+5 Yes, Puerto Rico is widely considered a colony—or often described as the world’s oldest colony—due to its status as an unincorporated U.S. territory. While residents are U.S. citizens, they lack voting representation in Congress, cannot vote for president,

  • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
    11·
    2 days ago

    I don’t spend a lot of time with Puerto Ricans, but the two I keep in semi-regular contact with have said that they don’t want Puerto Rico to become a state (they wave vaguely at the rules for imports/exports to South American countries; apparently the island has relaxed rules on that compared to states?).

    What’s actually stopped them from.becoming a state in the past? Seems like ~2013 was the last time a movement for that had any real traction?

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
      4·
      2 days ago

      Puerto Rico is unable to import or export directly to any country without going through the mainland United States first. This is a result of the Jones Act of 1920, shortly after PR gained citizenship but not statehood.

      The Jones Act has caused some very fucked up consequences for hurricane relief like after H. Maria wrecked the island in 2017 and relief could not be provided from neighbors without a long extra trip to Florida for processing.

      • DahGangalang@infosec.pub
        2·
        2 days ago

        From the first article you linked:

        Under the Jones Act, any vessel can enter Puerto Rico. In fact, many foreign vessels enter Puerto Rico regularly, importing goods from countries around the world. However, transportation of goods between two U.S. ports must be carried out by a vessel that was built in the U.S. and operated primarily by Americans. This law doesn’t single out Puerto Rico – it applies to all U.S. ports, the only exception being the U.S. Virgin Islands.

        Don’t get me wrong, I hate the Jones Act as much as any rational American would, but from what I hear, they get a grab bag of exemptions on taxes when moving goods to/from South America (I suppose via non-US ships and via aircraft).

        I don’t have the time for proper research at the moment to try to find what my dudes have talked about when it comes to laxer import/export controls, but may revisit later today if I get some down time.