Spring break is something most students look forward to long before they’re even in college. What could be more perfect than a temporary escape from academic responsibilities and winter blues with your friends in a tropical location? Puerto Rico was the destination of choice for my roommates and me this past week as we finally got to live out our spring break dreams. What we didn’t necessarily expect was how enlightening this experience would be for us.
We first flew into San Juan, the liveliest city we visited across the island. Serving as the capital of Puerto Rico, the city is home to several significant historical landmarks and monuments, including a fortress we visited called Castillo San Felipe del Morro. El Morro is a physical reminder of the centuries of conflict and colonization that have plagued Puerto Rico. Spain originally claimed the island, seeking its abundant resources and strategic location.
The sheer might and symbolism of the fortress inspired us to learn more about Puerto Rico’s history. We read that within the first few decades of Spanish colonization, the island’s resources and Indigenous peoples were soon exploited. The original population, the Taíno people, began to decline sharply due to disease, conflict, and forced labor under the encomienda system. Encomienda was a legal system in Spain’s American and Philippine colonies that enslaved Indigenous peoples. The Spanish Crown distributed Natives to colonizers under the condition that they provide labor and tributes, would be converted to Christianity, and would use Spanish as their primary language. They were often subjected to abuse and torture.
Spain’s rule in Puerto Rico lasted for 400 years until the United States took control of it as a territory following the Spanish-American War in 1898. Following this transition came a series of acts that politically and economically restructured Puerto Rico. The Foraker Act of 1900 created a limited civil government with a Puerto Rican House of Delegates, a U.S.-appointed governor, and an executive council. Furthermore, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship and the right to move freely across the U.S. under the 1917 Jones Act. This act, however, did not grant them all the rights of citizenship. Puerto Ricans are subject to the authority of the U.S. Congress and qualify for the U.S. military’s draft; however, they cannot vote in presidential elections, nor do they have voting representation in Congress.
In the following decades, there have been several attempts to industrialize Puerto Rico and clarify its status. Operation Bootstrap, introduced in 1947, was designed to attract businesses from the mainland with tax incentives and cheap labor. While this helped address poverty across the island, it also created an unshakeable reliance on American corporations. Likewise, several status referendum acts have been introduced to try to re-establish Puerto Rico’s status as a commonwealth, a state, or an independent nation. No referendum act has ever been passed, and the island remains a U.S. territory to this day.
Puerto Rico is also in significant debt, accumulating more than $70 billion, as a product of the economic model imposed on it by the United States. The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act was passed in 2016 to help restructure the economy and control the budget. This, however, has resulted in budget cuts for many essential services rather than addressing systemic issues that contribute to debt.
Puerto Rico may not be in a state of crisis, but it’s not thriving either. The island remains in limbo, with a unique culture and history distinct from that of mainland U.S., however, without the political and economic capital to stand alone as an independent nation. Economically, Puerto Rico is fragile and depends on support from the U.S. government. Recent damage to infrastructure caused by natural disasters has cemented this dependence. Socially, inequality and shifts in migration patterns persist. These challenges and an unclear political future make it difficult for Puerto Rico to make progress towards perhaps many Puerto Ricans’ dream of nationhood.
Regardless of this frustrating reality, our time in Puerto Rico showed us the resilience of Puerto Rican people and the inextinguishable vibrancy of its culture. After our time in San Juan, we traveled to South Puerto Rico to explore other cities like Yauco, Ponce, and Guayanilla to visit our roommate’s family. Within twenty minutes of leaving San Juan, the landscape changed drastically: the environment was lush and mountainous, iguanas crawled up and down the streets, and phone service went in and out. Yet regardless of where you find yourself across the island, you will always see brightly colored buildings and homes, kind faces with beaming smiles, and hear lively music playing on street corners.
Puerto Rico is not just a topic for debate in the halls of Congress or in university classrooms, or a “floating island of garbage” as once said by comedian Tony Hinchliffe. Instead, it is home to 3.2 million people who are deeply proud of their culture and history, and who are committed to making their island a safe, stable, and happy place to live. I will never forget the experience of being taught to play dominoes, a popular game in Puerto Rico, by my roommate’s family alongside my friends. My spring break in Puerto Rico taught me more than I ever could have imagined, and for that I am so thankful.