Jibaro Lifestyle: Puerto Rico's New Generation of Eco-Farmers

"A new generation of eco-farmers in Puerto Rico are working to bring pride back to the jíbaro lifestyle. Young people all over Puerto Rico are heading back to the land and starting organic farms up in the mountains, growing everything from coffee to kale." 

The New Jibaros: LatinoUSA 

El Departamento de la Comida 

Agroecología en Puerto Rico! 

Puerto Rico's Projected 2100 Population Minus 1 Million to 2.8 Million

According to UN data, Puerto Rico's population will fall to 2.8 million by 2010. That's a loss of 1 million people from its high of 3.8 million in 2000. The island's population slide is also in sharp contrast to predicted increases in US, hemispheric and global totals.

Population Pyramids of the World 1950-2100

Puerto Rico's Canary Islands Connection

Canary Islanders contributions to the history and culture of Puerto Rico is vast. For example, Puerto Rican Spanish was shaped by the dialect of the Canary Islander migrants. The Tiple and Puerto Rico's beloved Jibaro culture's "Spanish" contribution trace back to Canarios (also known as Isleños).

Furthermore, DNA sampling in Puerto Rico found strong evidence of mtDNA matches for Canary Islannds genetics. In some communities, 55% of the residents contain the markers, while in others, particularly in the Western portion of the island, it's as high as 82%. 

Even the name Puerto Rico is from the Canary Islands, i.e, the port in San Juan was named after GrandCanary's Puerto Rico. And many of the island's cities were founded by Canarios. 

Mountains of Gran Canary. 

Los Canarios de Puerto Rico (documentary film in Spanish)

Part 1

Part 2 

Part 3

Jack Delano's Puerto Rico Photo Series 1941-89

A Masterwork Spanning 40 Years and One Island by David Gonzalez.

A Message From Vagabond to Occupy Wall Street: To Occupy And Unoccupy

“This is a war that’s been going on since the invasion of North America.” Rev. Pedro Pietri

“With the ongoing Occupation movement on Wall Street and the growing occupation movements going on around the US, this is just a reminder that some of us have been dealing with occupation for centuries now.

Although we support the ideas behind Occupy Wall Street and the other Occupation movements we want those who have chosen to use the terminology of ‘Occupation’ to be aware of the hidden and unrecognized history behind that word when it comes to non-white peoples.” Vagabond

Vagabond's 'To Occupy and Unoccupy'

The Ponce Massacre (Film Footage)

On March 21, 1937 (Palm Sunday), a march was organized in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by the island's Nationalist Party. It was organized to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico in 1873, and to protest the jailing by the U.S. government of Pedro Albizu Campos.

The peaceful march turned into a massacre as 200 heavily armed members of the US-controlled Insular Police opened fire. The horrific attack using machines guns, rifles and tear gas bombs, was carried out under orders of General Blanton Winship, Puerto Rico's US colonial ruler, and police chief Colonel Francis Riggs...a fellow best known for helping establish the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua.

Seventeen unarmed marchers were murdered and 235 wounded, including women and children. Hundreds more were jailed. The US Congress moved quickly to immunize Riggs and Winship from any charges.

It was the biggest massacre in Puerto Rican history. The following is a 19 second clip of that day of infamy.

Navy must be held accountable for Vieques

Puerto Rico is once again being shortchanged by the federal government. The U.S. Navy must provide compensation for risking the health of the people of Vieques.

For 60 years, the Navy used Vieques to test military weapons and dabble with heavy metals. This contaminated the flora and fauna of the island municipality and damaged the health of thousands of its residents. The level of cancer incidence in Vieques is 30 percent higher than the cancer rate on the main island, according to Puerto Rico’s health department. Yet the Navy has failed to take full responsibility for the havoc it caused in Vieques, even though multiple independent studies show the effects of its decades of shelling.

The people of Vieques, who like all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, filed suit against the Navy and federal government. But the government’s reaction was to claim sovereign immunity to evade the class action lawsuit.

This flies in the face of the outcome to similar situations. The federal government did not claim immunity when two wealthy Virginia communities file and won a million dollar lawsuit in 2007 against the Navy for the noise pollution caused by jets flying over the area.

The claim of sovereign immunity also appears to pre-empt the outcome of another federal move. Several months ago, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registration (ATDSR) reversed a prior conclusion that contamination at the Navy’s training ground in Vieques posed no health risks to residents. The ATDSR has re-initiated an investigation into the health hazards there.

Parts of Vieques are designated as a federal toxic cleanup site. But this does not address the question of medical care for the disproportionate rate of illnesses Viequenses are suffering. Instead, the message that the Navy and federal government are sending is that they will continue to ignore or avoid accountability for the damage to the health of Viequenses. This is unacceptable.

The ATDSR must accelerate its study of Vieques. But public pressure must once again mount, as it successfully did to close the Naval base in Vieques, to ensure that Viequenses are not left at the wayside.

The Puerto Rican Diaspora: A Search for Cultural Identity and Acceptance

"It was a hot summer day in the city and many streets where blocked off due to the large crowds. Puerto Ricans from all over New York and New Jersey were making their way to Fifth Avenue with their flags in hand, wearing t-shirts with colorful patriotic sayings, faces painted red white and blue, and exuding what I thought at the moment was a little too much enthusiasm as they screamed 'Yo Soy Boricua!' But as I approached Fifth Avenue something interesting occurred; the people and the avenue disappeared. All I saw were thousands of Puerto Rican flags being waved back and forth like a sea of red, white and blue covering the black asphalt from side to side and heading hundreds of blocks towards downtown Manhattan. It was a sight that gave me goose bumps. An intense feeling of excitement and pride took over me as I buoyantly jumped up and down, feverishly waved my flag and screamed from the top of my lungs 'Yo Soy Boricuaaaa!' For those few hours the social inequalities and the stereotypes were forgotten, and I enjoyed with thousands of other children of the diaspora the excitement at being able to share my Puerto Rican pride and culture with the city and the world." Joel Bermúdez Mercado

Link

Puerto Rico House for Sale - $80K US

Purchase your piece of paradise in Palmas Baja on Puerto Rico's south side. It was my parent's retirement home and can be yours for only $80,000 (US).

The tropical home has 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a living room, dining room and kitchen, and a bonus room.

Also featured is a water tank, carport, shed, gated driveway, porch and lush tropical plants.

On a quiet dead end street w/mountain views, the home is near the Guamani River, routes 179 and 15, and just 1 mile North of Guayama's famous Plaza Cristóbal Colón, Bellas Arte and Casa Cautiño Museum.

Situated close to everything, it's just minutes to Route 52 (Ponce to San Juan), coastal Route 3 and aqua green Caribbean beaches (Arroyo, Patillas, Salinas). For example, EL Legado Golf Resort 3 mi, Jobos Bay Reserve 5mi, Port of Arroyo 5mi, Lake Carite 8mi, Lake Patillas 10mi, Guavate Forest 15mi, Cayey 12mi, Carite Forest Reserve-Blue Water Pool 20mi, Ponce 38mi, City of Humacao 35mi, Tibes 'Taino' Ceremonial Center 40 mi, San Juan 50mi, El Yunque Rainforest 53mi, Fajardo 58mi (and the ferry to Vieques and Culebra), La Parguera EcoTourism Center 60 mi.

Offered at $80,000 (U.S.)

Contact:
Gerry Vazquez
631.338.7392
vazquezgerry@yahoo.com

About Guayama:
Bewitched In Guayama (by J.A. del Rosario, Puerto Rico Herald - 3.19.04)
Guayama, Puerto Rico Metropolitan Area (a listing of local camping, hiking, backpacking, lakes and beaches by Hikercentral.com)
Casa Cautiño Museum
Interamerican University - Guayama Campus"
Centro de Bellas Artes
Plaza Cristóbal Colón
EL LEGADO GOLF RESORT "HOME OF CHICHI RODRIGUEZ"

The Sugar Cane Aguador "The Waterboy" -- Puerto Rico Circa 1944

Click the title link to see the full 116 photo "La Plata, Oct. 1944-Aug. 1947" collection by Dr. H. Clair Amstutz, a Mennonite medical missionary. These photos put images -- and in color -- to the stories told by our parents and grandparents.

Puerto Rico in the '40s

This lovely photo montage captures what my parents shared w/me and my siblings through stories, song and traditions about life on the island in the '40s. It's quite emotional for those of us of the Great Migration.

Also, I suspect many of our fellow Latino migrants--especially today's abused immigrant workers--can relate as well.

Puerto Rico on the Edge

Even the harshest Republican governors on the US mainland aren't pushing for the mass firing of govt workers, but the one in Puerto Rico is. Gov Luis Fortuño has already fired 20,000 govt workers, including 7300 school teachers, and plans to fire another 10,000. This is on top of an island economy that leads the nation in unemployment and that shed 41,000 private sector jobs in the past year alone.

PR's unemployment rate now stands 17.5% -- again, by far the highest in the US and 2nd only to the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. Oh, and the PR rate doesn't account for the under-employed nor for those who have given up hope of employment.

It's likely that 50- 60-70% of the island's workers are NOT gainfully employed—and prospects for such are exceedingly slim given the government’s boneheaded policies.

It's under this scenario that Fortuño's reckless firings, combined w/a military-style crackdown on protestors that's pushing PR over the edge. Though his response is not new...making life so miserable for workers that they migrate to the mainland is a well honed govt. strategy. Seriously, it's the classic San Juan approach to solving labor and economic challenges.

Watch tomorrow's island-wide strike. PR's future may very well depend on what the workers and the govt choose to do.

Governor Luis Fortuño of Puerto Rico Flees Egg Attack

This man is being roughed by the bejeweled police officer for throwing an egg at Puerto Rico's rookie governor Luis Fortuño...who abruptly ended his press conference and scurried to safety.

But who should be the one arrested?

The egg thrower losing his job? Or the Republican governor who has fired 17,000 government employees (including class teachers) in the midst of Puerto Rico's worst recession/depression in recent memory?

In't Fortuño and his coddled class the real criminals here?

Clearly the ambitious Fortuño -- who snagged a primetime speaking slot in last year's national McCain-Palin convention -- is thinking ahead to a possible high level appointment in a future GOP presidency. Being tough on the people is clearly a requirement for high office as a Republican, right?

Meanwhile, Luis Raúl Torres, member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives from the opposing Popular Democratic Party, has introduced an amendament to the Puerto Rican constitution allowing a recall election. A website poll shows 68% of respondents support the measure.

So while Fortuño's move may not be as crazy as it might appear to the rest of us, still firing people in this environment is beyond cruel even for a Republican.

However, it does prove that a lapdog Republican in the governor's mansion in San Juan, during a national recession, in a country led by the man you wanted defeated, is not good for island Borikuas.

Link: Posibles cargos contra manifestante

Puerto Rico & Colombia - The World's Happiest Nations?

According to the World Values Survey, Puerto Rico is the world's second happiest nation. Yes! The people of La Isla del Encanto are filled with alegria -- even though their island nation is a 'commonwealth' of the currently unhappy USA. Coming in third on the happy meter is Colombia.
The photo above makes clear why the people of Puerto Rico are so smiley: they're actually Taíno gods and goddesses, catching rays and taking refreshing dips into the emerald green sea. And we know about Juanes, El Pibe, Shakira and Gabriel of Cartagena. What more proof do we need?

The Happy Ten:
No. 1: Denmark
No. 2: Puerto Rico
No. 3: Colombia
No. 4: Iceland
No. 5: Northern Ireland
No. 6: Ireland
No. 7: Switzerland
No. 8: Netherlands
No. 9: Canada
No. 10: Austria

Puerto Rico Coined

The U.S. Mint unveiled the first U.S. coin with an inscription in Spanish, a quarter honoring Puerto Rico as the "Isla del Encanto" — or "Island of Enchantment."

This should set-off the English-only wingnuts on another round of Latino bashing. But hey, I'll gladly take as many of these lovely 'foreign' language coins as the cultural imperialists want to dump.

Entienden?

Links:

US Mint: The Enchanted Island Says ‘Bienvenidos’ To New Commemorative Quarter

Puerto Rico gets some change: US Mint unveils quarter with Spanish inscription

The History, Music and Culture of the Indigenous Taíno People - 3.20.09 @ The New York Open Center

This evening, indigenous activist, historian, artist, musician and storyteller Roberto Borrero, one of only a handful of actual Taino descendants who are considered authorities on the ancient Taino culture, will introduce us to the history, creation stories, spirituality, music and song of the first indigenous people encountered by Columbus in 1492.

The program will include stunning slides and a performance of Taino music by Roberto and other members of the Cacibajagua Taino Cultural Society, an organization dedicated to the promotion of Taino culture.

AN EVENING EVENT

Friday, March 20, 7:30pm
The New York Open Center
83 Spring Street (Btw B'way and Lafayette Sts.)
212-219-2527 Ext.2
www.opencenter.org
Program #09WSN14P
Members: $18/Nonmembers: $20
Location: The New York Open Center, 83 Spring Street
(Btw B'way and Lafayette Sts.)
Contact: www.opencenter. org

Source: UCTP - email: la_voz_taino@yahoo.com

Herbert Hoover's Address to the Porto Rican Legislature

Check out this video of Herbert Hoover addressing the Puerto Rico legislature. The 31st U.S. President's visit to the Isle of Enchantment came in the midst of a deeping national depression, skyrocketing unemployment, and the forced 'repatriation' of people of Mexican heritage.

(Yes, Boriken was then officially 'Porto' Rico.)

¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

Actually, site of America's first settlement of undocumented immigrants is Caparra, Borikén (aka. Puerto Rico) in 1508 -- 112 years before Pilgrims staggered onto Plymouth.

(BTW: There were at least three established European settlements on the Eastern coast of North American before the arrival of the English refugees at Plymouth.)

Of course, every American child knows that Juan Ponce de Leon entered the American mainland, too -- again, without papers -- near present day Saint Augustine, Florida.

Ponce de Leon's band of brazen border hoppers opened the floodgates to millions of undocumented foreign peasants to sneak into America in search of jobs. America has never recovered.

La Borinqueña (Puerto Rico's National Anthem) by Two U.S. Navy Sailors

U.S. Navy Sailors, Jose Gomez (guitar) and Nathan Kunst (piano) play a traditional version of "La Borinqueña" (Puerto Rico's National Anthem). It's quite lovely.

Obama's Puerto Rico Assisted Victories

So what happened to Obama in Puerto Rico? Why didn't he perform better? Afterall, he told Boricuas that he too was an islander, spoke Spanish, and even toured Ponce, the authentic city.

Yet, Hillary won in convincing fashion: 68% to 32. Where did Obama go wrong?

Political pundits have various theories, but they all assume that he seriously competed. But what if he didn't--by design? What if the real objective was to tie Hillary and company down in Puerto Rico so Obama and his strategists could focus on their priorities, i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Florida and Michigan?

My belief? We may have just witnessed a political headfake. A trick familiar to any basketball player, including Obama. The Obama camp gave the illusion of seriously competing for Puerto Rico, but spent their time and money elsewhere.

This tactic may have allowed an additional benefit of dampening voter enthusiasm. People in Puerto Rico (and elsewhere) are more likely to turn out if they can see and feel a true competition. Without the promised battle of the titans to excite, many Puerto Ricans lost interest. A weak voter turnout effectively denies Hillary the possibility of gaining a triple digit vote advantage.

A third benefit to the freeing of Obama's brain trust to focus on this weekend's DNC rules committee meeting. Anyone watching the proceedings could tell that the Clintonistas--who were thought to own the rules committee--were being maneuvered. The pro-Obama outcomes did not occur by happenstance.

(An alternative view is that allowing Hillary to dominate in Puerto Rico may be part of a "negotiated" exit strategy. That is, allow Hillary to leave on a high note, and to do so with a constituency that doesn't matter in terms of national elections, but is important to a New York politician with an eye on the next election.)

Clinton may have won a light primary in Puerto Rico, but it seems to me that she lost the wider war.