"Jose Julio Henna & the Invasion of Puerto Rico" and "What is Puerto Rico?" from episode 248 "After Hurricane Maria"

BackStory

History, Education

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2019

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On Monday, hundreds of thousands of people surged through the capital of Puerto Rico in the largest protest the island has ever seen. It is the latest in a series of demonstrations calling for the resignation of Puerto Rico's governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló, who is expected to finally resign today.

While the recent unrest was sparked by the publication of messages between Rosselló and his friends and advisors in which they mocked an obese man, a poor man, a gay pop star, and several women, it was a demonstration of the long-simmering resentment over economic recession, corruption, and the management of recovery since Hurricane Maria.

In this segment from BackStory's 2018 show, "After Hurricane Maria," Brian, Ed and Nathan take a look at the historical relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, going back to the roots of the difficulties the island faces today, exploring the politics of the post-recovery process and looking at why many still don't see Puerto Ricans as Americans.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From Virginia Humanities, this is backstory.
0:12.3	Welcome to backstory, the American History Podcast.
0:15.3	I'm Brian Bello.
0:16.6	I'm Ed Ayers.
0:17.8	And I'm Nathan Connolly.
0:19.7	Perk came Maria devastated Puerto Rico, causing the worst electrical blackout in US history
0:25.9	and leaving more than 3,000 people dead.
0:29.7	Puerto Rico is part of the United States and Puerto Ricans are US citizens.
0:34.4	But many Americans feel that the government's response to the disaster was not only slow,
0:40.0	it was negligent.
0:41.7	It made many people ask, are Puerto Ricans really citizens in the eyes of the federal government?
0:48.0	To answer that question, let's return to the moment when Puerto Rico became part of
0:51.9	the United States.
0:55.9	Puerto Rico had been a Spanish colony since the 16th century.
0:59.1	By 1898, the island had taken a big step towards self-government with the establishment of
1:03.8	a democratically elected legislature.
1:06.4	But many Puerto Ricans, including political exiles in the United States, wanted to see
1:11.4	the island free.
1:14.1	The United States can save us, making us independent.
1:19.0	And the majority of the people will determine in the future whether or not to ask annexation
1:25.5	to the American Union.
1:28.5	Jose Julio Enna advocated for independence for Puerto Rico until he was banished from
	...

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