Puerto Rico is $73 billion in debt, but in a calculated decision, the governor of Puerto Rico and his Commonwealth political party recently caused Puerto Rico to default on one of its debts by not paying a $58 million obligation.
We, the proud residents of Puerto Rico; want to pay every cent that is owed. But the failure by the governor to pay this debt is actually a not-too-subtle attempt to make Puerto Rican statehood less appealing to both Congress and to the people of Puerto Rico.
Millions of Puerto Ricans forcefully object to Governor Garcia Padilla’s use of such Machiavellian’s political tactics. Puerto Ricans are American citizens that strive to have the same standard of living as citizens living in each of the fifty states. We are legally required to follow the laws and the Constitution of the United States, but because we are not a state, we have far fewer tools at our disposal to achieve this.
Many former Puerto Rican governors exceeded Puerto Rico’s approved colonial budgets in their desire to provide our citizens with the same standard of living that our fellow American citizens enjoy in the mainland. Today this failure of leadership, and frankly, irresponsibility, is compounded by the fact that the island is collapsing under the weight of its ancient territorial, political, and economic infrastructure. Since 2004, Puerto Rico has been in the grip of a severe economic, financial, and demographic crisis. This crisis has forced 83,000 Puerto Ricans to migrate to the mainland in the past year alone to look for jobs and better opportunities.
Importantly, the benefits and responsibilities enjoyed by our fellow American citizens are today unattainable for Puerto Rico because we lack full political representation at the federal level. However, a solution exists and it is clearly stated in the 2011 Report by the President’s Task Force On Puerto Rico’s Status: “Resolving the island’s political status is essential to restoring the health of Puerto Rico’s economy and to improving our security”.
In 2012, the government of Puerto Rico held a two-part plebiscite in which 54 percent of the voters rejected continuing under the present territorial status, and in which 61 percent of voters who selected one of the three constitutionally viable non-territorial options voted in favor of statehood. After issues with the plebiscite were raised by the Commonwealth political party that lost the referendum, Congress appropriated $2.5 million for an education campaign in order for the government of Puerto Rico to conduct yet another fair, transparent and inclusive plebiscite. But in the aftermath, Padilla and his Commonwealth party have not taken any significant actions to approve such a bill and conduct a new referendum.
Their inaction promotes the perpetuation of a morally and economically bankrupt colonial status and is against the democratic will of their own constituents – the people of Puerto Rico – who have formally withdrawn their consent to being governed in this way and have expressed a preference for statehood over all other constitutionally-viable options.
There should and must be no abrogation of debts. Puerto Ricans want to pay what is owed, but regrettably, at this moment our island needs federal assistance, expertise and supervision, to enable an orderly debt restructuring mechanism as well as the appointment of a Fiscal Control Board similar to the one Congress appointed for Washington DC in 1994 to oversee and attain this goal. Moreover, we cannot begin Puerto Rico’s road to recovery without initiating at the same time the process of resolving our undignified colonial status, and we are asking Congressional political leaders in Washington DC, to put this issue front and center on their agenda.
All other options are palliative measures until we are given the opportunity to become the fifty-first state of the Union - a status demanded and desired by a majority of our residents. We are American citizens and we do not deserve to be ignored anymore by our local government or the federal government. The leaders of our commonwealth and our nation have the civic and moral obligation to do the right thing for the 3.5 million American citizens living on the island of Puerto Rico.
Saldaña is former president of the University of Puerto Rico.
By José M. Saldaña DMD, MPH
Puerto Rico debt: A view from responsible citizens
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