I don't think states can go bankrupt and help from Feds. PR somehow needs to get the finances back together. It can be done as states actually have done this. Democratic Party in PR is the only party and the party never fails.

If we free her, as any reasonable and compassionate country would, then all of her problems will be gone.

including as recently as 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_status_referendum,_2012

If anything, they might want to become a state, and as a state, would still not receive bankruptcy protection.

If independent, Puerto Ricans would additionally no longer receive US federal benefits, nor be allowed free travel and work in the USA as citizens (they already don't pay US federal income taxes).

Lastly, note that there's also no such thing as "international bankruptcy." If Puerto Rico were its own country, if it repudiated its debt, such debt still wouldn't really go away. More importantly, they also still wouldn't have enough money for basic services and would be totally excluded from lending markets.

During the current fiscal crisis, independence is probably the absolutely worst option for the actual inhabitants of Puerto Rico.

As it stands now, PR is crushed by being attached to the US. Look at her condition now? Are you saying this is their fault?

If Puerto Rico printed its own currency, it would be worthless given its current economic condition and productivity. Simply, it would need to borrow money to provide essential services, and Puerto Rican sovereign bonds would be worthless and/or impractical (i.e., the interest rate would be astronomical due to risk). More importantly, Puerto Rican pesos/dollars/xxx would have no purchasing power for needed imports.

Further, Puerto Rico still receives a great deal of indispensable federal funding as a territory, all of which would disappear if they were no longer part of America. Similarly, the people of Puerto Rico wouldn't be able to freely travel and work (i.e., escape) to the USA to improve their economic conditions (and likely why the vast majority want to remain Americans).

Printing money is not some panacea unless a country is truly self-sufficient and doesn't need or want imports, and independence, no less against the wishes of the citizens of Puerto Rico, would most definitely not solve their very serious economic problems.

As to whether the territory's plight is their fault, to the extent relevant, the democratically elected leadership of Puerto Rico over the course of generations most certainly made some terrible economic choices, and thus Puerto Rico is, at the very least, partially if not mostly, responsible for their own predicament.

Note also that Puerto Rico is not currently being treated any differently that would actual states, who also cannot benefit from bankruptcy protection (and would not receive a Congressional bailout).