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BIRTH OF THE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Since 1945, Luis Muftoz Marin had argued that the status issue should be resolved in a special election or plebiscite.But during the electoralcampaign of 1948, in which he was to be elected governor for the first of four terms, he put this idea aside. He now asked voters to endorse a new status through their vote for the Partido Popular Democratico in the regular elections. Specifically, Muftoz Marin proposed to ask the U.S.Congress to allow Puerto Rico to adopt its own constitution.1 The result of this processwas the creation of the Estado Libre Asociado (ELA), or, as the term is officially translated, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The nature of the ELAhas been in debate since its inception. This chapter covers its birth as well as the reactions that its creation elicited from its opponents, which ranged from forceful written critiques to the Nationalist insurrection of October 1950 and the heated debates at the United Nations in 1953. To conclude, we summarize some recent developments regarding the constitutional definition of the arrangement created in 1950-52. The creation of the ELAwas shaped by the actions of several actors and their different agendas. Muftoz Marin and Antonio Fernos sought to finesse theU.S. Congress into relinquishing its plenary power over Puerto Ricowhile avoiding anyconfrontation with any sector of the Washington establishment. They thus sought to minimize the reach of the proposed reforms in the hope of making them more palatable to the Department of the Interior functionaries and congressmen opposed to any weakening of U.S. claims overPuerto Rico.Meanwhile , they privately hoped that the courts would eventually certify that as a result of the new arrangement, Puerto Rico was no longer a territory of the United States.2 The U.S. State Department, on the other hand, looked favorably upon legislation that would allow the United States to argue Puerto Rico was no longer a colony while not reducing its ultimate rights over the island. While Washington wished to get the new arrangement certified by the United Nations as noncolonial, Muftoz Marin hoped to extract a noncolonial status from Congress without it realizing it. Both positions stood to benefit from a 8 vague definition of Puerto Rico's territorial or nonterritorial status in the proposed legislation. In the end, as some of Muftoz Marin's close collaborators would eventually admit, the State Department was far more successful than the PPDleaders in furthering its agenda. While the former was, at least until the late 19603, able to present the ELAinternationally as a noncolonial status, the PPD'S unwillingness to demand a clear definition of the new relation ensured its ambiguous, limited, and static nature. The elaboration of the new arrangement was largely the work of Fernos, the PPD'S resident commissioner since 1946. He had replacedJesus T Piftero, who had in turn been appointed governor. Fernos and Senator Joseph O'Mahoney (D-Wyo.) introduced the corresponding bills in March 1950. They eventually became Public Law 600 signed by President Truman on July 3, 1950.3 The process instituted by P.L.600 can be briefly summarized. Puerto Rico residents would vote to accept or reject the terms of P.L. 600. If they voted in favor, they would elect a constitutional assembly, which would draft a constitution for Puerto Rico.This constitution would be submitted to Puerto Rico's voters for ratification. If ratified, it would be sent to the president for transmittal to Congress, which would certify that it complied with several dispositions included in P.L.600. The most important specificationestablished that the constitution was to deal only with the structure of the insular government, not with any aspect of the relation with the United States. Once certified by Congress , the constitution would come into effect, and the insular government would be reorganized under its dispositions. Regarding the continuity of U.S. federal jurisdiction in Puerto Rico under P.L. 600, there was—and there is—little dispute. The text of P.L. 600 is quite explicit on this. All the existing prerogativesof the U.S.federal government in Puerto Rico remained unchanged. Federal legislation, not explicitly made inapplicable by Congress, would apply in the island, and federal courts would continue to operate in Puerto Rico. In fact, all the features pertaining to the relation between Puerto Rico and the United States in the Jones Act of 1917 (renamed the Federal Relations Act)were demarcated by Congress asoff-limits...

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