On election day last month, 52% of Puerto Rican voters answered “yes” to the following question: Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?
But the result of the non-binding referendum has gotten little attention in Washington since then. After all, it’s hardly the first time a statehood vote on the island has been answered in the affirmative. Is this time any different?
On this week’s show, guest host Vanessa A. Bee talks to Julio Ricardo Varela, the founder of LatinoRebels.com, and to Angelo Guisado, a civil rights lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights. They examine the past and present of Puerto Rico as a colony and U.S. territory, and how that history should inform our understanding on votes like this one.
Transcript coming soon.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
