4 SOCIAL SCIENTIST by a functionary of the Department of the Interior and presented to the US Congress on 14 January. The original text provided for the creation of a Statehood Commission (named by the U S President and the colonial governor) followed by the election of a Constitutional Assembly and the incorporation of Puerto Rico as the 51st state.8 Before the law was introduced., the colonial governor found it politically expedient to recommend the provision for a new referendum on status to be held before the elections for the Constitutional Assembly. Whatever the fate of this legislation, Ford's call for a strengthening of the colonial relationship marks a turning-point in Washington's policy towards Puerto Rico of serious implications for the national liberation struggle and represents a calculated manoeuvre which can be explained by making reference to recent developments both internal and external to Puerto Rico. Ford's announcement must be placed in the context of: 1) the increasing solidarity that the Puerto Rican anti-imperialist movement has found in international forums such as the Conference of Non-Aligned Countries and the United Nations; 2) the changed political situation in the Caribbean brought about by the appearance and consolidation of anti-imperialist regimes in Panama, Jamaica and Guyana; and 3) the deepening crisis of the Puerto Rican colonial model of economic growth and the recently discovered possibilities of exploitation of Puerto Rico's mineral wealth (mainly copper and petroleum). Furthermore, the results of the Puerto Rican elections created a favourable conjuncture for an official statement on statehood. To this point we turn first. 2976' Election Results The New Progressive Party (NPP), which supports statehood;, won a considerable victory in the last elections over the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) which favours the continuation of the present colonial relationship with the few superficial changes contained in the ^New Pact." In 1968, the NPP had won a partial electoral victory which enabled it to acquire control of the governorship and the municipal government of San Juan but the PDP retained a majority in the colonial legislature as Well as many municipal governments. This time, however, the NPP reduced the PDP to a minority in the legislature and came to control 40 out of the 78 municipalities. Such results enabled Ford to make his statement against the background of an apparent electoral endorsement of statehood just two days before a party officially affiliated to the US Republican Party (the NPP developed out of the Partido Estadista Republicano) assumed colonial power in San Juan.4 These circumstances explain the timing and the immediate political rationale of Ford^s move. With regard to Puerto Rico, it satisfied the desires of the pro-imperialist leadership of the NPP (despite their protestations of opposing ^imposed" statehood) for a clear sign from Washington that they could start moving the country, in a ^now or never" attitude, towards full assimilation