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Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Protests Against Higher Education Cuts

March 29, 2025 Jonathan Ng, Truthout. , , ,
This February, President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado of the University of Puerto Rico resigned after attempting to suspend 64 educational programs. The measure targeted core disciplines such as history, philosophy and comparative literature, stunning the university community and provoking bitter opposition. Eleven days of protests followed, compelling Ferrao to reverse the decision before stepping down. The university showdown is the latest chapter in a two-decade struggle against austerity, as Puerto Rico grapples with a debt crisis and economic stagnation.

What Is Esencia And What Will Happen If This Is Constructed?

March 26, 2025 Diaspora Pa'Lante Collective, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Esencia is a massive $2 billion colonial development project aiming to seize over 2,000 acres of land, spanning three miles of beaches in Punta Melones, Cabo Rojo, by 2028. The United States has long justified its imperial presence in Puerto Rico under the guise of “progress” and “development.” With the complicity of a local government that prioritizes U.S. interests, policies like Act 60—which grants foreign investors the ability to evade local and federal taxes—serve Puerto Rico on a silver platter to wealthy developers, speculators, and those eager to claim and exploit a slice of “paradise.”

Puerto Rico Independence Movement Challenges 126 Years Of Colonialism

December 10, 2024 Jonathan Ng, Truthout. , , ,
Weeks after the November elections, officials in Puerto Rico are still counting votes. The agonizing delays and inefficiency have elicited frustration and calls for serious electoral reform. Yet one outcome appears undeniable: The pro-independence candidate for governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Dalmau, made record electoral gains. According to a preliminary review, Dalmau received the second-most votes while representing the Alliance, a historic coalition between the Puerto Rican Independence Party and Citizens’ Victory Movement. Months before the election, the Alliance’s meteoric rise shocked pollsters, putting Dalmau in a tight race with Jenniffer González of the reigning New Progressive Party.

Puerto Rico Is A New Country: Hope Lives And The Fight Goes On

November 11, 2024 Claridad Editorial,  Resumen English. , , ,
If the results of the recent elections show anything, it is how the Puerto Rican people have been shaping, transforming and realigning their political conceptions, and becoming aware of their own power, to retake and rescue our country from the clutches of those who want to hand it over and destroy it. The resistance, astuteness, breeding and will for change of our people was manifested in different ways throughout this intense journey, and there is visible evidence of the achievements. The second place obtained by the Country Alliance, led in Puerto Rico by Juan Dalmau, and in the capital, San Juan, by Manuel Natal is a feat, considering the circumstances in which the process developed and the pitfalls that were placed in its way.

Puerto Rico Could Elect Its First Pro-Independence Governor

October 25, 2024 Alberto Medina, Portside. , , ,
That could herald the beginning of the end for a 125-year-old colonial relationship. Historically, Puerto Rico’s electoral politics have been defined by its parties and leaders’ views on the island’s political status. The pro-statehood (PNP) and pro-status quo (PPD) parties have alternated power since 1948 — when the U.S., already 50 years into its rule of Puerto Rico, finally allowed Puerto Ricans to choose their own governor. The Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) had always run a distant third, garnering single-digit support.

Promise Of Change In Puerto Rico

October 13, 2024 Berta Joubert-Ceci, Resumen English. , , ,
With each passing day, Puerto Rico sinks deeper into a neoliberal process that threatens its very existence. From the purely geological issue, with supposed legal approvals for construction in coastal locations that involve the removal of mangroves and corals that are the natural barriers against coastal erosion, to the displacement of communities that give way to luxury housing for millionaire foreigners. There is a replacement of our population. Basic health and education services are almost nonexistent. In short, life in Puerto Rico has become very difficult. While our central problem is the colonial state, it is imperative to stop this destructive bleeding.

Out LUMA!: Puerto Ricans Demand End To Privatization Of Energy

July 5, 2024 Pablo Meriguet, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
Hundreds of Puerto Ricans took to the streets of the capital, San Juan, on Wednesday July 3, to demand an end to the controversial contract signed by the government of Puerto Rico with the US-Canadian company LUMA Energy. During the march, organized by the Union of Electrical and Irrigation Industry Workers (UTIER), workers and activists shouted slogans like: “Privatized energy is rejected by the people”, “We demand electric energy because it is a human right”, and “They privatize energy and steal from us every day”, among others. According to the protesters, there has not been a significant improvement in the electricity service as promised with the privatization. Major blackouts and electricity connection problems continue.

Puerto Ricans Take To The Streets Against Kamala Harris’s Visit

March 26, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
On Friday, March 22, Kamala Harris marked her first visit to Puerto Rico since becoming Vice President of the United States to attend a Democratic Party fundraiser, and was met with mass protests. In an embarrassing gaff, Harris spent a moment clapping along to a protest song before quickly freezing up after an aide translated it for her. The lyrics called out the longtime US occupation of Puerto Rico: “We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for? We want to know what you think of the colony.”

A New Alliance Could Change Puerto Rican Politics

March 18, 2024 Rafael Bernabe and Ed Morales, Portside. , , , ,
Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since the 1898 Spanish-American War. It had only US-appointed governors until 1948, and in 1952, Congress passed a joint resolution that approved its first constitution, which provided for limited autonomy. It would become a “Commonwealth,” but the island remained an unincorporated territory that lacked sovereignty and full rights afforded to US citizens, despite the fact that residents of Puerto Rico were granted citizenship in 1917. Since then, the island’s politics have revolved around three political parties whose platforms are focused on its political status.

Ariel Henry: An Itinerant Ex-Prime Minister Without A Country

March 8, 2024 Kim Ives, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
Since arriving in New York from Nairobi, Kenya on Sat., Mar. 2, former de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been trying to get back to Haiti. But Haiti does not want him. He spent several days in Manhattan, but no commercial flights could fly him and his large entourage to Haiti because the Port-au-Prince airport was closed after gunfire hit an Avolon charter jet bound for Cuba on Thu., Feb. 29. (No one was injured, and the damage was minimal.) Over the weekend, Henry asked Washington to provide him with a military plane and soldiers to accompany him back to Haiti.

Within US-Occupied Nation Of Puerto Rico, Solidarity With Palestine Grows

January 4, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
Within the boundaries of US-occupied Puerto Rico, the movement for Palestinian liberation has been growing. On December 18, a demonstration organized by students and the Palestinian diaspora on the island marched from the Israeli consulate in San Juan to the US Federal Court. The formation “Mothers Against the War” has been calling protests on a weekly basis outside of the consulate. Jocelyn Velázquez of Jornada Se Acabaron las Promesas spoke at a November 12 rally outside the Puerto Rico Capitol in San Juan, starting off her speech by applauding the people of Palestine as well as the Palestinian resistance. “We are the guarantee that the world understands that we need to stop this genocide,” she said.

How A Maneuver In Puerto Rico Led To A $29 Billion Tax Bill For Microsoft

October 16, 2023 Paul Kiel, ProPublica. , , ,
In a long-awaited development, the largest audit in the history of the IRS has finally taken its next step. On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that the agency had notified the company that it owes $28.9 billion in back taxes, plus penalties and interest. The case is epic not only in dollars but in scope. As ProPublica reported in an in-depth narrative in 2020, the IRS saw the case as a chance to prove the agency’s effectiveness. Often cowed by the prospect of facing off against corporations with endless resources, the IRS set out to be bolder and more aggressive. It took the unusual step of hiring a corporate law firm to represent the agency, a step that incensed Microsoft.

Poverty Is Growing In Puerto Rico Under US Colonialism

September 27, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , ,
Poverty in Puerto Rico, under US colonialism, is getting worse over time, not better. More than two-fifths of Puerto Ricans suffer from poverty, and nearly three-fifths of Puerto Rican children live in poor households. In 2022, the poverty rate in the colonized US “territory” grew from 40.5% to 41.7%, according to US Census Bureau data. A staggering 57.6% of Puerto Rican children live in poverty. And 38.8% of families are below the poverty line. Poverty has been growing in Puerto Rico even at a time when more people are working. The unemployment rate fell from 13.1% to 9.9% in 2022, while poverty got worse.

Puerto Rican Groups Give Deposition To UN Decolonization Committee

July 2, 2023 Berta Joubert-Ceci, Resumen English. , , ,
This past week, the UN Decolonization Committee held a hearing on what has been called the Puerto Rico case, on Puerto Rico’s inalienable right to self-determination and independence. Since the UN passed Resolution 1514 (XV) in 1960 for the eradication of colonies, recognizing independence as a fundamental human right and in accordance with the UN Charter, 41 hearings have already been held on our case. Recall that the U.S. disguised the colonial state of PR by naming it a Commonwealth in 1952 so as not to have to report to the United Nations. But this farce was unmasked in 2016 when the US Supreme Court concluded in a double exposure case, that it is the US Congress who rules in PR.

Movement That Built Puerto Rico’s First Community-Owned Microgrid

June 11, 2023 Katherine Rapin, Next City. , , ,
For two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Lucy’s Pizza was the only restaurant open in the central mountain town of Adjuntas. The town’s 18,000 residents, like those on the rest of the island, were entirely without electricity. “No one has power, you can’t get gas, it’s difficult to make food, so everyone came here to eat,” says owner Gustavo Irizarry. “The line,” he gestured down the block along the town’s central plaza, “endless.” Using a diesel generator, Lucy’s was running at about 75% capacity. The generator was loud, emitted dangerous fumes and wasn’t always reliable.
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