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From the arrival of Columbus until 1898, Puerto Rico had been under Spanish rule. In 1897, Spain gave Puerto Rico more independence and autonomy but the Spanish-American War moved the colonial power in charge from Spain to the US.

Now, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the US, which means it is not an independent country. Puerto Ricans have had US citizenship since 1917, but cannot vote for president and lack representation in Congress.

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During the Spanish-American War in 1898, the US took over Puerto Rico from Spanish rule. When the war ended, Spain gave up PR to the US. The US moved in with sugar companies and established a military government - enforcing assimilation through education and the court system by requiring them to all be in English.

In 1917, Puerto Ricans were given citizenship but had limited rights in US government. Then, roughly 20,000 Puerto Rican men were drafted for World War I.

Operation Bootstrap:
After World War II, the economy shifted from agrarian interests  to capitalist interests and several US companies outsourced labor to Puerto Rico to cut costs. During this time, Operation Bootstrap had 3 goals.
1. Lift taxes for exports from Puerto Rico to US, benefitting US corporations.
2. Encourage English only education and US curriculum, which would ultimately encourage migration to mainland.
3. Emigrate 1/3 of Puerto Rico's population to US

This operation would also ultimately encourage forced sterilization of Puerto Rican women as there was fear that the island was becoming overpopulated.

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During World War II and shortly thereafter, a period defined by Operation Bootstrap, Puerto Ricans were encourage to migrate to the US in order to find more economic opportunities. Around 500,000 emigrated from Puerto Rico after World War II.

Today, more people of Puerto Rican descent live in the US (5.7 million) than on PR itself (3.5 million).

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Courtney Anderson

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1523 conquistador Pedro de Alvaro killed many Mayans which is bad

there were many agents at work however non of them were more devastating than disease

1950s centuries later Guatemala was pushing towards democracy and it was insane that 2 percent of land owners owned 75% of the land

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Guatemala became independent from Spain in 1821. For a long time after that, the country was controlled by landowners with money and foreign companies that owned huge amounts of land, especially the United Fruit Company (UFCO), which was an American corporation that controlled a lot of the banana industry there. (Hustling fruit🍌)

In 1951, Guatemala elected a president named Jacobo Árbenz. The UFCO did not like him very much because his plan was to take unused land from big companies and give it to poor farmers so more people could actually work and survive. This caused tension with the United States because the Cold War was happening at the time, and the US government believed his policies were potentially connected to communism. UFCO launched a propaganda campaign against him as a result.

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Cuba was colonized by the Spanish in the conquering of the new world and was a Spanish territory until the the Spanish-American war in 1898. The United States dominated the Cuban economy and government until the Cuban Revolution in 1959 led by Fidel Castro.

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The propaganda campaign led to the biggest moment of US involvement which happened in 1954 when the CIA helped overthrow President Árbenz in a secret operation called Operation PBSUCCESS. The US government said they were trying to stop communism in the region, but historians also say it had a lot to do with protecting American business interests like the United Fruit Company.

After the coup, Guatemala went through some instability and military rule which included a civil war between the government and rebel groups from about 1960 to 1996. During all that, the US supported the Guatemalan government with military aid and training, even though there were a lot of reports of human rights abuses.

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This was an attempt for the US to stabilize the country to protect American interests and prevent a communist regime. 22,000 American troops were sent to the Dominican Republic amid a civil war. This military occupation caused lasting distrust for the Dominican Republic when it comes to US involvement in their politics.

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The legal Immigration population was mainly Mexicans during the 1820s; to help develop the United States as a country.

Mexican citizens were living in lands that are now known as Texas, California, New Mexico, and some parts of Colorado before they became a part of the United States. Those States were a part of Mexico back then in 1800s.

Mexicans were legal in their homes, but after the Mexican-American War the border of the United States and Mexico crossed those lands causing those lands to become the U.S.'s territory.

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Picked by the United States to be the leader of a national guard that they trained. Used military power. Became a cruel and savage dictator over the Dominican Republic. Made it easy for American buisnesses to do buisness in the Dominican Republic but the US got fed up with how he was treating everyone and they assasinated him. They then held an election where Juan Bosch was elected. Juan Bosch was not able to hold power due to a military coup. That led to the 1965 US invasion.

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All of the violence and economic problems caused a lot of people to leave Guatemala. During the 1980s, many Guatemalans fled the country because of the civil war and violence.

Even after the war ended in 1996, many people still continued migrating to the United States because of poverty, lack of jobs, and political problems that never fully went away.

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In one account in the Harvest of Empire documentary, a man had immigrated from the Dominican Republic to America. He noted that they had not agnowledged any mistake they made. He also notes racism. It seems like the biggest impact may be a further disconnect between the people of the Dominican Republic and America.

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When Carrera died in 1865, rich elite people saw the opportunity to take back the country from the liberals and make guatamala less free and rather more of a country that is something along the lines of a oilgarchy

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Starting in 1909 thare was the U.S. Influence & Somoza Dictatorship until 1979 when the revalution finish that for a time, there was peace. In 1979, that was the start of the Revolution & Contra War, which the U.S. helped fund and influence. By funding money to Iran for them to give weapons to the Contras. This ended in 1990. This resulted in 50,000 deaths and 12 billion in national debt.

In 1997, the U.S. extended residence to Nicaraguans, so now there are over half a millon live in the U.S. today.

When a country's civil war is directly provoked by external forces, should the immigrants who were forced to flee be considered "refugees' in the context of U.S. foreign/imagation policy?

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In Cuba, in 1903, Nav. Station Guantanamo Bay was established for coaling and naval operations following the Spanish-American War. Around 2002, Gitmo was opened by the Bush administration in response to the 9/11 terror attacks to hold foreign nationals classified as "illegal enemy combatants" without charge.

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Kaos, Severin

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Mexican-American was caused by the U.S. starting to expand their control over people and their lands. This war started in 1846 and continued until 1848.

Mexico surrendered their lands and their men.

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Following the Spanish-American War, Cuba became a protectorate state of the United States. American corporations heavily controlled the sugar industry, which was the largest industry in Cuba. The Italian Mob also had deep ties to the Cuban government at this time, as well as controlling the Casinos and "tourism" insdustry inside of Cuba.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy (President of the United States) said "But instead of holding out a helping hand of friendship to the desperate people of Cuba, nearly all our aid was in the form of weapons assistance - assistance, which merely strengthened the Batista dictatorship - assistance which completely failed to advance the economic welfare of the Cuban people - assistance, which enabled Castro and the Communists to encourage the growing belief that America was indifferent to Cuban aspirations for a decent life."

Following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Cuba US relations were rocky. The Agrarian Reform act of 1959 seized the American owned sugar plantations, and subsequently turned the US's view on Cuba sour. Since then (even to today), the United States has been fairly hostile towards Cuba.

The CIA trained and armed a brigade of Cuban exiles leading to the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. With tensions rising between the US and Cuba rising (economically especially), Cuba turned to the Soviet Union for economic support. This estranged them from the United States further.

Leading up to the Cuban missile Crisis, the CIA was kicking its anti Cuba operations (Operation Mongoose) into overdrive. Thousands of CIA operatives around the globe were working in different capacities to overthrow Castro-- and even to assassinate him.

In an effort to dissuade American hostility, the USSR proposed placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. This also served to protect the Soviet Union as the United States already had Jupiter Missiles placed in the Turkey. The missiles in Turkey were effectively aimed at the USSR, and they were first strike capacity (like, these were the kinds of missiles that would be launched before any other missiles. They were offensive in nature).