College of Humanities
76 Breaking the Circle: Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria
Joseph de Lannoy
Faculty Mentor: Gema Guevara (World Languages and Cultures, University of Utah)
My research, Breaking the Circle, is an intersectional analysis of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria (Maria). I will examine colonial US rule legislation such as the Jones Act signed in 1917 gave Puerto Ricans US citizenship and draft eligibility, Act 22 a tax incentive law specifically for non-Puerto Rican individuals and businesses, and PROMESA an unelected board which has complete oversight over the repayment of Puerto Rico’s sizable debt to the United States. Studying the Jones Act alongside more modern legislation like Act 22 and PROMESA highlights the deep-rooted political relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico. The Jones Act, Act 22, and PROMESA all have a similar goal: to perpetuate US colonial influence over Puerto Rico. These legislations paired with environmental injustice created a political landscape that led to the displacement of Puerto Ricans on the island and a complete disruption of traditional patterns of migration known as el vaiven or circular migration (Duany 2002). While the title of this paper specifically indicates the disruption of the traditional circular migratory pattern between Puerto Rico and US, this paper seeks to highlight the historical issues which Puerto Ricans have faced from their colonial relationship with the United States and the shortcomings of the colonial systems and connect them to Hurricane Maria a catastrophic environmental disaster that only brought to the surface these institutional issues which resulted in the colonial necropolis seen today. I examine the issues that Puerto Ricans face due to their colonial relationship with the United States. These issues have been present since the establishment of the colony, with Hurricane Maria serving as a watershed event exacerbating them further resulting in environmental injustice, socioeconomic inequality, and mass displacement of individuals. Puerto Ricans have essentially become a second-class citizenry.
I will briefly discuss these legislative acts because they assisted in the creation of the current political climate which prioritizes US control and the perpetuation of colonial rule resulting in second class citizenry. The Jones Act bestowed Puerto Ricans US citizenship and draft eligibility. This act gave Puerto Ricans some autonomy in terms of governance and legislation, but they remain completely under US authority and rule. This act serves as the foundation of the legal and economic dependency between the United States and Puerto Rico. Similarly, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) was signed and mandated into law by President Barack Obama to oversee the payment and management of Puerto Rico’s sizable debt of around 72 billion in 2015 (Mora 2019). PROMESA, locally known as La Junta, has cut spending in all public