Tuesday, August 26, 2003
The Puerto Rico statehood issue will be back, if Senator (and presidential candidate) Bob Graham (Democrat, Florida) has his way:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - In a whirlwind fund-raising swing in Puerto Rico, a U.S. presidential hopeful said Monday that if elected he would try to resolve the issue of the island's relationship to the United States as quickly as possible.
Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, told reporters that Puerto Ricans must decide what status they want via a referendum.
"The decision of the future of Puerto Rico should be made directly by Puerto Ricans," he said at the campaign headquarters of former Gov. Pedro Rossello, who is running again in the 2004 gubernatorial election as a member of the opposition [pro-statehood] New Progressive Party.
Graham said he supports Rossello's view, which is to hold a federally-mandated referendum on Puerto Rico's future, meaning the [U.S.] government would be legally bound by the results.
Under the Graham-Rossello proposal, even though Puerto Rico has rejected statehood three times -- in 1967, 1993 and 1998 -- it would need to only vote for statehood once in order to obtain it permanently. The other 50 states would have no say in the matter.
A 51st state of Puerto Rico would be America’s own Quebec, given that most residents of this impoverished island speak no English and have little desire to learn the American language. A state of Puerto Rico would also mean seven or eight new anti-English Congressmen and two more anti-English Senators.
|posted by Jim on 6:33 PM|
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