Olga Dies Dreaming

In her letter, Blanca explains to Prieto that Puerto Rico was originally named Borikén, or “Land of Noble Lords,” by the Indigenous Taíno people, before Spain colonized the island and brought enslaved Africans there. After a series of rebellions, Puerto Rico held its first election as an independent nation. However, just then, the real-life Dr. Julio Henna, whom Blanca calls lombriz, or worm, convinced the United States to annex the nation. A hurricane in 1899 helped the US to do so, as Puerto Ricans were homeless and hungry. Puerto Rico’s elected officials, Blanca argues, have long been puppets of the United States government. She fears that Prieto has become one too. She warns him again not to support PROMESA: “And so, I will wait. To see if you will be my son of the Noble Land or just a son of a bitch” (299).

In October of 2017, a blindfolded Prieto is in the mountains, called back to Puerto Rico by Mercedes, a member of the news crew with whom he had been embedded. When he landed on the island, Mercedes showed him a graffitied stencil of a woman, which Prieto immediately recognized as an image of his mother.