Puerto Rican rap artist Bad Bunny
Credit: © 2022 Tinseltown/Shutterstock

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican singer, rapper, and music producer. He is a Latin trap and reggaetón singer. Trap music is a genre (category) of rap music known for its heavy beats. Reggaetón is a type of dance music that originated in Puerto Rico. It draws inspiration from American hip-hop and Latin American and Caribbean music. Bad Bunny is known for his solo work, as well as his collaborations with such artists as Cardi B, Drake, and the Colombian singer J Balvin. He is also known for his personal style and fashion choices.

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was born on March 10, 1994, in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. His stage name came from a childhood photograph in which he appeared dressed in a rabbit costume with an angry look on his face. He was interested in music from a young age. He started making music while at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. He began releasing songs on the music-sharing website SoundCloud.

Bad Bunny signed a recording contract with the label Hear This Music in 2016. In 2017, he released “Soy Peor” (“I’m Worse”). The song reached number 22 on Billboard magazine’s “Hot Latin Songs” chart. In 2018, Bad Bunny released X 100pre (Forever), his first full-length album. The album reached the top spot on Billboard’s “Top Latin Albums” chart within one week of its release.

Bad Bunny’s second album, YHLQMDLG—Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana (I Do Whatever I Want), was released in 2020. It debuted at number two on the “Billboard 200″ chart. Later in 2020, his album El Último Tour del Mundo (The Last Tour of the World) became the first album recorded entirely in Spanish to reach the top of the “Billboard 200″ chart. In 2021, Bad Bunny won a Grammy Award for best Latin pop or urban album for YHLQMDLG. Later in 2021, he released the hit single “Yonaguni,” which he recorded partly in Japanese. Yonaguni is the name of a Japanese island. In 2022, Bad Bunny won a Grammy Award for best música urbana (urban music) album, for El Último Tour del Mundo.Un Verano Sin Ti (A Summer Without You) 

Rita Moreno in West Side Story
West Side Story is one of the most popular musicals in American theater history. Jerome Robbins was the director and choreographer. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics and Leonard Bernstein the music for the story based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Rita Moreno, center, was one of the stars in the 1961 film version that won 11 Academy Awards.
Credit: AP/Wide World

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Iconic, talented, and always fashionable, Rita Moreno belongs in the spotlight! Moreno is a Puerto Rican -born actress, singer, and dancer who has won acclaim on the stage, in motion pictures, and on television. Moreno became the first Hispanic actress to win an Academy Award. She won the 1961 award as best supporting actress for her performance as the girlfriend of a Puerto Rican-born New York City gang leader in the musical West Side Story. She also won a 1975 Tony Award as best supporting actress for her performance in the musical The Ritz. She didn’t stop after becoming the first Latina EGOT winner. Only 16 other people have the honor of being called an EGOT, the elite group of artists who have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.

Rosita Dolores Alverio was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 11, 1931. She moved to New York City with her mother at the age of 5, and she soon started dance lessons. Moreno began working in motion pictures in the 1940’s, using her voice to dub Spanish-language versions of American films. She made her Broadway debut in 1945 at age 13 in the play Skydrift. She took the stage name Rosita Moreno from the last name of her stepfather, then later shortened her first name to Rita.

In addition to minor TV and movie roles in the 1950’s, Moreno danced with star Gene Kelly in the motion picture Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and portrayed an unhappy young Burmese woman given to the king as a “gift” wife in The King and I (1956). She also had a notable role as a prostitute in the film Carnal Knowledge (1971). Her other films include Summer and Smoke (1961), Popi (1969), and The Ritz (1976), in which she repeated her Tony Award-winning role.

Moreno was a regular performer from 1971 to 1977 on the Public Broadcasting Service children’s educational TV program “The Electric Company.” In 1972, she received a Grammy Award for her contribution to the show’s soundtrack album. She also received Emmy Awards for her guest appearance on the TV variety series “The Muppet Show” in 1977 and for her performance on an episode of the detective series “The Rockford Files” in 1978.

From 1994 to 1998, Moreno provided the voice of Carmen Sandiego, a world-famous thief, on the animated TV series “Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?” She was a regular performer from 1997 to 2003 on the cable television prison drama “Oz” as Sister Pete, a nun who works as a psychological counselor to inmates. In 2017, Moreno began acting on the television situation comedy “One Day at a Time,” an update of the popular series of the same name that aired from 1975 to 1984. In 2013, she published a memoir, Rita Moreno. Moreno became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2015. Moreno starred in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of West Side Story, as a newly developed character named Valentina.

The dish of Arecibo Observatory’s radio telescope lies heavily damaged following the collapse of the instrument platform on Dec. 1, 2020.
Credit: © estadespr, Shutterstock

The year 2020 claimed yet another victim, with the destruction of one of the most impressive telescopes ever built—the radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory. Already damaged beyond repair, the remaining cables that held the telescope’s instrument platform snapped on December 1, sending the platform crashing through the dish below. It was a spectacular and disappointing end to a telescope that has done so much to further our understanding of the universe.

The radio telescope was the primary instrument at the observatory, located in Puerto Rico, 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of San Juan. A radio telescope collects and measures radio waves given off by objects in space. At 1,000 feet (305 meters) in diameter, the Arecibo radio telescope was the world’s most powerful when it opened in 1963. It remained the largest dish (bowl-shaped reflector) in the world until 2016, when the dish of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) was completed in Guizhou Province, China.

The Arecibo dish was built into a natural basin-shaped valley. The dish focused radio waves onto receivers mounted on the large instrument platform suspended above. The waves came from such distant objects as pulsars (rapidly spinning stars whose waves arrive on Earth as regular pulses). Arecibo astronomers discovered the first binary pulsar (a pulsar in orbit around a companion star) in 1974. In the early 1990′s, astronomers at the observatory discovered planets beyond the solar system and ice at the poles of Mercury. Until the middle of 2020, astronomers were using the radio telescope for a variety of astronomical observations, including monitoring and assessing the threat level of near-Earth asteroids.

The Arecibo Observatory radio telescope as it appeared before its collapse in 2020. The instrument platform (top center) crashed through the dish on December 1.
Credit: © Than Tibbetts, Shutterstock

The impressive appearance of the massive dish surrounded by the lush, forested hills of Puerto Rico’s interior seemed particularly to capture the public imagination. The radio telescope appeared in the sci-fi motion picture Contact (1997) and the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995), for example.

The final collapse of the telescope began in August 2020, when an auxiliary cable that held the instrument platform broke. The falling cable tore several large gashes in the dish. In November, before engineers had a chance to repair the dish or replace the cable, a main support cable broke. The United States National Science Foundation (NSF) quickly determined that the telescope could no longer be saved without putting lives at risk. The NSF was considering plans to decommission the telescope—taking it permanently out of service—when the collapse occurred.

The future of the Arecibo Observatory appears doubtful. The U.S. Congress could direct funds to replace the telescope, but it may be more likely that the facility will be closed permanently.

In 1975, scientists engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence used the dish from the Arecibo telescope to beam a powerful signal into space. This signal was designed by astronomer Frank Drake with the help of famous science popularizer Carl Sagan to give any intelligent being who discovers it information about Earth and humans. Encoded within the message was an image of the dish itself. Although it is unlikely that any alien civilizations will receive the message, it serves a lasting monument to the telescope’s legacy.

January 13, 2020

Earth has been a particularly dangerous place in recent weeks. Airplane crashes, military clashes, terror attacks, and political unrest have taken a toll on human life and happiness lately, but it is a series of natural disasters that has caused the most trouble. A typhoon ravaged the Philippines, deadly flash floods hit Indonesia, bushfires continued to rage in Australia, a measles epidemic continued to kill in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a series of earthquakes rattled Puerto Rico.

Firefighters confront a bushfire near the Blue Mountains town of Bilpin, New South Wales, on Dec. 19, 2019. Credit: © 1234rf/Shutterstock

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Typhoon Phanfone (also called Ursula) struck the Philippines, producing high winds and flooding that killed 105 people in the Visayan Island provinces of Biliran, Capiz, Iloilo, and Leyte. Phanfone was a Category 2 storm (moderate strength) with sustained winds of more than 90 miles (150 kilometers) per hour. Storm surges and deadly flash floods hit communities just as families were gathering to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed.

On New Year’s Day in Indonesia, abnormally heavy monsoon rains caused flash floods that killed 66 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others in Jakarta, the capital. Some 14.5 inches (37 centimeters) of rain fell on New Year’s Eve, causing the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers to overflow. Floodwaters submerged more than 150 neighborhoods and caused landslides in the Bogor and Depok districts on the outskirts of Jakarta. Flood water levels in some areas peaked at more than 13 feet (4 meters). Electric power was cut off, and closed schools and government buildings were converted into emergency shelters.

On January 7, the World Health Organization announced the 6,000th death from measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since an epidemic began there in 2019. More than 300,000 suspected measles cases have been reported in the DRC—a nation also troubled by recent terror attacks. The epidemic has continued and grown because of low vaccination coverage, malnutrition, weak public health systems, outbreaks of other epidemic-prone diseases (such as Ebola), and the difficulty of getting health care to people in remote areas.

In Puerto Rico, after several smaller earthquakes, a 6.4-magnitude temblor struck the southwestern part of the island on January 7. The earthquake, the strongest to hit Puerto Rico in more than 100 years, killed one person, toppled hundreds of structures, and forced a state of emergency. Many people lost their homes, the island briefly lost electric power, and schools and public offices were closed. In the 10 days before the 6.4-magnitude earthquake, the United States Geological Survey recorded hundreds of temblors in Puerto Rico—including 10 of 4-magnitude or greater.

A number of major bushfires have lately devastated southeastern Australia. Since September, the wild fires—mostly in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria—have burned more than 25.5 million acres (10.3 million hectares), an area the size of South Korea. The bushfires have destroyed more than 2,100 homes and killed 27 people and hundreds of millions of animals. On January 8, the Australian government ordered the mass slaughter of thousands of wild camels and horses that have invaded rural towns looking for water. Many people are without electric power and telecommunications in Australia’s southeast, and some were without drinking water and other supplies. Smoke has obscured the city skies of Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney. The bushfires followed a three-year drought that experts link to climate change.

February 9, 2018

Next week, on February 14, Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers and catchers report to spring training camps in Arizona and Florida to begin the professional baseball season in the United States and Canada. South of the U.S. border, however, professional baseball’s premier winter event, the Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe in Spanish), just wrapped up in Mexico. And this weekend, much further south in Australia, the Australian Baseball League (ABL) will end its season with the annual ABL Championship Series.

The Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) is an annual tournament between the professional baseball league champions of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Credit: © Serie del Caribe

Last night, on February 8, at the Estadio de Béisbol Charros de Jalisco outside Guadalajara, Mexico, Puerto Rico’s Criollos de Caguas defeated the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Republic 9-4 for a second-straight Caribbean Series title. The annual tournament is a fierce competition between the top pro baseball teams of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. A product of the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation, the series was first played in 1949. Cuba’s Alazanes de Granma, Mexico’s Tomateros de Culiacán, and Venezuela’s Caribes de Anzoátegui—all champions of their national professional leagues—also participated in the 2018 Caribbean Series.

The location of the Caribbean Series is rotated annually among the participating nations and is played after the end of each country’s national tournament. In 2018, the series was supposed to be played in Venezuela. Political and social unrest prevented that from happening, however, and the tournament returned to Mexico for a second-straight year. For now, the 2019 Caribbean Series is scheduled to take place in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto, about 217 miles (350 kilometers) from Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

Brisbane Bandits center fielder Tommy Milone slides safely into second base during game two of the 2017 Australian Baseball League Championship Series in Melbourne, Australia. Credit: © SMP Images

Tonight (February 9), tomorrow, and Sunday (if necessary) in Australia, the Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry will duke it out in the best-of-three 2018 ABL Championship Series, Australia’s version of the MLB World Series. Brisbane is looking for its third-straight Claxton Shield as ABL champions. Canberra last won an ABL title in 2013. Six professional baseball teams compete in the ABL, playing 40 games over a season that runs from November through January during the Australian summer. In addition to the Brisbane and Canberra ball clubs, the league includes the Adelaide Bite, Melbourne Aces, Perth Heat, and Sydney Blue Sox.

October 18, 2017

On the heels of Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Katia, Hurricane Maria churned through the Caribbean Sea in mid-September 2017. The storm hit the islands of the Lesser Antilles hard, but Maria saved its worst for Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States.

A Puerto Rican coastal community lies in pieces on Oct. 2, 2017, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Credit: Mani Albrecht, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Hurricane Irma skirted Puerto Rico on September 6, causing minor damage and an electric power outage. As Maria approached two weeks later, Puerto Ricans once again took cover—but Maria proved far worse than its sister hurricane. On September 20, Maria struck the island with torrential rains and winds well over 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour. In a matter of hours, record rainfalls drenched the island, with the east-central city of Caguas topping the gauges at nearly 40 inches (100 centimeters). Storm surges and flash flooding submerged large parts of the island, including neighborhoods of San Juan, the capital. Reservoirs and rivers overflowed and dams threatened to burst. Electric power went out—and stayed out—throughout Puerto Rico. Cellular phone service vanished, banks ceased functioning, roads became impassable, and television and radio stations went silent. “Everything collapsed,” said Héctor Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s commissioner of safety and public protection. “Everything collapsed simultaneously.”

Maria left Puerto Rico as quickly as it came, and as the skies cleared, the devastation was evident. Houses and trees were reduced to splinters; cars were scattered and half-buried in water and mud; farm crops lay shredded; and everywhere were broken windows, chunks of rooftops, and street signs twisted into knots.

Puerto Rican civilians pass cases of fresh water delivered by a Puerto Rico National Guard helicopter on Oct. 4, 2017. Credit: Spc. Agustin Montanez, The National Guard (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

Tens of thousands of people were stranded, and recovery efforts began immediately. The Puerto Rico National Guard rescued more than 2,000 people in the first 24 hours, and thousands of others found help in the days to come. But for many people, it was already too late. Drowned bodies began appearing, and as of October 18, the death toll on Puerto Rico stands at 48. Many people remain missing, however, and the number could still rise. Weeks after the storm, many areas still lack electric power and phone service, and there is still not enough food, water, medicine, and fuel to help people who have lost everything.

Lagging relief efforts from the mainland United States were heavily criticized, and there was a noted lack of urgency in the reaction of President Donald Trump, who downplayed the seriousness of the disaster. U.S. government aid for its Puerto Rican citizens did eventually kick into high gear, but only after several days of wrangling and indecisiveness on the part of administration officials.

Individual charities and international organizations have brought in millions of dollars worth of aid to Puerto Rico, as have such Puerto Rican celebrities as Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Daddy Yankee. Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, rapper Pitbull, and Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias have also helped significantly.

June 13, 2017

On Sunday, June 11, the 60^th National Puerto Rican Day Parade was held along Fifth Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The parade, attended by some 2 million people, ran from 44^th Street to 79^th Street, a stretch of city bedecked and fluttering with the reds, whites, and blues of the Puerto Rican flag. The parade honors the 3.5 million people of Puerto Rico and the roughly 5 million people of Puerto Rican descent in the mainland United States. Puertoriqueños (Puerto Ricans) often identify themselves as Boricuas, a word derived from Borinquen, the Taíno Indian name for the island of Puerto Rico. Spanish is the main language used in schools in Puerto Rico, but students are also taught English.

The Puerto Rican flag, first flown in 1895, became the commonwealth’s official flag in 1952. Credit: © Dream Maker Software

The theme of this year’s parade—the culmination of a week-long celebration of Puerto Rican culture—was “Un Pueblo, Muchas Voces” (One Nation, Many Voices—in Spanish, pueblo can mean nation, people, or town). The parade was preceded by an official golf outing, a ceremony awarding 100 $2,000 college scholarships, a parade Mass, a gala banquet, and the annual 152^nd Street Cultural Festival in the Bronx. For good measure, the 33^rd annual New York Salsa Festival took place in Brooklyn the day before, on Saturday, June 10.

The National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City draws millions of spectators each year. Credit: © Eric Thayer, Reuters/Landov

The National Puerto Rican Day Parade promotes art, culture, and education, and pays special tribute to prominent figures of the Puerto Rican community. This year’s honorees included Grand Marshal Gilberto Santa Rosa, “El Caballero de la Salsa” (The Gentleman of Salsa); Queen Lana Parilla, an actress; Padrino (godfather) Iván Rodríguez, a former baseball star who will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July; and Madrina (godmother) Iris Chacón, a popular singer and actress. Other honorees included Olympic gymnastics gold medalist and “Dancing With the Stars” champion Laurie Hernández and the Puerto Rican National Baseball Team. “Team Rubio”—so-called because the ballplayers dyed their hair rubio (blond)—enjoyed a strong run through the 2017 World Baseball Classic before losing the championship game. Puerto Rico is part of the United States, but Puerto Rican sports teams often compete separately in international competitions.

This year’s parade celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the 1917 Jones Act, U.S. legislation that made Puerto Ricans American citizens. This year’s honored town was western Puerto Rico’s Hormigueros. Cleveland, Ohio, and its large Puerto Rican population was this year’s honored stateside city. Other U.S. cities with large Puerto Rican communities—all with their own Puerto Rican parades or festivals—include Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. New York City’s first Puerto Rican Day Parade took place in 1958.

Puerto Rico is one of the largest islands that lie between Florida and South America. Click to view larger image Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The United States took control of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The island became an autonomous (self-governing) part of the United States in 1952, when it was given commonwealth status. Its official name is the Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (Associated Free State of Puerto Rico). Since 1967, Puerto Rico has held several plebiscites (popular votes) on whether it should remain a commonwealth or become a U.S. state or independent. The last vote took place on June 11, 2017, the same day as the New York City parade. In that non-binding poll, Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly chose to become a U.S. state. A number of financial and political problems stand in the way of statehood, however, and Puerto Rico’s status is not likely to change anytime soon.

March 23, 2017

Last night, March 22, the United States national baseball team downed Team Puerto Rico 8-0 to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) before 51,565 fans at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It was the first WBC championship for Team USA, which thumped its commonwealth cousins with strong pitching and timely hitting. The WBC is an international tournament played every four years. This year, it began on March 6 with a talented pool of 16 teams from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Most of the teams feature prominent players in Major League Baseball.

Team USA first baseman Eric Hosmer celebrates the final out of the World Baseball Classic championship game against Puerto Rico on March 22, 2017, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Team USA defeated Puerto Rico 8-0 for its first world title. Credit: © Alex Trautwig, WBCI/MLB Photos/Getty Images

The United States had a bumpy road through the WBC, losing nail-biters to the Dominican Republic in the first round and Puerto Rico in the second. But the Americans rallied when they needed it, taking out the tournament favorite and defending champion Dominicans in a thrilling rematch to reach the semifinals. On Tuesday night, Team USA knocked off two-time world champion and previously undefeated Japan, 2-1, to advance to the title game.

Team Puerto Rico—whose beisboleros (baseball players) turned a boisterous bleach blond for the tournament—rolled through the first two rounds without a loss, then won a tight game in its semifinal, 4-3 over the Netherlands in 11 innings. But Puerto Rico was rudely awakened from its championship dream Wednesday night against Team USA, which got on the board early and often on its way to the world title.

Second baseman Ian Kinsler (of the Detroit Tigers) got the Americans on the board with a 2-run homer in the 3rd inning, and run-scoring hits followed in the 5th, 7th, and 8th, all while U.S. starting pitcher Marcus Stroman (of the Toronto Blue Jays) mowed down the formidable P.R. lineup. Young infield stars Javier Báez (of the Chicago Cubs), Carlos Correa (of the Houston Astros), and Francisco Lindor (of the Cleveland Indians) carried Team Puerto Rico throughout the tournament, but they each went hitless against the dominant U.S. pitching combination of Stroman, Sam Dyson (of the Texas Rangers), Pat Neshek (of the Philadelphia Phillies), and David Robertson (of the Chicago White Sox). Stroman’s strong start was good enough to earn him the WBC Most Valuable Player award. Stroman made three starts during the tournament, saving his best for last when he gave up a lone single over six innings while striking out three. The humble Stroman, a Long Islander and recent graduate of Duke University, dedicated the award to his mother—who is from Puerto Rico.

The other teams in this year’s WBC included Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Israel, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and Venezuela. In the first WBC in 2006, Japan defeated Cuba to win the championship. Japan repeated as champion in the 2009 WBC, defeating South Korea. This year’s loss in the WBC championship game was Puerto Rico’s second straight. They dropped the 2013 final to the Dominican Republic, 3-0.

July 22, 2016

On July 19, a team of British and Puerto Rican researchers published an article in the journal Antiquity detailing drawings on the walls and ceilings of a cave on the Puerto Rican island of Mona (Isla Mona in Spanish). Cave drawings are not especially rare on islands in the Caribbean, but the rich imagery of this cave, called Cave 18, proved to be something special. Many of the inscriptions were made by native Taíno people, and some date back nearly 1,000 years. Most of the inscriptions, however, date from the 1500′s, during the early years of the region’s Spanish conquest. And many of the inscriptions were made by Spanish colonists, side-by-side with Taíno drawings. Most of the inscriptions depict a variety of religious and spiritual symbols, with space given to both Taíno and Spanish beliefs. The researchers claim the inscriptions are evidence of mutual religious exchange and tolerance, a rare occurrence at a time when the Spanish sought to convert native peoples to Christianity, often through the use of force.

A researcher shines light on inscriptions of crosses above the name Jesus (in Latin) in the soft limestone wall of Cave 18 on Mona Island, Puerto Rico.
Credit: © Jago Cooper, The British Museum/University of Leicester

Cave 18′s inscriptions include many crosses, Christian phrases written in Latin and Spanish, names of Christian Saints, and Christograms (abbreviations of the name of Christ). There are also many Taíno symbols, including complex figures with human and animal features, human faces, wavy lines, and different styles of crosses. The Spanish inscriptions were made with a metal dagger or other sharp object. They are easily distinguished from Taíno etchings made with fingers in the soft limestone. The mix of religious symbols suggests that the Taíno were able to communicate and explain their religious beliefs while receiving Spanish suggestions at the same time.

Mona Island lies some 41 miles (66 kilometers) west of Puerto Rico. The Taíno people lived there and in other areas of the Caribbean. They were the first Native Americans encountered by Christopher Columbus after he arrived in the region in 1492. Christian Spanish missionaries soon established themselves among the Taíno, and native spiritual beliefs were largely repressed. Cave 18, however, shows not all Spanish colonists treated religion with so heavy a hand. Unfortunately for the Taíno, the Spanish arrival proved their undoing. By 1600, most had been killed or had died of disease.

Some elements of Taíno culture survive in the Caribbean region as a result of syncretism, the bringing together or merger of two or more distinct beliefs or customs. Most scholars think that all religions have experienced at least some level of syncretism. Today, most people in Puerto Rico are Roman Catholic. However some remnants of Taíno beliefs survive in the practices of espiritismo, a form of traditional religious healing in Puerto Rico. Taíno culture survives also in our everyday language. English and Spanish words of Taíno origin include canoe (canoa), hammock (hamaca), hurricane (huracán), iguana, maize (maiz), manatee (manatí), papaya, and tobacco (tabaca).

March 21, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the March 20 Illinois Republican primary for the nomination for president of the United States. The former Massachusetts governor won decisively, taking 46.7 percent of the vote. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum came in second with 35 percent. Texas Representative Ron Paul came in third with 9.3 percent of the vote, while Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, took fourth place with only 8 percent. A voter turnout of only 24 percent made this Illinois’s lowest turnout for a presidential primary in 70 years.

The win follows Romney’s overwhelming victory in the Puerto Rico primary on March 18, in which he took all of the territory’s 20 delegates. Romney had 522 delegates going into the Illinois primary and will take at least 41 of that state’s 54 delegates. He thus widened his lead over Santorum (who will take at least 10 of the Illinois delegates, adding to his previous total of 252) as the candidates head into the Louisiana primary on March 24.

Mitt Romney won the Puerto Rico and Illinois Republican primary elections, putting him well ahead of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in the delegate count. (Courtesy of Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.)