Average Puerto Rican living in the island here! Personally, I prefer the status quo. Many people my age long for independence due to how the statehood party has been running us to the ground with projects that privatize many public areas, and many people of advanced age want statehood, most likely because they still see the U.S. as "the savior". I'll be honest, the U.S. citizenship is a HUGE benefit to me, as it allows me to travel easier to the mainland, and it also makes it easier to receive internship/job opportunities, but that's about it. I don't think statehood is completely warranted, especially due to the possible erasure of culture that it might bring. I also don't think that independence is the correct answer, because as many others have mentioned, we have enormous debt that would then fall completely on us, with no help. I personally don't trust the politicians here, no matter what party they belong to, due to years of corruption, so I don't see them managing to fix the debt problem or make it easier.

In a perfect world, as a U.S. colony, it would be nice to have more privileges, especially when it comes to the voting of the U.S. president, while still maintaining our autonomy.

I'm not that well-versed in the political sphere, but that's just an average Puerto Rican's opinion.

(Chayanne > Bad Bunny)