PUERTO RICO VOTES – AN UNDERREPORTED STORY – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:  Puerto Rico, which is essentially bankrupt, votes today, as it does periodically, on what its people want for their future.  But does the vote actually matter?  From the Miami Herald.

When Puerto Ricans vote Sunday on the political future for the U.S. territory, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is confident most will choose statehood.

“It’s unfortunate U.S. citizens here don’t have the same power,” he said. “We need to take action.”
But in some ways, the timing couldn’t be worse. With a political divide on the island, a deepening economic crisis and — critically — a lack of congressional support to become the 51st American state, experts say the vote seems unlikely to result in any real change.

“Now is the worst time and the worst manner to deal with the issue,” said Federico de Jesús, a Puerto Rico native and the former deputy director of the Governor of Puerto Rico’s Washington, D.C., office, under former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, a member of the Popular Democratic Party who opposes statehood. “All parties agree that the current system needs to be modified, but this is definitely the wrong course of action.”

This will be the island’s fifth referendum asking Puerto Ricans to choose statehood, independence or keep some version of the current status as a commonwealth. Opposition groups who don’t believe in statehood and felt unrepresented on the ballot — which originally included only statehood and independence/free association — are boycotting the vote, and experts say a statehood verdict doesn’t necessarily represent what the population wants.

COMMENT:  Puerto Rico's problems will not be solved until the population is more unified, and heading more in one direction.  It is a very messy situation.

Many Puerto Ricans, of course, come to the mainland, and have become an important part of our economy.  And yet, the future of Puerto Rico is an invisible mainland issue.  When was the last time you saw it debated?

June 11, 2017