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The Puerto Rican Diaspora To The United States
Body: :PostColonial Migration?
In 1965, the General Assembly of the United Nations removed Puerto Rico from its list of non self-governing territories. Officially, the Island was no longer considered a 'colony' of the United States. Since then, the US government has repeatedly claimed that the Puerto Rican people have exercised their right to self-determination, that they adopted their own Constitution, that they have attained self-government and that they are freely associated with the United States(Mekdad,2002) The leaders of Puerto Rico's Popular Democratic Party (PDP), who favour the current political status, insist that in 1952 the Island entered into a "bilateral compact" with the United States. That year, 81.9 per cent of the Island's electorate approved the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Estado Libre Asociado, in Spanish, or 'Asociated Free State') From this perspective, Puerto Rico may be deemed a 'postcolonial' state that has received the consent of the majority of the governed. This state is characterised by free elections, a competitive party system, respect for human rights and legal protection of civic liberties, as well as extensive welfare and social programmes. However, the exact nature of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States has been intensely disputed since the creation of the Commonwealth. Both independence supporters and proponents of the Island's incorporation as the fifty-first state of the American union have denounced the continuing 'colonial; relations between Puerto Rico and the United States. The Island remains under the 'plenary power' of the US congress, and residents of Puerto Rico do not enjoy all the constitutional rights and privileges of US citizenship. In particular, the Island's residents cannot vote for the President and Vice-President of the United States of for their own congressional delegates, yet they depend greatly upon the actions of these elected officials. From this standpoint, the Island is an 'incomplete democracy; with partial citizenship; subordinated to an external political entity that does not represent its own inhabitants.(For more details on Puerto Rico's enduring 'colonial dilemma', see Dauny & Pantojas-Garcia, 2005; Ramos & Rivera, 2001; Rivera Ramos, 2001).
-Jorge Duany from the University of Puerto Rico
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