On the last moments of a troubled presidency, a lame duck president triggers what would become the end of the American presence in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Unknown to the Americans, Puerto Rico has become oil-rich: it is sitting on oil reserves that dwarf the oil fields of Saudi Arabia and Alaska. For the first time in 100 years, the United States does not control strategic access to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. To make things worse, the democratically elected leader of the Republic of Puerto Rico is proving to be a worthy adversary in the international politics arena and an amazing economics powerhouse. The full text of this version is available as as free PDF or text file.