Puerto Rico overwhelmingly votes in favor of U.S. statehood amid low turnout

SAN JUAN — The economically struggling U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favor of becoming the 51st state, although turnout was low and adding another star to the U.S. flag likely faces an uphill battle in Congress.

A government website for the non-binding referendum, Puerto Rico's fifth such plebiscite since 1967, showed 97 percent supported statehood. Only 23 percent of 2.2 million eligible voters participated in the vote.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello campaigned for statehood as the best avenue to boost future growth for the island, which has $70 billion in debt, a 45 percent poverty rate, woefully underperforming schools and near-insolvent pension and health systems.

'From today going forward, the federal government will no longer be able to ignore the voice of the majority of the American citizens in Puerto Rico,' Rossello said in a statement.

'It would be highly contradictory for Washington to demand democracy in other parts of the world, and NOT respond to the legitimate right to self-determination that was exercised today in the American territory of Puerto Rico,' he added.

Puerto Rico's hazy political status, dating back to its 1898 acquisition by the United States from Spain, has contributed to the economic crisis that pushed it last month into the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

'I voted for statehood,' Armando Abreu, a 74-year-old retiree, said after voting. 'Even if it's still a long way off in the distance, it's our only hope.'

Those in favor of statehood for the mainly Spanish-speaking Caribbean island hope the new status would put the territory on equal standing with the 50 U.S. states, giving them more access to federal funds and the right to vote for president.

Under the current system, Puerto Rico's 3.5 million American citizens do not pay federal taxes, vote in presidential elections or receive proportionate federal funding on programs like the Medicaid health insurance system for the poor. The U.S. government oversees policy and financial areas such as infrastructure, defense and trade.

Rossello will ask Congress to respect the result, but Puerto Rico is seen as a low priority in Washington.

'BOGUS PLEBISCITE'

The island's two main opposition parties boycotted the vote, which gave Puerto Ricans three options: becoming a U.S. state; remaining a territory; or becoming an independent nation, with or without some continuing political association with the United States.

Puerto Rico's former governor, Rafael Hernandez Colon, said in a statement: 'A contrived plebiscite fabricated an artificial majority for statehood by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth supporters.'

Rather than heading to the polls, some 500 Puerto Ricans marched on the streets of San Juan, waving Puerto Rico's flag and burning the American flag while chanting in support of independence.

'This is a bogus plebiscite. Our future is independence. We need to be able to decide our own fate,' said Liliana Laboy, one of the organizers of the protest.

Boycotters were also angry about the costly referendum at a time when over 400 schools have closed and many Puerto Ricans are struggling to make ends meet. Schools where voting took place were in poor condition, with cracked paint and bare-bones playgrounds.

Puerto Rico spent an estimated $8 million on the campaign and election process, according to a government spokesman.

NATIONALIST MARCHES IN NEW YORK PARADE

A Puerto Rican nationalist vilified for his alleged links to a deadly bombing campaign decided on his own to pass up a special award that Puerto Rican Day Parade organizers wanted to give him, hoping to dispel the rancor that had enveloped the New York event, an official said.

Even so, Oscar Lopez Rivera still wanted to march in the annual celebration of Puerto Rican heritage, said Louis Maldonado, a member of the parade's board. This year was the first opportunity he had to do so since being released from prison after serving 35 years on sedition charges.

Thousands of cheering spectators lined the route, many of them waving small Puerto Rican flags. The crowd applauded wildly as Lopez Rivera, 74, rode past on a colorful float decorated with leaping fish. He gave a 'thumbs up' and thrust a clenched fist in the air.

'The reality is we did not convince him to do that. This was his decision. His decision alone,' Maldonado told WABC-TV when asked if organizers bowed to political pressure by dropping plans to give Lopez Rivera a 'National Freedom Hero' award.

'He did so because he saw the level of divisiveness that was happening in our community,' Maldonado said.

As the parade marched up Fifth Avenue on Sunday morning, there was little sign of the firestorm of criticism that has surrounded the event since organizers announced their plans.

Thousands of cheering spectators lined the route, many of them waving small Puerto Rican flags. The crowd applauded wildly as Lopez Rivera, 74, rode past on a colorful float decorated with leaping fish. He gave a 'thumbs up' and thrust a clenched fist in the air.

Organizers expected 1.5 million to watch Sunday's event, held the same day as the U.S. territory holds a referendum on statehood.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was among the public figures who decided against marching in the parade once it was known Lopez Rivera was being considered as the honoree. New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the nation's largest police union, called for a boycott of the annual celebration by Americans with roots on the Caribbean island, home to 3.5 million residents.

JetBlue Airways Corp, AT&T Inc and other major advertisers pulled their sponsorships over Lopez Rivera's participation.

'I think it's good that he declined it because it was entirely distracting from the issue at hand, which is Puerto Rico,' Mayor Bill de Blasio, who planned to march all along, said last week. 'That's the only thing this parade should have been about.'

In 1981, Lopez Rivera was convicted of sedition and other charges, along with other members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by its Spanish-language acronym as FALN. Authorities said the group was responsible for dozens of bombings in the 1970s and 1980s in a campaign to secure Puerto Rico's independence.

Lopez Rivera, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison, plus 15 additional years for a foiled escape plot, was freed in January during President Barack Obama's final days in office.

Lopez Rivera's supporters, including 'Hamilton' playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda and other celebrities, view him as a symbol of Puerto Rican nationalism and the campaign to end what they see as the colonial status of the U.S. territory, acquired by the United States after the Spanish-American War.

Critics of the decision to honor Rivera say he is a convicted criminal who helped carry out the 1975 bombing of New York's Fraunces Tavern and other deadly attacks. No one was ever charged in connection with that bombing.