The political Situation in PR

8/4/2019 The political Situation in PR

1/14

The Massachusetts Review, Inc.

The Massachusetts Review, Inc.http://www.jstor.org/stable/25088414 .

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=massrev. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The Massachusetts Review, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The

Massachusetts Review.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=massrevhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25088414?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=massrevhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=massrevhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25088414?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=massrev


2/14

Manuel Maldonado DenisTHE POLITICAL

SITUATION INPUERTO RICO

Partof the task of the new Latin American historiography hasbeen to demystify our history, to shatter mercilessly the myths bymeans of which the ruling classes have distorted the historical facts inorder that history might serve their aims of domination. A crisis withinLatin American society itself has been necessary for the most flagrantdefects in the socio-historical interpretations of the history of America

to be revealed. In a certain sense, we can say that traditional historiography and sociology, like the very societies which served as their backdrop, are in a state of profound crisis. This is true not only of LatinAmerican history and sociology, but of sociology and history in theUnited States as well. All of the concepts traditionally used as convenient buttressing for a social interpretation which favored those interested in maintaining the status quo, when faced with the contumacy ofhistorical facts, have demonstrated their deep-rooted shortcomings.The history of the countries of the Caribbean is a good example ofthis. As an "imperial frontier," the Caribbean has been subject, in extraordinary degree, to every influence of the imperialist world view, justas the latter was transmitted to its inhabitants by the various colonialpowers which have ruled us throughout history. The stereotype of theCaribbean as a placid, sun-bathed area of palm trees, whose inhabitantsexhaust themselves in sex and rum has nourished not a few interpretations of our history as one of peoples whose natural indolence condemnsthem to the most abject underdevelopment. The colonial elites havethemselves contributed to this contempt for what is ours by offering on

many occasions theories about our character which do not differ greatlyfrom the rationalizations offered by metropolitan ideologists to justifyimperialist domination. In an excellent essay written recently, theDominican sociologist Franklin J. Franco has helped to unmask the veryreal anti-African prejudice evident in the hispanophilism of some of themost cherished writers in the history of the Dominican Republic.1 The

1Franklin J. Franco. "La ideologia del Trujillato," Ahora, May 31, 1971.221


3/14

The Massachusetts Reviewsame thing can be said for Rene Depestre's analysis of the concept of"negritude" in Price-Mars, for the analysis of the ideology of the Cubancolonial elite done byMoreno Fraginalls and Jose Luciano Franco, andfor what the author of this article has attempted to do with respect tothe colonialist ideology in Puerto Rico.One of the great myths devised by colonialist ideology has been thatwhich pretends to exempt the United States from any kind of imperialistdesigns with respect to Latin America. The elaboration of this thesishas remained for the most part in the hands of certain sectors of the

Latin American intelligentsia, which has, on many occasions, managedto maintain an accomplice-like silence about imperialist intervention inthe internal affairs of our countries. Puerto Rico, perhaps more than anyother Latin American country, is a living example of this. It is here thatthe thesis of "imperialism by accident" has had its most outstandingexponents. It is in our homeland where the old song about our being a"bridge between the two cultures of the hemisphere" has served toperpetuate our colonial condition and to sweeten the true character ofour dependence.

The "imperialism by accident" thesis is very simple. The UnitedStates entered the Spanish-American War not as a consequence of anyexpansionist motives, but because it had suddenly to assume the responsibilities of a world power. The empire acquired by the United States in1898?so say the creole ideologists of imperialism by accident?was infact acquired in a moment of what the Americans call "absentmindedness." As for the other acts of Yankee intervention in the hemisphere,these have been?if anything?the product of the errors committed bya few government officials, but never the inevitable result of the develop

ment of American capitalism itself.The new American historiography?which in the United States hascome to be called the work of "revisionist historians"?has placed all ofthese notions in their proper perspective. Writing about the expansionistpolicies of the United States in 1890, Walter La Ferber tells us:To Mahan, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, andHenry Cabot Lodge,colonial possessions, as these men define them, serve as stepping stones to thetwo great prizes: the Latin American and Asian markets. This policy resembledtraditional colonialism much less than it did the new financial and industrialexpansion of the period between 1850 and 1914. These men did not envision"colonizing" either Latin America or Asia. But they did want to exploit theseareas economically and give them (especially Asia) the benefits of western

Christian civilization. To do this, these expansionists needed strategic bases

222


4/14

Political Situation in Puerto Ricofrom which shipping lanes and interior interests in Asia and Latin Americacould be protected.2

When the United States, once established as a republic, begins its expansion westward, Professor Van Alstyne tells us, its imperialist experience does not differ basically from England's, since:Both empires were creatures of natural forces?of emigration and colonization, of commerce and religion, as well as of the desire to expand their political influence. But in neither case was the expansion unintentional, unplanned,or absent-minded. Each [. . .] was to pursue a strategic pattern, and the history of each shows the influence of much planning and of conscious direction.3

And William Appleman Williams points out that with the developmentof a corporate economy, the American leaders of the timeemphasized increasingly the role of foreign policy in solving domestic troublesand consciously initiated a broad program of sophisticated imperialism. Underlying that expansion, and sustaining it on into the 20th century, was thecentral idea that overseas economic expansion provided the sine qua non ofdomestic prosperity and social peace.4

The American intervention in the Dominican Republic in 1965, likethat in Indo-China at the present moment, are additional chapters thatcould be added?if that were necessary?to the imperialist history ofthe United States. The intervention in and occupation of Puerto Rico,which dates uninterruptedly from 1898, offers the most flagrant illustration of the perpetuation on our island of a classic form of colonialism,even though certain cosmetics have been applied with an end to cover

ing up itsmore visible blemishes.

The annexation of Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898 prompted an interesting debate in the metropolis, when the "status" of therecendy acquired overseas territory was considered by the Congress. Asa curious fact, it is noteworthy that the opposition to overseas expansiondid not come only from a few liberals who view with alarm the newimperialist role of the United States, but also from Southern racists whofeared that the incorporation of territories with a high percentage ofBlacks might eventually lead to their entrance into the Union as States.

2Walter La Feber. The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Exfansion 1860-1898 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1963), p. 91.8Richard W. Van Alstyne. The Rising American Emfire (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1965), p. 100.4William Appleman Williams. The Contours of American History (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1966), p. 355.223


5/14

The Massachusetts ReviewWhen the first organic law (which was to take effect in Puerto Ricoas of 1900) was being discussed in Congress, Senator Bate of Tennesseeexclaimed in protest:

Under this new order of expansion, what will happen with the Philippinesand Puerto Rico? Will they become states with representation here fromthose countries, from that heterogenous mass of half-breeds that makes uptheir citizenry? That is objectionable to the people of this country, as itshould be, and they will put a stop to it before it can be realized. Jefferson

was the greatest of the expansionists, but neither his example nor his precedent provide any justification of expansion over territory located on differentseas, over people incapable of self-government, over religions hostile to Christianity, and over savages addicted to cannibalism and head-hunting, as is thecase on some of these islands.5

If every representative to the Congress did not express himself with thesame frankness, it is indisputable that American messianism did notconceive that the recently acquired territories might be capable of rulingtheir own destinies. Racism, the Social Darwinism then in vogue, couldnot conceive that peoples like our own might be capable of managingtheir own affairs. It was necessary, therefore, to assume their guardianship, since some nations, like some men, had not yet reached their

maturity. Consequently, it was incumbent upon the countries made upof the superior races to lead them by the hand for their own good.So itwas in Puerto Rico. When General Nelson W. Miles issues hisfamous proclamation on assuming the military occupation of the island,his phrases are cloaked in the rhetoric of democracy. General Milesspoke of obtaining

for the inhabitants of Puerto Rico "the privileges andblessings of the liberal institutions of our government," but it is not until1900?two years later?that a civil government is established in PuertoRico. Puerto Rican leaders, who had had a brief taste of self-government under the "Charter of Autonomy" of 1897, were faced first withthe establishment of a military government and then with the adoptionof an organic law?not ratified until 1900?which in matters of government represents a retrogression for the Puerto Rican people.

The refusal to allow a more generous regime of self-government wasbased on the premise that we were not yet capable of governing ourselves. The author of the first organic law which will prevail in PuertoRico by an act of Congress from 1900 to 1917 says this with absoluteclarity in a speech before the Congress:

5Congressional Record, Senate, April 2, 1900, p. 3612.

224


6/14

Political Situation in Puerto RicoThe people of Puerto Rico differ radically from any other people for whomwe have legislated in the past. They have had a different experience, par

ticularly in matters of government. They have not had any experience which?by the light of the testimony given before our committee during the hear

ings that were held?qualifies them for the great task of organizing a government with all the important bureaus and departments which the people ofPuerto Rico need.6

Once that intention was declared, Puerto Rico was to remain subject to a regime of political inferiority which would last to the presentday. The scene is now set for the next act of economic penetration bypowerful American corporate interests. The application to Puerto Ricoof the import duties in force in the United States deals a severe blowto local agriculture. Devaluation of the currency by 40% of its originalvalue serves to secure American control of the economy: by a simplestroke of the pen it simultaneously reduces the value of all land and thepurchasing power of the Creoles. This devaluation?as Professor Jose

Antonio Herrero has recently indicated?has even more disastrous consequences for the Puerto Rican economy than the hurricane of 1899.

Deprived of its traditional European markets as a result of the newsituation created by the change in sovereignty, Puerto Rican coffeesuffers a severe blow from which it is never to recover.

According to the study carried out by the Diffles in 1931, by 1899native farmers were owners of 93% of the farms in Puerto Rico, withthe result that "a large number of people forming part of the ruralpopulation were owners of their own homes and were permanent residents of the island."7 Of the total land area of Puerto Rico?3,435square miles?41% was devoted to coffee, 15% to sugar cane, 32%to foodstuffs, and only 1% to the growing of tobacco. With the opening up of Puerto Rico to the economic penetration of the large American sugar consortiums, by 1930 44% of the total cultivable area on theisland was devoted to sugar production. During the first three decades

of United States colonial domination, absentee investment rose to$120,000,000.8 By the same period, 60% of the sugar production wascontrolled by four large foreign corporations; and much the same canbe said of tobacco (80%), public services and banks (60%), and

6 Speech of Hon. John B. Foraker of Ohio in the Senate of the UnitedStates (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1900), p. 6.7Bailey, W. Y. and Justine W. Diffie. Porto Rico: a Broken Pledge (NewYork: The Vanguard Press, 1931), pp. 21-22.8Harvey S. Peloff. Puerto Rico's Economic Future (University of ChicagoPress, 1950), p. 28.

225


7/14

The Massachusetts Reviewshipping companies (100%).9 As can be seen, the process of concentrating wealth in the hands of the large Yankee corporations convertedus into a

sugar-producing colony.This

single crop economy, moreover,created a vast rural proletariat that labored mercilessly for wages whichfell below the level of subsistence. The study undertaken by the Brookings Institution (1930), at the request of the colonial government itself, indicates that by that time Puerto Rico was "a community ofagricultural workers," and concludes by saying: "Generally speaking,birth, sickness, accident, and death are endured with little attempt atalleviation. In the mountain homes of the jibaro one all too often findsthat illness and suffering are accepted with an impotent fatalism."10This "impotent fatalism" which many colonialist ideologues attempted to attribute to our people's innate characteristics, was the direct resultof the conversion of Puerto Rico into a source for imperialist exploitation. If the Spanish had extracted profit through the use of slavery andother forms of servitude, it was now being extracted through the exploitation of cheap labor and the raw materials available in our country.

By the beginning of the thirties, the alienation of the Puerto Ricannational patrimony had reached a point where the nationalist leaderPedro Albizu Campos could say in 1932:

Yankee imperialism has led us morally to despise ourselves; materially, it hasconverted us from proprietors into peons, and from peons into beggars condemned to die.

At that moment a small group of the weak Puerto Rican bourgeoisiewas acting as intermediary between the island and the large Yankeesugar consortiums. Thus, just as in the 19th century, the essential flawof the Puerto Rican bourgeoisie becomes once more apparent. This lackof a nationally-oriented bourgeoisie has been a constant in the economicdevelopment of Puerto Rico and one of the primary supports of ourdependence. One could say of the Puerto Rican bourgeoisie what Fanonsays of the bourgeoisie in colonial and neo-colonial countries.

The national middle class [he writes] discovers its historic mission: that ofintermediary. Seen through its eyes, its mission has nothing to do with transforming the nation; it consists, prosaically, of being the transmission line between the nation and a capitalism, rampant though camouflaged, which today

9Dime, of. cit., p. 150.10Victor S. Clark (editor). Porto Rico and its Problems (Washington,D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1930), pp. 13, 21, 27, 37.226


8/14

Political Situation in Puerto Ricoputs on the mask of neo-colonialism. The national bourgeoisie will be quitecontent with the role of the Western bourgeoisie's business agent, and it willplay

itspart

withoutany complexes

in a mostdignified

manner. But this samelucrative role, this cheap-Jack's function, this meanness of outlook and thisabsence of all ambition symbolize the incapacity of the national middle classto fulfill its historic role of bourgeoisie. Here, the dynamic, pioneer aspect,the characteristics of the inventor and of the discoverer of new worlds whichare found in all national bourgeoisies are lamentably absent. In the colonialcountries, the spirit of indulgence is dominant at the core of the bourgeoisie;and this is because the national bourgeoisie identifies itself with the Westernbourgeoisie, from whom it has learnt its lessons. It follows the Westernbourgeoisie along its path of negation and decadence without ever havingemulated it in its first stages of exploration and invention, stages which arean acquisition of that Western bourgeoisie whatever the circumstances. In itsbeginnings, the national bourgeoisie of the colonial countries identifies itself

with the decadence of the bourgeoisie of the West. We need not think thatit is jumping ahead; it is in fact beginning at the end. It is already senile

before it has come to know the petulance, the fearlessness, or the will to succeed of youth.11

On the verge of the Great Depression, Puerto Rico finds itself underthe domination of a colonial regime whose principal collaborators belonged to this dependent bourgeoisie class which, in spite of itsweakness,

was nonetheless capable of acting as a sort of drive-shaft for metropolitical power. At the base of the social pyramid, on the other hand,there was the immense majority of the rural and urban proletariat anda petit bourgeoisie of professionals, intellectuals, small merchants, etc.

When the depression rocks the metropolitan economy, the crisis alsosends tremors through the foundations of the colonial regime prevailingin Puerto Rico. The depression underscores even more the true character of our colonial dependence and shatters the myths about the omnipotence of the United States. Nationalist radicalism gains considerableforce on the island and the empire decides to change its tactics by extending to Puerto Rico a whole series of economic aid programs which,

without fundamentally altering our colonial status, would, nevertheless,be broad enough to relieve somewhat the most flagrant injustices of thesystem. But that will be all. The structures capable of perpetuatingdependence along the lines of classical colonialism will remain in force.When in 1940 a reformist party using radical rhetoric comes to

11 Frantz Fanon. The Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove Press,1968), pp. 152-153.227


9/14

The Massachusetts Reviewexercise colonial power?the Popular Democratic Party led by LuisMuiioz Marin?the political situation in Puerto Rico has not changedone iota. Just as in 1900, the fundamental power affecting the PuertoRican nation resided in the Congress of the United States. From that

moment on, new forms of economic dependence begin to evolve withinthe old structural framework of the old political dependence.Indeed, the Popular Democratic Party will ride the crest of the waveof New Deal reformism which Franklin D. Roosevelt initiates in the

metropolis. From the very beginning, this appears to allay our people'snationalist yearnings and their desire for social justice.By 1948 the situation begins to take a different turn. The programknown as "Operation Bootstrap," whose general theory is to promotea program of industrialization for Puerto Rico, begins to take shape.To lay the foundation for this "hothouse capitalism" plans are made

to take maximum advantage of the special circumstances by which ourisland, although a territory of the United States, was, nonetheless,exempted from paying any taxes to the United States Treasury Depart

ment. Thus, the industrial tax exemption?under the direction ofTeodoro Moscoso, the first director of the Administration for EconomicDevelopment?is converted into one of the basic inducements for attracting (primarily American) capital to Puerto Rico. The other inducement was cheap labor. This is the beginning of the Administration for

Economic Development's program, which of course would be converted?together with the "suitable industrial climate"?into one of the prin

cipal attractions of our Puerto Rico. Companies establishing themselveson the island were exempt?for a period of up to 17 years?from pay

ment of any taxes to the Puerto Rican Treasury. As the reader can wellimagine, the return on investments was extraordinary. As recently as1966, The Wall Street Journal could rejoice in the following description of Puerto Rico as an investor's paradise:

The alarming rate of unemployment in Puerto Rico?estimated at between12 and 30%'?is helping to attract industry at a record pace from the United

States, where the labor shortage is currently severe. On the one hand, localincome and property taxes, as well as excise taxes and license fees, are oftensuspended for up to 17 years, depending on a company's product and on theextent to which it aids in the industrialization of the area. In addition, the

Puerto Rican government offers generous subsidies for everything from transportation to job-training.12

12The Wall Street Journal, December 27, 1966.

228


10/14

Political Situation in Puerto RicoThe emphasis on industrialization displaced the Puerto Rican agricultural sector. Deprived, moreover, of the tariff protection which

sovereign nations enjoy, this sector begins to fall into a precipitous decline from which it has not recovered to this day. The sugar industry,until 1940 our most important industry, today lies in ruins with thesystematic closing of one sugar mill after another. Coffee, tobacco, livestock, tropical fruits have all suffered the impact of this process of destruction of Puerto Rican agriculture. The dependent nature of oureconomy is, consequently, accentuated each time that, in the words ofProfessor Gordon K. Lewis, "Puerto Rico produces what it does notconsume and consumes what it does not

produce."The industrial sector's elephantine growth can be felt in the heavyconcentrations of population in urhan centers and in the slow but systematic depopulation of rural areas. What the Brookings report oncedescribed as "a community of agricultural workers" is anything butthat today. More than 60% of the Puerto Rican population today livesin urban areas. This rural-urban migration has?since the SecondWorld War?also manifested itself in the massive exodus of Puerto

Ricans to the United States. One of the policies of the Popular Democratic Party was to stimulate that emigration, justifying it on the basisof the so-called "escape valve" theory. A prominent Puerto Ricandemographer has called attention to the fact that this constitutes "oneof the largest exoduses of population ever recorded in history" and thatas a consequence "if we add to the total number of emigrants the number of children they would have had on the island had they stayed, wereach the conclusion that between 1940 and 1960, Puerto Rico lostabout one million people as a result of that mass migration." The samesource points out that during the decade of the 50's 70% of the migrants were between the ages of 15 and 39.13 This enormous displace

ment of the population has, of course, turned Puerto Rico into a countrywith a third of its people living outside its own borders. With an almostcriminal nonchalance the colonial government has decided to wash itshands of the whole emigrant question, and each day there embark hundreds of agricultural workers who will fatten a reserve army made upof the worst paid of all the workers in the metropolis.What has increased considerably with the program of "industrialization by invitation" has been the tertiary sector of the economy, that is,the bureaucratic and professional middle class which proliferates as a

13 Jose Luis Vazquez Calzada. "La emigracion puertorriquena: solucion oproblems," Revista de Ciencias Sociales, vol. VII, no. 4, diciembre 1963.

229


11/14

The Massachusetts Reviewconsequence of the new governmental programs. This class has becomean extremely important factor tending toward political conservatism,constituting, as it does, a prominent sector of the population in oururban areas, particularly in the larger cities. This class is, at the sametime, an essential support of a consumer economy which, in a countrythat under the circumstances hardly produces anything?more than90% of all essential articles in Puerto Rico have to be imported?follows patterns of consumption typical of the metropolitan middle class.If there is any class which has absorbed the imperialist worldview, itis the Puerto Rican middle class. If there is any sector of the PuertoRican population in which we find the phenomenon of alienation as aconsequence of colonialism, it is in this one.On the other hand, it is from the middle class that that stratum ofintellectuals whose concept of the world frequently clashes with thatupheld by the members of their own class comes. But this sector is anumerically small minority when compared to the enormous contingentformed by the inhabitants of the numerous suburbs which proliferatearound our large cities.

In large cities like San Juan the rural exodus to urban centers hasgiven rise to a whole slum population, so aptly described by the lateOscar Lewis in his book, La Vida. This marginal sector is of greatnumerical importance, particularly during elections for control ofthe municipality of San Juan. It is from the depths of that communitythat the urban "Lumpenproletariat"?a force which the present government has used very skillfully of late in its repression of the independence

movement?emerges.The industrialization of Puerto Rico has taken place primarily nearlarge urban centers. This has meant, perforce, the depopulation of thecountryside, with the result that we can already find in effect several"ghost towns" in the interior of the island, somewhat analogous to the"Dead Houses" which Miguel Otero Silva describes in one of his novelsabout Venezuela. This, in turn, has created an enormous disproportionbetween the standard of living in the city and that of the countryside.Unemployment?incredibly high in any case if we consider that it isestimated at 30%?reaches truly alarming proportions in some of thetowns in the interior of the island.

This situation of unemployment and underemployment, in additionto creating a vast army of labor reserves, is exploited by the government itself through such practices as the distribution of surplus foodprovided by the United States Department of Agriculture, which thepeople call "The Dole." According to statistics prepared by the De

230


12/14

Political Situation in Puerto Ricopartment of Agriculture, one out of every three people in Puerto Ricois a recipient of "The Dole." This, naturally, exacerbates the habit of

dependence,and is made to seem to be a

giftfrom the generous U.S.Without a doubt, a kind of labor aristocracy which enjoys relatively

high salaries does exist. But it constitutes a minority of the workingpeople who, in addition, are practically non-unionized?only 18% ofPuerto Rico's total work force belongs to any sort of labor organizationor union. This fact, as can be inferred, influences negatively the development of the class struggle and is a retarding factor with respect tothe demands of the working masses. This is, moreover, part of the overall

policy designedto

discourage theformation of labor unions, by

whichthe programs of the Office of Economic Development have been guided.

In attempting to outline above the general features of the PuertoRican economy and society, I indicated the essentially intermediarynature of the Puerto Rican bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeoisie. This becomes even more evident if we consider the fact that 78% of the companies established in Puerto Rico are American owned. The steps todispose of our national patrimony formerly undertaken by the sugarcompanies are now the work of the petro-chemical companies.At this moment a debate is taking place in Puerto Rico concerningthe eventual fate of the rich copper deposits located in the very centerof our island. These deposits?whose discovery represents a flat denialof the colonial thesis that we are a country without natural resources?have aroused the greed of the large copper extracting corporations forthat very rich vein in our national patrimony.

In any case, the problem remains the same: our people lack thepower to make those decisions which best serve their interests. Theconstricting framework of the colonial regime effectively circumscribesthe field of action open to the Puerto Rican people, placing them in astrait jacket which condemns them to immobility. Seventy-one yearshave passed, and the powers granted to the American Congress in1900?as outlined below by Yamil Galib in a report he presented in1965?are still in effect:By virtue of that unlimited power, the Congress [of the United States] recruits our young people and sends them off to war; determines, by meansof immigration laws, who can enter and leave our territory; maintains a federal court here which indicts and tries Puerto Ricans under federal laws;controls radio and television, and without its consent no transmitting towercan be erected nor any message be sent or received through these means ofcommunication. It censors books and works of art through its agents in thefederal customs, and it controls our commerce and our economy, in so far

231


13/14

The Massachusetts Reviewas it is able, by means of the monopoly it enjoys in the consumer market.It maintains an absolute and incredible control over maritime and air servicebetween the United States and Puerto Rico, which imposes

a surcharge onour country estimated at between 40 and 50 million dollars annually.

It has exclusive control of all matters dealing with bankruptcy, naturalization and citizenship. It holds unlimited power of expropriation of our landsand properties; and although it can be argued that this power has not alwaysbeen exercised abusively, the fact that there are no limits established to curbit is unmistakable proof that our territory and our wealth are at the mercyof and continue to be the possession and property of the United States.

It delegates our air and sea rights. It is solely responsible for the conductof our foreign affairs. It forbids us from fixing our own tariffs by virtue ofthe power granted to it under Article III of the Federal Relations Act, therebyreserving for itself the only weapon we might have used to protect our producers from ruinous competition with the extremely powerful producers ofthe United States. We, consequently, find ourselves in the paradoxical situation whereby a poor country buys at prices set by the richest country in the

world and whereby in that exchange of goods we accrue an annual unfavorable balance of trade which fluctuates between 250 and 300 million dollars?a balance which has been unfavorable for Puerto Rico since the Americansset foot on our soil.

Congress maintains control over the sugar industry. It does not allow us toparticipate in commercial treaties negotiated between the United States andother countries, not even with regard to those aspects of them which affectus adversely; it controls the mail system, and currency, and establishes thefundamental norms and regulations by which the banking industry must abide.It places its army, navy, and air force on the land, sea and in the air over

Puerto Rico without consulting us or seeking our consent, even for the sakeof maintaining the appearance of a system with democratic pretensions.

In short, it can be said that everything which directly or indirectly affectslife in Puerto Rico is in the hands of the Congress of the United States.

This domination exercised directly over those matters which determinethe life of Puerto Ricans makes us?not a neo-colony like the Dominican Republic or Haiti?but a colony in the classic sense of the word.

It could be maintained, moreover, that the classic outline of imperialism is perfectly applicable to our island. There is, on the one hand, themilitary intervention and occupation of the territory by a foreign power.This has been a reality in Puerto Rico since 1898. There is, on theother hand, the exploitation of the labor and natural resources of thecolonized country, under conditions unfavorable to that country. Thissituation of dependency is further accentuated by an insidious processof cultural assimilation which threatens to destroy Puerto Rican national

232


14/14

Political Situation in Puerto Ricoculture. It is this cultural offensive, aimed at the total eradication ofany sort of Puerto Rican national consciousness, which constitutes the

principal strategy of imperialism in Puerto Rico. For American culturalpenetration has had as its objective the alienation of the Puerto Ricanfrom his own culture and the breaking of his ties with Spanish-speakingcountries?particularly those of Latin America. It is this systematicprocess of cultural annihilation which constitutes the most insidious andonerous mechanism for perpetuating in Puerto Rico a colonial situationwhich stands out as an anachronism in our time. This will be the subject of a forthcoming study, but before closing, I would like to quotea

passage from Professor Gordon Lewis' book on Puerto Rico:From the very beginning, the Puerto Rican child has been taught Americanrather than Puerto Rican history. He grows and develops in a colonial at

mosphere, where the mass media has presented the masses with a culture thatis not their own and to which they have been taught to attribute everythingthat is worthwhile in their existence. Even the linguistic symbols of meritand authority are those of the dominant power. Thus, the Puerto Rican stu

dent still manages, only too frequently, to address his teacher as "Mr.",rather than maestro or frofesor, as if he were North American. And this isnot only applicable to the past for, as Rene Marques has pointed out, theinherited sense of helplessness in the individual Puerto Rican is still psychologically inculcated through modern methods of education that are somewhat

more subtle than those used previously. Since in colonial situations the responsibility for resolving the inconvenient aspects of communication between theruled and the rulers has always been per force that of the ruled, Puerto

Ricans have been compelled to learn English rather than the AmericansSpanish. The deprecation

of the local culture has encouraged a correspondingself-deprecation in the individuals that make it up. For some it has taken theform of a blind submission to the American style, expressed in an urgentdrive, frequently only half-understood by its victims, for identification withand incorporation into the elite of the governing power; the feelings of guiltthereby engendered have frequently been covered up by the device of identifying Puerto Rico with "Western Civilization" rather than with the UnitedStates, so that terms such as "the crisis of the West," "Western culture/'"the Free World" and so on play a therapeutic role in the psychology ofthat type of Puerto Rican. For others, on the other hand, the response to asituation so basically intolerable to sensitive spirits and so powerfully buttressed by all the institutions of the society, private and public, political andeconomic, has been a retreat into feelings of bitterness, inferiority, andchauvinism.

Translated by Seymour Pollock233

The political Situation in PR

Documents

Transcript of The political Situation in PR