View along northern shore from the fort Castillo de San Cristobal (Photo by the author)
Last week for the first time I traveled to Puerto Rico with Patti. I am ashamed to admit how little I knew about Puerto Rico before this trip. I did know that one of my baseball heroes, Roberto Clemente, came from there and the United States got connected to Puerto Rico after the Spanish American War and it is a territory of the United States. But that is pretty much it.
So here are four things I have now learned that make me wonder, in the end, if the Puerto Rican people today are being treated in a similar way as their forebearers. Is their leadership failing them?
Puerto Rico’s connection to the United States. There is evidence that people have been settled on Puerto Rico since about 2,500 B.C. In 1493 Christopher Columbus “discovered” the island and a few years later Juan Ponce de Leon developed Puerto Rico for Spain and was appointed Governor. Over the next 400 years many countries tried to wrestle control away from Spain by attacking the island, but Spain always prevailed.
Finally, in 1898 after years of work, Spain approved independence for the island and let the people inaugurate a new government under Governor-General Manuel Macías, a Spanish general. Elections were held and its first autonomous government began on July 17th in the midst of the Spanish-American War. About a week later the U.S. invaded the island with little resistance and after Spain surrendered on August 12th the U.S. took control.
Over the next 20 years the U.S. and Puerto Rico “danced” with each other trying to figure-out what the relationship should be. And, frankly, we are still dancing 118 years later!
Today Puerto Rico remains a commonwealth of the United States—a territory under the territorial clause in the United States Constitution. Because it is not a state, it has no senators or representatives in Congress. It sends a delegate to the House of Representatives, called the “Resident Commissioner”, with no voting privileges, but does sit on some special committees.
Puerto Ricans are U. S. Citizens. Since 1917 Puerto Ricans have been U. S. citizens. They have served in our military and in all the wars since World War I. They can travel and work in any of the 50 states without restriction and when they live and work in one of the 50 states they can earn all the benefits derived by other citizens. However, they cannot vote in national elections unless they move to one of our 50 states.
No passports are required to travel to and from there and we found it just as easy going there as going to Hawaii.
Current economic and the demographic conditions. The current economic situation in Puerto Rico is very weak, almost desperate. The government is on the verge of bankruptcy and may not be able to maintain their public utilities and school systems. Puerto Rico has 3.6 million inhabitants and 45% live below the poverty line. The median household income is $19,630, which is half that of Mississippi, our poorest state (according to the 2014 American Community Survey.)
While we were there protestors were objecting to Puerto Rico’s governor’s tax haven offer to a conference of hedge fund billionaires. Puerto Rico is offering zero taxes on U.S. income if they stay in Puerto Rico for 183 nights during the year. These investors are taking the offer seriously because this will also let them avoid or reduce regular U.S. income taxes because Puerto Rico is only a territory. According to an article in The Guardian it appears the Governor is trying to make Puerto Rico the “Singapore of the Caribbean”.
What has to happen for Puerto Rico to Become a State? First, the people of Puerto Rico have to vote in favor of becoming a state and a slight majority did that in a 2012 referendum. Second, their elected governor has to favor statehood and then strongly lobby Washington (the current Governor Padilla favors their current national status, so he is not pushing Washington.) Finally, both houses of our U.S. Congress need to vote in
View by the San Juan Gate on the calm, southwestern side of San Juan along Bahia de San Juan. (Photo by the author)
favor of admission. Republicans are unlikely to support this vote because the level of poverty there would require a large outflow of budget dollars for then eligible Medicaid and Obamacare citizens. Democrats would likely favor statehood because their party would likely gain seats in both houses of Congress and votes in the Presidential Electoral College.
When we spoke to people in Puerto Rico about what they wanted, we got a mix of reactions; most sounded frustrated with their elected officials and Washington – sound familiar?
The Puerto Rican people we met were warm, lovely people. And, as tourists, we thoroughly enjoyed Old San Juan, too. I do wonder, though, if the reportedly corrupt politicians are selling the citizens short. After all, hedge fund billionaires do not make their money by hiring Puerto Rican workers to manufacture products, they only hire service workers.
But one thing hedge fund investors do purchase is deeply discounted, government bonds – bonds that are ready for the discount bin – and in Puerto Rico there are plenty of those.
So, although not as violent, the current political and business behavior in Puerto Rico is not that much different from what the Spaniards did for 400 years – just a modern version.
