Americans disagree over granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington D.C.

The United States territory of Puerto Rico has voted in favour of statehood, and thus be treated at par with the current 50 states of the country. On November 3, the same day US voters chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the US election, a majority of Puerto Ricans voted yes in a non-binding referendum for full statehood while rejecting the ‘no’ option– which would have signalled approval for continuing their current commonwealth status or for starting the process of becoming an independent country.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States.

Puerto Ricans have been citizens of the United States since 1917, and can move freely between the island and the mainland.

As it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the U.S. Congress, which governs the unincorporated territory with jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950.

It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida.

It is an archipelago among the Greater Antilles located between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands; it includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques.

The capital and most populous city is San Juan.