King Sugar: American Corporate Domination (1900-1940)

The transformation of Puerto Rico into a sugar colony was one of the most deliberate acts of colonial economic restructuring in modern history. Within four decades of the U.S. invasion, the island's diverse agricultural economy was replaced by a sugar monoculture that served American corporate interests.

The Takeover:
- 1901: U.S. tariff policies granted Puerto Rican sugar duty-free access to the American market, making sugar the most profitable crop
- American corporations received favorable financing from U.S. banks that refused credit to Puerto Rican farmers
- The 500-acre land limit was systematically violated
- By 1930, four corporations controlled most of the sugar industry:
- Eastern Sugar Associates (54,000+ acres)
- South Porto Rico Sugar Company (33,000+ acres)
- Fajardo Sugar Company (12,000+ acres)
- Central Aguirre Associates (18,000+ acres)

Labor Conditions:
- Sugar workers earned as little as $0.30-0.50 per day
- Work was seasonal: 4-5 months of harvest (zafra) followed by "tiempo muerto" (dead time) with no employment
- Workers lived in company-owned housing (bateys) and bought food at company stores at inflated prices
- Child labor was widespread
- Attempts to organize labor unions were violently suppressed

Profit Extraction: Virtually all profits from the sugar industry flowed to the mainland United States. The corporations paid minimal local taxes. The colonial government — whose governor was appointed by the U.S. President — facilitated the extraction.

Nutritional Paradox: Puerto Rico exported millions of tons of sugar while its own people suffered malnutrition. A 1929 Brookings Institution study found widespread poverty, disease, and malnutrition across the island — in a land generating enormous agricultural wealth for American corporations.

The sugar era established the fundamental colonial economic pattern that persists today: Puerto Rico's economy is structured to benefit mainland interests, not the Puerto Rican people.