The Basis of Puerto Rico's Constitutional Status: Colony, Compact, or “Federacy”?
What is Puerto Rico's political and constitutional status vis-a-vis its central government in Washington DC? The focal point around which the politics of this nationalistically distinct island group of 3.9 million U.S. citizens has revolved for more than a century has been the issue of the territory's po litical condition. This was the case even before the U.S. takeover of the terri tory after the 1898 Spanish-American War. After America's occupation and annexation of the territory, its status was an international badge of dishonor for America when categorizing Puerto Rico as a colony seemed inescapable.1 Even as presidents such as Woodrow Wilson lectured other countries about the instabilities of imperial control and the need for self-determination, Puerto Rico remained an example of naked American colonialism. Since 1952, how ever, after its "commonwealth" regime was established, the issue of what Puerto Rico is and how to describe it has been at times bitterly debated by scholars and by Puerto Rico's three main parties, which center their political platforms on a hoped-for future status option. Each party is to one degree or