The Taino People
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Who were the indigenous people of Puerto Rico?
The Taino were indigenous people who lived in the region of the Caribbean and also Florida. They're very skilled at agriculture and hunting. The Tainos were also really good sailors, fishermen, canoe makers, and navigators. |
Life and Culture
They practiced a high-yielding form of agriculture to grow their most significant food, cassava and yams. The only domesticated animals they had were dogs and sometimes, they used parrots as decoy birds. Taino settlements usually ranged from "small family compounds" to "groups of 3,000 people". Men wore loincloths and women wore cotton or palm fiber aprons. Males and females painted themselves on special occasions. They wore earrings, nose rings, and necklaces that were sometimes made of gold. Their houses were made with logs and poles with thatched roofs.
What did they call their island and how many lived there at the time of contact?
The Taino people called their island Boriken, which is why many Puerto Ricans call themselves Boricua. Two million Taino people existed at the time of contact, and almost three million existed at the end of the fifteenth century.
They practiced a high-yielding form of agriculture to grow their most significant food, cassava and yams. The only domesticated animals they had were dogs and sometimes, they used parrots as decoy birds. Taino settlements usually ranged from "small family compounds" to "groups of 3,000 people". Men wore loincloths and women wore cotton or palm fiber aprons. Males and females painted themselves on special occasions. They wore earrings, nose rings, and necklaces that were sometimes made of gold. Their houses were made with logs and poles with thatched roofs.
What did they call their island and how many lived there at the time of contact?
The Taino people called their island Boriken, which is why many Puerto Ricans call themselves Boricua. Two million Taino people existed at the time of contact, and almost three million existed at the end of the fifteenth century.
Contact
Puerto Rico was ‘discovered’ Puerto Rico in 1493 during his voyage of the ‘new world’.Columbus was shocked by the generosity that the tainos had greeted him with. Originally, the island was called la isla del encanto which translates to the island of enchantment.
Puerto Rico was ‘discovered’ Puerto Rico in 1493 during his voyage of the ‘new world’.Columbus was shocked by the generosity that the tainos had greeted him with. Originally, the island was called la isla del encanto which translates to the island of enchantment.
Spanish Colonization
In the early 1500's, after Christopher Columbus “discovered” Puerto Rico, Spain took charge. The Spanish developed two different policies for Puerto Rico. One of the policies was encomidia and it outlined a legal system by which the Spanish crown attempted to define the status of the indigenous population. The other policy that the Spanish created was repartimiento which was a system by which the crown allowed certain colonists to recruit indigenous peoples for forced labor.
Initially, the Spanish were extracting sugarcane, coffee, tobacco, and cattle. The Spanish took charge and decided to capitalize on the production of sugarcane. They imported slaves from Africa and had them do everything to over produce sugarcane. Before colonization, The Taino people used intense cultivation practices to grow potatoes, beans, peppers, peanuts, and cotton. They were also huge fishermen and profited a lot off of the fishing industry. In 1513, the Complementary Declaration was signed. It said that any natives who were clothed, Christian, and capable could live on their own. This was significant to the Taino population because it forced them out. By 1520 when the emancipation of the remaining Taino population happened, there was barely a population to emancipate. The population had almost completely depleted.
American Colonialism in Puerto Rico
The Foraker Act of 1900
The Foraker Act made a huge difference in the lives of Puerto Ricans. It defined citizenship for people living in Puerto Rico by making it so that recognizing Puerto Rican nationality is separate from that of the US. The government in Puerto Rico that was created by the Foraker Act declared that those living in P.R. were entitled to the protection of the US, thus leading to the first government being created. The branches of government within P.R are the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Within the executive branch, is the resident commissioner. The resident commissioner is someone who is chosen to represent P.R. in the US House of Representatives. With the creation of the resident commissioner, power was balanced between the US and Puerto Rico by giving P.R. the authority to speak and introduce legislation before the House.
The Foraker Act also established the US dollar as the currency of Puerto Rico and set an arbitrary exchange rate of 1 peso = $0.60 dollars. This in effect cut the value of all Puerto Rican's money in half. This made it hard for Puerto Ricans to recover from any extreme weather events as they no longer have the amount of money they thought they had, not to mention, this change happened over night. Puerto Ricans also did not have enough money to pay off taxes, pay off imports, and more as their value was just cut in half. Considering, most Puerto Rican residents' net worth and money in general was cut in half without any sort of warning, they did not have the proper resources to recover from natural disasters.
The Foraker Act also established the US dollar as the currency of Puerto Rico and set an arbitrary exchange rate of 1 peso = $0.60 dollars. This in effect cut the value of all Puerto Rican's money in half. This made it hard for Puerto Ricans to recover from any extreme weather events as they no longer have the amount of money they thought they had, not to mention, this change happened over night. Puerto Ricans also did not have enough money to pay off taxes, pay off imports, and more as their value was just cut in half. Considering, most Puerto Rican residents' net worth and money in general was cut in half without any sort of warning, they did not have the proper resources to recover from natural disasters.
As a result of the Foraker Act being implemented Puerto Rico had much less of a voice within the House of Representative. Because of this, when Hurricane Maria hit they had no urgency surrounding the response to the hurricane. There was no one to speak for them and no one to listen to them. This led to very little response from the government after P.R was hit meanwhile Hurricane Harvey and Irma in Texas and Florida got media coverage and aid. If it weren’t for the Foraker Act, P.R would have more of a voice within the government and therefore would have proper resources to recover from such a disaster.
Jones-Shafroth Act 1917
The Jones-Shafroth act was an act that granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship but with limited rights. They weren't able to vote for the president and they had no representation in congress. On March 2, 1917, Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act, under which Puerto Rico became a U.S. Puerto Ricans were granted statutory citizenship, meaning that citizenship was granted by an act of Congress and not by the Constitution. This act was also called the merchant marine act. This act also requires everything going into Puerto Rico to be brought by boats owned by and made by Americans. This immediately doubled the price of all goods going to Puerto Rico. Jones-Shafroth Act, also provided Puerto Rico with a bill of rights and restructured its government.
The Jones-Shafroth act was an act that granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship but with limited rights. They weren't able to vote for the president and they had no representation in congress. On March 2, 1917, Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act, under which Puerto Rico became a U.S. Puerto Ricans were granted statutory citizenship, meaning that citizenship was granted by an act of Congress and not by the Constitution. This act was also called the merchant marine act. This act also requires everything going into Puerto Rico to be brought by boats owned by and made by Americans. This immediately doubled the price of all goods going to Puerto Rico. Jones-Shafroth Act, also provided Puerto Rico with a bill of rights and restructured its government.
The US government changed the structure of Puerto Rico’s government to mirror the US structure. The governor was appointed by the US government and the senate was also elected by white landowners. Triple exempt status on municipal bonds meaning you pay zero taxes on bonds sold by the Puerto Rican government. It was also a good way for Americans to avoid paying taxes. A grat example would be when hurricane Maria hit there was no representation, no accountability, and no urgency. This created horrible conditions which led to debt and crisis.
This also increased the cost of living in Puerto Rico which made them more vulnerable to storms and delayed shipments of relief products. The Jones Act also separated the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of Puerto Rican government, provided civil rights to the individual, and created a locally elected bicameral legislature. A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often, but not always, exempt from federal and state income taxation. The Senate of Puerto Rico established a bill of rights, and authorized the election of a Resident Commissioner (previously appointed by the President) to a four-year term. The act also exempted Puerto Rican bonds from federal, state, and local taxes regardless of where the bondholder resides.
Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act) 1920
The Jones act of 1920 requires all goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported by U.S. vessels. The purpose of this was that all vessels carrying goods between two U.S. points be American-built, owned, crewed and flagged. The Jones Act is pretty beneficial for the United states. All vessels transporting commodities between two U.S. locations must be constructed, owned, crewed, and flagged in the United States, according to the Jones Act. This strategy ensures the marine industry in the United States remains stable, preserving 650,000 American jobs and generating $150 billion in annual economic benefits.
This impacted the economy and Puerto Rican population Because foreign vessels are not permitted to move commodities between U.S. ports. (explain how this effects Puerto Rico in terms of cost of living, explain how it makes Puerto Rico more vulnerable to disasters like Maria).
The Jones act of 1920 requires all goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported by U.S. vessels. The purpose of this was that all vessels carrying goods between two U.S. points be American-built, owned, crewed and flagged. The Jones Act is pretty beneficial for the United states. All vessels transporting commodities between two U.S. locations must be constructed, owned, crewed, and flagged in the United States, according to the Jones Act. This strategy ensures the marine industry in the United States remains stable, preserving 650,000 American jobs and generating $150 billion in annual economic benefits.
This impacted the economy and Puerto Rican population Because foreign vessels are not permitted to move commodities between U.S. ports. (explain how this effects Puerto Rico in terms of cost of living, explain how it makes Puerto Rico more vulnerable to disasters like Maria).
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The Jones Act, rather than benefiting the US economy as a whole, hurts Puerto Ricans, US mainland firms, and, to some extent, the Jones Act carriers themselves in a way where The Jones Act raises the cost of shipping cargo to Puerto Rico by $568.9 million, or $1.1 billion more than it would be expected to result in the loss of 13,250 jobs.
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Although, there are certain US territories which are exempt from this. The Jones Act does apply to Puerto Rico since it is the only non-contiguous US territory that is not entirely or partially exempt. Because Puerto Rico does not have a vote in Congress, it has no direct influence on the Jones Act's policies. The Jones act was also waived in some circumstances. The Jones Act's provisions can be waived to enable foreign-flag vessels to engage in coastwise trade, but only in exceptional situations when the "interest of national defense" is the reason for the exemption.
How the impacts of the debt crisis and PROMESA can help explain both Puerto Rico’s vulnerability to Maria, and the negligent response from the US government?
In the 1940s, opperation Bootstrap intended to move Puerto Rico away from its agrarian system and into an industrial economy. The purpose was to develop and modernize Puerto Rico’s economy but only possible with foreign investment. The U.S law makers hope to achieve this purpose is through the Industrial Incentive Act of 1947. It eliminated company taxes in Puerto Rico, made it more profitable for the companies. The purpose was to develop and modernize Puerto Rico’s economy. By 1967, the 2,367 manufacturing establishments employed 121,537 Puerto Ricans, the net income from manufacturing Industrial Incentives Act (1947). The net income from manufacturing grew from $27 million in 1940 to $486 million in 1964. Net income from trade and commerce grew from $26 million to $375 million between 1940 and 1964. Opperation Bootstrap was a huge success.
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The section 936 of the Clinton Tax Reform that got rid of corporate tax breaks in Puerto Rico. The effects of the operation on the Puerto Rican economy through the 1980's. Job Lose. 12% unemployment, less than half the people working.Foreign companies left. It resulted in factory closures, unemployment, and P.R selling bonds to get money. Puerto Rican municipal bonds were free from all three levels of taxes under Jones-Shafroth. As a result, people of all 50 states and other U.S territories were able to invest in Puerto Rican bonds without having to pay interest on the money they earned.
To keep the economy working P.R kept selling bonds at unstable rates. These bonds were used to raise money to bay for public services in Puerto Rico, and were largely sold to Wall Street firms in the United States. The unsustainable sale of bonds led Puerto Rico into a 72 billion dollar debt crisis. To make matters worse because Puerto Rico is not a state or US city it is exempt from bankruptcy laws preventing it from escaping its debt. |
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The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act Is A bill To establish an Oversight Board to assist the Government of Puerto Rico, including instrumentalities, in managing its public finances, and for other purposes. It will help create a path to get out of the debt crisis. A fiscal board in charge would be not accountable to the island government and would have control over Puerto Rico’s budget, laws, financial plans, and regulations.The board will be in charge of doing things such as approving budgets and fiscal plans, they can veto debt issuances and determine which projects get funded and which don’t. It controlled the law, the budget, and finances and a plan to repay debt.
To pay back the debt, the fiscal control board implemented a plan of intense austerity. It foreced the defunded schools, health care system, doubled sales taxes, decreased wages, increased income tax, cut social welfare. It forced the sale of lots of public institutions. All of this weakened critical social services needed during emergencies like Hurricane Maria.