I almost agree with you, Mario, but what I would have added is that the overriding reason that so many former Spanish colonies are “corrupt, mismanaged, and rife with nepotism” is that they switched masters, starting with that self-serving document, issued in 1823 – the Monroe Doctrine. That rag gav the USA carta blanca to meddle, undermine, and prop up puppet dictarships tailored to meet its imperial goals. The men who danced to the master’s string-pulling were only too happy to keep their people uneducated, poverty-stricken and fearful of making decisions that reflected the welfare and social needs of the hemisphere. The strategy employed by the USA was very clear; take some time to read it with the unjaundiced eye who would think globally and not politically. In Puerto Rico, the USA took up where the Spanish left off, with the exception that when they invaded, the Spanish had already begun to give PR autonomy – the USA took that away with cannon-fire. Politicians, many with their own personal agendas, not unlike politicians everywhere, including the US, carefully orchestrated a program of repression (see masacre de Ponce – 1937). Post WW II and the cold war was perfet to instill the fear of communism – that never happened, but politicos who have nothing else to say, still parade that one around. Smaller countries in the Caribbean have been successfully independent and found that their best resource is their people and their tropical location, bringing sorely needed revenue from Canada (Cuba), Europe, and even the Far East. That a level of insecurity has been had-wired into the PR psyche is self-evident in the over-blown and non-existent monsters that the PR elite and their political henchmen – sometimes one and the same, have force-fed the hoi polloi. I DO agree with you that it’s time for the PEOPLE to make a decision, but ultimately the congress of the US may have to see the writing on the wall and let PR make it on its own; not severe ties, but to have the same partnerships that it has with countries the world over. People should run their own homes as they see fit, and PR is not the United States’ home. An island with 4.7 milion people who identify linguistically, and culturally with Latin America and Spain are not good candidates to be citizens of the US. Independence would bring a mass wave of people who, already being American citiens, will opt to live in the US. That will rid PR of a huge amount of people inured to the largesse of the social system, and that will actually help PR – the island is over-crowded. It will also be an invitation to those who have been welcomed to PR, only to turn around and meddle in its internal affairs, to the detriment of Puertorriqueños .BUT, as long as the CORRUPT politicians keep feeding the lower end of society, bread, wine & circus; it’ll be a long and arduous road to independence. It may require and entire generation of cowards to die before a young, questioning generation ask; “Why are we in this no-win limbo?” The social awakening that is gripping Latin America can be a catalyst for change in Latin American countries such as Puerto Rico, Haiti and Colombia. Lastly, revolutions and revolutionary thinkers have always been labeled as “clowns” and worse. History has proved the nay-sayers wrong.

“The main reason that Cuba is not a state as I write this is because a preponderance of legislators at the time, did not want to admit into the Union a state that was going to be both Spanish speaking, catholic, and Latino; Heaven forbid, it would have done the United States so much good.”

I would offer that the 1903 Platt Amendment to the Cuban constitution was all that the US needed to keep Cuban governments working in its interests, and that another reason why Puerto Rico found itself in the predicament of not being able to win its independence from the US was twofold.
Cuba is geografically close to the United States and Puerto Rico was strategically located during an era when nations fought naval battles, to Panama, where in 1903 the United States had already armed insurgents to fight against the Colombian government, so that the US could begin its plans for the canal. Puerto Rico is only 500 miles from Caracas, so an American fleet could be in Cartagena in very little time. Also, and this is only speculation; by sheer numbers, Cuba had more of an elite class and business base than Puerto Rico – again this is only about numbers. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that those same Cubans would have been successful in agitating against incorporation into the US. Many of them had, in Partnership with Puerto Rican patriots, lobbyied the Spanish for more autonomy, and their hope was that with intervention from Venezuela and Colombia, they could achieve independence from Spain for both Cuba & Puerto Rico.
It all goes back to which island was easier to dominate with the smallest military buildup – Puerto Rico got the dirty end of the deal.
The Foraker Act of 1900 and the Jones Act of 1917 was thrust upon the people of Puerto Rico, it didn’t come about thru universal suffrage. That’s history.
Fast-forward to the late 20th century, and you have a society that is economically dependent on the US to the extent that its manufacturing base and infrastructure is quickly losing business to other nations. The politicians peddle this as one more reason that the Puerto Rican people are “incapable” of going it alone in the global community – people who think only with their stomachs aren’t going to make rational judgements based on what is good for the group; they’re going to think only of themselves – divide and conquer. It worked for Julio César and it still works for Puerto Rican politicians with personal agendas. It works like a charm everywhere, including the USA and Puerto Rico.
The people are left to their own internal dilemma; provide for their immediate needs, or make sacrifices for the greater good.
The people are no different than others in Latin America who been the victims of lies and manipulations. The indigenous majority of Bolivia were kept subservient to the white minority – brainwashed to think that they weren’t up to the responsability of self-determination.
Those thousands who cross into the USA that you refer to are doing it not because they hate El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua, but because they’ve been foiled at every turn by meddlers and their enablers, traitors if you will, to the destinys of their own countrymen.
Puerto Rico hasn’t had the political upheavals of Rep. Dominicana, Cuba, Guatemala, etc., but five centuries of colonialism doesn’t have to culminate in statehood. As I stated before, it may solve the here and now, but that would only be a political expedient.

Tito happens to forget that many Puerto Ricans were killed in the Lod Massacere Airport by memebers of this “resistance”.

Tito, mi hermano, abre tus ojos. You are defending a people that seeks the annhilation of another. Hypcrisy goes far ah? Thats why me as a Boricua, even Lareno at that, Independentista decided to come to Israel and serve in the IDF. I wish I had been the one to arrest you.