Eugenics policy and practice in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico

ABSTRACT

In this comparison of history of eugenics in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, it is readily evident how adaptable eugenic concepts were to local political, social and cultural contexts. In Mexico, a central concern was to increase and improve the population after the decimation of the revolution. In a majority mestizo and indigenous nation, to which large-scale European immigration was not realistic, 'puériculture' and homiculture approaches had obvious appeal. Eugenic discussion about race also fit into new attempts to understand the essenceof the Mexican nation and to depict mestizos as nation-building stock. Likewise, in Puerto Rico, eugenics was originally a movement of liberals and feminists endorsing a modernizing program, to improve working-class families. Eugenics appealed to some Puerto Ricans because of the potential for reform and improvement of island's population, through heathy reproduction. Yet at the same time, Puerto Rico's colonial relationship with the United States gave great scope for birth control experimentation .