You did miss the one serious fact in that a lot of things normal states can do, because they have voting Senators and House Representatives, PR can not do. So they can't change a lot of things because it requires US Congress to let them. US Congress doesn't care as much about PR as the rest of the US, so they're in a hole they can't dig out of.
Making PR the 51st state is one "fix" and the other is to let PR free of US tendrils. They voted last year that they wanted to become a 51st state, but the GOP has no interest in a new state made up of Latinos. Ironically, the people of PR are actually extremely conservative, but that might change electorally given the bile coming from the current conservative party.
It’s a shame; the people of PR deserve better.