Late September, a Category 5 hurricane devastated Puerto Rico. Now, several weeks later, the island is still facing mass power shortages — communication mediums like phone towers and data centers remain unaccessible to the general population.
What’s even worse — because of this lapse in regular communication, disaster aid has been especially slow to arrive. Without phones or internet, no one knows exactly what Puerto Rico needs, and where they’re going to need it most. No one can coordinate the pick-ups and drop offs of supplies, and no one knows when, where, or even if cargo ships from the mainland will arrive.
However, the problem doesn’t stop there — and it certainly didn’t start there either. The U.S. government is by no means absolved of its embarrassing inaction on behalf of Puerto Rico just because phone lines are down, and talking to local officials is tough.
Our government’s failing is not in the response to Maria per se, but in our perpetual and systematic undermining of Puerto Rican infrastructure, economy and spirit. There were preventive measures that we could have taken, that we should have taken, but that we didn’t. And that’s where we erred worst of all.
Puerto Rico is an American territory, and it has been since 1898, falling under United States federal dominion. This means Puerto Ricans must adhere to U.S. laws, pay U.S. taxes and respect U.S. legislation. They can also serve in the U.S. military, which many of them do.
However, the U.S. Constitution mandates that only states are awarded representation in Congress, and only states have the capacity to elect the executive. Since Puerto Rico is a territory and not a state, it does not have a say in high-political discussions or legislative decisions on the federal level. That’s an injustice. These are bonafide Americans, and preventing any American from having a political say goes against every notion of democracy and republicanism we hold near and dear.
And let me shut down this argument before it’s leveled: not a single senator or representative in Congress has Puerto Rico’s interests at heart. They may say that they do, but 1.) they are representing their constituents in Arizona or Nevada or New Jersey, and so Arizonans or Nevadans or New Jerseyans will always take precedence to Puerto Ricans. 2.) Only a Congressman directly elected by Puerto Ricans will have true knowledge of their most pressing legislative needs and desires. And 3.) we can’t purport virtual representation, a representation we deemed insufficient for the 13 original colonies in 1776, without looking like a bunch of hypocrites.
For more than 100 years, Puerto Rico has been forced to exist and function in a lot of gray area — gray area that has lasting consequences when it comes to economic growth and development. As I’m sure you know, a severe debt crisis has been mounting on the island for quite some time now, and they can’t exactly wipe the slate clean, since a U.S. territory’s right to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy was revoked by Congress in the 1980s.
As for spending their way out of financial trouble, that too is unlikely, as the territory has lost a significant chunk of its population to states like Florida and Texas. Instead, they are regularly forced to make cuts to key infrastructure initiatives and and social programs that keep economies viable and the citizenry financially secure. In short — no one’s buying much because they’re too concerned with base-level survival.
The weight of these issues adds a lot of pressure to relief efforts post-Maria. Puerto Rico will simply not recover if saddled with debt if they’re not given an opportunity to relieve themselves of that debt. With no money, they can’t rebuild.
Puerto Rico can’t help people who’ve found themselves homeless, jobless and food-insecure. They can’t invest in coastal, flood-prevention infrastructure. With no political efficacy, they don’t have a say in which president they answer to, which president they have to ask for aid.
If there’s any silver lining in all of this — and believe me, it’s hard to find silver lining in all of this — it’s the realization that Puerto Rico is deserving of full statehood, once and for all.
