The word “colony” conjures images of conquistadors and pilgrims, slavery and imperialism. But in Puerto Rico the supposed anachronism slips into daily conversations about the unstable present and an uncertain future.

Since the April day in 1899 when Americans formally took over the island, Puerto Ricans have felt uneasy about their status within the United States.

And as the island faces a debt crisis that has cratered its economy and sent its leaders to Washington to plead for more sovereign powers, the issue has taken on a new urgency.

Unique among US territories, Puerto Rico has a state-like government but is not a state: it draws all its authorities from Washington DC and is restricted in ways states are not. The island’s ports can only do business with US ships, for instance, and the territory depends heavily on federal aid.

Most pressingly, however, the island lacks authority to either file for bankruptcy or restructure its $72bn municipal debt.

Governor Alejandro García Padilla argues that in its current form the debt is “unpayable” and that greater austerity will exacerbate already difficult living conditions. Padilla has stopped short of endorsing statehood, instead trying to focus on limited new powers.



But other politicians have been bolder. In April, Republican presidential frontrunner Jeb Bush endorsed statehood for Puerto Rico, the homeland of tens of thousands of recent migrants to Florida, the former governor’s home state.

“Puerto Rican citizens ought to have the right to determine whether they want to be a state,” he said. “I think statehood is the best path, personally. To get the full benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, being a state is the only way to make that happen.”

Proponents of statehood argue that it’s a simple matter of fairness. The island’s Democratic delegate in Congress, Pedro Pierluisi, introduced a bill in February that could make Puerto Rico a state by 2021 should a majority of Puerto Ricans vote for statehood – as 61% did in a non-binding referendum in 2012.

One of the top fundraisers for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, Andrés López, has argued that the status quo is not only unequal but unsustainable.



But the issue has found virtually no traction in Congress, and even appeals over bankruptcy powers have divided the House.



Many Puerto Ricans are skeptical of statehood, saying formal inclusion in the union would do almost nothing to ameliorate pressing issues of unemployment, healthcare and housing.



Antonio Cuñarro, a shop owner in Río Piedras, said the debate amounted to empty rhetoric. “Each government just uses one side or the other to get elected,” he said. “It’s all the same.”

San Juan legislator Luis Gallardo agreed, saying the campaign “exists only in the imagination of our statehood politicians. A lot of people have tried to piggyback on the issue.”

Gallardo said he was ambivalent: “I don’t know what’s worse, not having federal bankruptcy powers or having federal income taxes on top of the highest local taxes in the country.”

Others balked at becoming the 51st state. Attorney Manuel Rodriguez said statehood could help Puerto Ricans with access to the justice system, bankruptcy options and federal intervention, but “it’s no magic solution and would not necessarily mean progress. There’s also no chance it will happen, given Congress.”

Statehood is wrong for Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico is a nation. We consider ourselves Puerto Ricans, not Americans Senator Ramón Nieves

A minority tapped into long-simmering nationalism and suggested more drastic changes – not quite the violent separatism of the 1960s and 70s, but a crusade for greater independence nonetheless.



“Statehood is wrong for Puerto Rico because Puerto Rico is a nation,” said senator Ramón Nieves. “We consider ourselves Puerto Ricans, not Americans.

“What Puerto Rico needs is more powers in its relationship with the US, and eventually a new relationship with the US.”

Nieves said Puerto Rico should follow the model of the Marshall Islands, which entered into a compact association with the US in order to retain some rights but also to move toward sovereign nationhood.

“We value our history and relationship with the US – thousands of Puerto Ricans have died in foreign wars for a century – but the traditional options of statehood or independence don’t help us right now,” he said.

Washington has done “close to nothing” to help, Nieves said, suggesting exemptions from trade restrictions, or guarantees on some bonds: “The Treasury always says it will provide ‘technical assistance’ but that doesn’t mean anything.

“I don’t mean that they should hand us a check for $72bn, but if they cannot be a little more active or willing to help us, they should give us the tools to help ourselves.

“Sovereignty is not the same as independence,” Nieves concluded. “All independent nations are sovereign, but not all sovereign nations are independent.”



In casual conversation many Puerto Ricans refer to the territory as a “country”, and occasionally as a “colony”. Monuments to Spanish and Latin American history and culture dominate San Juan: Miguel de Cervantes, Juan Ponce de León and Simon Bolívar all stand tall in the city. References to the US are rarer: a statue of Abraham Lincoln in the old city, the outposts of federal agencies and tourists.

“The relationship with the US has aggravated our problems,” said Ataveyra Hernández, a former adviser to the governor. “Puerto Ricans are hugely dependent on the government, which depends on federal money. It’s a structural problem, and there’s an urgent need to renegotiate the relationship.

“The Caribbean is full of countries that are small just like us, and they control their own destinies, their resources, their policies.”

The Caribbean is full of countries just like us, and they control their own destinies, their resources, their policies Ataveyra Hernandez

But with constant movement to and from the mainland, the close ties of families, and a continuing military presence on the island, emotional ties to the US remain strong for Puerto Ricans born on both shores. Both flags dot homes in San Juan.

Some view the question of independence more dispassionately. A metro employee at the Río Piedras stop simply waved her hand toward the desolate plaza nearby.

“Look at where we are,” she said. “We’re not ready for that, no way.”

In practical terms, Puerto Ricans already enjoy most of the same perks as other Americans, including US passports and billions in welfare from the federal government, though their semi-autonomous government is restricted by and depends heavily on the US. They cannot vote for president and lack a congressional representative who can vote outside of House committees.

But new arrivals to the US who change their residency will be able to vote in the 2016 presidential election, and they could potentially sway key states such as Florida.