This week in the Puerto Rico Report...

• More than 29% of the people born in Puerto Rico still alive had left the territory for the States as of two years ago, according to U.S. Census data.https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=03b34337e6&e=2f8520d327
• Almost 63,000 jobs will have to be created in Puerto Rico over the next 13 months for Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla to fulfill his pledge to create 50,000 jobs in 18 months. https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=51d5139ed1&e=2f8520d327
• The United Nations committee on ‘decolonization’ unanimously called upon the United States for a process to replace Puerto Rico’s territory status with U.S. statehood or nationhood, whichever may be chosen by the people of the islands. https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=1afb24bda5&e=2f8520d327
• Biotech giant Monsanto refused to send a representative to testify at a Puerto Rico Senate hearing on the subject of developing and selling seeds. The Puerto Rico Senate Agriculture Committee met last week to create a Seed Board which will determine the policies governing these important matters.https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=fde8b09f73&e=2f8520d327
•  Puerto Rico is often called a "commonwealth" of the United States. Sometimes it is called a territory, and in certain laws it is referred to as a possession of the U.S. Which is it? And what is a "commonwealth" anyway?https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=84c16480c7&e=2f8520d327
• The staff of the U.S. Senate committee with jurisdiction over taxes has included limiting subsidies that Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands can give producers of rum as a possible provision for a reform of the Federal tax system.https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=345646c081&e=2f8520d327
• First Lady Michelle Obama’s new communications director is Puerto Rican Maria Cristina “MC” Gonzalez Noguera. Gonzalez Noguera will also serve as special assistant to President Obama. https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=cbb05b49ab&e=2f8520d327
• Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla asserted that Puerto Rico is a "nation.” The governor made the claim in rejecting equality for Puerto Rico within the U.S.https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=8993646835&e=2f8520d327 

• The Fiscal Year 2014 budget proposed by U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) would cut Federal healthcare funding for low and middle income individuals living in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories while just eliminating increases for healthcare assistance in the States and the District of Columbia. https://puertoricoreport.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9a8967c21c5bc76ae60a575b9&id=45d11875d8&e=2f8520d327