Section 1

Historical Context

Basic information regarding Puerto Rico’s political and economic history as an “unincorporated territory.”

In order to fully grasp the island’s

current struggles of crisis and disaster, this section provides basic information regarding Puerto Rico’s political and economic history. For instance, one subsection explores the origins and effects of the political status as an “unincorporated territory.” This colonial and imperial doctrine maintains Puerto Rico as a separate and unequal territory. Proof of this is the fact that Puerto Rico’s economy was developed, not as a diversified economy with sustainable growth patterns, but as an economy of dependence.

Operation Bootstrap, discussed critically by various sources in the subsection related to development, is a key example of a policy meant to promote industrial progress, but that only served U.S. interests. Thus, Puerto Rico has had an inefficient economic model, which fostered the public debt, yet it continues to depend on the United States’ policies for solutions to the financial collapse.

Even though many revolutionary movements have failed, and U.S. citizenship is often central to Puerto Ricans’ political motivations, from this liminal political status emerged not assimilation, but a Puerto Rican culture and identity that is often at odds with the law. Some authors also review U.S. domination in relation to gender and biopolitics.

1898 and the Un-Incorporation of Puerto Rico

Charles R. Venator-Santiago “Yes, Puerto Ricans are American citizens” The Conversation March 22, 2017.

Emerging from a web-based archive about Puerto Rican citizenship legislation, this article concisely describes key historical events and congressional decisions that have occurred since the United States annexed Puerto Rico and how they have affected Puerto Rican citizenship. Venator-Santiago argues that the fluctuating and unstable status of Puerto Rican citizenship has to do with the contradictory status of the Island as an unincorporated territory. Under this classification, constitutionally, Puerto Rico can be treated selectively as a foreign country or as part of the United States. While Puerto Ricans are officially US citizens, this article elucidates how Puerto Rico continues to be a separate and unequal territory.

Christina Duffy Ponsa-Kraus and Burke Marshall, eds., Foreign in a Domestic Sense: Puerto Rico, American Expansion, and the Constitution (Duke University Press, 2001).

Adding to constitutional scholarship, Foreign in a Domestic Sense is a collection of essays that examines the United States’ policies toward and relationship with its “unincorporated” territories. The authors in the collection show how racially rooted imperialism and colonialism are at the heart of this legal arrangement, while emphasizing the centrality of these territories when studying American constitutional history. The authors’ specific focus on Puerto Rico allows a deep analysis related to territorial status to emerge, where the Island must define itself within a nation that does not fully accept or reject it.

Bartholomew Sparrow, The Insular Cases and the Emergence of American Empire (University Press of Kansas, 2006).

An academic study of constitutional law, The Insular Cases and the Emergence of American Empire, analyzes the indeterminate ways that the Constitution of the United States has or has not been applied to citizens of the islands that became part of the United States after the Spanish-American war: Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. This work constitutes a close analysis of the “Insular Cases” in order to parse the distinction between incorporated and unincorporated territories and how, in the case of the latter, the completely variable and indeterminate manner in which the Court treated the constitutional status of the inhabitants. Through in depth legal research of how the United States justifies and practices imperialism, the author illustrates the evolution of the Court’s Incorporation Doctrine and how constitutional rights were applied to the new territories and their people.

Gerald L. Neuman and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, eds., Reconsidering the Insular Cases: The Past and Future of the American Empire (Harvard University Press, 2015).

This volume of legal scholarship contains a series of essays that emerged from a Harvard Law School conference that was organized to interrogate the Unites Sates’ Supreme Court decisions that became known as the “Insular Cases.” The Insular Cases allowed a partial application of the US Constitution to the territories acquired through conquest after the Spanish-Cuban-American war. The authors elucidate the history and legacy of the “Insular Cases,” exposing the ways in which they threaten civil and political rights. Expressing the need to challenge these outdated colonial laws, the authors raise questions about constitutional law and propose solutions such as changing the constitutional framework. They also propose different strategies that could remove territories from the jurisdiction of the Insular Cases doctrine.

José Trías Monge, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (Yale University Press, 1997).

US Colonialism and Puerto Rican Identity

Efrén Rivera Ramos, The Legal Construction of Identity: The Judicial and Social Legacy of American Colonialism in Puerto Rico (American Psychological Association, 2001).

This work examines how the legal relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States has shaped local identity. The author argues that Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship has led residents to emphasize an individual cultural identity, while, simultaneously, asserting a political identity centered on U.S. citizenship. This work studies how law and society interact in colonial circumstances, where Puerto Rican identity is not only affected by the law but also in a constant struggle with the law.

César J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabe, Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898 (UNC Press, 2007).

Although this work of general history focuses upon Puerto Rican history since the US invasion, it is innovative in its incorporation of literature in order to document a more comprehensive picture of the historical events. The authors, always explicit about their particular perspectives, discuss a plethora of topics, although Puerto Rico’s liminal political status and Puerto Rican identity remain on the surface throughout the text.

Laura Briggs, Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico (University of California Press, 2002).

This work combines historical and literary sources in order to study the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States while privileging debates about sexuality, reproduction, and gender. The author tackles topics such as birth control, la eugenesia, overpopulation, medical science, motherhood, feminism, and migration. In this thorough study of the policies that attempted to control and manipulate the bodies of working class women, the author challenges the United States’ dominant narrative where it describes itself as rescuing Puerto Rican families and sexual relationships, thereby justifying its imperialistic practices.

Jorge Duany, The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States (UNC Press, 2002).

Starting with the Jones Act of 1917, which made Puerto Ricans US citizens, this anthropological and sociological study describes the migration patterns of Puerto Ricans in relation to the United States. The author depicts the Puerto Rican nation as translocal and explains how circular migration creates steady ties between the diaspora and the Island. Duany argues that the relationship with the US did not result in a simple case of assimilation, but instead, solidified a sense of local Puerto Ricans identity. This work studies not only the diaspora, but also how migration has affected those living in Puerto Rico.

Ramón Grosfoguel, Colonial Subjects: Puerto Ricans in a Global Perspective (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).

Taking up world-systems theory and decolonial theory, this sociological study is an analysis of leftist politics in the Caribbean and how it relates to migration, race, and colonialism. Instead of solely focusing on the region’s struggles for decolonization, the author takes into account the failures of leftist politics and revolutionary movements, such as the formation of authoritarian regimes, the neocolonial conditions of many nations, and the failure of economies rooted in Marxism. Arguing for the need to think globally in terms of how world powers enforce their various interests, the author studies the “coloniality of power,” that is, the pervasive effects of colonialism in terms of race, gender, class, etc.

Edwin Meléndez and Edgardo Meléndez, eds., Colonial Dilemma: Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Puerto Rico (South End Press, 1993).

This volume consists of a collection of fifteen essays that study the economy, politics, social movements, and history of Puerto Rico. This volume discusses issues such as the Island’s economic struggles and the ways in which political negotiations with the United States continually fail to provide Puerto Rico with any relief. Consequently, debates about the political status and national identity are also thoroughly covered by these authors.

Pablo Delano, “A New Museum for an Old Colony, Puerto Rico“, The New York Times, 2017.

This photo-based exhibition explores the complex relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States following the conversion of Puerto Rico as a U.S territory. The colonization efforts put in place by the United States are demonstrated through prominent iconography like U.S flags and photographs of presidents, as well as a strong military presence.

Peter James Hudson, Bankers and Empire: How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean, University of Chicago Press, 2017.

This book discusses how Wall Street expanded and grew to control the banking, trade, and finance sectors in the Caribbean. Hudson focuses on how key Wall Street institutions and individuals took over these communities with deep racial prejudices in the forefront of their mind. Through their actions, they managed to destroy the sovereignty of these communities by imposing imperialistic practices.

FURTHER READING:

Ramón Bosque-Pérez and José Javier Colón Morrea, eds., Puerto Rico Under Colonial Rule: Political Persecution and the Quest for Human Rights (SUNY Press, 2006).

Pedro Cabán, Constructing A Colonial People: Puerto Rico And The United States, 1898-1932 (Westview Press, 2001).

Isar Godreau, Scripts of Blackness: Race, Cultural Nationalism, and U.S. Colonialism in Puerto Rico (University of Illinois Press, 2015).

Hilda Lloréns, Imaging the Great Puerto Rican Family: Framing Nation, Race, and Gender During the American Century (Lexington Books, 2014).

Pedro Malavet, America’s Colony: The Political and Cultural Conflict between the United States and Puerto Rico (NYU Press, 2007).

Katherine T. McCaffrey, Military Power and Popular Protest: The US Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico (Rutgers University Press, 2002).

Nancy Morris, Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics, and Identity (ABC-CLIO, 1995).

Frances Negrón-Muntaner and Ramón Grosfoguel, eds., Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism (University of Minnesota Press, 1997).

Jorge Juan Rodríguez V, “The Colonial Gospel in Puerto Rico,” The Christian Century, January 3, 2017.

Charles R. Venator-Santiago, Puerto Rico and the Origins of US Global Empire: The Disembodied Shade (Routledge, 2015).

Development and its Discontents

José I. Fusté, “Repeating Islands of Debt: Historicizing the Transcolonial Relationality of Puerto Rico’s Economic Crisis, Radical History Review (2017)

This article discusses the core of Puerto Rico’s economic crisis, and how that ties into its colonial status as a territory of the U.S. These same factors also apply to other islands that are under the U.S’ colonial control: American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As a result, these territories are all facing their own debt crisis.

Pedro Cabán “Puerto Rico’s long fall from ‘shining star’ to the ‘Greece’ of the Caribbean” The Conversation June 12, 2015

In the media, it has been commonplace to see Puerto Rico’s debt crisis compared to Greece’s financial collapse. This article outlines reasons why this comparison is actually unsubstantiated. Most importantly, Puerto Rico’s colonial status means it cannot find its own solutions and therefore, it depends completely upon the United States’ territorial policies. This article provides a concise explanation of the fluctuations of Puerto Rico’s economy and how both economic rise and the decline are always determined by the Island’s colonial relationship with the US.

Sherrie L. Baver, The Political Economy of Colonialism: The State and Industrialization in Puerto Rico (Praeger, 1993).

This is an academic volume on the economy of Puerto Rico. The author analyzes the policies that the US imposed on Puerto Rico after World War II, which initiated industrial development, but created a relationship of dependence for Puerto Rico’s economy. The failure of Puerto Rico’s economy is due to the interests of power brokers, who were privileged over the possibility of creating a diversified economy. Different from the International Monetary Fund remedies, the author calls for the need to establish new ways to promote economic growth.

Déborah Berman Santana, Kicking Off the Bootstraps: Environment, Development, and Community Power in Puerto Rico (University of Arizona Press, 1996).

This is a historical case study of the Puerto Rican community in Salinas and the grassroots activist movement that emerged there in order to challenge the negative effects produced by “Operation Bootstrap.” This policy, initiated by the United States after World War II to promote industrial development, include incentives such as tax holidays and cheap labor in order to attract capital to the Island. After tax holidays ended and many companies left Puerto Rico, Salinas was particularly affected, with extremely high unemployment rates. Frustrated with the conditions of poverty and economic dependence, the group in Salinas developed its own economic strategies utilizing local natural and human resources.

Frank Bonilla and Ricardo Campos, Industry and Idleness (‪Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, 1986).

This volume includes four essays that explore the ways in which Puerto Rico and its people, even while having access to U.S. capital, still suffer disproportionately from chronic poverty and unemployment. Without blaming social backwardness or underdevelopment, the author shows how Puerto Rican labor has been exploited or excluded from the job market. The author covers topics such as the post-war labor market, race and gender in the labor force, the transition from manufacturing on the island and in NY, the migration of people and capital, and “Operation Bootstrap,” which is discussed critically.

Diane Lourdes Dick, “U.S. Tax Imperialism in Puerto Rico,” American University Law Review (2015).

Utilizing historical and legal frameworks, this article argues that the United States’ control over Puerto Rico’s tax and fiscal policies is a form of economic imperialism, which has had destructive effects. The author explains how the United States has used tax laws in order to ensure dominance over the Island. According to the author, these laws not only serve US interests, but disadvantage Puerto Ricans in a myriad of ways.

James Dietz, Economic History of Puerto Rico: Institutional Change and Capitalist Development (Princeton University Press, 1986).

Emilio Pantojas-García, Development Strategies as Ideology: Puerto Rico’s Export-Led Industrialization Experience (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1990).

This text exposes the social and political underpinnings of Puerto Rico’s industrialization efforts during the mid-twentieth century. According to the author, Puerto Rico’s economy experienced rapid industrial development as a result of political interests, which sought to enrich core capitalist countries, particularly the United States. The author is critical of “Operation Bootstrap,” arguing that rather than modernizing the Island’s economy, industrial development in Puerto Rico resulted in recurrent bouts of economic crisis, that severely limited its potential for a sustainable growth that enriches the lives of citizens.

Argeo T. Quiñones-Pérez and Ian J. Seda-Irizarry, “Wealth Extraction, Governmental Servitude, and Social Disintegration in Colonial Puerto Rico,” New Politics (2016).

This article, published in a political magazine, identifies reasons for Puerto Rico’s latest economic crisis. The authors argue that the main problems are the regressive neoliberal structural reforms combined with the Island’s obsolete economic model, which has been perpetuated with slight differences by both major political parties. The authors outline the contours of the island’s inefficient economic model and discuss how the current economic crisis compares to the economic catastrophe faced by the island during the 1970s. According to the authors, if Puerto Rico’s economic model continues unchanged public debt will continue to increase and economic growth will become impossible. Therefore, the authors also suggest solutions to the current decline, which involve major transformations of the political-economic system.

MULTIMEDIA:

Mi santa mirada Directed by Álvaro Aponte Centeno, 15 mins, 2012

Pogreso, Directed by José Morales, 66 mins, 2006

Operation Bootstrap / Operación Manos a la obra, 59 mins, 1983

FURTHER READING:

Rafael Bernabe, “Puerto Rico’s New Era: A Crisis in Crisis Management,” NACLA Report on the Americas (2007).

Frank Bonilla and Ricardo Campos, “A Wealth of Poor: Puerto Ricans in the New Economic Order,” Daedalus (1981).

Pedro A. Cabán, “The Colonial State and Capitalist Expansion in Puerto Rico: An Historical Overview,” Boletín del Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños (1989).

Héctor Cordero-Guzmán, “The Production and Reproduction of Poverty in Puerto Rico,” Poverty in Puerto Rico: A Socioeconomic and Demographic Analysis with Data from the Puerto Rico Community Survey (Inter American University of Puerto Rico, 2016)

James Dietz, Puerto Rico: Negotiating Development and Change (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003).

Helen Icken Safa, The Urban Poor of Puerto Rico: A Study in Development and Inequality (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1974).

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