First things first

As the 2016 presidential campaign gets underway, the candidates are increasingly hopscotching across the country. They can currently be seen not only visiting the contest’s early voting states, such as New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, but also numerous other states with important demographics.  The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is no exception.  Although the island, home to 3.5 million American citizens, is not a state and, therefore, its residents cannot vote in presidential elections, its voters do participate – albeit in smaller numbers – in the quadrennial presidential primary process. 

Over the years, it has not been uncommon to see Puerto Rican voters throw their support behind a candidate early on.  However, before supporting a presidential candidate, whether declared or potential, I am convinced the voters of Puerto Rico should pause and think hard about the single most important issue affecting the territory: its inherently subordinated current political status which continues to legitimize inequality and does not allow us to fully participate in the process of electing the nation’s highest leaders.

{mosads}As a territory, by definition Puerto Rico is prevented from fully participating in the national economy. In addition, the Island’s residents are politically disenfranchised, as a result of not having a congressional delegation with voting rights nor the right to vote in presidential elections. In fact, the General Accountability Office and the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico Status have both pointed out that Puerto Rico’s main obstacle to a better future for its people lies in the lack of resolution of its more than century-old subordinated, colonial condition.  

As members of a growing Latino constituency throughout the U.S., however, presidential candidates are increasingly looking to win our favor.  As early as 2000, the late Tim Russert spoke of “Florida, Florida, Florida” and the role of voters in the I-4 corridor in determining the winner of presidential elections.  In the 15 years since then, both national parties have recognized this. Nonetheless, despite the growing phenomenon of courting the Latino vote, so far presidential candidates have tended to be rather ambiguous about their commitment to Puerto Rico’s struggle for political equality. 

Candidates are typically quick enough to take and explain the stances they have on all sorts of issues, from immigration reform to foreign policy and free trade.  But the disenfranchisement of 3.5 million American citizens has yet to really register on the national political radar.  The reason may be what the New York Times recently referred to as “benign neglect.” 

Our political condition as a territory – with no real political power to hold the nation’s leaders accountable – pushes to the back burner what would otherwise be seen as a just and important struggle.  This status of political inequality actually predates the triumph of the women’s suffrage movement and the civil rights movement of the mid-20^th century. Our Nation has a history of tackling and solving issues that are far more complex than Puerto Rico’s unresolved political condition, which continues to yield economic inequality and causes a steady stream of residents to leave the Island’s shores for better opportunities on the mainland.  

The time has come for Puerto Ricans, on both the Island and the mainland, to hold the candidates for the presidency accountable for this situation, and only support those men and women whose commitment to resolving the Island’s territorial status goes beyond paying lip service.  The tired, safe response of “Puerto Ricans need to get their act together and we’ll support you” is no longer good enough.  The reason is simple.  We already did! In November of 2012, 54 percent of Puerto Rico’s voters voted against maintaining the Island’s current territorial status, and 61 percent chose statehood among the three internationally-recognized alternatives to territorial status. 

But, the issue has not been resolved in large part due to the confusion that our current status has sown in both Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.  Puerto Rico does not have a pact with the United States or a “Commonwealth” status.  “Commonwealth” is only a cosmetically attractive name used by the territorial government, in addition to various U.S. state governments.

To this day, Puerto Rico remains an unincorporated territory of the United States, subject to the territorial clause of the Constitution. The Island’s current governor cannot even explain the status solution that his political party proposes.   Indeed, that status is based on Congress’ power under the Constitution and cannot be enhanced, developed or culminated absent an act of Congress that could always be repealed or amended, like any other statute.  

The time is now to move the dial.  If a presidential candidate wants our support, it is incumbent upon us to demand his or her support for Puerto Rican equality and his or her concrete plan on how, from the presidency, he or she will make sure that Puerto Rico’s status is ultimately resolved.

Currently a candidate for Puerto Rico’s sole non-voting seat in the United States Congress, Laboy is a former attorney with the United States Department of Justice and former Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections.