e status debate involves three main opinions on what the fate of Puerto Rico should be supported by three respective political parties. The first of these, the Partido Nuevo Partista (PNP) advocates statehood as the future for Puerto Rico. About 45% of the Puerto Rican population in is support of statehood. The US government is historically notorious for stalling this issue for a number of reasons. In 1963, Kennedy promised Munoz a Status Commission which, after three years could only decide on a plebiscite in 1967. Every state in the US has a white, English-speaking majority, and the US government does not know how to make a 98% Spanish-speaking territory a state. Those who side with the PNP are conservative, anti-Communist, and antiunion, and members include intellectuals, politicians and industrialists. [They] shared a concern about the situation on the island: the increasing activity among university students demanding reforms, the constant strikes and the flowering of the independence movement, and corporate flight and the difficulties in recruiting new business to the islands. Out of these concerns the fulcrum of the PNP platform was developed: statehood for Puerto Rico. (Lopez, 1987: 121)The PNP wants to implement the status of Puerto Rico as the fifty-first state of the United States by convincing their Resident Commissioner to draft a bill with a lawmaker in Congress for statehood. As a state, Puerto Ricans would get more representation in Congress and the right to vote for President of the United States. Unfortunately, there are bumps in the road to statehood which provide support for the maintenance of Puerto Rico as a Commonwealth as supported by the Partido Popular Democratico whose members are referred to as Populares. Members of the Partido Popular Democratico, which consist of 47% of the Puerto Rican population, are in support of autonomy for Puerto Rico by means of an enhanced Commonwealth status. Autonomy...
