199-604: The Ejército Popular Boricua (" Boricua Popular/People's Army"), also known as Los Macheteros ("The Machete Wielders"), is a clandestine militant and insurgent organization based in Puerto Rico , with cells in the broader US and other nations. It campaigns for, and supports, the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States . During their first decade of existence, they had an average of two actions per year. The group claimed responsibility for
398-406: A U.S. territory , Puerto Ricans have automatic birthright American citizenship , and are considerably influenced by American culture . The population of Puerto Ricans is between 9 and 10 million worldwide, with the overwhelming majority residing in Puerto Rico and mainland United States . The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred to as a Western culture largely derived from
597-577: A lower house based on population; and the Senate , an upper house based on equal representation for each state. Federalism provides substantial autonomy to the 50 states, while the country's political culture promotes liberty , equality , individualism , personal autonomy , and limited government . One of the world's most developed countries , the United States has had the largest nominal GDP since about 1890 and accounted for over 15% of
796-580: A " Special Relationship " with the United Kingdom and strong ties with Canada , Australia , New Zealand , the Philippines , Japan , South Korea , Israel , and several European Union countries ( France , Italy , Germany , Spain , and Poland ). The U.S. works closely with its NATO allies on military and national security issues, and with countries in the Americas through
995-558: A 54% majority of the ballots cast against the continuation of the island's territorial political status, and in favor of a new status. Of votes for new status, a 61.1% majority chose statehood. This was by far the most successful referendum for statehood advocates. In all earlier referenda, votes for statehood were matched almost equally by votes for remaining an American territory, with the remainder for independence. Support for U.S. statehood has risen in each successive popular referendum. The fifth Puerto Rican status referendum of 2017 ,
1194-552: A Puerto Rican from New York City who declares himself a self styled machetero, titled MACHETERO , was released in 2008. Starring Not4Prophet ( Ricanstruction, X-Vandals, Abrazos Army ), as Pedro Taíno, and Isaach De Bankolé ( Casino Royale , Ghostdog, Black Panther), as French journalist Jean Dumont, the film takes place in both New York City and Puerto Rico. Other actors include Kelvin Fernández (first starring role) and professed former political prisoner, Dylcia Pagán . The film
1393-526: A Puerto Rican population count, especially if they have ancestry of at least one parent born in target country, for example people of Dominican, Cuban, or Mexican etc ancestry born in Puerto Rico and later returning to their ancestral country- wouldn't be counted in a Puerto Rican population count, but likely rather counted as a "returning emigrant". Similarly, Puerto Ricans born in the mainland United States would be counted under an "American" statistic, so
1592-639: A Wells Fargo truck, arrived.Supported by more armed commandos that arrived in a van, those inside the building gained control of the armored car keys and took $ 300,000 from it. On September 12, 1983, in an operation entitled Águila Blanca ("White Eagle", the nickname of José Maldonado Román ) an EPB agent part of the Los Taínos cell named Víctor Manuel Gerena took over the Wells Fargo depot located in West Hartford, Connecticut , stealing
1791-769: A balanced budget. [REDACTED] United States [REDACTED] Rafael Hernández Colón (1976–1977) (1985–1993) [REDACTED] Carlos Romero Barceló (1977–1985) [REDACTED] Pedro Rosselló (1993–2001) [REDACTED] Sila María Calderón (2001–2005) [REDACTED] Aníbal Acevedo Vilá (2005–2009) [REDACTED] Luis Fortuño (2009–2013) [REDACTED] Alejandro García Padilla (2013–2017) [REDACTED] Ricardo Rosselló (2017–2019) [REDACTED] Pedro Pierluisi (2019) (2021–present) [REDACTED] Filiberto Ojeda Ríos † [REDACTED] Comandante Guasábara [REDACTED] Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer [REDACTED] Orlando González Claudio 5 killed The EPB
1990-542: A coordinated, continent-wide military effort. Finally, deteriorating relations between the British military establishment and the colonists, relations that were already less than positive, set the stage for further distrust and dislike of British troops. Following their victory in the French and Indian War, Britain began to assert greater control over local colonial affairs, resulting in colonial political resistance ; one of
2189-534: A decentralized government that operated until 1789. After the British surrender at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 American sovereignty was internationally recognized by the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which the U.S. gained territory stretching west to the Mississippi River, north to present-day Canada, and south to Spanish Florida . The Northwest Ordinance (1787) established the precedent by which
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#17327756442122388-678: A discipline code, the organization also discourages the use of alcohol and prohibits the use of drugs. The EPB attempts to stay away from areas where other nationalist groups are based in order to avoid attention. They also settle away from military or police stations. Meetings are generally held in places with good reputation and in buildings that offer several access points, with heavy precautions being taken to reach their locations untailed. If different units are meeting, commandos are instructed to place hoods or masks and use codenames in order to protect their identities, both to accomplish plausible denial and to root out any law enforcement plant. Information
2587-628: A discrete genetic population. Native American admixture in Puerto Ricans ranges between about 5% and 35%, with around 15% being the approximate average. Puerto Rico's self-identified indigenous population therefore consist mostly of indigenous-identified persons (oftentimes with predominant Indigenous ancestry, but not always) from within the genetically mestizo population of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, even when most other Puerto Ricans of their exact same mixture would identify either as mixed-race or even as white. For its 2020 census,
2786-482: A dozen of the over 1,400 public schools aimed at conducting instruction in English only. Objections from teaching staff are common, perhaps because many of them are not fully fluent in English. English is taught as a second language and is a compulsory subject from elementary levels to high school. Home to a sizeable deaf community , the actual numbers are unknown due to unavailable source data. A 1986 estimate places
2985-425: A fashion that prevents surveillance, such a P.O. Box or a decoy address where mail is delivered to the community in general. Even ammunitions were given codes such as Manteca for firearms or Libretas for explosives to conceal their nature. Armories were specifically retrofitted to preserve the condition and to prepare new ammunition as needed. Funds are managed strictly and reports are constant in order to keep
3184-520: A fee to be classified as white, which was the opposite of " one-drop rule " in US society after the American Civil War. Studies have shown that the racial ancestry mixture of the average Puerto Rican (regardless of racial self-identity) is about 64% European, 21% African, and 15% Native Taino, with European ancestry strongest on the west side of the island and West African ancestry strongest on
3383-407: A few prominent industrialists , largely by their formation of trusts and monopolies to prevent competition. Tycoons led the nation's expansion in the railroad , petroleum , and steel industries. The United States emerged as a pioneer of the automotive industry . These changes were accompanied by significant increases in economic inequality , slum conditions , and social unrest , creating
3582-638: A founding member of the World Bank , Organization of American States , NATO , and the United Nations , as well as a permanent member of the UN Security Council . The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776. Stephen Moylan , a Continental Army aide to General George Washington , wrote to Joseph Reed , Washington's aide-de-camp , seeking to go "with full and ample powers from
3781-563: A hindrance to the militant action that they pursue. Commander Guasábara then offers an alliance that oversees previous differences. In asking the rhetoric question "What would you do for yourself, your children and your country?" the Macheteros urged the public to hold an investigation and "judge those responsible" for what they consider an "irresponsible and unnecessary debt [caused by] the corrupt administrations that we have tolerated for 50 years". The EPB concluded this press release by urging
3980-603: A majority of the population on the island. In 1791, the slaves in Saint-Domingue ( Haiti ), revolted against their French masters. Many of the French escaped to Puerto Rico via what is now the Dominican Republic and settled in the west coast of the island, especially in Mayagüez . Some Puerto Ricans are of British heritage, most notably Scottish people and English people who came to reside there in
4179-471: A marked change in the way Puerto Ricans view themselves. This may show that Puerto Ricans are now more open to embracing all sides of their mixed-race heritage and do not view themselves as part of the standard race dynamic in the United States hence the high number of people identifying as "some other race", a similar phenomenon went on in the mainland United States with the overall US Hispanic/Latino population. Most have significant ancestry from two or more of
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#17327756442124378-544: A medical investigation conducted in San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital for the Rockefeller Institute . The Boricua Popular Army took credit for denouncing what was called "paramilitary training" that private corporation Triangle Experience Group was carrying on in the mountains of the municipality of Utuado . The media later revealed that these exercises were being done illegally, in covert fashion and lacking
4577-598: A period of heightened, overt racism following Reconstruction, a time often called the nadir of American race relations . A series of Supreme Court decisions, including Plessy v. Ferguson , emptied the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of their force, allowing Jim Crow laws in the South to remain unchecked, sundown towns in the Midwest, and segregation in communities across the country , which would be reinforced by
4776-668: A political member, which are assigned to specific districts and are generally independent of each other. The EPB usually plans in advance and establishes networks in places of interest, such as those in New York, Boston, Illinois, Texas and Connecticut used in the Wells Fargo heist of 1983. For the most part, individuals affiliated with the EPB are expected to merge into general society and be as inconspicuous as possible, usually holding civilian jobs or studying, some receiving training within
4975-488: A prominent leader in the early 1960s. The Great Society plan of President Lyndon Johnson 's administration resulted in groundbreaking and broad-reaching laws, policies and a constitutional amendment to counteract some of the worst effects of lingering institutional racism . The counterculture movement in the U.S. brought significant social changes, including the liberalization of attitudes toward recreational drug use and sexuality . It also encouraged open defiance of
5174-477: A reunion held in the Dominican Republic with the official purpose of coordinating the drill was in fact a reunion between military officials of that nation, Puerto Rico and the United States, which was planned the year before with the collaboration of Venezuelan opposition leaders Carlos M. Tamayo and Carlos Fernandez (collectively known as "Los Carlos"). The Macheteros claims that the representatives of
5373-526: A sense of manifest destiny . The Missouri Compromise attempted to balance the desire of northern states to prevent the expansion of slavery into new territories with that of southern states to extend it, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It further prohibited slavery in all other lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30′ parallel . As Americans expanded further into land inhabited by Native Americans,
5572-614: A sense of American identity as well. Men who otherwise never left their own colony now traveled across the continent to fight alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds but who were no less "American". British officers trained American officers for battle, most notably George Washington ; these officers would lend their skills and expertise to the colonists' cause during the American Revolutionary War to come. In addition, colonial legislatures and officials found it necessary to cooperate intensively in pursuit of
5771-417: A significant minority. Also present in today's Puerto Ricans are traces (about 10-15%) of the aboriginal Taíno natives that inhabited the island at the time European colonizers arrived in 1493. Recent studies in population genetics have concluded that Puerto Rican gene pool is on average predominantly European, with a significant Sub-Saharan African, North African Guanche , and Indigenous American substrate,
5970-430: A single F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter-interceptor aircraft being retained for a static display) and two trucks and damaged two ships on loan from the U.S. Air Force, with the authors leaving a machete behind. The destruction of the military equipment ascended to $ 45–50 million USD. The FBI responded by receiving permission for a full investigation, which allowed them to employ otherwise forbidden practices to track
6169-632: A status solidified after its involvement in World War I . After Japan 's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II . Its aftermath left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the world's two superpowers and led to the Cold War , during which both countries struggled for ideological dominance and international influence . Following the Soviet Union's collapse and
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6368-794: A total of 3,644,515 (91.9%) of the population being born in Puerto Rico and 201,310 (5.1%) born in the United States. The total population born outside Puerto Rico is 322,773 (8.1%). Of the 108,262 who were foreign born outside the United States (2.7% of Puerto Ricans), 92.9% were born in Latin America, 3.8% in Europe, 2.7% in Asia, 0.2% in Northern America , and 0.1% in Africa and Oceania each. The populations during Spanish rule of Puerto Rico were: The original inhabitants of Puerto Rico are
6567-426: A total of seven million dollars. In 1984, Carlos Rodríguez Rodríguez was convicted on bank fraud charges and became an FBI informant in exchange for a lower sentence. However, due to the EPB's policies of anonymity, most of the information was hampered by the use of codenames and useless for the investigation. During this time, there were internal issues between Segarra and group leaders Ojeda and Avelino González, with
6766-401: A year). Juvenile correctional facilities are operated by local or state governments and serve as longer-term placements for any minor adjudicated as delinquent and ordered by a judge to be confined. As of January 2023, the United States has the sixth-highest per capita incarceration rate in the world—531 people per 100,000 inhabitants—and the largest prison and jail population in
6965-464: Is a federal union of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the states of Alaska to the northwest and the archipelagic Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean . The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands . The country has
7164-476: Is a protest song, directly addressing the circumstances surrounding the death of Ojeda Ríos. A song was also released by the Hip Hop group, X-Vandals (Not4Prophet and DJ Johnny Juice) entitled Todos Somos Machetero in 2007. Likewise, the event led to the creation of murals. Some were painted by student movements such as one at UPR Río Piedras, whereas others were painted by urban artists. The polarizing nature of
7363-591: Is believed to be the first widespread culture in the Americas. Over time, indigenous North American cultures grew increasingly sophisticated, and some, such as the Mississippian culture , developed agriculture , architecture , and complex societies . In the post-archaic period , the Mississippian cultures were located in the midwestern , eastern , and southern regions, and the Algonquian in
7562-715: Is currently prohibited. Even with the Puerto Ricans' vote for statehood, action by the United States Congress would be necessary to implement changes to the status of Puerto Rico under the Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution . United States The United States of America ( USA ), commonly known as the United States ( U.S. ) or America , is a country primarily located in North America . It
7761-401: Is even a Francosign language like ASL. Indeed, there is a hesitancy amongst Puerto Rican Deaf to even mention LSPR after heavy handed oralist education of English, Spanish, and Signed English . Today, there is much contact between ASL, PRSL, and Signed Spanish . The Spanish of Puerto Rico has evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that differentiate it from
7960-413: Is expected from commandoes afterwards. Meetings are kept to a minimum and only held when relevant. The basic units are the "combat units", composed of five foot soldiers that are led by a leader with ties to the political branch. Their weapons and munitions are arbitrarily divided by type, such as short weapons and semi-automatic weapons. Rifles and shotguns are present in each unit to ensure balance. A car
8159-554: Is internationally recognized by Spain, which considers Puerto Rico to be an Ibero-American nation. Therefore, Puerto Rican citizens have the ability to apply for Spanish citizenship after only two years residency in Spain (instead of the standard 10 years). Puerto Rican voters, despite not voting in the 2024 election for the President on the island, nevertheless were a surprisingly important political "hot potato" for both parties, due to
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8358-498: Is known as the presidential system , in contrast to the parliamentary system , where the executive is part of the legislative body. Many countries around the world imitated this aspect of the 1789 Constitution of the United States , especially in the Americas. The Constitution is silent on political parties. However, they developed independently in the 18th century with the Federalist and Anti-Federalist parties. Since then,
8557-438: Is now the United States experienced conflicts with Native Americans, they also engaged in trade, exchanging European tools for food and animal pelts. Relations ranged from close cooperation to warfare and massacres. The colonial authorities often pursued policies that forced Native Americans to adopt European lifestyles, including conversion to Christianity. Along the eastern seaboard, settlers trafficked African slaves through
8756-477: Is one of the most important components in which many villages were founded from these immigrants, which started from 1493 to 1890 and beyond. Many Spaniards, especially Canarians, chose Puerto Rico because of its Hispanic ties and relative proximity in comparison with other former Spanish colonies. They searched for security and stability in an environment similar to that of the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico
8955-441: Is overseen by a central committee, which is generally focused on politics and policies. Beneath it lies a military commission, which in turn is divided by sub commissions specialized in finances, intelligence, transportation, provisions and general services and others as needed. Each commando receives additional salary, with specific exemptions being given to marriages, unemployed individuals and those with dependents. In December 1981,
9154-559: Is represented in the House of Representatives by an elected representative commonly known as the Resident Commissioner , who has the same duties and obligations as a representative, with the exception of being able to cast votes on the final disposition of legislation on the House floor. The Resident Commissioner is elected by Puerto Ricans to a four-year term and does serve on congressional committee . Puerto Ricans residing in
9353-430: Is segregated between groups and only shared in limited detail, when necessary. Incriminating or detailed documents or any other evidence is to be destroyed once the potential of a law enforcement intervention is apparent. While involved in a particular mission, the EPB commandoes regularly assume a faux name, but they usually use this to acquire legitimate documents and select a nondescript address in which to receive mail in
9552-507: Is that per the definition adopted in the 1979 Conference on International Terrorism that posits "deliberate, systematic murder, maiming and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear in order to earn political gains", they do not qualify as such since their targets are strictly the American military or law enforcement and that they have never targeted civilians. The FBI classifies the EPB as a terrorist organization based on their definition of
9751-552: Is the federal agency charged with addressing most environmental-related issues . The idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act . The Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides a way to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service implements and enforces the Act. In 2024, the U.S. ranked 34th among 180 countries in
9950-603: The Allies of World War I , helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers . In 1920, a constitutional amendment granted nationwide women's suffrage . During the 1920s and '30s, radio for mass communication and the invention of early television transformed communications nationwide. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression , which President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to with
10149-553: The Atlantic slave trade . The original Thirteen Colonies that would later found the United States were administered as possessions of Great Britain , and had local governments with elections open to most white male property owners . The colonial population grew rapidly, eclipsing Native American populations; by the 1770s, the natural increase of the population was such that only a small minority of Americans had been born overseas. The colonies' distance from Britain allowed for
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#173277564421210348-492: The Canary Islands , this is also true for many Dominicans and Cubans. Canarians are of partial Guanche ancestry, a North African Berber ethnic group who were the original inhabitants before Spanish conquest. This means that by extension, many Puerto Ricans have minuscule amounts of North African blood through the indigenous Guanches of the Canary Islands. In the 1899 census , taken the year Spain ceded Puerto Rico to
10547-564: The Caribbean archipelago and island of Puerto Rico , and a nation identified with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico through ancestry , culture , or history . Puerto Ricans are predominately a tri-racial , Spanish-speaking , Christian society, descending in varying degrees from Indigenous Taíno natives , Southwestern European colonists , and West and Central African slaves , freedmen , and free Blacks . As citizens of
10746-544: The Cerro Maravilla murders . The federal government claimed the incident was an attempt to steal his police car . On October 2, 1978, the EPB and Volunteers infiltrated an armory and took 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate, dynamite cartridges, 988 blasting caps and 17,500 feet of primacord. In September 1979, the EPB revealed that it was working in conjunction with the Volunteers, FARP and FALN. On October 17, 1979,
10945-549: The Environmental Performance Index . The country joined the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016 and has many other environmental commitments. The United States is a federal republic of 50 states and a separate federal capital district, Washington, D.C. It also asserts sovereignty over five unincorporated territories and several uninhabited island possessions . The U.S. is
11144-500: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have national jurisdiction and specialized duties, such as protecting civil rights , national security and enforcing U.S. federal courts ' rulings and federal laws. State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials, and federal courts handle designated crimes and appeals of state court decisions . There is no unified "criminal justice system" in
11343-599: The Great Famine of the 1840s , immigrated to Puerto Rico. They were followed by smaller waves from other European countries and China. During the early 20th century Jews began to settle in Puerto Rico. The first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were European refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx of Jews to the island came in the 1950s, when thousands of Cuban Jews fled Cuba after Fidel Castro came to power. The native Taino population began to dwindle, with
11542-664: The Great Lakes , Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico . British colonization of the East Coast began with the Virginia Colony (1607) and Plymouth Colony (1620). The Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established precedents for representative self-governance and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies. While European settlers in what
11741-663: The Great Lakes region and along the Eastern Seaboard , while the Hohokam culture and Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the southwest . Native population estimates of what is now the United States before the arrival of European immigrants range from around 500,000 to nearly 10 million. Christopher Columbus began exploring the Caribbean for Spain in 1492, leading to Spanish-speaking settlements and missions from Puerto Rico and Florida to New Mexico and California . France established its own settlements along
11940-596: The Midwest . At the same time, about one million French Canadians migrated from Quebec to New England . During the Great Migration , millions of African Americans left the rural South for urban areas in the North. Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867. The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction and white supremacists took local control of Southern politics . African Americans endured
12139-658: The National Geographic Genographic Project , "the average Puerto Rican individual carries 12% Native American, 65% West Eurasian (Mediterranean, Northern European and/or Middle Eastern) and 20% Sub-Saharan African DNA." In genetic terms, even many of those of pure Spanish origin would have North and, in some cases, West African ancestry brought from founder populations, particularly in the Canary Islands. Along with European, West African, and Taino, many Puerto Ricans have small amounts of North African blood due to settlers from Canary Islands ,
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#173277564421212338-688: The National Park Service and other agencies. About 28% of the country's land is publicly owned and federally managed, primarily in the Western States . Most of this land is protected , though some is leased for commercial use, and less than one percent is used for military purposes. Environmental issues in the United States include debates on non-renewable resources and nuclear energy , air and water pollution , biodiversity , logging and deforestation , and climate change . The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
12537-596: The New Deal , a series of sweeping programs and public works projects combined with financial reforms and regulations . All were intended to protect against future economic depressions. Initially neutral during World War II , the U.S. began supplying war materiel to the Allies of World War II in March 1941 and entered the war in December after the Empire of Japan 's attack on Pearl Harbor . The U.S. developed
12736-778: The Organization of American States and the United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement . In South America, Colombia is traditionally considered to be the closest ally of the United States. The U.S. exercises full international defense authority and responsibility for Micronesia , the Marshall Islands , and Palau through the Compact of Free Association . It has increasingly conducted strategic cooperation with India , but its ties with China have steadily deteriorated. Since 2014,
12935-648: The Pentium microprocessor in accordance with Moore's law , rechargeable lithium-ion batteries , the first gene therapy trial, and cloning either emerged in the U.S. or were improved upon there. The Human Genome Project was formally launched in 1990, while Nasdaq became the first stock market in the United States to trade online in 1998. In the Gulf War of 1991, an American-led international coalition of states expelled an Iraqi invasion force that had occupied neighboring Kuwait . The September 11 attacks on
13134-591: The Spanish–American War . (The Philippines was granted full independence from the U.S. on July 4, 1946, following World War II. Puerto Rico and Guam have remained U.S. territories.) American Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the Second Samoan Civil War . The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917. The United States entered World War I alongside
13333-477: The Taíno , who called the island Borikén or Borinquen ; however, as in other parts of the Americas, the native people soon diminished in number after the arrival of Spanish settlers. Besides miscegenation , the negative impact on the numbers of Amerindian people, especially in Puerto Rico, was almost entirely the result of Old World diseases that the Amerindians had no natural/bodily defenses against, including measles , chicken pox , mumps , influenza , and even
13532-442: The Vietnam War , the Gulf War , the War in Afghanistan , and the Iraq War . Since 2007, the Puerto Rico State Department has developed a protocol to issue certificates of Puerto Rican citizenship to Puerto Ricans. In order to be eligible, applicants must have been born in Puerto Rico; born outside of Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican-born parent; or be an American citizen with at least one year residence in Puerto Rico. The citizenship
13731-553: The common cold . In fact, it was estimated that the majority of all the Amerindian inhabitants of the New World died out due to contact and contamination with those Old World diseases, while those that survived were further reduced through deaths by warfare with Spanish colonizers and settlers. Thousands of Spanish settlers also immigrated to Puerto Rico from the Canary Islands during the 18th and 19th centuries, so many so that whole Puerto Rican villages and towns were founded by Canarian immigrants, and their descendants would later form
13930-399: The cotton gin made the institution increasingly profitable for Southern elites . This sectional conflict regarding slavery culminated in the American Civil War (1861–1865). Eleven slave states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America , while the other states remained in the Union . War broke out in April 1861 after the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter . After
14129-416: The end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. emerged as the world's sole superpower , wielding significant geopolitical influence globally . The U.S. national government is a presidential constitutional federal republic and liberal democracy with three separate branches : legislative , executive , and judicial . It has a bicameral national legislature composed of the House of Representatives ,
14328-593: The fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union , which marked the end of the Cold War and left the United States as the world's sole superpower . The 1990s saw the longest recorded economic expansion in American history , a dramatic decline in U.S. crime rates , and advances in technology . Throughout this decade, technological innovations such as the World Wide Web , the evolution of
14527-400: The global economy in 2023. It possesses by far the largest amount of wealth of any country and has the highest disposable household income per capita among OECD countries. The U.S. ranks among the world's highest in economic competitiveness , productivity , innovation , human rights , and higher education . Its hard power and cultural influence have a global reach. The U.S. is
14726-813: The 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord , igniting the American Revolutionary War . At the Second Continental Congress , the colonies appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army , and created a committee that named Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence . Two days after passing the Lee Resolution to create an independent nation the Declaration
14925-493: The 17th and 18th centuries. When Spain revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 with the intention of attracting non-Spanish Europeans to settle in the island, thousands of Corsicans (though the island was French since 1768 the population spoke an Italian dialect similar to Tuscan Italian) during the 19th century immigrated to Puerto Rico, along with German immigrants as well as Irish immigrants who were affected by
15124-573: The 1940s, the Puerto Rican economy was small and undeveloped, it relied heavily on agriculture. At this time, Puerto Rican migration waves were mainly to Dominican Republic, the Virgin Islands, and US cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, and most importantly metropolitan area surrounding New York City and North Jersey. Over 5,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to Hawaii from 1900 to 1901. Puerto Rican migration to
15323-465: The 1978 bombing of a small power station in the San Juan area, the 1979 retaliation attacks against the United States armed forces personnel, the 1981 Muñiz Air National Guard Base attack , and a 1983 Wells Fargo bank robbery . Boricua Popular Army was led primarily by former FBI fugitive Filiberto Ojeda Ríos until he was killed by the FBI in 2005. Ojeda Rios' killing was termed "an illegal killing" by
15522-520: The 2010s, political polarization in the country increased between liberal and conservative factions. This polarization was capitalized upon in the January 2021 Capitol attack , when a mob of insurrectionists entered the U.S. Capitol and sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in an attempted self-coup d'état . The United States is the world's third-largest country by total area behind Russia and Canada. The 48 contiguous states and
15721-566: The 50 States and the US territory of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican populations in other countries are very small, not large enough to have dominance over certain neighborhoods and cities like in Florida and the US Northeast. Unsurprisingly, Puerto Rico's neighbors have the biggest Puerto Rican communities outside Puerto Rico and the US mainland, to the west Dominican Republic with as high as 20,000 Puerto Ricans according to some sources, and to
15920-785: The Africans who were brought to Puerto Rico did so as a result of the slave trade taking place from many groups in the African continent, but particularly the West Africans , the Yoruba , the Igbo , and the Kongo people . Indigenous people make up the third largest racial identity among Puerto Ricans, comprising 0.5% of the population. Although this self-identification may be ethno-political in nature since unmixed Tainos no longer exist as
16119-596: The American West have an alpine climate . The climate is arid in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California , and oceanic in coastal Oregon , Washington , and southern Alaska . Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar . Hawaii , the southern tip of Florida and U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific are tropical . States bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of
16318-420: The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The term "United States" and the initialism "U.S.", used as nouns or as adjectives in English, are common short names for the country. The initialism "USA", a noun, is also common. "United States" and "U.S." are the established terms throughout the U.S. federal government , with prescribed rules. In English, the term "America" rarely refers to topics unrelated to
16517-573: The District of Columbia occupy a combined area of 3,119,885 square miles (8,080,470 km ). The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way to inland forests and rolling hills in the Piedmont plateau region. The Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondack massif separate the East Coast from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest . The Mississippi River System ,
16716-648: The District of Columbia through the Electoral College system. Nevertheless, both the Democratic Party and Republican Party , while not fielding candidates for public office in Puerto Rico, provide the islands with state-sized voting delegations at their presidential nominating conventions. Delegate selection processes frequently have resulted in presidential primaries being held in Puerto Rico. U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico do not elect U.S. representatives or senators . However, Puerto Rico
16915-580: The EPB detonated explosives in AEE substations in Santurce, a district of San Juan. When 350 families that occupied a makeshift village in Carolina, Puerto Rico , were removed by the police, the EPB warned the governor that they would retaliate. Afterwards, they made an offensive against the police that resulted in twelve injured and one dead policeman. On May 16, 1982, EPB members fired rifles at four sailors of
17114-544: The EPB included benefits similar to those in the American military. The organization agreed to medical services and college education pending commission approval. New recruits may be covertly trained in rural farms or in foreign countries (Cuba being an example) and inconspicuous businesses may be used to provide cover to certain individuals. Training includes skills such as lock picking, handling firearms and explosives, forging documents, scuba diving, photography, concealment using makeup and forging license plates. An exercise regime
17313-458: The EPB's point of view, the deaths at Sabana Seca were "terrible but necessary" despite personally disagreeing, while considering the destruction of military vehicles at Sabana Seca justified from a rebel's standpoint. Ultimately, the author concludes that such labeling could be of political convenience to the federal government, serving to "shift the blame for any attacks on U.S. policy or personnel from us to them". An 80-minute fictional film about
17512-573: The Elder concluded that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a " world war ". The British colonies' position as an integral part of the British Empire became more apparent during the war, with British military and civilian officials becoming a more significant presence in American life. The war increased
17711-617: The Government of Puerto Rico's Comisión de Derechos Civiles (Civil Rights Commission) after a seven-year investigation and a 227-page report issued on 22 September 2011. The name Machetero was symbolically adopted from an impromptu band of Puerto Ricans who assembled to defend the island of Puerto Rico from the invading forces of the United States Army during the Spanish–American War , between July 26 and August 12, 1898. Macheteros de Puerto Rico were dispatched throughout
17910-735: The January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation , many freed slaves joined the Union army . The war began to turn in the Union's favor following the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg and Battle of Gettysburg , and the Confederacy surrendered in 1865 after the Union's victory in the Battle of Appomattox Court House . The Reconstruction era followed the war. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln , Reconstruction Amendments were passed to protect
18109-484: The Northeast region and in Florida, in the metropolitan areas of New York , Orlando , Philadelphia , Miami , Chicago , Tampa , and Boston , among others. Though, over 95% of Puerto Ricans living outside of Puerto Rico, live in the United States (US states), there is a significant and growing number of Puerto Ricans, mainly from Puerto Rico itself but to a lesser degree stateside Puerto Ricans as well, living outside
18308-441: The Puerto Rican deaf population to be between 8,000 and 40,000. Due to ongoing colonization from the US mainland, the larger American Sign Language (ASL) is supplanting the local Puerto Rican Sign Language (PRSL, also known as LSPR: Lenguaje de Señas Puertorriqueño ). Although assumed to be a dialect or variant of ASL, it is currently unknown the degree of mutual intelligibility between Puerto Rican Sign Language nor whether it
18507-420: The Puerto Rican expressed his/her intentions to remain a Spanish subject. Since 1948, it was decided by Congress that all Puerto Ricans, whether born within the United States or in Puerto Rico, were naturally born United States citizens . Puerto Ricans and other U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico cannot vote in presidential elections as that is a right reserved by the U.S. Constitution to admitted states and
18706-492: The Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a sovereign manner, and to address their urgent economic and social needs, including unemployment, marginalization, insolvency and poverty". Puerto Rico has held four referendums to determine whether to retain its status as a territory or to switch to some other status such as statehood. The fourth, the Puerto Rican status referendum, 2012 occurred on November 6, 2012. The result
18905-526: The Puerto Rican populations abroad may be slightly larger as some may be stateside-born and counted as "American" rather than "Puerto Rican" on local government statistics on immigrants. Spanish and English are the official languages of the entire Commonwealth. A 1902 English-only language law was abolished on April 5, 1991. Then on January 28, 1993, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico approved Law Number 1 again making Spanish and English
19104-547: The Puerto Rico national guard protested when the topic was discussed, but the training went ahead unchanged with the supervision of several American generals, including the heads of the USNORTHCOM and USSOUTHCOM . The statement concludes by noting that the EBP's Intelligence Division had been monitoring military exercises carried out by the United States armed forces in the municipalities of Utuado and Lares , also being aware of
19303-611: The Rocky Mountains, the Yellowstone Caldera , is the continent's largest volcanic feature. In 2021, the United States had 8% of global permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of cropland. With its large size and geographic variety, the United States includes most climate types. East of the 100th meridian , the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The western Great Plains are semi-arid . Many mountainous areas of
19502-484: The Spanish colonial period, there was significant migration from Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo (DR), Cuba, the Virgin Islands, and Venezuela, and vice versa, because migration between neighboring colonies especially under the same European power, was common. Nearly all Puerto Ricans who migrated to these areas during these times, assimilated and intermixed with the local populations. In the early days of US rule, from 1900 to
19701-521: The Spanish province where most Puerto Ricans draw their European ancestry from, being of partial North African blood. Very few self-identified Black Puerto Ricans are of unmixed African ancestry, while a genetically unmixed Amerindian population in Puerto Rico is technically extinct despite a minuscule segment of self-identified Amerindian Puerto Ricans due to a minor Amerindian component in their ancestral mixture. Research data shows that 60% of Puerto Ricans carry maternal lineages of Native American origin and
19900-546: The Spanish spoken elsewhere. While the Spanish spoken in all Iberian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Spanish Maritime Provinces was brought to the island over the centuries, the most profound regional influence on the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico has been from that spoken in the present-day Canary Islands. The Spanish of Puerto Rico also includes occasional Taíno words, typically in the context of vegetation, natural phenomena or primitive musical instruments. Similarly, words attributed to primarily West African languages were adopted in
20099-475: The U.S. Census Bureau listed the following groups to constitute "Asian": Asian Indian, Bangladeshi , Bhutanese, Cambodian, Chinese , Filipino, Hmong , Indonesian, Japanese , Korean, Laotian, Malaysian , Nepalese, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Vietnamese , and Other Asian. Though, the largest groups come from China and India . These groups represented 0.1% of the population. People of "Some other race alone" or "Two or more races" constituted 75.3% of
20298-647: The U.S. has become a key ally of Ukraine ; it has also provided the country with significant military equipment and other support in response to Russia's 2022 invasion . The president is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff . The Department of Defense , which is headquartered at the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., administers five of
20497-473: The U.S. states have all rights and privileges of other U.S. citizens living in the states. As statutory U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico may enlist in the U.S. military and have been included in the compulsory draft when it has been in effect. Puerto Ricans have fully participated in all U.S. wars and military conflicts since 1898, including World War I , World War II , the Korean War ,
20696-661: The U.S. territories." Despite disparate systems of confinement, four main institutions dominate: federal prisons , state prisons , local jails, and juvenile correctional facilities . Federal prisons are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and hold people who have been convicted of federal crimes, including pretrial detainees. State prisons, run by the official department of correction of each state, hold sentenced people serving prison time (usually longer than one year) for felony offenses. Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically under
20895-480: The U.S.S. Pensacola , killing one of them. The group later took responsibility for the attack and expressed that it was retaliation for a large-scale amphibious attack training named "Ocean Venture '82" held at Vieques and other military facilities in Puerto Rico. Four days later, On May 20, 1982, the FBI held the EPB responsible for the placement of four defective bombs at the Caribe Hilton Hotel, with
21094-417: The US northeast started as early as the 1890s; however, it was a very, very small flow at the time. During the 1940s, Puerto Rican desire for independence slowly started to decline while desire for statehood and dependence on the US started rise, due to this more Puerto Ricans started to look at the US more favorably and take full advantage of their US citizenship, huge flows of Puerto Ricans started to arrive in
21293-620: The Union, and the states with the largest populations of Puerto Ricans relative to the national population of Puerto Ricans in the United States at large are the states of New York , Florida , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , with large populations also in Massachusetts , Connecticut , California , Illinois , and Texas . For 2009, the American Community Survey estimates give a total of 3,859,026 Puerto Ricans classified as "Native" Puerto Ricans. It also gives
21492-464: The United States and the peaceful transfer of power , respectively. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States. Lingering issues with Britain remained , leading to the War of 1812 , which was fought to a draw. Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast territory in 1819. In the late 18th century, American settlers began to expand westward , many with
21691-666: The United States as a result of the passage of the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917. Since this law was the result of Congressional legislation, and not the result of an amendment to the United States Constitution , the current U.S. citizenship of Puerto Ricans can be revoked by Congress, as they are statutory citizens , not 14th Amendment citizens . The Jones Act established that Puerto Ricans born prior to 1899 were considered naturalized citizens of Puerto Rico, and anyone born after 1898 were U.S. citizens, unless
21890-714: The United States entered the Cold War, where geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union led the two countries to dominate world affairs . The U.S. utilized the policy of containment to limit the USSR's sphere of influence, and prevailed in the Space Race , which culminated with the first crewed Moon landing in 1969. Domestically, the U.S. experienced economic growth , urbanization , and population growth following World War II . The civil rights movement emerged, with Martin Luther King Jr. becoming
22089-735: The United States following its invasion and annexation in the Spanish–American War , 61.8% of the people were identified as White . In the 2020 United States Census the total of Puerto Ricans that self-identified as White was 17.1% or 560,592 out of the 3,285,874 people living in Puerto Rico, down from 75.8% in the 2010 Census, reflecting a change in perceptions of race in Puerto Rico. For every United States census until 2010, most Puerto Ricans self identified as "white". The European ancestry of Puerto Ricans comes primarily from one source: Spaniards (including Canarians , Catalans , Castilians , Galicians , Asturians , Andalusians , and Basques ). The Canarian cultural influence in Puerto Rico
22288-666: The United States has operated as a de facto two-party system , though the parties in that system have been different at different times. The two main national parties are presently the Democratic and the Republican . The former is perceived as relatively liberal in its political platform while the latter is perceived as relatively conservative . In the American federal system , sovereign powers are shared between two levels of elected government: national and state. People in
22487-593: The United States in 2001 by the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda led to the war on terror , and subsequent military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq . The cultural impact of the attacks was profound and long-lasting. The U.S. housing bubble culminated in 2007 with the Great Recession , the largest economic contraction since the Great Depression. Coming to a head in
22686-600: The United States military. A newspaper article by La Prensa stated that Michael González Cruz, a professor who published Nacionalismo Revolucionario Puertorriqueño had estimated that in 1999, there may have been 5,700 members and that in 2005, there may have been 1,100 members (excluding sympathizers). The group intentionally avoids any area where crime rates could result in frequent law enforcement interventions and commandos are instructed to be polite and are warned to stay away from illegal activities; association or deals with criminal organizations are prohibited. In keeping
22885-597: The United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort. The first known public usage is an anonymous essay published in the Williamsburg newspaper, The Virginia Gazette , on April 6, 1776. By June 1776, the "United States of America" appeared in the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence . The Second Continental Congress adopted
23084-622: The United States to satisfy a portion of foreign trade agreements, while allowing domestic products and services a greater "home" market share. Another argument by the independence movement is that the Macheteros are continuing the historical rebellion that Puerto Ricans such as Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party have waged, against U.S. domination of the island. It is known, for example, that Los Macheteros deliberately chose September 12 for their Águila Blanca assault on
23283-593: The United States, despite the usage of "the Americas " as the totality of North and South America. "The States" is an established colloquial shortening of the name, used particularly from abroad; "stateside" is the corresponding adjective or adverb. The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia across the Bering land bridge about 12,000 years ago; the Clovis culture , which appeared around 11,000 BC,
23482-624: The United States, except Iran , North Korea , and Bhutan . Though Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations with the U.S., it maintains close unofficial relations. The United States regularly supplies Taiwan with military equipment to deter potential Chinese aggression. Its geopolitical attention also turned to the Indo-Pacific when the United States joined the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India, and Japan. The United States has
23681-439: The United States, particularly industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest, coinciding with a strong decline in Puerto Ricans migrating to other countries and even other areas in the US like Baltimore, New Orleans, and Hawaii. From 1940 to 1960, the stateside Puerto Rican population rose from 69,967 to 892,513. In the modern day, there are about 5.9 million Puerto Ricans in the US mainland. Large concentrations can be found in
23880-509: The United States. The American prison system is largely heterogenous, with thousands of relatively independent systems operating across federal, state, local, and tribal levels. In 2023, "these systems [held] almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons , civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in
24079-581: The Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence , Spanish-American author Ronald Fernández argued that based on the descriptions of terrorism and revolutionary violence in books like Benjamin Netanyahu 's Terrorism: How the West can Win or Albert Camus ' The Rebel , the EPB would not be classified as a terrorist organization, since that would require them to target "anyone except soldiers" and
24278-414: The Wells Fargo depot, because September 12 was the birthday of Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos . Beginning in the 1960s, the FBI infiltrated Puerto Rico's free press and political circles in order to monitor and disrupt efforts related to independence movements like Los Macheteros. This operation was part of COINTELPRO . The EPB's rebuttal to being classified as a terrorist organization
24477-488: The anniversary of "el Grito de Lares " ("The Cry of Lares") members of the FBI San Juan field office surrounded a modest home in the outskirts of the town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico , where Ojeda Ríos was believed to be living in. The FBI claims that it was performing surveillance of the area because of reports that Ojeda Ríos had been seen in the home. In their press release, the FBI stated their surveillance team
24676-501: The application of the Levi guidelines, only eight groups were classified as requiring full investigation. Of them, five were based in Puerto Rico and besides the EPB also included the FARP, FALN, COR and MLN. In 2001, then-FBI Director Louis J. Freeh reaffirmed the agency's historical stance that the group committed acts of terrorism. In his book Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo Robbery and
24875-408: The arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, through disease and intermarriage. Many Spaniard men took Taino and West African wives and in the first centuries of the Spanish colonial period the island was overwhelmingly racially mixed. "By 1530 there were 14 native women married to Spaniards, not to mention Spaniards with concubines." Under Spanish rule, mass immigration shifted the ethnic make-up of
25074-477: The base was criticized in media pieces. The attack later served as the basis for upgrading base security, emphasizing flight line security, at all Air National Guard installations on civilian airports in the United States to the same level as active duty U.S. Air Force installations. On April 21, 1981, four EPB commandos were able to extract $ 348,000 from a Wells Fargo armored car, with the group later noting that it would be spent in their cause. In November 1981,
25273-423: The classification of terrorism. While the pacifist faction carried damage control and held two toy giveaways for Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico, Ojeda was removed from the political branch on June 4, 1985, due to these conflicts, being only left in charge of his unit. Besides the boldness of the action, the EPB strategists were also unsatisfied when Ramírez failed to account for food expenses in his report. Following
25472-407: The contexts of foods, music or dances. There are many religious beliefs represented in the island. Religious breakdown in Puerto Rico (as of 2006) is given in the table on the right. The majority of Puerto Ricans in the island are Christians . Spiritists have a large secondary following. Muslims , Hindus , Jews , and Buddhists all have a small presence as well. Roman Catholicism has been
25671-457: The contiguous United States are in the State of California, about 84 miles (135 km) apart. At an elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190.5 m), Alaska's Denali is the highest peak in the country and continent. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands , and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in
25870-556: The country's GDP. The U.S. has 42% of the world's nuclear weapons —the second-largest share after Russia. The United States has the third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces . The military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad, and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries. State defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under
26069-469: The country's territory would expand with the admission of new states , rather than the expansion of existing states. The U.S. Constitution was drafted at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to overcome the limitations of the Articles. It went into effect in 1789, creating a federal republic governed by three separate branches that together ensured a system of checks and balances . George Washington
26268-713: The development of self-governance, and the First Great Awakening , a series of Christian revivals , fueled colonial interest in religious liberty . For a century, the American colonists had been providing their own troops and materiel in conflicts with indigenous peoples allied with Britain's colonial rivals , especially France, and the Americans had begun to develop a sense of self-defense and self-reliance separate from Britain. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) took on new significance for all North American colonists after Parliament under William Pitt
26467-482: The dispossession of native inhabitants . As more states were admitted , a North–South division over slavery led to the secession of the Confederate States of America , which fought states remaining in the Union in the 1861–1865 American Civil War . With the victory and preservation of the United States, slavery was abolished nationally . By 1900, the country had established itself as a great power ,
26666-505: The early 20th century, the majority of the people of Puerto Rico feel pride in their Puerto Rican nationality, regardless of the individual's particular racial, ethnic, political, or economic background. Many Puerto Ricans are consciously aware of the rich contribution of all cultures represented on the island. This diversity can be seen in the everyday lifestyle of many Puerto Ricans such as the profound Latin, African, and Taíno influences regarding food, music, dance, and architecture. During
26865-516: The east US Virgin Islands with 7,759, 8.9% of the territory's population, second highest percentage of any US state or territory, after Puerto Rico (95.5%) and before Connecticut (8.0%). There are small numbers of Puerto Ricans in other countries like Canada, Spain, Mexico, United Kingdom, and other countries in Europe and the Caribbean/Latin America. Due to Puerto Rico being a US territory, the vast majority of Puerto Ricans leaving
27064-405: The east side, and the levels of Taino ancestry (which, according to some research, ranges from about 5%-35%) generally highest in the southwest of the island. A study of a sample of 96 healthy self-identified White Puerto Ricans and self-identified Black Puerto Ricans in the U.S. showed that, although all carried a contribution from all 3 ancestral populations (European, African, and Amerindian),
27263-580: The environment for labor unions to begin to flourish . This period eventually ended with the advent of the Progressive Era , which was characterized by significant reforms. Pro-American elements in Hawaii overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy ; the islands were annexed in 1898. That same year, Puerto Rico , the Philippines , and Guam were ceded to the U.S. by Spain after the latter's defeat in
27462-541: The federal government often applied policies of Indian removal or assimilation . The Trail of Tears (1830–1850) was a U.S. government policy that forcibly removed and displaced most Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River to lands far to the west. These and earlier organized displacements prompted a long series of American Indian Wars west of the Mississippi. The Republic of Texas
27661-497: The federal government was in fact a military exercise that was organized to advance the Obama administration's campaign against the socialist government of Venezuela . Known as Operación Respuesta Borinqueña (literally "Operation Puerto Rican Response") and held March 16–21, the training was officially described as a first response practice in an emergency involving tsunamis or a chemical attack. However, Commander Guasábara expressed that
27860-449: The first being considered inefficient by the others and general concern arising from his reputation as an unfaithful husband. On January 25, 1985, the EPB detonated a bomb in an empty United States Courthouse, later noting that it was a tribute to Juan Antonio Corretjer. Strategically, the group experienced internal divisions between a faction that argued for more offensive and another that wanted to tread lightly in order to avoid justifying
28059-606: The first nuclear weapons and used them against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war. The United States was one of the " Four Policemen " who met to plan the post-war world , alongside the United Kingdom , Soviet Union , and China . The U.S. emerged relatively unscathed from the war, with even greater economic power and international political influence . After World War II,
28258-411: The first settlement of the Thirteen Colonies in Virginia in 1607. Clashes with the British Crown over taxation and political representation sparked the American Revolution , with the Second Continental Congress formally declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Following its victory in the 1775–1783 Revolutionary War , the country continued to expand westward across North America , resulting in
28457-575: The founding source populations of Spaniards, Africans, and Tainos, although Spanish ancestry is predominant in a majority of the population. Small amounts of Puerto Ricans may have additional ancestries from other parts of the world. Similar to many other Latin American ethnic groups, Puerto Ricans are multi-generationally mixed race, though most are European dominant in ancestry, Puerto Ricans who are "evenly mixed" can accurately be described " Mulatto ", " Quadroon ", or Tri-racial very similar to mixed populations in Cuba and Dominican Republic. According to
28656-438: The group appears to have shifted its focus towards intelligence. For example, the group has not recorded a single military action. Instead, Guasábara has generally used the media to publish classified information. Under Guasábara, the Macheteros took an emphasis on publishing pieces regarding the use of Culebra and Vieques as bombing targets for the U.S. Navy; what they perceive as a disproportionate number of military bases on
28855-450: The group. The EPB in turn expressed pride that the attack represented the most damaging to take place in American soil since Pearl Harbor and expressed satisfaction that it would attract attention to their cause, with some members even considering it a parallel to the Gaspee Affair . The group also sent a video to the media where they explained the composition of the cell in charge of the attack without revealing any identities. The security at
29054-459: The groups executed eight bombings against federal buildings. On December 3, 1979, a bus carrying 18 American Navy sailors to Naval Security Group Activity Sabana Seca, was forced to stop by a delivery truck. Shortly afterwards, four men appeared from within another vehicle and opened fire, killing CTO1 John R. Ball and RM3 Emil E. White, as well as wounding nine others. On March 13, 1980, the EPB took responsibility for attacking an ROTC vehicle that
29253-433: The incident shortly after Ojeda Rios' death that lasted 7 years. The 227-page report issued on 22 September 2011 stated that Ojeda Rios's killing was "an illegal killing" by the FBI. Following the confrontation that concluded in the death of its former leader, the command of the Boricua Popular Army was inherited by an anonymous figure known as "Comandante Guasábara", named after the Taíno word for "war". Under his leadership,
29452-404: The indictments against 19 members for the 1983 Wells Fargo heist, the EPB continued operations and on October 28, 1986, joined the FARP and the Volunteers in planting two explosives in a Navy recruit center and a National Guard Building as a warning not to use Puerto Rico as a training center for the Contras of Nicaragua and plans to introduce a logging industry at El Yunque. On September 23, 2005,
29651-463: The integration of Army National Guard units and personnel into the U.S. Army and (since 1947) the U.S. Air Force. There are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to national level in the United States. Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and sheriff departments in their municipal or county jurisdictions. The state police departments have authority in their respective state , and federal agencies such as
29850-499: The island (compared to states in the Union); the proportion of deaths within the ranks of the Independence and Nationalist leadership, including the alleged experimentation with radiation on Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos while he was incarcerated; the secret testing of Agent Orange on Puerto Rican soil; and cancer "experiments" administered by Cornelius P. Rhoads , in which he claimed to have killed Puerto Rican patients and injected cancer cells to others, while working as part of
30049-621: The island go to the mainland United States, comprising Puerto Ricans of all income brackets and lifestyles. However, majority of the small number of Puerto Ricans living outside of the United States, including outside of Puerto Rico and other territories, are usually financially well-off and entrepreneurial, owning homes and businesses in the countries they choose to settle in. Statistical counts of Puerto Rican populations in other countries usually only center on ethnic Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico. Non-Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico and later moving to target country usually wouldn't be included in
30248-477: The island, as a result of the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. Puerto Rico went from being two-thirds black and mulatto in the beginning of the 19th century, to being nearly 80% white by the middle of the 20th century. This was compounded by more flexible attitudes to race under Spanish rule, as epitomized by the Regla del Sacar . Under Spanish rule, Puerto Rico had laws such as Regla del Sacar or Gracias al Sacar , which allowed persons of mixed ancestry to pay
30447-406: The island, working in cooperation with other voluntary groups including the Guardias de la Paz in Yauco and Tiradores de Altura in San Juan . These voluntary units were involved in most of the battles in the Puerto Rican Campaign . Their last involvement was in the Battle of Asomante , where along with units led by Captain Hernaíz, defended Aibonito Pass from invading units. The allied offensive
30646-401: The island. The US Census Bureau's 2015 update provides the following: 94.1% of adults speak Spanish, 5.8% speak only English and little to no Spanish, 78.3% do not speak English "very well", 15.8% are fully bilingual in both English and Spanish, 0.1% speak other languages. Public school instruction in Puerto Rico is conducted almost entirely in Spanish. There have been pilot programs in about
30845-440: The large number of Puerto Rican voters on the mainland. Since 1953, the UN has been considering the political status of Puerto Rico and how to assist it in achieving "independence" or "decolonization." In 1978, the Special Committee determined that a "colonial relationship" existed between the US and Puerto Rico. The UN's Special Committee has referred often to Puerto Rico as a nation in its reports, because, internationally,
31044-400: The latter two originating in the aboriginal people of the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico's pre-Columbian Taíno inhabitants, respectively. The population of Puerto Ricans and descendants is estimated to be between 8 and 10 million worldwide, with most living on the islands of Puerto Rico and in the United States mainland. Within the United States, Puerto Ricans are present in all states of
31243-501: The main Christian denomination among Puerto Ricans since the arrival of the Spanish in the 15th century, but the presence of Protestant , Mormon , Pentecostal , and Jehovah's Witnesses denominations has increased under U.S. sovereignty, making modern Puerto Rico an inter-denominational, multi-religious community. The Afro-Caribbean religion Santería is also practiced. In 1998, a news report stated that "Puerto Rico [was] no longer predominantly Catholic". Pollster Pablo Ramos wrote that
31442-427: The military draft (leading to the end of conscription in 1973) and wide opposition to U.S. intervention in Vietnam (with the U.S. totally withdrawing in 1975). A societal shift in the roles of women was significantly responsible for the large increase in female paid labor participation during the 1970s, and by 1985 the majority of American women aged 16 and older were employed. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw
31641-612: The most attractive to the population are the most vulnerable. The U.S. is one of 17 megadiverse countries containing large numbers of endemic species : about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland. The United States is home to 428 mammal species, 784 birds, 311 reptiles, 295 amphibians , and around 91,000 insect species. There are 63 national parks , and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas , managed by
31840-478: The most violent, the California genocide of thousands of Native inhabitants, lasted into the early 1870s, just as additional western territories and states were created. During the colonial period, slavery had been legal in the American colonies , though the practice began to be significantly questioned during the American Revolution. States in the North enacted abolition laws , though support for slavery strengthened in Southern states , as inventions such as
32039-451: The official languages of Puerto Rico. All official business of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico is conducted in English. The official languages of the executive branch of government of Puerto Rico are Spanish and English, with Spanish being the primary language. English is the primary language of less than 10% of the population. Puerto Rican Spanish is the dominant language of business, education and daily life on
32238-446: The organization denying responsibility. On September 1, 1982, a group of commandos presumed by the FBI to be Macheteros and outfitted with suppressed weapons and wearing military gear and masks, intercepted a Wells Fargo truck in a route between San Juan and Naranjito, but were unable to acquire the cargo. On November 16, 1982, four commandos feigned a heist in a supermarket to redirect those present to its warehouse until their main target,
32437-631: The organization have also been exploited in the local professional wrestling industry by wrestlers such as Israel "Joseph RPM" Rodríguez, who integrated the moniker of "El Machetero Mayor" (Spanish for "The Grandest Machetero") into his ring name and performed as such throughout Puerto Rico as a member of several independent promotions and the World Wrestling League . Puerto Rican people#Boricua Puerto Ricans ( Spanish : Puertorriqueños ), most commonly known as Boricuas , but also occasionally referred to as Borinqueños , Borincanos , or Puertorros , are an ethnic group native to
32636-467: The people of Puerto Rico are often considered to be a Caribbean nation with their own national identity. Most recently, in a June 2016 report, the Special Committee called for the United States to expedite the process to allow self-determination in Puerto Rico. More specifically, the group called on the United States to expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence. ... allow
32835-408: The policy of redlining later adopted by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation . An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor led to rapid economic expansion during the late 19th and early 20th centuries , allowing the United States to outpace the economies of England, France, and Germany combined. This fostered the amassing of power by
33034-432: The population in the 2020 Census . Although the average Puerto Rican is of mixed-race, few actually identified as multiracial ("two or more races") in the 2010 census; only 3.3% did so. They more often identified with their predominant heritage or phenotype. However, in the 2020 census, the amount of Puerto Ricans identifying as multiracial went up to 49.8% and an additional 25.5% identified as "some other race", showing
33233-426: The population was 38% Roman Catholic, 28% Pentecostal, and 18% were members of independent churches. However, an Associated Press article in March 2014 stated that "more than 70 percent of [Puerto Ricans] identify themselves as Catholic". The CIA World Factbook reports that 85% of the population of Puerto Rico identifies as Roman Catholic, while 15% identify as Protestant and Other. Puerto Ricans became citizens of
33432-459: The presence of a military helicopter in the region. On July 11, 2015, the EPB issued another statement, this time warning that "they will do what is necessary" according to the moment's circumstances and that "the people should not pay a debt that does not belong to the people". Thorough its spokesman, the group anticipated that "[in its] ineptitude and impotency" the government would exploit the crisis to privatize profits and socialize losses, citing
33631-420: The primary colonial grievances was a denial of their rights as Englishmen , particularly the right to representation in the British government that taxed them . To demonstrate their dissatisfaction and resolve, the First Continental Congress met in 1774 and passed the Continental Association , a colonial boycott of British goods that proved effective. The British attempt to then disarm the colonists resulted in
33830-407: The privatization of the turnpike system, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport , the Puerto Rico Telephone Company and the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge as previous examples of this tendency. The EBP expressed dissatisfaction in what they perceived as "an environment of indifference" within sectors of local society that "still expect magic solutions" from those responsible for the crisis, which serves as
34029-472: The proportions showed significant variation. Depending on individuals, although often correlating with their self-identified race, African ancestry ranged from less than 10% to over 50%, while European ancestry ranged from under 20% to over 80%. Amerindian ancestry showed less fluctuation, generally hovering between 5% and 20% irrespective of self-identified race. The majority of the European ancestry in Puerto Ricans comes from southern Spain, more specifically
34228-484: The public to "take the streets and manifest their anger in the way that they prefer", but not before stating that the time for marches was gone and that it is "time to take action". Supporters of independence for Puerto Rico argue that the U.S. favored the establishment of the present Commonwealth status to create a perpetual consumer base for U.S. and foreign products and services. Foreign products and services are redirected to Puerto Rico and other "unincorporated" lands of
34427-447: The required permits. On March 9, 2015, Commander Guasábara issued a press release where it attacked the Value Added Tax proposal (better known by its Spanish acronyms "IVA") supported by the Garcia Padilla administration as part of its response to the Puerto Rican debt crisis . Later that month, the EPB issued a statement where they expressed the belief that a joint drill organized by Garcia Padilla's administration in collaboration with
34626-515: The rights of African Americans . National infrastructure, including transcontinental telegraph and railroads , spurred growth in the American frontier . From 1865 through 1917 an unprecedented stream of immigrants arrived in the United States, including 24.4 million from Europe. Most came through the port of New York City , and New York City and other large cities on the East Coast became home to large Jewish , Irish , and Italian populations, while many Germans and Central Europeans moved to
34825-437: The rocky Great Basin and Chihuahua , Sonoran , and Mojave deserts. In the northwest corner of Arizona , carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, is the Grand Canyon , a steep-sided canyon and popular tourist destination known for its overwhelming visual size and intricate, colorful landscape. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast . The lowest and highest points in
35024-464: The six service branches, which are made up of the U.S. Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force . The Coast Guard is administered by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and can be transferred to the Department of the Navy in wartime. The United States spent $ 916 billion on its military in 2023, which is by far the largest amount of any country , making up 37% of global military spending and accounting for 3.4% of
35223-407: The sole authority of a state government. SDFs are authorized by state and federal law but are under the command of the state's governor . They are distinct from the state's National Guard units in that they cannot become federalized entities. A state's National Guard personnel, however, may be federalized under the National Defense Act Amendments of 1933 , which created the Guard and provides for
35422-543: The states are also represented by local elected governments , which are administrative divisions of the states. States are subdivided into counties or county equivalents , and further divided into municipalities . The District of Columbia is a federal district containing the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. . The federal district is an administrative division of the federal government. Federally recognized tribes govern 326 Indian reservations . The United States has an established structure of foreign relations, and it has
35621-451: The structure and responsibilities of the national federal government and its relationship with the individual states. The U.S. Constitution is the world's oldest national constitution still in effect (from March 4, 1789). Composed of three branches, all headquartered in Washington, D.C., the federal government is the national government of the United States. It is regulated by a strong system of checks and balances . The three-branch system
35820-407: The term, "[the use of] force or violence [...] in furtherance of political or social objectives", without specification on the target. In 1982, the Senate Subcommittee on the Administration of Internal Security Act compiled a paper titled "The Cuban Connection to Puerto Rican Terrorism" where it claimed that Ojeda was an agent of the Cuban government and in which the FBI knowing where he operated. After
36019-440: The traditions of Spain , and more specifically Andalusia and the Canary Islands . Puerto Rico has also received immigration from other parts of Spain such as Catalonia as well as from other European countries such as France, Ireland, Italy and Germany. Puerto Rico has also been influenced by African culture , with many Puerto Ricans partially descended from Africans, though Afro-Puerto Ricans of unmixed African descent are only
36218-415: The typical Puerto Rican has between 5% and 15% Native American admixture. The Puerto Rico of today has come to form some of its own social customs, cultural matrix, historically rooted traditions, and its own unique pronunciation, vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions within the Spanish language , known as Puerto Rican Spanish . Even after the attempted assimilation of Puerto Rico into the United States in
36417-403: The use of fear as a tactic. Whereas, the organization's target selection, namely the US military/federal government and the avoidance of civilians fits into the classification of a guerrilla or revolutionary group. The author does not condone violence, but uses Camus' argument on "necessary" rebel violence as inexcusable but still "historically necessary". To this end, Fernández identifies that from
36616-406: The world's fourth-longest river system , runs predominantly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat and fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains , west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado . Farther west are
36815-449: The world's second-largest diplomatic corps as of 2024 . It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council , and home to the United Nations headquarters . The United States is a member of the G7 , G20 , and OECD intergovernmental organizations. Almost all countries have embassies and many have consulates (official representatives) in the country. Likewise, nearly all countries host formal diplomatic missions with
37014-461: The world's third-largest land area , largest exclusive economic zone , and third-largest population , exceeding 334 million. Its three largest metropolitan areas are New York , Los Angeles , and Chicago , and its three most populous states are California , Texas , and Florida . Paleo-Indians migrated across the Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations and societies . British colonization led to
37213-444: The world's oldest surviving federation, and its presidential system of national government has been adopted, in whole or in part, by many newly independent states worldwide following their decolonization . It is a liberal representative democracy "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law ". The Constitution of the United States serves as the country's supreme legal document , also establishing
37412-423: The world's tornadoes occur in the country , mainly in Tornado Alley . Overall, the United States receives more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other country. Extreme weather became more frequent in the U.S. in the 21st century, with three times the number of reported heat waves as in the 1960s. In the American Southwest , droughts became more persistent and more severe. The regions considered as
37611-458: Was annexed in 1845, and the 1846 Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest . Victory in the Mexican–American War resulted in the 1848 Mexican Cession of California, Nevada, Utah, and much of present-day Colorado and the American Southwest . The California gold rush of 1848–1849 spurred a huge migration of white settlers to the Pacific coast, leading to even more confrontations with Native populations. One of
37810-703: Was adopted on July 4, 1776. The political values of the American Revolution included liberty , inalienable individual rights ; and the sovereignty of the people ; supporting republicanism and rejecting monarchy , aristocracy , and all hereditary political power; civic virtue ; and vilification of political corruption . The Founding Fathers of the United States , who included Washington, Jefferson, John Adams , Benjamin Franklin , Alexander Hamilton , John Jay , James Madison , Thomas Paine , and many others, were inspired by Greco-Roman , Renaissance , and Enlightenment philosophies and ideas. The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 and established
38009-544: Was also provided and used both for meetings and in incursions without attracting attention. Units in turn subscribe to specific 17-men cells, with three of the unit leaders forming the hierarchy along a pair of political and military leaders. These cells generally aim to have equipment that is comparable to the American military or law enforcement agencies. Additional support cells include trained medical personnel and are mostly in charge of logistics, maintenance, vehicles, equipment and media. Cells form 73-men formations in charge of
38208-463: Was detected, and proceeded to serve an arrest warrant against Ojeda Ríos. The FBI claims that as the agents approached the home, shots were fired from inside and outside the house wounding an FBI agent. The FBI alleges it then returned fire fatally wounding Ojeda Ríos. A subsequent autopsy of Ojeda's body determined that he bled to death over the course of 15 to 30 minutes. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission started an investigation of
38407-442: Was effective, prompting a retreat order from the American side. However, the following morning the initial peace accords between the U.S. and Spain were made public. Subsequently, both Spanish and Puerto Rican soldiers and volunteers disengaged and Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States. As established in the EPB's "Organization of the EPB", the organization operates in a systemic and hierarchic structure. The entire organization
38606-404: Was elected the country's first president under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 to allay skeptics' concerns about the power of the more centralized government. His resignation as commander-in-chief after the Revolutionary War and his later refusal to run for a third term as the country's first president established a precedent for the supremacy of civil authority in
38805-403: Was founded by Filiberto Ojeda Ríos , Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer and Orlando González Claudio on July 26, 1976, with the date being symbolically used as a reminder of the United States invasion during the Spanish–American War . Their first communiqué was published on August 25, 1978, following an attack on two policemen that concluded with officer Julio Rodríguez Rivera dead in retaliation for
39004-480: Was held on June 11, 2017, and offered three options: "Statehood", "Independence/Free Association", and "Current Territorial Status." With 23% of registered voters casting ballots, 97% voted for statehood. Benefits of statehood would include an additional $ 10 billion per year in federal funds, the right to vote in presidential elections, higher Social Security and Medicare benefits, and a right for its government agencies and municipalities to file for bankruptcy. The latter
39203-406: Was moving three soldiers to the UPR. In the morning of January 12, 1981, a group of eleven commandos, seven guards and four explosive specialists, set explosives at Muñiz Air National Guard Base , located on the northeastern corner of the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan. The ensuing explosion destroyed nine aircraft (several operational A-7 Corsair II light attack aircraft and
39402-523: Was the most suitable. This began as a temporary exile which became a permanent relocation and the last significant wave of Spanish or European migration to Puerto Rico. Other sources of European populations are Corsicans , French , Italians , Portuguese (especially Azoreans), Greeks , Germans , Irish , Scots , Maltese , Dutch , English , and Danes . In the 2020 United States Census , 7.0% of people self-identified as Black. Africans were brought by Spanish Conquistadors . The vast majority of
39601-418: Was the winner of the 2008 South Africa International Film Festival , 2009 Swansea Film Festival , 2009 Heart of England Film Festival , 2009 International Film Festival Thailand , and the 2009 International Film Festival Ireland . The first single published by band Calle 13 was " Querido FBI ", which was extra-officially released before their debut album, a response to the events of September 23, 2005. It
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