Again, I have not seen the document itself, but the significance of this is that for the first time in 107 years in general, and since the 1952 PR Constitution in particular, the Executive of the Federal Government has acknowledged:
1. That the United States of America maintains a colonial relationship with Puerto Rico, in the form of a territory under the plenary powers of the U.S. Congress under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution.
2. That the current political status of Puerto Rico and that four million American citizens in that territory are subject to the whims of Congress, making the United States of America lord and sovereign over a people that practically have no say over it.
3. The Executive has no authority over the final disposition of the issue, and defers to the sovereign over Puerto Rico, the Congress of the United States of America, to deal with the issue. This is legally true under the Treaty of Paris of 1898, which ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S. after the Spanish-American War.
4. And most important of all, it sentences that the "enhanced Commonwealth" aspirations of the status-quo supporters are un-constitutional and not negotiable. Therefore, that the only options are Statehood or independence. Since less than 5% of the people of Puerto Rico desires independence from the U.S., our great nation must get ready to admit its 51st State.
To answer your question, yes, to pull our own weight. Not that we haven't, but yes, in equal terms with the other 50.
Thanks cll
Don't believe it moonman, Puerto Rico can't survive without $10's of billions of dollars and 10's of thousands of hijacked U.S. Taxpayer's jobs every year.
Gifts from he U.S. Taxpayers account for more than half of Puerto Rico's economy and always will until we cut them loose.
Around 85% of the taxes collected by the government of Puerto Rico pay the salaries of their bloated government's workforce. That's around 40% of the total workforce in Puerto Rico.
Around 40% of the rest either work for the federal government or for companies that have federal contracts to supply or service federal government agencies.
Tourism is only 8% of Puerto Rico's economy.
Puerto Rico is just a big hole in the Atlantic ocean that our pandering politicians throw the U.S. Taxpayer's hard-earned dollars into.
"That the current political status of Puerto Rico and that four million American citizens in that territory are subject to the whims of Congress, making the United States of America lord and sovereign over a people that practically have no say over it."
That's sounds pretty much like the situation the rest of us here on the mainland are in.