[rivaridger1]

Puerto Rico is an economic basket case and the hurricane last year devastated its infrastructure. While some of the islands damage has been repaired there remains lots to do. The American Virgin islands remind me of the third world with a monied elite of less then 1% of the population owning everything and the rest of the folks living in poverty. In my opinion Puerto Rico couldn't make it as an independent country and is never for political reasons going to become a US state. It would never be allowed to have two US senators. The people in all these Caribbean Islands are US citizens and need to have more say about their future. I have no idea if the Florida constitution allows for territorial expansion, but if it does, how would you feel about the annexation of all of the US islands in the Caribbean by Florida, presuming the populations of these islands agree, and the establishment of the State of Florida and the Caribbean ? I can think of many pluses and minuses but am curious as to what you think. Governor Scott paid more attention to the Puerto Rican hurricane calamity then any other politician that comes to mind.

[tophcfa]

Interesting thread, I am both concerned and disheartened by what the residents of the USVI and Puerto Rico have had to endure. We have a deep bond with the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John. Over many many years and vacations my wife and I have spent close to a year of our lives on the Island of St. John staying at the now closed Maho Bay Camp. It was not camping in a tent on the ground, but rather a permanent structure built with pressure treated two by four framing and canvas on a solid platform on the side of a hill overlooking paradise. To our death bed it will probably be our favorite place on the planet earth. St. John is such a small and welcoming island and the off the beating path parts of the island are so beautiful and unique no one can even comprehend it unless they go there and experience it for themselves. St. John was absolutely devastated by last years dual hurricanes, as was as St. Thomas and Puerto Rico. So sad! Unfortunately for St. John, the least populated USVI, it has fallen to the bottom of the peeking order for assistance and is slow to recover from the devastation.

As far as having Puerto Rico and the 3 USVI's becoming part of Florida, interesting but I doubt it would be a political possibility. Imagine the fight for this? Florida is the largest swing state politically in the USA. The addition of the Caribbean to Florida as a voting state would swing Florida blue big time.

[ColdNoMore]

Barely half of American's even know that Puerto Rican's (and USVI residents)...are actually American citizens.

Facts about Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands | The Weather Channel

As stated in the above posts, there is a faction that would be totally against giving them a voice...by giving them the ability to vote in national elections.

[l2ridehd]

I have spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico and the USVI. I kept my sailboat in PR at Marina Puerto Del Rey. Largest marina in the Eastern Hemisphere. The islands problem is mostly self inflicted. 60% of the working population works for some government entity. Not a sustainable model. The majority of the population does not want to work and it's impossible to get things done. Nobody shows up for work on time.

Examples. You go to a store or restaurant that has posted hours of opening at 8:00 AM. Your lucky if folks show up by 8:30. And that includes places like Sears and Walmart. In order to get work done on my boat I had to always pay cash under the table. If you didn't it would take months for very simple things.

So IMHO there needs to be a significant change in their work ethic, a change in their government employment model, and I don't see how those things happen without some major overhaul.

There is a reason why they had so much infrastructure damage during the hurricane. It is because they have spent no money on it for the past 30 years because all money went to paying people on the government payroll. It was terrible long before the hurricane. And the main reason why the storm did so much damage.

Another major problem is corruption. In the marina which had 1200 wet slips and over 5000 dry slips, there was $100's of millions of dollars of yachts. Mostly owned by local people who had found a way to rip off the government. These boats were bought to hide cash. So they also have a huge problem of the 1% haves and the 99% of the have not's.

I am afraid PR has lots of problems that need to be fixed. But most of them are self inflicted by greed and lack of work ethic. So I would never support them becoming part of Florida or a US state until somehow the mess is cleaned up.

I finally gave up and sold my boat mainly because it was so hard to get even minor things done there. So every time I went down to sail I spent half my time doing the work myself because it was impossible to hire it done. There were a few exceptions with very small operator owned businesses where you dealt directly with the owner and they were the one's doing the work. Again it was a pay by cash arrangement. And most of them were working to get out of the country. Their biggest business issue? Couldn't hire good help. I heard that over and over. You had to wait until they could do the work themselves.














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[Carla B]

The culture of greed and corruption is not unique to Puerto Rico; it can be found throughout Latin America, including South America, and has existed for centuries. I agree with I2ridehd.

[Tom C]

I2RideHD I found the same in Mexico (away from the tourist places, authentic Mexico. I thought we would find different, but no). We had a place there, but no more.