The USA and the Problem of Political Identity of Puerto Rico at Present Time

This paper studies the problem of Political Identety of Puerto Rico. After 1898 Puerto-Rico became a dependent territory of the USA, since 1952 the status of the island was an unincorporated territory of the United States and has not ever changed, but this status does not satisfy Puerto Ricans. In 2012 Puerto Ricans held the Referendum on self-identity and voted for the becoming the new State of the United States of America. However, the US authorities did not recognize the results of the plebiscite, but they initiated a new referendum. In this paper, the author analyzes the post-referendum situation in the Puerto Rico, the attitude of Puerto Ricans to the Puerto Rico entering into the United States, the 2016 Governers elections in Puerto Rico and the future Status Referendum. Also, he considers the current economic situation of the island and the desire of the US establishment to accept future Puerto Rico’s entering request. To fulfill the study’s gap and to clearly understand the situation on the Island mixed research methods are used in this study. Finally, the author explores the success of new Political Status' referendum in Puerto Rico and the real prospects for changing Puerto Rico’s political status in the near future.