SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Puerto Ricans got the chance Sunday to tell the U.S. Congress which political status they want for a U.S. territory mired in an economic crisis that has triggered an exodus of islanders to the mainland.
This was the fifth time in the island's history it voted on its status with the United States. Chanting "Puerto Rico Not for Sale", people marched in front of their idol, while others called on the United States to release of the nation's "political prisoners". He argues that statehood would help Puerto Rico in its attempt to face down its debt crisis.
The current vote though comes in very different circumstances as compared to the previous such attempts as Puerto Rico is now in the midst of a recession and finds itself in a debt of more than 120 billion dollars which include those accumulated by public sector companies and money owed to pension funds.
A parade in New York City featured a man that some deemed a terrorist, and a non-binding referendum in Puerto Rico on the island's political status was boycotted by several parties, including the leading opposition group. She is pro-statehood and is forming a "Friends of Puerto Rico Caucus" that would press for statehood. That works out to just under 1% of the island's population, a very similar percentage that most other states have joining the US military each year.
More than half a million people voted for statehood during Sunday's referendum, followed by almost 7,800 votes for free association/independence and more than 6,800 votes for the current territorial status.
During the last referendum in 2012, 54 per cent said they wanted a status change.
Becoming the 51st star on the U.S. flag would instill "new hope" in Puerto Ricans, she told AFP, as well as sorely needed economic aid.
"We have to vote because things are not going well", 66-year-old Maria Quinones told the Washington Post. Residents of Puerto Rico are not entitled to electoral votes for President.
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But as part of the compromise with Greece, eurozone ministers agreed to provide debt relief when the current bailout program ends next year.
Puerto Ricans who voted for US statehood in a non-binding referendum Sunday are "claiming our equal rights as American citizens", Puerto Rico's governor says. Statehood and Rossello lost.
Puerto Ricans have been USA citizens since a law made them so in 1917. That will make it hard for the governor to get Congress to pay much attention to the vote. Today we are sending a strong and clear message for equal rights as American citizens.
The parade coincided with a nonbinding vote on the island, the fifth in the last 50 years, in which Puerto Ricans wereasked whether they favor statehood, maintaining the status quo, independence or free association, in which the US would continue to provide military protection. Reuters reports that calls for boycotting the referendum had some observers concerned about anemic turnout at the ballot box. One issue prevalent among many residents is that they pay in full for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security but can only collect on a restricted amount of these benefits relative to mainland citizens.
"Supporters of statehood did not seem enthusiastic about this plebiscite as they were five years ago", he said.
However, the results of these referendums were hardly reliable due to fact that most results favor whichever party was in power.
Those who remain behind have been hit with new taxes and higher utility bills on an island where food is 22 percent more expensive than the US mainland and public services are 64 percent more expensive.
Decades ago, FALN claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings in the US and Puerto Rico, including a 1975 blast that killed four people at New York's historic Fraunces Tavern.
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