Status of Puerto Rico

[johnson]

I recently joined EMRA and was disappointed to find that Puerto Rico was listed as international ("foreign") location. I have to comment because I have run into pleny of ignorance regarding this subject.

1) Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States and Puerto Ricans are American citizens and have been since the Spanish-American War.

2) Puerto Ricans have served in the US military and have fought and died in every military conflict and war since the Spanish-American War.

3) Univ of PR Medical School is fully accredited by LCME and its ER Program is also fully accredited. (In fact, we had over 100 applications from the mainland - 2 stateside students will starting as residents this year)

In a nutshell, I'm up on my soapbox because my brother is a Marine serving in Iraq, my father flew B-52's in Vietnam, and my uncle fought in Korea - and still an organization as big as EMRA doesn't know Puerto Rico is part of the United States.

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[southerndoc]

Originally posted by johnson
In a nutshell, I'm up on my soapbox because my brother is a Marine serving in Iraq, my father flew B-52's in Vietnam, and my uncle fought in Korea - and still an organization as big as EMRA doesn't know Puerto Rico is part of the United States.

Pay taxes and get the powers to vote and you'll be more recognized.

Seriously, why don't you guys become a state? It's been long overdue that PR become the 51st state.

 

[Apollyon]

I thought the majority if Puerto Ricans prefer the commonwealth status, or at least don't want to change the status, as per many recent referenda.

Having no federal income tax, enjoying the support and protection of the US government, and being specifically identified as a distinct entity that, although having served America and Americans well and ably, is still unique in the US, and having the ability to hang one's own flag, and participate in the Olympics (for example) as your own team are all advantages.

As far as Puerto Rico goes, "foreign" is a slightly grey area. I understand your zeal and ire, but other boricuas may, for the same very reason, be happy about being an international location.

 

[ispic]

Hi guys,

Just to address a couple of points. Although I completely agree with Apollyon and the other posters, Geek medic has a couple of things to understand. I have heard the same argument from several of my conservative friends before, and although I share in their sentiments for my home to become the 51st sate it shouldn?t and won't ever happen, it wouldn?t be beneficial to either party, except for the emotional reasons of "inclusion" into the formal states. The main problem is economics. Puerto Rico is in the unique position to offer all of the benefits of statehood without paying the taxes associated with it, is this fair you ask, well the US has been using the island to place their military bases there since the end of the Spanish-American War, and the strategic advantage that the island has in protecting our southeastern coastline from foreign aggressors is indispensable. The island has also been a great place for pharmaceutical companies to place their manufacturing plants since they don?t have to place taxes  (thanks to Mar?n o Rivera, can?t remember).

It would be extremely detrimental for the US to make PR a state. The state with the lowest GDP is Louisiana, and PR?s is about 50% of that! The minute PR becomes a state, it would start drawing more $$ from the government than it has been since its commonwealth status was granted. Emotionally, it would take the charged issue of Puerto Rican identity as a state even further into the realm of violence, to the point that, I believe, would escalate into terrorism, since the political climate down there has become so very anti-American the past few years.

I believe in the PR system and how the US government is handling things with them (heck I?m even going to med. school down there). It really sucks that an organization such as EMRA would consider them foreign, but that?s their ignorance. As far as the identity issue, well, I consider myself and American citizen of Puerto Rican ancestry, and I must respectfully disagree with Johnson by saying that the majority of my family has also served in the military and shed blood for a president that they didn?t vote for, however, the same can be said for all the other Americans that were wounded/died in combat for a president that they didn?t vote for either. I understand the voting and identity issue, (believe me, my jibaro family writes pages and pages of emails on that issue) but I believe the economic benefits far outweigh the horrible possibility of PR becoming independent and losing the support that having the commonwealth status affords to its citizens. Just my opinion.

 

[JA_Perez]

First of all, I must respectfully disagree with ispic on the anti-americanism in Puerto Rico. I think it really depends on who you talk to and what media your exposed to. I know there is an element anti-americanism but I think it is blown way out of proportion by local and US media. The only time you ever see PR on CNN is when the very small but very loud group of independentistas make their point by protesting or flipping a couple fed gov vehicles as they did the other day.

Actually, I'm glad this brought up the discussion of status of Puerto Rico. But really I wasn't trying to start a political debate about whether PR should be a state or not. I would just like one day to be able to go to a convention and not have half the PD's think I'm a foreign medical student.

Having said that, the majority of people in Puerto Rico don't want the island to become a state. Whenever there is a vote on status the vast majority vote for the status quo. A very small percentage want independence. PR has a very unique position as having many of the advantages of being a part of the US while maintaining its language and culture although it has been greatly influenced by the US.

I must mention that the question of status is not as simple as it may appear. There are many issues involved. The debate on status is kind of a national pastime here. But regardless of the opinions of the Puerto Rican people, the US government has made no steps toward to deciding what should become of PR.
Although in PR the issue of status has been voted on several times, these (plebiscites??) are not recognized by the US government. So in the end its the decision of the US government.

As far as saying that PR would rank even much lower than Louisiana, as far as poverty level. One must understand that many of economic stats that work for the states don't work here. For one thing, PR has a huge "underground" cash economy that is never accounted for.

 

[DrQuinn]

Wow, this thread is way serious! Too serious for my sarcastic hungover ass this AM.

Q, DO

 

[mikecwru]

Originally posted by JA_Perez
Actually, I'm glad this brought up the discussion of status of Puerto Rico. But really I wasn't trying to start a political debate about whether PR should be a state or not. I would just like one day to be able to go to a convention and not have half the PD's think I'm a foreign medical student.

I thought this was your first post in this thread... or are you also "johnson?"

mike

 

[DrQuinn]

Originally posted by mikecwru
I thought this was your first post in this thread... or are you also "johnson?"

mike

Strong detective work. Can I write you a LOR?

Q, DO

 

[mikecwru]

Originally posted by QuinnNSU
Strong detective work. Can I write you a LOR?

Q, DO

See, while you're palpating cranial sutures and crackin' necks, MDs are reinforcing their critical reading. mooo hahahahaha

mike

 

[ispic]

Sorry JMP,

I didn't mean to start a debate on the staus of boricuas, or how we portray ourselves. You do have some great points however, however, every time I visit my family, it seems like the "vocal minorty" screaming for independence gets bigger and bigger, especially now con la gobernadora independentista. Anyway, I completely agree with you on the physician status. I have to keep reminding the dean of Arizona and my intervirewers at other schools that the PR schools are LCME accredited

I did see on the SAEM site that they list the PR sites for ED rotations (MS-4). Is that because they recognize them as official training sites, or just as a formality? Thanks in advance.

 

[johnson]

Hey detective you found me out! Not really, J Perez is a classmate who was using this site before me and by accident I used his log in to send one of my messages and I was too lazy to do it over. I know who cares. Johnson is Johnson.

 

[ispic]

Sorry about that johnson/JAP,

I talked to a couple of my relatives today and heard the same thing about the plebicites, looks it was all a show put in by the pro-statehood guys to appear that there is a major sentiment for statehood on the island. it appears that with the current governor situation down there that the island might become independent in the near future, what do you think? if you want, PM or email me, we can continue the dialogue ther since this topic might be a little off the ER forum, or we can continue here. Take care.

 

[JA_Perez]

Hey detective you found me out! Not really, J Perez is a classmate who was using this site before me and by accident I used his log in to send one of my messages and I was too lazy to do it over. I know who cares. Johnson is Johnson.

WHAT!!! Some one used my account w/o authorization!!!! Who the hell are you Johnson!!!

 

[bulgethetwine]

WHAT!!! Some one used my account w/o authorization!!!! Who the hell are you Johnson!!!

I'm a schizophrenic and so am I.

 

[Orthonut]

WHAT!!! Some one used my account w/o authorization!!!! Who the hell are you Johnson!!!

It took you FOUR YEARS to figure that out?

 

[trkd]

WHAT!!! Some one used my account w/o authorization!!!! Who the hell are you Johnson!!!

It can't be that hard. How many people with the last name "Johnson" do you have at the school. If it is less than 10, you can probably figure it out from previous posts.

 

[Dr Who]

The political status of Puerto rico is a VERY emotionally charged subject in the island. Although my family is originally from the island, I myself have lived much of my life in the states, so I believe I might offer a different point of view ( I did part of my B.A. a Masters and am currently a med student there).
As I see it one of the contributing factors to Indecision as to the final status is the MASSIVE amount of disinformation and outright lies passed off as fact to the island populace by its politicians, media and other powerful establishments. People in the island live in a world of smoke and mirrors in which all political parties are guilty, including the pro-commonwealth, statehood and independence parties. During the plebiscites I couldnt help but just shake my head at how each side passed off half truths, and even outright lies as they intentionally mislead the public. During the last plebiscite the commonwealth option was described as a territory of the US, and as such, is under the plenary powers of the US congress (which it is). The pro- commonwealth party did not like that definition because it came close to defining the current status as somewhat of a colony of the US and so decided to include a column of "none of the above" as an option in the plebiscite. They campained AGAINST the definition of the commonwealth included in the plebiscite although it was the legal definition adopted by congress as to the true status of PR. They, along with the media, which is largely pro commonwealth started a massive "information" (or disinformation) campaign against the plebiscite and it payed off in the elections.
The current system (commonwealth) is so entrenched because the pro-statehood party is in disarray and divided by a current power struggle between different factions for control of the party. The independence party consistently earns less than 4% of the votes in elections, in fact it earned less than 2.5% in the last general elections. The pro commonwealth party currently controls the government. It has powerful allies in the media, civil groups, unions and powerful individuals and families that have an economic interest in maintaining the current status as is. Add to that the general ignorance, apathy and downright racism demonstrated by members of congress in powerful positions when the issue of PR is brought up and you can see why the status wont change anytime soon.
It is my personal experience that most islanders DO NOT WANT independence, as has been demonstrated with their votes. In fact independence only garners a miniscule percentage (2.5%) of the total vote. As I said earlier, they live in a world of smoke and mirrors created by politicians who say one thing while in the US, only to say another when on the island. Add to that the other factors against statehood that I previously mentioned and you can see why it is VERY difficult to change the current status, unless congress acts unilaterally, which it refuses to do.

 

[roja]

I'm a schizophrenic and so am I.