El Morro In order to understand the meaning behind the photograph you must have some knowledge of Puerto Rican history. The four islands were conquered by the Spanish in 1493 and became not only a major military base but also a slave port. The Spanish, African and native Taino’s created a hybrid race which became Puerto Ricans. By the late 1800s Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, was on its way to becoming an independent country, but was side-tract by the Spanish-American War. Through the Treaty of Paris, the islands were given to the U.S. which invaded Puerto Rico in 1898, and enforced a military rule until 1900. The government was then ruled by American civilians until the islands officially became a colony in 1917. With the new colony rule, American citizenship was imposed on the islanders along with the draft. The creation of the American colony allowed the U.S. to legally break apart the islands’ economy which it did successfully. By the 1940s the U.S. government implemented Operation Bootstrap, which promoted the illegal sterilization and guinea pig like usage of the Puerto Rican women and the attempt to Americanize the colony. “La Operacion” or the operation also included planned migrations from island to the continental U.S., especially into areas that required factory laborers, restaurant, hotel and other service jobs. In 1952 in order to keep peace within the U.N., the international community and Puerto Rico, the U.S. renamed the relationship from colony to commonwealth or “Estado Libre Asociado” (literally translated to Free Associated State). Puerto Rico continues to be a colony of the United States, without full citizenship and without representation in government. “El Morro” which is actually called “Castillo San Felipe Del Morro” or even the”Morro Castle” is the center of the picture. It was built in the late 1500s by the Spanish when