Manufacturing Dependency: Perpetuation of the U.S. Hegemony in Puerto Rico.

ABSTRACT

This article explores the enduring mechanisms through which the United States maintains control over Puerto Rico, positioning the island as a case study for broader imperialistic strategies in the Caribbean. Through a historical, military, economic, and cultural analysis, it examines how U.S. dominance persists via soft power, institutional control, and economic dependency. Puerto Rico’s ambiguous political status, neither a fully integrated U.S. state nor an independent nation, functions as a strategic and legal grey zone that reinforces American hegemony while limiting Puerto Rican autonomy. This ambiguous status functions as both a mechanism of control and a rationale for sustained dependency. The analysis ultimately contends that Puerto Rico exemplifies a rebranded form of neocolonialism, with a colonial domination disguised under modern governance structures. Importance is also placed on the concept of resistance throughout history as well as on the modern ways Puerto Rico seeks to make its issues heard on a global scale.

The sun is starting to slowly set over the beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico’s vibrant “capital,” casting a golden glow over its colorful beaches. The air is pleasantly filled with the energetic rhythm of reggaetón, drifting from balconies and open bars with people enjoying the typical “pitorro de coco.” Despite this being the Puerto Rico that many visitors know, namely warm, festive, and culturally rich and alive, it is not necessarily what actual Puerto Ricans living on the island experience. Their daily lives are often shaped not by beaches and cocktails but by frequent blackouts, a fragile economy, a lack of stable jobs, and the lingering trauma of devastating hurricanes, which could happen and destroy their house (and certainties) at any time. These hardships paint a strong contrast to tourist fantasy and reveal the delicate and serious human security issues faced by Caribbean Island. Part of the reasons for this position stems from the historical, military, economic, and cultural hegemony that the U.S. has exerted on the island, as explored in this article.

From One Empire to Another: The Transfer of Power

The roots of foreign influence can be traced back to 1493, when Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain and named it “Puerto Rico,” which translates to a rich port. This name was given because the Spanish crown recognized the island’s fertile lands, which made it easier to cultivate ginger, sugarcane, tobacco, and cattle. The island’s strategic location, perfectly positioned to control the narrow entrance to the harbor, enhanced its military significance. Puerto Rico quickly became a valuable colonial possession, fought over by the English, Dutch, and French, all seeking control over it.

Resource extraction in Puerto Rico and its subsequent moderate economic development came at the terrible cost of the exploitation of Indigenous Taíno peoples, the use of enslaved Africans, and forced labor systems that formed the backbone of its economy. This kept profits high for rich businessmen (a legacy that will be continued by the U.S. later) while entrenching local people’s poverty. Resistance began to simmer over the centuries, culminating in key uprisings like the Grito de Lares, in which “se dio el grito de la Libertad” (translation: “The cry for freedom was raised”). In September 1868, Puerto Rican revolutionaries declared a provisional government, calling for the abolition of slavery and liberation from Spanish rule. Despite being quickly crushed by Spain, the Grito de Lares remains a powerful symbol of Puerto Rican’s resistance, representing the past’s scream of despair that echoes in the present day [8].

In 1898, after centuries of Spanish rule and exploitation, Puerto Rico’s fate was again decided by foreign powers. Following the Spanish-American War, the United States took control of Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, the Philippines, and other Spanish colonies, through the Treaty of Paris. Although Puerto Ricans were advocating for their own government, tired of external domination, the opportunity for self-governance was thwarted when the U.S. established a new rule, transitioning them from one colonial power to another [28].

Recognizing the same strategic value Spain had once seen in the territory, the U.S. wasted no time but deployed its ships as a coaling station and a military stronghold in the Caribbean. This provided the U.S. military with access to key waterways and a platform for projecting power and defending the country’s interests in the region. Americans had a similar view on the island’s location as a key to expanding U.S. imperial influence in Latin America, perhaps fueled by expansionist thought articulated in the Monroe Doctrine, which justified the treatment of the Caribbean as “the U.S.’s backyard” [25]. This future was also destined for places like Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

The Era of U.S. Military Rule and the “War on Drugs”

The beginning of the U.S. colonial era was marked by the appointment of two Americans: General Nelson Miles for military control, and Charles Herbert Allen for governing. Under the former’s command, Puerto Rico’s laws, courts, and municipalities were brought under U.S. military authority, issuing binding orders, imposing taxes and customs duties, and opening the island’s ports to neutral nations. At the same time, under Charles Herbert Allen, an experienced businessman, profit was prioritized over the public good: slashing essential services and redirecting funds to no-bid contracts for American firms, including his own family’s lumber company. In just a year, he replaced half of the local government with Americans, funneled money into overpriced infrastructure, and subsidized U.S.-owned sugar plantations, while neglecting the local population [13].

Puerto Rico’s newfound military government began a deep, long-lasting engagement. Beyond occupying former Spanish posts, the U.S. military built four major installations, dozens of auxiliary bases, a web of roads, railways, antennas, and airstrips. More than 30 municipalities have hosted military sites, seizing thousands of acres from small native farmers. In Vieques, for example, 27,000 of 31,000 total acres were taken, resulting in the displacement of its former residents, with Culebra suffering a similar fate. Moreover, for decades, both islands have been bombed during large-scale naval exercises. A 1991 U.S. Department of Defense document states: "Puerto Rico offers a tremendous training capability that cannot be duplicated anywhere on the East Coast of the United States." As will be discussed further, it has horrible effects on the environment, preventing food from growing, while the remnants of bomb scrap fragments, unexploded ammunition, and scrap iron used for targets pose a threat to life, poisoning the water, contaminating the landscape, and eventually leading to health problems. The cancer rate in Vieques is approximately 32% higher than the PR average, along with further serious diseases. The risks of diseases are enhanced by the construction of radio transmitters and 30 towers of spiderwebs, which could cause electromagnetic radiation, and therefore increase the rates of leukemia, brain cancer, and heart attack, as well as affect plants and animals, given the proximity to residential areas [1].

One prominent issue striking this territory is drug trafficking. The famous phrase “War on Drugs,” coined by the Nixon administration, took on a particular meaning. The small island, with its high drug trafficking rates and strategic location between Latin America and the mainland, could easily serve as a key transit point for narcotics entering the United States, thus making it a primary staging ground for federal anti-drug operations. Along with the 1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, the U.S. has consolidated previous legislation and laid the foundation for aggressive federal enforcement to fight the problem [15]. However, unlike federal states, Puerto Rico cannot apply the U.S. Constitution’s protections through the Fourteenth Amendment [1], resulting in rights like trial by jury or full due process often being overlooked, which leads to wrongful incarcerations and disrespect of human rights. This situation clearly illustrates a legal dichotomy: Puerto Rico is deprived of certain rights granted by U.S. legislation due to its lack of federal state status, while simultaneously, it is not afforded protection under international law because it is not recognized as a state either [19]. Although these interventions address real cases of crime, they also embed federal authority in the island’s daily lives.

[1] No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Laws of Limitation: Legislative Tools of Domination

But how is this situation still legally possible? With the Foraker Act, passed in 1900, Puerto Ricans were designated as “Citizens of Puerto Rico,” receiving a form of citizenship that lacked genuine privileges or rights and did not include “international juridical benefits.” This arrangement established a civilian government on the island headed by a governor and an executive council appointed by the President of the United States. In a letter to the U.S. president, Puerto Rican politician and autonomist, Luis Muñoz Rivera, described the Foraker Act as a law in which “Not even a sliver of democratic thought can be found…” The critique and indignation of Puerto Ricans for this treatment were also voiced by Arturo Schomburg, particularly highlighting the contradictions in Puerto Rico’s status. In his 1902 letter to The New York Times, he criticized the U.S. government for creating second-class citizens through its legal measures, expecting Puerto Ricans to serve American interests without granting them full rights [14].

Another attempt to change Puerto Rico’s colonial condition came with the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917. While best known for granting U.S. citizenship to the local people, the Act also reorganized the island’s government, revised the Foraker Act, and introduced a local Bill of Rights. However, key powers remained with the U.S. President, and Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in Congress had no voting rights. Professor Venator-Santiago explains that the doctrine of territorial incorporation, which the Act reinforced, established the status of “unincorporated territory.” This allowed Congress to treat Puerto Rico as both foreign and domestic—part of the U.S. yet subject to its laws “only when convenient” [15].

By the mid-20th century, global decolonization movements and the aftermath of World War II had pressured the United States to grant Puerto Rico a greater degree of autonomy. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman appointed the island’s first native-born governor, and a year later, Congress allowed Puerto Ricans to elect their own. Then, in 1952, the territory adopted its constitution, officially becoming a U.S. Commonwealth. Nevertheless, authority over defense, foreign affairs, and immigration remained with Washington [4].

Nowadays, by birth, Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and can therefore move freely between the island and the mainland United States. However, the residents of the island cannot vote in federal elections, nor do they have a voting representation in Congress, leading to them not having real power to influence final decisions. This political status is not unique to Puerto Rico but is shared by other unincorporated U.S. territories like Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, which criticize the U.S. for this colonial-like approach, leaving Puerto Rico in a kind of legal gray zone [18].

A Chain of Dependency: Colonial Economics, Hunger and Climate Catastrophe

Moving onto the economic aspect of U.S. domination, it is important to note how, under its rule, especially with the Bootstrap Operation, Puerto Rico achieved significant economic development. The island transitioned from an agrarian society to a manufacturing one, increasing its per capita income by 500% in less than twenty years. However, this progress has also led to substantial economic dependency, particularly concerning food security. The former was attempted to be solved with the introduction of Section 936, known as the Possession Tax Credit, in which the U.S. tax code was enacted to provide tax incentives for U.S. businesses operating in Puerto Rico. This granted tax exemptions on the profits earned in these territories, effectively reducing the tax burden on these businesses [22]. Another initiative, the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), served as a loan source for commercial activities on the island. However, the island’s economy has continued to lag. Although Operation Bootstrap created numerous jobs in the manufacturing and financial sectors, these positions did not necessarily benefit those displaced from the previous agrarian economy [3].

In 2006, the island entered a prolonged recession that deepened into a debt crisis by 2016. However, unlike sovereign nations, Puerto Rico could not seek help from the IMF, nor could it access Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which grants protections to U.S. states only. To solve this issue, the U.S. implemented the PROMESA (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act) law, establishing a seven-member board to oversee negotiations with creditors, creating a fiscal plan (which must include the “adequate” funding of the island’s pensions), and restructuring the debt, which in Puerto Rico’s case amounts to a staggering $72 billion, with over 2 billion in bond payments, while also incorporating the option to use a bankruptcy-like tool [5].

Many scholars, however, argue that PROMESA falls short in addressing the economic challenges Puerto Rico faced when the bill was signed into law. Issues such as high unemployment, welfare concerns, and brain drain are still plague the island. Moreover, PROMESA grants extensive authority to a financial oversight board that lacks accountability to the people of Puerto Rico or their elected leaders. This board, entirely appointed by the U.S. President, has the final say on crucial decisions like budget approvals, fiscal planning, funding allocations for public projects, and even the blocking of new debt. Once appointed, its members serve three-year terms and can only be removed by the President, with Puerto Ricans being unable to influence their own economic direction [9].

A food security problem was highlighted by a George Washington University study, reporting that nearly 40% of Puerto Ricans suffered from hunger or skipped meals [24]. The challenges preventing Puerto Rico from producing enough food to sustain its population are multifaceted. Most scholars agree that Operation Bootstrap significantly contributed to this issue, as it shifted the focus from agriculture to manufacturing, resulting in reduced agricultural output. It is important to note that, as an island, it is even harder for Puerto Rico to obtain resources, and without external assistance, it cannot fully and satisfactorily feed its population. Nevertheless, the island could achieve much more than it currently does, considering it once produced 65% of its own food, whereas now, food imports have risen to 85%, primarily from Florida [23]  . Reduced local production leads to shortages, limited access, and increased dependency on other states. The high import rates are arguably due to the 1920 Merchant Marine Act, a federal law that regulates sea cargo transport, which requires Puerto Rico to import resources on U.S. ships [21]. As an “incorporated territory,” Puerto Rico cannot independently negotiate with other countries, which restricts resource inflow. This also raises the cost of nearly every product, especially food items like fresh vegetables, due to tariffs.

The issue of food insecurity, along with economic growth, is further exacerbated by natural disasters [26] ‒ consequences of climate change, for which Puerto Rico is notorious. In less than 40 years, the region has experienced eight confirmed weather/climate disaster events, each resulting in losses exceeding $1 billion [16].

The U.S. government’s response was widely criticized for being slow and inadequate, prolonging the humanitarian crisis caused by the calamities. This situation was further aggravated by the Trump administration's cuts to both personnel and funding at USAID, on which Puerto Rico heavily relied. Moreover, during one of Puerto Rico’s most dangerous hurricanes, Maria in 2017, which claimed over 4,000 lives and resulted in $90 billion in damages, the U.S. faced criticism for insufficient aid, despite allocating $34 billion in federal recovery funds [12]. This criticism stemmed from the fact that many people did not receive essential supplies for months after the hurricane, and more than a year later, many were still without drinking water and power. The U.S. military took eight days to arrive, and the USS Comfort did not dock until 39 days later [2]. A shocking revelation came when residents in the southern city of Ponce discovered a warehouse full of unused emergency supplies like bottled water and cots, years after the storm. The video of this discovery went viral, inciting public outrage and leading to the dismissal of Puerto Rico's emergency management director, symbolizing the ongoing neglect [17]. Even after Biden’s administration invested in recovery, allocating over $8 billion in disaster relief and $2.2 billion in infrastructure, critics warned that such aid, while necessary, does not undo the damage caused by decades of disempowerment and externally driven policy, even over five years after the hurricane [10]. The agricultural sector, for instance, has yet to fully recover from Maria, leading to the issues mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Resistance Performed: The Politics of Protest in Bad Bunny’s Music

Although it was established how the U.S. maintains its hegemony over the Caribbean Islands, the full story cannot be told without acknowledging the deep-rooted resistance of the Puerto Rican people. Through cultural pride and collective resilience, they persistently push back and support each other in the face of adversity. Examples of resistance range from the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party’s insurgency in the mid-20th century against U.S. rule, to various independence movements like the Young Lords organization, and the celebration of their culture through events like the Puerto Rican Day Parades, the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián, as well as through music [6]. The author particularly focuses on the latter given the international success of Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, who also serves as one of the inspirations for this article. The January release of his album, “Debí tirar más fotos” beneath its old-school reggaeton beats and samples, offers a powerful social critique of Puerto Rico’s economic and political struggles.

In the track Lo Que Pasó En Hawaii,  Bad Bunny draws a compelling parallel between Puerto Rico and Hawaii, two culturally rich places impacted by U.S. hegemony, [20] by repeating the line “No sueltes la bandera ni olvides el lelolai / Que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawái” (translation: “Don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai / I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii”). He warns Puerto Rico not to repeat the fate of Hawaii, where the U.S. annexation, cultural erasure by missionaries, foreign diseases, and exploitative capitalism nearly destroyed the Native Hawaiian language, identity, and way of life. He references the traditional “lelolai,” a vocalization from Puerto Rican folk music, symbolizing cultural resistance and the remembrance of one’s roots. This is especially relevant because historically, Puerto Rican cultural expression was suppressed by the U.S., with Spanish discouraged in schools, the Puerto Rican flag banned until 1952 under the “Gag Law,” and the FBI monitoring and spying on potential independence movement members. In this context, another lyric likely refers to the 2005 assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, a pro-independence activist, with the chilling line, “Aquí mataron gente pa sacar la bandera” (translation: “Here they killed people for 'showing' the flag”) [27].

Bad Bunny also sheds light on the economic hardships driving thousands to leave Puerto Rico, as reflected in the lyrics, “No quería irse pa Orlando, pero el corrupto lo echó” (translation: “He didn’t want to go to Orlando, but ‘the corrupt’ forced him out”). He addresses the harsh reality of forced migration, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane María and its far-reaching consequences it brought. Leaving was not a choice but a survival strategy, yet the longing for home remains strong, as highlighted in the line “Aquí nadie quiso irse y quien se fue sueña con volver” (translation: “No one wanted to leave, and those who did dream of returning”), capturing the heartbreak of displacement and the pain of leaving one’s homeland due to circumstances beyond one’s control.

Lastly, the album also tackles the issue of gentrification in tourist-heavy areas, such as coastal communities, with lyrics like “Quieren quitarme el río y también la playa/ Quieren al barrio mío y que abuelita se vaya” (translation: “They want to take away my river and also my beach / They want my neighborhood and for grandma to go away”) [8]. These lines highlight how foreign investors exploit tax incentives to buy land for luxury developments, thereby pricing out locals in neighborhoods like Dorado, Condado, and Viejo San Juan. This trend is further supported by the U.S. government, which passed acts such as Act 20 and Act 22 to encourage high-net-worth individuals to relocate to Puerto Rico, attracting wealthy foreigners to settle there. As poverty increases among Puerto Ricans and property values rise, many face obstacles to homeownership and affordable housing, exacerbated by short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, which focus on tourists, leaving native Puerto Ricans without homes [7].

Ultimately, this research highlights the myriad challenges Puerto Rico faces daily, as well as how the United States continues to assert control over the island through economic dependency, military presence, cultural influence, and institutional domination. From Operation Bootstrap to PROMESA, from imposed debt to environmental neglect, Puerto Rico’s status as a “territory” masks a deeper reality, existing in a colonial grey zone, without full rights, without full freedom, and with limited means to shape its own future. Yet, resistance persists. Whether through mass mobilizations, art, or cultural pride, Puerto Ricans have never stopped speaking out, ensuring that, as Bad Bunny said, “En el mundo entero ya conocen mi dialecto” (translation: “The entire world now knows my dialect”) [11]. While the path forward remains uncertain—be it independence, statehood, or something entirely new—the most urgent task is to continue exposing the systems that keep the island trapped; which, however, will keep fighting until the very end, as it always has.

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