Speaking on background, a State Department spokesperson said that because Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, the federal government is responsible for the foreign relations of Puerto Rico, including decisions related to its membership or other participation in international organizations.

The State Department coordinates actively with the government of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico on these questions, the spokesperson said.

The issue was raised this week as Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and Cuba President Raul Castro proposed Puerto Rico’s membership in the Community of Latin American & Caribbean States (CELAC) during the regional bloc’s summit in Havana.

The 33-nation CELAC includes every country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States, or OAS, it has Cuba as a full member and excludes the U.S. and Canada.

Puerto Rico officials, meanwhile, have said that joining CELAC isn’t on an agenda that includes boosting trade ties with countries across Latin America.

“We are evaluating different organizations and entities,” Javier González, assistant secretary of Puerto Rico’s State Department, said earlier this month. “CELAC is not one of those involved in this process.”

Maduro has also said he will push Puerto Rico’s inclusion in Petrocaribe during the regional bloc’s next meeting.

Puerto Rico officials have not explicitly shut the door on joining Petrocaribe and previous administrations have explored potential membership in the alliance that many Caribbean states have with Venezuela to buy oil on preferential terms. Former PDP Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá opened talks with Venezuala in 2005 to buy cut-rate diesel from the South American country as prices for barrels and at the pump soared.

CARIBBEAN BUSINESS calls for comment from the Puerto Rico State Department were not immediately successful on Thursday.

Although it is Venezuela’s biggest oil customer, the U.S. is also shut out from Petrocaribe, which was launched by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who used Venezuela’s oil wealth to aid allies through the part-ideological, part-humanitarian program. Heads of state of Petrocaribe nations agreed last summer to promote a regional economic bloc to increase the flow of food and services among member nations.

Benefits to Cuba and more than a dozen other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have reached into the billions of dollars from the Petrocaribe pact that was created in 2005 with the goal of unifying the regional oil industry under Venezuelan leadership and countering U.S. influence.

Railing against “colonialism,” Maduro reiterated during the Havana summit on Wednesday his frequent calls for an independent Puerto Rico to get on the “path” to Latin America.

“Venezuela has come to Havana with its proposals and contributions, which is to declare the region free of colonies and invite Puerto Rico to formally join the family,” Maduro said.

Castro, meanwhile, called for an independent Puerto Rico and the end of the 52-year-old U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

The State Department spokesperson reiterated President Barack Obama’s full support for Puerto Rico’s right to self-determination.

Puerto Ricans have voted on their political status four times — 1967, 1993, 1998 and 2012 — with support for independence in these plebiscites ranging from 0.6 percent to nearly 5.5 percent.

While independence is clearly not on the agenda for the pro-commonwealth administration of Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, inclusion in CELAC could fit a push for greater autonomy from within his Popular Democratic Party. Playing a part in Petrocaribe, meanwhile, could help drive down sky-high energy costs on an island that is still heavily reliant on oil for power production.

Pro-commonwealth leaders from the PDP have periodically floated proposals for the island to participate as a separate entity in international organizations of which the U.S. is already is a member. Pro-statehood lawmakers from Puerto Rico’s New Progressive Party have traditionally criticized such bids to expand the island government’s diplomatic aspirations to move beyond “observer” status.

Puerto Rico’s potential for full-fledged membership in international entities like CELAC, the Organization of American States (OAS), the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) or the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) bumps up against U.S. State Department policy that treats the island as a U.S. territory in such forums.

The U.S. State Department has previously given the green-light to Puerto Rico’s active participation in limited international forums.

In 1990, the U.S. granted Puerto Rico permission to participate in the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC ), a U.N. regional organization for economic development. The Puerto Rico tack followed a course established for the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1984, which allowed that territory to participate in economic and social panels leading to bilateral agreements and financial benefits.

Any attempt by Puerto Rico to join CELAC would likely face opposition from the federal government, which has taken a wait-and-see approach to gauge what direction the group takes. Some members — notably Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua — have touted the bloc as a bulwark against the economic and political power of the U.S. in the region. Other Latin American leaders, including the presidents of Colombia and Mexico, say they see CELAC as a forum to build closer economic and political relations across the region, but not as a platform for challenging U.S. policies.

Chávez, an outspoken U.S. foe who succumbed to cancer last March, was a driving force behind CELAC’s creation in 2011. It was conceived as an alternative to the Washington-based Organization of American States, which suspended Cuba’s membership in 1962 shortly after Fidel Castro’s revolution.

Proponents argued the OAS has historically served Washington’s interests rather than those of the region, and even Latin American allies of the United States have participated enthusiastically in CELAC.

U.S. officials will gather with leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean on the important issues facing the hemisphere at the Summit of the Americas in Panama next year.

The State Department spokesperson told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS that Washington maintains strong partnerships in the Americas based on U.S. efforts to promote a hemisphere that is “middle class, democratic and secure.”

Participation in sub-regional bodies aim to strengthen the inter-American system by fostering regional cooperation to promote democratic institutions, citizen security, shared prosperity and respect for human rights, the State Department official said.

Rubén Berríos Martínez.Foto: Inter News Service

Rubén Berríos celebra declaración de Celac sobre Puerto Rico