During the recent Summit of the Americas, The Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega expressed in his speech that the event cannot be called of "The Americas" because two countries like Cuba and Puerto Rico, did not participated in it. President Obama in his speech forgot completely about Ortega's mention of Puerto Rico. I ask myself: It was deliberate or just forgot? Who knows.
Also, some of the leading news agencies in the world (AP, EFE, etc) and as a matter of fact the major newspapers (NY Times, Le Monde, SF Chronicle,etc) only quoted Ortega as saying Cuba, they omitted the other Caribbean island. Only a local Trinidad paper reported on this. It's a shame, the misinformation.
I'm aware of the "great news" it is Cuba because of the 40 year plus US embargo on them and the non-existent relationship between the US presidents and the Castro brothers. But Puerto Rico is still the oldest colony in the world. Where human rights are being violated to 4 million US citizens who are treated as second class citizens who neither can vote for the president of the US nor received decent incomes compared to the 50 states of the union (our per capita is lower than the poorest state which is Mississippi).
Puerto Rico's status has to be resolved as soon as possible. But Obama and the media have to put our problem in the international forums and not omitted it like they did. Our commonwealth is a transitional status and it should be changed. Our society is composed of politicians who only want to perpetuate the colonial status to continue robbing the federal aid and a dormant population who only likes to "party" and not to think. The chances of independence were undermined as the nationalist movement was erased with Pedro Albizu Campos and such who where the ones who really fought for a free nation.
So, in the 21st century it's either a Hispanic statehood to the US or a territorial disposition by the US Congress as stated by political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalaqua. A Hispanic statehood is more viable now as the Hispanic population stateside is rapidly growing each year. The US was created as a melting pot, a nation of immigrants. With Obama, part of a minority, as President is possible. Now or never.
