Puerto Rican Status Debate

Report Outline
Commonwealth Under New Attack
Genesis of Commonwealth Status
Factors in Puerto Rico's Future

Commonwealth Under New Attack

Waning Support in 25th Year of Commonwealth

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will mark its twenty-fifth anniversary on July 25, under severe attack from critics on the left and the right. The present governor, Carlos Romero Barcelo, a partisan of statehood for the island, has said, “The days of glory of Commonwealth are past.” The leader of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Ruben Berrios Martinez, calls the Commonwealth form of government “a political and economic anachronism.” Even the head of the Popular Democratic Party, which was responsible for creating the Commonwealth a quarter of a century ago, declares that it would be “very, very difficult” to take the position that Puerto Rico is not, in effect, a colony of the United States.

Doubts about the viability of the present relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States have been simmering for many years. They came to a boil last December, when President Ford rejected a recommendation for increased autonomy for the island and proposed statehood instead. The President's statement, apparently issued without consultation with anyone in Puerto Rico, took all the island's political leaders by surprise. Governor Romero, who assumed office on Jan. 1, adroitly avoided mention of Ford's proposal in his inaugural address. Romero had campaigned on a platform pointing to economic recovery and had pledged not to push for statehood until Puerto Rico was back on its feet.

In view of the growing polarization over status, Romero may be hard pressed to keep that pledge. Early this year, a news correspondent reported from San Juan that “there is general agreement here that, as a result of President Ford's statehood proposal, Puerto Rico's present Commonwealth relationship with the United States will not survive …Ford has hastened the day when this highly politicized island will once again be forced to radically redefine its 78-year-old relationship with the United States.”