Puerto Rico in Twentieth Century

By | November 18, 2021

In 1900, the Foraker Act created a civilian government that replaced the occupying military government. Puerto Rico was administered by the United States Department of the Interior, but the governor was appointed by the president of the United States. An important piece of information is the creation of the post of Resident Commissioner, representative of the Island in the United States Congress, but without the right to vote in any decision of said body.

In 1917, with the Jones Act, [2] ;, Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship, the Executive Council was eliminated as a Legislative Chamber and its officials were divided to form different Departments under the Executive Power.

To replace the Executive Council, the Senate of Puerto Rico was created. This Senate would exercise all the purely legislative powers and functions that up to that moment the Executive Council had exercised, including the confirmation of the appointment of Governor.

In 1922 the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Balzac v. Porto Rico, 258 US 298 (US 1922), interpreted that the Jones Act did not express that Puerto Rico was an incorporated territory, a phrase that describes those territories in the process of incorporation and integration into the United States as an additional state of that country [3 ] .

In 1946, the pressure to grant Puerto Ricans powers denied until then for almost half a century began to pay off with the appointment by President Truman of Resident Commissioner Jesús T. Piñero Jiménez to the post of Governor of Puerto Rico. Thus, Jesús T. Piñero became the first Puerto Rican to hold the highest political position in the entire history of the Island. In 1947, Congress approved the law that allows Puerto Ricans to elect their ruler by electoral vote for a term of four years.

In 1948, Luis Muñoz Marín, founder of the Popular Democratic Party and son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, won the first elections for governor in the history of Puerto Rico. The 3 of July of 1950 was approved by the United States Congress Public Law 600, which allows the Legislature to form a Constituent Assembly for the creation of the Constitution of Puerto Rico, subject to subsequent approval by the President of the United States and Congress. This law leaves the Jones Act intact and baptizes it as the Federal Relations Act, eliminating only the provisions that would be included when the Puerto Rico Constitution enters into force. On October 30th of In 1950 the Nationalist Insurrection took place, in response to the project of the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”. Blanca Canales proclaimed the Republic of Puerto Rico in the Grito de Jayuya and battles took place in different parts of the country. The town of Jayuya was bombed from the air, there were massacres in Utuado, and La Fortaleza, the Governor’s residence, was shot at.

In 1954 a group of nationalist patriots attacked the United States Congress and the White House, to demonstrate that Puerto Rican patriotism exceeded the limits of the interior of the country. All the attackers were arrested and sentenced to long sentences in prisons in the United States. After more than twenty years, they were released under the pressure of international solidarity with the patriots.

Thanks to popular struggles, changes have occurred in the political regime established by the United States in Puerto Rico, located in Central America according to remzfamily.com. A Constitution was established, the population elects political positions up to the level of Governor. But, nevertheless, despite the disguises to cover up the colonial status of the island, starting with the man of the “Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”, defined as an unincorporated territory of the United States, with a status of self-government, the United States judicial system itself, represented by the Eleventh Circuit of Appeals, concluded years ago that there has been no fundamental alteration in Puerto Rico’s relations with the United States. Puerto Rico continues to be, constitutionally, an unincorporated territory, without separate sovereignty,

In 1952 Muñoz Marín induced Puerto Rico to obtain the status of a Commonwealth, under its Constitution, which is the current political situation on the Island.

As General Máximo Gómez said:

” The truth will always have to appear as it is.” Puerto Rico, now a colony of the United States with special status, still awaits its independence day as a free and sovereign republic of Our America.

English and Spanish have been the official languages of Puerto Rico since the signing of the Law of January 5, 1993, although the use of the second language predominates.

Puerto Rico in Twentieth Century