Puerto Rico governor calls for unity to help commonwealth overcome economic crisis

Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla on the weekend called upon residents of the island for unity to overcome the economic crisis that has beset the U.S. commonwealth for eight years and which is burdened by some $73 billion in public debt.

Garcia Padilla used the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of Puerto Rico's Commonwealth Constitution to say that the government's priority is to get out of the crisis, asking that - for the moment - the debate on the island's relationship with the United States be put on the back burner.

"We've inherited a colossal crisis that no other government has inherited. We have to attend to it to be able to develop the Commonwealth to the maximum," said the governor, emphasizing his administration's priorities.

"To make progress on any status formula we have to continue lowering crime and unemployment, as well as keep attending to the inherited crisis," he said.

He also said that it is necessary to acknowledged that "the Commonwealth has to grow," after noting that it is not acceptable for the federal judiciary to deny Puerto Rico the ability to legislate to restructure its debt.

Garcia Padilla emphasized that the island's commonwealth status grants Puerto Rico two of the greatest aspirations of its people: protecting their national identity while at the same time maintaining a very closer relationship, in a permanent union, with the United States.

The governor's comments made clear that his priorities are to strengthen the current commonwealth status with the United States, fight the economic crisis and deal with the huge debt that several weeks ago he publicly acknowledged could not be paid.

In a nonbinding plebiscite coinciding with his election as governor in 2012, 54 percent of the voters rejected the island's current status and, in a second question, 61.1 percent said they favored annexation to the United States, 33.3 percent said they preferred to be a sovereign commonwealth and 5.5 percent voted for independence.

Puerto Rico governor calls for unity to help commonwealth overcome economic crisis