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Seva was a town that was supposedly wiped off the face of the earth when the Americans successfully took over Puerto Rico from the Spaniards. Any mention of it in the record books was also wiped out. The reason for this genocide was because the town of Seva had successfully repelled the first invasion of the U.S. forces a couple of weeks before they landed in Guanica. The U.S. military could not look weak and could not stand to have this blemish on their record. How could a bunch of peasant Puerto Ricans defeat the almighty U.S.? That was impossible and they needed to be erased from history. To add insult to injury, the U.S. built a naval station right on the site of the old town, and named it Ceiba. How did this come about? Who was responsible? To make a long story short, a young researcher did studies and learned of this cover-up. He begins to be followed and he suspects that something will happen to him soon, and he must let the public know of this massacre. He gave a friend all the papers and tells him to print the story if he is not heard from in a couple of weeks. The story is published behind the editor’s back, because the editor wants more proof. Needless to say, the story breaks and everyone is in an uproar. I felt the same anger that Puerto Ricans in 1980 did when this story broke. They wrote letters in protest to the U.S. government, flowers were put at the naval station’s fences in remembrance of the massacre victims, and Puerto Ricans finally had proof that they had what it takes to stand up to the United States. It turns out that the whole thing was a hoax. (Figueroa, Oct. 22.) I ask myself why I have allowed my emotions to get the best of me? What was it about this story that had so many Puerto Rican people in an uproar, and why was I caught up in the same emotional sweep that they were caught up in 18 years ago? Questions I have pertaining to the actual person whom did this and why are: did they honestly believe they could deceive the entire world about something that never happened? Did they really think they were going to get away with such a thing? What drives a person to do these things? All of these questions are related and go as far back as 1898, the year Puerto Rico past as a colony under the control of Spain to the control of the United States. On July 25, 1898, the United States invaded the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico. They landed on the southern side of the island in Guanica. Within three days, they had captured the city of Ponce. Some people fought and resisted the Americans, but most of the people actually helped the Americans move in. On August 9, 1898, the last battle was fought between the Spanish/Puerto Ricans and the invading Americans. The way the island was mostly taken over was without a fight. Spanish soldiers would retreat to the next town closest to San Juan, and later in the afternoon the American soldiers would come in and occupy the town. This systematic retreat and take over was repeated until the Spanish finally left the city of San Juan, and on October 18, 1898, the Spanish flag was lowered and the American flag was raised (Figueroa, Oct. 8). Now why would Puerto Ricans welcome the American soldiers after they fought many times to defeat other invading forces, and why not stay loyal to Spain like the 400 hundred years before? I have come to the conclusion that Puerto Ricans were sick and tired of being stepped on by Spain. Puerto Ricans had consistently gone to the government of Spain to ask for more autonomy and control of issues that pertained to them, but Spain always said no. The Americans were seen as a glimmer of hope and promise for a brighter future. They were going to give Puerto Ricans the freedom they all had been craving for so long. Not to mention that it would probably have been suicide to go up against the well equipped U.S. forces. But why not help a people that were eventually going to help you and your situation? And this is exactly what many Puerto Ricans did. General Nelson Miles of the U.S. troops in fact gave a promise to the Puerto Rican people. "We have not come to make war upon the people of a country that for centuries has been oppressed but on the contrary to bring you protection. . . to promote your prosperity, and to bestow upon you the immunities and blessings of the liberal institutions of our government" (Fernandez, 3). But a couple of months later, on February 6, 1899, a treaty was signed that made Puerto Rico and the Philippines colonies of the United States of America. This became known as the Treaty of Paris (Fernandez, 8). The United States also put a heavy burden on Puerto Rico’s economy. Puerto Rico could almost exclusively only trade with the United States and was under their shipping laws now. Many of Puerto Rico’s trading partners now stopped coming because of the high shipping taxes, too. Another thing that the U.S. did to Puerto Rico’s economy was to go back to sugar cane as their biggest export. The last couple of decades, coffee had taken over as the number one product, but the U.S. was not interested in this. They did not like the Puerto Rican’s rich a dark coffee. Instead they changed the island back to a big sugar cane maker. This was the way the U.S. made money off the island (Dietz). It was now time to do something about the government. Puerto Rico was under military control until the Foraker Act came along on April 12, 1900(Trias-Monge, 42). What the Foraker Act did first was to set up a government for Puerto Rico. The President of the United States appointed a governor of his choosing who was always answerable to him. Six departments were also set up under the governor, where each head of the departments were also appointed by the United States President. The U.S. government also retained the right to revoke any laws passed by the Puerto Rican legislature (Trias-Monge, 43). What the act in fact had done for the Puerto Rican people was take away what little form of government they fought so hard to attain from the Spanish. 400 years of fighting for something and it was gone with the simple stroke of the pen. Puerto Rico was not given their own government because they were seen as unfit to rule themselves yet. They could not argue much about their situation either, because they were under the rule of a military power, one in which they surely could not push back and rise up against. But the key word in the above statement is "yet". This word implies that the U.S. would not be there for long and they were there to just over see things until Puerto Rico got on their feet. A very important thing to note here is that the U.S. government never stated when they had to pull out, so they were strictly working on their own timetable. But though Puerto Rico belonged to the United States due to its colonization, the people were not given citizenship nor Constitutional Rights. Upon hearing this as a Puerto Rican, a person would immediately concentrate on that key word "yet". This word gives you hope and all you had to do was show the U.S. that you could do well in whatever they throw at you. It is better than focusing on the anger and frustration you felt during the rule of the Spaniards, plus you could feel the freedom’s closeness. This has been proven to be a false feeling as 100 years of continued colonization by the United States has since followed. What Puerto Ricans had to endure during the following years to prove their "worthiness" so to speak, are nothing more than America imposing itself on another. Schools were forced to use the English language for teaching and learning. This was finally abolished in 1948, but not after almost 50 years of students trying to learn their entire academic curriculum in a foreign language. Puerto Ricans had to imitate their "big brother" from the north in order to "better themselves"(Guerra, 50-51). Before the U.S. came in 1898, Puerto Ricans were well divided by class. Now there was a new hierarchical structure and Puerto Ricans started to blend more. The jibaro was now becoming a sign of the Puerto Rican (Guerra, 59). They all started to associate with certain things that were "Puerto Rican", especially since the Americans did not distinguish between the classes and said they were all Puerto Rican. But many Puerto Ricans still argued this status of limbo. They were neither citizens of the United States, nor were they people of their own island because the island belonged to the United States. Nothing changed until March 2, 1917, when the president signed the Jones Bill. What the Jones Act did was to make Puerto Ricans full citizens of the United States of America. The only problems with this were that the island of Puerto Rico was still not a state, nor did the people living on the island have full Constitutional Rights. A Puerto Rican could only have full rights if they were living on the mainland. Living on the island you could not vote, and the U.S. still has full jurisdiction over everything. The reason why the Americans had a "change of heart" was only because of the Danish. They insisted that if the U.S. were to buy the Virgin Islands from them, that they had to make them citizens of the country. The U.S. had no choice to make Puerto Rico’s natives citizens as well. Puerto Ricans have held this status till this day and are considered a commonwealth of the United States. Promises, hopes and dreams are what the people were fed since the beginning. They have been told from the beginning that they have been treated fairly and that maybe someday. This is why people got mad when they heard the story of Seva. This is why I got mad when I heard it. This is why we celebrate when we best the United States in any athletic competition. No one ever wants to be looked over like a baby as if you couldn’t take care of yourself when you can completely think on your own. The only problem maybe that Puerto Rico is not a developed and totally modern place because the U.S. has never fully put into them. Maybe it’s time. A hoax! That’s what it was! But how could this be?! It had to be true, but it wasn’t. Sitting stunned in class, I quickly searched for loopholes in the story. There had to be some there, and I wanted to find them. I was upset at myself because I allowed myself like everyone else in the class to be riled up and swept away by this fabulous story of Seva. Seva was a town that was supposedly wiped off the face of the earth when the Americans successfully took over Puerto Rico from the Spaniards. Any mention of it in the record books was also wiped out. The reason for this genocide was because the town of Seva had successfully repelled the first invasion of the U.S. forces a couple of weeks before they landed in Guanica. The U.S. military could not look weak and could not stand to have this blemish on their record. How could a bunch of peasant Puerto Ricans defeat the almighty U.S.? That was impossible and they needed to be erased from history. To add insult to injury, the U.S. built a naval station right on the site of the old town, and named it Ceiba. How did this come about? Who was responsible? To make a long story short, a young researcher did studies and learned of this cover-up. He begins to be followed and he suspects that something will happen to him soon, and he must let the public know of this massacre. He gave a friend all the papers and tells him to print the story if he is not heard from in a couple of weeks. The story is published behind the editor’s back, because the editor wants more proof. Needless to say, the story breaks and everyone is in an uproar. I felt the same anger that Puerto Ricans in 1980 did when this story broke. They wrote letters in protest to the U.S. government, flowers were put at the naval station’s fences in remembrance of the massacre victims, and Puerto Ricans finally had proof that they had what it takes to stand up to the United States. It turns out that the whole thing was a hoax. (Figueroa, Oct. 22.) I ask myself why I have allowed my emotions to get the best of me? What was it about this story that had so many Puerto Rican people in an uproar, and why was I caught up in the same emotional sweep that they were caught up in 18 years ago? Questions I have pertaining to the actual person whom did this and why are: did they honestly believe they could deceive the entire world about something that never happened? Did they really think they were going to get away with such a thing? What drives a person to do these things? All of these questions are related and go as far back as 1898, the year Puerto Rico past as a colony under the control of Spain to the control of the United States. On July 25, 1898, the United States invaded the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico. They landed on the southern side of the island in Guanica. Within three days, they had captured the city of Ponce. Some people fought and resisted the Americans, but most of the people actually helped the Americans move in. On August 9, 1898, the last battle was fought between the Spanish/Puerto Ricans and the invading Americans. The way the island was mostly taken over was without a fight. Spanish soldiers would retreat to the next town closest to San Juan, and later in the afternoon the American soldiers would come in and occupy the town. This systematic retreat and take over was repeated until the Spanish finally left the city of San Juan, and on October 18, 1898, the Spanish flag was lowered and the American flag was raised (Figueroa, Oct. 8). Now why would Puerto Ricans welcome the American soldiers after they fought many times to defeat other invading forces, and why not stay loyal to Spain like the 400 hundred years before? I have come to the conclusion that Puerto Ricans were sick and tired of being stepped on by Spain. Puerto Ricans had consistently gone to the government of Spain to ask for more autonomy and control of issues that pertained to them, but Spain always said no. The Americans were seen as a glimmer of hope and promise for a brighter future. They were going to give Puerto Ricans the freedom they all had been craving for so long. Not to mention that it would probably have been suicide to go up against the well equipped U.S. forces. But why not help a people that were eventually going to help you and your situation? And this is exactly what many Puerto Ricans did. General Nelson Miles of the U.S. troops in fact gave a promise to the Puerto Rican people. "We have not come to make war upon the people of a country that for centuries has been oppressed but on the contrary to bring you protection. . . to promote your prosperity, and to bestow upon you the immunities and blessings of the liberal institutions of our government" (Fernandez, 3). But a couple of months later, on February 6, 1899, a treaty was signed that made Puerto Rico and the Philippines colonies of the United States of America. This became known as the Treaty of Paris (Fernandez, 8). The United States also put a heavy burden on Puerto Rico’s economy. Puerto Rico could almost exclusively only trade with the United States and was under their shipping laws now. Many of Puerto Rico’s trading partners now stopped coming because of the high shipping taxes, too. Another thing that the U.S. did to Puerto Rico’s economy was to go back to sugar cane as their biggest export. The last couple of decades, coffee had taken over as the number one product, but the U.S. was not interested in this. They did not like the Puerto Rican’s rich a dark coffee. Instead they changed the island back to a big sugar cane maker. This was the way the U.S. made money off the island (Dietz). It was now time to do something about the government. Puerto Rico was under military control until the Foraker Act came along on April 12, 1900(Trias-Monge, 42). What the Foraker Act did first was to set up a government for Puerto Rico. The President of the United States appointed a governor of his choosing who was always answerable to him. Six departments were also set up under the governor, where each head of the departments were also appointed by the United States President. The U.S. government also retained the right to revoke any laws passed by the Puerto Rican legislature (Trias-Monge, 43). What the act in fact had done for the Puerto Rican people was take away what little form of government they fought so hard to attain from the Spanish. 400 years of fighting for something and it was gone with the simple stroke of the pen. Puerto Rico was not given their own government because they were seen as unfit to rule themselves yet. They could not argue much about their situation either, because they were under the rule of a military power, one in which they surely could not push back and rise up against. But the key word in the above statement is "yet". This word implies that the U.S. would not be there for long and they were there to just over see things until Puerto Rico got on their feet. A very important thing to note here is that the U.S. government never stated when they had to pull out, so they were strictly working on their own timetable. But though Puerto Rico belonged to the United States due to its colonization, the people were not given citizenship nor Constitutional Rights. Upon hearing this as a Puerto Rican, a person would immediately concentrate on that key word "yet". This word gives you hope and all you had to do was show the U.S. that you could do well in whatever they throw at you. It is better than focusing on the anger and frustration you felt during the rule of the Spaniards, plus you could feel the freedom’s closeness. This has been proven to be a false feeling as 100 years of continued colonization by the United States has since followed. What Puerto Ricans had to endure during the following years to prove their "worthiness" so to speak, are nothing more than America imposing itself on another. Schools were forced to use the English language for teaching and learning. This was finally abolished in 1948, but not after almost 50 years of students trying to learn their entire academic curriculum in a foreign language. Puerto Ricans had to imitate their "big brother" from the north in order to "better themselves"(Guerra, 50-51). Before the U.S. came in 1898, Puerto Ricans were well divided by class. Now there was a new hierarchical structure and Puerto Ricans started to blend more. The jibaro was now becoming a sign of the Puerto Rican (Guerra, 59). They all started to associate with certain things that were "Puerto Rican", especially since the Americans did not distinguish between the classes and said they were all Puerto Rican. But many Puerto Ricans still argued this status of limbo. They were neither citizens of the United States, nor were they people of their own island because the island belonged to the United States. Nothing changed until March 2, 1917, when the president signed the Jones Bill. What the Jones Act did was to make Puerto Ricans full citizens of the United States of America. The only problems with this were that the island of Puerto Rico was still not a state, nor did the people living on the island have full Constitutional Rights. A Puerto Rican could only have full rights if they were living on the mainland. Living on the island you could not vote, and the U.S. still has full jurisdiction over everything. The reason why the Americans had a "change of heart" was only because of the Danish. They insisted that if the U.S. were to buy the Virgin Islands from them, that they had to make them citizens of the country. The U.S. had no choice to make Puerto Rico’s natives citizens as well. Puerto Ricans have held this status till this day and are considered a commonwealth of the United States. Promises, hopes and dreams are what the people were fed since the beginning. They have been told from the beginning that they have been treated fairly and that maybe someday. This is why people got mad when they heard the story of Seva. This is why I got mad when I heard it. This is why we celebrate when we best the United States in any athletic competition. No one ever wants to be looked over like a baby as if you couldn’t take care of yourself when you can completely think on your own. The only problem maybe that Puerto Rico is not a developed and totally modern place because the U.S. has never fully put into them. Maybe it’s time. Bibliography: References Dietz, James. Economic History of Puerto Rico (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1986), 98-134. Fernandez, Ronald. The Disenchanted Island: Puerto Rico and the U.S. in the Twentieth Century. 2d. Ed. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996). Guerra, Lillian. Popular Expression and National Identity in Puerto Rico: The Struggle for self, Community, and Nation, chs. 2-3 (Gainesville: U Press of Florida, 1998)45-121. Trias-Monge, Jose. "The Shaping of a Colonial Policy," from: Trias-Monge, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (New Haven: Yale U press, 1997), 36-51. Word Count: 3768
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