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Puerto Rico




Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States in the
Caribbean Sea. It is part of the Greater Antilles in the eastern Caribbean,
located to the east of the Dominican Republic and to the west of the Lesser
Antilles.

 Capital         San Juan
                 Estado Libre
 Official Name   Asociado de Puerto
                 Rico
 National Anthem La Borinque–a
 Head of         Governor Sila
 Government      Calderon
 Time Zone       UTC - 4
 Internet TLD    .PR
 Area            Ê
 Ê- Total        9,104 km²
 Ê- % water      1.6%
 Population
 Ê- Total (2002) Ê
                 3,957,988
 Ê- Density      434/km²
 Width           60 km
 Length          170 km
 Elevation       Ê
 Ê-Highest       1,338 meters
 Ê-Lowest        0 meters

Geography

The Puerto Rican archipelago consists of the main island of Puerto Rico and
various smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. The mainland
measures some 170 km by 60 km (105 miles by 35 miles). It has a population
of approximately 4 million. The capital city, San Juan, is located on the
main island's north coast and has a population of approximately 430,000.
Puerto Rico has 78 municipalities and major cities include San Juan, Ponce,
Mayaguez, Caguas, and Humacao. The metropolitan area consists of San Juan,
Bayam—n, Carolina and Guaynabo with a total population of over 1.6 million.

History

Colonization

Puerto Rico was discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in
1493. It was the main stronghold of the Spanish empire in the Caribbean
during the first years of the colonization of the Americas. As the Spanish
government became more liberal at home, its policies in the New World also
became more liberal. Early in the 19th century Puerto Rico sent its first
representative to the Spanish Cortes, Ram—n Power y Giralt. Power was an
outstanding speaker, and he achieved important improvements in internal
government and trade regulations for Puerto Rico. But when politics in Spain
went back to absolutism, some of the old repressive policies were again
imposed on the Spanish colonies.

There was a desire for freedom in Puerto Rico, too, but with two
distinguishing characteristics. Puerto Ricans wanted change but rejected
violence. There was never a revolution on the island; the only attempted
uprising, in 1868 in the small mountain town of Lares, collapsed almost
immediately because of lack of support from the people. The second
difference was that Puerto Ricans wanted freedom but not independence from
Spain. The Puerto Rican goal was to achieve personal freedom, the abolition
of slavery, and full self-government, but without breaking the bonds with
Spain. Champions of this autonomist movement were such political leaders as
Ramon Baldorioty de Castro, and towards the end of the century, Luis Mu–oz
Rivera. Finally, in 1897, Mu–oz Rivera got a liberal Spanish government to
agree to an Autonomic Charter for the island. The following year Puerto
Rico's first autonomous government was organized with Mu–oz Rivera as
leader. But there was to occur, within a year, an abrupt and unexpected
change in the entire course of Puerto Rican history.

Change-over from Spain to the United States

Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States in the Spanish-American War on
July 25, 1898 with a landing at Gu‡nica Bay. After the war, Spain was forced
to cede Puerto Rico to the victorious Americans under the Treaty of Paris
(1898). Strangely enough, the Americans were welcomed warmly by the Puerto
Rican people, who saw in the United States flag a symbol of freedom and
prosperity. Under the new sovereignty, however, Puerto Rico due to the US
Foraker Act, reverted back to a purely colonial government rejected by the
great majority of Puerto Ricans.

Politics

A year later after the invasion, Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa embraced the idea of
annexation to the US as a solution to the colonial situation and founded the
Puerto Rican Republican Party in 1899. As early as 1904, Luis Mu–oz Rivera
and JosŽ de Diego founded the Unionist Party of Puerto Rico.The party was
against the colonial government established under the Foraker Act. Rosendo
Matienzo Cintr—n, Manuel Zeno Gand’a, Luis Llorens Torres, Eugenio Ben’tez
Casta–o, and Pedro Franceschi started to organize the Independence Party in
1912 which paved the path to similar movements. The Nationalist Party
(NP)was founded in the year 1922, it strongly criticized the American
colonial regime for its menace to the spanish and Latin American roots of
the Puerto Rican culture, it also advocated for complete independence. The
NP began to grow with the leadership of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos which was
later sentenced to jail as a subversive leader by the colonial regime. In an
unauthorized march by the NP in the city of Ponce 18 nationalists were
killed by the police, this would be known later as the Ponce Massacre.

Luis Mu–oz Marin founded the Popular Democratic Party in 1940. Their slogan
was "Pan, Tierra y Libertad" (Bread, Land and Liberty). The party favored
independence for the country in its initial stages but social and economic
reform were the priority in their political agenda.

The Puerto Rico Independence Party was formed six years later by dissidents
who saw the PPD moving away from the ideal of independence. During that
period, the colonial regime appointed the first Puerto Rican governor, Jesus
T. Pi–eiro, until 1948 when the people elected Luis Mu–oz Marin as the first
elected governor.

Constitution of Puerto Rico

The US Government approved the Law 600 authorizing Puerto Rico to draft it's
own constitution, 52 years after the invasion. The constitution was approved
by the majority of the people, later it was approved by the US Congress
which maintains ultimate sovereignty although gives self government to
Puerto Rico. Under this constitution, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth
associated with the United States.

The government is composed of 3 branches; the Executive branch, the
Legislative branch with a bicameral Legislature consisting of a Senate and a
House of Representatives and the Judicial branch. The legal system is based
on the Spanish civil code. Puerto Ricans have been american citizens since
1917 by a statutory law called Jones Act, this statutory law can be modified
at any time by the US Congress, they are free to live anywhere without a
visa in the US; similarly, all Americans have the right to migrate to Puerto
Rico without a visa. However, Puerto Ricans have no voting representation in
the Congress, do not vote for the US president, and pay no federal income
tax or US sales tax. Puerto Rico has an elected Resident Commissioner, who
sits in Congress as ambassador of the people of Puerto Rico, has voice but
cannot vote.

The NP denounced the constitution and Mu–os Mar’n support as a sham and
attacked the Governor's mansion(1950), the US Blair House and the US House
of Representatives(1954), 23 people were killed and more than 50 were
injured. Governor Mu–oz Mar’n inagurated the new status called Estado Libre
Asociado(commonwealth) and raised the Puerto Rican flag along with the
national anthem of Puerto Rico for the first time on July 25,1952.
Resolution 748 (VIII) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1953
recognized Puerto Rico's self government.

The New Progressive Party was founded in 1968 by Luis A. Ferre, that same
year they won the elections. This party saw the ideology of annexation (to
the US) as a civil rights issue. This event polarized the political arena to
a great degree as radical independence groups were formed in the 1970s and
the Puerto Rico Socialist Party (PSP), a Marxist and Cuban friendly party,
was created. Two of the radical groups were labeled as terrorist groups by
the US government, Los Macheteros and the FALN. These groups were viewed by
many pro independence followers as freedom fighters.

In 1972 the PNP lost to the PPD. Rafael Hernandez Colon became the
undisputed leader of the PPD at age 36. He was, as the fourth elected
governor, in favor of adding more powers to the commonwealth status. One of
his projects was the Puerto Rican owned marine transportation, in order to
control the costs of the marine transport in Puerto Rico, the marine company
Is Land was bought to form "Navieras de Puerto Rico" in 1974.

The fifth governor was Carlos Romero Barcelo, he was a fierce supporter of
the pro us-annexation ideology. He was beloved by the PNP and strongly
disliked by the opposition. Under his administration, section 936 of the US
Internal Revenue Tax Code was implemented as an economic incentive. This
allowed American companies to create profit in the island without paying
taxes. His administration was shadowed by the Cerro Maravilla affair were
two independence activists were killed by undercover police agents. This
created a Watergate like scandal that was later investigated by the Senate.

In 1980 Romero Barcelo won by a controversial 0.2% margin and lost the
Senate and House of Representatives to the PPD. Independence radical groups
were active again and in 1981 blew up 11 jet fighters in the US base Mu–iz.

Rafael Hernandez Colon became the head of government for the second time in
1984 and stayed in power until 1991. Pedro Rossell— became the sixth
governor in 1992. He pushed the political status dilema in Washington D.C.
and sponsored two referendums but these became non-binding. He implemented a
new health care system similar to Canada which was widely accepted by the population.

Current issues

When asked to choose between independence, statehood, or continuation of the
present status with enhanced powers as proposed by the Popular Democratic
Party, Puerto Ricans have voted to remain a commonwealth, but
dissatisfaction with the current status is evident. The issue is still being
debated and is in the agenda of all the political parties and civil society
groups. Many pro commonwealth leaders within the PPD are proposing an
Associated Republic or Free Association like the one in Marshall Islands or
Palau. This left wing of the PPD has achieved some success in driving the
party to less conservative and more nationalistic stands.

On April 19, 1999 two US Marine jets in training exercises dropped bombs
over the military range at the US base in the island of Vieques and missed
their targets. David Sanes, a civilian was killed. Later in the month
protestors began occupying the US Navy range at Vieques and civil
disobedience became a widespread movement inside the US base. Gov.Pedro
Rossell— denounced the Sanes incident, which the Navy had use for over 60
years, and supported the end of the military exercises. 100,000 people
marched on spring of 2000 in San Juan to demand the end of the military
exercises and the use of the base for military purposes. Sila Maria Calderon
became the seventh head of government on 2001 and the first woman to lead
the country. She supported the exit of the US Navy and permitted the
continuation of the civil disobedience camps inside the bombing range while
the press reported wide ecological damage to the environment of the island,
and presented studies that showed a higher cancer rate in residents of
vieques, compared to the main island.

Later that year the US government suspended military exercises in Vieques
and in May of 2003 closed the base. The land is expected to return back to
the Vieques municipality. More than 1,500 people were arrested for civil
disobedience including leaders of the three political parties and members of
the Catholic Church from 1999 to 2003. On July 25, 2003 Governor Sila
Calderon announced her support for a new process outside the political
parties that would deal with the status dilema in 2004.

Economy

The economic conditions in Puerto Rico have improved dramatically since the
Great Depression due to external investment in capital-intensive industry
such as petrochemicals pharmaceuticals and technology. Once the beneficiary
of special tax treatment from the US government, today local industries must
compete with those in more economically depressed parts of the world were
wages are not subject to US minimum wage legislation.

Demographics

The people of Puerto Rico are a blend of three races: the Spanish
conquistadors, the native Taino Indian and the African slaves, but the
predominating race is mainly Spanish. The most obvious are those descended
from the families established by the colonizing Spaniards who mainly came
from Southern Spain and the Canary Islands. During the early period of
colonization, there was a mixture between Spaniards and the native Tainos,
but the Indian population was soon wiped out. African slaves were imported
to the island and today there are Puerto Ricans with visible Negro strains
also. Later, Corsican and French immigrants arrived along with numerous
Spanish loyalists from Spain's former colonies in South America. Other
settlers have included Irish and German and in recent times other Latin
American immigrants. According to the 2000 census 96% of the population
consider themselves Puerto Rican descent, making Puerto Rico one of the most
homogeneous societies in the world.

Spanish is the primary language on Puerto Rico; estimates are that less than
a quarter of the population is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.
English is taught in public schools as a foreign language.

The Roman Catholic is the main religion, 85% of Puerto Ricans are Roman
Catholics (census 2000). Puerto Rico has its own Olympic team and has
international representation in many events including the Summer World
Olympics, Winter Olympics, Panamerican Games, and Central American Games
among many others.

Education

Colleges and Universities

   * Universidad Politecnica de Puerto Rico
   * Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Puerto Rico
   * Universidad del Sagrado Coraz—n
   * Sistema Educativo Ana G. MŽndez
        o Colegio Universitario del Este
        o Universidad Metropolitana
        o Universidad del Turabo
   * Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Aguadilla Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Arecibo Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Barranquitas Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Bayam—n Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Fajardo Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Guayama Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Metropolitan Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Ponce Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico San Germ‡n Campus
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico School of Law
        o Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico School of Optometry
   * Universidad Metropolitana
   * Universidad de Puerto Rico
        o University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez
        o University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo
        o University of Puerto Rico College of Technology at Bayam—n
        o University of Puerto Rico in Ponce

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