U.S. Letter to the UN Removing Puerto Rico from Decolonization List (1953)

On March 20, 1953, U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations formally notifying the UN that the United States would no longer transmit information about Puerto Rico under Article 73(e) of the UN Charter — effectively removing Puerto Rico from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

The letter argued that the establishment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952 constituted an act of self-determination, and that Puerto Rico had achieved "a mutually agreed association" with the United States.

Key Claims:
- Puerto Rico had exercised self-determination through the approval of Public Law 600 and the adoption of its own constitution
- The relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States was now one of "mutual consent" based on a "compact"
- Puerto Rico had achieved sufficient self-governance to no longer be classified as a Non-Self-Governing Territory

The UN Vote: On November 27, 1953, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 748 (VIII), accepting the U.S. position by a vote of 26-16, with 18 abstentions. Many nations expressed skepticism; the resolution passed with less than a majority of UN member states voting in favor.

Why This Matters:
- The Supreme Court of the United States itself contradicted the claims in this letter when it ruled in Puerto Rico v. Sánchez Valle (2016) that Puerto Rico does NOT possess independent sovereignty and that its authority derives from Congress
- The UN Special Committee on Decolonization has repeatedly called on the United States to allow Puerto Rico to exercise genuine self-determination — passing dozens of resolutions since 1972
- The letter represents one of the most consequential diplomatic deceptions in modern colonial history: the United States told the world that Puerto Rico was self-governing while maintaining plenary congressional authority over the territory

The 1953 letter remains the legal foundation of the U.S. position that Puerto Rico is not a colony — a position that the Supreme Court effectively repudiated 63 years later.