Puerto Rico’s newly-elected Governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, announced in a press conference Saturday that Puerto Rico will hold a non-binding referendum on November 3, the same day as US presidential election, to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a US state or remain a territory. "It is never too late to be treated as equals," she said.
Puerto Rico last held a referendum in 2017, in which 97 percent of Puerto Ricans voted for statehood. However, the US Congress failed to approve the measure partly as a result of low voter turnout. President Donald Trump also needs to approve Puerto Rican statehood, but he stated in a 2018 interview that the issue was presently "an absolute ‘no.'" He continued, "Puerto Rico shouldn’t be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they’re doing."
A 2018 survey by the Washington Post found that 48 percent of Puerto Ricans, a plurality, supported statehood over any other status including maintaining the current configuration (territorial status) or becoming an independent nation.
"Puerto Rico’s territorial status … is at the root of the inequality and disadvantages it faces," said Vázquez Garced in her press conference. "Our people will have the opportunity once and for all to define our future."
(Published by Jurist Org, May 19, 2020)
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