Flag of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Coatof Arms of Puerto Rico



Location, political and cultural history

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an island American dependency located in that part of the Caribbean known as the The Greater Antilles. Other islands in the same geographical group are Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Hispaniola (containing the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Jamaica.

Originally populated for centuries by indigenous aboriginal peoples known as Taínos, the island was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain, during his second voyage to the Americas, on 19 November 1493. Under Spanish rule, the island was colonised and the indigenous population was forced into slavery. Spain possessed Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British.

As one of the terms of the Treaty of Paris at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with the Philippines, to the United States. In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship and since 1948 they have elected their own governor. In 1952 the Constitution of Puerto Rico was adopted and ratified by the electorate.

A democratically elected bicameral legislature is currently in place (2013), but the United States Congress legislates many fundamental aspects of Puerto Rican life. The island’s current political status, including the possibility of statehood or independence, is widely debated in Puerto Rico. In November 2012, a non-binding referendum resulted in 54% of respondents voting to reject the current status. Among respondents to a second question about alternatives, 61% voted for statehood as the preferred alternative to the current territorial status. Statehood in this context means becoming a fully-fledged State of the USA, following in the footsteps of Alaska (03.January.1959) and Hawaii (21.August.1959). At the time of writing (2023) this has not yet happened.


Location of Puerto Rico Map of Puerto Roco
The left-hand map shows Puerto Rico in relation to other islands of the Caribbean.
The right-hand map shows the principal islands. Please use your browser magnifier to enlarge.




The stunning scenery of Puerto Rico (Getty Images)



Circumcision in Puerto Rico

The census of Puerto Rico reports that 75%+ of the country’s residents self-classify as “white”, but it is also the case that the vast majority are Hispanic or Latino by culture. Given the absence of religious motivations arising from Judaism or Islam, the rate of male circumcision in Puerto Rico is often reported as being low. Some estimates put it below 20%, a marked difference from the North American norm. A widely-quoted paper by Brian Morris and colleagues Estimation of country-specific and global prevalence of male circumcision puts it as 0.14%, which is not believable. Diggging down, it turns out that this was just the (tiny) proportion of Muslims and Jews in Puerto Rico. Professor Morris now accepts the 30% figure given below.

The subject of circumcision in Puerto Rico came to prominence in 2012 in consequence of the publication of a research paper suggesting that the procedure had no major effect on rates of transmission of the HIV virus in a Caribbean context. (Rodriguez-Diaz CE et al, in Journal of Sexual Medicine 2012. The paper was based on a random sample of 660 men in an STI clinic waiting room and, well, 30% were circumcised. Realistically, we have to take this figure as the average for the male population. In fairly short order, a rebuttal was published by Jeffrey D. Klausner, pointing out that the paper didn't look at the source of the infection - drug use (and needle sharing) is prevalent in Puerto Rico. Regardless of this dispute, it does seem to give us the best estimate available of male circumcision prevalence in Puerto Rico.




Acknowledgements
The following resources were used in the preparation of this web page:
Logo Wikipedia.
Flag of USA Logo of PubMed Website of PubMed
Location of Puerto Rico Map of Puerto Rico Maps courtesy of www.sheppardsoftware.com and World Sites Atlas.

Back to Rites & Practices      Home


Copyright © 1992 - 2023,  All Rights Reserved CIRCLIST.