Should Puerto Rico become a US state or independent?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should Puerto Rico become a US state or independent?
Position‹2 of 2: Puerto Rico should be an independent country
Argument‹4 of 4: The US colonized Puerto Rico

The US has traditionally been opposed to colonialism by foreign nations. Yet, the US took Puerto Rico as a “prize” from the Spanish-American war.

The argument

Throughout history, both political parties have criticized European nations for colonizing foreign nations. Whether that be militarily or diplomatically, the US has notoriously been opposed to puppet governments in foreign nations. It's time America adheres to its own rules. Puerto Rico never wanted to be a US state. Before the US colonized Puerto Rico, the Spanish controlled the island. After the short-lived Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was taken a "prize" along with the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris in 1898. The issue was heavily contested on the island, with Puerto Rican politicians claiming the Spanish had no right to cede the island to the US as they no longer controlled it after a Puerto Rican revolution in 1897. The US paid no attention to these claims and effectively silenced dissent with threats, persecution, and assassinations. While politicians in the US have frequently used American isolationism or "America First" as a reason to not get involved in conflicts abroad, the occupation and colonization of Puerto Rico are noticeably absent from those arguments. If the US really wants to fix its own problems before worrying about troubles abroad, it should award Puerto Rico its independence.

Premises

[P1]The US, which has long condemned European colonialism and puppet governments, itself took Puerto Rico as a "prize" under the 1898 Treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War, against the wishes of an island that never sought US statehood. [P2] Puerto Rican objections—that Spain had no right to cede the island after the 1897 revolution—were silenced through threats, persecution, and assassinations, and the occupation is conspicuously absent from US "America First" rhetoric. [C] Therefore, because the US colonized Puerto Rico, it should grant the island its independence.

Counter-arguments

Western colonialism isn't always a bad thing. The US has a fraught history with colonialism but has largely helped its colonies and territories in the 21st century. The US colonizing Puerto Rico may actually have prevented the island from falling deeper into an economic depression and saved it from the grasps of tyranny.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise establishes how US control began, but a colonial acquisition does not by itself determine the remedy; the same history is cited by the statehood position, which treats full incorporation with voting representation rather than separation as the correction. [Rejecting P2] "Puerto Rico never wanted to be a US state" is a claim about present preference resting on evidence from 1898, and it is the point most in dispute — the island's own status referendums are the obvious test, and the argument does not engage them.

Proponents cited

Noam Chomsky
“Puerto Rico was turned into a plantation for U.S. agribusiness, later an export platform for taxpayer-subsidized U.S. corporations, and the site of major U.S. military bases and petroleum refineries.”
Rafael Cancel Miranda
“They want to convert us into hybrid beings, and they are attempting right now to take our culture from us, de-Puerto Ricanize us, force their language upon us the hard way, and so therefore we are in a critical situation. You have to see that because in order to combat this you must see the reality of what you are combating, the dangers, the threats, and your capacity for struggle.”
Don Pedro Albizu Campos
“It is not easy to give a speech when we have our mother lying in bed and an assassin waiting to take her life. Such is the present situation of our country, of our Puerto Rico; the assassin is the power of the United States of North America.”