New Puerto Rico Statehood Legislation Introduced in House

HR 2499, introduced in to the House of Representatives by Rep Pierluisi, Pedro R. [PR] on 5/19/2009, paves the way for Puerto Rico statehood. The bill already has 123 cosponsors according to Thomas.gov.

From the Washington Times: Puerto Rico Eyes Statehood Status

--------Staff attached this additional message: This article is a great resource to get up to date on the Puerto Rico Statehood question, and this is why we still fight on.--------

Saturday, April 26, 2008
The status of Puerto Rico — commonwealth, U.S. state or independent — could be settled soon by the island's populace if Congress will allow it.
Earlier this week, a bill to allow Puerto Rico residents to hold an official vote on whether to become a U.S. state or continue commonwealth status, passed a congressional committee for the first time, and the head of Puerto Rico's governing party says the time has never been more ripe for the Caribbean island to become the 51st state.

The New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico, which is pro-statehood, has been trying to get Congress to sanction a vote for more than two years and says it thinks a bill can be passed this year. Previous referendums on the island's status have been held by its government without U.S. authorization.
"In the past, we've never had a federally sanctioned vote, which caused turnout to drop to about 70 percent, and we feel we can reach our average of 83 percent participation if we have Congress' support," said Puerto Rico Senate President Kenneth D. McClintock, a party member.

Mr. McClintock's party is at the height of its political power, controlling both Puerto Rico's House of Representatives and Senate, and 42 of the island's 78 mayoral posts. Party Chairman Luis Fortuno is the territory's nonvoting delegate to Congress.

In addition to that, their chief rival and leader of the opposing party, Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila has been indicted on 19 count of campaign-finance violations and mail fraud, negating his ability to effectively advocate against the bill.

Rep. Jose E. Serrano, New York Democrat, introduced the Puerto Rico Democracy Act in 2006, along with with Mr. Fortuno, but the bill had been languishing in committee until this week.
read more...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/apr/26/puerto-rico-eyes-statehood-status/

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Puerto Rico Statehood Gains Steam

Puerto Rico Statehood Gains Steam
With his political opponent under indictment
I know Louis Fortuno, he is devoted to Puerto Rico statehood. He hates the Commonwealth status of Puerto Rico. I met with him in my 2003 visit to Puerto Rico.

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071018/EDITORIAL/110180009

Governor of Puerto Rico Pleads Not Guilty to Corruption Charges

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=105810&ref=rss

Corruption in Puerto Rican Government

This kind of thing is unbecoming of public officials.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/27/puerto.rico.ap/index.html

This man is obviously not ready to lead.

Puerto Rico Statehood: Clear and Present Disaster

This is our report, Statehood For Sale, Puerto Rico's Massive Expenditures on Lobbyists and Political Campaigns to Buy Admission as 51st State., cited in ProEnglish.org. Here is the link.
http://www.proenglish.org/news/winter2004.html

You can read this valuable publication for yourself.
You can order our publication at http://www.stoppuertoricostatehood.org/
You will also find there useful information and tools to help us stop Puerto Rico statehood.