WASHINGTON — Puerto Rico's rival advocates of statehood, independence and the colonial status quo vented decades of frustration and anger in a congressional hearing Wednesday, but made little progress toward convincing legislators to back one of their competing plans for the island's future.
The contentious issue of the island's status in relation to the United States has consumed Puerto Rico since it was ceded to the U.S. by Spain in 1898.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but can't vote for members of Congress or the president. They pay no federal income tax but pay about a third of their income to island tax collectors.
A White House task force recommendation in December 2005 that the 8-million-strong Puerto Rican population and diaspora vote on their status has riled political leaders and divided lawmakers being asked to decide between two roadmaps.
One bill submitted to Congress by Puerto Rican-born Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) calls for a two-stage referendum, the first to be held by the end of 2009, as suggested by the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status.
The first ballot would ask voters whether they wanted to change the status quo of U.S. territory in a commonwealth with the mainland. If a majority voted yes, a second ballot would ask them to decide between becoming the 51st U.S. state or an independent country.
The status issue so dominates Puerto Rico politics that the three main political parties have nothing else on their agendas.
All three leaders addressed the House subcommittee on insular affairs in impassioned repetitions of long-held positions. The head of the pro-statehood party, former Gov. Pedro Rossello, stormed out of the hearing when asked to wrap up his statement, which had already run almost twice the allowed five minutes.
Serrano said he would support any option that ended the colonial status of Puerto Rico.
"If you vote for change, the only legal, sensible and moral question is do you want to integrate into the union or separate from the union," Serrano told the hearing room packed with supporters and politicians.
But Puerto Rico's current governor and head of the Popular Democratic Party, Anibal Acevedo Vila, has for years been championing the idea of an "enhanced commonwealth" that would allow Puerto Ricans to retain their U.S. citizenship while being free to set their own foreign and trade policies and opt out of certain federal laws as negotiated with Congress.
