Alberto Maldonado Shares Puerto Rican History, Culture in Milwaukee

Milwaukee – Alberto Maldonado is a man who is proud of his culture and connects Milwaukee with Puerto Rico.  

His dad was a coffee grower in Puerto Rico and came to the States in 1966 when there were added job opportunities. He got married in Milwaukee and Maldonado was born there. Maldonado moved between Milwaukee and Puerto Rico throughout his childhood.  

“I never detached from the umbilical cord with Puerto Rico,” he said. 

When Hurricane Maria attacked the island in 2017, thousands of people lost their homes. Many had to seek community shelters or move in with other family members.  

“After Hurricane Maria I went to recruit for UWM,” he said. “We would waive certain fees, get them start-up scholarships of $4K and find them space in the residence halls.”  

Today, he is the Director of the Roberto Hernandez Center (RHC) at UW-Milwaukee. The RHC is “dedicated to serving Latinx students at UWM as well as the Latinx population of southeastern Wisconsin through a three-pronged mission: to provide academic services that promote Latinx student success, to engage in outreach to the Latinx community and beyond and to support applied research pertinent to Latinxs.“

Maldonado has been at UWM for 24 years. He previously held positions at UWM in admissions, precollege advisor, community outreach, multicultural recruitment and academic advising before becoming the director of the RHC. 

Maldonado began his post-secondary education at the University of Puerto Rico, where he was admitted on a full ride scholarship for track and field. However, at the beginning of his sophomore year, he moved back to Milwaukee to continue his academic journey. He earned both of his undergraduate degrees, a B.A. in Fine Arts and a M.S. in Educational Policy, at UWM. 

According to the UWM RHC website, he has helped coordinate many events, including the Annual Bilingual Open House at UWM and the Milwaukee National Hispanic College fair. He helped create the Undocumented Student Campus Task Force and the “Excelencia en las Musica” scholarship fund. He serves on several UWM campus committees including MoonShot for Equity, the 2030 Think Tank and the Multi-cultural Network. Also, he volunteers in the community providing information about college access and affordability to parents and students. 

Maldonado said that the RHC started in 1970, when 12 students protested for three days.  The community got involved and the RHC was created to represent Latinx students.   

“There are 2,500 Latino students attending UWM today,” he said. “We have a 14% share of the undergraduate body.” 

Alberto Maldonado’s Childhood 

Maldonado came to an immersive journalism class to speak about his Puerto Rican culture, history and current issues facing the island. 

He talked about his dad being a coffee grower in Puerto Rico when Eisenhower was President and there was the first Puerto Rican Governor. Eisenhower sent manufacturing jobs for Puerto Ricans, deemed “Operation Boot Strap.” His dad came to the States in 1966 and got married in Milwaukee. His mom lived in a room with no windows on the corner of Holton Street and Concordia Avenue. In 1974, his mom grew tired of the winters, and they moved back to Puerto Rico when Maldonado was four.  

In Puerto Rico, they lived in Utuado in the heart of the island in the mountains. They bought a farm and eight acres for $15K.  

“We were living the simple life, no cable, no phone,” Maldonado said. “Our Bathroom was an outhouse.” 

In 1989, his family moved back to Milwaukee, to a different house on Concordia Avenue. His sister found a program at UWM for communications and drew the family back. However, his brother stayed in Puerto Rico to get a chemical engineering degree. 

Maldonado worked many odd jobs and late-night shifts after he came back to Milwaukee.  

“You name it, I did it,” Maldonado said. 

He eventually graduated in 1996 with his aforementioned degrees at UWM. He continues to travel to Puerto Rico frequently and he stays up to date with everything that is happening there. 

Hurricane Maria Aftermath  

The first Puerto Rican town to have power where the first light bulb was lit in history was the last town to get their power back after Hurricane Maria. 

“You can really see the irony there,” Maldonado said. 

The media focused their attention on the bigger cities after the hurricane.  

Maldonado mentioned that he knew more about what was happening in Puerto Rico than his family in Puerto Rico did, because of the media outlets going out in the major cities. He ended up calling his family and informing them what was happening. 

The smaller towns were able to survive better without PR. They were used to not relying on power and they grew their own food.  

“I lived through many hurricanes myself,” Maldonado said. “To me as a child it was an experience.” 

He recalled his family stocking up on canned food and flashlights before the hurricanes came.  

“After Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, you had a huge influx of families from Puerto Rico not only come to Milwaukee, but Florida and other states.” 

This exacerbated after the Hurricane but was already a trend happening with the states having more jobs and better paying jobs.  

Gentrification  

According to Maldonado, Puerto Rico was originally ruled 500 years by Spanish, but become war price when US beats Spain in 1898. Puerto Ricans didn’t become U.S. citizens until 1917, but they still weren’t electing their own governor until the 1950s.  

“The laws now protect rich folks to come in, live on the island for 161 days and claim residence of the island,” Maldonado said. 

Under Act 22 of 2012 in the Puerto Rican Legislature, Puerto Rican residents do not have to pay federal income tax. This law, known as the Individual Investors Act, was to encourage investors to move to Puerto Rico in an attempt to boost the island’s economic recovery. Many resorts and Air BNBs have been bought up by investors. 

“In the last five years we’ve seen Air BNBs multiplying across the island,” Maldonado said. “It went from 300 to a couple thousand over time. The vast majority are owned by non-locals.”  

The results haven’t been that effective for Puerto Rico, because the money doesn’t stay on the island. These properties aren’t owned by local folks and the money stays with the investors. 

Maldonado said that some people view Puerto Rico as one of the strongest economies compared to other Latino countries. However, in terms of income per capita, they are the lowest of the low compared to the states. The salaries in the cites are not competitive compared to the states. They have a lot of the same stores as mainland U.S., such as McDonalds, Costco and IKEA, but they don’t offer competitive salaries.  

Now there’s Puerto Ricans everywhere in the states looking for jobs and looking to restart after Hurricane Maria.  

“There’s more that consistently leave the island than come back,” Maldonado said. 

There’s even a group called Invest Puerto Rico, which is made up of non-locals that attracts more investors to the island.   

However, not everyone that moves to Puerto Rico is hurting the island. 

“There are folks that come in with good intentions,” Maldonado said. “They are thinking about sustainability and succession plans to help agriculture and to help Puerto Ricans become self-sustainable.” 

A lot of Puerto Ricans don’t trust the government to deliver on their promises. Maldonado said it was very hard just to get a light bulb placed outside of her mom’s house. She said it was very difficult to get in contact with the local government and they weren’t any help. 

Beach Protests 

Right now, there’s a movement for locals to go around beaches and protest the privatization of beaches. 

“People bring drums, they play and they dance,” Maldonado said. “They invite people to congregate in protest.”  

According to Maldonado, Puerto Rican Law states that beach property cannot be private to any, and a case happened recently near the airport.  

A couple were playing a sport and the owner said they cannot do that even though it is public access. There was a verbal altercation that went viral, and the group went out to protest.  

“Rincon is majority U.S. owned,” Maldonado said. “It has the best sunset on the island. I couldn’t afford even the smallest hut because of how the property value has increased.”  

Puerto Rican Cuisine 

Maldanado said he grew up on rice, beans, meat, stew and fried plantains for $2.50.  

“My grandmother gave me rice and beans growing up with her,” he said. “We did not throw anything away from the pig.”   

A lot of Puerto Rican cuisine is rooted in the history of being an island, like fish.  

“Without refrigeration, we ate a lot of locally grown things and canned goods,” Maldonado said. “We eat plantains in so many ways.” 

According to Maldonado, famous chef Anthony Bourdain said pig roasts were best in Puerto Rico and Philippines.  

There is a proliferation of food vendors. The small Puerto Rican economy is food driven. 

“It’s almost like going to the state fair every day,” he said.  

Statehood 

The idea of whether Puerto Rico should become a state or not is a complicated issue, but Maldonado has a strict answer.  

“I don’t support statehood,” he said. “I like that I can go to the Olympics and see the Puerto Rican flag. It’s the prideful piece that I can’t get past.” 

His parents were pro-statehood the whole time they lived in Puerto Rico. Maldonado understands that the island could get more resources from the federal government, but it would jeopardize their identity. 

The mindset of local spirits was that U.S. mainland was better.  

“Growing up in the island we were told that the tallest tree is an American tree the biggest rooster was an American rooster,” Maldonado said. 

This ideology ingrained in many Puerto Rican’s minds made them believe that they are second-class citizens and an afterthought in the U.S. 

Maldonado continues to passionately serve the Milwaukee Latinx community through the university and the RHC, sharing his rich knowledge of the culture.