Above Photo: Gary Eckstein/Flickr
Puerto Rico is mired in the most momentous crisis in its history as a United States colony. Never before have converged so many edges that to follow the course imposed by imperialism, negatively impact their future as a culturally boricua nation that can be developed for the benefit of its people.
Once again, the US wants to use Puerto Rico as a model against the Latin American and Caribbean region. Although in the fifties and sixties he injected resources to establish his “showcase of the Caribbean” giving the appearance that PR was the most developed and prosperous region, to hostilely contrast it with the development of the Cuban Revolution, now also tries to show how the American dominion can – simply because it can – impose in the archipelago the economic model of vultures, a microcosm of what it tries at the regional level.
The crisis of capitalism they want to solve in part by trying to recover the lost ground by the popular struggles in Latin America and the Caribbean. These struggles resulted in progressive governments that exercised their national sovereignty over imperialist interference, establishing policies that benefited their peoples, events that earned them the enmity of the United States. Now, some of these countries are reversing these policies approaching the US circle of influence.
What is happening now in PR is the culmination of the process of destruction of a town that began the same day of the American invasion in 1898.
It began with the destruction of the economy itself, the suppression of knowledge of its history and its libertarian heroes, the repression of the independence movement that dared to maintain its Puerto Rican identity and liberate its people, the imposition of a parasitic economic model that did not attempt to develop the self-sufficiency, including food so basic to the minimum sustenance. The imposition of a citizenship that facilitated the flow of cheap labor and cannon fodder in their bloody wars. Follow up the facts of our days with the imposition of an illegitimate debt and a Fiscal Control Board representing the same ones that caused this debacle, as wolves look after sheep.
Then we came to the situation – to the enormous crisis – following the hurricanes Irma and Maria who have shown the world the power of nature that is also besieged by the policies of rich countries that prioritize capital over the most basic of needs , the health of the planet. But it has also demonstrated the criminal cruelty with which the US empire has responded to the great devastation of the hurricanes and their plans to restructure Puerto Rico for their benefit.
Today, more than ten months after the storm, it can not be said that there is recovery at any level. On the contrary, progress has been made in trying to impose the most terrible austerity policies, from the privatization of basic services such as electricity and education, to the rise in the cost of living while eliminating benefits, pensions, and dismissing workers. . The current conditions where a people is immersed in solving their problems of housing, health and mere survival have been used to advance a satanic agenda that was already exposed in the Kruger * Report of 2015, direct recipes of the International Monetary Fund. Remove the poor to give to the rich.
Nor can we ignore the genocidal actions of FEMA and the Corps of Engineers US Army, not only for being slow to respond to the needs, but their refusal to give aid that would be required to give the people. It should also include insurers and all the vulture companies that have profited from the town and at the same time have denied the service for which they were hired.
The Puerto Rican people are now imprisoned because of the neoliberal policy that suffocates them. On the one hand, USA does not provide the necessary assistance, and on the other hand it prohibits the entry of solidarity aid from other countries such as Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela.
One escape has been migration, especially to the USA. More than 200,000 Puerto Ricans – in a country of 3.4 million – have flown to the US.
Meanwhile, in the midst of this whirlwind, the USA imposes its sinister plan through its JCF and the PR puppet government.
The total vision is a PR privatized to the core. Where the youth would have a mediocre education and without culture to serve the privatizing entities. A country owned by billionaires, with the sole purpose of increasing their income free of all ties that restrict them; without forgetting that they would be free of taxes or inspection. A PR without Puerto Ricans as warned by the great hero of the country, Don Pedro Albizu Campos to say that the US wanted the cage, but without the birds.
It concerns the Puerto Rican movement to give a strong response to this siege. Meanwhile, our proposal is aimed at exposing, at the US and international level, the facts for which the US has the enormous responsibility. CALL TO ACTION, July 2018
Join Rafael Cancel Miranda and other Puerto Rican and international personalities and organizations in the UNITED STATES CRIME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES CRIMES AGAINST PUERTO RICO, on October 27, 2018, at Holyrood Church / Santa Cruz Church, New York City
INVITATION FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION TO END THE COURT
Since the devastation of hurricanes Irma and María in September 2017, the world has learned about the economic, social and environmental crisis in Puerto Rico. This crisis is not new, it is not even due mainly to hurricanes, but it is the culmination of the savage colonialist domination and capitalist exploitation imposed by the United States of America since its military invasion in 1898 in Puerto Rico.
On October 27, 2018, activists and witnesses from Puerto Rico, from the Puerto Rican diaspora, from the USA and the world, will meet in New York City to participate in a tribunal of colonialist crimes. The court will present an investigation of the people on the role of the government of the United States during its colonial rule for 120 years, and particularly since the devastation of the hurricanes. They will be joined by the renowned Nicaraguan lawyer and lawyer Dr. Augusto Zamora, who will serve as prosecutor, and a distinguished jury of American and international human rights leaders.
A CALL TO ACTION
What is happening now in Puerto Rico is the culmination of a process of national destruction that began on July 25, 1898, with the US military invasion. Immediately they began the destruction of the autonomous economy of Puerto Rico, the suppression of historical knowledge and repression of the independence movement. American colonial rule imposed a parasitic economic model that blocked self-sufficient development. The United States imposed its own citizenship on the Puerto Rican people, who provided cheap labor and cannon fodder for their bloody imperialist wars. The economic dismantling of Puerto Rico continues today, with the American imposition of an illegitimate and unpayable public debt, and since 2016 the Fiscal Control Board created by the law of the US Congress known as “PROMESA.” That Board includes officers who helped create the debt and sold it to the Wall Street vultures. This is like putting the wolves in charge of the sheep.
The hurricanes demonstrated the power of nature and the failure of capitalism to prioritize the most basic needs: the health of our planet. But the aftermath of the hurricanes also demonstrated the criminal cruelty with which the United States responded to the devastation by accelerating its plans to restructure Puerto Rico for corporate and imperialist gains. Almost a year after the hurricanes, Puerto Rico has not recovered. On the contrary, “real progress” refers to the imposition of the most terrible austerity policies, from the privatization of basic services such as electricity and education, to increases in the cost of living and the reduction of benefits, pensions and Safety in the workplace. The Puerto Rican people are being stifled by a neoliberal economic policy, combined with a colonial political status that keeps its sovereignty in Washington hostage. The United States does not provide the necessary assistance for recovery, however it prohibits the entry of solidarity aid from neighboring countries.
This is the neoliberal and colonial vision for a completely privatized Puerto Rico that the current policies regarding education reforms and other essential services include: a country bought and “resettled” by vulture capitalists and other foreign billionaires, free of taxes or supervision , which are attended by impoverished, poorly educated and politically repressed young people. With a diminished population since thousands of Boricuas (Puerto Ricans) will be forced to emigrate in order to survive. So they also glimpse a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans, echoing the warning of the leader of martyred independence, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, that the United States “wants the cage, but not the birds.” Ethnic cleansing and population replacement are internationally recognized as crimes.
It corresponds to the Puerto Rican movement for decolonization, independence and sovereignty and for justice, to respond to it forcefully. As part of that effort, our proposal for an international tribunal aims to expose the nefarious policies and their consequences, for which the United States has an enormous responsibility.
The Ad Hoc Committee of the Court of Puerto Rico is convening this important tribunal. This call to action is not only for posterity, but also seeks to strengthen the current struggle for self-determination worldwide. What is happening in Puerto Rico is different only in scale and duration, from the destruction perpetrated by the USA in other places.
Only a campaign of the people in solidarity with the Puerto Rican struggle for decolonization, self-determination and justice can begin to put an end to the continued presence and domination of the United States, not only in Puerto Rico, but in the Caribbean, in Latin America. and in other countries. We hope your organization can support this important organizational effort, and you can join us on October 27 in New York City.
TO SUPPORT THIS CALL to the People’s Court send an email to: TribunalPuertoRico@gmail.com and write: “Puerto Rico Court” in the subject line.