[Lurking Libertarian]

On second thought, what’s still keeping Puerto Rico from declaring independence? The Philippines did that decades ago.

Virtually no one in Puerto Rico wants independence. Whenever the issue is put up for a vote, the split is usually about 46% for the status quo, 44% for statehood and 10% or less for independence.

Incidentally, of the two major political parties in Puerto Rico, the one affiliated with the (mainland) Democrats is the pro-status quo party and the one affiliated with the (mainland) Republicans is the pro-statehood party.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Actually, I misremembered the results of the last plebiscite; the votes were a bit over 50% for status quo, 47% for statehood, and only 2.5% for independence.