Let Puerto Rico help itself - Sun Sentinel

he Supreme Court this month sent two very clear messages to Puerto Rican officials wrestling with a crippling debt crisis that underscore what advocates for the island commonwealth have long known – Puerto Rico is simply a colony,

In the first case, the court ruled that Puerto Rico could not try two men on gun charges because they had already pleaded guilty in federal court — something every state in the union would be able to do without violating double jeopardy proscriptions.

The decision written by Justice Elena Kagan ruled that it did not matter that the United States Congress authorized Puerto Rico to create its own government and its own constitution. Kagan acknowledged that the 1952 Puerto Rican constitution authorized the commonwealth to bring criminal charges, but Congress remains the overseer of Puerto Rico's rights to govern itself.

"The island's constitution, significant though it is, does not break the chain," Kagan wrote.

Jaime Estades

Let Puerto Rico help itself - Sun Sentinel