On June 10, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Congress, Pablo José Hernández Rivera, introduced a new bill to address Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory. The bill was immediately met with controversy.
The day after introduction, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), longtime leaders of congressional efforts to decolonize Puerto Rico, issued the following joint statement opposing the status legislation:
“During the last three Congresses, we have led serious legislative efforts to forge a path towards real self-determination for Puerto Ricans, underscoring that non-territorial, non-colonial options are the only options viable for true decolonization. Throughout the process of crafting legislation, we engaged in a series of meetings, hearings, and dialogues with Puerto Rican experts, academics, and stakeholders, the Diaspora, and Congress.
“Yesterday, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico co-opted our legislation and introduced a bill that includes an option to maintain the current status of the island as a colony. Over the last three congresses, more and more members have come to acknowledge that the current colonial condition of Puerto Rico is a moral stain on our nation’s history that must be addressed. Our country cannot claim to be a bastion of democracy as we continue to hold colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
“The Resident Commissioner’s bill denies the colonial character of the Commonwealth, erases historical realities, subverts Democratic consensus, and ignores Supreme Court decisions like United States v. Vaello-Madero, which reaffirmed that Puerto Rico remains subject to Congress’s plenary powers. We stand together in opposing this legislation and will continue to fight for a serious decolonization process for Puerto Ricans. This is too vital an issue to be sullied by individual political aspirations.”
The “Commonwealth” Defined: A Colony
The Hernandez bill calls for a plebiscite in Puerto Rico in which voters can choose from among four options: statehood, independence, independence with a Compact of Free Association, and “commonwealth.” The bill further refers to “the current Commonwealth relationship” between the U.S. and Puerto Rico and explains that under this “Commonwealth,” Puerto Rico “has a measure of autonomy comparable to that possessed by the States.” The bill additionally asserts that “Puerto Rico exercises autonomy over fiscal and economic policy.”
As Congresswomen Velazquez and Ocasio-Cortez point out, however, Puerto Rico simply does not enjoy the level of autonomy comparable to that possessed by the states. Nor does Puerto Rico exercise autonomy over its own fiscal and economic policy. Instead, as the Supreme Court has explicitly ruled, Puerto Rico is not on “equal footing” with states and lacks the “power, dignity and authority” of a state.
When the Supreme Court issues these statements, one legal commentator observed that Puerto Rico “continues to be entirely subordinate to Congress under the Constitution’s Territories Clause” and that “[t]he mere fact that the issue [of Puerto Rico’s debt] is now being weighed on Capitol Hill shows that Congress clearly understands that what Puerto Rico can do depends almost completely upon what the lawmakers are willing to allow.”
Less than a month later, the U.S. Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), setting up a Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) to monitor and oversee Puerto Rico’s finances, giving it more power than Puerto Rico’s Govenor. Any subjective analysis over Puerto Rico’s autonomy was put to rest. A decade later, the FOMB has yet to be dismantled.
As the Supreme Court has stated and Congress has demonstrated, “the current Commonwealth relationship” of Puerto Rico is not one of autonomy. There is no sovereignty. It is sometimes painful to acknowledge, but as Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Velázquez attest, there is no denying “the colonial character of the Commonwealth.”
