Royal Decree Thanksgiving, 1815 Puerto Rico

For centuries the Spanish Empire and the British Empire fought against themselves for possession of this island.  The island of Puerto Rico was a colonial possession of Spain for over 400 years, as was Cuba.

The movement, called the Grito de Lares, was an armed insurrection which occurred on September 23, 1868, and was an attempt to gain control from the Spanish. After the Grito de Lares, which coincided with the Revolution of 1868 in Spain, political and social reforms followed.  By the end of the nineteenth century, the struggle for independence came nearly reaching its goal on November 25, 1897, when the Autonomic Charter, which granted political and administrative autonomy to the island, was approved in Spain.

The United States entered the Puerto Rican history by invading the island on July 25, 1898 during the Spanish-American War.  On December 10, 1898 the Treaty of Paris was signed, in which the Spanish Empire ceded Puerto Rico and the rest of the colonial territories (Cuba and the Philippines) to the United States.

Most Puerto Ricans were aware that through this transaction they did not get freedom, but only a change of rulers. In 1899 the name “Porto Rico” came into use, an incorrect denomination that today Americans themselves consider to be archaic and obsolete.

In 1900, the Foraker Act established a civilian government that replaced the military government of occupation.  The Department of the Interior of the United States administered Puerto Rico, but the President of the United States appointed the governor.  This type of government was based on a republican model, with three branches: the Executive (Governor), the legislature (Legislative Assembly) and the judiciary (the General Court of Justice).

It should be mentioned that the Legislative Assembly consisted of two houses: the Executive Board made up of the Secretaries of the Governor, and the House of Delegates composed of thirty-five members elected every two years by the qualified electors.  An important item was the creation of the office of Resident Commissioner.  This office represents the Island in the Congress of the United States, but does not have the right to vote in any decision of that body.

In 1917 the Jones Act was approved, which granted United States citizenship to Puerto Ricans.  Under the act the Executive Council and Legislative Chamber officials were divided into separate, independent departments under the Executive Branch.  These were:

The Department of Justice, headed by the Attorney General

The Treasury Department, headed by the Treasurer

The Department of Interior, headed by the Commissioner of the Interior

The Department of Education, headed by the Commissioner of Education

The Department of Agriculture and Commerce, headed by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce

The Labor Department, led by the Labor Commissioner, and

The Department of Health, headed by the Commissioner of Health.

In place of the Executive Board the Act established the Puerto Rico Senate, which is composed of nineteen members, who are elected by the qualified electors and serve for four years.  In addition to these, there are seven senatorial districts represented by two senators, plus five senators elected at large. The Senate would exercise all the powers and purely legislative functions hitherto exercised by the Executive Board, including the confirmation of the appointment of the Governor.

In 1922 the Supreme Court of the United States, in Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 United States. 298 (U.S. 1922), interpreted that the Jones Act did not incorporate the territory of Puerto Rico into the United States

The court declared that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of The United States. This means that Puerto Rico belongs to United States, but is not one of them.  According to case settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional rights are not automatically extended to all territories under the control of The United States.  Territories and their citizens are not entitled to full protection of the Constitution.  The Congress of the United States has authority to decide which rights are to be extended as an integral part of the nation.

In 1946 the pressure to grant Puerto Ricans the powers hitherto denied for almost half a century began to bear fruit with the appointment by President Truman of the Resident Commissioner, Jesus T. Pinero Jimenez, for the post of Governor of Puerto Rico.  This was significant because Jesus T. Pinero became the first Puerto Rican in the history of the island to occupy it highest political post.  In 1947, Congress passed the law that allows Puerto Ricans to elect their president through electoral vote for a term of four years.

In 1948, Luis Munoz Marin, founder of the Popular Democratic Party and son of Luis Munoz Rivera, won the first election for governor in the history of Puerto Rico. On July 3, 1950 the Congress of the United States passed Public Law 600, which allows the Legislature to form a Constituent Assembly for the creation of the Constitution of Puerto Rico, subject to approval by the President of the United States and Congress.

Christened The Federal Relations Act, the law leaves intact the Jones Act, its provisions being included in the Constitution of Puerto Rico when it came into force. On October 30, 1950 a Nationalist Uprising took place in response to the draft of the “Free Associated State.”  Blanca Canales proclaimed the Republic of Puerto Rico in the Grito de Jayuya and there was fighting in different parts of the country.  The town of Jayuya was bombed from the air, there were massacres in Utuado and La Fortaleza, and the Governor was shot when his residence was attacked.

In 1954, clarifying that the separatist insurgency was not simply a domestic problem of Puerto Ricans, as the United States government tried to maintain, the nationalist Rafael Cancel Miranda, Lolita Lebron, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Irving Flores raided the U.S. Congress and the Blair House. All the attackers were arrested, including Pedro Albizu Campos, and served long sentences in federal prisons.

Opponents of the Free Associated State, and many scholars, claim that the major effect of this law was to change the title of the law governing Puerto Rico.  It perpetuated the alleged “colonial” relationship as they mistakenly thought that the year 1952 is when they would choose a governor by popular vote and under the republican system of government, be granted the rights by the laws outlined above.  Defenders of the Free Associated State claimed that Puerto Rico ceased to be a colony by a bilateral pact, having been defined by the United States’ relationship with Puerto Rico as being in the nature of a “partnership,” a term not defined under the International Law.

Munoz Marin, in 1952, led Puerto Rico to obtain the status of the Commonwealth, under the Constitution, which is the current political situation in the island.