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Dependent Development and Subalternity in Puerto Rico: Why Hurricane Fiona was Worse than Expected Max

Garcia

Abstract

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Puerto Rico today is an island in shambles. Despite enduring multiple tropical storms every year, the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona—which made landfall in September 2022—demonstrates that the severity of the situation is beyond the impacts of a natural disaster. Although it was designated as Category 1, the mildest ranking, the storm caused lasting damage throughout the island, devastating people who still face power outages, a lack of clean water, and other challenges months later. Though the United States (US) government may be quick to blame Puerto Ricans on their precarious situation, this paper examines the variety of historical factors that have shaped the island’s current trajectory. Using dependency theory and subalternity as a theoretical framework, I argue that US intervention supporting corporate interests has entrenched Puerto Rico in dependent-oriented development at Puerto Ricans’ expense. Nonetheless, despite their status as second-class citizens of the US, they continue to fight valiantly against their oppressor with the hope that their voices may one day be heard.

Keywords: Puerto Rico, Dependency Theory, Subaltern, Hurricane Fiona, colonisation, LUMA.

Introduction

On a cloudy day, a virtuous white woman sails over a crowd of pioneers. Working the land and expelling its previous inhabitants, they act on her behalf, for she is the symbol of fortune and destiny. Shining light on the path ahead, she frames the title for the painting in which she stars: American Progress (see Figure 1). This work represents a period of change for the US. Idealizing the word of President James Monroe, whose 1823 Doctrine declared that the US would seek to defeat and replace European influence in the Western Hemisphere, the painting depicts America as a global superpower through the angelic woman who commands her people and relinquishes those that stand before her.1 She represents the concept of Manifest Destiny, an extension of the Monroe Doctrine that idealizes America as a “chosen people” who represent a force for good that must be spread.2 At the time of this painting, Spain’s influence was declining throughout the Western Hemisphere, providing the perfect opportunity for US expansion into the region—part of its campaign to become a global hegemon. By 1898, the US had won the Spanish-American war and gained control of key territories, including Puerto Rico. However, rather than helping the native Taínos sustain themselves, Americans developed the island through the colonizer’s model of the world.3 As such, “Puerto Rico had been invented: a tropical island in the Caribbean Sea,” meant to support American imperialism throughout capitalist development.4 Any contestation of the commercial and utilitarian agenda for the island went on deaf ears, only to be heard when beneficial to the colonizer.

Puerto Rico today is an island in shambles. Despite enduring multiple tropical storms every year, the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona—which made landfall in September 2022—demonstrates that the severity of the situation is beyond the impacts of a natural disaster. Although it was designated as Category 1, the mildest ranking, the storm caused lasting damage throughout the island, devastating people who still face power outages, a lack of clean water, and other challenges months later. Though some government officials and private corporations may be quick to blame the current state of affairs on Puerto Ricans themselves, that is surely not the case. I will argue that the situation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Fiona is the result of US intervention supporting its own interests at the expense of Puerto Ricans. To do so, I will use dependency theory as a lens to examine the economic policies implemented on the island since the US first arrived. From there, I will use the subaltern to explain the political context surrounding these policies and determine how they have affected the evolution of Puerto Rico. Then, I will demonstrate how these economic and political factors affected the response to Hurricane María, a precursor for the events that unfolded around Fiona. Lastly, I will elaborate on the current conditions on the island following Hurricane Fiona to prove my initial claim. The paper will conclude with areas for further research and final remarks that provide hope for the future.

Dependency Theory and Early Economic Development

worldwide political-economic system” that determines the course of its development.5 Rejecting modernization theory—a set of economic policy ideas created by Western scholars to make “developing” countries more “developed” through the transformation of traditional society—it seeks to understand the interdependent nature of the world capitalist system by seeing the core, colonizing countries as exploiters of the peripheral, poor countries on which they rely for raw materials and services. This dependent development has generated major inequities, allocating benefits to sectors participating in the world market and denying them to other groups. As such, “the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another country to which the former is the subject”.6 This dynamic is realized in the relationship between Puerto Rico and the US, as the development of Puerto Rico is reliant upon what the US stands to gain. Therefore, when one actor no longer sees the benefits of engagement, there are serious consequences for the party left in the dust.

economy “in which the bulk of the island’s production was aimed at the American market instead of the comparatively tiny local market”.9 However, while it successfully industrialized the island by making it attractive for investors’ bottom line, growth in the net income of trade and commerce from $26 million to $375 million between 1940 and 1964 was only surface level.10 The introduction of American industry in Puerto Rico would have a ripple effect throughout the island, impacting not only its economy, but its geography, politics, and society.

2 Douek, “Dependencia.”

3 Aponte-Parés, Luis, “The Imperial Gaze: Tourism and Puerto Rico - A Review Essay,” Centro Journal 31, no. 1 (Spring 2019).

4 Aponte-Parés, “The Imperial Gaze,” 106.

Puerto Rico did not reach its current predicament without the help of external sources. Particularly, US colonial influence on the island has played a major role in shaping the economic, political, and social structures that define it. However, in order to understand these features in their entirety, it is important to view them through the lens of dependency theory, which posits that it is a country’s “historical insertion into the

This complex dynamic is manifested in the way each country is treated in relation to the other. For instance, in Puerto Rico it is clear that the US had a palpable impact on the policies that determined the island’s economic structure. As a primarily agrarian society during the first period of its rule, agriculture was dominated by US corporations seeking profits from sugar production.7 These actions represent nascent forms of export-oriented production that were key to Puerto Rico’s development into an economic engine of the US. Operation Bootstrap, a 1940s-era strategy that advocated for the modernization of Puerto Rico’s economy through industrialization, was the culmination of these efforts. The initiative mainly centred around providing tax exemptions to American corporations, as Americans knew they would only stand to profit from their territory through outside investment.8 Capitalizing off the proximity to Puerto Rico and its lower labour costs, Operation Bootstrap advocated for a shift toward an

As competing industries also grew around the island, new settlements were constructed to meet their needs, further illustrating Puerto Rico’s dependent development. Bolstered by the establishment of new tourist enclaves and their corresponding local housing,11 almost 60 percent of the population was urbanized by 1970.12 Though this transition occurred following the influx of Americans to the island, it also demonstrated the island’s shift away from subsistent forms of production. By the late 1970s, nearly 4/5 of Puerto Rico’s food and related products were imported,

5 Valenzuela, J. Samuel, and Arturo Valenzuela, “Modernization and Dependency: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Latin American Underdevelopment,” Comparative Politics 10, no. 4 (July 1978): 544. https://doi.org/10.2307/421571

6 Skidmore, Thomas, Peter H. Smith, and James N. Green, “Chapters 1 and 2,” in Modern Latin America 7th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 8.

7 Ficek, Rosa E, “Infrastructure and Colonial Difference in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María,” Transforming Anthropology 26, no. 2 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1111/traa.12129

8 Ruiz Toro, Juan, “Puerto Rico’s Operation Bootstrap | Modern Latin America,” in Modern Latin America web supplement for 8th edition. Accessed November 20, 2022. https://library.brown.edu/create/modernlatinamerica/ chapters/chapter-12-strategies-for-economic-developmen/ puerto-ricos-operation-bootstrap/.

9 Ruiz Toro, “Puerto Rico’s Operation Bootstrap | Modern Latin America.”

10 Ruiz Toro.

11 Aponte-Parés, Luis, “The Imperial Gaze.”

12 Dietz, James L., “Imperialism and Underdevelopment: A Theoretical Perspective and a Case Study of Puerto Rico,” Review of Radical Political Economics 11, no. 4 (December 1, 1979): 27. https://doi.org/10.1177/048661347901100403 showing how inhabitants could no longer produce the most basic means of survival.13 Though income increased, the proliferation of new industries cost them valuable skills that would have ensured resilience to a decreased US presence. As a result, dependency theory explains that Puerto Rico, as the periphery country, has a “reflex type of development” that is both constrained by its forced incorporation into the global system and reflected in its adaptation to the requirements of the core.14 Therefore, given that Puerto Rico’s development is inherently linked to American needs, it becomes inconceivable to think that the island could somehow evolve beyond its current status. Consequently, when the island was no longer internationally competitive for manufacturing, firms relocated to newly industrializing countries, and many people had to move to the US if they wanted to survive. This dilemma of unequal economic growth and widespread emigration was made easier due to the strong colonial relationship between the two countries. By providing Puerto Ricans with an escape from the labor problems that arose as Operation Bootstrap progressed, US intervention stood to benefit no matter the outcome on the island.

The Plight of the Subaltern: Colonization and Representation

The economic arrangement that produced dependent development in Puerto Rico would not be possible without the political status that gave it a uniquely marginalized social standing. Before Operation Bootstrap was enacted, Puerto Rican people were given US citizenship under the Jones Act of 1917.15 However, despite them being citizens, the law did not allocate them seats in Congress, nor could they vote for president. This lack of representation meant that “Puerto Ricans do not determine their status in their relationship with the US, do not vote on matters that concern the ‘mainland’, and are often not recognized internationally as a country nor as a part of the US”.16 Therefore, the law masked colonial relations and recognized Puerto Rican people as subaltern or “not mattering, not worth listening to,” in comparison to full US citizens.17 Although the subaltern can technically speak for themselves, this arrangement meant that it was only possible to do so through the voice of the dominant actor, who only allows flattering speech. Despite rarely being given this opportunity to provide input, the subaltern must confront the institutionally sanctioned authority every day in other ways.18 For example, Puerto Rican citizenship coincided with the onset of US intervention in World War I, meaning that they only became American to be pawns in another imperialist demonstration of power.19 their own cultural way of life. Moreover, it denied colonial difference by making people more comfortable with the luxuries that working with the US would afford them. As people felt increasingly American via these projects, their expectations of the state and behavior towards it changed. Therefore, the modernization of the island coincided with the strengthening of its subaltern status; the more the US helped, the more Puerto Rico was willing to be complacent and silent. As a result, this mentality transcended every aspect of the island’s evolution.

13 Dietz, James L., “Imperialism and Underdevelopment,” 27.

14 Valenzuela, J. Samuel, and Arturo Valenzuela, “Modernization and Dependency,” 544.

15 Melendez, Eduardo, “Comments on the Jones Act and the Grant of U.S. Citizenship to Puerto Ricans. - Document - Gale OneFile: Contemporary Women’s Issues,” CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 29, no. 1 (Spring 2017).

16 Vidal-Ortiz, Salvador, “On Being a White Person of Color: Using Autoethnography to Understand Puerto Ricans’ Racialization,” Qualitative Sociology 27, no. 2 (June 1, 2004): 192. https://doi. org/10.1023/B:QUAS.0000020692.05355.6e.

17 Beverly, John, “Chapter 3: Our Rigoberta? I, Rigoberta Menchu, Cultural Authority, and the Problem of Subaltern Agency,” in Subalternity and Representation: Arguments in Cultural Theory (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999), 66.

18 Beverly, John, “Chapter 3: Our Rigoberta?”

19 Melendez, Eduardo, “Comments on the Jones Act,” 321.

20 Ficek, Rosa E, “Infrastructure and Colonial Difference in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María.”

Puerto Ricans’ subaltern status allowed US intervention to quickly assimilate them to, and become dependent on, an unsustainable way of life. Specifically, while direct involvement of the state in rural electrification brought power to areas “so remote that it did not make sense to electrify them” at the beginning of Operation Bootstrap, Ficek20 notes that the population had to be coaxed into permitting these ventures (p. 105). This happened because people equated becoming infrastructurally connected in the intimate space of the home with American modernity and whiteness. To accept this technology was to conform to American standards and erase

The most notable area where Puerto Rico experiences subalternity is none other than the economy. By the 1970s, private sector employment from Operation Bootstrap had declined and public sector employment rose significantly, supplying nearly 30 percent of the island’s jobs.21 Although there were benefits from providing more government-sponsored work, such as the assimilation of Puerto Ricans to American societal structures, rising public sector employment contributed to unequal expenditure hikes that could not be offset. Given that migration to the mainland became increasingly common in this period due to Operation Bootstrap’s slowing progress, the government faced a double-edged sword of increased spending and decreasing income. According to Dietz,22 the Commonwealth government tried to “buy time” by gathering more debt to bolster the economy. Using American banks to subsidize itself, the core-periphery model that inspired dependency theory becomes increasingly relevant. By 2016, Puerto Rico had amassed $74 billion of debt to Wall Street banks and $50 billion of pension obligations to its employees.23 Since the island’s colonial status prohibited it from filing for relief under the federal bankruptcy code, it enacted its own bankruptcy law in 2014 to save itself from further damage.24 In response, Wall Street bondholders sued Puerto Rico and won the case, ruling that federal law superseded the Puerto Rican bankruptcy law. Subalternity is thus experienced when the periphery is silenced for standing up against the core.

Given that Puerto Rico was no longer an advantageous possession for the US following the downturn of Operation Bootstrap, it was clear that the island would be left vulnerable to political dominance. On July 1, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).25 The act established the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB), known in Puerto Rico as la junta, which presides over the government’s fiscal and economic policies.26 Not only are the members of this board appointed by Congress and the president, but the PROMESA bill contains a provision that allows the FOMB to file a petition for debt restructuring in federal court on behalf of the island.27 Similarly, the FOMB has the authority to order the Puerto Rican government to implement its recommendations. It can block the enforcement or execution of certain contracts, executive orders, and “any territorial law or regulation that is inconsistent with [PROMESA] or fiscal reform plans.”28 These clauses clearly show how little faith the US government has in Puerto Ricans, reaffirming their status as subaltern by ensuring that decisions are made without consulting people on the ground, thus increasing their dependence on the state to

21 Dietz, James L., “Imperialism and Underdevelopment,” 28.

22 Dietz, James L., “Imperialism and Underdevelopment,” 29.

23 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath: Redefining Puerto Rico’s Colonial Status?” Current History 118, no. 805 (February 1, 2019): 44. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2019.118.805.43

24 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.”

25 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.” 43.

26 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.”

27 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.” make decisions for them. Even for those who moved to the mainland, this status followed them. In observing an interview, Vidal-Ortiz29 (2004) notes an important question: “Did you identify as Latino in Puerto Rico, or as Puerto Rican? I didn’t, I identified as [Puerto Rican] when I lived in my country. It was when I moved here that I adopted a Latino identity” (p. 182). Moving to the mainland US thus adds another layer to the subaltern identity of Puerto Ricans. No longer were they Puerto Ricans, subordinate to America. They were conflated with other Latinos, subordinate to White Americans and forced to silence the place where they came from. This form of assimilation has had grave consequences, subjecting them to various systemic forms of oppression that have hindered their ability to achieve any means of upward mobility in American society.

28 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.” 44.

One Thing Leads to Another

Hurricane María exposed the fault lines in contemporary colonialism. When it struck Puerto Rico in September of 2017, the island was already in crisis: “Even though countless factories left and homes and businesses were abandoned, the roads and rest of the transport system from the past era remain— full of holes but still in use because there are no other roads. Even though less and less people are able to pay their utility bills, the electrical grid and aqueduct system remain in place, decaying, but still in use”.30 Although they weren’t perfect due to a lack of investment, these infrastructures concealed Puerto Rico’s colonial difference with false comforts and conveniences. However, with this luxury came dependency on the US to help maintain these norms that it had established, putting the island in grave danger as American interest declined in the years leading up to María. For that reason, “something like the end of the world happened” when it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.31 Its strong winds decimated the island’s electricity grid, destroying the promise of progress and development that the original systems provided. Not fully American, the recognition of Puerto Ricans as colonial others when relief efforts began brought their subaltern status into clear view.

29 Vidal-Ortiz, Salvador, “On Being a White Person of Color,” 182.

30 Ficek, Rosa E, “Infrastructure and Colonial Difference in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María,” 107.

31 Ficek, Rosa E, “Infrastructure and Colonial Difference in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María,” 109.

32 Lluch, Jaime, “Trumpist Ethnonationalism and the Federal Response to the COVID-19 Crisis and Other Natural Disasters in Puerto Rico (2017–21),” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 27, no. 3 (July 3, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2021.1954297

33 Ficek, Rosa E, “Infrastructure and Colonial Difference in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María.”

34 Ficek, Rosa E, “Infrastructure and Colonial Difference in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María.”

35 Zahn, Max. “Puerto Rico’s Power Grid Is Struggling 5 Years after Hurricane Maria. Here’s Why.” ABC News, September 22, 2022. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/puerto-ricos-power-gridstruggling-years-hurricane-maria/story?id=90151141

A few days after the devastation of Hurricane María, Former President Trump suggested that Puerto Ricans were ingrates responsible for much of their suffering, placing the blame on a people who had just experienced a tragedy and were grieving their situation (Lluch, 2021). 32 This sentiment is echoed in the US’ response, as Puerto Rico received significantly less aid money and relief workers than the states where two other storms had occurred around the same time. Moreover, beyond shaping the physical condition of essential infrastructures, the debt crisis resulting from Operation Bootstrap’s failure also affected the Puerto Rican government’s ability to respond to the disaster. 33 Not only was it unable to get money from the US federal government, but its lack of funds prevented it from requesting mutual aid from other states, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Once support did arrive, FEMA took direct control of all incoming resources, managing how they were distributed, and at what speed, thus demonstrating how the colonial (core) state’s historic control over Puerto Rico extended to the life and death of its people. 34 Consequently, restoring the island wide blackout took 328 days, making it the longest blackout in US history.

35 As

Kwasinski, et. al.36 say, “Hurricanes are natural, but disasters are political.” The silencing of grievances, the inequitable aid response, and FEMA’s direct control over relief efforts define the reality of dependent development as a tool for conditioning a population to be subordinate. Instead of helping create a new society better than the one on the cusp of bankruptcy, the US federal government worked to restore the same economic system that brought Puerto Rico to crisis in the first place. In October of 2018, more than a year after María, the FOMB released a fiscal plan to put the island on a path to financial solvency.37 In order to transform Puerto Rico’s economy and society, la junta agreed to “downsize the public bureaucracy, close and consolidate hospitals, privatize public corporations, eliminate worker-protection legislation,” among other measures like major cuts to the University of Puerto Rico.38 These efforts constitute an experiment in social engineering—where the sole purpose is to extract more value from the vulnerable population—to increase domination and dependency on the US. Combined with Act 73 that provides tax exemptions and credits to businesses, Act 20 that promotes the export of services from Puerto Rico, and Act 22 that attracts new residents to the island, these policies constitute efforts to convince Puerto Ricans that they are, in fact, subaltern. They can only develop when the US is in control.39 Cutting funding in places like education also served to ensure dependency by removing the possibility that Puerto Ricans could educate themselves on the problems they face. In sum, given that the US no longer had invested interest in Puerto Rico, the actions it took in the aftermath of Hurricane María set the island up for future exploitation and failure if another disaster were to strike.

What Now?

Things were expected to change after Hurricane Maria, but they didn’t. Nearly $13 billion in federal support was set aside by the Trump administration and FEMA to repair the island’s energy system, yet problems persisted.40 Due to disagreements between Puerto Rican officials and FEMA, much of the federal money was never spent and over a million customers on the island experienced intermittent power outages as a feature of daily life.41 The island’s electricity provider, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), was also known for having “a revolving door of management...which mimicked political cycles,” making it difficult for any change to occur.42 Given that two governors were ousted between the years of 2019 and 2022, it is clear why the organization went bankrupt and rates were never increased to offset costs; hiking prices would ensure political sabotage.43 As a result, Puerto Rico remained in a perpetual state of need, pushing them to further dependence on the US. Much of the existing infrastructure—plants, transmitter towers, poles, and cables—remained in flood-prone areas or at risk of sea level rise, strong winds, and earthquake damage. Despite grassroots activists and environmental experts arguing that distributed rooftop solar would be cheaper, cleaner, and more resilient than moving what is left of the system, their

36 Kwasinski, Alexis,

IEEE Power and Energy Technology Systems Journal 6, no. 1 (March 2019): 86. https://doi.org/10.1109/ JPETS.2019.2900293

37 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.”

38 Cabán, Pedro, “Hurricane Maria’s Aftermath.” 46.

39 Sotheby’s International Realty: Puerto Rico, “Act 20 - Act 22Act 27 - Act 73 Puerto Rico Tax Incentives,” June 9, 2016. http:// puertoricotaxincentives.com/.

40 Zahn, Max, “Puerto Rico’s Power Grid Is Struggling 5 Years after Hurricane Maria.”

41 Alfonseca, Kiara, “After Hurricane Fiona, Puerto Ricans Are Frustrated with Electric Grid, Infrastructure Problems,” ABC News, September 23, 2022. https://abcnews.go.com/US/hurricane-fiona-puerto-ricans-frustrated-electric-grid-infrastructure/ story?id=90262537

42 Tucker, Emma, “Behind the Blackout Triggered by Hurricane Fiona Is a Long-Embattled History of Puerto Rico’s Weak and Outdated Electrical Grid,” CNN, October 1, 2022. https://www.cnn. com/2022/10/01/us/hurricane-fiona-puerto-rico-electrical-grid

43 Lopez Torregrosa, Luisita, “Opinion Hurricane Fiona Damage Shows That It’s Time for Puerto Rico to Go Its Own Way,” NBC News, September 29, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ hurricane-fiona-damage-shows-puerto-rico-go-way-rcna49809 expertise went unheard, and the island remained connected by a centralized power grid.44 In fact, the FOMB hired LUMA Energy, a Canadian-American power company, to take over the management of the power grid in 2021 in a 15-year deal (Tucker, 2022).45 The result is therefore the culmination of suppression by the US, which views Puerto Rico as a subaltern, in an effort to make the island completely dependent on outside powers.

Though LUMA made significant improvements during the first year of its contract, it was not enough to save Puerto Rico from impending natural disasters. Thus, when Hurricane Fiona hit as a weaker Category 1 storm, it was “still powerful enough to thrash the power grid, flood towns small and large, collapse bridges, ruin crops, and leave the 3.3 million residents of the island short on water, food, medicine, everything.”46 This level of devastation depicts how vulnerable Puerto Rico has been made. While President Biden acted promptly after the Hurricane made landfall, issuing emergency declarations, releasing federal money, and dispatching FEMA support, he was slow to announce the pro forma sympathy tour that presidents routinely embark on in disaster areas.47 Hesitation in this form demonstrates the performance of providing aid and demonstrates that Puerto Rico is not high on the US’ agenda, proving that subalternity causes a positive feedback loop in which every moment of ignorance makes the situation worse. In spite of this fact, residents know that life in Puerto Rico remains a challenge no matter the weather.

Cynthia Burgos López, a Puerto Rico resident and executive director of La Maraña, a group dedicated to rebuilding the island, says, “We know that without Fiona, we are not having light. So with Fiona, we were going to be months long without light” (Alfonseca, 2022).48 Living in a mountainous place that is constantly changing is challenging. But living in this environment inside one of the richest countries in the world should not be. The situation is simply the result of dependent development on subaltern people.

Conclusion

44 Lakhani, Nina, “Thousands Still without Power Weeks after Hurricane Fiona Hit Puerto Rico,” The Guardian, October 12, 2022, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ oct/12/power-outages-puerto-rico-hurricane-fiona

Puerto Rico remains a nation at war with its oppressor. Along with Haiti and Myanmar, the island has been the most affected in the world by extreme weather such as storms, floods, heatwaves, and droughts, yet data has not driven any meaningful change (Lakhani, 2022).49 This fact comes as no surprise to Puerto Ricans who, as long standing pawns in the US’ colonial agenda, see solutions to their strife yet no means to enact change. Nonetheless, despite their dependent development and their precarious status as citizens rendering them extremely susceptible to damage, people remain hopeful that change will come. With each new challenge, Puerto Ricans will learn from their past mistakes and work toward sustainable development. Further research should therefore be conducted around grassroots efforts at fighting US disaster relief plans, solutions to Puerto Rico’s electricity problems, or the future of this colonial relationship. In conclusion, there is still hope for the island that has contributed so much to a country that neglects to see its value. If American Progress misses the mark somewhere, it is that the virtuous white woman cannot expel everything in her path— there will always be someone who is resilient enough to remain. That outlier is Puerto Rico.

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