Puerto Rico

I am sure that, if they could, the Americans would like to “own” all the island-nations in the Caribbean which were not in the safe hands of the British or the French. Cuba obviously. The Dominican Republic would be useful, though its proximity to Haiti would establish some economic and humanitarian issues. Puerto Rico it already has, as evidenced by the vast numbers of Puerto Ricans who live in Florida – Puerto Rico is an official 51st state of the union, re-endorsed in a 2012 referendum where less than a third of the population opposed the status quo. The island has a governor, and is exempt from US income tax as well as receiving federal funds. Usually the Americans want these places, as the French and British do, for exploitation of their natural resources or to host a military base, but Puerto Rico has no natural resources beyond its climate and its beaches, and the military base has been considerably scaled back in recent years. Maybe the Americans just want it as an advance-warning location for in-coming hurricanes.


Marks for: 3.5 million (the number of US tourists who provide its main source of income every year)

Marks against: 70 billion (the size of the nation's debt)

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