During the 1960's and 1970's Puerto Rico had a lot of rapid industrial growth.  The Economic Development Association, known in Spanish as Fomento, had helped businesses to begin thousands of factories.  Industrial growth has lowered unemployment, but the rate is still about three times as high as the U.S. rate.

Cultural development is very important to the Puerto Rican government.  They even pay for the annual Casals Festival of Music
and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.

In 1967, Puerto Rico voted to stay a commonwealth of the United States.  One year later, Luis Alberto Ferré was elected governor.  He wanted Puerto Rico to become a state of the U.S. once the island was strong enough.
In the election of 1972, Ferré and Rafael Hernández Colón ran against each other. Colón, a Popular Democratic Party member, won the election.  Colón supported the commonwealth status.

In September of 1989, Hurricane Hugo devastated Puerto Rico causing $1 billion of damage in the hardest hit areas.

In 1993, Puerto Rico once again voted to retain its commonwealth status.

By Yadira
source: WorldBook 99

Check out these links to Hurricane Hugo . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/weather/hurricane/poststories/hugo-pr.htm

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~amy/Hugo.html
 
 
 

Satellite view of Hurricane Hugo

A woman surveys damage to her home in Puerto Rico

Food

In Puerto Rico we have a lot good food. To begin with the breakfast we have in the cities is fried eggs with coffee. In the countryside we have the traditional breakfast or cereal mixed with hot milk. We have more traditional foods, especially rice and beans, which are the basics. The legumes commonly grown and eaten are white beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans and pigeon peas. These are all regular elements of the main meals in Puerto Rico. The most typical way of cooking beans is in a sofrito sauce made from bacon or ham, tomatoes, garlic, chilies, coriander and other spices. We make the sofrito separately from the beans and then when it is done we mix the sofrito and the beans. Two other important basic foods in Puerto Rico are plantain and bananas. Unripe plantain is sliced and fried to become crisp tostones, which are served with rice and sofrito sauce, or with meat stews. Ripe yellow plantains and green bananas are boiled and served as vegetables. Meat is still a luxury for poorer families and is not a variety of dishes. Besides chops and legs of pork, there is cuchifrito(a stew of internal organs) mondongo or pork tripe cut into small pieces and stewed in sofrito, and gandinga which is stewed pork liver, heart, and kidneys mixed with vegetables. These are served with rice. The most famous pork dish is the lechon asado, which is served at Christmas. It is spit-roasted until the skin is dry and crisp. The famous is called chicharron uses large chunks of pork skin as a plate on which meat, rice and sauce are poured. The chicken is cooked many ways, but one particular specialty is asopao, a stew made with chicken and rice. Beef is regularly eaten in a Puerto Rican form of steak, but cut thinner and with a slightly tougher texture. Another beef dish is cooked al caldero, which is in the traditional Puerto Rican cooking pot, a cauldron with a tightly- fitted lid. In Puerto Rico we also have snack foods such as fritters of various meats or cod fish cooked in hot oil, or pastelillos or little pies made from plantains filled with fried meats, cheese, or even ham. Most of the time desserts are made from locally grown coconuts. Flan de Coco is a custard made from coconuts and eggs blended with caramelized sugar. In Puerto Rico everything is beautiful but the food is special. It is very good because we have the best food! In my house my mother cooks the same as in Puerto Rico and with the same ingredients. My favorite food is the chicken rice and beans and my favorite dessert is Flan.

Flan de Coco

Ingredients
1 can of evarporated milk
1 can coconut cream
1 can of condensed milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of sugar (for caramel)
1/2 cup water(for caramel)

Procedure
In a saucepan over medium heat cook the sugar with the water until carmelized.  Then coat your flan pan with the caramelized sugar.  Then in a blender mix the remaining ingrediates all-together. Pour into the flan pan.  Put the flan into bon-marie, and cook in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Remove it from the oven and let cool off, before putting it in the refrigerator.