November 14, 2015
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson was here in Puerto Rico this past weekend. He actually made sense when asked about statehood. He pointed out that the last two states to enter the union – Alaska and Hawaii, back in the mid-50s – had financial difficulties then, and have since prospered. He thought the same thing could happen here. The debt problems here, he said, are the result of unfair treatment of Puerto Rico as a territory. Puerto Rico is currently trying to manage $72 billion dollars in public debt and the issue, as you can imagine, is contentious.
The current fiscal difficulties here in Puerto Rico have many people talking about the Jones Act and its effects on the economy. The problem is that there are really two Jones Acts, both passed about the same time. They both, in their way, relate to the current economic conditions.
The Jones-Shafroth Act, signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917, was written to establish a system of government on the island, and to clarify the citizenship status of Puerto Ricans. Section 3 of the law also stipulated that Puerto Rican municipal bonds would be triple tax exempt – no federal, state, or local taxes – no matter where the bondholder lived.
The Spanish American War of 1898 occurred as Puerto Ricans were seeking greater autonomy from Spain, at a time when the Spanish government was itself in turmoil. Luis Munoz Rivera, born in Barranquitas in 1859, was a leader of the autonomy movement. He was born to Luis Munoz Barrios and Monserrate Rivera Vazquez and, by Spanish custom, took both his parents’ names. Barranquitas, then a small rural town, offered few educational opportunities. Luis was home-schooled at first, then finished the town school, first in his class, at age 10. He showed great interest in Cervantes, especially Don Quixote. By age 14, unable to continue his education in either Cuba or Spain, he was helping with legal documents for his family’s business, and also writing poetry.
In 1883, presumably against his father’s wishes, Munoz Rivera joined the Liberal Party, which, in 1887, at a meeting in Coamo, splintered into a new party, the Autonomists. In this, he became associated with Román Baldorioty de Castro, José Celso Barbosa and José de Diego. The Autonomists pursued a separate government for Puerto Rico, while keeping some relationship with Spain.
Their influence grew rapidly, and the Conservative Party responded by closing newspapers. Governor Palacio, an appointee of the Spanish monarchy, soon caused the arrest of more than 100 liberals. In spite of a travel ban, the liberal politician Juan Arrillaga Roque travelled to Madrid and made the situation known. King Alfonso XII responded by replacing Palacio with Juan Contreras Martinez, and political tensions eased somewhat.
Luis Munoz, in 1893, travelled to Spain to learn of its political system. While there, he met Praxedes Mateo Sagasta, president of the Spanish Fusion Party, and realized he was the Autonomists best ally within the Byzantine Spanish political system. Upon his return, he found the Autonomist Party in disarray, with Barbosa and his followers (the Barboistas) rejecting any ties with Sagasta, thinking he was a Royalist.
Munoz Rivera and his followers (the Munocistas) drafted the Plan de Ponce and, after much debate, agreed to send four members, including Munoz Rivera, to Spain. Sagasta proposed that, should he become Premier, he would grant a Chapter of Autonomy giving Puerto Rico the same degree of sovereignty as any other Spanish province. Sagasta became Prime Minister after the assassination of Antonio Canovas del Castillo and granted, in December 1897, the promised autonomous government.
Munoz Rivera’s accomplishment was short-lived. An on-going revolt in Cuba had garnered American interest, in large part because of the lurid yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper empire. On February 16, 1898, the battleship USS Maine (Remember the Maine!) exploded and sank in Havana Harbor. This became the pretext for the Spanish-American War of 1898. Military operations in Puerto Rico began with a US Navy bombardment of San Juan on May 12, 1898, and a land invasion, in Guanica, with 3,300 American troops, beginning on July 25. The military campaign ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on August 13, at which time Cuba and Puerto Rico came under US military government.
I believe this building was a hospital during the US Navy bombardment of San Juan, in 1898. It is said that a shell landed in the hospital but did not explode, thus allowing an orderly evacuation.
The arrival of the Americans led to another split among the Barboistas, who generally welcomed the Americans, and the Munocistas, who feared becoming an American possession. Munoz Rivera retired to his family home in Barranquitas and published a poem, Sísifo, which related Puerto Rico’s politics to the eternal struggles of Sisyphus.
Munoz Rivera was persuaded to return to San Juan, but the discussions between the Americans, the Barboistas, and the Munocistas became bitter. In 1900, the Barboistas formed the pro-statehood Republican Party of Puerto Rico. Munoz Rivera wrote scathing denunciations of the pro-statehood movement in his newspaper El Diario, which led to rumors of assassination attempts, actual exchanges of gunfire, and, in 1901, attacks on the newspaper’s offices.
Munoz Rivera moved his family to New York City where he continued his criticism of the US position on Puerto Rico via his bilingual newspaper Puerto Rico Herald. He travelled back and forth and, with the help of Rosendo Matienzo Cintron, Antonio R. Barcelo, and Jose de Diego, founded the Union of Puerto Rico party, which won the election in 1904. Munoz Rivera was elected to the House of Delegates.
In 1910, he ran for and was elected as Resident Commissioner to the US House of Representatives. He befriended influential Congressmen, including Henry L. Stimpson and future Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter. In 1915, he proposed equal rights for Puerto Rico, without statehood, with greater autonomy in Puerto Rican affairs. This evolved into the Jones-Shafroth Act, signed by President Woodrow Wilson on March 2, 1917.
Munoz Rivera was not alive to see the signing. He died on November 16, 1916, from complications of a gall-bladder infection.
The complicated relationship between the US and Puerto Rico thus had its roots in a revolt against Spanish rule in Cuba, a sunk battleship, yellow journalism, an American naval bombardment followed by invasion, and the efforts of impassioned Puerto Rican statesmen.
Puerto Ricans honor the statesmen of the Autonomists in various ways. The park across the street from our building is Parc Luis Munoz Rivera, and Avenida Luis Munoz Rivera is a major highway in the Hato Rey section of San Juan. The expressway to the airport is the Baldorioty de Castro; there are Avenida Barosas in San Juan, Catano, and other cities and towns. Avenida de Diego goes south through Condado to Santurce.
I’ll have more to say about the Jones-Shafroth Act in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.
Notes: First image is statue of Luis Munoz Rivera in the park that bears his name.
See the Wikipedia entries for Luis Munoz Rivera, the Jones-Shafroth Act, and the Puerto Rican campaign of the Spanish American War for more information.