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Puerto Rico’s Stolen Government: The History We Were Never Taught
Description
Puerto Rico’s Stolen Government
Today, Puerto Rico Open Your Eyes presents a special episode with a very special guest: José G. Poventud a Puerto Rican community activist, United States Navy veteran, and independent historical researcher committed to recovering Puerto Rico’s political history before 1898.
Host Edwin Ortiz and José examine a question every Puerto Rican deserves to ask:
What government did Puerto Rico possess before the United States invaded, and why were so many of us never taught about it?
The conversation follows Puerto Rico’s political development through its municipal governments, Ramón Power y Giralt, representation in the Spanish Cortes, the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812, and the abolitionist and autonomist movements.
That struggle culminated in the Autonomous Charter of 1897. On March 27, 1898, Puerto Rico held an island-wide election, elected an insular parliament, established a cabinet, and began operating under an autonomous constitutional government within Spain.
Then, on July 25, 1898, the United States invaded.
Puerto Ricans were never consulted. The elected parliament did not approve the transfer of sovereignty. No Puerto Rican representative participated in the Treaty of Paris negotiations, and no referendum authorized the replacement of Puerto Rico’s autonomous institutions with American military rule.
This episode asks whether Puerto Rico’s government was not simply lost—but stolen.
Edwin and José also challenge the claim that Puerto Rico was sold for twenty million dollars. That payment concerned the Philippines. The United States demanded Puerto Rico as a condition of peace after Spain’s military defeat.
The conversation concludes by examining autonomy with modern democratic Spain—not as a return to colonialism, but as an option Puerto Ricans should be allowed to research, debate, and consider alongside the others.
Whether you support statehood, independence, the current relationship, or autonomy with Spain, this is a conversation every Puerto Rican should hear.
Puerto Rico’s political history did not begin in 1898. What happened was the interruption of a government Puerto Ricans had already achieved.
Watch this special episode, share it, and help us recover the history Puerto Rico was never supposed to remember.
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