Puerto Rico Rep Appeals to U.S. Attorney General to Change Plebiscite

A member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives asked U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to change a planned referendum on Puerto Rico's status.

Puerto Rico Rep. José Varela said the approved plebiscite options fail to include some form of keeping the current "commonwealth" status.

In early February Gov. Ricardo Rossell- signed the law scheduling the referendum for June 11. As the law stands now, voters will have Puerto Rico choose either statehood or becoming an independent country. If they choose the latter option, they would vote in October on whether to maintain some form of association with the U.S. or simply to become completely independent.

Through an appropriation authorized in 2014, the federal government is to fund the plebiscite process.

The signed referendum plan "clearly violates the fundamental right of all voters in Puerto Rico since it does not provide opportunity to the hundreds of thousands of citizens who advocate for the commonwealth, [a] status that can be improved for the benefit of the islanders," Varela wrote in his letter to Sessions. Varela is a member of the Popular Democratic Party, which advocates for the current commonwealth status or something similar.

The PDP is Puerto Rico's most popular opposition party. Rossell- and a majority of the Puerto Rico House and Senate belong to the New Progressive Party, which supports statehood.

Varela wrote to Sessions, "We respectfully request that the proposed plebiscite be stayed until the commonwealth formula is included as an alternative."

Media representatives at the U.S. Department of Justice didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment.

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