The Transnational Nature of Puerto Rican Nationalism

From the 1920s through the 1950s, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party led the struggle for an end to U.S. colonialism and the establishment of an independent republic. Their understanding of nationalism was intricately tied to their vision of Puerto Rico’s transnational relations with other Caribbean and Latin American anti-imperialists. Far from envisioning an isolationist future, Puerto Rican Nationalists believed that independence would result in their nation’s reincorporation into Latin America, a relationship that U.S. rule of the Island had undermined and curtailed.

To explore the political, ideological, and emotional link the Nationalist Party made between nationalism and transnationalism, this paper will examine the activities, relationships, and understandings of Nationalist exiles from the late 1930s through the 1950s. It will focus on Laura Meneses and Carlos Padilla, two Nationalists who passed their exile in Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina; the work they carried out, and the networks they were part of.