Future of Puerto Rico?

[mgk920]

The USA's Congress is again taking up the issue of the status of Puerto Rico. Unlike prior times, this time the referendum that would come out of this would involve a two-step format (unlike the indecisive three-choice votes in the past) where the first question would likely be "Continue the current commonwealth/territory status - YES/NO?" If that comes out 'YES', then things will remain as they are for the forseeable future. Should the 'NOs' prevail (and I fully expect that one to be razor-close), then a few months later a second vote would be held with the question: "FULL USA STATEHOOD/INDEPENDENCE?". The latter would likely go for statehood in a 90-95% landslide.

Any thoughts? (I'll chime in later with some of mine)

Mike

[nowyano]

I don't think Puerto Rico would want statehood, nor would they want independence. Every time I go to Ponce people realize that without being a US territory they would lose a lot of services. However, many people still believe that if they became a full fledged US state then they would lose their cultural identity. So my guess would be they would stay as a territory, if not indefinitely than for a long time after I am dead.

[GSP Tiger]

If Hawaii has been able to maintain their cultural identity since its statehood nearly fifty years ago, why would Puerto Rico be any different?