Since Puerto Rico’s admission into the United States as a territory following the Spanish-American War of 1899, the island has been treated as lesser. Massacres of peaceful protestors and bombing of pristine natural spaces are just a few of the injustices perpetrated on the island in the past. In the present, Puerto Rico contends with withholding of federal aid and cover-up of disasters, a faulty power grid controlled by an American corporation, increased privatization of public lands by American interests, and vast corruption by the pro-statehood government. Unless the United States takes steps to amend what they did and are doing to Puerto Rico, the formerly radical pro-independence movement will continue to grow its influence on people who simply want better.
The Puerto Rican independence movement is not new. It stems from a history of crimes committed on Puerto Rico’s lands. One of the first instances of repression against Puerto Rico was the Ponce massacre in 1937, in which 19 peacefully protesting Puerto Ricans were killed and over 200 were wounded. The march served 2 purposes: as a commemoration of the end of slavery in Puerto Rico, and a protest against the U.S. government’s imprisonment of pro-independence leader Pedro Albizu Campos. The shooting was authorized by the governor of Puerto Rico at the time, Blanton Winship. He was appointed by U.S. military command, was not Puerto Rican, and was not democratically elected.
The 20th century featured more aggressions by the United States, which triggered retaliation by pro-independence groups. From 1941 to 2003, the United States used the inhabited island of Vieques as a testing ground for navy bombs. The bombings heavily damaged the island’s natural space and introduced chemicals such as uranium and napalm to formerly untouched ecosystems. The current population of Vieques has an extremely high rate of disease and exposure to toxic chemicals like arsenic and uranium, repeatedly claimed by the U.S. government to be unrelated to the bombings but considered such by the island’s residents. The bombing’s displacement of people to a narrow area in Vieques has left the island poor, and further ruin has been brought by Hurricane Maria’s close approach to Vieques. The Nationalist Party in Puerto Rico led many failed insurgencies in the 1950’s, most notably in Utuado and San Juan in 1950 and Jayuya in 1952. The unrest mostly ceased after the 1954 shooting in Congress, in which nationalist leaders wounded several members of the United States House of Representatives. With much of its leadership base arrested, the Nationalist Party faded.
Recently, the pro-independence movement has picked up steam, this time in a non-violent way (so far). Time and time again, the United States government has shown its view of Puerto Rico as lesser. After Hurricane Maria’s passage in 2017, Puerto Rico was left in complete ruin. Nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans were killed, a $90 billion damage toll was inflicted, its infrastructure was destroyed and its power grid was essentially irreparable. The Trump administration, in collaboration with Ricardo Rosello’s pro-statehood government of Puerto Rico, covered up the scale of disaster in Puerto Rico, most notably by claiming that the death toll actually sat at 64. Later probes confirmed that $20 billion in hurricane relief was purposefully obstructed by Trump administration officials. Investigations into why this happened were also blocked. Following the hurricane, American corporation LUMA Energy was hired to fix the broken power grid. Despite massive investment into the company by Puerto Rico, long power outages are still commonplace (from my time living in Puerto Rico, they anecdotally happened about monthly and lasted from 3 days to 1 week). LUMA Energy was sued by the Puerto Rican government earlier this year due to its mismanagement and privatization of a formerly public utility.
The ruling New Progressive Party (broadly affiliated with the Republican Party) has also engaged in corruption. As recently as 3 weeks ago, the party fell into scandal after it was revealed that drugs were sold in prisons in exchange for PNP votes in the 2024 gubernatorial election. The scheme was discovered by prosecutors, but was then covered up by PNP governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon and Republican affiliates. The independence movement reached its all-time electoral peak in 2024, after it achieved 30% of the vote under Juan Dalmau’s Alianza de Pais. Their performance reached 2nd place and broke the 2 party system formerly occupied by the PNP and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). In non-binding referendums regarding Puerto Rico’s status, non-statehood has continued to grow from virtually 0 support in 2017, to nearly half support in 2020 and 2024 (even when both referendums were boycotted by pro-independence groups).
United States officials continue to show their apathy towards Puerto Rico and their explicit opposition to Puerto Rican statehood. Following the 2020 referendum, at-the-time Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut down any potential on the referendum’s result being carried out. Puerto Rican independence would be drastic. It would isolate the millions of diaspora Puerto Ricans living in the mainland United States and elsewhere, as well as weakening the United States’ presence in the Caribbean. But given how the United States has and continues to treat the island and its inhabitants, it is no wonder that radicalism in the form of pro-independence is growing.
The United States Should Repair its Relationship with Puerto Rico
By Nicolas Storer Rios ‘28
Since Puerto Rico’s admission into the United States as a territory following the Spanish-American War of 1899, the island has been treated as lesser. Massacres of peaceful protestors and bombing of pristine natural spaces are just a few of the injustices perpetrated on the island in the past. In the present, Puerto Rico contends with withholding of federal aid and cover-up of disasters, a faulty power grid controlled by an American corporation, increased privatization of public lands by American interests, and vast corruption by the pro-statehood government. Unless the United States takes steps to amend what they did and are doing to Puerto Rico, the formerly radical pro-independence movement will continue to grow its influence on people who simply want better.
The Puerto Rican independence movement is not new. It stems from a history of crimes committed on Puerto Rico’s lands. One of the first instances of repression against Puerto Rico was the Ponce massacre in 1937, in which 19 peacefully protesting Puerto Ricans were killed and over 200 were wounded. The march served 2 purposes: as a commemoration of the end of slavery in Puerto Rico, and a protest against the U.S. government’s imprisonment of pro-independence leader Pedro Albizu Campos. The shooting was authorized by the governor of Puerto Rico at the time, Blanton Winship. He was appointed by U.S. military command, was not Puerto Rican, and was not democratically elected.
The 20th century featured more aggressions by the United States, which triggered retaliation by pro-independence groups. From 1941 to 2003, the United States used the inhabited island of Vieques as a testing ground for navy bombs. The bombings heavily damaged the island’s natural space and introduced chemicals such as uranium and napalm to formerly untouched ecosystems. The current population of Vieques has an extremely high rate of disease and exposure to toxic chemicals like arsenic and uranium, repeatedly claimed by the U.S. government to be unrelated to the bombings but considered such by the island’s residents. The bombing’s displacement of people to a narrow area in Vieques has left the island poor, and further ruin has been brought by Hurricane Maria’s close approach to Vieques. The Nationalist Party in Puerto Rico led many failed insurgencies in the 1950’s, most notably in Utuado and San Juan in 1950 and Jayuya in 1952. The unrest mostly ceased after the 1954 shooting in Congress, in which nationalist leaders wounded several members of the United States House of Representatives. With much of its leadership base arrested, the Nationalist Party faded.
Recently, the pro-independence movement has picked up steam, this time in a non-violent way (so far). Time and time again, the United States government has shown its view of Puerto Rico as lesser. After Hurricane Maria’s passage in 2017, Puerto Rico was left in complete ruin. Nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans were killed, a $90 billion damage toll was inflicted, its infrastructure was destroyed and its power grid was essentially irreparable. The Trump administration, in collaboration with Ricardo Rosello’s pro-statehood government of Puerto Rico, covered up the scale of disaster in Puerto Rico, most notably by claiming that the death toll actually sat at 64. Later probes confirmed that $20 billion in hurricane relief was purposefully obstructed by Trump administration officials. Investigations into why this happened were also blocked. Following the hurricane, American corporation LUMA Energy was hired to fix the broken power grid. Despite massive investment into the company by Puerto Rico, long power outages are still commonplace (from my time living in Puerto Rico, they anecdotally happened about monthly and lasted from 3 days to 1 week). LUMA Energy was sued by the Puerto Rican government earlier this year due to its mismanagement and privatization of a formerly public utility.
The ruling New Progressive Party (broadly affiliated with the Republican Party) has also engaged in corruption. As recently as 3 weeks ago, the party fell into scandal after it was revealed that drugs were sold in prisons in exchange for PNP votes in the 2024 gubernatorial election. The scheme was discovered by prosecutors, but was then covered up by PNP governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon and Republican affiliates. The independence movement reached its all-time electoral peak in 2024, after it achieved 30% of the vote under Juan Dalmau’s Alianza de Pais. Their performance reached 2nd place and broke the 2 party system formerly occupied by the PNP and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). In non-binding referendums regarding Puerto Rico’s status, non-statehood has continued to grow from virtually 0 support in 2017, to nearly half support in 2020 and 2024 (even when both referendums were boycotted by pro-independence groups).
United States officials continue to show their apathy towards Puerto Rico and their explicit opposition to Puerto Rican statehood. Following the 2020 referendum, at-the-time Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut down any potential on the referendum’s result being carried out. Puerto Rican independence would be drastic. It would isolate the millions of diaspora Puerto Ricans living in the mainland United States and elsewhere, as well as weakening the United States’ presence in the Caribbean. But given how the United States has and continues to treat the island and its inhabitants, it is no wonder that radicalism in the form of pro-independence is growing.
Sources
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/new-probe-confirms-trump-officials-blocked-puerto-rico-receiving-hurri-rcna749
https://dcjournal.com/statehood-shift-happening-in-puerto-rico
https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-luma-sue-contract-government-power-energy-6a5854d17b891f88f56564ed40907b05