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Spent a month on the south side of the island last summer, working. Loved it. Would like to move there, if it became possible.

I notice a difference in the attitudes of some mainlanders towards Puerto Rico; as Fred says there is something of a xenophobic tendency that blinds some people. When I hear some of them describe the island, I find it impossible to believe we are talking about the same place. Of course, I lived in various places in Latin America over the years, and so it is very likely that I see it with different eyes. But the place is beautiful, and the people I worked with there were very first rate, very serious about their work, and I liked them. The place is modern, the infrastructure is "first-world". It is a better place to raise kids than most places I have been.

The independence movement is a tiny minority, mostly academics and students, who are about as leftist as their mainlander colleagues. The "Republicans" on the island typically want statehood, the "Democrats" want territory status. The independentistas can only get a hearing by lying to themselves, I have heard them say that it would be possible to retain US citizenship after independence, which should tell anyone how serious they are. No one has any intention of giving up their citizenship, not even the independentistas.

For the folks that want to "cut them loose", dream on. They are US citizens. They are not leaving. You can't make them leave. If you think too much federal money goes there, fine, do something about it. You will probably find that there is a reason behind every dollar.