Puerto Rico: Permit Me to Leave

The chant echoed like a thundering pulse beat: "Cuatro más! Cuatro más! —Four more! Four more!" On the banner-draped platform in Mayagüez one day last week, the top leaders of Puerto Rico's Popular Democratic Party watched tensely as the bearlike man at the microphone motioned for quiet. Then came the news: "I want to return to what created the Popular Democratic Party 25 years ago, to what liberated the energy that constructed the Puerto Rico of today. I want to return to the school, to the farmyard, to the hearts of the people so that all together we can forge the Puerto Rico of the next 25 years. Permit me to leave office to serve the democracy of Puerto Rico."

Luis Muñoz Marin, 66, Governor of Puerto Rico, architect of the island's life-giving Operation Bootstrap and its unique commonwealth status, was stepping aside after four terms (16 years) in office. He would not, he insisted, be his party's gubernatorial candidate in the Nov. 3 elections. He would accept nomination for the senate, whence he came, but nothing more. "You must have confidence in yourselves," he pleaded. "You have honored me as a leader and as a teacher, and now the teacher says: 'It is time to return to the class.' " No sooner had Muñoz finished than the chants erupted again—louder and fiercer. He grabbed the microphone. "You cannot make me violate my own conscience!" he roared above the din—and that was that.

Essence & Energy. To Puerto Ricans, the Muñoz announcement meant much more than the leave-taking of an able administrator and brilliant politician. For more than a generation Muñoz has been the island's one and only leader—vigorous, charismatic, the essence and energy of an economic and social revolution that has touched the lives of every Puerto Rican.

The son of a venerated Puerto Rican statesman, Muñoz studied law at Washington's Georgetown University, returned to Puerto Rico in 1926, and has been fighting the island's cause ever since. At that time, Puerto Rico was little more than a sugar barony controlled by a few large U.S. companies; per capita income was a pitiable $120 a year. In 1938, Muñoz formed his Popular Democratic Party, four years later as senate president organized Operation Bootstrap, and was soon luring mainland industry to Puerto Rico. With generous tax incentives and cheap, plentiful labor, company after company found it profitable to set up plants until today the island's gross national product is growing 11% a year, wages average $1.11 an hour, new investment is running $1,000,000 a day, and per capita income is up to $740—second highest in Latin America, surpassed only by oil-rich Venezuela.

Best of Both Worlds. Some Latin Americans sneer at the success, accuse Muñoz of running a sugar-coated Yanqui labor colony, swapping independence for U.S. dollars. Puerto Ricans know better. They are fiercely proud of their "Spanishness" and regard their unique commonwealth status in "free association" with the U.S. as the best of both worlds. Under the 1951 compact with Congress, Puerto Rico lies somewhere between a territory and a full-fledged state. The U.S. protects the island, and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens—though they pay no federal taxes.