House Approves Legislation That Might Lead To Statehood Of Puerto Rico

May 1st, 2010 - 7:40 pm ICT by GD  

By Gina Gomez
prtoWashington, May 1, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The House of Representatives on Thursday gave their consent to a bill that could pave the way for statehood or independence for Puerto Rico. The approval of the legislation by the House is being considered to be a significant development which might play a pivotal role in transforming the self-governed territory’s relationship with United States spanning across 112 years.

The legislation which was passed on Thursday received 223-169 votes and is now all set to be taken into account by the Senate and in case it is passed by the Senate then the large number of residents of the island commonwealth would be voting on a statehood referendum. It has been reported that as per the measure, the Puerto Ricans would be offered a two step vote. In the first step, the 4 million residents of the island commonwealth would be asked to vote on whether they are satisfied with the current political status of Puerto Rico or whether they hoped to transform it. In the initial voting, if maximum number of Puerto Ricans decide that they want to change the current situation, then a second vote would be conducted in which the residents would have to opt for any of the four possibilities which includes statehood, independence, sovereignty in collaboration with United States or the commonwealth state that presently exists.

In the meanwhile, the step has been welcomed by many Puerto Rican officials who have reiterated that the measure would be a pivotal step to bring an end to colonial rule. However, many others have expressed their discontent over the bill and have described the step as ‘appalling’ and ’shameful’.

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