La isla de la fantasia: El colonialismo, la explotacion y la traicion a Puerto Rico

by Ed Morales

Un recuento crucial y preciso de los 122 anos de Puerto Rico como colonia de los EE. UU.





A dos años del huracán María, Puerto Rico aún sigue recuperándose de la destrucción física de la tormenta y el colapso de la infraestructura resultante. La devastación agravó los efectos dañinos de más de un siglo causados por la explotación de Estados Unidos con sus políticas económicas, sociales y de asuntos políticos, incluido el trauma infligido por su crisis de deuda de 72 mil millones de dólares.

En La isla de la fantasía, el periodista Ed Morales describe cómo, a lo largo de los años, Puerto Rico ha servido como un satélite colonial, una vitrina de la Guerra Fría del Caribe, un vertedero de productos manufacturados en Estados Unidos y un refugio fiscal corporativo. Emprendiendo al lector en un viaje ida y vuelta de San Juan a la ciudad de Nueva York, La isla de la fantasía es un relato crucial y claro de los 122 años de Puerto Rico como colonia de los Estados Unidos.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Social Justice, Latinx, Education, Book Club

448 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2019

About the author

Ed Morales is an author, journalist, filmmaker, and poet who teaches at Columbia University. He is the author of The Latin Beat and Living in Spanglish. He has written for the Village Voice, Nation, New York Times, Rolling Stone, and other publications and is a regular commentator on NPR. His film Whose Barrio? premiered at the New York Latino International Film Festival. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Claudia Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please listen to Puerto Rican voices on reviews, rather than annoyed white men.

As a Puerto Rican, this book is a MUST read. It goes in depths of political and economic corruption that has lead to the current colonial status of Puerto Rico. A lot of Puerto Rican voices were amplified in this book, which is important in any talk about the future status of what Puerto Ricans wants.

Topics talked about:
-historical background
-massive debt through US bondholders
-housing crisis in PR
-political and economic corruption for capital greed
-status conversation of what Puerto Ricans want and need
-Congress neglect of talking about Puerto Rico.
-The islands struggle before Hurricane Maria and after Hurricane Maria
-The imposed Fiscal Oversight and Management Board
-Bitcoin rise in PR

Please read to understand more about Puerto Rico, but remember - if you are not Puerto Rican and have an opinion on the status - do not impose them on our people! Puerto Ricans decide the future of Puerto Ricans, not self-interested outsiders that want to act as colonizers and like the land is theirs. Be an ally, not a modern day colonizer with your thoughts.

[zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rabia, furia, fuego y guillotina

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't comment on Ryan's post since we're not friends, but want to share why I don't think he has fully thought out his attack against the author's opinions. Ryan posts about section 936, which allowed companies to essentially keep money in tax free Puerto Rico and then move that money out to the US at will. He thinks that the author has a "hilarious" contradicting view that 936 was both horrible and the absence of 936 was even worse - making the author an idiot. Ryan, I don't think you understood the author's point.

936 did bring a lot of manufacturing to the island yes, but it also explicitly set the island's economy to be ripe for exploitation. 936 helped make the economy become an even bigger tax haven for companies and nothing more, which created a house of cards. He writes that both party leaders in Puerto Rico were afraid of 936 AND the absence of 936. They knew that 1. 936 brought money but 2. it showed that PR economy was a scam, based only on investors avoiding taxes and wanting cheap labor. 70% of PR production was foreign owned - natives never really had a say or chance in the game, hence showing how 936 was really only helping the big guy.

So when Clinton got rid of 936 and NAFTA started, the house of cards fell down - because again, the only reasons companies 'invested' in the island was to avoid taxes (none of their profits went into the actual puerto rican communities). So yes, 936 good and yes 936 bad. Undeniable that the US set up Puerto Rico to be exploited, and not just with 936

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn't a book about Puerto Rico's economic situation, with facts presented and then conclusions drawn from those facts. It's a rant by a Marxist who lives in NYC and is somehow part of the establishment, with family from Puerto Rico, who uses a few examples from the past ~40 years of Puerto Rico's history to try to advance his agenda. Particularly hilarious when he talks about how horrible irs 936 was (which brought a lot of manufacturing to the island, including some very high value pharma with great jobs), and then how bad it was that 936 was ended, and then how bad other current incentive programs are. The "everyone is secretly in favor of independence but afraid to admit it" angle is also pretty lulzy.

[Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is such a good overview of how US settler coloniality has shaped life on the island of Puerto Rico. The information is thorough and compelling. However, the reason I rated this book lower is because I did not think the storytelling was great. That is, the writing at times was dense, and felt like moving through quick-drying cement. Because of this, I think Morales missed opportunities to tell certain stories through a better narrative arc. I also found some chapters to have a more reporter tone (here is what happened, and here is what happened next, and then next), which shares facts, but doesn’t stitch them together to tell a story. In other words, the broader tapestry of what has always been happening since the US settled Puerto Rico was left to the reader to piece together.

That said, Morales’ critiques were spot-on, and I feel his commentary on the radical nature of University of Puerto Rico students, faculty, and staff was fantastically interesting (I wish he would have done more there, to be honest).

[Marc Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great, thorough history of the debt and financial crisis in Puerto Rico. It deeply dissects the choices made by the insular and federal government as well as Wall Street to understand how we got where we are today.

I’m only subtracting one star because while the information and arguments are impactful, the text can be a bit dense. I’m of two minds about this. One the one hand, this is a very complicated situation and I think more detail is important to understand the intricacies of the crisis, and it’s a very technical and complex issue. On the other hand, sometimes in that effort to be hyper technical we can lose some of the storytelling that makes a compelling narrative. As someone who has studied more of Puerto Rican history, I found myself a little lost sometimes and I want the general audience to understand and empathize. But maybe this is just a more advanced read for people deeply invested in the current Puerto Rican economic and political moment, and we should not have to make everything digestible all the time, because sometimes things just are that serious and do require that level of detail and specificity and technicalities.

[Adi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of how US settler colonial interests have shaped the policies of the island from a political economy lens, which have led to precarious living conditions for Puerto Ricans throughout the decades. From the constant power outages, natural disasters destruction was exacerbated by the US’s flat out disinterest, to PROMESA’s failure. I think the book gets a lil dense at times due to how economy heavy it gets and also think it coulda been a bit more linear in terms of the writing but overall informative

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me before reading this book, uninformed and in general support of statehood if it’s what the Puerto Rican people want. Me after reading this book, immediate decolonization and sovereignty for PR.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focused specifically on US colonialism. The majority of the book details the US programs of Operation Bootstrap and the more recent Promesa. The author is very passionate about the struggle of the island as he has roots on the island. He covers first hand his families experience during Hurricane Maria and does not shy away from the macabre results of the "Territory that America forgot". This book was published in September 2019 and I would love to see the Author do an update on the inspiring protests and removal of the corrupt Governor Ricardo Rossello in July 2019. The plight of Puerto Rico and their struggle to autonomy is a story that is being rewritten every day post Maria.

[Philip J Cardella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting a bit more of a balanced, objective (as much as anything can be objective) look at Puerto Rico's history. This book is not that at all, and that's fine. What the book really is is an examination of the crippling, exploitive debt that cripples Puerto Rico and is used by rich people to extract wealth, likely illegally, from Puerto Ricans. Based on that examination in the end Morales comes down hard on the side of Puerto Rican independence with reparations from the United States. I think it's a must read for anyone wanting Puerto Rican Statehood. I'm not sure I'm convinced by the argument, but it's an important one that must be heard by any advocate Puerto Rican Statehood.

[Peter Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book outlines a storied history of the economic vultures that have ravaged the island for a century, while also highlighting the beauty, spirit, and strength of the people.

[Thomas Bardenwerper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morales provides a powerful and well-researched analysis of the many challenges facing contemporary Puerto Rico, specifically the "fantasy" of being a "free associated state," the debt crisis and the PROMESA response, and Hurricane Maria.

The discussion of Puerto Rico's colonial status is thorough but not particularly ground-breaking. Morales, like many Puerto Ricans, yearns for independence with his heart but recognizes with his head that this is unlikely to ever happen, as the vast majority of Puerto Ricans are unwilling to jettison their US citizenship. Morales is also realistic about Puerto Rico's slim chances at achieving statehood (assuming that a majority of the island's population demanded it). That leaves Morales hoping for some kind of new and improved commonwealth status where Puerto Ricans more fully share in the protections and privileges of being American citizens while maintaining their distinctive cultural identity and distancing themselves from an overbearing and interfering Uncle Sam.

One great point that Morales does make regarding Puerto Rican politics is that the never-ending obsession over "status" - which is the driving force behind the island's political parties and elections - merely retards the development of sound policy and hard answers to hard political questions.

(One reason I believe that the Puerto Rican political dynamic is so convoluted is that Puerto Rico is not like any of those historic colonies that traditionally come to mind. Take the British colonies that eventually gained independence in the 20th century. The local populations desperately wanted independence and the British government desperately wanted to retain control. This dynamic does not apply to Puerto Rico where most Puerto Ricans don't want true independence [because they would lose US citizenship] and the US government doesn't desperately want to hold onto the island [because the government sees it as an economic drain that serves little strategic purpose]. In other words, if Puerto Rico demanded independence tomorrow, the federal government would likely grant it in a heartbeat. With this in mind, Puerto Ricans unfortunately have almost no leverage in demanding an improvement to the status quo.)

Morales's discussion of the debt and the various financial practices and predations that led to it is quite insightful and terrifically researched. Morales does not portray the blame as zero-sum, but rather articulates why vulture capitalists from Wall Street, a callous Congress, and a corrupt and inefficient territorial government all share responsibility in what has sadly transpired.

If I had one bone to pick with Morales, it is that he tends to take a dim view of any Puerto Rico-related players that do not share his particular political and cultural values. Yes, Donald Trump is an obvious villain when it comes to Puerto Rico, and to a much lesser extent so are former Governors Luis Fortuno and Ricky Rossello (although the "Ricky Renuncia" saga didn't occur until after this book went to press). Where Morales loses me is where he spends almost an entire chapter complaining about Lin-Manuel Miranda's post-Maria "Hamilton" production in San Juan. While I agree with Morales that Miranda was tone-deaf in thinking that colonized islanders who were still recovering from a cataclysmic hurricane were waiting with bated breath to see a performance about the colonizer's struggle for independence, I disagree that Miranda is some kind of bad actor (no pun intended). For better or worse, Puerto Rico needs to be relevant to the mainland government and population for its situation to improve, and Miranda is one of the few people with a mainland platform who even deigns to discuss Puerto Rico.

Long story short, I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Puerto Rico (or the Caribbean and Latin America more generally). Although this story is still waiting for its happy ending, it is one that needs to be told.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oi, this book took me a bit to get through. This book is great for someone in public policy or economics, since it goes into the nitty-gritty of the economic policies that are affecting Puerto Ricans. However, it would take effort for me to get through those parts. I did enjoy the portions about the early history of Puerto Rico, and the work of activists. I also liked how the author profiled Lin-Manuel Miranda, and explored the drawbacks of his involvement. I am grateful to learn more about the economic history of my island. However, I was hoping this book focused more on the socio-cultural changes and people's experiences.

[Yamil Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

TLDR: Puerto Rico isn’t broken— it was looted. Colonialism dressed in neoliberal drag, still haunting the archipelago.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Necessary History of Exploitation and Betrayal
Ed Morales’s Fantasy Island is an essential and deeply researched volume for anyone seeking to understand the tangled roots of Puerto Rico’s current economic crisis and political status. The book serves as a powerful antidote to the commonly held, simplistic narratives often promoted on the mainland U.S., forcing the reader to confront the reality of colonialism and exploitation that has defined the island’s relationship with the United States.

The Author's Achievement: Detail and Presentation
Morales excels in his comprehensive collection and presentation of historical and contemporary details. He meticulously connects the dots between different eras of U.S. governance, illustrating how policies—from the early 20th-century imposition of the Foraker and Jones-Shafroth Acts to the more recent creation of the Fiscal Control Board (PROMESA)—have systematically curtailed the island's sovereignty and fostered dependency.
• The book does an excellent job of tracing the shift from agrarian economic control to the rise of tax incentives (like Section 936) that attracted, and then abandoned, multinational corporations.
• It is particularly strong in detailing the mechanisms of disaster capitalism, showing how events like Hurricane Maria exposed and exacerbated pre-existing structural vulnerabilities.

A Critical Perspective for American Readers and the Diaspora
For Americans, particularly those of the Puerto Rican diaspora (like yourself), this book is crucial. It dismantles the myth of a mutually beneficial relationship and clearly articulates why the island finds itself in its current situation—a key motivation for many readers. Morales directly addresses the systemic actions and the players responsible within both the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments, making the history of the betrayal feel immediate and impactful. It’s a call to understand the profound human cost of these political and economic maneuvers.

The Audible Experience (A Personal Note)
While the content and research are invaluable, a small but important note on the presentation: (As the reviewer), I would have preferred a Latino narrator for the audible edition. The current narrator's tone was often boring and lacked the contextual gravitas and emotional connection that a more culturally resonant voice could have provided, which sometimes made the detailed sections feel dry.

A Five-Star Education
Despite the minor drawback in the audio experience, Fantasy Island is a seminal work. It is a necessary, frustrating, and enlightening read that successfully explains the history of exploitation and the reasons behind the island's current precarious state. It should be required reading for anyone—native-born, diaspora, or mainland American—seeking to engage seriously with the past, present, and future of Puerto Rico.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explaining the current challenges Puerto Rico faces is no small task or bite to chew. In this deep dive examination, Morales dares to try it. The book aims to present this situation to readers who may not even have the island on their radar. But also wants it to act as an alarm and lighthouse for the residents and diaspora who may have been left in a cloud of the multilayered contributing factors.

I cannot say how successful the later is. Not being of that category I would ask you seek out reviews from those who have the island in their blood and hearts for their both emotional response and perspective on their home. I have not even had the pleasure of visiting. But I have spent the past few years trying to learn the histories and read stories by authors of the Caribbean so I can say at the least I was aware of some of the historical atrocities, important figures, and movements.

While I was well aware of the greed that fueled how the island and its people have been misused, to be generous, I was woefully ignorant of the money trails and how much political matters crisscrossed between parties, times, and competing interests all ultimately playing the same dirty game. If you have a brain like mine, where it goes completely to static whenever numerical lingo appears, breath deep. Admittedly specifics of transfers and terminology might have escaped my deficient brain. That said, Morales made it accessible enough for me to understand the fallout and the major players so that I could follow through the stages.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how you really could tell the author's love and conflict for Puerto Rico. He often highlights local voices of those who have tried to champion the island itself as well as those addressing the debt and subsequent government failures. The grit of resistance is always there. From my perspective he also did quite well, even if his personal bias in certain things was very visible, in trying to at least give a good overview of all political players and their defenses for their actions or positions.

I can easily see myself revisiting this book and learning more than the first pass. And while my emotional response is worth only the minimal, and my inclination on what outcomes I think or would like to see is null, I'd like to say that my heart is with the residents who have roots there. I hope they can one day see the home they dream of for themselves and their loved ones rather than those who have cut checks and sat on their shoulders.

[Why-why · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very well written.  Very biased and one-sided.

Arguments are poorly laid out and thus, not very well substantiated.  Even on points that are likely quite true, the author does a poor job of substantiating his claims.  The book is heavily laced with economic language but with little economic analysis to back it.  And then it's so one-sided that it loses credibility and at times becomes laughable.  Ryan's one-star review was not wrong to call out 936.  Being so one-sided, the author only bemoans the negative aspects, leaving readers to wonder why Puerto Ricans would protest something ending that was so terrible to begin with.

And how many times do you need to name-drop Lin-Manuel Miranda??

This quote from p.274 should give you an idea of Fantasy Island:
"This trip for me is really rediscovering Puerto Rico," Lin-Manuel says, smiling earnestly.  "Rediscovering what makes it great."  The plane-landing footage reminds me of the pattern suggested by Gallisa Muriente's critique of the intersection between tourist and military videos.

     The idea of Miranda's "return" to the island -- a kind of reverse Great Migration scenario from the 1950s -- as a "rediscovery" is an unapologetic reminder of how the word discovery whitewashes the violent and at times genocidal process begun by Columbus when he arrived in the Caribbean in 1492.

[Eduardo Sánchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly detailed and accurate book on the deterioration of Puerto Rico in the first quarter of the 21st century. Morales clearly walks the reader from the economic tremors occurring in the early 2000's to the economic calamity of the late 2010s and early 2020s. A must read for all Puerto Ricans.

One critique is that Morale's political and social views sometimes seep into the narration to the point where it may make the reader question the objectivity of the events in the book. Knowing that the book is extremely accurate, as I follow Puerto Rican events and politics, and that I agree with Morale's views, I do find the occasional subjective views to be diluting the objective historical narrative, especially to a reader who may be apolitical or very green to anything pertaining to PR. Nonetheless, this is a book on politics and an issue as pertinent as this one should illicit strong opinions and definetely merits debate and argument so I digress -- maybe I'm wrong on this.

I would give it a 8.5/10 but given GoodReads system I give it a 4/5. Incredibly solid and detailed book that educates the reader on Puerto Rico's economic downfall in the 21st century. Only drawback is that some of the author's personal views and narration may dilute the objective events laid out in the book.

[MrsEnginerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ed Morales pens a well-researched socio-economic narrative, through the lens of the Puerto Rican colonialism experience, to explain why the current debt repayment measures will never help the island recover. It is intended to function as a historical recounting of oppression and tyranny, qualifying and quantifying the impact of the USA's commerce and governmental policies on its boricua citizens.

Some themes repeat throughout the book, which makes sense if the effort was to create stand alone chapters for classroom discussion. From my perspective, it was very serendipitous that I picked up this copy after reading War Against All Puerto Ricans, as it complements it very well.

Note to the author: Would be cool to see a follow-up chapter in later reprints to round out the story that was in play at the time of release. Well done.

[Jonilee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d hoped this book would be more engaged in storytelling than it was. Toward the middle of the book, the reading became quite dense with economic specifics that I personally don’t have a good understanding of. I enjoyed the introduction and the end as storytelling was invoked in these areas far more; however the economic talk about vulture and hedge funds, bonds, and the like made the book feel closer to a textbook specifically on the economic relationship between Boriken and the United States. The middle felt inaccessible to me (despite my college education), as though the author spouted names and economic facts with the expectation of the reader doing the work to connect them all. Still, I believe there are important messages within the text.

[Stevie Ada · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Fantasy Island" is an important overview on some key players that have allowed for the Puerto Rico that we are witness to today. The outlining of colonial influences, the roots and reasons for (continued) economic instability, and the emphasis on the drawbacks and terrors of debt economy are all found in this text. What is also surprisingly highlighted (even if just for a second at the end of the book) is the way that the arts are tied to economic indicators of cultural preservation and social commentary. Modern art has always been aligned with economy (most importantly the ruling class) and Ed Morales indicates how art is used as a subversive social move towards resistance and community in Puerto Rico. This is though, again, a small addition, and not the crux of the publication.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Fantasy Island, Morales offers great context and insight regarding the historical, political, financial, and legal factors that have shaped Puerto Rico as it is today. There are several thoughtful questions posed and points made regarding national and hereditary identity for individuals from PR and of PR descent and I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the island and its impact that is offered here. Also significant is the critical lens Morales offers for viewing the US’s colonization efforts and the damage and turmoil those efforts ultimately lead to, especially for the people most directly impacted (in this case, Puerto Ricans). This was recommended read via bookstagram from many accounts I enjoy and trust and I’m really glad they recommended it!

[Sheldon Chau · Rating 3 out of 5]

“To make Puerto Rico a vanguardist state, a new dynamic power in the Caribbean, it needs to develop an innovative economic system that seeks to democratize workplace decisions, take advantage of relationships with local Caribbean economies, make social justice issues a central part of the state ideology, focus on funding health care and cultural production, encourage bilingualism, create new self-sustaining agricultural models, and revise its nationalist ideology to include a pan-Caribbean Afro-diasporic vision.”

“Puerto Ricans must struggle harder than ever before to create their destiny, protect themselves from being buffeted by the whims of the United States, and dispel the historic fantasy that we are a free people.”

[Cara Wood]

Despite visiting the island twice, I didn't know much about Puerto Rico's history beyond what's written on the plaques in 'El Morro' in San Juan before reading this book. Now I feel like I've gotten an education through the specific lens of a Nuyorican academic.

Ed Morales combines his own experience with a detailed history of Puerto Rico with insights into US racial politics over the last two hundred years to build a case for America as a duplicitous colonial power that let down a territory of more than 3 million. He builds a narrative for economic dependency and racial serration that led to a unnecessarily high death toll during Hurricane Maria.

[Susan Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My perceptions of Puerto Rico were certainly much different than what is portrayed in this book. Although much of the book takes a deep dive into the debt problem and at times is tedious to read, there is no doubt that Puerto Rico has been exploited by Wall Street vulture capitalists. Morales concludes that the best option for Puerto Rico is independence with reparations. The US has betrayed the people of Puerto Rico for over hundred years and exploited her resources. Statehood will never be granted so Puerto Rico should forge an independent future.

[Charles Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantasy Island covers significant concepts on the range of conflicts, interest groups, and historical events that have plagued the island from colonial imperialism to the modern recovery of hurricane Maria. My two issues with the book are that A, the audio book version is Narrated By Sean Duffy, who is arguably not an ideal candidate to relay this story. B the story references disaster capitalism, which is a concept Naomi Kliens questionable novel The Shock Doctorine. While neither of these depleted the messages and history of exploitation, I think they did disract me as a reader.

[AMF · Rating 5 out of 5]

I moved to PR a year ago (not act 60) and this is the most in depth explanation (often very financially heady) I have read. It’s such a sad state of affairs for such a beautiful island and people. As the author and his interviewees note, the blame lies not only with people taking advantage of PR but also the Puerto Ricans that help them.
As always, the people suffer.
I highly recommend this book, especially since it’s one of the many significant parts of American history that the powers-that-be have decided shouldn’t be taught.

[Emmanuelle Sussman · Rating 4 out of 5]

really in depth presentations of political economy, government and activism and how they have been historically and contemporarily shaped by US imperialism. I especially enjoyed his discussions of resistance through arms, the arts or other means of mass protest.

i think if this book has intentions of perhaps better educating americans on puerto rico, it would’ve been worthwhile to delve into the tourism industry but i presume that could be a book of its own.

i truthfully was not expecting the amount of lin-manuel miranda mentions but im gonna keep my mouth shut.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this history would be more interesting. I thought it would be a careful examination of the island's culture and its people; its history and its revolutionaries. I was wrong. This is an excruciatingly boring account of intricate finance schemes. I had to give up after a hundred pages or so, as I don't think reading any more would improve my knowledge of Puerto Rico.

[Dome · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me a while to get through as I don’t normally read this genre. However, there is so much information that I didn’t know and wow….highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning more about the U.S. involvement and power over Puerto Rico. It’s crucial to understand how history is repeating itself and how decisions from years ago are still having repercussions.