Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States of America and actively participates in its government and its elections as much as any other American citizen would. The President of the territory is Barack Obama and its Vice President is Joe Biden, the same as the U.S., but the territory has a Governor who acts as the figurehead of Puerto Rico. That man is Alejandro Garcia Padilla, a member of the Democratic Party, and he was elected on January 2, 2013 (World Factbook). Even though the country is a commonwealth territory of the United States it is also recognized as a self-governing nation and even has an Olympic team separate of the U.S. team. From the To Puerto Rico webpage "Government" the territory has many of the same rights as any American citizen has but there are some stipulations to these rights, for example:
The island 's inhabitants possess all the rights and obligations of United States citizens such as paying Social Security, receiving federal welfare and serving in the armed forces, except for the right to vote in presidential …show more content…
government on assisting with the issues. "Puerto Rico is facing a $2 billion dollar bill for principal and interest payments on July 1." (QuickTake). That is just one example of how much debt they are in currently, it may not seem like much compared to what the United States debt is but for a small territory that is exempt from most taxes that is a large amount to be in debt. Since they are a commonwealth of the United States their currency is the U.S. Dollar, meaning that the debt of $2 billion is also debt that the citizens of the U.S. have to help pay for Social Security and taxes. The United States is working with its territory to the best of their ability to get them out of debt and back on their feet so they can resume with their normal economy
The island 's inhabitants possess all the rights and obligations of United States citizens such as paying Social Security, receiving federal welfare and serving in the armed forces, except for the right to vote in presidential …show more content…
government on assisting with the issues. "Puerto Rico is facing a $2 billion dollar bill for principal and interest payments on July 1." (QuickTake). That is just one example of how much debt they are in currently, it may not seem like much compared to what the United States debt is but for a small territory that is exempt from most taxes that is a large amount to be in debt. Since they are a commonwealth of the United States their currency is the U.S. Dollar, meaning that the debt of $2 billion is also debt that the citizens of the U.S. have to help pay for Social Security and taxes. The United States is working with its territory to the best of their ability to get them out of debt and back on their feet so they can resume with their normal economy