![]() ![]() Military bases established in Puerto Rico The fortification of the island became a priority, and by 1939 the construction of multiple army, naval, and air bases was well on its way.Ħ5th Infantry takes cover in a cane field near Salinas, Puerto Rico. Its possession or control by any foreign power - or even the remote threat of such possession - would be repugnant to the most elementary principle of national defense. And of the island shield Puerto Rico is the center. When the present war became imminent, however, it was obvious that the chain of islands stretching in a great arc from Florida to the shoulder of South America, enclosing the Caribbean Sea, formed a vast natural shield for the Panama Canal, suited in distance and conformation to the use of the military plane. The importance of Puerto Rico in the defensive plans of the United States is best expressed in a presidential letter to Congress dated September 28th, 1943: ![]() Puerto Rico effectively became the center of the Hemispheric Defense Strategy, and the first American line of defense against German or Japanese aggression. The waters surrounding Culebra island, a Puerto Rican municipality lying off the east coast, would be the stage for such a battle. ![]() Navy planned to stop naval aggression far from the mainland in what it called the Caribbean Sea Frontier. Thus, war brought the promise of political and economic advancement by rekindling Puerto Rico’s strategic value. slowly started to ready itself for war, made Continental politicians more open to finding solutions to the island’s plight – and to avoiding a repetition of the 1930s’ political violence. The winds of war, even before the juggernaut of the German and Japanese militaries became apparent and the U.S. ![]()
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