New referendum in US Congress is presented to vote for the status of Puerto Rico

Havana, April 21 (RHC) - Democratic and Republican congressmen from the United States presented this Thursday to Congress a new bill so that, through a referendum next November, the citizens of Puerto Rico decide if they want independence, statehood or remain as a commonwealth.

The governor of the territory, Pedro Pierluisi, pointed out at a press conference that, despite the existence of 3.2 million US citizens on the island, they cannot vote for the president of the United States, they do not have voting representation in Congress and they do not receive the treatment "that we deserve in multiple federal government programs."

For her part, the resident commissioner in Washington, Jenniffer González, recalled that this is "the greatest achievement of the project, a self-executing proposal, an offer from the United States Congress so that Puerto Rico can vote among these options."

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez affirmed that the initiative, known as the Puerto Rico Status Act, "is the first time that it will be presented to the people of Puerto Rico in this way."

The bill had previously been approved last December in the House of Representatives with 233 votes in favor and 191 votes against, but at that time the proposal failed to pass the Senate.

This responds to the demands made years ago by the Puerto Rican people who, in a plebiscite in 2012 in which 78.19 percent of the citizens eligible to vote participated, 53.97, answered "no" to the question " Do you agree with the current territorial status? (Source: Telesur)