The crisis and the future of Puerto Rico are a problem that requires urgent responses. The Donald Trump administration has mistreated our beloved Isla del Encanto, and Puerto Ricans as second-class citizens, during and after the tragedy of Hurricanes Irma and María. And even in the most difficult moments for the Puerto Rican people, he asked his team at the White House about the possibility of selling the Island, instead of taking action and making available the resources that the emergency demanded.
In the middle of the electoral process, Trump, in the typical populist style, announced that he will disburse the money he has withheld all these years, funds to which Puerto Rico is entitled. But he does so hoping, like an extortionist, to gain ground with the Puerto Rican vote, despite his offenses, forgetting the greatness, courage and dignity of the great Puerto Rican people.
Puerto Ricans have changed the electoral map of the United States mainly in Florida, where there are more than 700,000 Puerto Rican voters, but also in another fundamental battlefield, like Pennsylvania; and even in Texas, where more than 200,000 Puerto Rican voters are estimated to vote; and in Georgia, where it is close to 50,000 voters.
In the past, when we thought about the Puerto Rican vote we quickly located ourselves in New York City. But as a result of the crisis on the island, the Puerto Rican diaspora has grown dramatically in US territory, to the point that of the nearly 10 million Puerto Ricans, about 6 live in the US. In Florida they have established residence in the so-called axis of the I4 highway that goes from Orlando to Tampa. From the moment this immense block of Puerto Ricans relocated to the mainland, they automatically activated their right to vote as American citizens. One of the absurd vestiges of the neo-colonial system, which is unjustly imposed on Puerto Rico, is that as citizens they cannot elect the President of their country if they are living in their homeland, despite the immense contribution of the Puerto Rican people, including their sacrifices in the US military establishment. As if that were not enough, the treatment given to Puerto Ricans during the terrible emergency experienced these years also highlighted the fiscal and political inequality with which the US political-legal system treats Puerto Rico, as a result of its territorial status.
It is true that Puerto Rico’s debt and fiscal situation requires a plan of reforms and adjustments in spending or policies on the island, but beyond the rationalization of its fiscal policy, the federal government has a role to play in this matter. Puerto Rico and its people are an integral and vibrant part of American society. The future of the island is important to everyone, but it is a particularly sensitive issue for each Puerto Rican voter who today resides in Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas or Georgia, as well as for those who have been living in New York or New Jersey for decades. The case of Puerto Rico, economically speaking, in the context of the American federal system is similar in its magnitudes to that of Greece in the European Union, but the taxation and depth of the capital market of the United States offers many more possibilities and facilities to solve it successfully. It is inexplicable that no consciousness of this exists among Republican representatives and legislators who make up the leadership of Congress and the Senate. Until now, it has been the leadership of the Democratic Party in Congress who have made themselves felt with energy and concrete proposals to give Puerto Rico the dignified treatment that corresponds to its territory and its people.
Joe Biden has understood this, and has made it a priority in his government program. His plan for Puerto Rico has been described by all the leaders of the Island as comprehensive, accurate and in tune with the priorities of the Boricua people. In this plan Biden proposes, with programmatic details and financial commitments: 1) Support a total recovery and reconstruction of the infrastructure to meet modern standards; 2) Invest in the future of Puerto Rico through economic development initiatives and support for families; 3) Provide relief of an unsustainable debt; and 4) Expand access to education and training for the workforce. But in his speech in Orlando a few weeks ago, Biden rose above public policy to make a statement of magnitude and political resonance, noting that during his presidency he will address the issue of the political future of Puerto Rico’s territorial status, expressing: “ My personal preference is for Puerto Rico to be a State. It is up to Puerto Ricans to decide sovereignly and we must correspond to that decision in a binding way at the federal level. “
In frank terms, the Biden-Harris administration is committed to Puerto Rico’s path to statehood if the Boricua people so decide, and it is meaningful to count on the immense power and influence of the Presidency to process the admission of a new State to the Federal Union, which requires a legislative act of Congress, according to the Admission Clause of Article IV of the Constitution.
The Boricua people have, looking at the polls and their relative weight in different key states in this election, the power to choose the next president of the United States with their vote, be it deciding the electoral destiny of Florida, a state without which Trump has no path to reelection; and in the reconquest of Pennsylvania or the feat of changing the result that is usually registered in Texas or Georgia, where the concentration of citizens of Puerto Rican origin is important these days. And in the current context they have two powerful reasons to do so. First, they would reject a president who has discriminated against them; and secondly, they would empower an administration willing to fight for statehood, if that is the sovereign decision of the Boricua people.