Independence movement in Puerto Rico
Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to obtain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire from 1493 to 1898 and since then from the United States.
A spectrum of pro-
A fourth referendum was held in
In the 2020 Puerto Rican general election, the Puerto Rican Independence Party achieved 13.6% of the vote, a significant increase in support from the 2016 Puerto Rican general election when it received only 2.1% of votes.[3][4]
Seeking independence from Spain
Revolts by the Taíno
Some
Puerto Ricans revolt
Several revolts against the Spanish rulers by the native born, or Criollos, occurred in the 19th century. These include the conspiracy at
Many Puerto Ricans became inspired by the ideals of Simón Bolívar to liberate South America from Spanish rule. Bolívar sought to create a federation of Latin American nations, to include Puerto Rico and Cuba. Brigadier General Antonio Valero de Bernabé, also known as "The Liberator from Puerto Rico", fought for the independence of South America together with Bolívar; he also wanted an independent Puerto Rico.
In 1868, the Grito de Lares took place, in which revolutionaries occupied the town of Lares and declared the independence of the Republic of Puerto Rico on September 23. Ramón Emeterio Betances was the leader of this revolt. Earlier, Segundo Ruiz Belvis and Betances had founded the Comité Revolucionario de Puerto Rico (Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico) from their exile in the Dominican Republic. Betances wrote several Proclamas, or statements attacking the exploitation of the Puerto Ricans by the Spanish colonial system, and called for immediate insurrection. These statements were rapidly circulated throughout the island as local dissident groups began to organize.
Most dissidents were Criollos (born on the island). The critical state of the economy, along with the increasing repression imposed by the Spanish, served as catalysts for the rebellion. The stronghold of the movement were towns located on the mountains of the west of the island. The rebels looted local stores and offices owned by peninsulares (Spanish-born residents) and took over the city hall. They took as prisoners Spanish merchants and local government officials. The revolutionaries placed their revolutionary flag (the first Puerto Rican flag) on the high altar of the church to signify that the revolution had begun.
In the next town,
In 1896, a group of residents of Yauco who supported independence joined forces to overthrow the Spanish government in the island. The group was led by Antonio Mattei Lluberas, a wealthy coffee plantation owner, and Mateo Mercado. Later that year, the local Civil Guard discovered their plans and arrested all those involved. They were soon released and allowed to return home.[16]
In 1897, Lluberas traveled to New York City and visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee, which included the exiled group from the 1868 Grito de Lares revolt. They made plans for a major coup in Puerto Rico.[17] Lluberas returned to Puerto Rico with a Puerto Rican flag to be flown at such coup.[18] The Mayor of Yauco, Francisco Lluch Barreras, learned of the planned uprising, and notified the island's Spanish governor. When Fidel Velez, one of the separatist leaders, learned that the word was out, he met with other leaders and forced them to begin the insurrection immediately.[18]
On March 24, 1897, Velez and his men marched towards Yauco, planning to attack the barracks of the Spanish Civil Guard, to gain control of their arms and ammunition. At arrival, they were ambushed by Spanish forces. When a firefight broke out, the rebels quickly retreated. On March 26, a group headed by Jose Nicolas Quiñones Torres and Ramon Torres fought Spanish colonial forces (mostly island men) in a barrio called Quebradas of Yauco, but were overcome.[18] The government arrested more than 150 rebels, charged them with various crimes against the state, and sent them to prison in the City of Ponce.[19] These attacks became known as the Intentona de Yauco (Attempted Coup of Yauco). It was the first time that the flag of Puerto Rico was flown on the island.[20][21]
Velez fled to St. Thomas where he lived in exile. Mattei Lluberas went into exile in New York City, joining a group known as the "Puerto Rican Commission".[19]
Spanish Charter of Autonomy
After four hundred years of colonial rule by the
Seeking independence from the United States
A few months later, the United States claimed ownership of the island as part of the
Several years after leaving office, in 1913
American professor and activist
Taking Puerto Rico was seen as a part of American "Manifest destiny."[33] The American government supported American corporations with military force on occasion.
A number of leaders, including a well-known intellectual and legislator called José de Diego, sought independence from the United States via political accommodation. On June 5, 1900, President William McKinley named De Diego, together with Rosendo Matienzo Cintrón, José Celso Barbosa, Manuel Camuñas, and Andrés Crosas to an Executive Cabinet under U.S.-appointed Governor Charles H. Allen. The Executive Cabinet also included six American members.[34]
De Diego resigned from the position in order to pursue independence. In 1904, he co-founded the
The newly created Puerto Rico
Through the 1930s, U.S. banking interests and corporations expanded their control of lands throughout Latin America.[25]
Formation of the Nationalist Party
Part of a series on the |
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party |
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The main political parties in Puerto Rico have supported a continuing relationship with the United States and been supported by the electorate. By the 1940s voters had elected a majority of Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) members in the legislature. In 1952 they voted by nearly 82% in support of the new constitution of the Estado Libre Associado or Commonwealth. Sixty years later, a majority of those who voted on the second question of a 2012 referendum, to indicate what type of arrangement they preferred, voted to seek admission as a state into the United States. 61.16% voted for statehood, 33.34% voted for free association and 5.49% voted for independence. Hundreds of thousands of voters abstained from the question, so the proportion of voters for statehood was actually 45% of the total eligible electorate rather than a majority.[38]
In 1919, Puerto Rico had two major organizations that supported independence: the Nationalist Youth and the Independence Association. Also in 1919,
On May 11, 1930, Pedro Albizu Campos was elected president of the Nationalist Party. Under his leadership, in the 1930s the party became the largest independence movement in Puerto Rico. But, after disappointing electoral outcomes and strong repression by the territorial police, by the mid-1930s Albizu opted against the electoral political process. He advocated violent revolution as the means to achieve independence.
In 1932, the pro-independence
By 1932 Luis Muñoz Rivera's son, Luis Muñoz Marín, had also joined the Liberal Party. Muñoz Marín was eventually the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
During the 1932 elections, the Liberal Party faced the Alliance, then a coalition of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico and
Muñoz Marín and his followers, who included Felisa Rincón de Gautier and Ernesto Ramos Antonini, held an assembly in the town of Arecibo to found the
External videos | |
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Newsreel scenes of the Ponce Massacre here |
During the 1930s and 1940s, Nationalist partisans took part in violent incidents:
- On April 6, 1932, Nationalist partisans marched into the Capitol building in San Juan to protest the legislative proposal to approve the present Puerto Rican flag, the official flag of the insular government. Nationalists preferred the flag used during the Grito de Lares.
- On October 24, 1935, a confrontation with police at Río Piedras campus, killed four Puerto Rican Nationalist Party supporters and one policeman. The event came to be known as the Río Piedras massacre.
- On February 23, 1936, Colonel Elisha Francis Riggs, formerly of the US Army and the highest police officer in the island, was assassinated in retaliation for the Río Piedras events by Nationalists Hiram Rosado and Elías Beauchamp. Rosado and Beauchamp were arrested, and summarily executed without a trial at the police headquarters in San Juan.[41]
- On March 21, 1937, a march in Ponce by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, organized to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico, resulted in the deaths of 17 unarmed citizens and 2 policemen at the hands of the territorial police, an event known as the Ponce massacre.
- In 1936, the U.S. Senator Millard Tydings presented a legislative proposal to grant independence to Puerto Rico, but many people believed that it had unfavorable economic conditions.[42][43] Barceló and the Liberal Party favored the Bill, because it would give Puerto Rico its independence; Muñoz Marín opposed the Bill because he wanted Puerto Rico's immediate independence but with favorable conditions.[40]
- On July 25, 1938, shots were fired at the US colonial governor, Blanton Winship during a parade; they killed Police Colonel Luis Irizarry. Soon afterward, two Nationalist partisans attempted to assassinate Robert Cooper, judge of the Federal Court in Puerto Rico. Winship tried to suppress the Nationalists.
- On June 10, 1948, the United States-appointed Governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero, signed into law a bill passed by the Puerto Rican Senate, which was controlled by elected PPD representatives. It prohibited discussion of independence, militant independence activism, and significantly curtailed other Puerto Rican independence activities. The Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law) also made it illegal to sing a patriotic song, and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the Flag of Puerto Rico, with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 (equivalent to $127,000 in 2023), or both.
Events under Commonwealth status
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Newsreel scenes in Spanish of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party revolts of the 1950s here |
The Puerto Rican independence movement took new measures after the Free Associate State was authorized. On October 30, 1950, with the new autonomist Commonwealth status about to go into effect, multiple Nationalist uprisings occurred, in an effort to focus world attention on the Movement's dissatisfaction with the new commonwealth status.
They catalyzed roughly a dozen skirmishes throughout Puerto Rico including
Acknowledging the importance of the question of Puerto Rican status, Truman supported a
In the
In the 1960s, the United States received international condemnation for holding onto the world's oldest colony.
Political support
A number of social groups, political parties, and individuals worldwide have supported the concept of Puerto Rican independence. On the island itself, it is a fringe but intense movement, with the Washington Post reporting that "calls for Puerto Rico's independence have existed since the days of Spanish colonial rule and continued after the United States seized control of the island in 1898 ... although many Puerto Ricans express deep patriotism for the island, the independence impulse has never translated in the polls."[54]
The
Minority parties have expressed different positions: in 2005,
During the summit of the
Other individuals and groups supporting Puerto Rican independence have included: poet
In March 2023, Cuba reiterated its commitment to self-determination and independence of the people of Puerto Rico.[69]
20th century to present
Levinson and Sparrow in their 2005 book suggest the
Founded in 1922, the
In the mid-century, the "Cointelpro program" was a project conducted by the United States
In the 21st century, a majority of Independentistas seek to achieve independence either through peaceful political means or violent revolutionary actions. The Independence Party has elected some legislative candidates, but in recent elections has not won more than a small percentage of votes for its gubernatorial candidates (2.04% in 2008) or the legislative elections (4.5-5% of the island-wide legislative vote in 2008).[73]
In March 2023, a diaspora group petitioned the United States Congress to create an American-Puerto Rican Commission to promote the decolonization and independence of Puerto Rico from the United States of America.[74]
In April 2023, Puerto Rico's Status Act, which seeks to resolve its territorial status and relationship with the United States through a binding plebiscite at the federal level, was reintroduced in the House by Democrats.[1].
United Nations' view
Since 1953, the United Nations has been considering the Political status of Puerto Rico and how to assist it in achieving "independence" or "decolonization". In 1978, the Special Committee determined that a "colonial relationship" existed between the US and Puerto Rico.[75]
Note that the UN's Special Committee has often referred to Puerto Rico as a nation in its reports, because, internationally, the people of Puerto Rico are often considered to be a Caribbean nation with their own national identity.[76][77][78] Most recently, in a June 2016 report, the Special Committee called for the United States to expedite the process to allow self-determination in Puerto Rico. More specifically, the group called on the United States to expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence: "allow the Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a sovereign manner, and to address their urgent economic and social needs, including unemployment, marginalization, insolvency and poverty".[79]
2012 status referendum
In a status referendum in 2012, which had a two-part vote, 5.5% voted for independence.[1][2] Analysts noted that the results were ambiguous because of issues related to the structure of questions and supporters of the commonwealth status urging voters to abstain from voting on the second question. Journalist Roque Planas, co-founder of the Latin American News Dispatch, wrote as an editor in HuffPost:
the referendum consisted of two questions. First, it asked voters if they wanted to keep their current U.S. commonwealth status. Dissatisfaction emerged victorious with 52 percent of the vote. The referendum then asked if voters wanted to become a U.S. state, an independent country, or a freely associated state -- a type of independence in close alliance with the United States. Some 61 percent of those who answered the second question chose statehood. That 61 percent wasn't the majority, however. Over 470,000 voters intentionally left the second question blank, meaning that only 45 percent of those casting ballots supported statehood.[80]
Similarly, as reported by the
the referendum on the island's future was, in fact, a two-part vote that actually revealed that most want an end to the status quo, but not necessarily statehood ... And the results were: 809,000 votes for statehood, only 73,000 for independence, and 441,000 for sovereign free association ... So statehood did not actually receive 61% of the vote — until you ignore the nearly half a million people who cast blank ballots.[81]
In October 2013, The Economist reported on the island economy's "dire financial straits."[82] Referring to the 2012 referendum, it said that "Puerto Rico is unlikely to become a state any time soon. Because the island remains a territory, the decision is ultimately out of boricuas' hands ... the legislature is highly unlikely to prioritise a Puerto Rican statehood bill ... the Republican Party would surely use every tactic at its disposal to block a statehood bill," as the island voters have been overwhelmingly supportive of Democratic Party presidential candidates and could be expected to vote for the same party for Congressional seats if statehood were approved by Congress.[82]
The
2017 status referendum
The previous plebiscites provided voters with three options: statehood, free association, and independence. The 2017 referendum offered three options: Statehood, Commonwealth and Independence/Free Association. If the majority vote for the latter, a second vote will be held to determine the preference: full independence as a nation or associated free state status with independence but with a "free and voluntary political association" between Puerto Rico and the United States.[84]
The White House Task Force on Puerto Rico offers the following specifics: "Free Association is a type of independence. A compact of Free Association would establish a mutual agreement that would recognize that the United States and Puerto Rico are closely linked in specific ways as detailed in the compact. Compacts of this sort are based on the national sovereignty of each country, and either nation can unilaterally terminate the association."[85] The content of the Compact of Free Association might cover topics such as the role of the US military in Puerto Rico, the use of the U.S. currency, free trade between the two entities, and whether Puerto Ricans would be U.S. citizens.[86]
Former Governor Ricardo Rosselló was strongly in favor of statehood to help develop the economy and help to "solve our 500-year-old colonial dilemma ... Colonialism is not an option . ... It's a civil rights issue ... 3.5 million citizens seeking an absolute democracy," he told the news media.[87] Benefits of statehood include an additional $10 billion per year in federal funds, the right to vote in presidential elections, higher Social Security and Medicare benefits, and a right for its government agencies and municipalities to file for bankruptcy. The latter is currently prohibited.[88]
At approximately the same time as the referendum, Puerto Rico's legislators voted on a bill that allows the Governor to draft a state constitution and hold elections to choose senators and representatives to the federal Congress. Regardless of the outcome of the 2017 referendum and the bill, action by the United States Congress will be necessary to implement changes to the status of Puerto Rico under the Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution.[88]
See also
- Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007
- Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence
- Latin America-United States relations
- Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Puerto Rico)
- Puerto Rico (proposed state)
- Proposed political status for Puerto Rico
- Sovereigntism (Puerto Rico)
- Special Committee on Decolonization
- United Nations list of non-self-governing territories
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With my vote, I make the initial request to the Federal Government to begin the process of the decolonization through: (1) Free Association: Puerto Rico should adopt a status outside of the Territory Clause of the Constitution of the United States that recognizes the sovereignty of the People of Puerto Rico. The Free Association would be based on a free and voluntary political association, the specific terms of which shall be agreed upon between the United States and Puerto Rico as sovereign nations. Such agreement would provide the scope of the jurisdictional powers that the People of Puerto Rico agree to confer to the United States and retain all other jurisdictional powers and authorities. Under this option the American citizenship would be subject to negotiation with the United States Government; (2) Proclamation of Independence, I demand that the United States Government, in the exercise of its power to dispose of territory, recognize the national sovereignty of Puerto Rico as a completely independent nation and that the United States Congress enact the necessary legislation to initiate the negotiation and transition to the independent nation of Puerto Rico. My vote for Independence also represents my claim to the rights, duties, powers, and prerogatives of independent and democratic republics, my support of Puerto Rican citizenship, and a "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" between Puerto Rico and the United States after the transition process
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Further reading
- Historia del Movimiento Pro Independencia--antecesor historico del MINH. Wilma E. Reverón Collazo. Introducción a la historia del MPI en el 160 Aniversario del Natalicio de Eugenio María de Hostos. Capaprieto /Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano - Mayagüez. Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. 11 January 1999. Retrieved 4 Juna 2011.
- Go, J. (2000). "Chains of Empire, Projects of State: Political Education and U.S. Colonial Rule in Puerto Rico and the Philippines." Comparative Studies in Society and History, 42(2), 333-362.
- Mireya Navarro (November 28, 2003). "New Light on Old F.B.I. Fight; Decades of Surveillance of Puerto Rican Groups". The New York Times.