Joe Biden, the former Vice President of the United States who is a candidate in the 2020 presidential race, wrote an opinion piece in the Orlando Sentinel about President Trump and Puerto Rico. “Our president should be able to meet a simple test,” Biden wrote, “understanding that Puerto Ricans are American citizens, and that they… Read more »

The U.S. Office of Insular Affairs, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, defines “insular area” as “a jurisdiction that is neither a part of one of the several States nor a Federal district.” This definition encompasses both territories and freely associated states (FAS). The official definition also includes possessions of the… Read more »

Archaeologists and anthropologists have been working to learn about indigenous people of Puerto Rico for decades. Recent discoveries have confirmed that DNA markers from ancient inhabitants can still be found in the modern population of the Island, and an unidentified writing system may be  evidence of a previously unknown culture. There is clearly much more… Read more »

Puerto Rico’s Demographic Registry expects 20,700 births in 2019 — the lowest amount since records began being collected 80 years ago. The number of deaths is projected to be 28,800, contributing to the population decline that is primarily due to residents moving from the territory to a State for greater opportunity as American citizens. The territory… Read more »

The 2018 farm bill redefined hemp as an agricultural commodity and removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Administration, opening the possibility of hemp growing for Puerto Rico. Irving Rodríguez, director of the Office for Licensing and Inspection of Hemp of the Department of Agriculture, reports that his… Read more »

Expressing concern about the fiscal impact of legislation passed during the just-ended session of the Legislative Assembly, Puerto Rico’s Federal Oversight and Management Board reached out to Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and House of Representatives Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Mendez last week in a letter —  also sent to the Governor — regarding the legislature’s handling… Read more »

One area of Puerto Rico’s economy has been showing growth this year: tourism. Visitor arrivals hit an all-time high of 210,000 in January of 2019. This was about a 25% increase over the monthly average from the past decade. According to government estimates in September, Puerto Rico predicted four million tourists in 2019, following a 17% rise… Read more »

Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) introduced the Office of Territorial Exporting Act, which passed as part of H.R. 4863, House Democrats’ larger bill to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Export-Import Bank The Export-Import Bank is an official credit agency of the United States specializing in exports. The services of the bank include the following: export credit… Read more »

Puerto Rico’s Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) should have a private sector operator for much of its operations by the end of the year, according to the Director of the territory’s Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3). Fermin Fontanez was quoted today as saying that there is a preferred operator among the bidders that responded to an… Read more »

Baseball is important in Puerto Rico. For more than a century, baseball has brought communities together, encouraged young people, and created heroes for the Island. Hurricane Maria damaged community baseball spaces across Puerto Rico, but now a new initiative has arisen to rebuild ball fields. “Play Ball Again” is the name of the project, launched… Read more »