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| Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico Boriken | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
| Area | |
• Total | 9,104 km² |
| Population | |
• 2020 census | 3,285,874 |
Puerto Rico ('Rich port' in Spanish), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a U.S. colony in the Caribbean. Although Puerto Ricans cannot vote in federal U.S. elections, they still have to follow U.S. laws.[1] Almost half of the Puerto Rican population lives in poverty and more than 11% are unemployed.[2]
History
Puerto Rico was invaded and occupied by the United States in 1898 after the Spanish–American War.[3] The Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans could not receive U.S. citizenship because they were part of an "uncivilized race."[4]
On March 21, 1937, police killed 19 people in Ponce, including 14 Puerto Rican nationalists.[1]
Vieques, an island inhabited by 9,000 people, was used for military testing between 1941 and 2003. The majority of the island was owned by the navy, who dropped more than 1,000 tonnes of military and industrial waste on the island, including 23,000 bombs in 1998 alone. The island is now polluted with napalm and heavy metals and the cancer rate is 27% higher than in the mainland.[1]
Puerto Rican independence leader Pedro Albizu Campos was imprisoned numerous times and experiment on with radiation.[1]
Puerto Rico's constitution was adopted on July 25, 1952 and it became a commonwealth of the United States.[4]
Forced sterilization
President Franklin Roosevelt began a policy of forced sterilization in Puerto Rico.[1]
A 1965 survey of Puerto Rican mothers aged 20–49 found that one-third of them had been sterilized.[5] By 1974, 35% of Puerto Rican women were sterile, and 39% were in 1981.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Jose L. Vega Santiago (2012-11-07). "8 Atrocities Committed Against Puerto Rico by the US" The Red Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
- ↑ Juan González (2017-05-10). [https://mronline.org/2017/05/10/puerto-ricos-123-billion-bankruptcy-is-the-cost-of-u-s-colonialism/ "Governor’s Place Party In Puerto Rico, ca. 1900s. Puerto Rico’s $123 Billion Bankruptcy Is the Cost of U.S. Colonialism"] Monthly Review. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
- ↑ Central Intelligence Agency (2022). Puerto Rico: 'Introduction; Background'. The World Factbook.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Antonio Camacho Negrón (2022-07-25). "Puerto Rico: between colonialism, racism and slavery on July 25" Multipolarista. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
- ↑ Kathryn Krase (2014-10-01). "The History of Forced Sterilization in the United States" Our Bodies Our Selves. Retrieved 2022-03-11.