Jose A. Cabranes, in Fo,·eigM Policy
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PO Bar Farming
From 1952 until the mid-1970s, Puerto Rico (population 3.2 million) prospered under its Commonwealth relationship with the United States. In 1975, however, the island's economy, which had become closely tied to that of the United States, almost collapsed. The "Opera- tion Bootstrap" boom, built on cheap labor and U.S. capital, was ended worldwide recession and foreign competition.
Today, wri...