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Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico As A Launchpad For War On Venezuela

October 23, 2025 Michelle Ellner, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
When President Trump announced that the CIA had been authorized to conduct operations inside Venezuela, just as US drones struck another small boat off Venezuela’s coast, few people in the United States realized that much of this militarization begins on the soil of a land denied its own sovereignty: Puerto Rico. The island that has lived under US rule since 1898 is once again being used as a staging ground for US militarism, this time for Washington’s latest “war on drugs” narrative, masking a campaign of coercion against Latin America’s independent governments.

Resisting Disaster Capitalism Through Mutual Aid In Puerto Rico

September 9, 2025 Ester Dazzo, Transnational Institute. , , ,
Since  2016, Puerto Rico has faced a complex crisis, when it declared bankruptcy, worsening a fiscal crisis after a decade of recession. In response, Obama signed the PROMESA law, aiming to restructure the debt and enforce fiscal responsibility. It created the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB), a body comprised of seven members appointed by the US President, which can override local laws, blatantly highlighting Puerto Rico's colonial status. In 2017, the Board imposed a ten-year plan of austerity, cutting budgets for healthcare, education, and other vital services. The inability of the government to deal with the economic crisis led to an increase in political distrust.

US Considers Bombing Venezuela; Deploys F-35 Fighter Jets To Puerto Rico

September 8, 2025 Dave DeCamp,  Antiwar.com. , , , ,
The Trump administration is considering multiple options for launching military strikes against alleged drug cartels in Venezuela, including hitting targets that could weaken Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as it is deploying F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico, CNN has reported. US officials told CNN that the US bombing of a boat near Venezuela last week was just the beginning of a much larger effort against drug trafficking that could lead to the ouster of Maduro. US officials claim the pressure on Venezuela and Maduro is about drug trafficking and a response to overdose deaths in the US, but fentanyl doesn’t come from or through Venezuela, and the majority of the cocaine that is transported to the US comes through the Pacific, not the Caribbean.

Water Crisis Deepens In Puerto Rico

August 2, 2025 Pablo Meriguet, Peoples Dispatch. , , ,
The severe drinking water crisis in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is worsening, and is not limited to the old colonial city but also affects other municipalities across the country. However, San Juan has become the focus of public opinion due to the high influx of tourists who come to the city as part of Caribbean cruise itineraries, as well as for summer concerts, such as the upcoming Bad Bunny shows. The water shortage that began on July 24 is not only affecting tourism, but also other types of businesses, many of which have recently decided to temporarily close or reduce their activities, dealing a major blow to an already struggling economy.

Lessons from Vieques: Resisting US Militarism, Building Unity

July 5, 2025 Aaron Kirshenbaum, CounterPunch. , , , ,
Around two years ago, I watched a puppet show, created by a group of eight to 16-year-olds at the summer camp where I worked, about the eviction of the U.S. Navy from the island of Vieques. After I conducted a few brief workshops reviewing the island’s history of military occupation and contamination, the campers immediately grasped the importance of the decades long struggle to evict the U.S. Navy, which they represented with a puppet of a venomous snake; on the other hand, they used the iconic native Puerto Rican frog, the coquí, to depict participants in the popular uprising against the U.S. military.

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.
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