3 A History of Perennial Colonization (and Resistance)

1. History of Uninterrupted Colonization

To be able to focus in only one topic that exemplifies what the Caribbean islands have had to struggle with for decades (if not centuries), the participants of this seminar will go over Puerto Rico’s history of perennial colonization and resistance.

To best understand the history of Puerto Rico, participants will study the origins and effects of the political status as an “unincorporated territory” thorough this brief, but rich, video. The legal status of Puerto Rico has not only negatively affected the island culturally and in terms of its identity, but also economically by thwarting it from reaching its greatest potential as in the aftermaths of hurricane María.

Like the Puerto Rico Syllabus website (developed by The Center for the Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College) puts it, “this colonial and imperial doctrine maintains Puerto Rico as a separate and unequal territory. Proof of this is the fact that Puerto Rico’s economy was developed, not as a diversified economy with sustainable growth patterns, but as an economy of dependence.”

To discuss the development of Puerto Rico and its Discontents, participants in this seminar may also watch the shorts Mi Santa Mirada (2015), Progreso (2005) and Operation Bootstrap (1983). Through these movies, students will be able to discuss critically the US-promotes policies “meant to promote industrial progress, but that only served U.S. interests. Thus, Puerto Rico has had an inefficient economic model, which fostered the public debt, yet it continues to depend on the United States’ policies for solutions to the financial collapse,” as the mentioned Puerto Rico Syllabus website (PRS) states it.

2. The Debt

Something students would have the opportunity to discuss are the origins of Puerto Rico’s $72B debt. “In terms of the debt’s origins and legality, the Puerto Rican government’s money mismanagement is discussed, as well as the colonial economic system’s sanction of “vulture” hedge funds to prey on Puerto Rico,” one can read on the PRS. To think of all of this, participants may watch both the La generación del estanbai en Puerto Rico documentary (2017) and this Democracy Now!’s episode on Puerto Rico’s external debt, and listen to the Radio Ambulante Podcast’s episode on the same topic.

3. Soveregnity and Identity

Other topic that is worth analyzing is identity. And in the context of the debt crisis, Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló determined that a plebiscite was required to solve the Island’s colonial condition and fiscal crises. “Although statehood won, many opposition parties boycotted the election and the validity of the plebiscite was questioned by the federal government,” explains the PRS. And get a conversation on it, there is a manifold of resources ranging from the Al Jazeera-produced Should Puerto Rico Become the 51st State? (2017) to The 1A’s podcast episode on the same question to even memes on the same topic.

4. History of Resistances

Students would get familiar to some newly-formed activist groups, such as Campamento Contra la Junta, #SeAcabaronLasPromesas, and Frente Ciudadano por la Auditroía de la Deuda.

Participants can analyze the song PARAMOS: Paro nacional de Puerto Rico (2017) and read this article as well as the following texts on different resistance movement’s proposals on how to get away from the crisis. Here’s the proposal by the Colectiva Feminsita en Construcción and here another one by the feminist movement called Moriviví located in the Bronx, NY. In here students can find the way a protest took place in New York City. Artists also responded with sort of manifesto as can be seen hereand here too. Students can also look at this photo exhibit that built a metaphor of an island drowning in water/debt.

And outside the island, the Puerto Rico Diaspora Summit, which has its own unit, brought academics, politicians, and activists together to organize the Diaspora and find solutions to the Island’s economic struggles.

5. Hurricane Maria

This is how Wikipedia describes it, “Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths.[1][2] It is the deadliest and costliest hurricane to strike the island of Puerto Rico, and is the deadliest hurricane to strike the country of Dominica and the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

Here students could see the deadly consequences of it and its horrific aftermaths. Among other texts students could read are a text on the island without electricity for long weeks and this video on the scarcity of basic goods as food and water.

6. Latest Mobilizations and Social Unrest

One of the most important recent social mobilizations in the island was the one several social movements and the population in general set in motion against the governor, Ricardo Roselló, after a leak of the conversations he’d had on a chat as participants can read in this PDF file with the transcriptions. What happened then?

A series of mobilizations that can be seen in this video as well as in this article on the way feminist movements led the protests in the streets of San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico.

The other social mobilization that’s become key is the one that turned out to be led by the famous singer Bad Bunny and his song El apagón (2022). This became so important not only for the fact that it’s about an internationally known artist but for what it points out is the bills passed by the American Congress that encourage Americans to buy properties in the island at risible prices –thus promoting gentrification and expulsion of Puerto Ricans.

As the PRS points out, this song and what it permits to discuss is a critical cultural text for it intersects “economic crisis, aftermath of disasters, and privatization and austerity measures on the lives of Puerto Ricans, especially in relation to issues of gentrification, displacement, and energy infrastructure.”

Students can start reading this article and this one; both break down the gentrification process in the island. By means of this podcast students will meet a testimony of the way people have been severely affected by this policy. They’ll also find out also, in this article and in this one, why the Bunny’s song became so powerful for the social mobilization.

This podcast points out directly to the main takeaway from all of what’s been built, in terms of the consciousness wakening, in the island since the Bad Bunny’s song was rolled out onwards. And a very good way to connect with the consequences of it is this video on a protest organized by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in NY whose members spoke out against the tax exemption for Americans to buy properties in the island.

Open Resources

“Colectiva Feminista en Construcción: ‘Desplazadas Nunca Más’.” Étnica. https://www.revistaetnica.com/blogs/news/manifiesto-desplazadas-nunca-mas. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Darkness: life in Puerto Rico without electricity.” Vox. 23 Oct 2017. https://www.vox.com/2017/10/23/16501164/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-power-water-sewage-trump. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Debt.” Radio Ambulante. 20 Dec 2016. https://radioambulante.org/en/audio-en/debt Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“El Apagón”. Youtube. By Bad Bunny. 16 Sep 2022. https://youtu.be/1TCX_Aqzoo4?si=fF60-cEH_cnP-c51. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

Espada, Mariah. “Influencers, Developers, Crypto Currency Tycoons: How Puerto Ricans Are Fighting Back Against the Outsiders Using the Island as a Tax Haven.” Time. 21 Apr 2021. https://time.com/5955629/puerto-rico-tax-haven-opposition/ Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Hurricanes, Puerto Rico, and Bad Bunny’s El Apagón.” The Takeaway. 29 Sep 2022. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/hurricanes-puerto-rico-protest. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“‘I will fight for my island’ — Puerto Rican artists on territory’s future.” PBS News Weekend. 18 Mar 2017. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/puerto-rican-artists-future. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

Jackson, Jhoni. “Young Boricuas Have Been Camped Out For a Month Protesting PROMESA. Meet the Faces Behind the Movement.” Remezcla. 27 Jun 2016. https://remezcla.com/features/culture/campamento-contra-la-junta-puerto-rico/. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

—. “Powerful Photo Series ‘Puerto Ricans Underwater’ is a Biting Metaphor For an Island Drowning in Debt.” Remezcla. 28 Nov 2016. https://remezcla.com/features/culture/puerto-ricans-underwater-photos-adal-maldonado./. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Juan González on How Puerto Rico’s Economic ‘Death Spiral’ is Tied to Legacy of Colonialism.” Democracy Now!  26 Nov 2015. https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2015/11/26. Accesed 12 Feb 2024.

“La generación del estanbai en Puerto Rico.” Directed by Juan C. Dávila. Vimeo. 12 Jan 2017. https://vimeo.com/199121096. Accessed 16 Feb 2024.

“Lines grow at supermarkets and airports in storm-hit Puerto Rico.” Youtube. Uploaded by Rappler. 26 Sep 2027. https://youtu.be/XHLRqIzYWHc?si=uuMumkZl9paal1zT. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

Loíza, Lola Rosario. “Meet disaster gentrification: The other face of Puerto Rico’s devastating hurricanes.” Green Left. 20 Jan 2023. https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/meet-disaster-gentrification-other-face-puerto-ricos-devastating-hurricanes. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Memes sobre la estadidad en P.R. inundan las redes.” Metro. 7 Jun 2017. https://www.metro.pr/pr/insolito/2017/06/07/memes-la-estadidad-inundan-las-redes.html. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Mi santa mirada.” Youtube. Directed by Aponte Centeno, Álvaro. Uploaded 18 Sep 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMs0tZ-MCZU Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

Mora, Steph Amaya. “Gringo Go Home: Puerto Ricans push back against wave of wealthy gentrifiers.” Pulso. 21 Sep 2022. https://projectpulso.org/2022/09/21/solutions-series-housing/. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

Morales, Ed. “Feminists and LGBTQ Activists Are Leading the Insurrection in Puerto Rico.” The Nation. 2 Aug 2019. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/puerto-rico-insurrection-feminists-lgbtq/. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Operation Bootstrap.” Directed by Susan Zeig and Pedro A. Rivera. Youtube. 31 May 2006. https://youtu.be/HtDbwqW294c?si=FaYAnTpQP5R73TFy Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“PARAMOS: Paro nacional de Puerto Rico.” Youtube. Uploaded by NAIZ MUSIC. 4 May 2917. https://youtu.be/3o1XxXgUiWI?si=0dDXEUcr2-y1DuHQ. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Paro Nacional PR 2017 desde New York.” Youtube. Uploaded by Teatro 20. 1 May 2027. https://youtu.be/MpWwsy7maj0?si=mLUq8byN59EqXJz7 Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Perreo combativo.” Vimeo. Uploaded by Karla Claudia Betancourt. 25 Jul 2019. https://vimeo.com/350139441. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Plena Puertoriqueña ‘Volando hermosa nuestra bandera’.” Youtube. Uploaded by The Cyclone. 14 Dec 2017. https://youtu.be/cu3426Bdok0?si=gxLC5Fb6Mt5U83Uw. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Progreso.” Youtube. Directed by José Morales. Youtube. Uploaded by Anselmo Oyemira. 17 Jul 2011. https://youtu.be/ACtM0lPcbBo?si=CO7cajXNezPuFf2Y Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Propuesta de la Colectiva Feminista en Construcción al pueblo de Puerto Rico.” 80 Grados. 5 May 2017. https://www.80grados.net/propuesta-de-la-colectiva-feminista-en-construccion-al-pueblo-de-puerto-rico/. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Should Puerto Rico Become the 51st State?” Al Jazeera. 4 Jun 2017. https://youtu.be/sB7NN0sg2sQ?si=M6s4-CLDn0YMdO-J Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“The Beaches Belong to the People.” La Brega. 23 Mar 2023. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/la-brega/articles/olas-y-arenas-beaches-belong-people. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“The Last Colony. A Brief History of Puerto Rico’s Status.” Youtube. Uploaded by Juan A. Márquez. 29 Den 2015. https://youtu.be/zz830ga1dUs?si=5TW0dZzyVb0NbueJ. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“The Tax Paradise: Puerto Rican Voices. Youtube. Uploaded by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. 2 May 2023. https://youtu.be/VDnLC6oKEw8?si=iHjeWKlZZHnXoc9D. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“The 51st State?” The 1A. 13 Jun 2017. https://the1a.org/segments/2017-06-13-the-51st-state/ Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

Vargas, Andrew S. “All-Female Puerto Rican Art Collective Moriviví Recreated Controversial “Puerta de La Bandera” Protest Art in NYC.” Remezcla. 26 Jun 2026. https://remezcla.com/culture/colectivo-morivivi-black-puerto-rico-flag-mural-nyc-el-barrio/. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“¿Y Ahora Que? — Artists respond to the economic crisis in Puerto Rico.” Medium. 11 dec 2016. https://medium.com/artists-and-puerto-rico/visuals-for-how-artists-respond-to-puerto-rico-economic-climate-65129b8b370c. Accessed 12 Feb 2024.

“Yes, Puerto Ricans Are American Citizens.” The Conversation. 2 Mach 2017. https://theconversation.com/yes-puerto-ricans-are-american-citizens-73723 Accessed 12 Feb 2024.