Puerto Rico

From Boriquén to the Treaty of Paris

On 19 November 1493, on his second voyage, Christopher Columbus anchored off the west coast of the island its Taíno people called Borinquén, renamed it San Juan Bautista and claimed it for Spain.^[3] Juan Ponce de León founded its first town, Caparra, in 1508.^[3]

For the next 400 years the island was a Spanish outpost in the Caribbean. When the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish–American War of 1898, it took Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris.^[1]

Citizens, but not a state

After two years of military rule, Congress gave the island a civilian government in 1900 with the Foraker Act. It also created the post of Resident Commissioner to speak for the island in Washington; today that person sits in the House of Representatives but can’t vote there.^[1]

The Jones Act of 1917 made Puerto Ricans US citizens, gave the island a bill of rights, and set up a three-branch government like the mainland’s.^[1] Citizenship doesn’t bring a vote for president, though: US citizens living in the territories can’t vote in the general election.^[4]

The commonwealth

In October 1950 President Truman signed a law letting Puerto Ricans write their own constitution. Puerto Ricans approved the new status in a referendum in 1951, and the constitution was proclaimed on 25 July 1952, 54 years to the day after US troops invaded the island in 1898.^[2]

With the 1950 law and the 1952 constitution, Congress recognised the island’s control over its internal affairs, and Puerto Rico became known formally as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Congress hasn’t changed its status since.^[1] What “commonwealth” means is itself disputed: its supporters argue it created a unique, non-colonial status, while others say Puerto Rico is still a territory under Congress’s power.^[1]

Island politics are organised around status more than left and right. The Popular Democratic Party generally backs the commonwealth, the New Progressive Party statehood and the Independence Party independence.^[1]

Votes for statehood, and the arguments about them

In 2012, about 54% of voters said no to keeping the current status, and 61.2% chose statehood among the alternatives, but nearly 500,000 blank answers on that second question left it unclear whether statehood had a real majority.^[1] In 2017, 97.2% chose statehood, but only 23% of registered voters took part: the Popular Democratic and Independence parties boycotted it.^[1] In 2020, 52.5% answered yes to a single question on immediate statehood.^[1]

The fourth vote, on 5 November 2024, offered statehood, independence, or sovereignty in free association with the United States, but not the current commonwealth. By the State Elections Commission’s figures, statehood won 58.6% of the valid choices, free association 29.6% and independence 11.8%, while 16.2% of ballots were blank or otherwise marked.^[5] Commonwealth supporters, including the island’s Resident Commissioner, say the vote was unfair because their option wasn’t on the ballot.^[5]

None of these votes is binding. On 15 December 2022 the US House passed the Puerto Rico Status Act, 233 to 191, which would have set up a binding vote, but the Senate never took it up.^[1]