I don’t remember being taught in high school about the United States invading Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War and then never leaving. I do know that Puerto Rico has been allocated the status of a “territory of the United States,” language that obfuscates its position in reality. But this country has an allergy to being dubbed a colonizer, even though the U.S. government has now been firmly entrenched in Puerto Rico for 126 years. Puerto Rico is also designated as a “Free Associated State,” and a “Commonwealth” which are cloudy, unclear descriptions that cover up how it is really governed, and who has the ultimate say on its status.
Join me in exploring that history.
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Before looking at the invasion and its aftermath, I want to clarify some terminology around what Puerto Rico actually is as it’s neither a state nor an independent country, which journalist Raquel Reichard explains for the History Channel:
Decades after adopting the status of commonwealth, there remains confusion around what the classification means. Early adopters believed the designation would give Puerto Rico a special legal status that wasn't a state, independent country or territory. They surmised that because the island had an elected self-government and a constitution that it was no longer a colony. However, Ponsa-Kraus and other constitutional scholars argue that because the U.S. Congress has power over Puerto Rico’s government, it’s still subordinate to the United States and so effectively remains a colonial territory despite its commonwealth status.
Further complicating the matter of status, the official name of Puerto Rico in Spanish is different from its name in English. In Spanish, the territory is referred to as el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, which translates to a free associated state. Under international law, a free associated state is an independent country that has enhanced association with another country through a treaty. This is also a misnomer since Puerto Rico is not an independent country but rather a U.S. territory.
Marisabel Brás, a senior analyst at the Department of Defense and former member of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, wrote this research guide for The Library of Congress:
The Spanish-American war lasted some four months. On May 1st, US forces destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, the Philippines dealing a decisive blow to the Spanish armada. Given the weakness of the Spanish forces, the US then decided to expand its campaign, and bring in ground troops. It also changed its strategy for Cuba and planned for military operations against Havana, the island's capital city and key post of Spain in the Caribbean. US troops landed in Cuba late in June and on July 17 destroyed the Spanish fleet stationed in Santiago de Cuba Bay, thus securing total control of the waterways in the Caribbean. Following these events, President McKinley set forth the conditions for peace negotiations. The evacuation of Cuba by Spanish forces and its transfer to the United States was the prelude to imposition of order and formation of a stable government on the island. McKinley's second demand was the transfer of Puerto Rico from Spanish authorities to the United States without compensation.
Although Spanish surrender was certain at this point, the occupation of Puerto Rico followed in an effort to secure the US presence on the island prior to the initial discussions of a peace settlement. On July 18, General Nelson A. Miles, commander of the invading forces, received orders to sail for Puerto Rico. Some 18,000 US troops with a naval escort departed for Puerto Rico from Guantánamo Bay and the east coast of the United States. They landed at Guánica Bay on July 25, immediately moving to the city of Ponce and other towns located on the southern part of the island. The US troops then proceeded north towards San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital and the main military post of Spanish forces on the island. But before they could reach San Juan, Spain agreed on August 13th to sign a peace treaty with the United States, putting an end to all military hostilities.
President McKinley's conditions for a peace agreement prevailed throughout the peace negotiations and were finally ratified in the Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898. The formal transfer of Puerto Rico to the United States took two months, from August 12 to October 18, when the last Spanish troops sailed back to Spain and the US flag was raised in most public buildings on the island. A military government was established under the command of General John R. Brooke.
RELATED STORY: Caribbean Matters: Yes, Puerto Rico is a U.S. colony
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Juan Agustin Marquez, producer of the feature length film “The Last Colony” has this short video covering some of the important points from the film:
Here is the full 2015 feature length film:
As notes about the video explain:
In 1898, the United States invaded and colonized Puerto Rico as part of the Spanish American War. For 114 years the people of Puerto Rico have maintained a polarizing debate on the STATUS ISSUE that has been front and center of the political discourse on the Island. Puerto Ricans (American citizens since 1917) constantly dispute between the options of Statehood, Independence and Commonwealth.On November 6, 2012 the people of Puerto Rico held the fourth plebiscite in the Island’s history to try to redefine the political relationship with the United States.Weeks before the plebiscite vote, filmmaker Juan Agustín Márquez traveled back to his homeland and interviewed leading politicians, historians, sociologists, and economists to dissect the status debate in a multilayered conversation about the pros and cons of each option on the ballot.His mission: To explain the status debate to the people of the United States, Congress and the President, and bring the American people up to date on this century old question: Will there be a change in status in America’s Last Colony?
I was surprised to find a detailed video covering the invasion and its later history on Al Jazeera, produced by Eileen Salazar. It also discusses exploitation, secret surveillance by the FBI, and “a story of unwavering resistance to U.S. colonialism”:
Two years ago, writer and editor Alberto Medina, who is also a member of the Daily Kos community marked the anniversary of the invasion, and two other July 25 events, in this piece he wrote for The New Republic.
On July 25, 1898, U.S. troops invaded Puerto Rico as part of the Spanish-American War. They won a swift victory and, by the end of the year, the U.S. had taken the island as a prize of war, ending 400 years of Spanish rule of the island. At the time, many Puerto Ricans really did, as the saying goes, greet Americans as liberators. Most expected that, in short order, the U.S. would either incorporate Puerto Rico or grant it independence. Instead, Puerto Ricans traded one colonial master for another, and the great-great-grandchildren of those who hoped for statehood or sovereignty are still waiting to this day.
[...]
The U.S. ruled Puerto Rico directly, through an appointed governor, for half a century. In the late 1940s, when the emerging post–World War II global order started to frown upon such rank imperialism, the U.S. allowed Puerto Ricans to elect our own governor and start drafting a Constitution. It was ratified in 1952 and officially proclaimed as the law of the land on July 25 of that year.
[...]
On July 25, 1978, Puerto Rican police entrapped two young pro-independence activists and shot them dead. Subsequent investigations, including by the Justice Department, uncovered a plot at the highest levels of the pro-statehood government to kill the young men and cover up the shooting.
This history should matter to us all—not just to Puerto Ricans, since the fate of the colony rests in the hands of U.S. elected officials, who we have put in office.
I’m curious. Do you know where your congresspersons stand on the issue of Puerto Rico’s status? Here’s a link to H.R 2757, The Puerto Rico Status Act.
Please join me in the comments section below for more, and for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.
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