[aguaviva]

Still today, many of those countries are defacto western colonies and lack any independence.

Can you name even one?

The only one to which the phrase "lacks any independence" could meaningfully apply is Puerto Rico. But even that's not really true, as it continually holds status referenda in favor of actually joining the US over independence. Most recently by a margin of 50-30 - and just a few weeks ago, in fact.