Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico is the official name in Spanish of the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. Its literal translation is ''"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"''. The official name was suggested by its architect Luis Muñoz Marín and adopted by a constitutional assembly on 25 July 1952.

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

is an

unincorporated territory Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The various American territories differ from the U.S. states and tribal reservations as they are not sover ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. Some authorities have stated that the official name ''Estado Libre Asociado'' constitutes a

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

, that is, a term intended to give positive appearances to negative events or even mislead entirely, and have charged that the official name in English of "Commonwealth" constitutes a

fig leaf The expression "fig leaf" is widely used figuratively to convey the covering up of an act or an object that is embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance, a metaphorical reference to the Biblical Book of Genesis in which ...

, i.e., a term used figuratively and associated with the covering up of an act that is actually embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance. Puerto Rico remains a territory of the United States, exercising substantial internal self-government, but subordinated to the U.S. Constitution in areas such as foreign affairs or defense. For this reason, it is not considered to be a full-fledged associated state under either international or U.S. domestic law.''The Constitutionality of Decolonization by Associated Statehood: Puerto Rico's Legal Status Reconsidered.''
Gary Lawson and Robert D. Sloane. Boston University School of Law. Working Paper Number 09-11. 3 August 2009
Archived
on 18 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine.

References

Politics of Puerto Rico Political organizations based in Puerto Rico Political history of Puerto Rico {{Puerto Rico stub