Question of Status

Will Puerto Rico become the 51st U.S. state? The one-two admission of Alaska and Hawaii variously stirred regrets, misgivings or condescensions last week on the U.S. island in the Caribbean that calls itself a Free Associated State, or Commonwealth. El Mundo, the island's largest newspaper, admiring the tidy formality of the link to the Federal Government that the other noncontiguous territories achieved in statehood, called the commonwealth relationship "a sloppy and ridiculous rag doll." The Statehood Party (24% of the vote in the last election) took new hope. But the architect of commonwealth, Governor Luis Munoz Marin (TIME cover, June 23), coolly got going on a plan to move Puerto Rico toward greater autonomy under the U.S. flag.

Munoz objects to statehood (even if Congress were to agree to it) because it would undercut his successful Operation Bootstrap industrialization plan, which uses tax exemption to lure new industry. Under statehood, industry and individuals would have to pay U.S. income tax. Munoz further fears that his Hispanic island would lose its cultural identity and its Spanish language--"would become only a whiff of vermouth in the martini instead of the olive." Statehood's proponents argue that it would give Puerto Rico six or seven Congressmen and two Senators, a voice in making federal laws and decisions that govern the island's fate, and would end the pervasive feeling that Puerto Ricans are really only second-class citizens.

The basic premise of the commonwealth relationship is that Puerto Rico governs itself, while turning over all functions that transcend its boundaries, such as defense and foreign relations, to the U.S. The island and the mainland share common citizenship, common money, free movements of persons and goods. Residents of Puerto Rico are subject to some U.S. laws, e.g., the draft, exempt from others, e.g., social security.

Munoz has consistently said that the commonwealth relationship could and should grow and change, and last month the island's Resident Commissioner in Washington, Antonio Fernos-Isern, sent Congress a bill aimed at modification of the compact. Concessions asked:

P: An end to Congress' right to impose a debt limit on the Puerto Rico government.

P: Authorization for the U.S. to negotiate special provisions for Puerto Rico in U.S. trade treaties.

P: Transfer to Puerto Rico "from time to time" of specific federal functions, "except those which the Federal Government should retain in order to fulfill the nature of this permanent association." (Possible example: FCC functions.)

To many a mainland citizen, the new proposals will seem a grab for the best of both worlds, stirring grumbling that Puerto Rico should be all the way in the U.S. or all the way out. Munoz argues that the relationship is not fixed, but is intended to develop maximum freedom with the "permanent association." Congressional hearings will probably start next month.

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