Americans for
Puerto Rico’s Self Determination

The United States took Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War with the intent of making it American permanently. Citizenship was extended to Puerto Ricans to bind the territory to our Nation.   The Supreme Court, however, decided that Puerto could become a nation or a State to prevent the Philippines, taken at the same time, from considering statehood. This created a status under which Puerto Rico and its U.S. citizens could be treated differently in Federal policies in addition to not having votes in their national government and having the Federal government able to make their local as well as their national laws.    Although Puerto Rico is treated like a State for most laws, it is treated as a second class state in some major programs and is not even considered to be part of the U.S. in others. The combination has left the islands underdeveloped, with an economy that has lagged that of the rest of the country for more than four decades and has been in depression for 10 of the last 11 years….