Puerto rico history facts: Puerto Rico – HISTORY

Puerto Rico Fast Facts | CNN

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Here’s a look at the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a self-governing US territory located in the Caribbean.

(from the CIA World Factbook)

Area: 9,104 sq km

Population: 3,098,423 (2022 est. )

Median age: 43.6 years

Capital: San Juan

Religion: Roman Catholic 56%, Protestant 33%, other 3%, none 7%

Unemployment: 10.8% (2017 est.)

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The people of Puerto Rico are US citizens. They vote in US presidential primaries, but not in presidential elections.

First named San Juan Bautista by Christopher Columbus.

The governor is elected by popular vote with no term limits.

Jenniffer González has been the resident commissioner since January 3, 2017. The commissioner serves in the US House of Representatives, but has no vote, except in committees. Gonzalez is the first woman to hold this position.

It is made up of 78 municipalities.

Over 40% of the population lives in poverty, according to the Census Bureau.

Puerto Ricans have voted in six referendums on the issue of statehood, in 1967, 1993, 1998, 2012, 2017 and 2020. The 2012 referendum was the first time the popular vote swung in statehood’s favor. Since these votes were nonbinding, no action had to be taken, and none was. Ultimately, however, Congress must pass a law admitting them to the union.

In addition to becoming a state, options for Puerto Rico’s future status include remaining a commonwealth, entering “free association” or becoming an independent nation. “Free association” is an official affiliation with the United States where Puerto Rico would still receive military assistance and funding.

1493-1898 – Puerto Rico is a Spanish colony.

July 25, 1898 – During the Spanish-American War, the United States invades Puerto Rico.

December 10, 1898 – With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Spain cedes Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. The island is named “Porto Rico” in the treaty.

April 12, 1900 – President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law. It designates the island an “unorganized territory,” and allows for one delegate from Puerto Rico to the US House of Representatives with no voting power.

March 2, 1917 – President Woodrow Wilson signs the Jones Act into law, granting the people of Puerto Rico US citizenship.

May 1932 – Legislation changes the name of the island back to Puerto Rico.

November 1948 – The first popularly elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, is voted into office.

July 3, 1950 – President Harry S. Truman signs Public Law 600, giving Puerto Ricans the right to draft their own constitution.

October 1950 – In protest of Public Law 600, Puerto Rican nationalists lead armed uprisings in several Puerto Rican towns.

November 1, 1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempt to shoot their way into Blair House, where President Truman is living while the White House is being renovated. Torresola is killed by police; Collazo is arrested and sent to prison.

June 4, 1951 – In a plebiscite vote, more than three-quarters of Puerto Rican voters approve Public Law 600.

February 1952 – Delegates elected to a constitutional convention approve a draft of the constitution.

March 3, 1952 – Puerto Ricans vote in favor of the constitution.

July 25, 1952 – Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth as the constitution is put in place. This is also the anniversary of the United States invasion of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.

March 1, 1954 – Five members of the House of Representatives are shot on the House floor; Alvin Bentley, (R-MI), Ben Jensen (R-IA), Clifford Davis (D-TN), George Fallon (D-MD) and Kenneth Roberts (D-AL). Four Puerto Rican nationalists, Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Irving Flores Rodriguez, are arrested and sent to prison. President Jimmy Carter grants Cordero clemency in 1977 and commutes all four of their sentences in 1979.

July 23, 1967 – Commonwealth status is upheld via a status plebiscite.

1970 – The resident commissioner gains the right to vote in committee via an amendment to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.

September 18, 1989 – Hurricane Hugo hits the island as a Category 4 hurricane causing more than $1 billion in property damages.

November 14, 1993 – Commonwealth status is upheld via a plebiscite.

September 21, 1998 – Hurricane Georges hits the island causing an estimated $1.75 billion in damage.

August 6, 2009 – Sonia Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is confirmed by the US Senate (68-31). She becomes the third woman and the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

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November 6, 2012 – Puerto Ricans vote for statehood via a status plebiscite. The results are deemed inconclusive.

August 3, 2015 – Puerto Rico defaults on its monthly debt for the first time in its history, paying only $628,000 toward a $58 million debt.

December 31, 2015 – The first case of the Zika virus is reported on the island.

January 4, 2016 – Puerto Rico defaults on its debt for the second time.

May 2, 2016 – Puerto Rico defaults on a $422 million debt payment.

June 30, 2016 – President Barack Obama signs the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), a bill that establishes a seven-member board to oversee the commonwealth’s finances. The following day Puerto Rico defaults on its debt payment.

January 4, 2017 – The Puerto Rico Admission Act is introduced to Congress by Rep. Gonzalez.

May 3, 2017 – Puerto Rico files for bankruptcy. It is the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.

June 5, 2017 – Puerto Rico declares its Zika epidemic is over. The Puerto Rico Department of Health has reported more than 40,000 confirmed cases of the Zika virus since the outbreak began in 2016.

June 11, 2017 – Puerto Ricans vote for statehood via a status plebiscite. Over 97% of the votes are in favor of statehood, but only 23% of eligible voters participate.

September 20, 2017 – Hurricane Maria makes landfall near Yabucoa in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. It is the strongest storm to hit the island in 85 years. The energy grid is heavily damaged, with an island-wide power outage.

September 22, 2017 – The National Weather Service recommends the evacuation of about 70,000 people living near the Guajataca River in northwest Puerto Rico because a dam is in danger of failing.

October 3, 2017 – President Donald Trump visits. The trip comes after mounting frustration with the federal response to the storm. Many residents remain without power and continue to struggle to get access to food and fuel nearly two weeks after the storm hit.

December 18, 2017 – Gov. Ricardo Rosselló orders a review of deaths related to Hurricane Maria as the number could be much higher than the officially reported number. The announcement from the island’s governor follows investigations from CNN and other news outlets that called into question the official death toll of 64.

January 22, 2018 – Rosselló announces that the commonwealth will begin privatizing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

January 30, 2018 – More than four months after Maria battered Puerto Rico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells CNN it is halting new shipments of food and water to the island. Distribution of its stockpiled 46 million liters of water and four million meals and snacks will continue. The agency believes that amount is sufficient until normalcy returns.

February 11, 2018 – An explosion and fire at a power substation causes a blackout in parts of northern Puerto Rico, according to authorities.

May 29, 2018 – According to an academic report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an estimated 4,645 people died in Hurricane Maria and its aftermath in Puerto Rico. The article’s authors call Puerto Rico’s official death toll of 64 a “substantial underestimate.”

August 8, 2018 – Puerto Rican officials say the death toll from Maria may be far higher than their official estimate of 64. In a report to Congress, the commonwealth’s government says documents show that 1,427 more deaths occurred in the four months after Hurricane Maria than “normal,” compared with deaths that occurred the previous four years. The 1,427 figure also appears in a report published July 9.

August 28, 2018 – The Puerto Rican government raises its official death toll from Maria to 2,975 after a report on storm fatalities is published by researchers at George Washington University. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a critic of the Trump administration, says local and federal government failed to provide needed aid. She says the botched recovery effort led to preventable deaths.

August 29, 2018 – Trump says the federal government’s response to the disaster was “fantastic.” He says problems with the island’s aging infrastructure created challenges for rescue workers.

September 4, 2018 – The US Government Accountability Office releases a report revealing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was so overwhelmed with other storms by the time Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico that more than half of the workers it was deploying to disasters were known to be unqualified for the jobs they were doing in the field.

September 13, 2018 – In a tweet, Trump denies that nearly 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. He expresses skepticism about the death toll, suggesting that individuals who died of other causes were included in the hurricane count.

July 9, 2019 – Excerpts of profanity-laden, homophobic and misogynistic messages between Rosselló and members of his inner circle are published by local media.

July 10, 2019 – Six people, including Puerto Rico’s former education secretary and a former health insurance official, are indicted on corruption charges. The conspiracy allegedly involved directing millions of dollars in government contracts to politically-connected contractors.

July 11, 2019 – A series of protests begin in response to the leaked messages and the indictment, with calls for Rosselló to resign.

July 13, 2019 – The Center for Investigative Journalism publishes hundreds of leaked messages from Rosselló and other officials. Rosselló and members of his inner circle ridicule numerous politicians, members of the media and celebrities.

July 24, 2019 – Rosselló announces he will resign on August 2.

August 7, 2019 – Puerto Rico’s Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez Garced is sworn in as the third governor Puerto Rico has had in less than a week. Earlier in the day, Rosselló’s handpicked successor, attorney Pedro Pierluisi’s August 2nd swearing-in is thrown out by the Supreme Court, on grounds he has not been confirmed by both chambers of the legislature.

September 27, 2019 – The federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances releases a plan that would cut the island’s debt by more than 60% and rescue it from bankruptcy. The plan targets bonds and other debt held by the government and will now go before a federal judge. The percentage of Puerto Rico’s taxpayer funds spent on debt payments will fall to less than 9%, compared to almost 30% before the restructuring.

December 28, 2019 – A sequence of earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or higher begin hitting Puerto Rico, including a 6.4 magnitude quake on January 7 that killed at least one man, destroyed homes and left most of the island without power.

February 4, 2020 – A magnitude 5 earthquake strikes Puerto Rico. It is the 11th earthquake of at least that size in the past 30 days, according to the US Geological Survey.

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November 3, 2020 – Puerto Ricans vote in favor of statehood, and Pierluisi is elected governor.

January 2, 2021 – Pierluisi is sworn in.

April 21, 2022 – The Supreme Court rules that Congress can exclude residents of Puerto Rico from some federal disability benefits available to those who live in the 50 states.

August 4, 2022 – Vázquez is arrested in San Juan on bribery charges connected to the financing of her 2020 campaign.

September 18, 2022 – Hurricane Fiona makes landfall along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, near Punta Tocon, with winds of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane causes catastrophic flooding, amid a complete power outage. Two people are killed.

77 Interesting Facts About Puerto Rico

Last updated on April 19th, 2022

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea. It has an area of 9,104 square km. Its capital and largest city is San Juan. Spanish and English are its official languages. Its official currency is the United States dollar (USD). It has no land bordering countries. It is an archipelago consisting of the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands. With these 77 interesting facts about Puerto Rico, let’s learn about its history, culture, people, beaches, wildlife, trade, economy, caves, food, flag and more.

Historical facts about Puerto Rico

1. The name Puerto Rico (rich port) is derived from the abundant gold that the initial Spanish settlers found on the island.

2. Slaves were imported from Africa to help with the production of cattle, sugar cane, coffee and tobacco on the island.

3. Two-thirds of the island was a U.S. naval base for almost 60 years. The Navy used the area extensively for bombing and military training purposes. However, after the accidental death of a civilian, the area was abandoned as a Navy base and eventually became a wildlife reserve.

Puerto Rico on the map

4. Puerto Rico was one of Spain’s last two colonies in the New World (the other being Cuba).

5. Discovered by Columbus: Puerto Rico was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493, and several invasion attempts were made by the French, Dutch, and British. During his journey, he stayed on the island for two days.

6. Before discovery: It is notable here that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, one year before discovering Puerto Rico. Before his arrival, the archipelago was inhabited by Taíno Indians, who called it ‘Borinquen.’

7. Christopher Columbus named the island “San Juan Bautista” for St. John the Baptist.

8. Did you know that at one time, the U.S. planned to purchase Puerto Rico for a sum of $160 million? However, Spain refused (Puerto Rico was under Spanish treaty at the time).

9. During the Spanish-American War, U. S. acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris. The cost of the treaty to the U.S. was $20,000,000.

10. The country’s population grew from 155,428 in 1800 to nearly one million in the 19^th century.

11. Change of name: The island’s name was changed to “Porto Rico” in 1898 by the U.S. However, it was changed back to “Puerto Rico” in 1931.

12. Barceloneta in Puerto Rico has the biggest pharmaceutical complex in the world (14 industries). Wondering why? The water in Barceloneta is so pure that it requires very little treatment for use in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.

13. Barceloneta is also known as the “pineapple city” because of its extensive pineapple plantations.

14. If you want to visit the island, also be aware that Barceloneta is famous for its blue sand beaches.

15. A giant telescope: Puerto Rico is also home to the largest single-aperture telescope ever constructed – “the Arecibo Observatory.” It has 40,000 aluminum panels, each measuring three feet by six feet. The telescope has been featured in some Hollywood movies, including GoldenEye, a popular installment in the “James Bond” film series.

16. Sightseeing – Cave system: The river gives existence to a beautiful and magnificent cave system known the world over – Camuy. The system features more than 10 miles of caverns, 220 caves, and 17 entrances. Experts believe that there are still another 800 caves that are yet to be explored. Today, a 268-acre park is built around the cave system, providing tourists insights into some of the best natural locations in the country.

El Coqui, Puerto Rico. Image credit – Roberto Lee Fanfan Cortes

17. Unique Frog: A frog from the island, “Coqui,” is found only in Puerto Rico. It produces a distinct, high-pitched sound – “ko-kee, ko-kee” – especially at night. The frog is also the unofficial national symbol of the country. Sadly, it is a threatened species now.

18. Forest without snakes and bears: Puerto Rico also has the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. Forest System – El Yunque. And you may be surprised to learn that this forest is free from snakes, bears and threatening animals of any kind!

19. A barkless dog: Interestingly, Puerto Rico is void of any naturally existing land mammals. Present-day mammals including horses, cattle, cats, and dogs, have all been introduced to the island from elsewhere. A barkless dog once existed on the island, but it is extinct today.

20. Holiday shoppers beware: the “Plaza Las Americas” mall in San Juan is one of the most profitable malls per square foot in the world.

21. The Bacardi rum factory (est. 1862) in San Juan, is the largest rum distillery in the world (producing more 100,000 liters of rum every 24 hours). The distillery contributes nearly 85% of Bacardi’s total rum production, and the remainder is produced from the distilleries in Mexico and India.

22. Visitor’s Paradise: An estimated five million people visit Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, each year.

23. Not a country: Puerto Rico is considered as a country by many; however, the fact is that it is not a country in itself. It is a territory of the United States.

24. Puerto Rico does not observe Daylight Saving Time.

25. Tax benefits and cuisines: Puerto Rico is a popular travel destination for tourists from around the world because of its attractive tax incentives and traditional cuisines.

26. Out of the many national holidays that Puerto Ricans observe, quite a few are held on Mondays, so that citizens can enjoy a long weekend. Pretty smart, aren’t they!

27. San Juan has also been called one of the world’s busiest cruise-ship ports.

28. Arroz con Gandules, the national dish of Puerto Rico, is typically enjoyed by its residents during every festival and celebration.

29. Spanish influence: the island was ruled by the Spanish for nearly 400 years.

30. Puerto Rico is overwhelmingly Spanish speaking. The U.S. government has failed to establish English as the dominant language despite several efforts.

31. Citizenship: Juan Mari Brás was the first person to receive Puerto Rican citizenship. He received the citizenship certificate from the Puerto Rico Department of State on October 25, 2006. The government has since been granting Puerto Rican citizenship to people born in Puerto Rico and to those who have at least one parent who was born in Puerto Rico, and also to those who have lived at least one year in Puerto Rico and are an American citizen.

32. It is the largest insular territory of the U. S.

33. Voting: Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the U.S. Congress. They cannot even vote for the President or the Vice President of the U.S.

34. It is also called “the land of the Valiant Lord.”

35. San Juan is Puerto Rico’s most populous city.

36. English speakers, but not advanced: nearly 90% of Puerto Rico’s population cannot speak English at an advanced level.

37. Puerto Ricans pay no income tax.

38. The President of the United States of America is the chief of the state of Puerto Rico. It is a commonwealth associated with the United States.

39. If you are a U.S. citizen visiting Puerto Rico, note that there is no visa requirement for you. However, those who are from the outside of the U.S. need to follow the requirements that are set for entering the U. S.

40. Over the years, Puerto Rico has produced five Miss Universe winners

Facts about Puerto Rican food, people, flag, economy, trade, beaches etc

41. Food is inexpensive in Puerto Rico. So if you are looking for a place where you can eat well within your budget and enjoy your time, Puerto Rico is a good choice.

42. Beautiful Streets: The streets in the country look amazing! They are paved with blue cobblestones, which makes them look stunning.

43. In 2013, the cost of running AC in Puerto Rico was three times that of in New York.

44. Puerto Rico is famous for three things – Rum, Ricky Martin, and Recession.

45. Puerto Rico and rum have been related for more than 400 years now. The country produces some of the best rum in the world. The U.S. imports more than 70% of the rum sold in the country from Puerto Rico. They produce rum in three varieties: light, dark, and añejo, or aged.

46. Puerto Rico’s and Cuba’s flag are the same, but the colors of the bands and triangle are reversed.

47. Puerto Rico’s motto: “Puerto Rico does it better.”

48. The third-largest underground river in the world, the Río Camuy, is in Puerto Rico.

49. Puerto Rico is an officially multilingual country; as are others, such as India, Canada, Belarus, Cyprus, Madagascar, New Zealand, South Africa, and Switzerland.

50. Currency: Puerto Ricans have the United States dollar as their official currency; however, they refer to it as the ‘peso’ or ‘dollar.’

. . . continue reading on the next page.

10 Incredibly Interesting Facts About Puerto Rico Wanting to Join the US

While the political fate of the archipelago after the referendum on joining the US is being decided, let’s learn more about the amazing Puerto Rico with the Telegraph. It turns out that this is an incredible country full of mysteries and antiquities.

Puerto Ricans are very attractive

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At least their female half. Behind the local beauties – 5 victories at the Miss Universe contest and a couple more at the Miss World contest, which is impressive, given the small size of the island.

Once the island belonged to Spain

When Christopher Columbus discovered the island in 1493, he started the process of colonization of the territory by the Kingdom of Castile (the territory of modern Spain). So most of the population of the island are the descendants of the Spanish colonists, as well as the descendants of African slaves. This process naturally affected the architecture of cities.

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USA “won” Puerto Rico in battle

Puerto Rico went to America as a result of the signed peace agreement at the end of the Spanish-American War – a three-month conflict in 1898. As a result of this agreement, the United States also got the territories of Cuba, the Philippines and Guam, which also has the status of an unincorporated organized territory of the United States.

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Residents of Puerto Rico officially have US citizenship

Anyone born in Puerto Rico is considered an American citizen and can move freely within the country. They have their own representative in the US Congress, who, however, cannot participate in the legislative process. In addition, Puerto Ricans cannot participate in the election of the American president.

Puerto Rico won 9 Olympic medals

Moreover, the first gold was won at the last games in Rio de Janeiro in women’s singles tennis.

A rich history of rum production

The most expensive and high-quality rum in the world is produced here. Rum distilleries are located throughout the island, including the legendary Bacardi brand, which was forced to move to Puerto Rico from the effects of the Cuban Revolution.

Everyone in Puerto Rico is obsessed with salsa

It’s a good idea to bring dancing shoes with you if you’re in Puerto Rico, because salsa is considered the national sport here. It is believed that the dance originated when the inhabitants of the city mixed traditional musical styles with Cuban ones.

Puerto Rico is home to 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites

These sites include the Puerto Rico Governor’s Residence, La Fortaleza, which was built in 1533 and is the oldest continuously occupied residence in the New World. The second site is the San Juan National Museum Complex, which includes forts, ramparts, and the old city wall. All this was built during the period of colonization. Not bad for the territory, 3 times smaller than the Kyiv region.

Unique frogs live here

Not found anywhere else on Earth, coquís are tiny little frogs that create an unrealistic cry during mating. This sound is heard in every corner of Puerto Rico all night long.

It was in Puerto Rico that the Pina Colada cocktail was invented

However, this issue is still the subject of controversy. At the moment, three local bartenders at once claim that it was they who gave the world the legendary cocktail.

7 Curious Facts About Jews in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico, a picturesque Caribbean island that is a member of the US Commonwealth and home to three and a half million people, was in dire need of help after Hurricane Maria in 2017. As aid arrived on the island, many people learned for the first time about the rich history and people of Puerto Rico. Part of the Commonwealth’s unique history is its extensive Jewish connections going back centuries.

Here are seven facts about Jews and Puerto Rico.

Early Jewish connections

The first Europeans to discover Puerto Rico were members of the crew of Christopher Columbus, during a voyage to the island in 1493. Some historians suggest that Columbus himself, who left Spain on the very day when all the Jews were expelled from the kingdom, was a secret Jew. At least one secret Jew, Louis de Torres, sailed with Columbus, and Columbus’ voyage was financed by Spanish Jews.

Puerto Rico was officially incorporated into Spain in 1508, making it inaccessible to any potential Jewish settlers. The Inquisition ruled that even Converted Jews who have converted (or pretended to be) Catholic cannot live in the Spanish overseas territories. However, it is believed that the secret Jews did settle on the island, living in remote mountainous areas where few could notice their strange lifestyle.

One Jew who defied the Catholic Church to live in Puerto Rico, a merchant named Judah Cohen from the Caribbean island of Curaçao, was caught by Spanish officials and put to death in 1723. Other secret Jews adopted Christian names. The name “Mercado”, meaning merchant, was especially popular among the secret Jews of Puerto Rico. Historians have found evidence of several Jews living in Puerto Rico during Spanish rule: a woman named Sara Nunez Mercado who lived in Guayanilla in 1805, and a Jew named Elias de Sola in the same area in 1839year. The city of Aguadilla appears to have been the home of a small Jewish community: a Jew named Solomon Senor died there in 1849, and a Jewish physician named Isaac de Lima practiced openly in the city of Mayages in the 1840s.

American board

When the United States recaptured Puerto Rico from Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Jews were allowed to live openly on the island for the first time. The first open Jewish residents were American military personnel who fought in the territory; approximately 5,000 American Jewish soldiers took part in the Spanish–American War.

A small handful of these soldiers remained in Puerto Rico and formed the nucleus of a nascent Jewish community in the southern city of Ponce. Noah Shepard was the unofficial leader of this group, and Rabbi Adolf Spiegel, who served in the US Army, remained in Ponce for several years. Many of these Jewish ex-servicemen served in Puerto Rico’s administration, helping to create its legal code and judiciary, and they worked in public health to help eradicate tropical diseases from the island.

With World War II, Puerto Rico saw another influx of American troops. During the war, 400 Jewish soldiers were sent to the island, who held a service and organized a communal Seder for the inhabitants of the island. After the war, federal incentives attracted investors to Puerto Rico, hundreds of businesses opened on the island, attracting significant numbers of American Jews.

Refuge Island

A series of coups and repressive regimes in Latin America brought Spanish-speaking refugees, including Jews, to Puerto Rico. The earliest wave was on 1960s, after Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba. Many of these refugees survived the Holocaust, lived in Cuba, and have now found safe haven in the United States. “Puerto Rico was a hospitable society and had many similar characteristics to Cuba: language, island life, so for many (Cuban Jews) it was an easier transition compared to going to the United States,” explains Diego Mandelbaum, director Jewish Community Center of Puerto Rico,

Mandelbaum was born in Argentina and his journey was a mirror image of many other Hispanics and non-Jews. After the coup of the military junta in Argentina, many refugees, including Jews, arrived in Puerto Rico in search of a new life. In recent years, repression in Venezuela has brought even more emigrants to the island.

Puerto Rico Garden of Eden

In the 1980s, Israel pioneered an advanced agricultural development program in Puerto Rico, bringing advanced Israeli irrigation and agricultural technology to the island. About 200 Israelis arrived on the island and built a state-of-the-art educational farm on 2,000 acres in the Santa Isabel area in the south of the island. Over time, they named their innovative farm “Gan Eden”, which means “Garden of Eden” in Hebrew.

“Gan Eden” developed Puerto Rico’s first commercial mango orchard and vegetable farm. Currently run by Israeli agronomist Yoav Cohen, the farm sells mangoes to Europe and a range of other products including papaya, zucchini, cucumbers and peppers in the US. In 2005, the Senate of Puerto Rico passed a resolution formally recognizing the friendship between Puerto Rico and Israel, as well as the contributions of the Puerto Rican Jewish community to the island’s way of life.

Thriving community

Today, approximately 1,500 Jews live in Puerto Rico, the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean. Most Jews live in the capital, San Juan, which boasts three synagogues, a Jewish community center and a kosher grocery store. The island is also home to a Jewish school, a Zionist youth club, and other Jewish organizations. The ChaBad Center offers a kosher restaurant and catering service, serving over 30,000 meals each year.

The number of Puerto Rican Jews is constantly changing. After a high level at 19In the 1990s, the community began to shrink. “About 90% of kids are sent to colleges in the United States and most of them never come back,” explains Mandelbaum. In recent years, a new round of investment incentives has brought new entrepreneurs to the island, including Jews.

Hurricane ” Maria ”

On Rosh Hashanah in 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico as the third worst hurricane ever recorded in the United States. The destruction was enormous. One week after hurricane 97% of the territory was left without electricity, people had difficulty extracting the main reserves. Half didn’t have water. Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo A. Rossello, warned of a “humanitarian crisis.”

While people fought to bring resources to the island, the Puerto Rican Jewish community, itself affected by the storm, coordinated the relief effort.

The ChaBad Jewish Center in Puerto Rico, located in the center of San Juan, was flooded. Rabbi Mendel Zarchi described the scene that greeted him at the Chabad Center: “Blown out windows, overturned poles, maimed by an overwhelming amount of fallen trees (and) wrecked cars.”

However, Rabbi Zarchi reported that there was a minyan in the synagogue on both days of Rosh Hashanah. As the hurricane raged, the center set up a Relief Fund to help buy food and water and renovate the synagogue.

The Puerto Rico Jewish Community Center provided relief and shelter to those displaced by Hurricane Maria and established a relief and recovery fund.