Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FROM SPANISH COLONY TO AMERICAN
COMMONWEALTH
As two Greater Antilles islands ruled by Spain for nearly four centuries, Cuba and Puerto
Rico share a remarkably similar history. Both were colonized in the early 1500s, both retain
vestiges of their indigenous Taíno culture, both were heavily influenced by the African slave
trade (a cultural stimulant that contributed to their unique hybrid music and distinct Afro-
Christian religious beliefs) and both remained Spanish colonies a good 80 years after the
rest of Latin America had declared independence. The irony, of course, lies in their different
paths after 1898 and the fact that today Puerto Rico is intertwined with the US. Cuba's rela-
tionship with the US has only recently warmed since it was considered a former Soviet satel-
lite and 'public enemy number one.' While visitors fly freely between the US and Puerto
Rico, Cuba has withstood one of the most draconian (and longest) trade embargos in modern
history. So what happened?
Puerto Rico: The Four Storeyed Country and Other Essays,
by José Luis González (translated by Gerald Guinness), is a compel-
ling treatise on the importance of African and mestizo peoples in the development of Puerto Rican culture.
Two Wings of the Same Dove
While the bulk of Spain's South American colonies rose up under the leadership of re-
volutionary emancipator Simón Bolívar in the 1820s, Puerto Rico and Cuba's conservative
Creole landowners elected to stay on the sidelines. But, as economic conditions worsened
and slavery came to be regarded as an ailing colonial anachronism, the mood started to
change.
During the 1860s links were formed between nationalists and revolutionaries on both
islands, united by the language and inspired by a common foe. The cultural interchange
worked both ways. Great thinkers like Cuban national hero José Martí drew early inspiration
from Puerto Rican surgeon and nationalist Ramón Emeterio Betances, while Mayagüez-
born general Juan Rius Rivera later went on to command the Cuban Liberation Army in the
1895-98 war against the Spanish.
The total number of American soldiers killed in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War of 1898 was four.
