Puerto Rico governor vows statehood push after referendum win

[techbeck]

Puerto Rico's governor on Monday said the island's vote in favor of becoming a U.S. state, despite low voter turnout and widespread boycotts, was "a fair and open" process that U.S. Congress should act upon.

 

An island-wide referendum on Sunday favored statehood in a 97 percent landslide, though voter turnout reached just 23 percent as opponents of Governor Ricardo Rossello's push to become a state boycotted the vote.

 

The non-binding plebiscite is not expected to sway the U.S. Congress, which would have to agree to make Puerto Rico a state.

 

Currently a U.S. territory, the island is struggling with $70 billion in debt and a 45 percent poverty rate, and is not viewed as a priority in Washington.

 

Rossello, who campaigned on a push for statehood, said in a telephone interview with Reuters that he will go to the U.S. capital this week to urge federal lawmakers to begin the process of admitting Puerto Rico into the union.

 

"We will make sure this becomes an issue," Rossello said.

 

The vote comes at a critical time for Puerto Rico, whose hazy status - which dates to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain - has contributed to its ongoing economic crisis.

 

Last month, the island filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Its woes make statehood even more urgent, Rossello said. "Statehood brings stability, allows us to have fewer rule-changes from Congress, provides resources to our people," he said.

 

More....

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-puertorico-debt-vote-idUSKBN1931NG

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Haven't read up on this...and probably should...but.....

Quote

An island-wide referendum on Sunday favored statehood in a 97 percent landslide, though voter turnout reached just 23 percent as opponents of Governor Ricardo Rossello's push to become a state boycotted the vote.

 

Really?  What does boycotting a vote accomplish?  Either vote yay or nay.

[oldtimefighter]

We are at the point now that PR needs to become a state. They are US citizens so why wouldn't they want full statehood? The other option is to become an independent nation with a period of time to allow those that want to move to the US can before they lose their US citizenship.

 

10 minutes ago, Jim K said:

Haven't read up on this...and probably should...but.....

 

Really?  What does boycotting a vote accomplish?  Either vote yay or nay.

I guess the anti-state crowd knew they were not going to win so they wanted to undermine the legitimacy of the vote.

[Emn1ty]

3 minutes ago, oldtimefighter said:

We are at the point now that PR needs to become a state. They are US citizens so why wouldn't they want full statehood? The other option is to become an independent nation with a period of time to allow those that want to move to the US can before they lose their US citizenship.

The problem there is they have quite a bit of debt, so while they may push for statehood they could get rejected for economic reasons. I don't really know of any other reason to prevent statehood though.

[DocM]

2012 PR statehood vote: 78.19% yes
2017 PR statehood vote: 61.16% yes

ISTM all the boycott did was lower the margin from mega-tsunami to rogue wave. They want statehood.

 

What's dumb is that both US parties support PR statehood. The stumbling block since 2012 has been the Democrats insistance that Washington DC also be granted statehood. This presents both constitutional and original intent problems which are not simple, so it's in stasis.

 

As to the debt, part of that is DC's fault wrt a social safety net disparity; they can get full social benefits in the US and only a fraction of those while in PR.  Many Puerto Ricans also migrate to the US for other reasons, reducing it's tax base. In either case, their leaving reduces the circulating income there...and so on.

 

Edited June 15, 2017 by DocM