The paradox of Puerto Rico: American citizens but without the right to vote

by Raffaella Milandri©

Puerto Ricans often appear in American films and television series, and although they have among them actors of the calibre of Benicio del Toro and Joaquin Phoenix, they are often portrayed as gangs of thugs and gangland criminals. But this is not the only injustice the United States reserves for the inhabitants of Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island.

First, Puerto Rico is an ‘unincorporated’ US territory: subject to a colonialist and imperialist legacy, it is not part of any state and is not itself a state – along with the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the US Virgin Islands. Although its inhabitants have been US citizens since 1917, they do not have the right to vote in the US Congress, nor do they have the right to vote for President.  So much so that, in conjunction with the 2024 presidential elections, they will be kept ‘busy’, so to speak, by the elections for the new ‘Governor’ of Puerto Rico on 5 November.

In addition, there is in Puerto Rico a good part, about 15% according to some estimates, of the Native American population of Taíno descent – the Caribbean people who had the great misfortune to be ‘discovered’ by Columbus – that is not recognised and has no rights or support whatsoever. And if we think of the rights of natives on US soil, already battered in many ways, as we have seen in past articles in this column, we can imagine what it means to have no rights at all.

Implications of Puerto Rico’s political status

The particular political status of Puerto Rico has ramifications in many spheres of Puerto Rican life, given the limits to the autonomy of the Puerto Rican government. For example, the Island’s government is not fully autonomous and the federal presence on the Island is widespread, including a branch of the United States Federal District Court. There are also implications related to the American citizenship of persons born in Puerto Rico. In particular, although persons born in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are natural-born US citizens, their citizenship is not protected by the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. As such, the US citizenship of Puerto Ricans can be taken away by the US Congress unilaterally. Puerto Ricans are also covered by a set of ‘fundamental civil rights’ but, since Puerto Rico is not a state, they are not covered by the entire US Bill of Rights. As for representation, Puerto Ricans do not have a voting representative in the US Congress, but a Resident Commissioner who has a voice in Congress (but does not vote, except at committee level). Puerto Ricans must also serve in the US military whenever ordered to do so, with the same duties as a US citizen residing in the 50 states. In terms of taxation, Puerto Ricans pay US federal taxes. Residents are required to pay federal payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare), as well as income taxes from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In 2009, Puerto Rico paid $3.742 billion to the US Treasury, an amount equal to that paid by the states of Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. However, Puerto Ricans receive less than 15% of the Medicaid funds they would normally receive if they were citizens of a US state.

Of course, there has been no shortage of protests and lawsuits over the years for Puerto Ricans to have the right to vote (see e.g. Igartúa de la Rosa v. United States) nor movements for Puerto Rico to become a US state with regular administrative and citizenship status (Movimiento estadista de Puerto Rico).

Referendum

Statehood is one of several competing options for the future political status of Puerto Rico, including: maintaining its current status, becoming fully independent or becoming a freely associated state. Puerto Rico has held six referendums on the subject. These are non-binding, as the power to grant statehood rests with the US Congress. The most recent referendum was held in November 2020, with a majority (52.52%) of those voting opting to become a US state. Although the two previous referendums (November 2012 and June 2017) also had apparently favourable outcomes, the New York Times described them as ‘fudged, with ballot language formulated to favour the incumbent party’. Evidently, the unequal treatment, which had already seen Puerto Rico ceded by the Spanish to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, is not yet over.

The indigenous Taíno

The composition of the citizenship on the island, which has obviously been heavily influenced by the Spanish domination and the slave trade of past centuries, seems to have lost a sizeable chunk of ‘whites’ in the meantime, falling from 75.8% in the 2010 Census to 17.1% in 2020. A remarkable decline. Although, in racially based censuses, which the United States is very fond of (what nonsense! we have discussed this in more than one article), it is always very influential how a citizen self-identifies, i.e. how he perceives himself. If we wanted to be optimistic and idealistic, we might think that many who identified as ‘only white’ in 2010 have proudly decided to identify themselves as ‘mixed ethnicity’ by boasting a Taíno grandmother or an ancestor deported from Africa (for more:

https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/reports/puerto-ricos-2020-decennial-analysis-datasheet-series/#:~:text=In%202010%2C%2075.8%25%20of%20those,is%20too%20significant%20to%20miss. ).

The Taíno people are originally from the Caribbean and live in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the US Virgin Islands and more. As mentioned earlier, the original inhabitants of Puerto Rico, the Taíno, make up about 15% of the population, although they are listed in the census under ‘other races’. What the Taínos complain loudly about, as they did at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), in essence, is that they are invisible. At a time when Native Americans are struggling to make progress in their political and civil rights – slowly, very slowly – these people are denied an identity, representation, territory, and culture (which many Native American tribes have preserved, albeit in critical conditions). A movement born in 1998 to promote self-determination and the protection of the human rights, culture, traditions and sacred lands of the Taíno and other Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean is the United Confederation Of Taíno People (UCTP), based in New York.

Andrea Carmen, of the Yaqui Nation, is the Executive Director of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC): an organisation of Indigenous Peoples from North, Central, South America, the Caribbean, the Arctic and the Pacific that works for the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples and for the recognition and protection of their Rights, Treaties, Traditional Cultures, Sacred Lands and Waters. Carmen says that for the Taíno the political status of Puerto Rico presents challenges. ‘What makes them unique is that they are still residents of a colony,’ she said.

Back to the concept of invisibility. As we have seen in previous articles, around the world – but also in the United States itself – many believe that Native Americans are extinct. The same thing happens with the Taíno. The 1492 encounter with Christopher Columbus set in motion an invasion of Spanish soldiers, priests and settlers that devastated the Taino civilisation and decimated its population. As early as 1550, colonial officials believed that the Taíno peoples were already extinct. In reality, the Taíno and their culture have endured, survived and continue to have an impact today. One small achievement: the Guainía Taíno Tribe, in the US Virgin Islands, has been recognised by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. as an indigenous entity, an ‘American Indian tribe’ descended from the Taíno people. Seven other communities in Puerto Rico, however, have applied for recognition, which has so far been denied by the Governor. Before they are recognised at the federal level, the road is incredibly long.

Published originally in Italan in The AntiDiplomatico, 5 September 2024

“Nativi” column by Raffaella Milandri

https://www.lantidiplomatico.it/news-nativi/53237/