Born in [an unincorporated territory of] the USA
This is the question people ask me the most when I talk about my origins. The answer is complicated. It’s hard to admit that the place I call home is a piece of land that is not a country, not a state, but something in-between; an unincorporated territory of the United States of America.
Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of US since 1952. We call it a “free associated state”, but it is basically a territory that belongs to, but it's not part of the United States. Puertoricans are not considered Americans, but they are US citizens since birth. The island, with almost 4 million US citizens, has only one member in the US Congress, but he cannot vote for legislations on the House floor. Boricuas (as we call ourselves) cannot vote for the President of the United States unless they live in the States, but they can vote in the Presidential Primaries while living in the island (Here’s a picture of President Obama campaigning in Puerto Rico in 2008).
During the last sixty years, the majority of Puertoricans have been comfortable with this political status. The Popular Democratic Party (PPD) still supports it, while the New Progressive Party wants the island to be the 51st state. There are smaller movements supporting the independence and other similar political ideologies, but the ones mentioned above are only two which are widely supported.
There have been four status referenda in Puerto Rico in the last 60 years. The most recent one, only a month ago, marked the first time in which the majority of the electorate (958,915 or 54%) voted against the actual commonwealth. That same day, the pro-statehood party lost the general elections to the party that supports the current territorial status. Now please go back and read those last two sentences again. They are the perfect summary of what Puertorican politics are.
After explaining this mess to whoever ask what exactly is Puerto Rico? they always follow up with asking which political status do you prefer? This is another complicated question that deserves a whole article in this collection. In short: my heart would love to see Puerto Rico as an independent country, capable to protect its roots, able to develop its culture and free to choose its own destiny. On the other hand, my mind thinks my heart is crazy, that Puerto Rico's safest option is to try to succeed with full support from the most powerful nation on earth. Yes, there are many uncertainties and conflicts between my head and my heart, but there is something I know for sure: the answer to what exactly is Puerto Rico? cannot be this complicated.