Edited to correct my poor geography -- confusing the Dominian Republic and Puerto Rico's relationship to Haiti.
My Senator, Bill Nelson, posted a criticism on FB of Governor Rick Scott his opponent in the upcoming election, saying he (Scott) wasn’t sure what he would have done differently to aid Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria’s devastation. He (Nelson) then went on to talk about how the citizens of Puerto Rico are suffering still, while also pointing out the news is reporting the actual death toll from the storm could be 10-times greater than initially reported by the government of the island. Clearly, Senator Nelson is playing to a significant voting block in Florida with these statements, but it started me thinking about the island and our relationship with it.
For those who weren’t there at the time, or who may have slept through Mr. Sanford’s 10th-grade history class let’s review how we came to be associated with this little island.
Back when we believed in Manifest Destiny and the sugar barons ruled the economy they argued the Spanish were a thorn in our side, so we found an excuse to go to war with them and hopefully resolve the whole “who’s in charge of what” in the Western Hemisphere. We didn’t like what Spain was doing in Cuba, and we (mostly Republicans) thought we should have our own colonies. Like any good war we needed a rallying cry, and, for some reason, the state of Maine was asked to blow up its battleship. Fortunately for us, they did so in the harbor of Havana Cuba and off we went with the plea “Remember - The Maine.”
As wars go, it wasn’t much of a war. Spain wasn’t really up to a big fight and when we defeated the Spanish fleets in the Caribbean and the Philippines, and they saw the whites of Teddy Roosevelt’s eyes (oh wait, wrong war), they gave up and gave us a bunch of stuff we could call our own. In the treaty ending the war, they renounced all right to Cuba, ceded us Guam and Puerto Rico, and sold us the Philippines at the bargain basement price of $20 million. The rest, as they say, is history.
To bring us up to modern times, the oppressive Spanish dictatorship of Cuba was overthrown and replaced by a few oppressive Cuban dictatorships backed by the criminal underworld we created with Prohibition, which in turn was overthrown by a communist (oppressive) dictatorship in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Philippines was granted their independence at the end of the Second World War and has had a kind of up and down experience with democracy and rebellions since then. Guam and Puerto Rico have pretty much remained colonies (unincorporated territories if that sounds better) of the US since Spain moved out. As such, they have limits on their self-rule and autonomy, but on the bright side are not subject to the same taxation requirements placed on the fifty states by the Federal government.
Although both Guam and Puerto Rico share common status, let’s forget about Guam for a while, they are way over on the other side of the world and except for an occasional Georgia (Democratic) Congressman’s concern over the island tipping over if we put too many military personnel on it we (the Congress) don’t give them too much thought other than to reflect on where America’s day starts.
But Puerto Rico is much closer with far more emigres settling here in the states than Guamanians. As an unincorporated territory, the citizens of Puerto Rico have a legal right to come to the 50 states and settle down as full citizens. They actually have more rights here than they do in their homeland, but they also are subject to that whole taxation thing.
The confusing thing is they seem to want it both ways. They field their own Olympic team and want their own seat at the UN, but when it comes to voting for independence they don’t seem that anxious to change. It is as if they want all the stuff the US government can do for them, but like most of us if they can get it for free why would they change?
The Congress and the US Courts have wrestled for years with what kind of relationship should exist between the US and its territory. The citizens of Puerto Rico have held a number of referendums on the same subject. Since WW2 there have been at least three referendums with regard to the island's status. In the 1998 vote, the citizens were given the choice of statehood, commonwealth, independence and none of the above. The majority voted for none of the above, effectively saying maintain the current status. In 2012 they again voted, this time choosing statehood, but over 500,000 blank ballots left the vote in question so the Congress chose to ignore the vote.
There are two parties today in PR, the Partido Popular Democratcio, or Popular Democratic Party (PPD) and the Partido Nuevo Progrsista, or New Progressive Party (PNP). The PPD has been the party in power since at least 1998, and while promising to seek a change in status has actually worked to maintain the status quo. One could speculate that the graft and corruption evident in the post Hurricane Maria recovery effort is one reason why. The PNP has promised to push for statehood, but so far, as is seen in the 2012 referendum they’ve not really had much success. Cynically, I would suggest even if they were to become the party in power there is a fundamental concept in the Caribbean and South American politics that would ensure little changes; specifically, the idea that family comes before all else.
If the politician in power has the ability to skim off the cream for the family, or direct income or jobs to the family then that is what usually happens. Whether it is good for the country is irrelevant, if it is good for the family it is what must be done. It is not unique to PR, we see the same thing in Venezuela, or Jamaica, or Haiti as the worst-case example. Heck, we see it here in the US as well so perhaps it’s not just a Caribbean thing. The Clintons have long enjoyed the idea that if they can get people to give them money they will make sure the family prospers.
With our kind of “in limbo” relationship with the island where they have some autonomy and self-rule, after a disaster is it the U.S. governments job to come in and take over or should we just send them money and equipment to fix their own problems? It appears we’ve sent them money and tools, but now a year later they are still struggling to repair their infrastructure and some believe we should send them more money and equipment, since the stuff we sent initially hasn’t solved all their problems.
How much money will it take? I am reminded of an old joke as the answer, “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.”
