An American Imperialist?

I know that if I were to voice my pro-American opinions about the status of Puerto Rico, some Puerto Ricans would immediately label me as an imperialist that thinks that America can do no wrong.

I believe that Puerto Rico, in general, has an advantage to other Latin American countries to have its controversial relationship with the United States. A friend of mine told me that when the Spanish began granting autonomy in the late 1800s they gave more political freedoms to PR than the US. His argument is valid, others may disagree, but think for a minute about the time period. It was the late 1800's and Spain was on a free fall. . Between 1810 and the 1820s Spain saw at least 9 Latin American revolutions. Countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina wanted to brake free from the choke hold that the Spanish crown had placed on them. This is also a country that had a legitimate kingdom until the Spanish Civil war and put a dictator in power up to 1975. Basically, Spain was unstable.

In my opinion the Spanish failed miserably in developing Latin America. Why? Because they did not give a shit about it. The Spanish crown did not conquer with intentions to declare independence and create a new free nation. They came with the purpose to convert the natives, enslave them to expand the size of the church, and to extract as much wealth from the land as they could. There was never any sense of "liberty and justice for all."

The United States gave Puerto Rico a chance to succeed and compete in the world. Without US help where would it be? There has to be a problem with a country when it sends half of its population abroad. There are just as many Puerto Ricans that live stateside as there are on the island. Imagine 8 (give or take) million Puerto Ricans living on the island. The economy is already struggling, what would happen if you flooded it with about 4 million more people. The 12% unemployment rate would look good. I don't think Francisco Franco would have offered Puerto Rico a better option.

Therefor there must be some reconciliation done between the two parties. The US has abused PR and treated it as a second class state. For example, in the 1950s The US sterilized about 2/3 of the women to control the population, or the fact that Puerto Ricans are required to fill out that military service form when they turn 18, but can not vote. Or as I mentioned in the last blog, only 6 sitting presidents have visited the island.

It is a sweet and sour, love/hate, relationship with the United States. That is why there are three different political parties who each seek a drastic change for their country. It is why you have people who do not know whether they are American or hispanic. The Puerto Ricans must demand change and the US policy makers must listen.

Thank you for reading.