US Needs Puerto Rico... For More Intervention?
A recent opinion piece in The Hill proposes Puerto Rican statehood as vital for U.S. interventionist policy, specifically citing a need for 'closer proximity' and 'greater legitimacy' for potential military action in Venezuela. This isn't about empowering two million U.S. citizens; it's about projecting power. For decades, the island has served as a strategic military outpost, from the Roosevelt
Roads Naval Station to its continued use for training and logistics, often at the expense of local communities and without true political representation. (Think Bay of Pigs, but closer to home.) One might wonder if the 'self-determination' touted by the authors is just a euphemism for securing better staging grounds, rather than genuine autonomy. Is the U.S. now so desperate to justify its foreign
policy adventures it needs to involuntarily annex populations for 'legitimacy'? It makes you think.