Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla criticized the U.S. government for changing its position about Puerto Rico's status. He told United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon through a letter that the U.S. is contradicting itself.
The island is an autonomous state of the United States and is still a territory of the country. According to Westfield Times, portions of the letter were released by the governor's office. Governor Padilla said the U.S. gave Puerto Rico its autonomy through the approved 1952 constitution and should be removed for the list of non-self-governing territories. The governor believes that it is his responsibility to make historic records clear not only in Puerto Rico but also before the courts, the United States and the international community.
It was reported in Daily Mail that U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli filed a friend of the court brief and argued that Puerto Rico is still a territory and under the U.S. Congress regardless of its amplified autonomy its constitution granted. He stated in the brief that under the territory clause, Puerto Rico is still a territory subject of the United States. Though there was an important improvement between Puerto Rico and U.S. relationship, like its evolution to local self-government and giving away its benefits, Puerto Rico, as a constitutional matter, will be under the Congress of the United States. He explained that the congress does not intent for its autonomy to be revoked.
Since Puerto Rico is having problems about its debt like what USA Today stated, the filing is about the correlation with the decision of Puerto Rico filing local charges against people for crimes of which they have already been convicted by federal authorities. The answer was for knowing whether Puerto Rico is a "separate sovereign" for purposes of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy clause. The congress' decision made Puerto Rico's autonomous powers a mere "delegation of powers" not a "transfer of sovereignty."
The position of Puerto Rico was defined by the head of the Popular Democratic Party, the governor, as a sovereign state. However, the group of people who supports statehood likes the Verrilli brief.
