Puerto Rico selects company to privatize power generation


An electricity meter shortly after it was installed at the Jobos Bay National Research Reserve in Salinas, Puerto Rico, May 3, 2022. Puerto Rico privatized its electricity production on Jan. 25, 2023, selecting Genera PR to take over the operation and maintenance of state power generation units in the U.S. territory as part of an initial $22.5 million annual contract. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File )

DÁNICA COTO
Wed, January 25, 2023 at 10:54 AM MST·4 min read

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico privatized its electricity production on Wednesday, selecting Genera PR to take over the operation and maintenance of state power generation units in the U.S. territory as part of an initial $22.5 million annual contract.

The announcement comes as the island struggles to rebuild its crumbling power grid amid chronic power outages blamed in part on what Gov. Pedro Pierluisi called “archaic and unstable” generation units.

“I am sure that we are on the right track to give our people the reliable and affordable energy system that they deserve,” he said.

Genera PR is a subsidiary of New York-based New Fortress Energy, which works closely with Shell Oil and other oil and gas producers. Genera also will handle contracts related to fuel purchases for the island’s 12 power facilities as part of a 10-year contract with Puerto Rico’s government.

“Today is a historic day,” said Secretary of State Omar Marrero, who noted that recent hurricanes have revealed the deterioration and critical state of the island’s power grid.

Puerto Rico's generation units, some of them more than 50 years old, have suffered blackouts at rates five times worse than the industry average in recent years, producing less than half of the power the government had forecast.

“Decades of mismanagement and neglect have left Puerto Rico with an expensive, inefficient and dated energy system,” said a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico's finances, in a statement supporting the contract awarded to Genera PR.

Many Puerto Ricans remain wary of this process, well aware that privatizing the transmission and distribution of power in June 2021 did not lead to an improvement in issues including the length of outages, which has worsened. The power situation on the island is so dire that the U.S. government recently announced it would supply temporary electric generation via barges and land-based generators.

Another concern is that high power bills could become even more expensive under the new public-private partnership, concerns that officials brushed aside as they noted that Genera PR will receive incentives to generate savings, of which 50% will be passed along to consumers.

The company will receive $22.5 million annually for the first five years of the contract, a payment that will drop as Puerto Rico permanently shutters generation units amid a push for more renewable energy sources. Genera PR also will receive up to $15 million during a transition period of 100 days, and up to $100 million a year in incentives, a payment that also will drop as units are shut down.

Wes Edens, founder and executive director of New Fortress Energy, said Genera PR would begin operating by mid-year.

He said power outages are unacceptable and noted that electric bills in Puerto Rico are “simply too high.”

“While we recognize the challenges that are before us…we believe the opportunities here…are tremendous,” Edens said.

Until Wednesday, the government had refused to release a copy of the contract or name the company chosen even as the governing board of Puerto Rico’s power company and the island’s Public-Private Partnerships Authority had approved of it after meeting behind closed doors.

The sole vote against the contract came from Tomás Torres, a member of the governing board that represents the public’s interest.

He said such contracts normally are done with broad citizen participation “given the impact it will have on all sectors that make up public interest." He also noted that Genera PR will have monopoly power as the sole provider of electricity on the island.

Torres also warned that the contract represents additional costs for the state power company, which holds some $9 billion in debt — the largest of any Puerto Rican government agency — and remains mired in an acrimonious battle with creditors as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy. It remains to be seen how much of that debt consumers will have to pay.

Edens said a top priority will be saving on fuel purchases, noting that New Fortress Energy has a big portfolio of oil producers and is on the verge of producing its own fuel sources.

New Fortress Energy opened a natural gas facility in Puerto Rico in 2020. Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority later accused the company of violating its contract by supplying less natural gas than it promised, forcing the state power company to use more expensive diesel at generation units, a cost that has not been reimbursed.

Puerto Rico’s governor said that contract remains in good standing. Meanwhile, that issue remains under review by the island’s Energy Bureau.

Puerto Rico officially privatizes power generation amid protests, doubts

Nicole Acevedo
Wed, January 25, 2023
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A new private company will take over power generation units owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the public corporation currently in charge of generating energy on the U.S. territory.

Genera PR, an independently managed subsidiary of the New York-based energy company New Fortress Inc., has been awarded a multimillion-dollar 10-year contract to operate, maintain and decommission the power generation units on the island.

The power generation equipment in Puerto Rico, plagued by ongoing blackouts and decaying infrastructure, is on average about 45 years old — twice the age of those on the U.S. mainland. Some of them have been found to be six decades old. They’re mainly reliant on fossil fuels.

The company and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) are currently undergoing a transition process set to last 100 days. Genera PR is expected to formally start operating in July.

Officials in Puerto Rico have been taking steps toward privatizing power generation for some time. Genera PR's contract underwent various approval stages and the final one was announced Wednesday in a lengthy news conference.

Under the terms of the new partnership, the Puerto Rican government has agreed to cover up to $15 million in transition costs to Genera PR, officials said. Additionally, the company will be paid a yearly fee of $22.5 million during the first five years. The fee will decrease after the fifth year, up to a minimum of $5 million per year. The exact amount will be determined by the number of power plants removed during the forfeiture process.

"We continue advancing the transformation that we all want," Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said in a statement. "I'm confident that we are on the right track to give our people the reliable and affordable energy system they deserve."

Genera PR can also receive up to $100 million in incentives if it achieves savings in operating costs and complies with occupational safety, environment and fuel purchase guidelines, Fermín Fontanés Gómez, executive director of the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority, said during the news conference.

Fontanés Gómez emphasized PREPA will continue to be the owner of the power generation units, since Genera PR was only contracted to operate, maintain and eventually forfeit units.

Genera PR was one of two companies that submitted proposals to the PREPA, the agency in charge of administering the contract, during a two-year bidding process.

Officials said that of the two companies interested, Genera PR was willing to provide services at a lower cost, compared to its competitor. Genera PR's priorities also line up with local policies, they said, including Act 17-2019, which sets various benchmarks for Puerto Rico to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2050.

Less than 4% of Puerto Rico’s power generation currently comes from renewable energy.

As Puerto Rico looks to transition to renewable energy, "this partnership will provide meaningful cost savings for consumers and businesses, improve reliability and reduce the environmental impact of an aging thermal generation system," said New Fortress's Chairman and CEO, Wes Edens, in a statement.
Skepticism amid frustration

Hurricane Fiona Hits Puerto Rico, Knocking Out Power Across The Island (Jose Jimenez / Getty Images)

A crowd gathered Wednesday outside Gov. Pierluisi’s mansion to protest the privatization and the new contract.

CAMBIO PR, a nonprofit group advocating more energy sustainability, said on Twitter that the hiring of Genera PR "confirms another expensive transaction full of conflicts of interest and a contractor that has broken contracts and laws."

New Fortress Inc., Genera PR's parent company, has previously sold fuel to the PREPA.

NF Energia LLC, a natural gas supply company and a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy Inc., received a procurement contract in 2019 to sell natural gas to PREPA to power two generation units in San Juan. The $1.5 billion contract is valid until March 2024, according to data from the Comptroller’s Office in Puerto Rico.

PREPA has alleged that the natural gas company has failed to comply with its obligations to deliver natural gas as agreed upon. A lack of natural gas has forced the power authority to burn more expensive fuels, resulting in an additional cost of $34.5 million, Puerto Rico's largest newspaper, El Nuevo Día, reported.

Details of the new contract were explained during the news conference Wednesday morning, and the official document was made public in the evening.

Genera PR's contract is the result of a privatization process that started in 2017, after the PREPA declared bankruptcy following years of low liquidity, limited access to capital markets and the burden of long-term debt.

In that same year, Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria, one of the biggest and deadliest natural disasters on U.S. territory in 100 years, further deteriorating the already fragile and disinvested power grid.

As part of an ongoing privatization process, in 2021 the PREPA relinquished the island’s power transmission and distribution system to Luma Energy. The consortium made up of Atco in Canada and Quanta Services Inc. in Texas started operating on the island in June 2021.

At the time, government officials promised the partial privatization of the power grid under Luma would improve electric services, but the territory's residents are still grappling with frequent outages.

After Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico in September, the grid was unable to withstand the Category 1 storm, triggering an islandwide blackout that took more than two weeks to undo.

Power customers in Puerto Rico have seen seven electric rate increases last year, even though people in Puerto Rico already pay about twice as much as mainland U.S. customers for unreliable service.

Luma Energy says it has reduced outage frequency by 30% over the past year and has initiated 251 federally funded projects to permanently rebuild the patched-up grid following hurricanes Maria and Fiona.

PREPA's bankruptcy remains ongoing as the public corporation attempts to restructure its nearly $9 billion public debt, the largest of any government agency.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE
Biden visiting Puerto Rico because 'they haven't been taken very good care of'

Myah Ward and Gloria Gonzalez
Mon, October 3, 2022

Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

President Joe Biden will survey storm damage and meet with families and community leaders in Puerto Rico on Monday, where he’s set to announce more than $60 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for disaster recovery and preparedness for future storms.

Before boarding Marine One, the president said he’s visiting Puerto Rico because “they haven’t been taken very good care of.”

“They’re trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can,” Biden said.

The recovery and ongoing search and rescue efforts after Hurricane Ian have threatened to overshadow the devastation in Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Fiona more than two weeks ago. More than 100,000 people continue to go without power as a result of the storm damage.


The official number of fatalities in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Fiona stands at 25, but experts fear the death toll could be far higher, especially since some of the most devastated regions of the island remain difficult to or inaccessible due to washed-away roads, mudslides and ongoing power outages.

Once on the ground in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Biden will receive a briefing on the storm’s aftermath. He’ll then deliver remarks about the administration’s response efforts. The new round of funding will be used to shore up levees, strengthen flood walls and create a new flood warning system that will help Puerto Ricans prepare for future threats.

Biden and first Lady Jill Biden will meet with families and community leaders later Monday at Centro Sor Isolina Ferré Aguayo School, where they will participate in a community service project and speak with federal and local officials who have played a role in Puerto Rico’s recovery.

The most recent presidential visit to the U.S. island territory was when then-President Donald Trump traveled to the storm-ravaged region after Hurricane Maria in 2017. At the time, there was an overwhelming sentiment that Puerto Ricans had been neglected by the U.S. government as they sought to pick up the pieces.

Trump met with officials and victims and was shown destroyed houses and uprooted trees. The trip also produced one of the former president's oddest and most infamous moments in office: Trump tossed rolls of paper towels to a crowd that was gathered to see him at Calvary Chapel in San Juan.

Trump told Puerto Ricans they should be proud that only 16 people had died, though the number continued to rise once he departed. The government of Puerto Rico later said 64 people died due to the storm, but research attributed an estimated 2,975 deaths in the weeks after the storm.

Karina Claudio Betancourt, director of the Open Society Foundation’s $20 million post-Hurricane Maria project in Puerto Rico, said she would initially say “welcome to Puerto Rico” to Biden before talking to him about why Fiona caused such devastation despite being a “weaker” storm compared to Maria.

“This is the place that five years after Maria we’re still reeling from that hurricane,” she said. “It wasn’t only a natural disaster. It was a political disaster.”

Now Biden’s response to Hurricane Fiona will be watched closely by Puerto Ricans.

LUMA, the private company managing the island’s power grid, said 92 percent of its 1.5 million customers on the island have power again, although residents in restored areas report the power continues to cut in and out. The biggest ongoing power loss remains in the Mayagüez region, where 32 percent of customers were without power as of Sunday evening. About 14 percent of customers in Ponce, where Biden is expected to visit this afternoon, had not had their power restored as of Sunday evening.

Ruth Santiago, a community and environmental attorney in Puerto Rico and a member of the activist group Queremos Sol — "We Want Solar" in English — is meeting with Biden Monday, and her coalition wrote an open letter to the president demanding an “urgent” transition of the electric system. FEMA should prioritize spending the billions of dollars set aside for Puerto Rico’s electric grid after Maria to pay for rooftop solar systems and batteries in homes, businesses and institutions in Puerto Rico, starting with the poorest and most marginalized communities, the coalition states in its letter.

The letter notes that some of the 25 Fiona-related deaths have been attributed to a lack of electricity.

“To a large extent, these deaths could have been prevented,” the letter states.

Joe Biden Visits Puerto Rico in Wake of Hurricane Fiona: 'I Want to See the State of Affairs'

Virginia Chamlee
Mon, October 3, 2022 

President Joe Biden

Ting Shen/Bloomberg/Getty

President Joe Biden touched down in Puerto Rico Monday, just weeks after a slow-moving Category 1 hurricane named Fiona moved over the island, causing an estimated billions of dollars in damages.

Ahead of boarding Marine One Monday morning, Biden told reports: "I'm heading to Puerto Rico because they haven't been taken very good care of. They've been trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can."

While in Puerto Rico, the president is expected to deliver remarks "about the Administration's commitment to the people of Puerto Rico and to helping rebuild more secure and resilient infrastructure," a pool report detailed.

RELATED: At Least 1 Dead in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Fiona Creates 'Catastrophic' Floods and Power Outages

Biden will also announce "more than $60 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to shore up levees, strengthen flood walls, and create a new flood warning system to help Puerto Rico become better prepared for future storms."

Puerto Rico: In an aerial photo, floodwaters surround houses

Caribbean Air and Marine Branch/ZUMA Press Wire Flooding in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Fiona

During their brief visit, the president and his wife, first lady Dr. Jill Biden, will visit Centro Sor Isolina Ferré Aguayo School to meet with families and community leaders impacted by the storm and participate in a community service project, the pool report said.

RELATED: Hurricane Fiona: How You Can Help People in Puerto Rico Affected by the Storm

Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said at a news conference following the storm that residents are "going through a difficult moment but our people are strong and very generous," according to ABC News.

Following the storm, Biden declared an emergency in Puerto Rico and authorized the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency "to coordinate all disaster relief efforts," with FEMA specifically authorized to "identify, mobilize and provide at its discretion equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency."

Fiona's landfall came two days before the fifth anniversary of Category 4 Hurricane Maria's assault on the island, which resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths and about $90 billion in damages.

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Later this week, Biden is scheduled to visit Florida, where another hurricane — the Category 4 Ian — recently caused catastrophic damage in parts of Florida.

Biden appeared at FEMA headquarters following the storm last week and said Ian "could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history."

"The numbers we have are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life," he said.

"We know many families are hurting," Biden added. "Many, many, are hurting today."

House approves referendum to 'decolonize' Puerto Rico


Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., left, speaks with Del. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, R-Puerto Rico, joined at right by Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., after a vote on the Puerto Rico Status Act that would lay out a process for the people of Puerto Rico to determine the future of their political status, in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.

 (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FARNOUSH AMIRI and DÁNICA COTO
Thu, December 15, 2022 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would allow Puerto Rico to hold the first-ever binding referendum on whether to become a state or gain some sort of independence, in a last-ditch effort that stands little chance of passing the Senate.

The bill, which passed 233-191 with some Republican support, would offer voters in the U.S. territory three options: statehood, independence or independence with free association.

“It is crucial to me that any proposal in Congress to decolonize Puerto Rico be informed and led by Puerto Ricans,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees affairs in U.S. territories.

The proposal would commit Congress to accept Puerto Rico into the United States as the 51st state if voters on the island approved it. Voters also could choose outright independence or independence with free association, whose terms would be defined following negotiations over foreign affairs, U.S. citizenship and use of the U.S. dollar.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who has worked on the issue throughout his career, said it was “a long and torturous path” to get the proposal to the House floor.

“For far too long, the people of Puerto Rico have been excluded from the full promise of American democracy and self-determination that our nation has always championed,” the Maryland Democrat said.

After passing the Democrat-controlled House, the bill now goes to a split Senate where it faces a ticking clock before the end of the year and Republican lawmakers who have long opposed statehood.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, traveled to Washington for the vote. He called it a historic day and said the 3.2 million U.S. citizens who live on the island lack equality, do not have fair representation in the federal government and cannot vote in general elections.

“This has not been an easy fight. We still have work to do,” he said. “Our quest to decolonize Puerto Rico is a civil rights issue.”

Members of his party, including Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, cheered the approval of the bill, although reaction in the U.S. territory was largely muted and tinged with frustration since it is expected to be voted down in the Senate.

The proposal of a binding referendum has exasperated many on an island that already has held seven nonbinding referendums on its political status, with no overwhelming majority emerging. The last referendum was held in November 2020, with 53% of votes for statehood and 47% against, with only a little more than half of registered voters participating.

The proposed binding referendum would be the first time that Puerto Rico's current status as a U.S. commonwealth is not included as an option, a blow to the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which upholds the status quo.

Pablo José Hernández Rivera, an attorney in Puerto Rico, said approval of the bill by the House would be “inconsequential” like the approval of previous bills in 1998 and 2010.

“We Puerto Ricans are tired of the fact that the New Progressive Party has spent 28 years in Washington spending resources on sterile and undemocratic status projects,” he said.

González, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, praised the bill and said it would provide the island with the self-determination it deserves.

“Many of us are not in agreement about how that future should be, but we all accept that the decision should belong to the people of Puerto Rico,” she said.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

All but 16 House Republicans vote against bill to allow Puerto Rico to decide its future

Bryan Metzger
Thu, December 15, 2022

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other House Republicans at a press conference on Wednesday.Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• The House passed a bill to allow Puerto Rico voters to choose independence, statehood, or free association.

• Only 16 Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the bill.

• Republicans opposed the bill in part due to long-standing opposition to Puerto Rico's statehood.

The House of Representatives voted by a 233-191 margin on Thursday to pass the Puerto Rico Status Act, with all but 16 House Republicans voting against the measure. Every House Democrat voted for the bill.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who worked on the bill and is of Puerto Rican descent, presided over the vote.

 

The bill would give voters in Puerto Rico the opportunity to vote in a plebiscite next November, allowing them to choose between statehood, independence, or to enter into a compact of free association with the United States.

Lawmakers had long been working on the bill, and its addition to the calendar this week was unexpected. A handful of Republicans had co-sponsored the legislation, including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Don Bacon of Nebraska.

It also had the support of the territory's Republican Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón who serves as a non-voting representative for the island in Congress.

Despite House passage, the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, where it would need at least 10 Republican supporters.

House Republicans on Thursday cited a number of reasons for opposing the bill, including a lack of debate and the possibility that it would lead to statehood, which they've long opposed.

"At this point in time I'm not, you know, interested in going down that road," Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told Insider. "We didn't have a debate about it, I haven't been a part of any of the debates on this. They're trying to jam this through right before Christmas."

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told Insider that she didn't think the bill was "the right way to go about something like that."

"I'm just not interested in Puerto Rico being a state," she said, adding that she didn't believe people living in Puerto Rico should get to vote on that.

Here are the 16 Republicans who voted for the bill:

• Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska

• Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming

• Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois

• Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania

• Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas

• Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York

• Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Ohio

• Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington

• Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan

• Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio

• Rep. John Katko of New York

• Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington

• Rep. Bill Posey of Florida

• Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of New York

• Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania

• Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE
Puerto Rico halts primary voting in centers lacking ballots

An official turns away two voters at a voting center lacking ballots in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. Puerto Rico's primaries were marred on Sunday by a lack of ballots in a majority of centers across the U.S. territory, forcing frustrated voters who braved a spike in COVID-19 cases to turn around and go back home. (AP Photo/Danica Coto)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico on Sunday was forced to partially suspend voting for primaries marred by a lack of ballots as officials called on the president of the U.S. territory’s elections commission to resign.

The primaries for voting centers that had not received ballots by early afternoon are expected to be rescheduled, while voting would continue elsewhere, the commission said.

“I have never seen on American soil something like what has just been done here in Puerto Rico. It’s an embarrassment to our government and our people,” said Pedro Pierluisi, who is running against Gov. Wanda Vázquez, to become the nominee for the pro-statehood New

Meanwhile, Vázquez called the situation “a disaster” and demanded the resignation of the president of the elections commission.

“They made the people of Puerto Rico, not the candidates, believe that they were prepared,” she said. “Today the opposite was evident. They lied.”

A federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances issued a statement saying the “dysfunctional” voting process was unacceptable and blamed it on what it said was inefficiency by the elections commission.

The unprecedented situation comes as voters ventured out amid a spike in COVID-19 cases across Puerto Rico, an island of 3.2 million people that has reported more than 12,800 probable cases, more than 8,500 confirmed cases and at least 274 deaths.

Gireliz Zambrana, a 31-year-old federal employee, worried about the number of people gathered at a voting center in Río Grande as they huddled together while waiting for it to open.

“They were trying to get away from the sun,” he said, adding that he never got to cast his vote.

The president of the governor’s party, Thomas Rivera Schatz, along with the president of the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, held an unusual joint press conference and said they agreed the remaining primaries should be held on Aug. 16, a move that Vázquez said she supported. The two parties are both holding their primary elections with the winning nominees among six gubernatorial candidates in November’s general election.


FILES - This combo of two file photos shows Pedro Pierluisi, left and Wanda Vazquez in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At left, Secretary of State Pedro Pierluisi attends his confirmation hearing at the House of Representatives on Aug. 2, 2019, and at right, Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez gives an interview at La Fortaleza governor residence on Aug. 16, 2019. Both served as replacement governors in the wake of a Puerto Rican political crisis and are competing against each other for a chance to win the job in their own right as the disaster-struck U.S. territory holds primary elections on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo, Files)


Other politicians argued that the entire primary be scrapped and held at another date.

An incredulous Schatz noted that there were still trucks with ballots inside parked at the commission’s headquarters as they spoke there on Sunday afternoon.

“The question is, why haven’t they left?” he said.

It was not immediately clear how many voters were turned away or how many centers received delayed ballots. A commission spokeswoman said the president was not granting interviews.

To further complicate things, Edgardo Román, president of the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, told The Associated Press that it’s unclear what alternatives are legally viable because the island’s electoral law is not clear.

“It doesn’t contemplate this scenario,” he said.


Electoral officials inform arriving voters that the ballots haven't arrived at a voting center in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. Puerto Rico's primaries were marred on Sunday by a lack of ballots in a majority of centers across the U.S. territory, forcing frustrated voters who braved a spike in COVID-19 cases to turn around and go back home. (AP Photo/Danica Coto)

An electoral official, right, tells a voter that the ballots haven't arrived at a voting center in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. Puerto Rico's primaries were marred on Sunday by a lack of ballots in a majority of centers across the U.S. territory, forcing frustrated voters who braved a spike in COVID-19 cases to turn around and go back home. (AP Photo/Danica Coto)

Electoral officials wait for ballots to arrive at a voting center in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. Puerto Rico's primaries were marred by a lack of ballots in a majority of centers across the U.S. territory, forcing frustrated voters who braved a spike in COVID-19 cases to turn around and go back home. (AP Photo/Danica Coto)

At least one voter filed a lawsuit against the commission and the electoral officials of the two main parties late Sunday via the American Civil Liberties Union.

The situation infuriated voters and politicians of all stripes as they blamed Puerto Rico’s elections commission and demanded an explanation for ballots reaching only a handful of voting centers by the afternoon.

“This is indignant, abusive and an attempt against the democracy of our country,” said Marcos Cruz, mayor of the northern town of Vega Baja that was still awaiting ballots.

Meanwhile, officials from the island’s two main parties scrambled to find solutions as they urged voters to still show up at centers that remained open late into the night.

Yadira Pizarro, a 44-year-old teacher, ran out of patience at a shuttered voting center in Carolina where she had waited more than four hours under a blistering sun.

“I cannot believe this. This is some serious negligence,” she said.

One of the most closely watched races on Sunday is that of the pro-statehood Progressive New Party, which pits two candidates who served as replacement governors following last year’s political turmoil. Vázquez faces Pierluisi, who represented Puerto Rico in Congress from 2009 to 2017.

Pierluisi briefly served as governor after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned in August 2019 following widespread street protests over a profanity-laced chat that was leaked and government corruption. But Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court ruled that Vázquez, then the justice secretary, was constitutionally next in line because there was no secretary of state.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which supports Puerto Rico’s current political status as a U.S. territory, is holding a primary for the first time in its 82-year history. Three people are vying to become governor — San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, known for her public spats with U.S. President Donald Trump following the devastation of Hurricane Maria; Puerto Rico Sen. Eduardo Bhatia; and Carlos Delgado, mayor of the northwest coastal town of Isabela.

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE
Judge signs plan, resolves Puerto Rico bankruptcy battle
By DÁNICA COTO

FILE - A Puerto Rican flag flies on an empty beach at Ocean Park, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, May 21, 2020. Puerto Rico’s nearly five-year bankruptcy battle was resolved Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, after a federal judge signed a plan that slashes the U.S. territory’s public debt load as part of a restructuring and allows the government to start repaying creditors.  AKA VULTURE CAPITALI$TS

 (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) —

Puerto Rico’s nearly five-year bankruptcy battle is ending after a federal judge on Tuesday signed a plan that slashes the U.S. territory’s public debt load as part of a restructuring and allows the government to start repaying creditors.

The plan marks the largest municipal debt restructuring in U.S. history and was approved following grueling bargaining efforts, heated hearings and multiple delays as the island struggles to recover from deadly hurricanes, earthquakes and a pandemic that deepened its economic crisis.

“There has never been a public restructuring like this anywhere in America or in the world,” said David Skeel, chairman of a federal control board appointed to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances that has worked with the judge on the plan.

He noted that no bankruptcy mechanisms exist for countries or U.S. states like the one Puerto Rico was granted.

“This was an astonishingly complex and large and important bankruptcy,” Skeel said, noting that the island had three times as much debt as Detroit.

Puerto Rico’s government declared in 2015 that it could not afford to pay its more than $70 billion public debt load it had accumulated through decades of mismanagement, corruption and excessive borrowing. It then filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2017, a year after U.S. congress created the financial oversight and management board for Puerto Rico.

The plan that restructures the central government’s debt goes into effect March 15 and could be appealed, although Skeel expected the judge to affirm it.

The board said that the plan signed by federal judge Laura Taylor-Swain cuts Puerto Rico’s public debt by 80% and saves the island more than $50 billion in debt service payments. Board members noted the plan reduces claims against the government from $33 billion to just over $7.4 billion, with 7 cents of every taxpayer dollar going to debt service, compared with the previous 25 cents.

“This period of financial crisis is coming to an end,” said Natalie Jaresko, the board’s executive director. “We have accomplished what many thought impossible.”

The plan also avoids proposed pension cuts that had led to heated debates and created a rift between the board and Puerto Rico’s legislature and the island’s governor, which vehemently opposed them.

The plan notes that Puerto Rico has sufficient resources to pay the debt through 2034, but critics have said the government does not have the finances required to meet debt service payments and warned of more austerity measures.

Jaresko brushed away those concerns, saying that while budgets were cut, there were no layoffs or agencies shut down.

“It wasn’t austerity,” she said. “People look at the last five years and think it’s going to continue like that forever, but it doesn’t.”

Still pending is the debt restructuring of some government agencies, including that of the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which holds the largest debt.

“This one is very important for the economy of Puerto Rico because if it means a rise in energy costs, it makes us less competitive,” said José Caraballo, a Puerto Rico economist and professor.

He added that the island likely would be able to access the market in three to five years to issue bonds for capital projects but warned it should avoid repeating past mistakes.

“Borrowing is playing with fire,” he said. “You need to have people who know what they’re doing. Otherwise, one can return to this disaster we call a debt crisis.”

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said that while the plan approved Tuesday is not perfect, it represents a big step for the island’s economic recovery.

“We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said.

José Luis Dalmau, president of Puerto Rico’s senate and a member of the main opposition party, also praised the plan and called it a transcendental step for the island’s economic recovery.

“From this moment on, a new page of fiscal responsibility, good governance and unity begins, which will lead to a more prosperous economy, a climate of job creation and greater fiscal stability,” he said.

Jaresko noted the plan has guardrails to prevent a repeat of the island’s debt crisis, including allowing long-term borrowing only for capital improvement projects. The board, known as “la junta” in Puerto Rico and reviled by many, expects to be around for at least three more years, or until Puerto Rico has four consecutive balanced budgets, Skeel said.

“We will not stay a day longer than our mandate,” Jaresko said. “It is our goal to finish what we were instructed to do by Congress.”

In Puerto Rico, one woman explains why she used to back Joe Biden – but now she’s hoping for Bernie Sanders

‘I don’t get to say anything as a voter, but I hope that there will be a major change’

PUERTO RICANS DO NOT GET TO VOTE FOR POTUS

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE NOW!

Chris RiottaNew York @chrisriotta


When Donald Trump came to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and threw paper towels into a crowd of American citizens who were desperate for food and essential resources, Nilsa Lassalle says she felt “angry, disappointed and most of all, humiliated”.

The president declared a major disaster in Puerto Rico’s southern region on Thursday, weeks after a series of destructive magnitude 5 earthquakes shook the island in late 2019 and early January.

His announcement came the same week the White House attached severe restrictions on emergency relief meant to aid Puerto Rico in its recovery efforts following the deadly Hurricane Maria. The hurricane hit in September 2017, but such was the devastation it wrought on Puerto Rico – as well as nearby Dominica and St Croix – that recovery efforts continue to this day. While releasing the funds, the Trump administration halted the island’s $15 (£11.48) minimum wage and blocked money going towards its electric grid.

Lassalle, a 53-year-old Puerto Rican mother, says she doesn’t expect the president to treat Puerto Rico any differently after the earthquakes than he did after the hurricane.

“Looking back, I’m not surprised at all by how Donald Trump is reacting to the earthquakes in Puerto Rico,” she said. “What can we expect from somebody that treats everyone like that – men, women, immigrants, the press … I’m not surprised by anything he does now.”

Like many other young Puerto Ricans, Lassalle’s daughters have both relocated to the mainland United States, citing a lack of job prospects and economic challenges years before Hurricane Maria. Lassalle attributes these challenges to corruption within the local government, as well as the United States’ “chokehold” on the island.

‘I’m not surprised by anything Trump does now,’ says Nilsa Lassalle

“[The US] profits from Puerto Rico, and controls everything we do,” Lassalle says. “We have to buy all of our imports from the US, there are so many regulations, and we can’t declare bankruptcy.”

On top of it all, Lassalle notes that Puerto Ricans cannot vote in the presidential elections: “It would be beneficial for us to be included, because we are American citizens. We are somehow a part of your country, and the fact that we don’t get a say in politics here leaves us in limbo.”

Despite not being able to cast a ballot in the 2020 elections, Lassalle has been paying attention to the Democratic primaries and candidates along the campaign trail.

Nationally, she says she’s most focused on issues like immigration, healthcare and taxes. But when it comes to Puerto Rico, Lasalle wants a president who will bring more opportunities to the island and wipe out its debt.

“Because so many young people have left the island, Puerto Rico is filled with many people from the older generations, and they aren’t usually open-minded to more progressive ideals or candidates,” she explains while discussing the debate as to whether Puerto Rico should become a US state.

Lassalle believes that Puerto Rico can and should achieve independence. She cites the recent uprisings that ousted former Governor Ricardo Rossello and others from his administration. The disgraced governor faced protests and demands to resign after he was exposed for corruption and had his misogynistic text messages leaked to the media.

“I wish Puerto Rico would be an independent state. I have seen after Hurricane Maria – but even before that – the people here have the power to lift Puerto Rico,” she says while recalling the weeks of demonstrations. “This has never happened before in Puerto Rico … people are thirsty for change – definitely.”

And when it comes to addressing the issues impacting Puerto Rico and the United States writ large, Lassalle says she now sees only one candidate for the job: Bernie Sanders.

Whereas at first Lassalle says she supported Joe Biden’s candidacy, citing the former vice president’s experience in the White House and reputation as a longtime senator, she now believes Sanders has a “more complex understanding of the human condition and where we are now as a country, and maybe even as a world.”

“He just seems more inclined to respond to the issues that affect people,” she adds. “We’re not the 1 per cent, and he addresses our issues ... important issues like immigration, student debt and healthcare.”

Sanders introduced a $146bn (£111.7bn) plan in 2017 to help rebuild Puerto Rico after the hurricanes, which included investments in renewable resources and green technology. That legislation featured six co-sponsors, one of whom was fellow 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren.

The Vermont senator has also called for some of Puerto Rico’s debt to be immediately relieved if deemed unconstitutional, and has suggested a fiscal oversight board implemented by the US congress was anti-democratic in nature.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign stop at St Ambrose University on 11 January 2020 (AP)

Lassalle says she agrees with those views.

“Puerto Rico has given so much to the United States,” she says. “The US has of course given much to us, but that’s part of being a commonwealth … it’s not Puerto Ricans’ fault that debt exists. We weren’t in control of how that money was handled.”

Whether Sanders wins the Democratic nomination or not, Lassalle says there “needs to be a major shift in American politics with this election,” describing the last four years under Trump as “the worst nightmare ever imaginable.”

“We can’t have another four years of this,” she concludes. “I don’t get to say anything as a voter, but I hope that there will be a major change.”

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#STATEHOOD  OR #INDEPENDENCE

Joe Biden Is Seeking Latino Votes In Florida With A New Plan To Rebuild Puerto Rico

Biden’s visit to Florida this week came with a new plan for Puerto Rico and policies aimed directly at one of the state's most crucial groups.

Nidhi Prakash BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on September 16, 2020


Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Joe Biden participates in a roundtable event at Hillsborough Community College on Sept. 15 in Tampa, Florida.


Joe Biden is bulking up his policy commitments to Puerto Rican voters in Florida, as he tries to build support among Latinos in one of the most competitive states in the presidential race.

In a plan released before his Tuesday visit to Kissimmee, Biden detailed a recovery plan for Puerto Rico, which has struggled to rebuild after a major economic crisis, hurricanes Irma and Maria, and widespread earthquakes earlier this year. The majority of Hurricane Maria evacuees who left the island have settled in Central Florida.

Biden's plan, and comments he made in Kissimmee, went further than he'd gone to that point: He laid out a proposal to end federally imposed austerity measures in Puerto Rico and forgive some of the island’s debt, and he said he personally supports statehood for the island, though he prefers to leave the question up to Puerto Ricans.

Biden’s visit to Florida came as polls find him ahead of Trump among Latinos in the state, but trailing Hillary Clinton at the same stage of the 2016 election. Trump ultimately won the state by a margin of just 1.2% in 2016. Florida is home to nearly one million people of Puerto Rican descent, including hundreds of thousands who moved to the state after Hurricane Maria tore through the island. According to a 2018 paper from the Pew Research Center, the state has seen a 6.2% increase in Latino voter registrations since 2016, bringing the total to 2.1 million. Puerto Ricans accounted for around 31% of potential Latino voters in the state, whether or not they’re registered — the same as the number of potential Cuban voters, according to the researchers.

Biden was joined Tuesday by Puerto Rican musical icons Luis Fonsi and Ricky Martin, along with actor Eva Longoria, a founder of the Latino political advocacy group Latino Victory.

“Donald Trump doesn’t seem to grasp that the people of Puerto Rico are American citizens already and they deserve to have leadership in government that understands that in America there is no room for the idea of second-class citizens,” Biden said at the Hispanic Heritage Month event at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee.

Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Ricky Martin speaks during a Hispanic heritage event with Joe Biden at Osceola Heritage Park on Sept. 15 in Kissimmee, Florida.


The former vice president may have an edge among Puerto Rican voters in Florida partly because of Trump’s flippant response to various crises in Puerto Rico, including the number of people who died as a result of Hurricane Maria and the inadequate federal response. An August poll by Democratic pollster EquisLabs found that among 1,081 Latinos polled in Florida, 61% of those who identified as Puerto Ricans preferred Biden, compared to 28% who back Trump.

Both parties attempted to attract new Puerto Rican voters in Florida during the 2018 midterms — Latino turnout overall in the state did increase between the 2014 and 2018 midterms and between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. But, the Orlando Sentinel reported, early voter data in 2018 suggested that evacuees turned out in lower numbers than other Latino voters, perhaps in part because they had immediate concerns, especially finding secure housing, to consider in the aftermath of the hurricanes.

“I think he has a lot of work to do with folks in Florida,” said Julio López Varona, co-director of community dignity campaigns for the progressive Center for Popular Democracy, adding that the new recovery plan is “a step in the right direction.


“Florida has 1 million Puerto Ricans, and these Puerto Ricans have more of a bootstrap-minded mentality and tend to be a little bit more conservative. How does he improve people's lives in Kissimmee? And I think there has to be a case made for Puerto Ricans who want to come back and what can be done about that,” he said.

For one Latino activist who has been working with the Puerto Rican diaspora in Central Florida, Biden’s visit and newly released plan was welcome but should have come sooner, especially as COVID has worsened an already dicey situation for Puerto Rican families in recent months. She added, though, that the Trump campaign doesn’t even have a specific plan for Puerto Rico, and that his administration let Puerto Ricans down by not having a plan for them after the hurricane, either.

“This generation of Puerto Ricans have been struggling,” said Maria Revelles, Florida state director for Vamos4PR, a coalition of community groups advocating for Puerto Ricans. “This was not a planned move, they lost everything on the island.”

She said she thinks it’s going to be a challenge to get people out to vote amid health concerns over the ongoing pandemic, but that Puerto Ricans on the island are used to a culture of being very engaged with voting.

“I think that people have to understand Puerto Ricans come from a very high voting culture. On the island everybody votes, 99% of people vote. Right now you read stories about people in line to register to vote,” she said.


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Puerto Ricans who move to the mainland aren’t automatically affiliated with either Democrats or Republicans, she said, because the party system is entirely different on the island, with the issue of statehood for Puerto Rico being one of the main issues that divides the two major parties there. To that end, she said, it was wise for Biden to emphasize that he supports self-determination for the people of Puerto Rico.


“The Puerto Ricans that are here in Orlando, besides the Puerto Rico issues, their issues are like every other working group. They want affordable housing, they want fair wages, they want healthcare, that none of those things are traditionally in the GOP platform either,” she said.

Revelles added that she appreciated that the Biden campaign didn’t pick just any Latino celebrities for Tuesday night’s event, but Ricky Martin in particular, who Puerto Ricans have seen taking action to help communities on the island after the hurricane and to support the protests that ousted former governor Ricardo Rosselló last year.

PROMESA, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, was signed into law by then-president Barack Obama in 2016 and established a federally appointed fiscal control board (the Fiscal Oversight Management Board) to approve Puerto Rico’s state budgets, and with the power to put in place austerity measures.

The conditions imposed by the fiscal control board have led to major cuts in public education, infrastructure spending, and pensions on Puerto Rico, and residents say it’s made recovering from the series of disasters even harder.

Jim Watson / Getty Images
Joe Biden arrives at the Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, Sept. 15.


López Varona, of the Center for Popular Democracy, said the Biden team had been in touch with them as they formulated the recovery plan, and though it doesn’t abolish PROMESA as the group had wanted, the Biden team took many of their other requests on board — particularly the call to end austerity measures.

“It shows that he’s really listening,” said López Varona. “There’s also protection of pension holders in Puerto Rico and then there’s accountability for the FOMB and a clear stance against austerity. If there’s a beating drum, that's the thing we’ve been saying for the past four years. Generally, we think it's a step in the right direction.”

Biden’s plan would go a long way toward fulfilling some important measures Puerto Rican activists have been calling for since 2016, particularly an audit of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt, much of which activists argue was issued by predatory lenders who knew the island authorities could not pay it back, and some of which was issued in violation of debt limits in the Puerto Rico Constitution.

“I’m running to be president of all Americans, including 3 million Americans in Puerto Rico … I’m not going to suggest that we sell or trade, as was mentioned earlier, Puerto Rico. I'm not going to throw paper towels at people whose lives have just been devastated by a hurricane. That was mortifying. The world saw that,” Biden said at the event on Tuesday.

The proposal includes measures to increase funding for Puerto Rico’s food stamps program, which has come close to running out of funding multiple times in recent years, increased federal funding for public education, and moves to put funding for Puerto Rico’s Medicare and Medicaid programs on par with the rest of the US.

The island’s electrical grid, which was decimated during Hurricane Maria, remains fragile and incomplete nearly three years later, and is frequently knocked out by passing storms. Biden’s plan includes “a full recovery and infrastructure reconstruction to modern standards.”

The electrical grid failing again is a constant fear for people who lived for months without power, said Revelles, and Biden addressing it directly in his plan is significant for her. Beyond that, she said, she appreciates the campaign’s plan to address climate change and rejoin the Paris Agreement.

“Puerto Ricans know we are at the will of climate change,” she said. “Some of the survivors of Hurricane Maria who moved here do Identify themselves as climate change refugees.”


MORE ON PUERTO RICO
People In Puerto Rico Are Demanding Answers After A Warehouse Full Of Unused Emergency Supplies Was Discovered

Brianna Sacks · Jan. 19, 2020

“We Are Your Citizens”: Trump Keeps Repeating Lies About Puerto Rico 

Nidhi Prakash · April 3, 2019

Puerto Rico Is Burning Its Dead, And We May Never Know How Many People The Hurricane Really Killed

Nidhi Prakash · Oct. 27, 2017


Nidhi Prakash is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

What's behind calls for Puerto Rico statehood? Here are 4 things to know.



Nicole Acevedo
Wed, March 3, 2021, 

Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., and Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico's nonvoting member of Congress and a Republican, introduced new legislation Tuesday to make the U.S. territory a state.

The Puerto Rico Statehood Admissions Act seeks to establish "a framework for admission, including a presidential proclamation upon its passage, a ratification vote, the election of U.S. senators and representatives and the continuity of laws, government, and obligations," Soto said at a news conference.
Why now


The bill comes amid renewed efforts from pro-statehood Puerto Ricans to pressure Congress after passage of a nonbinding referendum in November that directly asked voters whether Puerto Rico should immediately be admitted as a state. With nearly 55 percent voter turnout, about 53 percent of Puerto Ricans who voted favored statehood while 47 percent rejected it, according to Puerto Rico's Elections Commission.

The new legislation was introduced Tuesday on the 104th anniversary of the Jones Act, the first piece of legislation that opened a pathway for Puerto Ricans to earn U.S. citizenship.

"But still it's not a first-class citizenship," Gonzalez, who represents 3.2 million Puerto Ricans on the island, said. "We cannot vote for our commander-in-chief, we do not have four members of Congress, and yet Congress has all power over us."

The bill has the support of at least 49 House members, 13 Republicans and 36 Democrats, according to Gonzalez. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., is expected to eventually introduce a version of the bill in the Senate.
Why statehood

Puerto Ricans living on the island are U.S. citizens who are unable to vote for president. They don't pay federal income taxes, since they don't have voting representation in Congress. But they do pay payroll taxes, helping fund federal programs such as Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Earned Income Tax Credit, which often serve as lifelines in a territory where 44 percent of the population lives in poverty. But as a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico has unequal access to these programs compared to states.

While similar versions of the Soto-Gonzalez statehood bill have unsuccessfully been introduced in Congress since at least 2015, the newest version is different because it seeks to mirror the process used to bring Hawaii and Alaska into the union, said Soto.

Soto said there's a renewed sense of urgency to advocate for statehood as Puerto Rico works to resolve the compounding crises that have been heaped on the island over the last few years.

The island is still recovering from Hurricane Maria in 2017 — the deadliest U.S.-based natural disaster in 100 years, which led to the deaths of at least 2,975 people — while simultaneously working to get out of the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and survive the pandemic.
An opposing bill wants more options

The statehood bill was met with opposition from four Puerto Rican advocacy groups Tuesday. They bought an ad in The New York Times calling out statehood supporters such as Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi for their use of "cherry-picked statistics."

"If you're only listening to the governor of Puerto Rico, you're not even getting half the story," the ad reads. "True equity can only be achieved when Puerto Rico is free to decide its own destiny, armed with information and a full understanding of the entire range of nonterritorial political status possibilities available."

The four groups — Vamos Puerto Rico, Boricuas Unidos in the Diaspora, Diaspora in Resistance and Our Revolution Puerto Rico — argue in the ad that a bill that Reps. Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both Puerto Rican Democrats from New York, are seeking to reintroduce in the House is a better option to resolving Puerto Rico's territorial status.

Related: The election on the island follows the historic protests following the scandal that led to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's resignation.

The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act of 2020 initially proposed creating a "status convention" made up of delegates elected by Puerto Rican voters who would come up with a long-term solution for the island’s territorial status — whether it be statehood, independence, a free association or any option other than the current territorial arrangement.

During Tuesday's news conference, Pierluisi said that proposals advocating for "a new process with other options, because some didn't like the result, show a lack of respect to the people's vote."

Puerto Rico has held a few other referendums in recent years.

In a 2017 plebiscite, 97 percent of those who voted favored statehood but opposition parties boycotted the vote, resulting in a record low turnout of 23 percent. In another 2012 plebiscite, 61 percent of voters sided with statehood, but that referendum was also mired in controversy over the way the choices for voters were phrased.

Independence didn't have 'fair chance'

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently said that Puerto Rico's debate over statehood demonstrates that Puerto Ricans are divided on issues surrounding their territorial status.

Most Puerto Ricans favor statehood or its current territorial status. Historically, the island's chances to meaningfully explore independence as an option were often met with roadblocks.

A 1948 Gag Law made it illegal for Puerto Ricans on the island to display the Puerto Rican flag, and a government-sanctioned surveillance program known as "las carpetas," (the binders) illegally tracked Puerto Ricans advocating for independence for about 40 years. Especially during the Cold War, Puerto Rico was of strategic importance to the U.S. and the nation's military.

"There was not a fair chance for Puerto Ricans to explore independence as an option, because both the government of Puerto Rico and the United States government did not allow that option to be on the table," Puerto Rican photographer and journalist Chris Gregory-Rivera, whose six years of reporting on "las carpetas" is also being showcased in an exhibition in Abrons Arts Center in New York City, previously told NBC News.

Related: The divide reflects the ongoing debate about how to best vote on the U.S. territory's future.

"What does that do to a country's ability to participate in civil society and self-determine? As we're talking about another referendum, taking statehood to Congress and a myriad of legal issues about things that have happened over the last few years, you can't ignore that part of the situation that we're in now has links to this moment in history," Gregory-Rivera said.

Pro-independence groups organized counterprotests in Washington on Tuesday as lawmakers announced their pro-statehood bill.

Monday was the 67th anniversary of an armed attack on Congress by four Puerto Rican nationalists who fired on the House as it was in session. Five members of Congress were hurt and recovered; the attackers' prison sentences were commuted in the late 1970s by President Jimmy Carter.

The attack came two years after the 1952 agreement that made the island a commonwealth.

"The political purpose of that military attack was to draw the world's attention to the U.S. colonial situation in Puerto Rico and the repression against the Puerto Rican independence movement," Ana Lopez of the Boricua Independence Front said in a statement.