The Insular Cases have condemned to oblivion a definitive solution to the political status of Puerto Rico, maintaining it as a colony of the United States for 125 years. As a prelude to the 250th anniversary of this American nation’s Declaration of Independence in 2026, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports multiple initiatives for dialogue and reflection about this event.

Puerto Rico Humanities Foundation and Ágora Cultural Architects invite you to the conference A more perfect union: how the Insular Cases prolonged colonialism in Puerto Rico. Award-winning historian and journalist Pedro Reina-Pérez will discuss the political, socioeconomic and cultural repercussions Puerto Ricans suffer today due to decisions on the Insular Cases.

About the speaker:

Pedro Reina Pérez is an award-winning historian and journalist specializing in contemporary Spanish Caribbean history, and the director of the Harvard Puerto Rico Winter Institute. He is a Full Professor of Humanities, and Arts and Cultural Agency and Administration at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. Known for his publications on culture and current affairs as well as his work on cultural entrepreneurship, he is a contributing writer for El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico), El País (Spain) and ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America (US). Among his eleven books and edited volumes are Poeta del Paisaje (2013), El Arco Prodigioso (2009) and La Semilla Que Sembramos (2003). He has also worked on documentaries for TV and public radio such as Si Me Da El Tiempo (WIPR-TV 2003), Palés y la Rumba de Esquina (BPPR 2009) and Pau Casals: La Música Por La Paz (Televisión Española 2013). He has been awarded the Ricardo Alegría Medal (2010), the Bolívar Pagán Journalism Prize (2006) and the 1995 Public Humanities Fellowship (NEH), among others. He holds a BA in Latin American Studies from New York University (Cum Laude), and a PhD in History from the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.

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