FSC Spin-Off August 2022: 'Songs from Movies/TV' - San Juan, Puerto Rico

## The Host Country/City

**The host city is San Juan, Puerto Rico.**

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States. Puerto Rico was first settled 2000 years ago, but it wasn't until the arrival of the Spaniards and Christopher Colombus that the population increased rapidly, especially after the introduction of slaves with African backgrounds. Nowadays Puerto Rico has got 3,285,874 inhabitants, most of them Christian Catholics.

As an American territory the Puerto Ricans have American citizenship, and they're represented in the American congress, but having their own independent legal system, they won't be able to vote at presidential election, and the Puerto Rican representative in the American congress won't be able to vote.

Our host city is the capital of this lovely island: San Juan

With it's 395,326 inhabitants it's the largest city and metropolitan area on the island. And being founded already in 1521 (under the Spanish name "Ciudad de Puerto Rico") it's one of the oldest capitals in all of the Americas.

Today it's the most important business centre on the island with both trade, finance, culture and tourism working from the capital, and most of the people living in Puerto Rico has settled in or around the capital.

The port of San Juan is a major asset when it comes to Puerto Rican economy as it's currently the 4th busiest in the Western hemisphere and makes trading in San Juan a key factor in Puerto Rican economy. The main economical factor in San Juan, indeed all of Puerto Rico, is tourism. As well as being the fourth busiest port overall, it's the 2nd biggest after Miami when it comes to cruise tourism.

Tourism is the main industry in Puerto Rico as the country is blesssed with lovely beaches, pleasant climate and a capital with such colonial beauty as San Juan. Despite the hurricane Maria in 2017, which destroyed a lot of infrastructure and accommodation on the island, there were 3,7 million visitors going to Puerto Rico on their vacation in 2019 when most hotels were yet again in use.

**Puerto Rican history:**

At the time of the arrival of the Spanish to Puerto Rico, the island was mostly inhabited by the Taíno-tribe, but because of European diseases and warfare the number of Taíno-inhabitants declined rapidly within the following 100 years.

Located in the northeastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico formed an important part of the Spanish Empire from the early years of the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World. The island was an important military post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for control of the region in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1593, Portuguese soldiers, sent from Lisbon by order of Philip II, formed the first garrison in the fortress of San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico, but despite this fact, Puerto Rico remained a Spanish colony until the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898.

In 1900 The Foraker Act established a civilian government, ending rule by US generals and it was soon confirmed that the United States Constitution applied within its territory and that any domestic Puerto Rican laws not in conflict with the United States Constitution, remained in full effect. Alongside The Jones Act of 1917

it lead to the drafting of the Puerto Rican Constitution and its approval by Congress and Puerto Rico's voters in 1952. However, the political status of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth controlled by the United States, remains an anomaly.

The status of indepensece of Puerto Rico has been unclear in recent years, but in 2012 a referedum took place on the Puerto Rican future and the relations to the USA. 61.16% voted for statehood, 33.34% for a sovereign free associated state, and 5.49% for independence. At the 2020 general elections the Puerto Ricans were asked one again whether "Puerto Rico should be admitted immediately into the Union as a State", and 52% voted yes.

## The Venue

**Our venue: Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot**

Our artists will be performing their entries in the Choliseo which is the common name among locals. It's the biggest indoor venue in Puerto Rico as It can accommodate up to 18,500 spectators.

It was opened in 2004 and in 2011, the arena was ranked 8th on the Top 50 Arena Venues of the world and second of the West Hemisphere in worldwide ticket sales by Pollstar Magazine. As of May 2013, the arena has received over 5 million spectators, hosting more than 600 events with a gross ticket revenue around $200 million.

Due to the damage during Hurricane Maria in 2017 all events were cancelled in order to provide help and safety to the victims of the disaster, but happily the arena resumed the events in 2018, hence making it possible to host our FSC Spin-Off.

## The Host

Our host tonight will be the wonderful tennis player **Monica Puig!**

She’ll be honored to welcome you to her beloved San Juan and has done everything possible to prepare for the job. She even retired from professional tennis in June in order to focus full time on hosting the FSC Spin Off!

"Yo doy lo que sea por Puerto Rico", as she says.

Monica Puig Marchán was born in 1993 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to a Cuban American father and Puerto Rican mother. She started playing tennis at the age of 6 and ended up being one of the most popular names in Puerto Rican sport, having won their first ever Olympic gold medal at the age of 22, beating the likes of Garbiñe Muguruza, Petra Kvitová and Angelique Kerber en route to the victory.

Shortly afterwards she peaked at no. 27 on the world ranking in September 2016. Throughout her career Monica Puig has won one WTA-title in 2014 Strasbourg as well as six titles on ITF-level.

Tonight she’ll be serving 13 aces right into your ears, and it’s up to you to decide: Who’ll be the champion of this Spin-Off..? Good luck!

## The Participants

**13 Participants this edition**:

Germany (Malagant)

Japan (heke1988)

Greece (Auseken)

United Kingdom (A-Lister)

Lithuania (Lietuvis)

Iceland (Zorjan)

Colombia (Journalist)

Cyprus (CypriotGirl)

Albania (aardvark)

Uganda (NicoRobin)

Croatia (Bmbriga)

Azerbaijan (Bakinka)

Denmark (AnnetteMaria)