Talk:Puerto Rico/Controversial issues

Controversial issues with Wikipedia's Puerto Rico article

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Country name
According to the CIA World Factbook, the official long name of P.R. is: "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico". --Maio 07:18, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

According to the Constitution and official documents and laws of Puerto Rico, the official name of the island is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico in spanish, and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in English. Cjrs 79 21:15, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

And it is not a country anyway. Unless you want to call California a country or Guam. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.165.18.206 (talk) 00:31, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Official language(s)
The CIA World Factbook lists Spanish and English as "languages" of Puerto Rico. For that reason, both languages are listed on this article. --Maio 03:28, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Puerto Ricans POV
''The following text is a point of view from one of our Wikipedians. Wikipedia's official policies outline that all articles should have a neutral point of view (NPOV). The following text should NOT be used as de facto evidence for ANY Wikipedia article.''

The official language of P.R. is a current issue for the island that depends on which party is in charge at the time. For example, when the PNP is in charge, they try to change the official language to English. Inclusive, I beleive that during Pedro Rosello's last 2 terms, the language was officialy changed to English; then reverted back to Spanish/English when the PPD recovered the power.

The truth is that, during Rosello's time in power, many official documents were written in English, which supported the claim that P.R.'s official language is English. Later, when the PPD came back to power, a law/amendment/whatever was passed to write all official documents in Spanish.

Being a current issue for the island, I can't find any reason as an NPOV editor to put English or Spanish as the unique official language. I favor the decision to leave Spanish and English as the official languages, simply because:


 * All schools in Puerto Rico (including public and private) must have an English course in their curriculum.
 * Spanish is the overwhelming main language of Puerto Ricans.

-- Maio 03:28, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The New Progressive Party NEVER tried to change the official language to Spanish, they just wanted to eliminate a law passed by the previous governor that eliminated english as one of the official languages and kept only spanish as official language. When the NPP won they passed a LAW (since their is no article in the constitution that deals with the offical language) that made Spanish AND English, both official languages.

So, it is not wrong to put english and spanish and it is not controversial. There is controversy among puerto ricans as if english should be included in the official languages or not, but CURRENT Law says both are official languages.

When the NPP was in power they wrote many documents in both spanish and english just like any other goverment.

Cjrs 79 21:15, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Not necessarily is the POV of Puerto Ricans. Taking in account the history of English in Puerto Rico, you can conclude that English was another colonialist tool in the colonial government from 1898 until 1952, and that can be seen with the overthrow of Spanish in elementary schools for English in the first half of the 20th century. I'll search for the article by Alicia Pousada made on the the story of English in Puerto Rico. Both Spanish and English are the official languages of Puerto Rico, but it was made co-official along with Spanish because of political reasons. The Political Parties that are the majorities both favor either English along with Spanish, or English over Spanish; meaning that the legality of English as a means of the people in power to achieve the political status that they want is not questioned. But the reality is that English is a foreign language in Puerto Rico, but that statement is controversial because of it's political implications. My email is avator@gmail.com, David Colón Cabrera.

Political status
According to the CIA World Factbook, the official political status of P.R. is that of a commonwealth in free association with the United States. --Maio 03:28, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Indeed, however, that information does not takes into account the latest information(the task force) about the way this relationship works. The historic fact is that even if we have a constitution and an organized self goverment we are still subject to the absolute powers of the US congress(Including the power to revoke the local constitution). Actually, i found an interesting comment in the Massachusetts discussion related to the definition of commonwealth used in this site and how it seems to refer more to independent nations(we may be a "nation" but we're clearly not independent) --Joelito pr 02:32, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Self-government
There are no mentions in the article about the other resolutions by the UN regarding de-colonization of Puerto Rico. There has been resolutions on that matter since the 70's and the Comitte has approved it several times.

Resolution 748 (VIII), adopted during the 8th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, recognizes P.R. self-government. --Maio 03:28, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

However, this resolution is not accepted either by the pro-statehood nor the pro-independence groups, whose version of this story is that the USA misrepresented the PR status process at the UN. I think the way the article states the status of PR is the best compromise: "Puerto Rico's ultimate legal status is a subject of continuing debate."; "What [Commonwealth status] means has never been absolutely clear"; etc. I do think the use of the word "treaty" should be excised-- just cite the relevant Congressional bill (Project 600 of 1952? something like that) -- 171.64.42.82 03:11, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

Something else should be noted, the UN has approved resolutions almost continuosly advocating the self determination of the Puerto Ricans. Cjrs 79 21:15, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * It is imperative to recognize that Puerto Rico has freely and democratically rejected political independence on several occasions, and the US Congress has mandated that such referrenda must continue until the people select full integration or full independence.


 * Being that the case, any call for self determination grossly misrepresents the objective reality that Puerto Rico does enjoy full and absolute self determination, even though it elects not to have full political separation.

Hidden comment for future editors
There is an extensive hidden comment after the first paragraph for future editors regarding the reference link next to it. The following text is the exact hidden comment on the article:

English or Spanish as official language?
The following websites list English as an official language:
 * http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Puerto+Rico
 * http://welcome.topuertorico.org/descrip.shtml
 * http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/pr.html
 * http://www.puertoricodiving.com/about_puerto_rico.htm
 * http://www.meetpuertorico.com/about_pr/puerto_rico_tid_bits.asp
 * http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/puertorico/pr-status.htm

Please provide evidence to the contrary. --Jiang 06:13, 26 Sep 2003 (UTC)


 * the debate was not about language, which Spanish is overwhelming the main language of Puerto Rico. The question was about the use of "Commonwealth" as official name. The constitution of Puerto Rico was written in the language of Cervantes, Spanish and therefore the formal name is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. "Commonwealth " is a translation and interpretation of the formal name .- vertical 123


 * Bills in the U.S. Congress pertaining to P.R. state as "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" --Jiang 02:25, 27 Sep 2003 (UTC)


 * The official name of Puerto Rico is Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (or Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico in Spanish). -- Maio 04:12, 7 Jan 2004 (UTC)

This is not true... the official name is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico you can check the constitution of the island which clearly states that name. Notice that the document in spanish is the official version when the english and spanish versions do not coincide in something.

Cjrs 79 21:15, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * All those websites are either commercial or personal, none of them should be used as de facto evidence. Right now, Spanish and English are both listed as the official languages. -- Maio 04:12, 7 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Puerto Rican Citizenship
On the History Channel's show declassified, it was stated that Puerto Ricans were given citizenship in 1917 for the purpose of drafting the men to serve in World War 1. Should this not be mentioned in the article?
 * According to Jones-Shafroth Act, this is a popular misconception. -- Beland (talk) 01:36, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
 * US citizenship was given to Puerto Ricans to prevent the Germans from invading the island and establishing a base here. The contribution of Puerto Ricans to WW1 was minimal as compared to later wars.23:54, 13 May 2008 (UTC)~ Peter Frau —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.50.91.151 (talk)
 * Whether US citizenships was given in order (a) to draft Puerto Ricans into WWI or (b) to prevent the Germans from invading the island, the fact remains that: (1) Puerto Ricans' draft into US military service started with the first beligerent US involvement after the passing the the Act, namely, WW1, (2) the Germans did not invade the island, (3) citizenship does not prevent any goverment from invading any geographic area (Example: Did citizenship prevent the Japanese from going into Hawaii at Pearl Harbor?), (4) without taking any sides, the History Channel's reference should be included, (5) if any reference exist stating citizenship was given to prevent the Germans from invading Puerto Rico, that, too, should be included, (6) if the text of the John-Shafroth Act states (as the editor above is claiming) that it is (or was at the time of the Act) a misconception that US citizenship was granted to Puerto Ricans to draft them into WWI service, that, too, should be given, possibly via a short verbatim repeat of the particular text of the Act in question onto the wikipedia article, (7) the fact that "the Act was under consideration long before the United States entered the War" does not automatically imply that the Act was enacted to enlarge the pool of men eligible to go to war for the US - goverments tipically prepare for war long before it *enters* a war anyway, (8) Again without taking sides, the statement that "the contribution of Puerto Ricans to WW1 was minimal as compared to later wars" does not reinforce the claim (as editors Beland, and Peter Frau appear to be claiming) that citizenship was given to Puerto Ricans for a reason or reasons other that drafting them into WW1.  If anything, it could be equally claimed the Act was enacted to enlarge the pool of men eligible to go to war for the US for WW1 *AND* other future wars.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.83.95.65 (talk) 04:32, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Language in Puerto Rico
I am an English high school teacher in Puerto Rico. I have lived here for 20 years and my parents are Puerto Rican. From my experience, fluent English speakers are less than 10 percent. And of these, most were raised in the states. By law, students in public schools from K to 12 have English classes for 50 minutes a day, five days a week. This has been the case for decades. And bilingualization has yet to be achieved. Early in the 20th century the public school classes were all in English (except Spanish). Anectodal evidence ( my father told me) claims that those students who graduated high school had a greater command of English than present graduates, but that drop out rates were astonishingly, impossibly, high. Also, it should be pointed out, at the risk of being considered an apologist for the US intervention of 1898, that under Spanish rule public schools were virtually non existent.

Many linguists (not all) have clearly defined ideas for the terms second language and foreign language. A second language is when a person learns a new language in a new environment, such as would be the case when an Italian goes to Japan and learns Japanese. A foreign language is when a person learns a language in his native country that is not commonly spoken in his country, such as would be the case when an Italian would study to learn Japanese without ever leaving his native country. According to these definitions English is a foriegn language. But even that does not reflect the reality of language in Puerto Rico, because most Puerto Ricans and every major political party, wants Puerto Rico to become Bilingual: this is very different from the example of the Italian in Italy studying Japanese.

Language planning, a legitimate field of linguistics, would have other terminology which I don't know. 66.50.91.151 (talk) 23:48, 13 May 2008 (UTC) peter frau

fixed format so I can read this74.213.73.187 (talk) 11:32, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Puerto Rico is Not a Republic.
Puerto Rico is Not a Republic. Puerto Rico is a State of United States with a Free Association. (Still a Country with some benefits like a State) The Government of Puerto Rico is Called "Estado Libre Asociado" (ELA) Please, I exhort to Make a research and edit the article.108.107.11.53 (talk) 16:16, 20 November 2011 (UTC) Jabriel Torres 108.107.11.53 (talk) 16:16, 20 November 2011 (UTC)