Puerto Rico

The island of puerto rico is a U.S. Commonwealth in the Caribbean. When Christopher Columbus landed in 1493 on his second voyage to the Americas, he found a population of approximately 50,000 Taino-Arawak Indians. Spanish colonization began in 1508. Native peoples were enslaved, forced to extract gold or work on plantations, and devastated by disease, violence, and maltreatment. Subsequently, African slaves supplied labor for the island's sugar plantations from 1513 until slavery was outlawed in 1873. Sugar continued to dominate the island's economy until the 1940s.

The island was under Spanish control until it was ceded to the United States in 1898. After a period of U.S. military occupation, the Foraker Law in 1900 established a civilian government. The island was minimally developed until the 1950s when “Operation Bootstrap” tax incentives were given to companies that transferred to the island, encouraging transition from agriculture to industrial development. Migrants were drawn to urban centers by wage employment and pushed out of rural areas by difficult economic times. The island has depended on food imports ever since. Industrial development has also led to increases in water pollution. However, as a result of rural to urban migration, Puerto Rico also experienced spontaneous reforestation. The island is the site of extensive U.S. Forest Service research on tropical forest ecology.

Rapid economic growth on the island in the early 1990s is attributed largely to additional corporate tax incentives. Manufacturing facilities for large pharmaceutical companies were established in this period. President Bill Clinton began a 10-year phase [Page 1450]out of these tax breaks starting in 1995, as they were seen as detrimental to industry in the south of the continental United States. However, companies were also enticed by Puerto Rico's educated, bilingual workers, who are paid lower wages than on the mainland. Many pharmaceutical companies expect to remain on the island even under its new tax laws.

Although Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917 and freely enter the mainland, they cannot vote in presidential elections. More than 50 percent of Puerto Ricans currently live on the mainland and many send remittances home. Puerto Rican pride can be likened to nationalism, regardless of the political status of their homeland. The island's resident commissioner in the House of Representatives has voting power in committees, but not on the floor of Congress. While in recent plebiscites there has been majority support for maintaining commonwealth status, an almost equal portion of Puerto Rican society desires statehood. Transition to statehood would likely require significant investment to bring the island on par with the other states. While less than 5 percent of Puerto Ricans voted in recent referendums to support independence, there was widespread condemnation of the 2005 assassination by federal agents of an island dissident who supported autonomy.

Vieques, a small island to the east of Puerto Rico and under its administration, was used for U.S. military maneuvers from the end of World War II until 2003. Frequent practice bombing just miles away from the local population of nearly 10,000 has led to public health problems, such as psychological trauma and high cancer rates. Portions of Vieques have been listed as a Superfund site because of hazardous military substances left in the soil, including depleted uranium, heavy metals, and pesticides.

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