Why is Puerto Rico struggling when its one of us?
W e all know and have heard of Puerto Rico. It’s not some foreign island in a third world area we don’t have in our general knowledge. It’s one of our only commonwealths. The island has a strong tie to our country despite being a far-cry geographically, much like Alaska and Hawaii. No one will dispute that it’s not apart of the United States. So why is it anytime you hear of Puerto Rico, it’s about how impoverished and distressed it is?
Just a little background on Puerto Rico for the common reader, like every other Latino territory south of the border, Puerto Rico became a Spanish colony after the conquest of the Taíno natives in 1493. For 400 years, the island would be a Spanish colony regularly moving slaves across the Spanish Empire in Central America. A mix of the imported African population, Spanish, and the diminishing Taínos would form the island’s domestic Jíbaro culture.
It wasn’t until the Spanish-American War in 1898 when Puerto Rico would be seceded to the United States after the Treaty of Paris. Now Puerto Rico was considered a commonwealth of the U.S., where its own local government would be instituted. Under the Foraker Act of 1900, Puerto Rico would have a governor, a House of Representatives and a Supreme Court. As well as the three branches, they had an 11-member executive council appointed by the President and a Puerto Rican non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress. All these local institutions aside, the fate of the island was still firmly in the United States’ hands.
Then in the 1930s, the Great Depression would see massive public works programs build up Puerto Rico into a 20th century metropolis. The economy of Puerto Rico soared alongside the U.S. when it left the Depression. Manufacturing and industry boomed over agriculture as numerous off-shore petrochemical, pharmaceutical and technology corporations opened up factories on the island. The direct-trade relationship with the United States had a huge benefit to the economy. It allowed tax exemptions for any corporations that set up shop in Puerto Rico. These tax exemptions would be key, because once they were gone- so were all the corporations.
Unfortunately for Puerto Rico, the departure of a majority of its work source would send unemployment up to around 15% over the next several years, crashing the economy of Puerto Rico. Because of the government’s municipal bond gathering debt, around 45% of the island lives below the poverty line.
Then, in 2017, things would get worse for Puerto Rico with Hurricane Maria ravaging the island’s towns and cities. It was one of the most devastating hurricanes to sweep the Caribbean/Atlantic region, costing Puerto Rico around $90 billion in damages. The official casualty estimate of the storm is about 2,975 deaths, destroying even more homes and putting most of the island without power for the longest period in American history.
Thankfully, there have been some hard-working relief efforts by associations like the American Red Cross to try and clean up the damage and send relief supplies to the further-impoverished island.
Some of the aid relief was perhaps more fruitful than others…
The main takeaway from all this is: why shouldn’t more people care about Puerto Rico? They’ve been dependent on the United States economically for as long as we’ve had them. Why couldn’t more have been done sooner to help the island? For me, personally, many of my roots come from here; history and family. That woman on the left in the Red Cross photo is my mother. My point is, for a lot of people here Puerto Rico is a lot closer to home than most people realize. It’s supposed to be apart of one of the most powerful nations in the world, yet it is currently sitting in a state of ruination.
Its people are considered U.S. citizens, yet they aren’t eligible to vote in presidential elections. A referendum on the political status of Puerto Rico in 2017 said that the majority of its inhabitants are in favor of full statehood with the United States. Why is it that most people tend to view Puerto Rico as a foreign nation? If more people knew about its history and importance to America, would more people be willing to break that even 50?
