In this speech, Luis Muñoz Marín calls on his audience of the Association of Teachers to take on the promotion of Puerto Rican culture as their chief responsibility. He begins by explaining that by Puerto Rican culture he does not mean specialized culture, but rather culture in its broadest sense. The promotion of Puerto Rican culture is especially important, Muñoz Marín notes, because of Puerto Rico’s dual position as both a “pueblo latino” of the United States and an intermediary with Latin America. Muñoz Marín warns that the issue of culture should not be confused with politics, and affirming what he sees as the positive aspects of Puerto Rico’s status as a protectorate of the U.S. He does not believe, as he notes others do, that an independent Puerto Rican culture is inextricably tied to its political independence, and he argues that the fact that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens does not have to interfere with their development of Puerto Rican culture. Muñoz Marín explains how he sees the development of Puerto Rican culture contributing to the larger social project of improving the lives of Puerto Ricans. Among the improvements he envisions the following: 1) spiritual serenity, 2) better work habits, 3) increased democracy, 4) improved living conditions, and 5) increased religiousness, among others. Although Muñoz Marín acknowledges that U.S. culture has had some positive influences on Puerto Rico—such as increasing democracy, and women’s rights—he is wary of how it has brought consumerism to Puerto Rico. He also, at length, criticizes how Puerto Ricans have integrated English into everyday speech, and stresses the importance of speaking exclusively Spanish, especially in the classroom. Muñoz Marín ends by claiming multiple identities. As he writes, “We are Americans of the United States, Americans of America, and Westerners of the West. And we are Puerto Ricans of Puerto Rico.”

Luis Muñoz Marín (1898-1980) delivered this speech, “La personalidad puertorriqueña en el Estado Libre Asociado,” [“The Puerto Rican Character under the Commonwealth”] to the General Assembly of the Association of Teachers on December 29, 1953. A politician, poet, and journalist, Muñoz Marín helped found the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico in 1938, and became the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico in 1949 (Puerto Rico’s status was officially changed from a colony to a “commonwealth” of the United States in 1950 and Muñoz Marín was governor from 1949 to 1964.) In this speech, Muñoz Marín addresses an assembly of educators, urging them to take on the development of Puerto Rican culture as their chief mission, and stressing the great importance of this project to the improvement, generally, of the daily lives of Puerto Ricans. While emphasizing the importance of nurturing Puerto Rican culture with such actions as eliminating English words from everyday speech, Muñoz Marín does not reject all aspects of U.S. culture and, generally, he praises Puerto Rico’s political status as a “protectorate” of the United States. Puerto Rican culture is special, he explains, because of its position as an intermediary between the United States and the rest of the Americas, and, in this spirit, he describes it as dynamic, energetic, and reactive. It is also the future, according to Muñoz Marín, and a tool for modernization and for improving the everyday lives of Puerto Ricans.