The hurricane that leveled Puerto Rico last month has given fresh impetus to a decades-old argument on the island: that the U.S. territory would fare better financially as a U.S. state.
For Fermin Seda, 68, a retiree in the southern city of Salinas, there is no doubt.
"I want statehood," Seda said. "I think it would be better than what we are now."