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General information Puerto Rico
 
Country: Puerto Rico
Top-level domain (ccTLD): pr
Population: 3.994.259
Language: Spanish and English
Currency: United States dollar (USD)
Telephone: +1787
Area: 9.104 km2
Flag:
Flag explanation: The flag of Puerto Rico consists of five equal horizontal bands of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bears a large, white, five-pointed star in the center.

Though there are specific shades of red and blue that are used for the flag, some flag-makers make slight modifications. Specifically, the shade of blue used on the flag may correspond to the flag-flyer's political beliefs. Flags made by pro-independence groups use a sky light blue, while pro-commonwealth and pro-statehood groups use darker shades (as on the U.S. flag). The 1952 version uses a dark-blue shade.
Located:
Continent: North-america

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico") is a semi-autonomous territory composed of an archipelago in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands, approximately 1,280 miles (2,000 km) off the coast of Florida (the nearest of the mainland United States). The archipelago includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys. The island Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area but third largest by population among the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico). The largest of the other archipelago islands are Mona, Vieques, and Culebra. Puerto Ricans sometimes call the island Borikén, or in Spanish Borinquen, a name for the island used by indigenous Taíno people. The current term boricua derives from the Taíno name for the island, and is commonly used to identify oneself as Puerto Rican.

Puerto Rico is a commonwealth or unincorporated organized territory of the United States, and its political status allows it "self-government in respect of internal affairs and administration, subject to relevant portions of the Constitution and the laws of the United States" and the plenary powers of the U.S. Congress. It was allowed to establish a constitution for the internal administration and to handle matters of purely local concern, but "matters of currency, defense, external relations, interstate commerce", "postal system, social security, and mining activities and minerals, among other areas" are within the jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by the 1917 Jones Act. The commonwealth has a republican form of government, subject to U.S. jurisdiction and sovereignty. Its current powers are all delegated by the U.S. Congress and lack full protection under the U.S. Constitition.

The political relationship with the U.S. is the subject of ongoing debate in Puerto Rico, in the United States Congress and in the United Nations. Recently two reports have been issued by the U.S. President-appointed Task Force, the latest of which was issued on December 21, 2007. The Popular Democratic Party (PDP), founders of Puerto Rico's current political status, has challenged the task force reports, stating that it had been under the impression that in 1953 Puerto Rico enacted a "new constitution that was entered into in the nature of a pact between the American and the Puerto Rican people" that was recognized by the UN (subject to continued monitoring). The Popular Democratic Party (PDP) administration also holds the view that "if the Task Force and the Bush Administration stand by their 2005 conclusions (which occurred on Dec. 21, 2007), then for over 50 years the U.S. government has perpetuated a 'monumental hoax' on the people of Puerto Rico, on the people of the United States and on the international community." Governor Acevedo-Vilá, President of the governing PPD, stated that the response he received from the letter he sent to U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, casts shame on the United States.

On the other hand, the White House Task Force on Puerto Rico's Political Status in its December 21, 2007 report, argues that it is not breaking new ground. The United States Department of Justice affirmed the Commonwealth's territorial status in 1959, shortly after the enactment of Public Law 600. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that Puerto Rico remains fully subject to the authority of Congress under the Territory Clause of the U.S. Constitution (See, e.g., Harris v. Rosario, 446 U.S. 651 1980). The report also explains that the U.S. in its official written submission to the UN in 1953, never represented that Congress could not change its relationship with Puerto Rico without the territory's consent, prior to the official submission, the U.S. representative to the UN indicated orally that common consent would be needed to make changes to the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. This position is shared by the remaining two-major parties: New Progressive Party and the Puerto Rican Independence Party.