SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Gov. Pedro Pierluisi introduced Monday that Puerto Rico’s political standing might be on the poll within the normal elections this November, and for the primary time the island’s present standing as a U.S. territory won’t be an possibility within the non-binding plebiscite.
Voters on the island of three.2 million folks will select between statehood, independence, or independence with free affiliation, the phrases of which might be negotiated relating to international affairs, U.S. citizenship, and using the U.S. greenback.
“On this method, we assert our rights as Americans to demand our self-determination by means of direct voting with out intermediaries and to require the federal authorities to handle the grievance represented by our colonial standing,” Pierluisi mentioned.
The governor, chief of the pro-statehood New Progressive Occasion, will activate a 2020 legislation that enables the present governor to name for a standing referendum.
The manager order follows approval of a invoice by the U.S. Home in 2022, geared toward serving to Puerto Rico transfer in the direction of altering its territorial standing. The Puerto Rico Standing Act, spearheaded by Consultant Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, would exclude the island’s present territorial standing as an possibility.
That standing has misplaced help for the reason that federal authorities established an unelected fiscal board in 2016, which has the authority to override native political branches after the island declared chapter.
In September 2023, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker reintroduced the invoice bearing an identical title as Grijalva’s, however included Puerto Rico’s territorial standing as an possibility. Two months later, Sen. Martin Heinrich launched an identical invoice.
Within the final referendum held in November 2020, 53% voted for statehood and 47% in opposition to, with solely about half of registered voters collaborating within the normal elections. November’s referendum could be the seventh time the island votes to find out its political relationship with the US.
“Puerto Rico has the fitting, and I’d say the ethical obligation, to proceed exerting strain, reiterating its proper to self-determination, and demanding that Congress reply satisfactorily to the need of our folks,” Pierluisi mentioned in an announcement after signing the manager order. “Subsequently, we should vote as many instances as mandatory to finish the colonial standing.”
In June, two dozen pro-independence and pro-sovereignty organizations spoke earlier than a session of the United Nations Decolonization Committee on Puerto Rico. The committee has affirmed Puerto Rico’s proper to self-determination and independence over 40 instances.
The governor mentioned statehood would assist residents in Puerto Rico obtain equal funds and advantages in Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP and supplemental social safety. Voters in Puerto Rico can’t solid ballots within the normal presidential U.S. election however might take part in presidential primaries.
