Puerto Rico History

Pastora Ayala's little shop in this north coast town is hard to miss. It is painted bright yellow, red and blue. Two grotesque horned masks made of coconut husks with fangs and long red tongues hang from the shop's porch posts. The 79-year-old shopkeeper is the widow of Castor Ayala, the famed mask maker of Loiza Aldea who died in 1980.

Pastora Ayala's little shop in this north coast town is hard to miss. It is painted bright yellow, red and blue. Two grotesque horned masks made of coconut husks with fangs and long red tongues hang from the shop's porch posts. The 79-year-old shopkeeper is the widow of Castor Ayala, the famed mask maker of Loiza Aldea who died in 1980.

In support of the status quo, Puerto Ricans voted by a narrow margin Sunday to remain a U.S. commonwealth, crushing the hopes of popular Gov. Pedro J. Rossello and his backers that the Caribbean island could enter the Union as the 51st state by 1996. "The people spoke and I will obey," Rossello said Sunday afternoon in a concession speech to a throng of supporters in San Juan. But he added: "This is a struggle that will go on."