This
is the birthday of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, a writer and statesman
who worked hard to promote human rights and to and gain independence
for Puerto Rico.
Hostos
was born into a well-to-do family living in Puerto Rico, and he
traveled to Spain to go to “high school” and college. When Spain
disappointed him in 1869 by refusing to grant Puerto Rico its
independence, Hostos traveled to the United States. Later he moved to
the Dominican Republic; he married a Cuban woman in Venezuela, and
they had children in the Dominican Republic and Chile. Hostos
traveled all over Latin America, the Caribbean, the U.S., and France;
he worked to better education, to promote better treatment of Chinese
immigrants, and to achieve women's rights, particularly in science
and education.
Hostos's
dream was to help his nation, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean
nations to gain independence from Spain. He promoted the idea of an
Antillean Confederation of Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
Eventually the first two did become independent nations, but Puerto
Rico became a territory of the U.S.
(To
be fair, a lot of people in Puerto Rico preferred to be annexed to
the U.S. than to achieve full independence. But not Hostos; he was
very disappointed. He dictated in his will that his body not be
buried in Puerto Rico until it became a fully independent
nation...and so, to this date, his body remains buried in the
Dominican Republic.)
Also
on this date:
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