Earlier this year I began writing a blog post about Puerto Rico and its political status. I intended to release the blog just before the 2020 Democratic primaries in Puerto Rico. The primary was scheduled for March 29, 2020 but after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and all that entailed it was obvious that the primary would be rescheduled and the blog didn't seem as important anymore. I knew that eventually I would finish the blog since I had spent so many hours on it so here it is.
The content from this blog is a combination of my own views and knowledge of Puerto Rican politics (as a Puerto Rican born and raised in the Island and still living here), news articles & other sources, Wikipedia (because they are never wrong) and a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report by R. Sam Garrett, titled: Political Status of Puerto Rico: Brief Background and Recent Developments for Congress.
A Brief History of Politics In Puerto Rico Since 1898
The most important detail to understand about politics in Puerto Rico is that the foundational organizing principle of the 3 main traditional parties is the political status they support for the Island (Statehood, Independence or Status Quo) and not their political philosophy (Conservative - Liberal).
Puerto Rico has a First Past the Post Electoral System: whoever gets the most votes, whether that's a majority or a plurality, wins. It has a government composed of 3 branches: The Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial. It has a bicameral legislature divided in a House of Representatives and a Senate. In general, it works as any state government of the 50 states of the United States of America. Governor and legislature are elected to 4-year terms.
The 3 main parties are:
- New Progressive Party (NPP, PNP in Spanish): Favors statehood. Important to note that the word progressive here is not as it commonly used currently in US politics. Historically it has been a center-right party. Part of a de facto two-party system with the PDP.
- Popular Democratic Party (PDP, PPD in Spanish): Favors status quo. The oldest party, from 1948 to 1964 it won the governorship and legislative majorities but it has been severely debilitated in the last 20 years.
- Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP): Favors independence. This is by far the smallest of the 3 main parties. Since the year 2000, the party's total percentage of votes for the governor's race is:
Puerto Rico is a colony of the Empire of the United States of America since 1898. "When the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War (1898), the United States acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain via the Treaty of Paris" (1).
"Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory subject to congressional authority derived from the Territory Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Territory Clause grants Congress ""Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States."" (1)
"The U.S. military briefly administered the island until Congress established a civilian government in 1900" (1). The Foraker Act also established the Resident Commissioner position to represent island interests in Washington. These duties came to include nonvoting service in the U.S. House of Representatives (the primary role of the Resident Commissioner today)."(1)
In 1917, the U.S. granted, via a law passed by Congress, U.S. citizenship to those born in the Island.
In 1952, after an effort from the World Powers to recognized the free determination of their colonial possessions, the U.S. created the Estado Libre Asociado (ELA), literal translation: Free Associated State or the practical translation: commonwealth. In a constitutional assembly Puerto Ricans redacted a constitution, this constitution was approved by the U.S. Congress and henceforth the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or ELA was created. This was important for the U.S. as a "showcase" of what could be accomplished in the Caribbean under the umbrella of the U.S. government. Puerto Rico would acquire importance as a "counterbalance" and contrast in the Caribbean to the communist government of Fidel Castro in Cuba during the Cold War (1945-1991).
The commonwealth or Estado Libre Asociado (ELA) is the current political status of Puerto Rico, the status quo. A colonial status.
Aside from some specific taxes, like Social Security, Puerto Ricans don't pay federal taxes in most cases. U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico can't vote for any federal office with the exception of 1 non-voting delegate to the U.S. Congress. This no-voting delegate is known as the Resident Commissioner.
Due to the fact that the foundational organizing principle for the parties is the political status they support for the Island (Statehood, Independence or Status Quo) Republicans living in Puerto Rico (by which I mean members of Grand Old Party of the U.S. living in PR, not small r republicans) are members of the New Progressive Party. Republicans living in Puerto Rico nearly unanimously support statehood for PR thus they support the only statehood party in PR, the NPP. This might seem obvious but I state it since it is essential to understand politics in Puerto Rico. The GOP platform has supported statehood for Puerto Rico, if Puerto Ricans so choose to become a state, since at least 2000. Both President Reagan and President HW Bush supported statehood for Puerto Rico.
Democrats living in PR who support statehood for PR are also members of the NPP. Yep, imagine a mainland party which members included both Republicans and Democrats, well, that's the NPP. For example, in 2016 Puerto Ricans elected a Democratic governor and a Republican Resident Commissioner. This also means that there is an inherent internal instability to the party since members of a broad ideological spectrum reside in the same party. Let me tell you, public policy isn't very coherent in Puerto Rico. Democrats in the NPP tend to be moderates, there are few "progressives" in the NPP and not many I can think of in actual elective office. Republicans in PR are mostly cultural conservatives (evangelicals) and not fiscal conservatives.
Let me now describe the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP). Ideologically they range from social democrats to communists. Many of them like to think of themselves, and actually tend to be more so than the general public, as intellectuals. Do to many factors, of which probably the most important is their previous historical persecution by the PDP (Gag Law of 1948) and the US government (COINTELPRO) their support has never been above 19% (1952) and has not surpassed the 10% threshold since 1956 (12.4%).
It is important to understand that there are many strains of independence thought in Puerto Rico. For a long time there were a limited number of Puerto Ricans that believed in an armed struggle for the liberation of PR. There was a revolt from members of the National Party in 1950. The was an attack on the US Congress by members of the Nationalist Party in 1954 in which 5 congressmen were injured. There was also the "Los Macheteros" group or Boricua Popular Army which did bombings against government structures (trying to avoid civilians). Such groups are pretty much none existent in today's day and age.
While these attacks and revolts are relatively recent, they seem like ancient history to me. I'm a relatively "old" millennial (1981-1996) and I have never witnessed any attacks, of felt under siege or anything of the sort. After the federal authorities clamped down on these armed groups, they have never re-surged back. Unlike the Nationalist Party (which exist mostly in name only) the PIP exists explicitly as an electoral movement which seeks to achieve independence for PR by civil means within the Puerto Rican electoral system. This is important because there still certainly exists a strain of independence that considers the US presence in PR as illegitimate (since 1898) and hence doesn't recognize the electoral process as a legitimate mean to achieve PR's independence from the "occupiers". This is part of a group of individuals who also doesn't participates in, or boycotts the electoral process as a whole.
Finally, there is the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). After 1952 and with the political status issue "resolved" (according to them), the PDP styled themselves as a liberal/social democratic party for which the only thing left was to provide good administration of the Puerto Rican government. From 1948 to 1964 the PDP won every governors election and had legislative majorities in both houses, this under the leadership of the most important Puerto Rican political figure of the 20th century, Luis Muñoz Marín (also one of the founders of the PDP, architect of 1952 constitution and the ELA). After a split going into the 1968 elections, for the first time in our history a party other than the PDP won the elections (NPP) and the 2 party system came to life. Since 1968 the governorship has gone like this:
- 1968: New Progressive Party
- 1972: Popular Democratic Party
- 1976: New Progressive Party
- 1980: New Progressive Party
- 1984: Popular Democratic Party
- 1988: Popular Democratic Party
- 1992: New Progressive Party
- 1996: New Progressive Party
- 2000: Popular Democratic Party
- 2004: Popular Democratic Party
- 2008: New Progressive Party
- 2012: Popular Democratic Party
- 2016: New Progressive Party
For the 2020 election two new parties have been created. Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (Citizens' Victory Movement), a left wing, social democratic party running on an anti-corruption platform and to end the current colonial status (via statehood or independence, it is nominally neutral). The other new party is Proyecto Dignidad (Project Dignity). PD is running on a social conservative platform and they don't support any political status solution (statehood/independence), which means by default that they support the status quo.
Throughout the years, and as things have gotten worse, the credibility of the ELA or Commonwealth has been catastrophically eroded and by consequence the credibility of the party who defends it (PDP). The commonwealth is the "resting state", you do nothing, we remain in it by default. GDP Annual Growth Rate in Puerto Rico averaged 3.52 percent from 1961 until 2017, reaching an all-time high of 13.80 percent in 1971. Aside from one blip in 2012 PR has been in an economic recession since 2006:
The economic malaise has eroded confidence in the foundational structure of our government of ELA under the Territorial Clause of the U.S. constitution. But the coup d'état to the ELA in the mind of the average Puerto Rican came in a recent two-punch blow.
First, in a Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) case decided on June 9th, 2016 known as Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle. It goes like this, in the U.S. you have the double jeopardy clause, which states that you can't be tried for the same offense twice, with one of the exceptions being the dual sovereignty doctrine. The dual sovereignty doctrine allows both federal and state prosecution of the same crime since the governments (state and federal) are "separate sovereigns". For example an individual can be prosecuted under both state and then federal laws for possessing a gun while being a felon.
In a 6-2 decision, the Court affirmed that the Double Jeopardy Clause bars Puerto Rico and the United States from successively prosecuting the same person for the same conduct under equivalent criminal laws.
According to this 6-2 decision, because the power of the Puerto Rican government, by way of its 1952 constitution, is derived from a law passed by Congress, known as the Federal Relations Act (as provided by the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution), it was determined that the dual sovereignty doctrine didn't apply to Puerto Rico. This laid bare the lie that Puerto Rico had achieved sovereignty by virtue of the ELA as the PDP claimed. It was a slap to the face of those that still believed in the ELA fairy tale.
The second and absolute destruction and obliteration of any kind of Puerto Rican political sovereignty came in the 30th of June 2016 via the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) by Congress (again, as provided by the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution). PROMESA is the law that established a financial oversight board and a process for restructuring PR's debt after it was obvious PR wouldn't be able to service its debt from 2016 onward. Sovereigns states, like any of the 50 states in the U.S. Federation, can't be put under a financial oversight board, but territories or colonies can. The fiction was over, the defeat was total for those that still dare to argue in favor of the ELA after the Sanchez Valle decision.
In September 20th, 2017 Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico with a devastating human, economic and structural toll.
Now, don't be mistaken, it was obvious to a large segment of the population that PR still remained a territory/colony of the U.S. even after the 1952 Puerto Rican constitution but the PDP was, and still is, a big part of the problem. For a time, if you feel like being charitable (I do not), you might say that the ELA structure worked well. But by the 1970's the cracks were starting to show and the PR government started emitting debt to cover an ever-bloated annual budget. As they said locally, we drove a Ferrari when we could only afford a Corolla. Taking on ever more debt seemed to work, at least a while, but eventually the piper needed to be paid and we couldn't.
On July 24th, 2019 Governor Ricardo "Ricky" Rosselló (D) announced he would resign. His resignation became official in August 2nd, 2019. He resign after a conflagration of events, including an FBI arrest of a cabinet member on corruption charges, the leak of controversial Telegram chat among his most closest advisers and the biggest mass protests since 2000.
On November 3rd, along with our general election for governor and legislature, Puerto Ricans will be voting on their 7th plebiscite/referendum since 1952 regarding our political status. I will discuss this 2020 plebiscite in part II of this blog.