Why Obama came to Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico has its own national flag; not clear whether the U.S. would go into or not

Puerto Rico uses the historic visit of President Obama on Tuesday - the first official visit to the island by a U.S. president in half a century - as an opportunity for change.

Precisely cosmetic changes.

The capital of the island in the Caribbean, San Juan, since a few weeks dressed.

Dimuluskan roads, public buildings dikemilaukan with new paint and welcome signs posted along the route that will be passed Obama in the five-hour visit.

But the others unchanged.

Even since before the visit of President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the top issue in Puerto Rico's political status remains the same ie the complex of this U.S. territory, which is designed like a "commonwealth" The U.S. in 1952.

Debate status
That status for some people interpreted as a limited right of U.S. citizenship for residents Perto Rico.

They pay U.S. federal taxes and the U.S. president and Congress is the supreme ruler of the island.

U.S. Flag

The desire of the people of Puerto Rico is still not clear: the U.S. want to enter or remain as it is now

However, citizens of Puerto Rico can not vote in the presidential election or have a representative in Congress.

Heated debate over whether the territory should become U.S. states that to-51, became an independent republic, or remain as a "free country and collected", has long dominated the perpolitkan on the island with a population of nearly four million people.

As said some people in San Juan, talk about this issue is the "national sport" Puerto Rico.

But when the citizens of Puerto Rico was formally asked to make decisions, eg MAGs in the referendum was in 1998, their answers are not complete. Over half the population chose "not to choose any".

So, why does Obama fly there?

Visits Hospitality
He made a campaign promise to return to the island as the president of the San Juan when he came to the island in 2008 to gain support as the Democratic nominee in the 2008 presidential election. Therefore, Puerto Ricans participate in the selection of presidential candidates at party level.

But many people in the region believe the new tour is aimed at Puerto Rico votes of people who lived in the U.S. mainland - and Hispanic voters in general. It could be that they were instrumental in Obama's bid for reelection in 2012.

"Obama approached the island's residents to indirectly reach the voters of Puerto Rico in the U.S. mainland," said Pedro Reina Perez, a professor of history at the University of Puerto Rico.

"People felt this visit was just a relationship, which has nothing to do with real policy."

This visit certainly revive the struggle for the status of Puerto Rico, said Gov. Luis Fortuno who strongly supported the movement to make the island a U.S. state.