott, in effect, was thus successful. Though turnout tends to be low in the U.S., such organize...