Ken Leon Guerrero wrote a letter to the editor of The Guam Daily Post about the independence movement in Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States that was annexed at the same time as Puerto Rico, back in the 19th century. Guerrero was writing about independence for Gunma, but he actually had a lot to say about Puerto Rico, too.
“The first reality the [Guam separatists] ignore is the fact that there is a process that has been established for political change. Puerto Rico has been following the process for decades so the path is well documented. Puerto Rico has not appealed to the United Nations to step in and free them from the oppressors as have Guam independence proponents. And Puerto Rico has been successful at getting bills introduced into Congress to change their political status attempting statehood, though none have made it out of Committee … yet!”
Actually, the Puerto Rico Statehood Act made it out of committee and was passed in the House in 2022. Also, Puerto Rico separatists have appealed to the United Nations, though this year they didn’t even get their usual rubber-stamp resolution. The main point, however, is that Puerto Rico is working through the democratic process of decolonization.
This is not the only way to gain independence, as Indonesia and Haiti and the United States itself have made clear, but Puerto Rico is not trying to gain independence. Puerto Rico is working to gain statehood.
Does Guam want independence?
Actually, only 5% of Guam’s voters chose independence in their status plebiscite. Puerto Rico, having had 5% or fewer in all previous plebiscites, managed to rustle up 12% in favor of independence in the 2024 vote. The number is still much smaller than the 58% of votes for statehood. It’s clear that neither Guam nor Puerto Rico actually wants independence.
Guerrero recognizes this. “The reason I believe that Guam politicians have not petitioned Congress for a change of political status,” he writes, “is that they know instinctively a majority of the people on Guam enjoy territorial status or want statehood. That’s why the Task Force has avoided doing a legitimate survey on political status preferences of residents for Guam.”
Could Guam benefit from independence?
Guerrero goes on to say that Guam is not actually large or prosperous enough to support itself as an independent nation. “The island of Puerto Rico has a business based economy with more than 2,000 manufacturing businesses that generate 45% of the $13 billion Puerto Rico government budget. Guam has a government based economy as it does not have a manufacturing base,” he points out. “Puerto Rico has an 11 1/2% sales tax the generates 25% of the government tax revenue. Guam does not have a sales tax. It has a Business Privilege Tax of 5% that generates 42% of tax revenues. If we were to increase the business privilege tax to the level of Puerto Rico‘s sales tax we would drive another couple thousand businesses into closing and increase departures of more households from Guam to other places in the mainland.”
Puerto Rico could probably support itself as an independent nation if the people living in Puerto Rico were willing to undergo the hardship involved. Before the current economic crisis, Puerto Rico was listed by the World Economic Forum as the most competitive economy in Latin America. Now, it has slipped to #2, behind Chile. As an independent nation without the financial support of the United States, Puerto Rico would be in a much weaker position.
Puerto Rican separatists finesse this fact by imagining that the United States would bankroll Puerto Rico if the Island decided to reject the sovereignty of the U.S. and cut ties with the federal government. The fact that the United States has never actually done this for the nations that used to be territories and are now independent nations doesn’t come up in the discussions. It should, though. The United States has paid the debts of territories that became states and helped them financially, but has not done the same for Cuba or the Philippines.
Guamanian separatists don’t seem to be promoting that fantasy. Instead, Guerrero says, they plan to charge the United States rent on the military bases which the federal government owns. Guerrero point to the example of Cuba to see how well that has worked in the past.
Other possibilities
All three of the non-territorial status options available to an unincorporated territory like Guam or Puerto Rico — statehood, independence, and independence with free association — have task forces within the Decolonization Commission of Guam’s government. The independence movement in Guam may therefore have more government support than that of Puerto Rico.
If Guerrero is correct, the independence movement in Guam has as little voter support as the independence movement in Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, he concludes that “the only path for status change for Guam will be through the U.S. Congress.” The same is true for Puerto Rico. If Guam is able to hold a status vote again to confirm the preferences of the voters, as Puerto Rico has, they can call on Congress to respect their vote and implement their choice — as Puerto Rico has.
Congress is not required to take action on any of the unincorporated territories. They must be convinced to take action. Reach out to your representatives and encourage them to get on the right side of history, to respect Puerto Rico’s vote and admit the Island as a state.
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