NBC

100 Years After US Citizenship, Puerto Ricans Still Wrestle With Their Identity

Puerto Ricans are locked in a vigorous debate over their relationship with the United States: pushing for statehood or keeping its current U.S. commonwealth status

On March 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Jones-Shafroth Act, granting U.S. citizenship to residents of Puerto Rico, a colony which just 19 years earlier had been ceded to the United States from Spain after the Spanish-American War, NBC News reported.

One hundred years later, Puerto Ricans are locked in a vigorous debate over their relationship with the United States: pushing for statehood or keeping its current U.S. commonwealth status with some modifications, with a small contingent pushing for independence.

Puerto Rico was considered strategically important to the United States due to, among other things, its geographic location in the Caribbean and particularly during the Cold War its relatively close proximity to Cuba.

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