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...Cuba has always been the more attractive of the two. It was bigger. It was more elegant. But, above all, it was closer. In the American imagination, Cuba appeared as emotional boundary and vulnerable national border...
Unlike with Cuba, however, the taking of “Porto Rico” is often described in cold imperial terms: Politicians and experts agreed on the island’s strategic advantages and business potential; they also assured readers that Puerto Rico was too small to be independent and would benefit from American guidance. Journalists likewise reported, in short articles underlining the island’s lack of importance, that it was Puerto Ricans and not Americans who were “excited” about the invasion.
In the words of influential congressman Henry Teller, author of the amendment precluding the U.S. annexation of Cuba: “I don’t like the Puerto Rican. They are not fighters like the Cubans. They were under Spanish tyranny for centuries without showing enough manhood to oppose it. Such a race is unworthy of U.S. citizenship.”
While the desire to annex Cuba culminated in the American “concession” of independence in 1902, the U.S. viewed it as theirs. Puerto Rico, however, is legally possessed outright, even as the Supreme Court decided the island, like a superfluous accessory, belongs to — but is not part of — the U.S.
Puerto Rico, despite having spectacular beaches and a climate similar to the island next door, could boast only one luxury hotel, the Condado Vanderbilt, until 1949, when the Caribe Hilton was built — at the behest of the insular government. If Cuba was triple-D, Puerto Rico was triple-P: poor, puny, and passive. Americans remained hooked on Havana.
Ironically, even though many New Yorkers regarded Puerto Rican migrants as “tropical scum,” their origin “somewhere down there,” made it possible for a handful to be assimilated through the Latin Lover and sexy spitfire stereotypes.
In this new climate, everything Cuban is hot. To learn how the Cuba Libre (and not the Piña Colada) came about is sexy. To invest in run-down urban areas (in Havana, not in San Juan) is sexy. It is also sexy to invite university students to study the biosphere. “Cuba is inaccessible,” the professor observes. “It makes the trip sound much sexier, don’t you think?”
Furthermore, while Cuba’s poverty may cause “aching despair,” the Times re-assures its readers that Cubans “brim with so much life. They wait, coiled with anticipation” (yet again). In contrast, Puerto Rico’s poverty and landscape are, in addition to ugly, repellent, and dangerous: the island is a “warm, wet paradise veined with gritty poverty, the ideal environment for the [Zika] mosquitoes carrying the virus.”
If Cuba is a colorful fantasy that lasts and lasts like a Life Savers lollipop, Puerto Rico is a nuisance, like a wad of gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe.
Does the US treats PR and Puerto Ricans as segundones in comparison with Cuba and Cubans?
Is the Puerto Rican author correct in his reasoning for why the U.S. gives this differentiated treatment between the two islands?
Had Puerto Rico been more like Cuba, do you think the U.S. would had been much quicker and more effective to relieve the island after a major hurricane?
Is PR seen as "a nuisance like a wad of gum stuck at the bottom of a shoe", as is claimed by the author, while Cuba is seen "a colorful fantasy that lasts and lasts like a life savers lollipop"?
I've always been a fan of Cubans. Cuba has a much more interesting history and cutlure. Also the historical conflict with the United States has given it a 'forbidden' air that makes it more enticing.
Nothing is going on in Puerto Rico.
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Originally Posted by AntonioR
Had Puerto Rico been more like Cuba, do you think the U.S. would had been much quicker and more effective to relieve the island after a major hurricane?
Nope that's irrelevant. Don't start an off-topic debate. The U.S response was as fast as possible given the number of disasters that happened at the same time. It's Puerto Ricans that weren't quick to act nor did they prepare for the storms that they knew were coming. Perishable food was literally left to spoil on the docks.
Puerto Ricans should take lessons from Cuba on disaster preparedness. They handled the same storms much better than PR without any help.
Is PR seen as "a nuisance like a wad of gum stuck at the bottom of a shoe", as is claimed by the author, while Cuba is seen "a colorful fantasy that lasts and lasts like a life savers lollipop"?
Well, people couldn't travel to Cuba, so that made it a fantasy. Anybody can show up to Puerto Rico, so it's not as exciting.
The United States never made Cuba in a U.S. territory and never gave them U.S. Citizenship and the U.S. has invested billions of dollars in P.R. that compare to Cuba you can see the difference.
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Cuba has always been the more attractive of the two. It was bigger. It was more elegant. But, above all, it was closer. In the American imagination, Cuba appeared as emotional boundary and vulnerable national border...
opinion. Have he seen Cuba now and the life of each ordinary Cuban? going to Cuba as a tourist staying in the nice hotels with American dollars or Euros is one thing, go out to the real Cuba and see how they live is another thing.
the average wage in Cuba is $25 a month.....that is less than 1 dollar a day......don't forget Cuba is still a communist totalitarian state without a free press that only has 1 political party and freedom of speech doesn't exist.
You can say negative things about the status of Puerto Rico but is nothing like the status in Cuba since the 50's.
Cuban cigars are considered the best in the world, and for decades, only available to Americans through the black market. Puerto Rico doesn't produce anything like that.
Cuba is more exotic because they were completely closed off for so long. Not only that, but we’ve all seen the pictures of Havana which look like it is stuck in the 1950’s. Americans are curious about a place so different then home.
San Juan has a good reputation as a tourist destination in its own right. Relative to many of its neighbors, Puerto Rico doesn’t seem so interesting. Even compared to say Jamaica, Virgin Islands, or the Cayman Islands.
Puerto Rico is actually a very interesting place and very beautiful, but they haven’t marketed their image very well.
For those who have actually been to Havana in the last decade or so or spoke with someone who has then you would know what’s not talked about a lot. That although the romantic notion of Cuba as a time capsule is nice the reality is quite different. In Havana, below the surface of what the tourist is supposed to see is a crumbling infrastructure of buildings that are occupied by families barely getting by and living on such meager wages/govt stipend they can barely meet daily nutritional needs. Opportunities for extra money are few and many work the tourist sex trade, not the eutopia they would have the world think.
Cuba is more exotic because they were completely closed off for so long. Not only that, but we’ve all seen the pictures of Havana which look like it is stuck in the 1950’s. Americans are curious about a place so different then home.
San Juan has a good reputation as a tourist destination in its own right. Relative to many of its neighbors, Puerto Rico doesn’t seem so interesting. Even compared to say Jamaica, Virgin Islands, or the Cayman Islands.
Puerto Rico is actually a very interesting place and very beautiful, but they haven’t marketed their image very well.
I think the allure of cuba is location (for people in the florida keys, havana is the closest big city) and primarily the memory of the mob run cuba. the mob knew how to market tourism. I think the allure of jamaica is illusory. i would much rather LIVE in Puerto Rico than jamaica where vast swaths of the beaches have been privatized and shut off from the local population...and tourists aren't living there. that said, I think Puerto rico historically has done a terrible job marketing itself and that only really began to change when the wheels came off the bus. I've been curious to see if one of the side affects of the hurricane would be presence of mind stateside.
Cruise ships are a key cog in Puerto Rico’s faltering economic engine, but tourism officials have started to wake up to the reality that cruise passengers aren’t the most lucrative type of visitor – a reality other Caribbean destinations have known for years...Total tourism arrivals have grown nearly 30 percent between 1995 and 2017, from 4 million to 5.2 million, respectively (the later year includes Hurricane Maria). Overnight arrivals have grown nearly 20 percent, from 3.1 million in 1995 to 3.7 million in 2017.
Cruise passenger arrivals have grown nearly 40 percent during the same period, from 956,000 in 1995 to 1.4 million last year... The island’s 3.7 million tourist arrivals in 2016 had only recovered to the level they were at in 2008, just before the financial crisis...Puerto Rico’s 15,000 hotel rooms are also paltry compared to more than 30,000 rooms and counting in both Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. The island’s hotel inventory has grown about 44 percent in the last 20 years, but nearby destinations grew more because foreign investors saw more potential...
Cuban cigars are considered the best in the world, and for decades, only available to Americans through the black market. Puerto Rico doesn't produce anything like that.
India and Pakistan makes the world's best area rugs. What's your point? who wants to trade places with the average Joe there?
and what good that does for the average Cuban when the average pay is $25 a month (less than $1 a day) in Cuba. Yeah, I'm sure every Puerto Rican wants to trade places with Cubans just so they can produce cigars.
by the way, Puerto Rico produces one of the best rums in the world if not the best. Bacardi, the world's most popular rum, has a massive distillery located in Cataño. Don Q, Favored by locals as the best rum in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has been making RUM since the 16th century.
Last edited by Hellion1999; 08-04-2018 at 11:15 AM..
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