Those nations were owned by Spain, and Spain was portrayed by the Hearst Newspapers as a threat to America.

Spain was blamed for sinking the Maine battleship in Havanna Harbor.

Spain was portrayed as a tyrant enslaving the people of the Phillipines and Cuba.

It was claimed that the Cubans and Filipinos were clammoring to be liberated by the Americans.

The US occupied these islands during the Hispanic-American War in 1898. During the Peace Treaty, Spain gave up their ownership of these islands to the US. Consequently, the US granted independence to Cuba and the Philippines, although they maintained a military presence in those two locations. It was not until the 1980s when the US removed their military presence from the Philippines. They are still in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Puerto Rico was a different story. Maybe for strategic reasons but they decided to maintain ownership of Puerto Rico. In 1917 they granted USA citizenship to all puertorricans. Late 1940s they allowed Puerto Rico to draft their own constitution which it was ratified by the people in 1952. The case of “territorial occupation” has been debated all the way to the United Nations. Puerto Rico is now considered a Commonwealth of the USA. It appears that the majority of the people want to maintain this type of relationship with the US. Anyway, reasons to occupation of the islands? 1. War Bounty 2. Political and economical distress of the Islands under Spanish control, the US wanted to provide them “better” conditions. 3. Expansion of political, econimical and territorial influence. 4. Foothold in the Asian-Pacific area and the Caribbean.