La escasa popularidad del movimiento independentista está determinada por la relación cambiante y dinámica entre colonia y metrópoli desde 1898. La explicación de este fenómeno está en las concesiones políticas y económicas que EEUU ha hecho a las clases trabajadoras como estrategia para generar una hegemonía ideológica en las clases subalternas, debido a la importancia estratégico-militar y simbólica de la isla. Este ensayo intenta contestar esas preguntas desde una perspectiva histórico-mundial, y sugerir otras maneras de articular el problema de la descolonización a través de una mirada democrático-radical.

Why does independence enjoy so little support amongst Puerto Ricans? Why does 95% of the population favor some form of permanent relation to the United States? The reduced popularity of the independence movement needs to be understood on the basis of a dynamic and changing relation between the island and the metropolis since 1898. The explication lies in the political and economic concessions which the United States has made to the working classes of the island as part of a strategy to maintain its hegemony, adopted as a result of its strategic and symbolic importance. This essay tries to answer these questions on the basis of a global and historical vision and suggests alternative ways of exploring the de-colonization problem on the basis of a radical democratic perspective.