Puerto Rico Nationalism Case

nationalistic ideas among the Puerto Rican people. He established the La Democracia in Ponce as a weapon to help him spread the need for autonomy in Puerto Rico. He formed an autonomist party that lobbied for autonomy from the USA by according to Knight "incorporated his own Federalist party into an umbrella organization called the Union de Puerto Rico. He helped to draft the autonomic charter that was to facilitate Puerto Rican control of domestic affairs. There was to be locally elected Puerto Ricans to represent Puerto Rico in the Spanish Cortez. He wanted Puerto Rico to have their own government to that would enable them to be in charge of tariffs duties, any international treaty that concerned them, the judicial system, education, welfare and healthcare.

Bolland notes that Munoz Rivera's distrust for US intentions resulted in the emphasis he placed on the need for Puerto Rico's autonomy with its own identity and respect. Jose Marti also distrusted US intentions. Jose Marti thought that US economic predominance created a state of dependency in Latin American countries on US capital as in the case of the US Treaty with Mexico which left Mexico increasingly dependent on US manufactured goods. Consequently, this would infringe on the independence of Latin American countries whereby in exchange for economic aid Latin American countries had to submit to the demands of the US in an attempt to gain such aid. In opposition to US economic predominance Jose Marti suggested that Latin America should be unified as a 'spiritual nation' so that Cuba and Puerto Rico both wanted autonomy and independence from their mother countries. Two outstanding figures that aided them in achieving this were Jose Marti in Cuba and Luis Munoz Rivera. Their nationalistic ideas helped in the fight of both countries in gaining independence and autonomy. Many similarities existed in the nationalist ideas of both men as both wanted some form of autonomy for their country.Marti struggled against the dual oppressing forces of Spain and the U.S. to gain independence for his island nation while upholding his beliefs in liberty, freedom and greatness of the human spirit. He embraced the concepts of freedom, liberty and democracy.However Munoz Rivera in 1915 proposed granting Puerto Rico greater autonomy without requesting independence from the United States, and equal rights without becoming a state.

Bolland states that Jose Marti argued for independence and his arguments were not based on narrow legal points but on a philosophical conception of his own culture and society and the convictions that it was unjust for any other society to dictate to Cubans what they should and should not do. Therefore, Marti thought that only Cubans could manage Cuba as they knew what was best for them because they were the ones who were experiencing it firsthand. As oppose to persons in Spain administering Cuba when their culture and society does not reflect that of Cuba. He thought that Cubans could do a much better job if they had independence mainly because of the rich cultural bond that existed among them as a people that would enable them to manage them self.Bolland noted thatJose Marti conceived that Cuba not onlyhad to achieve its independence from Spain but also had to overcome the legacies of its colonial history and avoid any other domination by another society. While Luis Munoz Rivera did not lobby for outright independence for Puerto Rico, his nationalistic ideas reflected or revolved around the country needing their autonomy from Spain and later the United States of America. He

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