Puerto Rico: U.S. Pit Stop of the Caribbean

Hillary Clinton will visit Perú, Ecuador, Colombia and Barbados in the next four days. Isn't it odd that the Secretary of State won't come to Puerto Rico, a U.S. "Commonwealth" for over 100 years? Any casual observer would expect that the American government would avail itself much more of its territory in the Caribbean to hold meetings such as the one in Barbados.

The truth of the matter is that, in these 100 - plus years, visits by Presidents and other top U.S. officials have been few and far between. In some cases, Presidents have waited to be out of office to come to Puerto Rico. The last time Hillary was here was for a fundraiser. So was Obama.

I think that the American ruling class is somewhat embarrassed by having a colonial territory, and tries to avoid facing that "inconvenient truth" directly. Not coming here helps them pretend that there's nothing wrong with this arrangement, especially given the fact that they are always lecturing other countries on democracy and freedom. By coming here and holding meetings with other Latin American countries, they would focus attention on our situation and have to answer potentially uncomfortable questions about Puerto Rico's subordinate status.

So, they'll continue to travel all around us, but very rarely come here, except to refuel.

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