Jorge Rivera-Herrans is an actor, composer, and musician who  describes himself foremost as a storyteller. He is becoming increasingly well know for a new musical he has written and is widely distributing on social media called Epic. Inevitably, Dorado, Puerto Rico native is being compared with Lin Manuel-Miranda, another multi-talented Puerto Rican composer best known for his musical, Hamilton. Epic is different from Hamilton, though. It is an online-only musical released in a series of nine installments called sagas. Viewers can download the soundtrack on Amazon or Apple Music for 99 ce ..read more

In an April 30th social media post, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced his support for the Puerto Rico Status Act (PRSA). The PRSA is one of only 105 bills that the Senate Democratic Leader has cosponsored this year. There have been more than four thousand bills introduced in the Senate during the current Congressional session, but as the Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Schumer rarely lends his name to pending legislation. Schumer has also cosponsored the Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance Fairness Act of 2023, led by fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D), to reinstate th ..read more

Automation is on the rise across the nation, increasing productivity, helping to solve labor shortages, and bringing manufacturing back to the United States — while also worrying workers who feel that their jobs may be threatened. Is Puerto Rico an exception? Automation is increasing in Puerto Rico, too Automation is increasing in Puerto Rico across many sectors. Dairy farming is one of the most important elements of Puerto Rico’s agriculture industry, so it shouldn’t be surprising that this is one of the areas that is seeing progress in automation. In 2020, the Island’s first automated dairy ..read more

China’s increasing aggressiveness in the Global South has been causing alarm in many circles. Puerto Rico legislator Rep. José Aponte Hernández joined the chorus with a recent statement as reported in the San Juan Daily Star. “The creation of dual infrastructure on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, because the docks and, in particular, the airport, are being developed for the purpose of being used for the landing and take-off of Communist Chinese bombers, is the greatest threat to our nation since the Soviet Union established a robust military presence in Cuba in 1961,” Aponte Hernández said ..read more

Five percent of New Jersey’s population is of Puerto Rican heritage — that’s about 462,995 people. Puerto Ricans are the largest group within New Jersey’s Hispanic population, and New Jersey ranks #3 in Puerto Rican population nationwide.  The state takes pride in its Puerto Rico Commission, which was formed with the goals of “supporting ongoing recovery efforts, exploring economic development opportunities, and promoting educational and cultural exchange between New Jersey and Puerto Rico.” New Jersey’s Members of Congress are a presence on federal legislation that has a Puerto Rican foc ..read more

The U.S. government has come out in opposition to Guam and American Samoa – two U.S. territories – joining the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) . “Because the United States is not a member of the PIF and because of the political nature and foreign policy aspects of the PIF,” U.S. government  officials explained on a website that has apparently since been taken down, “the State Department’s position is that it is inappropriate for U.S. territories to participate in the PIF independently, in any capacity.” “By way of background, the State Department does not agree to territories representing the ..read more

On April 15, a group of 43 Members of Congress sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for the Department of Justice to “unequivocally reject the discriminatory and racist doctrine of territorial incorporation established by the Insular Cases.” “The colonial system established by the Insular Cases was based on the Court’s judgment that the people residing in the territories were racially and culturally inferior to Anglo-Saxon white Americans and, therefore, unfit for the protections of the Constitution, self- government, or self-determination,” the authors wrote. “The people i ..read more

New York has a long history of connection with Puerto Rico, and was until recently the state with the largest Puerto Rican population. Roughly 5% of New York’s total population is of Puerto Rican heritage — over one million people. A long history Even before Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States following the Spanish American War, Puerto Ricans who supported Puerto Rico’s independence from Spain were organizing with Cuban independence activists in New York City. The Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee was headquartered there. As Jorell Meléndez-Badillo put it in Puerto Rico: A Nationa ..read more

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. The word “Commonwealth” is used in the official name of the island, just as it is in the names of four states – Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania. “The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico” doesn’t describe a special legal status any more than “the Commonwealth of Kentucky” does. Still, the term confuses people who are not familiar with the way it is used. For many American readers, the use of “commonwealth” suggests a special political identity, as in the former British Commonwealth, now the Commonwealth of Nations. This is a ..read more

A COFA, or Compact of Free Association, is a special treaty between two independent nations. The United States has COFAs with three countries: the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. Sometimes these nations are called “COFA nations” or “COFA states.” They are also known as the FAS, or freely associated states. The use if the word “state” might be a little confusing here. When referring to the FAS, the use of “state” as a synonym for “country.” All three of the COFA nations consist of groups of islands. A COFA is a type of bilateral t ..read more