Major General James G. Blunt

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Location of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico (Spanish for 'rich port'; abbreviated PR; Taino: Borikén or Borinquen), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit.'Free Associated State of Puerto Rico'), is a Caribbean island, Commonwealth, and unincorporated territory of the United States. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques. With roughly 3.2 million residents, it is divided into 78 municipalities, of which the most populous is the capital municipality of San Juan. Spanish and English are the official languages of the executive branch of government, though Spanish predominates.

Puerto Rico was settled by a succession of peoples beginning 2,000 to 4,000 years ago; these included the Ortoiroid, Saladoid, and Taíno. It was then colonized by Spain following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493. Puerto Rico was contested by other European powers, but remained a Spanish possession for the next four centuries. An influx of African slaves and settlers primarily from the Canary Islands and Andalusia vastly changed the cultural and demographic landscape of the island. Within the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico played a secondary but strategic role compared to wealthier colonies like Peru and New Spain. By the late 19th century, a distinct Puerto Rican identity began to emerge, centered around a fusion of indigenous, African, and European elements. In 1898, following the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was acquired by the United States.

Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, and can move freely between the island and the mainland. However, when resident in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans are disenfranchised at the national level, do not vote for the president or vice president, and generally do not pay federal income tax. In common with four other territories, Puerto Rico sends a nonvoting representative to the U.S. Congress, called a Resident Commissioner, and participates in presidential primaries; as it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in Congress, which governs it under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. Congress approved a local constitution in 1952, allowing U.S. citizens residing on the island to elect a governor. Puerto Rico's current and future political status has consistently been a matter of significant debate.

Beginning in the mid-20th century, the U.S. government, together with the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, launched a series of economic projects to develop Puerto Rico into an industrial high-income economy. It is classified by the International Monetary Fund as a developed jurisdiction with an advanced, high-income economy; it ranks 40th on the Human Development Index. The major sectors of Puerto Rico's economy are manufacturing (primarily pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and electronics) followed by services (namely tourism and hospitality). (Full article...)

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The first Supreme Court of Puerto Rico was established by the Foraker Act in 1900. A total of five members were appointed by U.S. President William McKinley, and two more for substituting resigning members.

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During the height of the Cold War, Latin America became a strategic pillar of the hemispheric defense doctrine, serving a key to the power struggle between East and West. Following the Cuban Revolution and the overthrow of the US-friendly government of Fulgencio Batista, the United States became concerned with the spread of the Soviet Union's influence in Latin America, becoming heavily invested in retaining as much influence as possible. With the nuclear arms race at its peak, a Soviet transfer of nuclear warheads to its Latin American ally in Cuba nearly concluded in the onset of World War III in October 1962. Afterward, the United States hardened its influence throughout Latin America, involving itself in what became known as the "Dirty War", a process that involved questionable actions including supporting or overthrowing governments depending on political leaning, supporting subversive groups such as the Contras with weaponry and funding, or participating in controversial operations such as Operation Charly and Operation Condor. The fallout from these actions affect Latin America–United States relations to this day.

Having been annexed from Spain in 1898, the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico represented a paradox during the Cold War, politically belonging to the United States but culturally to Latin America. Its location in the Caribbean converted it in the American response to Cuba, directly affecting the development of its political status. Puerto Rico was allowed to enact a heavily revised local Constitution, but its attempts to employ its sovereignty and use it to remove the application of the Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution ended in failure. The United States military played a key role in perpetuating the status quo, not wanting to risk the possibility that a change in status could affect their presence in the Caribbean. A situation further complicated by the emergence of Marxist guerrillas, including the notorious Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña and Boricua Popular Army, within the pre-existing independence movement in Puerto Rico. Ultimately, the status issue stagnated throughout the remainder of the Cold War, but the pro-sovereignty efforts undertaken during this time frame eventually led to the current incarnation of the free association movement in Puerto Rico. (Full article...)
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Puerto Rican revolutionary.
José Maldonado (1874 – 1932), a.k.a. "Aguila Blanca" (White Eagle), was a Puerto Rican revolutionary who fought with the Cuban Liberation Army and whose controversial exploits in Puerto Rico have contributed to making him part of Puerto Rican lore. (Full article...)

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Fernando E. Rodriguez
  • ... that in 1929, Puerto Rican nurse Rosa A. González wrote "Los Hechos Desconocidos" (The Unknown Facts), a book in which she denounced the discrimination against women and nurses in Puerto Rico? The book convinced James R. Beverley, the Interim Governor of Puerto Rico, to sign Ley 77 (Law 77) in May 1930, which established a Nurses Examining Board.[1]
  • ... that the dentist who discovered the bacteria that causes dental caries was Dr. Fernando E. Rodríguez Vargas, a native of Adjuntas?
  • ... that the largest single-aperture telescope ever to be constructed is the Arecibo Observatory located near the city by the same name in Puerto Rico?
  • ... that According to an article written by Margarita Santori López for the official newspaper of the University of Puerto Rico's Mayagüez Campus, "Prensa RUM", as of 2003, of the 114 Hispanics working at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, 70 were Puerto Ricans or of Puerto Rican descent?[2]
  • ... that on May 6, 2004, Joseph M. Acabá became the first person of Puerto Rican descent to become an astronaut and that on October 2008, was the first Boricua to go into space?[3]
  • ... that Monserrate Román, a Puerto Rican scientist in NASA, helped NASA build part of the International Space Station. She is the Chief Microbiologist for the Environmental Control and Life Support System project which determines how microbes will behave under different situations and in different locations, such as the nooks and crannies of the Space Station?[4]
  • ... that Dr. Victor Manuel Blanco, an astronomer, has the distinction of having a galactic cluster and the largest 4-m telescope in the Southern Hemisphere named after him?[5]
  • ... that Fermín Tangüis, developed the Tanguis cotton in Peru and saved that nation's cotton industry?[6]
  • ... that Dr. Pedro Beauchamp, The first Puerto Rican specialist certified by the American Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Board, performed the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique on the island in 1985?[7]
  • ... that Dr. María Cordero Hardy's research on vitamin E helped other scientists understand about how the vitamin works in the human body?[8]

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Sources

  1. ^ "LA MUJER EN LAS PROFESIONES DE SALUD (1898-1930); By: YAMILA AZIZE VARGAS1 and LUIS ALBERTO AVILES; PRHSJ Vol, 9 No. 1
  2. ^ Prensa RUM
  3. ^ "Joe Acaba, Mission Specialist-Educator". 2004 Astronaut Class. NASA. May 6, 2004. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
  4. ^ NASA News
  5. ^ Brief History of THE CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY[dead link]
  6. ^ Un Modelo de Vida (A role model in his lifetime)[dead link]
  7. ^ Gyncare
  8. ^ "Scientist from Puerto Rico, Maria Cordero Hardy (American Women in Science Biography)" By: Mary Ellen Verheyden-Hilliard; Publisher: Equity Institute; First edition. edition (June 1985); ISBN-10: 0932469027; ISBN-13: 978-0932469021
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