Was Puerto Rico Ever a Sovereign Country?

In this episode of Puerto Rico: Open Your Eyes, Edwin Ortiz introduces a new radio talk show format with a thoughtful discussion on one of the most misunderstood questions in Puerto Rico’s political conversation:

Was Puerto Rico ever a sovereign country?

Before answering that question, this episode looks back at Puerto Rico’s political development under Spain, especially the 1897 Carta Autonómica, the elections of March 27, 1898, and the autonomous framework that was beginning to take shape before the United States invaded the island.

The episode also compares Puerto Rico’s 1897 autonomy to Spain’s modern autonomous communities, such as the Canary Islands, explaining how Puerto Rico and Cuba received an early form of autonomy decades before Spain’s current autonomous system was created after the 1978 Constitution.

From there, the conversation turns to the difference between a cultural nation and a sovereign country. Puerto Rico has a powerful identity, culture, history, language, traditions, and sense of peoplehood. But historically, Puerto Rico has never been an independent sovereign state recognized internationally as its own country.

This episode invites listeners to think deeper about the words we use when discussing Puerto Rico’s status: nation, country, colony, territory, autonomy, sovereignty, and identity.

Can Puerto Rico be a nation culturally without having ever been a sovereign country politically? Have we been using these words correctly? And what does that mean for how Puerto Ricans discuss their future?

Listen, reflect, and join the conversation.