This is extremely misleading. The pro-status quo party boycotted the referendum. I'm relatively ignorant of the political situation in PR but it's obvious that this isn't a situation with near-universal consensus.
Re:The Media Has Neglected Puerto Rico
by dragonwriter on Monday October 02, 2017 @11:05PM
(#15389816)
The pro-status-quo groups have been actively avoiding honest participation from the 1998 vote on, because they'd rather a vote with unclear results than a clear loss (though even so, they clearly lost in 2012, though their non-participation in the “if not status quo, then what” part of that ballot was used as grounds to deny the import of the substantial win by Statehood on that ballot.)
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/337347-puerto-rico-votes-in...