At Washington event, resident commissioner insists PR ‘is not a colony’

From left, Puerto Rico Mayors Association President Jorge “Georgie” González Otero, Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández Rivera and Dartmouth College professor David A. Rezvani, author of “Surpassing the Sovereign State” (Oxford University Press, 2014).

By THE STAR STAFF

Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández Rivera asserted Thursday that Puerto Rico “is not a colony,” using a public event in Washington, D.C. to reinforce his position that the commonwealth remains a valid, internationally recognized political status for the island.

Hernández Rivera delivered the message while hosting members of the Puerto Rico Mayors Association at a forum marking the 80th anniversary of the appointment of Puerto Rico’s first governor and the 74th anniversary of the Commonwealth Constitution. The event featured Dartmouth College professor David A. Rezvani, whose academic work focuses on political integration and partially independent territories.

“Puerto Rico is not a colony, it is not,” Hernández Rivera said, echoing arguments long made by scholars who view the commonwealth as a unique status model.

He pointed to shared U.S. citizenship, common defense and a unified currency as structural elements that distinguish Puerto Rico from traditional colonial arrangements.

Rezvani, the event’s keynote speaker, supported that view by noting that the United Nations recognized the commonwealth framework in 1952. He also highlighted Puerto Rico’s economic advantages compared with other jurisdictions in Latin America, citing his research on wealth, self‑rule and security in non‑sovereign territories. Rezvani is the author of “Surpassing the Sovereign State” (Oxford University Press, 2014) and has taught at Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Trinity College, Brown and Boston University.

Mayors Association President Jorge “Georgie” González Otero said the resident commissioner’s stance aligns with his pending legislation, H.R. 9246, the Puerto Rico Self Determination Act, which includes the commonwealth among the options in a proposed referendum.

“We support that measure because it is fair and democratic,” said González Otero, who is the mayor of Jayuya.

The Mayors Association groups mayors from the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party.

A 2025 Hart Research poll of registered voters in Puerto Rico found that 42% favored the commonwealth, compared with 29% who supported statehood, 11% independence and 11% free association.