Puerto Ricans call themselves Boricuas — from Boriquén, the name the Taíno Indigenous people gave to the island. It is a term of deep cultural pride, used in music, in political speech, in everyday conversation. When Bad Bunny performs at the Super Bowl wearing a Puerto Rican flag, when the Puerto Rican Olympic team enters the stadium separately from the US team, when any given conversation in San Juan turns to politics — the bedrock is a Puerto Rican identity that is distinct from, sometimes in tension with, and never simply subordinate to, American identity.
Who Are Puerto Ricans?
The Puerto Rican people are the product of 500 years of complex demographic history:
Taíno Indigenous roots: The original Taíno inhabitants were decimated by Spanish colonisation within a century of 1493, but their genetic and cultural presence is more significant than early colonial accounts suggested. Modern genomic studies show meaningful Taíno ancestry in a large percentage of Puerto Ricans, and Taíno vocabulary, foods, and place names permeate the culture.
Spanish colonial heritage: Puerto Rico was Spanish for 400 years. The language, the Catholic tradition, the family structures, the legal system, the architecture of Old San Juan — all deeply Spanish. Many Puerto Rican families trace ancestry to the original Spanish colonists, to 19th-century immigration waves from Spain, Corsica, and the Canary Islands.
African heritage: Enslaved Africans brought to work sugarcane plantations have left an enormous cultural legacy — in the music (bomba, plena, salsa, reggaeton all trace through African rhythm traditions), in the food (sofrito, the use of root vegetables, certain cooking techniques), in the physical appearance of a significant portion of the population, and in religious practices that blend Catholicism with West African spiritual traditions (espiritismo, santería in its Puerto Rican form).
The result is a population of extraordinary diversity in appearance and ancestry, united by language, cultural practices, and a shared attachment to the island.
How Puerto Ricans Feel About Americans
This requires honesty. The relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is not one between equals, and the history is marked by genuine grievances:
- The acquisition of Puerto Rico in 1898 without any consultation of its people
- Decades of attempted cultural and linguistic assimilation under American rule
- The Jones Act — a 1920 US law requiring that goods shipped between US ports travel on American ships — which significantly increases the cost of goods in Puerto Rico
- The federal bankruptcy oversight board (PROMESA) imposed after the 2015 debt crisis, which many Puerto Ricans see as a removal of fiscal sovereignty
- The federal government's widely criticised slow response to Hurricane Maria in 2017, which killed an estimated 2,975 people
These are real political grievances held by many Puerto Ricans, particularly those of a more nationalist orientation.
At the same time: Puerto Ricans as individuals are overwhelmingly warm and welcoming to American visitors. The political critique of US policy does not translate to personal hostility. Puerto Ricans are proud of their hospitality — hospitalidad boricua is a genuine cultural value. American visitors who arrive with curiosity and respect — who try some Spanish, who eat the local food, who express interest in the island's culture rather than treating it as a discount Miami — are received with real warmth.
The single thing that most generates local frustration is Americans who treat Puerto Rico as simply a domestic US travel destination without any cultural interest or awareness. The island has its own history, language, music, food, politics, and identity. Engaging with any of that — even superficially — signals respect that is universally appreciated.