{"id":441252,"date":"2011-06-14T22:32:24","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T22:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/"},"modified":"2011-06-14T22:32:24","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T22:32:24","slug":"obama-offers-puerto-rico-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama offers Puerto Rico support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"93.3688380282\"><span><span>14 June 2011<\/span> <span>Last updated at<\/span> <span>18:32 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div readability=\"32\">\n<div>\n<div readability=\"7\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"holding\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/53406000\/jpg\/_53406096_012219590-1.jpg\" alt=\"President Obama\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.<\/strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>President Obama: &#8220;We&#8217;re giving Puerto Ricans the tools they need to build their own future&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>US President Barack Obama has made a rare visit to Puerto Rico, marking the first official trip to the island by a sitting US president since 1961.<\/p>\n<p>He backed a referendum on the island&#8217;s status, saying he would support any choice the Puerto Rican people made.<\/p>\n<p>The 3.7 million residents of the US Caribbean territory are US citizens but cannot vote for the president.<\/p>\n<p>The visit is being seen by some as an indirect bid for Puerto Rican votes in the swing state of Florida in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Obama attended a Democratic National Committee event during his visit.<\/p>\n<p>The president last visited the island in 2008 during his campaign for the Democratic nomination, promising to return if elected president.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Although my hair is a little greyer than during my first visit, I am glad to be able to keep that promise to the people of Puerto Rico,&#8221; Mr Obama said as he greeted a crowd gathered in an aircraft hanger.<\/p>\n<p>As well as a behind-closed-doors Democratic fundraiser, Mr Obama met Puerto Rico&#8217;s governor on Tuesday to discuss the political status of the territory.<\/p>\n<p>In brief remarks before the meeting, Mr Obama told the crowd that when Puerto Rico had made a &#8220;clear decision&#8221; on their future political status, &#8220;my administration will stand by you&#8221;.<\/p>\n<div readability=\"31.1090573013\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-13766781#story_continues_2\">Continue reading the main story<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Puerto Rico&#8217;s political status<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Acquired by the US from Spain in 1898 after the Spanish-American War<\/li>\n<li>Residents are US citizens subject to federal law, and serve in the US military<\/li>\n<li>Residents vote in political party presidential primary elections but not in the general election<\/li>\n<li>Represented in the US House by a commissioner who lacks full voting rights<\/li>\n<li>More ethnic Puerto Ricans live in the US (4.6 million) than in the territory (3.7 million)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sources: Congressional Research Service, Pew Hispanic Center report<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The island territory has voted three times &#8211; in 1967, 1993 and 1998 &#8211; not to seek statehood or independence.<\/p>\n<p>The Obama administration has asked Puerto Rico to hold two referendums, the first on whether the territory should be independent or part of the US.<\/p>\n<p>A second referendum would then ask Puerto Ricans if they would prefer the island to be independent, a US state, a free association or a commonwealth.<\/p>\n<p><span>Targeting voters<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Mr Obama also spoke briefly about the impact the economic crisis had on Puerto Rico, saying Puerto Ricans and Americans on the mainland shared the same concerns about the economy.<\/p>\n<p>The BBC&#8217;s Julian Miglierini in San Juan says many people there believe the visit is aimed at courting mainland America&#8217;s Puerto Rican electorate &#8211; and Hispanic voters in general &#8211; as they could hold the key to Mr Obama&#8217;s re-election in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>The president has called for broad reform of the US immigration system, an issue affecting many Hispanics with ties to the 11 million US illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, roughly 20 pro-independence demonstrators held an all-night vigil in San Juan ahead of the president&#8217;s visit, calling for the release of three Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned in the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Originally posted here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/go\/rss\/int\/news\/-\/news\/world-us-canada-13766781\" title=\"Obama offers Puerto Rico support\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Obama offers Puerto Rico support<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> 14 June 2011 Last updated at 18:32 ET Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. President Obama: &#8220;We&#8217;re giving Puerto Ricans the tools they need to build their own future&#8221; US President Barack Obama has made a rare visit to Puerto Rico, marking the first official trip to the island by a sitting US president since 1961. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":441254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-441252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Obama offers Puerto Rico support - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Obama offers Puerto Rico support - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"14 June 2011 Last updated at 18:32 ET Please turn on JavaScript. 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President Obama: &quot;We&#039;re giving Puerto Ricans the tools they need to build their own future&quot; US President Barack Obama has made a rare visit to Puerto Rico, marking the first official trip to the island by a sitting US president since 1961.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Obama offers Puerto Rico support\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-14T22:32:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/\"},\"wordCount\":540,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Entertainment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/\",\"name\":\"Obama offers Puerto Rico support - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-14T22:32:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama offers Puerto Rico support - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/14\/obama-offers-puerto-rico-support\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Obama offers Puerto Rico support - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"14 June 2011 Last updated at 18:32 ET Please turn on JavaScript. 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