Why is Puerto Rico poor?

The following video entitled, “Why is Puerto Rico poor if it belongs to the United States (US)?” is fake news. The real answer to the question was never given in the video. Click on the following link to watch that video: https://youtu.be/Cnww36bChfw

Puerto Rico has been a US colony for the past 124 years. The US militarily invaded Puerto Rico to make her a colony. Therefore, Puerto Rico is poor, because she is a US colony. In fact, almost half of the Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico live in poverty!

The video lied when it stated that Puerto Rico had never decolonized herself from Spain. Puerto Rico, in fact, was a province of Spain in 1897, and therefore enjoyed real self-government. The US knew that, but, nevertheless, forced Spain to sign the Treaty of Paris of 1898 to supposedly cede Puerto Rico to the US.

The US’ real intentions with Puerto Rico is obvious from the language in the Treaty of Paris. It states that the rights of the Puerto Ricans shall be determined by the US. That means that Puerto Ricans are US slaves! The Treaty of Paris is still in effect today!

The US forced her citizenship on Puerto Ricans in 1917, after we had rejected it. The video ends with the suggestion that perhaps the solution lies with Puerto Ricans voting for either independence or statehood.

Voting, however, deceptively suggests that Puerto Rico is a democracy. As a colony, Puerto Ricans have no rights that the US has to respect. The video, again, neglects to offer a realistic solution.

Another omission is its never mentioning that the US has never complied with the United Nations, (UN) Charter of 1945 that prohibits colonialism for being a crime against humanity. Moreover, the US has ignored 40 UN resolutions asking her to immediately return Puerto Rico’s sovereignty to the Puerto Ricans. Hence, voting in a colonial elections to resolve our political status is an impossibility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otzBslJLbI0

A real solution would be for the 9 million Puerto Ricans worldwide to engage in permanent resistance to force the US to comply with international law.

Puerto Rico is poor because she is a US colony.