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More than 3.2 million American citizens reside in Puerto Rico, and they are not allowed to vote for president. They pay federal taxes, serve in the American military, and carry American passports, but have no vote on Capitol Hill.
When Puerto Rico was upended by a crushing debt crisis in 2016, the US Congress installed an unelected oversight board with vast control over the island's finances. This is the tale of Puerto Rico's struggle for equality after more than 125 years as a US territory. The Colonial Foundation.
For more than a century, Puerto Rico has had a tangled relationship with the United States, which assumed control of the island in 1898 with the end of the Spanish-American War. And unlike previous land grabs, there was no obvious route to statehood. Instead, Congress regarded Puerto Rico as a mere unincorporated territory belonging to, but not being part of, the United States.
This distinction was formally enshrined in the infamous Insular Cases of 1901, in which the Supreme Court declared that Puerto Rico belonged to, but were not a part of, the United States. These rulings put in place a legal structure that enabled Congress to legislate for territories in a way it could not for states, creating what critics say is a colonial relationship that continues to this day.
When the Jones Act was approved by Congress in 1917, Puerto Ricans were given US citizenship, but it was a limited form of citizenship. Puerto Ricans were granted citizenship without the full package of rights, without the right to vote for president, without voting representation in Congress, and while still subject to laws that they did not have a hand in making.
Although based on the colonial model, the 1950s brought an expectation for change when US Congress authorized Puerto Rico to create its own constitution and to employ the name Commonwealth in 1952. But the constitutional status of the territory had not changed. Puerto Rico still was the possession of Congress.
The Democratic Deficit. Today, the people of Puerto Rico suffer a democratic deficit. They are governed by federal laws that they have had no meaningful role in shaping. This flies in the face of the basic American credo of no taxation without representation.
Puerto Ricans contribute billions to the federal treasury every year in payroll taxes for Social Security, Medicare, and other programs. In 2009, Puerto Rico sent $3.7 billion to the US Treasury just for that year. Puerto Ricans have a higher rate of military service in the United States than many states, but cannot vote for the commander-in-chief.
The island is represented only by a single non-voting resident commissioner in the House. And though this delegate has a vote in committees too, they do not have a vote for final legislation. Puerto Rico has absolutely zero representation in the Senate. More than 3 million Americans have dramatically less political representation than Wyoming's 600,000 inhabitants.
And the Electoral College exacerbates this disparity. The 23rd Amendment gave DC electoral votes in 1961, but no such provision exists for Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans can vote in presidential primaries, but not in the general election.
The Control Board Made Colonialism. The most dramatic example of Puerto Rico's second-class status was the Puerto Rico Oversight Management and Economic Stability Act, or PROMESA, which was passed in 2016. With more than $70 billion in debt, Puerto Rico was in need of federal assistance. But that help came with a harsh cost: forfeiting financial control to an unelected oversight board.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board, or locally "La Junta," comprises seven members appointed by the US president with no input or representation from the people of Puerto Rico. This board, which wields broad authority exceeding that of Puerto Rico's elected government, was created to help put the island on sounder financial footing. It can reject budgets and override local laws, approve contracts, put in place hiring freezes, and sell public assets, including parks and schools.
But the board has responsibility beyond the budget. It has bungled labor law, stymied new government offices, and rejected pay raises for workers. When Puerto Rico's legislature enacted a law to set school cafeteria worker salaries, the board refused to certify it as being consistent with the fiscal plan. In the eyes of its critics, PROMESA represents the biggest juncture in Puerto Rican self-rule since 1898.
The board cut 80% of Puerto Rico's debt for an estimated savings of more than $50 billion in debt service. But this relief did not come through. It arrived through severe austerity of spending in health, education, pensions, and payment of debt.
The Ignored Referendums. Puerto Rico has had more than 50 political status referendums, and the results have been repeatedly ignored by Congress. In the most recent referendum in November 2024, 57% of those voting chose statehood. This was the sixth time since 2012 that Puerto Ricans had voted for statehood. But neither the Obama nor the Trump administration and Congress has taken action.
The United Nations has consistently urged the United States to honor the self-determination rights of Puerto Rico. Still, such international appeals have not translated into action. Poor follow-through has various roots: the economic cost of statehood, weariness of cultural differences, and a host of political calculations about how Puerto Rican statehood might shift the balance in Congress and the Electoral College.
Economic Dependence and Federal Control. The economic eyes of Puerto Rico are what underpin its political subservience. Federal minimum wage laws, shipping restrictions enforced by the Jones Act, and limited export independence have served to hamper the island's economic development.
Puerto Rico receives federal transfers, such as Medicaid, at lower levels than states and only receives about $1.8 billion a year, even though it would peg the figure at around $3.5 billion as a state. These constraints engineered dependency, with Puerto Rico just receiving enough federal largesse to remain stable, but never enough to become prosperous. The island cannot make its own trade deals, independently participate in international organizations, or approve its own fiscal policy without congressional action.
Other Routes: Independence and Free Association. Recent referendums have been won by statehood, but the independence movement contends that only full sovereignty can remedy Puerto Rico's colonial condition. Pro-independence activists point to successful Caribbean nations such as Barbados and Jamaica that thrived when they ended colonial relationships.
Free association is an in-between, where Puerto Rico would become a sovereign country but still maintain close ties to the US, like the Marshall Islands and Palau. Control over internal affairs and foreign relations would be offered in exchange for maintaining military defense and economic aid.
International Law and Colonial Status. Puerto Rico has become the monarchy that could divide the United States. Legal scholars are increasingly making the case that Puerto Rico's situation is a violation of international law and a betrayal of democratic principles. Former Puerto Rico Supreme Court Chief Justice José Trias Monge referred to Puerto Rico as the oldest colony in the world and stated the current status of Commonwealth as "just a fig leaf for colonial control."
The European Parliament has adopted resolutions calling for the decolonization of Puerto Rico, and numerous Latin American nations have condemned the US position on the world stage.
The Road Ahead: Options and Obstacles. The road to equality for Puerto Rico has a long way to go. Even as the island's colonial status gains acceptance, statehood would need to be approved by simple majority votes in both houses of Congress and by the president.
Under the Puerto Rico Status Act, the binding referendum would give voters three non-territorial options: statehood, independence, or free association. But the bill has never been voted on by all of Congress. During the current term, the 2024 election of pro-statehood Governor Jennifer Gonzalez and the most recent referendum victory continued to show a resurgence of Puerto Rican support for rejecting territorial status.
Contemporary Challenges and Future Prospects. The struggle for equality in Puerto Rico takes place against the background of chronic challenges that demonstrate the limitations of territorial status. Hurricane Maria in 2017 laid bare federal neglect, with disaster relief traveling more slowly to the island than to states.
Puerto Rico faces particular challenges from the changing climate that requires large-scale investments in infrastructure. But territorial status restricts access to federal climate funding. Ongoing migration to the mainland continues to depopulate the island while further empowering Puerto Rican communities in swing states such as Florida and Pennsylvania. These Puerto Ricans from the mainland can vote, and they could exert political pressure to act.
Increasingly, even young Puerto Ricans have come to reject the current territorial status as incompatible with 21st-century democracy.
The Democratic Imperative. The struggle in Puerto Rico for equality is ultimately a struggle about core issues of American democracy and citizenship. Can the United States sustain its democratic legitimacy while denying millions of citizens full political rights? This is the longest ongoing colonial relationship in modern American history.
Puerto Rico has been a territory of the US for longer than 27 states were before they became states. The population of the island is larger than 21 states, yet it is politically subordinate to each. Puerto Rico's status is being seen more and more as a litmus test for America's commitment to democratic values.
The United States excoriates other countries for denying political rights when it has a domestic territorial regime that is itself profoundly undemocratic. Puerto Rico's struggle for equality is about settling unfinished business from America's imperial history. After 125 years of being a territory, it is time to follow democratic principles that make and define the United States of America. Puerto Rico deserves the right to decide its future, be it statehood, independence, or free association.
The United States stands at a crossroads. Will it maintain the colonial relationship and, with it, democracy as a facade? Or will Puerto Rico finally reach the equality that democracy requires? It was Congress's fault, which is why now only Congress can write this historical wrong. And passing the buck continues the inertia that has kept Puerto Rico in a second-class citizenship situation.
Puerto Rico's struggle for equality is ultimately America's struggle for the full realization of its democratic promise, so long as there are citizens of America who cannot exercise equal political rights in any place under its jurisdiction.