That is totally the truth. They had one good governor (GOP) a few years ago, and everybody loved him because they finally had somebody thinking about a non-dependent economy. Things took off - and then he was defeated by the municipal unions and their SEIU bucks.
The reason most Puerto Ricans have done well in NYC (now they all live in the burbs and have usually married Irish-American women) is that, aside from the welfare class, they basically had the same principles we did. Actually, until the arrival of Marxism in the late 19th, early 20th century, all of Latin America shared the same ideals.
Puerto Ricans are very entrepreneurial and would love to be set free from idiots like the Marxist mayor. I think Trump has got to take this moment to develop Puerto Rico, which could be a great place for the US - not only fantastic beaches, which of course they have not maintained, and great food and wonderful little salsa dance bars where you can go and watch 60+ folks doing some of the most beautiful dancing I’ve seen - but possibly an offshore tax refuge that would actually funnel it back to the US.
PR got a lot of tax breaks until they had all these nutties over Vieques and kicked the US military out. They’ve got to rethink this.
One of the reasons that Ponce de Leon’s house is there is that even in the 16th century, the Spanish knew that PR was the defensive gateway to the Caribbean. The Castillo de San Felipe was used by the US during WWII, as I am sure you know!
Think of all the US dollars lost when they closed Roosevelt Roads, Fort Buchanan. Fort Allen and a few others on PR and then closing the Marine operation and Navy ammo supply area on Vieques. Those federal dollars along with all of the PR employees out of work and supporting businesses closed. Very sad.