Blackouts, bankruptcy, aging population, cuts in federal funding, drug-related crime, a corrupt government—these are among the top issues an island paradise called Puerto Rico faces in 2025 and beyond. It is also my home, a home that is quickly caving in.

We have become an example of bad management and indifference, but above anything else: a welfare state. More than sixty percent of Puerto Rican residents rely on government aid to survive.

We have a labor force participation rate of 43%, far lower than the U.S. average of 63%, meaning that the productive minority is paying the bills of the unproductive majority. That gap will grow significantly within the next ten years.

Population is shrinking: for every birth, two people die. The current median age is 45.8, and forty-one percent of us are over fifty years old. 

Unless an extraordinary circumstance catapults birth rates and balances the age ratio, there won’t be enough young people able to assist, let alone care, for their elders.

For many years, Puerto Ricans have been blessed with an abundance of federal aid. Even if we don’t receive an equal amount of funds as in the fifty states, Washington D.C. has been generous in moments of crisis.

However, there is great concern that the Trump administration’s budget cuts will leave the island without certain public services. Therefore, it is possible that there will be fewer funds available to balance what local taxes cannot fulfill.

We are aware of this reality, but people would rather wait for the storm to happen and act later. 

Our biggest international airport in San Juan, the U.S. Post Office, and the shipping ports are a hub to transport narcotics to the U.S. and Europe. When authorities dismantle a drug gang that operated in those sites, another one takes over, and we hear the exact same news a few years later. And while the cartels battle for territory, innocent lives are lost in the crossfire.

This war has made nightlife dangerous, and more people are turning to alcohol, often leading to reckless driving and preventable tragedies. How did we fuck up so badly?

I remember a much different Puerto Rico. I remember when we were proud of our heroes. I remember how we would organize enormous collection spots to help a country or a community in need. I remember when we used to rank among the happiest countries on Earth.

Sure, I may be nostalgic, but several values we held once made us truly great. We were known as the beacon of progress in the past century. There was a common vision to make the island a better place for its children. That vision was achieved.

After the Second World War, Puerto Rico lifted itself out of extreme poverty through education and a strong work ethic. Tourism brought millions of foreigners to enjoy memorable vacations. For half a century, we were a manufacturing hub of the U.S., until those jobs were outsourced to countries like China.

Pfizer once manufactured all of the world’s Viagra here, and Microsoft used to assemble their Windows CDs. Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson—among many other technological, pharmaceutical, textile, and food businesses provided jobs that brought capital.

And while that transformation, from an agrarian to an industrial economy took place, an entire generation born in farmland moved to the cities and became doctors, engineers, businesspeople, and respected professionals.

We also bred sports champions and artists, like baseball titan Roberto Clemente; actors Benicio Del Toro, Rita Moreno, and Raul Juliá; musicians Jose Feliciano and Ricky Martin.

The island also produced a long list of notable NASA engineers. Among them Dr. Juan R. Cruz, a key figure in developing the Mars Rover. Dr. Antonia Coello Novello, a physician who became the first woman and first Hispanic appointed as U.S. Surgeon General under President George H. W. Bush.

And if you’ve ever had dreadful cavities removed, thank Dr. Fernando Rodriguez Vargas, a Puerto Rican who discovered the bacteria that causes it.

Our now-defunct radio telescope in Arecibo, where movies like GoldenEye and Contact were filmed, was once the largest on Earth, and it discovered the first exoplanets back in 1992.

Did I mention we kicked ass during war? In 1797, Puerto Ricans alone beat Great Britain in their attempt to invade us when they had the most powerful naval fleet in the world. Yeah, we were the Caribbean Spartans.

We also served valiantly in every war the U.S. participated in since 1917, the year we became American citizens. As a result, Puerto Ricans have won a total of 9 Medals of Honor, 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 256 Silver Stars, and 596 Bronze Stars.

I could go on about all the great people who broke ground to make the world a better place, but at the same time I ask myself again: how did we fuck up this badly today?

When did we abandon that vision of a better country, and the work ethic that transformed Puerto Rico? I have my own opinion, which I’m sure will be debated and scorned, but I honestly don’t care.

Our greatest sin was believing the lies we were told for more than seventy years, and I don’t mean four-year campaign promises.

In 1952, the pro-commonwealth government of the Popular Democratic Party drafted and approved a constitution stating that we were no longer a colonial territory of the United States. Rather, a “free associated state,” whatever that means.

They attributed the island’s rapid growth to the term “free associated state” even though it never changed our legal status as a non-incorporated U.S. territory.

A majority of us believed that lie, until something happened in 1996 that gave us a bitter wakeup call. That year, we lost the tax incentives that brought manufacturing companies to the island through a federal act called Section 936.

The departure of many of these firms cut revenue, and the local government thought it was a great idea to sink us into debt to cover public expenses.

Unemployment rose significantly, and career opportunities were lost, compelling over half a million people to migrate to the United States. This group was largely composed of young, educated, and productive men and women.

In 2016, we went bankrupt, and a fiscal board was imposed by the United States government to supervise our expenses and help consolidate a debt of over seventy billion dollars.

During this crisis, the pro-statehood party saw an opportunity to draw former supporters of the pro-commonwealth status by persuading them that the only way Puerto Rico could rid itself from all its economic, social, and political woes is by achieving statehood.

Selling statehood as a messianic option was smart and cunning during times of rising desperation. All we had to do was vote in a series of democratic referendums in favor of the option that would incorporate us as the fifty-first state of the union, and that by doing so the United States would automatically respect our wishes.

The statehood option has won in the last four referendums. Has Washington D.C. validated those results?

Right now, the pro-statehood party is in full power, after successfully convincing the public that by electing them, our federal aid will be forever secured. With Trump as president, slashing the budget left and right, and completely uninterested in modifying our current territorial status, there is no certainty about anything anymore.

Almost ten years later, we have yet to climb out of bankruptcy and dissolve the fiscal board. We won’t get there unless we achieve five consecutive balanced budgets, reach a longstanding agreement with creditors, but most importantly, find something that propels economic growth without needing to rely on federal social programs as the most consistent source of income.

Somewhere at the turn of the century, Puerto Ricans preferred allowing the government to solve all of our issues, and we outsourced the best of ourselves to a corrupt, impersonal entity that cares nothing for us. This behavior is clearly reflected in the staggering amount of people that depend on public aid.

We lost our way when we dumped the values we once championed. Blaming the government, the United States, our neighbor, our families—blaming anything and anybody but ourselves—will only perpetuate the crisis.

Will we have an awakening? Will we restore the values we abandoned? Will we stop believing the lies we have been fed for so many years? If we do, I’m sure Puerto Rico would become a much different place, and a far better one, to live among one another without needing to search for a new home beyond the paradise God gave us.