Wepa Boricua!

José Gautier Benítez

¡Borinquen!, nombre al pensamiento grato
como el recuerdo de un amor profundo,
bello jardín de América el ornato,
siendo el jardín América del mundo.

Perla que el mar de entre su concha arranca
al agitar sus ondas placenteras,
garza dormida entre la espuma blanca
del níveo cinturón de tus riberas.

Tú, que das a la brisa de los mares,
al recibir el beso de su aliento
la garzota gentil de tus palmares;

Que pareces en medio de la bruma
al que llega a tus playas peregrinas,
una ciudad fantástica de espuma
que formaron jugando las ondinas.

Un jardín encantado
sobre las aguas de la mar que domas,
un búcaro de flores columpiado
entre espuma y coral, perlas y aromas.

Tú, que en las tardes sobre el mar derramas
con los colores que tu ocaso viste
otro océano de flotantes llamas;

tú, que me das el aire que respiro
y vida al canto que espontáneo brota,
cuando la inspiración en raudo giro
con sus alas flamígeras azota
la frente del cantor; ¡oye mi acento!

El santo amor que entre mi pecho guardo
te pintará su rústica armonía;
por ti lo lanzo a la región del viento,
tu corazón lo dicta al corazón del Bardo,
y el Bardo en él su corazón te envía.

¡Oyelo patria! El último sonido
será, tal vez, de mi laúd; muy pronto
partiré a las regiones del olvido.

Mi juventud efímera se merma,
y ya en su cárcel habitar no quiere
un alma melancólica y enferma.

Antes que llegue mi postrero día
y mi cantar se extinga con mi aliento,
¡toma, patria, mi última poesía!
¡Ella es de mi amor el testamento!
¡Ella el adiós que tu cantor te envía!

Tres siglos ha que el hombre
encerrado en el viejo continente
ni en ti soñaba ni soñó tu nombre.

….

Tres siglos ha que el hombre
encerrado en el viejo continente,
ni en ti pensaba, ni soñó tu nombre.

Tu ser fue una bellísima quimera
a los que vían el confín del mundo
de Thule en la fantástica ribera;

Pero sonó una hora en el gigante
reloj que marca su existencia al orbe;
y abrió sus ondas al airado Atlante.

El dedo del destino tocó
de un hombre en la ardecida frente,
y entre las ondas le mostró un camino.

El tan solo quería,
cruzando las regiones del occidente,
volver al sitio donde nace el día;

Al viento del azar tendió sus velas
desde el confín del túrbido océano,
y la suerte llevó sus carabelas
a chocar con el mundo americano.

De ese mundo bellísimo fragmento
ere, ¡oh patria!, que en el mar lanzara
un cataclismo al estallar violento;

más trajiste tan sólo su belleza
sin copiar del inmenso continente
la pompa y el horror de su grandeza;

ni el Tigre carnicero,
ni el León, ni el Jaguar en tu montaña
lanzan su grito aterrador y fiero;

ni el Boa se retuerce en la llanura,
ni entre las aguas de tu manso río
turbar la onda transparente y pura
se ve al Caimán indómito y bravío.

Ni arrojas al Atlante
de la playa pacífica, el inmenso
rey de los ríos, Marañón gigante.

Ni tus montes con ruido subitáneo
estremecidos en su base crujen,
cuando con ronco respirar titáneo
el Orizaba y Cotopaxi rugen.

Y no estremece un Niágara tu suelo
al desplomar la inmensa catarata,
en la que el iris, el pintor del cielo,
une a las franjas del luciente plata
oro, y carmín, y púrpura y topacio,
mientras en los cristales se retrata
fiero el cóndor, monarca del espacio.

Tienes… la caña en la feraz sabana,
lago de miel que con la brisa ondea,
mientras su espuma, la gentil guajana
como blanco pulmón se balancea.

Y la palma, que mece en el ambiente,
encerrada en el ánfora colgante,
la ninfa pura de su aérea fuente;

y de tus montes en el ancha falda
donde el cedro y la péndola dominan,
luce el cafeto la gentil guirnalda
del colmo ramo que a la tierra inclinan
las bayas del carmín y de esmeralda.

Tú tienes, sí, tus noches voluptuosas
que amor feliz al corazón auguran
y en un vergel de lirios y de rosas
manantiales de plata que murmuran.

Tórtolas que se quejan en los montes
remedando suspiros lastimeros
palomas y turpiales y sinsontes
que anidan en floridos limoneros.

Todo es en ti voluptuoso y leve,
dulce, apacible, halagador y tierno,
y tu mundo moral su encanto debe
al dulce influjo de tu mundo externo.

Por eso, en aquel día
que abordaron las naves castellanas
a tus bellas riberas, patria mía,

tus tribus aborígenes,
dominando el temor que las llevara
al seno oscuro de tus selvas vírgenes;

tranquilas contemplaron
regresando apacibles a tu orilla,
cómo los brazos de la cruz se alzaron
bajo el rojo estandarte de Castilla

Pura amistad vehemente
unió los hombres que aportó el abismo,
del indio rudo en la tostada frente
cayó la onda sagrada del bautismo.

Después, ya roto el temor el dique,
la llama del amor lució esplendente,
la dulce hermana del primer Cacique
llamó su esposo al paladín de Oriente.

Y tú fuiste el joyel que traspasaba
el casto beso de su amor primero,
del señorial cintillo de Agüeynaba
a la corona del monarca ibero.

….

Y después… y después,,,, nunca mi canto
pinte el hondo luchar de las pasiones,
ni el exterminio, ni la crueldad y el llanto,
mancha de los humanos corazones.

Borremos del error las hondas huellas
que a la infeliz humanidad desdoran,
porque hombre soy… y me avergüenzo de ellas.

Llegó un día fatal de horror y duelo,
que en el del oro tras el torpe lucro
la vil esclavitud manchó tu suelo;

¡y el huracán del golfo americano
dejó las naves abordar tranquilas
a las riberas del jardín indiano!

Y tú, ¡patria!, la perla de Occidente,
¡no te volviste al seno de los mares
para lavar la mancha de tu frente!

Más no en vano en Judea
corrió la sangre de Jesús,
sellando el triunfo de su santa idea;

más no en vano anhelante
camina el mundo por al ancha vía
del progreso adelante;

brilló una aurora de feliz memoria
en que cesaron lágrimas y duelos
borrándose una mancha de la historia,

y mil y mil acentos
dieron tu nombre, ¡Libertad sagrada!,
a los montes, los valles y los vientos.

¡Y ni una sola represalia impía!,
¡ni una venganza profanó tu suelo!
¡Bendiciones y cantos, patria mía,
perdiéronse en las bóvedas del cielo!

¡Extraño cuadro! que en el ancha tierra,
al vencer la opresión en lucha santa,
de entre el lago purpúreo de la guerra
la libertad sangrienta se levanta.

Dios debió sonreír y viendo a su hechura
hacer del paria compañero altivo,
y del ángel tomar la investidura
al realizar un el yugo del cautivo.

Y bendecirte conmovido y tierno,
porque sólo en tu suelo hospitalario,
al dulce influjo de tu mundo externo
se vio la Redención del Calvario.

……

Otro paso adelante; sin que vibres
el arma fraticida,
en el concierto de los pueblos libres
se levanta tu voz; savia de vida
y juventud circula por tus venas,
cuando la noble España conmovida
quebranta del colono sus cadenas.

Ya no eres, patria, un átomo perdido
que al ver su propia pequeñez se aterra,
ni un jardín escondido
en un pliegue del manto de la tierra.

Eres el pueblo que su voz levanta
si la justicia y la razón le abona,
que las exequias del pasado canta
y el himno santo del progreso entona.

Tú no serás la nave prepotente
que armada en guerra, al huracán retando,
conquista el puerto, impávida y valiente
las ondas y los hombres dominando;

pero serás la placida barquilla
que al impulso de brisa perfumada
llegue el remanso de la blanca orilla;

Tal es, patria, tu sino,
libertad, conquistar, ciencia y ventura,
sin dejar en las zarzas del camino
ni un jirón de tu blanca vestidura.

Empero…, si me engaño,
si me reserva mi destino impío
llorar tu ruina y contemplar tu daño;

si he de escuchar tus ecos
devolverme entre lágrimas y horrores
el ronco acento de los bronces huecos;

si fuera mi laúd el destinado
para cantar tu pena y tu agonía….
¡Ah, que le mire pronto destrozado
en mis trémulas manos, patria mía!

Y antes que el mal en tu recinto nazca
y contemplarlo con espanto pueda ….,
¡que disponga el Señor cuando le plazca
de este resto de vida que me queda!

Mas si Jehová le concedió al poeta,
al cantar a su patria y a su destino,
la doble vista del veraz profeta;

si ha de unirse mi nombre con tu historia
para ser el cantor de tu alegría,
para ver el heraldo de tu gloria.

Dios me conceda al verte
de venturas y triunfos coronarte,
¡una vida sin fin para quererte
y una lira inmortal para cantarte!

In 1947, the U.S. granted Puerto Ricans the right to democratically elect their own governor. Luis Muñoz Marín was elected during the 1948 general elections, becoming the first popularly-elected governor of Puerto Rico. In 1950, the Truman Administration allowed for a democratic referendum in Puerto Rico to determine whether Puerto Ricans desired to draft their own local constitution.

On October 30, 1950, Albizu-Campos and other nationalists led a 3-day revolt against the United States in various cities and towns of Puerto Rico. The most notable occurred in Jayuya and Utuado. In the Jayuya revolt, known as the Jayuya Uprising, the United States declared martial law and attacked Jayuya with infantry, artillery and bombers. The Utuado Uprising culminated in what is known as the Utuado massacre. On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Harry S Truman. Torresola was killed during the attack, but Collazo was captured. Collazo served 29 years in a federal prison, being released in 1979. Don Pedro Albizu Campos also served many years in a federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia, for seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government in Puerto Rico.

A local constitution was approved by a Constitutional Convention on February 6, 1952, ratified by the U.S. Congress, approved by President Truman on July 3 of that year, and proclaimed by Gov. Muñoz Marín on July 25, 1952, the anniversary of the 1898 arrival of U.S. troops. Puerto Rico adopted the name of Estado Libre Asociado (literally translated as “Free Associated State”), officially translated into English as Commonwealth, for its body politic.

During the 1950s Puerto Rico experienced rapid industrialization, due in large part to Operación Manos a la Obra (“Operation Bootstrap”), an offshoot of FDR’s New Deal, which aimed to transform Puerto Rico’s economy from agriculture-based to manufacturing-based. Presently, Puerto Rico has become a major tourist destination and a leading pharmaceutical and manufacturing center. Yet it still struggles to define its political status. Three plebiscites have been held in recent decades to resolve the political status but no changes have been attained. Support for the pro-statehood party, Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) and the pro-commonwealth party, Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) remains about equal. The only registered pro-independence party, the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP), usually receives 3-5% of the electoral votes.

On October 25, 2006, the State Department of Puerto Rico conferred Puerto Rican citizenship to Juan Mari Brás. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Secretary of Justice determined that Puerto Rican citizenship exists and was recognized in the Constitution of Puerto Rico. Since the summer of 2007, the Puerto Rico State Department has developed the protocol to grant Puerto Rican citizenship to Puerto Ricans.

Source: Wikipedia

On July 25, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States with a landing at Guánica. As an outcome of the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris.

The United States and Puerto Rico thus began a long-standing relationship. Puerto Rico began the 20th century under the military rule of the U.S. with officials, including the governor, appointed by the President of the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900 gave Puerto Rico a certain amount of popular government, including a popularly-elected House of Representatives. In 1917, the Jones-Shafroth Act granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship and provided for a popularly-elected Senate to complete a bicameral Legislative Assembly. As a result of their new U.S. citizenship, many Puerto Ricans were drafted into World War I and all subsequent wars with U.S. participation.

Natural disasters, including a major earthquake, a tsunami and several hurricanes, and the Great Depression impoverished the island during the first few decades under American rule. Some political leaders, like Pedro Albizu Campos who led the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, demanded change. On March 21, 1937, a march was organized in the southern city of Ponce by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party which turned into a bloody event when the local police opened fire upon the cadets and bystanders. It has since then become known as the Ponce massacre.

The internal governance changed during the latter years of the Roosevelt–Truman administrations, as a form of compromise led by Muñoz Marín and others. It culminated with the appointment by President Truman in 1946 of the first Puerto Rican-born governor, Jesús T. Piñero. On June 11, 1948, Piñero, signed the “Ley de la Mordaza” (Gag Law) or Law 53 as it was officially known, passed by the Puerto Rican legislature which made it illegal to display the Puerto Rican Flag, sing patriotic songs, talk of independence and to fight for the liberation of the island. It resembled the anti-communist Smith Law passed in the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

When Christopher Columbus arrived in Puerto Rico during his second voyage on November 19, 1493, the island was inhabited by a group of Arawak Indians known as Taínos. They called the island “Borikén” or, in Spanish, “Borinquen”. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist. Later the island took the name of Puerto Rico (Spanish for “Rich Port”) while the capital was named San Juan. In 1508, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León became the island’s first governor to take office.

The Spanish soon colonized the island. Taínos were forced into slavery and were decimated by the harsh conditions of work and by diseases brought by the Spaniards. In 1511, the Taínos revolted against the Spanish; cacique Urayoán, as planned by Agüeybaná II, ordered his warriors to drown the Spanish soldier Diego Salcedo to determine whether the Spaniards were immortal. After drowning Salcedo, they kept watch over his body for three days to confirm his death. The revolt was easily crushed by Ponce de León and within a few decades much of the native population had been decimated by disease, violence, and a high occurrence of suicide. By 1520, when Charles V issued a royal decree that collectively emancipated the remaining Taíno population, the Taíno presence had almost vanished. African slaves were introduced to replace the Taíno. Puerto Rico soon became an important stronghold and port for the Spanish Empire. Various forts and walls, such as La Fortaleza, El Castillo San Felipe del Morro and El Castillo de San Cristóbal, were built to protect the port of San Juan from European enemies. France, The Netherlands and England made several attempts to capture Puerto Rico but failed to wrest long-term occupancy. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries colonial emphasis was on the more prosperous mainland territories, leaving the island impoverished of settlers.

In 1809, in the midst of the Peninsular War, the Supreme Central Junta based in Cádiz recognized Puerto Rico as an overseas province of Spain with the right to send representatives to the recently convened Spanish parliament. The representative, Ramon Power y Giralt, died after serving a three-year term in the Cortes. These parliamentary and constitutional reforms, which were in force from 1810 to 1814 and again from 1820 to 1823, were reversed twice afterwards when the traditional monarchy was restored by Ferdinand VII. Nineteenth century reforms augmented the population and economy, and expanded the local character of the island. After the rapid gaining of independence by the South and Central American states in the first part of the century, Puerto Rico and Cuba became the only Spanish colonies found in the Americas. The Spanish Crown revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. This time the decree was printed in three languages — Spanish, English and French — intending to attract Europeans of non-Spanish origin, with the hope that the independence movements would lose their popularity and strength with the arrival of new settlers. Free land was offered to those who wanted to populate the islands on the condition that they swear their loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Toward the end of the 19th century, poverty and political estrangement with Spain led to a small but significant uprising in 1868 known as “Grito de Lares”. It began in the rural town of Lares but was subdued when rebels moved to the neighboring town of San Sebastián. Leaders of this independence movement included Ramón Emeterio Betances, considered the “father” of the Puerto Rican independence movement, and other political figures such as Segundo Ruiz Belvis. In 1897, Luis Muñoz Rivera and others persuaded the liberal Spanish government to agree to Charters of Autonomy for Cuba and Puerto Rico. In 1898, Puerto Rico’s first, but short-lived, autonomous government was organized as an ‘overseas province’ of Spain. The charter maintained a governor appointed by Spain, which held the power to annul any legislative decision, and a partially elected parliamentary structure. In February, Governor-General Manuel Macías inaugurated the new government under the Autonomous Charter. General elections were held in March and the autonomous government began to function on July 17, 1898.

Source:Wikipedia

The history of the archipelago of Puerto Rico before the arrival of Christopher Columbus is not well known. What is known today comes from archaeological findings and early Spanish accounts. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, 293 years after the first Spaniards arrived on the island.

Taíno Village at the Tibes Ceremonial CenterThe first settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen. An archaeological dig in the island of Vieques in 1990 found the remains of what is believed to be an Arcaico (Archaic) man (named Puerto Ferro man) dated to around 2000 BC. Between AD 120 and 400 arrived the Igneri, a tribe from the South American Orinoco region. Between the 4th and 10th centuries, the Arcaicos and Igneri co-existed (and perhaps clashed) on the island. Between the 7th and 11th centuries the Taíno culture developed on the island, and by approximately 1000 AD had become dominant. This lasted until Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492.

Source: Wikipedia