Diario las Américas., 1958-07-31
Know thy
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By ANTONIO RUIZ

PUERTO RICO - Christopher
Columbus discovered the island of
Puerto Rico during his second yo-
yage to the New World, and on
November 10, 1893, he took pos
session of it in the name of Their
Catholic Majesties of Spain. The
settlement of the island, however,
was started much later by Juan
Ponce de Leon, who later was the
discoverer of Florida and famed
for his search for the Fountain of
Youth. In the year 1903, Ponce
de Leon founded the city of San
Juan, present capital of the Com
monwealth of Puerto Rico.
During four centuries, settlers
kept coming to Puerto Rico from
Spain, while the Indian population
of the island gradually disappear
ed, mainly as the result of absorp-
ton into the white Spanish and
early Negro population, the latter
brought from Africa under slavery
to work in the plantations.
For four centuries, also, Puerto
Rico was a part of the Spanish
overseas Empire. In 1872 it was
given the rank of Province of
Spain, on equal basis with all the
provinces in the Iberian Peninsula.
In 1897, Puerto Rico was granted
constitution by the Spanish Crown
under which it would have become
a virtual Dominion. Soon after,
however, during the Spanish Amer
lean War, the United States occu-
pied Puerto Rico and, under the
Treaty of Paris, proclaimed on
April IL, 1899, Spain coded sover-
eighty over Puerto Rico to the
United States. In that manner the
Spanish Empire lost its last
foothold in the Western Henri
sphere.
Today Puerto Rico is self-gov-
erning, under a constitution draft
ed by a Constitutional Convention
and approved by a great majority
of the island voters in a referen-
dunn. 1t was also ratified by the
Congress of the United States and
approved by the President. This
constitution went into effect on
July %, 1852, and was the culmina-
ton of So years of steadily in
creasing local autonomy. Major
advances were made in 1917, when
the Puerto Ricans were declared
to be citizens of the United States,
and the legislature became wholly
elected by popular vote.
In 1916, President Harry S.
Truman appointed the first Puer-
to Rican to be governor of the
island, and in 1913, in accordance
with an act of the Congress of the
United States, the people of Puer-
to Rico elected their own gov
ernor for the first time. The act
of authorizing full autonomy in is
land affairs under their own con-
stitution was approved by. Con-
gress in 1850 and ratified by voters
in a referendum in June, 1851.
The Constitution, establishing Puer-
to Rico as a Commonwealth" of
the United States, was approved in
a referendum which took place
on the island on March 3, 1852,
and President Truman signed a
Congressional Act of Ratification
on July 8, 1852.
Under this constitution, Puerto
Rico has most of the powers and
responsibilities of a State of the
Union, major exceptions being that
Puerto Rico's residents are not
subject to Federal taxes and do
not have voting representation in
the Congress of the United States,
nor have they the right to vote
for President and Vice President
of the United States.
The Puerto Rican Constitution is
in complete harmony with the
United States constitution in po-
litical fundamentals and follows
the Federal Constitution closely in
providing executive, legislative and
judicial branches of government
with a system of checks and balan-
ces. Among the unusual features
are a specific guarantee of freedom
Of the press and a provision guar
anteeing bona.fide minority politi-
cal parties representation in the
House and Senate, ven when they
fail to win q majority of the votes
for a. particular contest.
Spanish version page B..