Puerto Rico’s future is looking brighter

IT LOOKED LIKE Independence Day in America: dozens of flags with stars and stripes, carried by people marching past banks and fast-food restaurants. But on closer inspection, those flags had an extra star. On March 2nd, celebrating the day 105 years ago when Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship, Víctor Parés hoped to rally support for statehood. “It’s up to our generation to finish what started with the Jones[-Shafroth] Act in 1917,” said Mr Parés, a politician leading the procession in San Juan, the capital. Only a few passers-by seemed interested. The dark traffic lights dangling above them, a casualty of the island’s recurrent power cuts, were a reminder of more humdrum concerns.