Ramtin Arablui

presidential elections if they reside in one of the 50 U.S.

states, so not if they live in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans are second-class U.S.

citizens, as scholars have argued.

So Puerto Ricans live in a kind of limbo.

The island officially became a commonwealth in 1952.

It has its own constitution.

But even that constitution is in a lot of ways still beholden to the U.S.,

Puerto Rican officials never articulated a national economic policy rooted in Puerto Rico itself, but we've always tried to attract foreign investment.

And in this crash course version of Puerto Rican history, we get to the 1990s when President Bill Clinton changes the tax code and that foreign investment flies out the door.

Pedro Rossello was the Puerto Rican governor for most of the 1990s.

He's from the pro-statehood party.

And once he's elected... He begins privatizing the health sector, the privatization of hospitals, etc.

The domino pieces were being lined up, basically, for a big economic crash.

And at the same time, the governor rolled out a tough-on-crime policy.

Mano dura contra el crimen.

Strong hand against crime.

policies that largely over-policed the island's projects and working-class neighborhoods.

As a kid, Benito likely wasn't conscious of what was happening at that level.

But he would have heard the music that was responding to all of this.