The people work with their neighbors to secure blue tarps onto roofs. I think, first, we would have to create opportunities for the people who are in Puerto Rico, for those who left during Maria to return. The newly recognized nation would be able to align itself and its political and diplomatic systems as it wishesperhaps joining the growing number of Caribbean nations (most notably Barbados) that have fully rejected their colonial ties. But also, thousands upon thousands of other women were coerced into the same procedures, even after the repeal of the law. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. After his release, he was greeted by crowds from all over Puerto Ricocheering, singing, carrying flowers and Puerto Rican flags. It became common practice for women to have la operacin following delivery, even after the repeal of Law 116. The United States saw the independence movement as a threat and used a range of suppressive tactics against it, including FBI surveillance, long-term imprisonment, and the torture of pro-independence political leaders. As a state, Puerto Rico would finally have voting representation in Congress, and its citizens would gain the right to vote in presidential elections. When healthy pregnant women arrived at hospitals ready to deliver their babies, many were turned away unless they agreed to be sterilized after giving birth. CHANG: Another mid-20th-century law that reflects the troubling tension that Puerto Rico's status sets up is the Gag Law. I recall a conversation we had a few months into the pandemic, about her life as a young motherand how she, like so many other women in Puerto Ricos public-housing projects, had been sterilized. And so this has caused a significant shift - essentially, young people who are saying, we've been doing it for ourselves. It is likely that arrangements with U.S. companies currently maintaining a presence in Puerto Rico would change, but it is not possible to predict the precise nature of those changes. If Puerto Rico were to become independent, there would be no guarantee thatPuerto Ricanscould keeptheir U.S. citizenship and ability to travel freely to and from the United States. People lose family members. WebMany Puerto Ricans don't want the Island to become a US state because they are afraid of losing their Hispanic culture and language. But then, later in the year, a bomb left in an abandoned building injured a New York City police officer. People clear fallen trees, bamboo, garbage. Since his return to Puerto Rico, Lpez Rivera has again assumed the role of activist, protesting the private takeover of the publicly owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority by a new Canadian American company, Luma, known for its unreliable service and repeated rate hikes. The devastation on Vieques and Culebraincluding contamination of the groundwater by hazardous substances, such as perchlorateis so significant that the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates the cleanup will continue through 2032. The women suffered serious side effects, such as nausea, headaches, and bleeding, but were disregarded when they reported feeling ill. During the clinical trials, three women died. Extensive archives with easily researched essays and reviews. Can you talk about - what kind of restrictions did this law impose on people in Puerto Rico? In 1980, the FBI identified and arrested 11 members of the group. For decades, particularly in the United States, Lpez Rivera was seen as a terrorist because of his involvement with the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacin Nacional (Armed Forces of National Liberation), or FALN, a militant organization whose campaign for Puerto Rican independence in the 1970s killed five Americans and wounded dozens of others. Shed had three children by the time she was 22. Constrained by U.S. federal laws and regulations, the island's economy lacks the structural capacity to thrive on its own. The first vote on Puerto Ricos status took place in 1967, and independence then and in all the referenda following clearly lost. Would Puerto Rico be willing to accept the uncertainty and probable economic hardship associated with independence? In October 1950, after a firefight that killed three Nationalists in the town of Peuelas, Albizu Campos called for an insurrection. Working abroad, Betances and his partner, Segundo Ruiz Belvs, founded the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico, which demanded both abolition and independencetogether. If it becomes a law, Puerto Rico residents would choose whether they want the island to become an independent nation, a freely associated country, or the 51st US state. Puerto Rico has no control over its monetary policy and little control of its fiscal policy. Its path forward will be challenging, no matter what its political status. In the Philippines, the median income is about $421.50. The point is that self-determination for Puerto Ricans necessitates not just cutting them loose, but also restoring what has been taken and otherwise making amends. So in a variety of ways, the economy was upended, and the Puerto Rican people were essentially evicted from their own lands by American sugar companies. I was born in one of Puerto Ricos government housing projects, El Casero Padre Rivera, in Humacao. It passes through Yabucoa and Humacao and Comero, and the water levels in Ro de la Plata begin to rise. this should be happening now but nobody is really demonstrating this work In the months that followed, some 20,000 Puerto Rican men were conscripted for service during World War I. Ron DeSantis. They clear debris from the road. Every year, no matter where Im living, I visit family in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico should be independent because the US did not legally aquire Puerto Rico which was a sovereign province of Spain since 1897 at the time of the US invasion. On September 20, the storm makes landfall, knocking out the electrical grid and leaving the entire population in the dark. In mid-September, almost five years to the day after Hurricane Mara made landfall, Puerto Rico once again lost power and endured catastrophic flooding, this time because of Hurricane Fiona. The political consensus in Washington is that, as a practical matter, the most likely future for Puerto Rico is an indefinite continuation of the status quo. Read: The situation in Puerto Rico is untenable. But the future of a free Puerto Rico doesnt need to be utopian, or easy, to be just. He co-founded a high school and a cultural center. He spent 12 years in solitary confinement. American sugar companies supplanted Puerto Rican coffee growers, converting about half of all arable land into sugar plantations and displacing small landholders. We come with our families, hauling suitcases through the airport, boxes sealed with packing tape - whatever we can carry from Orlando, from Philadelphia, from Hartford. If youre going to deal with colonialism, all sides have to agree the status quo is not the solution, said Representative Ral Grijalva of Arizona, chairman of the US House of natural resources committee, which oversees affairs in US territories. In search of jobs, many were forced by Mara to leave. An investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights determined that the governor was lying and that evidence had been fabricated. The University of Puerto Ricos student choir serenaded him outside his daughters apartment building. In 2017, as summer ends, when news anchors first mention the oncoming Hurricane Irma, the people go to the big-box store or the Econo supermarket just a few minutes from home. To David and I drove around, taking it easy on the hills and turns, keeping an eye out for pedestrians. (SOUNDBITE OF MARC ANTHONY SONG, "PRECIOSA"). A year later, two Puerto Ricans were accused of murdering the American chief of police in Puerto Rico as retaliation. WebIf Puerto Rico was independent we would be run by an elite cabal of rich oligarchs who would have Puerto Rico as a pleasure island for Americans who would enjoy our Lpez Rivera refused the deal. The idea that Puerto Rico ceased to be a colony in 1952 after the inauguration of its own constitution no longer stands.. Puerto Rico should be independent because every country is entitled to gubernatorial and national sovereignty. Puerto Rico should be independent because the US did not legally aquire Puerto Rico which was a sovereign province of Spain since 1897 at the time of the US invasion. Women dance. Spurred largely by the economic crisis, a historic exodus of residents to the mainland translates to a shrinking tax base which, in turn, puts additional strain on an already weakened economy and burdens those remaining on the island with higher taxes and dwindling resources. Copyright 2023 Puerto Rico Report Website by Haden Interactive. Washington CNN . I wouldve filled the house with babies.. Just like DC, Puerto Rico tends to skew quite liberal politically. With independence, the citizens of Puerto Rico would have a government created by and for the benefit of the Puerto Rican people rather than for the benefit of outside interests. Statehood will result in four new senators, two each for the District and for Puerto Rico. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes had, in 1935, written an open letter saying that, the Department takes no official stand beyond affirming its belief that the wishes of the people of Puerto Rico should be respected and in case of doubt as to what these wishes are they should be unmistakably established by referendum duly prepared by the fullest discussion. He further said that it might be useful for the Congress and the administration, as well as for the Puerto Rican people, to clarify their positions.. However, only 5% of voters chose The 1982 Fertility and Family Planning Assessment, published in the journal Population Today, found that 41 percent of married women in Puerto Rico had been sterilized. Is he a pacifist? After taking control of Puerto Rico, the U.S. disrupted the coffee industry, which employed much of the working class, devaluing the currency and inflating the cost of coffee production. A pack of satos walked right in front of my Kia, bolting when I slammed on the brakes. DIAZ: It absolutely exists, and I do think it's possible. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Listen to Jaquira Diaz discuss this article on Radio Atlantic: Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Pocket Casts, This article appears in the November 2022 print edition with the headline Let Puerto Rico Be Free.. U.S. tourism to Puerto Rico may also suffer. Indeed, Puerto Ricans must adhere to laws passed by a government in which they do not participate. In a studio behind the office, Lpez Rivera showed me more of his work: Frida Kahlo in tones of black and muted red. Jaquira Diaz joins us now. In 1936, Senator Millard Tydings of Maryland presented a bill offering independence to Puerto Rico. That same day, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola boarded a train from New York to Washington, D.C. Torresolas family lived in Jayuya; his sister had been wounded in the uprising and his brother had been arrested. I still see blue tarps on the roofs of houses as I drive around. So in this piece, you write that Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico back in 2017, was, quote, "not just a natural disaster; it was a political event that, I believe, is provoking a historic shift." To give one example: In the three months after Mara, a Puerto Rico Department of Health hotline received approximately 10,000 calls from people considering suicidea huge increase over the previous year. Its public debt, which Governor Garcia Padilla recently declared unpayable, is $73 billion and counting. In the Philippines, the median income is about $421.50. After serving as an officer in the Army during the war, he graduated from Harvard Law School and returned to Puerto Rico to practice law. The forum came before the UN special committee on decolonization approved a draft resolution recognizing Puerto Ricos right to self-determination and independence for the fortieth time. While Puerto Rico would be the poorest state in the Union if it became a state, the average person there earns over 80% more than a resident of the Philippines, and the Philippines has more than double the rate of infant mortality. The Tydings bill proposed a referendum with one yes-or-no question: Should the people of Puerto Rico be sovereign and independent? If the people of Puerto Rico voted yes, there would be a four-year plan which would gradually do two things: make Puerto Rico self-governing and put the island in the same economic position with regard to trade as that of any other nation. If were going to keep the same subordinate political and economic structures, were not really changing anything.. Albizu Campos returned to Puerto Rico in 1947. Subscribe to the online magazine and enjoy exclusive benefits and premiums. In other words, things were in much the same position that they are in today. The draft was announced in May by the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer; Puerto Ricos resident commissioner, Jenniffer Gonzlez-Colon; and Representative Nydia Velzquez. Since the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898, Washington's relationship with Puerto Rico has been one of exploitation and convenience. Torres, a FALN leader, had been unapologetic about pursuing revolution by any means, and had not been included in Clintons offer. Some want statehood, some want more autonomy. CHANG: That is from Diaz's essay in the November issue of The Atlantic, where she looks back at key moments in the history of Puerto Rico and argues for the independence of the U.S. territory. The consequences of Puerto Ricos status has been on the forefront of political debates on the island in recent weeks, with a clash in opinions on whether the territory should become a US state, independent, or fall under a free association agreement. These are the days of reckoning, when the reparations paid to the people help fund hospitals in Vieques and Culebra, help establish universal medical care, help create a reproductive-and-maternal-health program. Yet while the right to declare bankruptcy is important in helping the island restructure its mounting debt, it is only part of a short-term solution to a crisis that is, at its core, deeply structural. This is why I believe that independence, not statehood, is the path we must pursue. In truth, blame for the archipelagos unemployment and poverty lies with the United States. They did not have any voting representatives in Congress and could not vote in presidential elections, which is still true today. It is heavily dependent on imported oil. The nurses. She paused, took a deep breath. In 1999, President Bill Clinton extended an offer of clemency and conditional release to 16 FALN members, including Lpez Rivera. As they walked by the dead or dying, they beat them with clubs. Although the United States still exerts enormous influence even on Caribbean countries it does not occupy, independence might allow Puerto Rico to reassess and adjust economic agreements to better suit its peoplerejecting the dominance of corporations and crypto bros in favor of co-ops and green reforms. As a U.S. colony, Puerto Rico's insolvent municipalities and public corporations cannot declare bankruptcy. But I was not prepared to leave anyone behind.. In the aftermath of Puerto Ricos bankruptcy, there appears to be a far-reaching consensus that the islands colonial condition must come to an end, said Rafael Cox Alomar, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, who has done research and analysis focused on Puerto Ricos status and history. An independent Puerto Rico would more readily protect the welfare and the rights of its people than the United States. So, if Puerto Rico had become independent, people born in Puerto Rico would not continue too be birthright citizens of the United States. Without informed consent, doctors gave progesterone injections and dispensed the worlds first birth-control pills to poor women from rural and poverty-stricken communities. Luz Rivera Sotomayor spent most of her days in church praying for her familys health before she was diagnosed with dystonia in 2020. hide caption. The idea of statehood has gained traction among many politicians in the U.S. You speak of independence, but how popular is this idea of independence among Puerto Ricans, do you think, currently? Puerto Rican women of childbearing age had the worlds highest sterilization rate. He was finally arrested during a traffic stop in May 1981. The decades-old Popular Democratic party is expected to hold a meeting later this year to determine whether it supports the islands territorial status or the option of free association, which puts into question the partys future. For people born between 1899 and 1941, there is another caveat. The takeover has brought Puerto Ricans into the streets. The exchange of goods would be subject to new international trade laws. DIAZ: Currently, I think support for independence is growing, especially amongst young Puerto Ricans. So Law 116 created the Puerto Rican Eugenics Board and subsidized the sterilization of Puerto Ricans, particularly poor women, and was proposed by the U.S. government as a solution for Puerto Rico's rising unemployment rate, which, according to the government at the time, was caused by, quote, "overpopulation." For those still living on the archipelago, the challenges continue to mount. Rivera Sotomayor, who is taking care of her sister in Adjuntas, said she welcomes any process that solidifies Puerto Ricos status in relation to the US, one way or another. Since this did not take place, everyone born after 1941 in Puerto Rico is a natural-born U.S. citizen. And then, American sugar companies started coming in and eventually supplanted, then displaced small landholders. When people stand on a terrace watching the town below, they see an ocean of blue-covered houses. All rights reserved. And if citizenship was taken away upon independence, it wouldn't be going against the law as the law would have been modified to enact such a Theres too much work to do here, he told me. Writing about citizenship, the Afro Caribbean geographer Ileana I. Diaz has argued that the extension of American citizenship to Puerto Ricans works not so much to include Puerto Ricans into the nation, but rather to extend the borders of the United States. The extension of statehood would have the same effect. Changes to Puerto Ricos tax code since 2012 have reduced corporate tax rates to just 4 percent, and have exempted all interest and dividend income, encouraging rich nonPuerto Ricans to take up residence. They endure obstacles created by the U.S. government. With only a small percentage of Puerto Rican voters favoring independence in any of the plebiscites on Puerto Ricos status, it appears that independence is not as strongly supported in Puerto Rico. After a couple of weeks in the mountains, of days walking the cobblestone streets, feeding flea-bitten satos with wagging tails, mosquitoes leaving galaxies of red down my arms and legs, the coquis singing me to sleep at night, I start to feel more like myself, like the woman Im supposed to be. They wait for FEMA. Many Puerto Ricans are deeply frustrated by what they claim has been a slow and inefficient response from a federal government that they have no say in. But exactly how Puerto Rico should pave its path toward decolonization is the root of the islands debate. There's a sense that the people were out there during Maria doing everything for themselves, taking care of each other, and that they were essentially ignored by the American government. The people take care of one another in Yabucoa, he said, as they did in Comero; the people, not the government, will ensure Puerto Ricos recovery. Tornadoes tore through as well, and the rains led to landslides. What would become known as the pill was, at the time, a highly experimental drug administered without controlled dosage, Ordover writes. This is a major problem when it comes to responding to disasters like Hurricane Fiona, which hit the island last month. A Republican-controlled Congress would never admit Puerto Rico -- with its massive debt and overwhelmingly Democratic (and non-white, Spanish-speaking) voting base -- into the Union, even if such a determination is made by the island's residents. Of course, Washington is not eagerly opening the door to statehood, either. Winship was removed from office but never prosecuted. Do you think it actually is possible for the Puerto Rican diaspora to come back home? If you need to flag this entry as abusive. WebIf the majority of Puerto Ricans were to choose the Free Association option - and only 33% voted for it in 2012 - and if it were granted by the US Congress, Puerto Rico would become a Free Associated State, a virtually independent nation. Can you just lay out what that essentially meant for Puerto Rico back in 1898? The suspects were arrested and executed without trial at the police headquarters in San Juan. This is how it has always been. As the days become weeks, there is more rain; there are more floods. later independence bills leading up to the 1952 constitution, Should Puerto Rico become a state, or be granted independence? Why do you characterize it as that - second class? Recent discussions on Puerto Ricos status have focused on the choice between statehood and remaining a territory. 1. They desperately hunt for drinking water, collecting it from wells and natural springs and any other source they can find. Flash floods destroy many of the houses. Dozens of independence supporters for Puerto Rico protested near the United Nations headquarters in New York later that day. They attempted to negotiate more favorable economic terms, but were not successful. During those seven years, Puerto Lpez Rivera was drafted into the Army and in 1965 was sent to Vietnam. National Portrait Gallery Explores U.S. In the 2020 gubernatorial election, two parties advocating for self-determination and decolonizationone of them calling for full independencecollectively garnered more than a quarter of the vote. We are here again after 10 years, after 20 years. Everybody knew Oscar. Sometimes I spend whole summers there, sweating my ass off, driving up and down narrow mountain roads, splitting my time among San Lorenzo and San Juan and Humacao and Comero. After Jayuya and Utuado had been retaken by the government, National Guardsmen patrolled the streets with pistols, rifles, and bayonets. Free Thinkers Anonymous. This is terrible, said Rivera Sotomayor. When I arrive, I carry one suitcase full of clothes and books, my laptop in my backpack. I spent six weeks listening for his name on walkie-talkie apps, reading lists of survivors, texting and emailing and calling, until finally one day I found him and heard his voice again. If the referendum favors statehood, and if Puerto Rico submits a petition for statehood, and if Biden beats Trump, and if the Democrats win control of the Senate, then there is a chance that the House and Senate will pass a resolution authorizing statehood. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with author Jaquira Daz, about the idea of independence for Puerto Rico in light of the recent challenges the island has faced Because she lives in the US territory, Rivera is one of the thousands of Puerto Ricans who doesnt qualify for the federal supplemental security income benefits intended to help people with disabilities in US states. Issues related to immigration, foreign policy and trade are dictated by U.S. law and U.S. regulatory agencies. They clean and clean, but the job never stops. HuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox. The Jones Act was passed so that Puerto Ricans could be sent to war, and it didn't grant Puerto Ricans the same rights as most U.S. citizens. Accuracy and availability may vary. And it was something that she didn't want, but was essentially coerced because everyone said, this is what you do. Back in the office, he offered me a seat and made coffee. It kind of became part of the culture. He took up activism against the U.S.-owned sugar industry, leading union strikes on plantations and representing workers in lawsuits. For instance, in contrast to U.S. states, Puerto Rico residents cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections nor can they elect their own senators and representatives to the U.S. Congress. 4. Reparations would have to cover many areas, large and small: paying for the repair of the power grid; liquidating $70 billion in debt; undergirding Puerto Ricos pension funds; and expanding the health-care system. They were charged with seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government as well as with a number of related crimes, including weapons possession. Puerto Rican groups dedicated to mobilizing communities around the need for legislation that resolves the status issues were present in these discussions. Behind the station, the police lined them up, their backs to the wallthe youngest only 17, pleading for waterand shot them, killing five. A TikTok video claims that in Florida displaying Puerto Ricos flag, including in cars, will no longer be allowed. Twenty-four hours later, in an effort to gain international attention for the cause of Puerto Rican independence, Collazo and Torresola attempted to assassinate President Truman inside Blair House, across from the White House, where he was living at the time. I spoke with Lpez Rivera at length about his past. All rights reserved. WebThe Social Contract - Which States Lose House Seats If Puerto Rico Becomes a State? It is widely referred to as the Gag Law, and it made flying Puerto Rican flags, even privately, illegal. By the 1930s, more than a third of Puerto Ricans found themselves out of a job and without an income. When Hurricane Mara hit, my uncle lived in Comero, a mountain town about an hour south of San Juan, near the center of the main island. So the United States essentially seized Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898, a year after Spain had already granted Puerto Rico a form of sovereignty under a statute called the Carta Autonomica. For their efforts, Betances and others were exiled to the Dominican Republic by the Spanish crown. I carry the decades I spent living in a country that never felt like home. They stop waiting for FEMA. The quest for independence has a long history in Puerto Rico, going back to Spanish colonial times. Puerto Ricans are being pushed out, displaced. Approximately 43 percent of all Puerto Ricans live below the poverty line and struggle to find work. A TikTok video claims that in Florida displaying Puerto Ricos flag, including in cars, will no longer be allowed. Is an independent Puerto Rico possibleand would it be viable? And I'm talking about sterilization. Like, Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory after the Spanish-American War. There are foreigners buying up all the property, Lpez Rivera told me. One of the dead was the father of young children; the wife of another victim was pregnant. Where we are all a little closer to freedom. 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