March 10, 2025

In recent days, a group of Puerto Rican independence activists published a draft executive order that they believe President Trump could use to grant Puerto Rico independence.

We believe it is essential to continue demanding decolonization and independence for Puerto Rico, no matter who the U.S. president is or which party controls Congress.

We also believe that any effort to change Puerto Rico’s status should ideally be inclusive, democratic, and led by the Puerto Rican people. But these are not ideal times in American politics, and the United States has refused to engage in a serious and binding decolonization process for 126 years. It continues to ignore and reject calls for statehood.

Supporters of statehood, or of the status quo, would prefer to ignore these political realities while Puerto Rico languishes as a colony. But we cannot afford to follow their lead and do nothing while the U.S. government continues to neglect Puerto Rico’s status.

Unilateral action by a U.S. president who does not have the best interest of Puerto Ricans at heart may be a bad outcome. But Puerto Rico remaining a U.S. colony is even worse.

Whether President Trump takes action on Puerto Rico or not, we hope that this moment serves as a wake-up call. The fact that Trump could do whatever he wants with Puerto Rico is a symptom of our colonial disease. Only independence would prevent Puerto Rico from being at the mercy of any U.S. president, and that is the right path for Puerto Rico no matter who supports it or why.