Should Puerto Rico Become The 51st State?

There are 3.5 million U.S. citizens currently facing one of the worst financial crises in this country - and they're all in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. government has an almost 120-year-long relationship with Puerto Rico – which is a territory, not the 51st state. But what has that relationship looked like? Why is Puerto Rico still a territory, and what do Puerto Ricans, themselves, want for their future? Explore these questions – and some others – with Sana Saeed, who starts the story at the very beginning: May 12, 1898.

Learn more here:
Source. “5 Facts About Puerto Rico's Utter Economic Misery.” http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/08/news/economy/puerto-rico-bankruptcy-takeaways/

Source. “Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis Claims Another Causality: Its Schools.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/us/puerto-rico-debt-schools-close.html

Source. “The Department of Justice Throws Massive Colonial Wrench at Puerto Rico’s June 11 Plebiscite.” http://www.latinorebels.com/2017/04/13/the-department-of-justice-throws-massive-colonial-wrench-at-puerto-ricos-june-11-plebiscite/

Music tracks courtesy of APM.
Footage and images courtesy of AP, Reuters, Getty and Al Jazeera English.

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Presented by: Sana Saeed
Written by: Sana Saeed
Edited by: Brian Joseph
Animations by: Joe Corea
Illustrations by: Joe Corea
Produced by: Sana Saeed

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