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What is a Territory?

Puerto Rico is a territory belonging to the United States. Historically, many parts of the current United States, such as Oregon and Missouri, were territories before statehood. The Philippines are an example of a former territory of the United States which is now an independent nation. There are also former territories which have become part of other nations. Territories and states are the two types of relationships available in the U.S. Constitution for land belonging to the United States. All land belonging to the United States is either a territory or a state.Read More »What is a Territory?

Supreme Court Statements on Puerto Rico’s Status

Harris v. Rosario, 446 U.S. 651, 651-52 (1980). Congress, which is empowered under the Territory Clause of the constitution, U.S. const., Art. IV, 3, cl.2, to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the territory . . . belonging to the United States,” may treat Puerto Rico differently from States so long as there is a rational basis for its actions.Read More »Supreme Court Statements on Puerto Rico’s Status

Puerto Rico: Undefended Front in the War on Drugs


A CNN article reports that Puerto Rico, an island with a population of 3,706,690, had 1,136 murders last year — 70% of them related to drug trafficking. For perspective, consider that New York City, with a population of more than 8 million people, had 496 murders in 2011.

Travelers from Puerto Rico to the mainland do not have to go through customs when they arrive, making it easier to smuggle drugs from Puerto Rico than from Canada or Mexico. Combined with limited protection of Puerto Rico’s coastline, this fact makes Puerto Rico a significant conduit for drugs.

“We have been asking the federal government to help us patrol…the Puerto Rican coasts, which we are unable to cover entirely by ourselves,” Gov. Luis Fortuño said Wednesday. “We want them to help us protect it in the same way they protect the borders with Mexico and Canada.”Read More »Puerto Rico: Undefended Front in the War on Drugs

A New Concept of Status from the PDP

The Governing Board of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) will present a new agenda on status to its General Assembly  on Sunday.

The platform argues that Puerto Rico is not a territory of the United States at all:

The PDP reaffirms the validity of the Commonwealth as autonomous political body, founded on a pact of union established in 1952, based on the exercise of sovereignty of the people of Puerto Rico, which is not and should not be subject to the plenary powers of Congress of the United States. (Google translation of the original text, which was “El PPD se reafirma en la vigencia del ELA como cuerpo político autónomo, fundamentado en un pacto de unión establecido en el 1952, basado en el ejercicio de la soberanía del pueblo de Puerto Rico, que no está ni debe estar sujeto a los poderes plenarios del Congreso de los Estados Unidos.”)Read More »A New Concept of Status from the PDP

The Plebiscite Ballot

In November, the people of Puerto Rico will have the opportunity to vote on the issue of their status. They will have two questions: first, they must choose between making a change and maintaining their current status as a territory of the United States.Read More »The Plebiscite Ballot

PDP Divided Between Territory and Free Association Options

Puerto Rico’s “Commonwealth” (Popular Democratic) Party (PDP) leadership reinforced its preference for Puerto Rico’s current status as a territory of the United States while a group of PDP members continued their break from the party leadership in favor of nationhood in free association with the U.S. at the May 18th meeting of Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission.Read More »PDP Divided Between Territory and Free Association Options