American accent in the Caribbean

Shortly before I set off for my first trip to Puerto Rico, a wise old travel hand gave me his verdict: ?It?s like Cuba, but everything works.? It sounded promising. But another way of putting it might be: ?It?s like Cuba, but in a parallel political universe? or indeed, ?Cuba, if Castro were Uncle Sam?. This Caribbean isle, sandwiched between the Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic, has been a ?commonwealth? of the US since 1952, as far from Caribbean communism as could be. Indeed, in November last year, Puerto Rico voted in a referendum to become the 51st US state ? and while few actually expect this to happen in the foreseeable future, in most senses it is already American soil.

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