“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongst these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” Declaration of Independence of the United States (1776).
After this declaration of war against the British Empire, refuting the ways of colonialism, the United States was formed and has evolved throughout its history. Fast-forward 122 years to February 1898 at Havana, Cuba, when the USS Maine “mysteriously” explodes, which sparks the Spanish-American War. Later that same year, American forces are bombarding San Juan, Puerto Rico, and after two months, foot soldiers of the United States Army begin to invade the island. The war in Puerto Rico lasted all of 19 days, which meant Puerto Rico traded one master for another. This event resulted in the lowering of the Spanish flag in Puerto Rico and the first time that the United States flag was raised outside of the country.
What happens after this moment is typical of U.S. foreign policy in the 20th century: Policies of assimilation are put in place, agricultural lands are taken from local farmers and given to large American corporations, and people die. They die fighting for what is theirs and is being taken away -- their freedom.
In Puerto Rico, the United States is seen as the villain and the savior. The United States came into the island and instituted a civic government, based on its own form of government, but we had no elections to hold. In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. Citizenship, but this led to 18,000 Puerto Ricans being drafted and sent to fight in World War I. The United States brought medical care of the likes that Puerto Rico has never seen, but then there was Dr. Cornelius Rhoads who is quoted saying:
“The Porto Ricans (sic) are the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever to inhabit this sphere. … I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off eight and transplanting cancer into several more. … All physicians take delight in the abuse and torture of the unfortunate subjects.”
Then came Puerto Rico’s savior: Pedro Albizu Campos, a Harvard University graduate and the leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Albizu Campos led strikes in favor of local farmers' rights and defended the right of independence for Puerto Rico, yet he was imprisoned and under surveillance for most of his life by the FBI and the Insular Police by order of J. Edgar Hoover. Throughout all of these years of U.S. occupation, Puerto Ricans are being killed by U.S. officials, in events such as the Río Piedras Massacre of 1935 and the Ponce Massacre in 1937. Also, the United States implemented the “Gag Law” in 1948, which states that displaying the Puerto Rican flag, whistling or singing national songs, or showing any form of Puerto Rican nationalism is illegal -- a direct violation of the rights granted to U.S. citizens by the First Amendment. These horrendous events lead to multiple violent events by Puerto Rican nationalists that include the assassination attempt of President Harry Truman in 1950, opening fire on the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954, and uprisings in the cities of Jayuya, Utuado, and San Juan in 1950. However, the U.S. begs to differ; the United States government took prisoner multiple nationalists, killed multiple nationalists, and opened aerial gunfire and bombarded these cities. The events were reported as “incidents between Puerto Ricans” by the American media. Nevertheless, in 1952, the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín, began to establish the “Estado Libre Asociado,” or the “Commonwealth,” of Puerto Rico, which gave Puerto Rico the opportunity to establish its own Constitution (if approved by the U.S. Congress, of course) and would be the first time that the Puerto Rican flag would be allowed to be raised (right next to the U.S. flag, of course).
I mention all of this history in this article because I wish to inform people about events that occurred under U.S. rule in Puerto Rico but are never widely discussed in Puerto Rico. My education of Puerto Rican history consisted of years of learning about the indigenous taínos during elementary school and only one year (my senior year of high school) of learning about actual historical events of Puerto Rico; and even in the year that I took Puerto Rican history, I NEVER even heard of any of the aforementioned events having taken place on Puerto Rican soil under U.S. occupation. Even after 1952, when we had established a Constitution, the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is still just as complicated and violent.
The “Commonwealth status” that is in place was just a ruse in order to remove Puerto Rico from the list of colonized countries by the United Nations. Puerto Rico today is still a U.S. colony, regardless of whether or not we are on that list established by the UN. Don’t get me wrong, I do not hold any anti-America sentiment at all, but I think it is ridiculous that almost half of the population of Puerto Rico would prefer statehood (annexation to the United States) than independence (dissolution of all political ties with the United States). Since 1967, when the first plebiscite on the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status was held, U.S. presidents have taken the politically correct term of “self-determination” whenever they are asked about the status issue in Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, what most Puerto Ricans forget is that the United States did not arrive to Puerto Rican soil by manner of plebiscites or referendums; they came by way of force, and whenever Puerto Rico demonstrated any resentment or rebellion towards the United States, things got violent. The Constitution of Puerto Rico means nothing when the United States Congress dictates what can or cannot be implemented. The FBI has still gotten its hands dirty in modern Puerto Rico when pro-independence leaders have been killed and their murders covered up by the FBI in events such as “Cerro Maravilla” in 1978; the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos in 2005; or even the imprisonment of Oscar López Rivera, a pro-independence leader that has been sentenced to over 70 years of prison, making him the longest-sentenced political prisoner of the world.
Indeed, the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is complicated. Puerto Rico was able to develop into an industrial economy instead of an agrarian one, mostly because our agricultural system was destroyed, which conveniently makes Puerto Rico dependent on American agriculture. Puerto Rico is under “protection” of the U.S. Armed Forces, which conveniently gives the U.S. military a strategic point in the Caribbean to protect the Eastern gate of the Panama Canal, while Hawaii protects the Western gate. Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship, which conveniently made Puerto Ricans able to join the U.S. military and fight in conflicts that don’t even remotely have anything to do with Puerto Rico. American occupation has served Puerto Rico in many ways, giving the U.S. the role of the island’s savior; however, within those rare “savior” moments, there were many moments of oppression and forced assimilation. All of these issues factor into the very complicated relationship between the two countries. It is time that the United States acknowledged the fact that “acquiring” Puerto Rico from Spain has been more convenient for them than it has for Puerto Rico and that the U.S. government takes a stand and decides whether to annex Puerto Rico into the Union or finally grant Puerto Rico its freedom.
“It makes no difference being a Spanish colony than a Yankee colony.”
Ramón Emeterio Betánces
