SAN JUAN — Puerto Rican voters tomorrow will again ponder a 114-year-old conundrum: What type of relationship do they really want with the United States?
The choices, as ever, are: the status quo, statehood, independence, and “sovereign free association,” a designation that would give the island of nearly 4 million greater autonomy.
Officially, it is the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a semiautonomous extension of its giant neighbor 1,000 miles to the northwest. In reality, it’s a territory, lacking the freedom of an independent country and many of the fundamental rights it would have as the 51st state.
Tomorrow’s referendum marks the fourth time in 45 years that a vote is held on the island’s future.
Statehood has never won a majority, and the independentistas have never racked up more than 5 percent of the vote.