How much misery has been avoided by the economic contribution of those abroad? How much pressure has been relieved from the society they left behind by the absence of these bodies? Lautaro it sounds like your notion is that 'if we all stayed and suffered together perhaps the exacerbated level of misery would have yielded better outcomes in the long run'. Had all these people stayed behind DR 'in the long run' may not be doing much better than our neighbors on the island. It is not as if those who left would have been able to contribute much change to the way DR has governed itself as the immigrants were those furthest from the levers of political or economic power.

To bring it back to the issue of PR let's not forget the nations of our region are all the children of a specific world economic system.Voluntary and/or forced migration across the Atlantic, or between North and South, is directly embedded into the functioning of this system. There is no way for DR or PR (or even US) to unilaterally extricate ourselves any more than we could extricate ourselves from any aspect of history. In other words there is an extent to which what you call 'the situado cuture' (but I consider to be something even broader than that) can never be undone. This is not rhetoric as we have seen our cousins in the neighboring island try it valiantly. Evidently the best they could do was trade one hegemon for another, and in the process engender an alienated hostile elite waiting in the wings to return. Immigration to and from the nation is one of the ultimate realities of our story; any long run progress must channel it properly, both as functions of its politics/economics and culturally. This goes back to my statement above on the honesty of our current hegemon US maintaining one explicit colony in the region and how it may contribute positively to how the system-mandated migration flows express themselves on the levels of culture and politics.

I have never understood the dormant, docile way the PR's have accepted the coomonwealth.. never understood how can their 'independence' can be on the ballot and they vote against it!!

I mean look at the Palestinians, who have been fighting tooth and nail for years just so that they can be independent.

Yes, I know there are privelages to the US citizenship and the US dollar but at what cost?? TO have children growing up to understand that their flag is only secondary to the other one and that the other flag can use your land to experiment military toys , but you cant vote and can never be their president !! and if you read PRican history you wil see that the US sterililezed thousands of women to avoid them having children (which they considered inferior)...

I would of thought that any nation would opt for independance if they could.. not the ricans!!

I mean there are movements and parties tthat want to separate ALASKA ffrom the union !! haaahah!!

Cibaeño, I agree with you on the independence issue because you are absolutely right, there are not enough Puerto Ricans that support this cause. On the statehood vs. commonwealth issue I'm not too sure, if you keep in mind that every time they have those "plebiscito" elections the margin between remaining as a commonwealth or becoming a state is very close. I also seem to perceive that the U.S. may not be so willing to have PR keep receiving some of the benefits that they do without paying taxes and that the U.S. is eventually going to just give them a choice of either becoming a state or an independent nation (ha, ha)...I, of course, am no expert on this topic, but I am not sure what benefit the U.S. receives from having PR as a commonwealth, aside from the military usage on Vieques

p.s. I have a feeling their new governor Fortuño is more than likely going to push for statehood like Rosello

i think statehood is more likly to happen then independace. i dont know if the united states would want to make puerto rico a state though... puerto rico is the poorest of all the states and terratories that the US has control over, its considered a "welfare" state meaning that the majority of the states people are on welfare, 60% of the population lives below the poverty line, plus puerto rico has an extremly high crime rate...higher then any other state or terratory and higher then many countrys in the region...for example you think DR has a problem with crime ?? well DRs murder rate is at 9.7 for every 100,000 people while puerto ricos is 18.8 fer every 100,000 people. thats huge considering PR has way less people then DR.
so i doubt the US would make them a state and i doubt puerto ricans want independace so it makes sense that they'd stay a commonwealth foreever like cibae~o said.

Oh, I have no doubt that PR will never become independent. I was leaning more along the lines of whether or not the U.S. will continue to allow PR to remain a commonwealth vs. becoming a state. If the statistics that you have provided here are true Si1CAR1O, then the U.S. would probably be better off having PR as a state then a commonwealth. I'm sure most Ricans would want to remain a commonwealth, but is the choice always going to be theirs?

I dont think the US Senate would ever ratify PR to become a State.....

Aint that a b**ch.... suppose your country vote to become and belong to the union ..... but the union says no thank you .... we will release you and you can become independent !!!

Teh very idea that many nationalists have died for has to be force fed to the country !!

WOW !! WHAT A PARADOX !

In the unlikely event that Puerto Rican become independent: There will be a mass migration to the US. which will bring the burden down for the remaining population. Should Puerto Rican begin farming that would ease their import and feed their population. Lots of Puerto Ricans in the US, so if they sent remmittance like other immigrants do, that would also make an easy transition... Overall It would completely altered how things are now for the islanders... but not necessarily for the worst... Humans learn throught struggles.... this could turn out to be what PR really needs, an easy transition is out of the question.

If they choose to become a state, like many americanized Puerto Ricans want, that would also be bad. PR would have to pay taxes to the Feds and that would counter subsides money sent to the island. The worst thing would be for them to remain voiceless

In the long run, i wish PR to be independent... there's no price for Freedom and joining the American Federation would undermine the island hispanic culture for an Anglo culture. Not that one is better than the other.

lmao wow thats true....i really doubt americans would make puerto rico a state. So if the united states decided to let them go and give them independance (something most puerto ricans are against) then they'd have to take it unwillingly...why would a people WANT to be dependant on another nation and have a few benefits but few rights.

Well i did my reserch on puerto rico through google and a couple books so the stats ive provided are as far as im concerned 100% true. The US is giving the opportunity to puerto ricans to have a voice by letting them vote on what they would want...but in the end its up to the US goverment and not what the puerto ricans decide...and like i said i really doubt the US would make them a state and i doubt puerto ricans would choose independance so i believe they will remain a commonwealth.

In 2005 the white house task force(justice, defense, social security, etc) on the Commonwealth came up with a document requested by president Busch, the task force drafted a "line to independence" strategy and outline issues like Veterans rights, Citizenship amongst others issue, is a long document that I read couple of years ago. But in conclusion, I'll said that the US have a plan in case the islander decide to be independent.