Bolivian president Evo Morales revealed on Friday that Pope Francis told him that there are three pending issues in the continent, Puerto Rico, Falklands/Malvinas and Bolivia's sea outlet claim. The pope has been recognized by all sides as the 'bridge' which helped bring together Cuba and the US after over half a century of mutual distancing.
Puerto Rico’s governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has admitted that the island cannot pay its roughly $72 billion dollars in debts, an admission that will probably have wide-reaching financial repercussions beginning Monday. Last week the governor and his top staff anticipated they would seek significant concessions from the island’s creditors.
A new study has found that Puerto Rico has undergone such a dramatic population shift that there are now over a million more Puerto Ricans on the US mainland than on the US island territory. The Pew Research Center study showed that between 2010 and 2013, more people left Puerto Rico for mainland US than those who left in the 1980s or 1990s.
President Nicolás Maduro described the current CELAC summit in Havana as historic and revealed Venezuela has proposed that the group's territories be considered 'free of colonies' and thus invites Puerto Rico to formally join Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean state).
At a UN Decolonisation Committee seminar, Wilma Reveron, a Puerto Rican lawyer said that the U.S. has made it clear that they do not intend to allow a true exercise of self-determination in Puerto Rico.
Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state. The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.
Ecuadorean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ricardo Patiño called on Wednesday for an end to the remains of colonialism and specifically mentioned the Falklands/Malvinas, Puerto Rico and the US Guantanamo base in Cuba.