https://themilitant.com/2019/08/03/colonial-rule-capitalist-crisis-fueled-puerto-rico-protests/
Colonial rule, capitalist crisis fueled Puerto Rico protests
???Cancel the debt! It???s their debt, not ours!???
By Seth Galinsky
Vol. 83/No. 29
August 12, 2019
UTIER
July 25 march in San Juan after Ricardo Rossell?? announced he would
resign. U.S. and Puerto Rico rulers keep pressing to make working people
pay for capitalist, colonial crisis.
No matter who takes the place of Ricardo Rossell?? as governor of the
U.S. colony of Puerto Rico at 5 p.m. Aug. 2, the political, social and
economic crisis there will continue. And so will opposition to the
colonial regime???s and the U.S. government???s measures that target working
people.
The 15 days of massive protests demanding Rossell?????s resignation
convinced the U.S. and Puerto Rican ruling classes that the governor had
to go. But seven days after Rossell?? announced his resignation and two
days before it was to become effective, the ruling parties still had not
found a replacement who they hope will inspire enough confidence among
working people and others to get things back to ???normal.???
According to Puerto Rico???s constitution, next in line would have been
Secretary of State Luis Rivera Mar??n, and after him the secretary of
justice.
But Rivera was one of a dozen government officials and advisers in
Rossell?????s New Progressive Party involved in a ???chat??? scandal with the
governor that sparked the protests ??? the release of more than 800 pages
of abusive online comments by Rossell?? and other officials showing the
administration???s scorn for working people.
Rivera resigned as have many other officials. The scandal was the straw
that broke the camel???s back, releasing pent-up anger following more than
a decade of attacks on working people???s standard of living, government
negligence in the face of Hurricane Maria and widespread corruption.
Underlying it all is a century of U.S. colonial rule that has meant
working people not only face exploitation by domestic capitalists but
subjugation at the hands of Washington.
At all the protests some participants demanded repeal of the U.S. law
that imposed the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto
Rico. The junta, as it is called in Spanish, was appointed by
then-President Barack Obama, with the power to override decisions of the
local government to maximize payment of the colonial regime???s $74
billion debt. The government also owes $55 billion to retiree pension funds.
???Everybody joined the 15 days of protest, nobody was missing,??? Lenis
Rodr??guez, who works at a pharmaceutical plant, told the Militant by
phone from Yabucoa, July 29. ???It didn???t matter if you were blue, red or
green??? referring to the colors of the two main bourgeois parties ???
Rossello???s New Progressives and the opposition Popular Democratic Party
??? and the green of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.
???The people have had enough???
Working people have not seen many results from federal aid nor the
millions of dollars collected as donations. ???The politicians and others
got rich, but we didn???t see anything,??? Rodr??guez said.
???The highways have not been repaired, houses are still deteriorating and
there are no jobs,??? he said. ???The people have had enough.??? But Rodr??guez
still hopes that ???someone better??? will take Rossell?????s place until
elections next year.
Puerto Rican Teachers Federation
July 20 march in San Juan demanding resignation of Puerto Rican Gov.
Ricardo Rossell??. U.S. colonial rule has magnified impact on island of
worldwide capitalist economic crisis.
There is no working-class alternative currently challenging the
lesser-evil politics of the capitalist parties.
More than 100 years of U.S. colonial rule and imperialist plunder of the
island???s natural resources and labor has exacerbated the impact of the
worldwide economic crisis of capitalism there.
Unlike the United States, where there has been a small ???recovery??? since
the 2007-2008 financial collapse and recession, Puerto Rico ??? a U.S.
colony since 1898 ??? has been in a steady decline.
Gross domestic product has dropped every year except one since 2009.
Even before Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, tens of thousands of
people were leaving to find work in the United States. The official
unemployment rate is now 8.5%, double that of the U.S.
When Hurricane Maria hit, the island???s already antiquated and
deteriorated electric and water grid collapsed. It took a year to get it
restored and even now some isolated rural areas are still without power.
In the absence of government action, working people relied on each other
to weather the storm and its aftermath. Teachers and parents cleaned up
and repaired schools. Communal kitchens were organized.
Despite the storm damage, the junta insists that the colonial government
accelerate the anti-working-class measures it had been implementing over
the past decades. The next governor must ???work with the federal control
board,??? demanded the editors of the Wall Street Journal July 25, to
implement ???reforms,??? including job furloughs for public sector workers
and ending annual Christmas bonuses.
???People have lost their fear of taking to the streets,??? Luis Rosa told
the Militant July 30. Rosa, who spent 19 years in prison in the U.S. for
his support for independence for Puerto Rico, now lives in Aguadilla,
where he is a self-employed construction worker.
The problem is U.S. colonialism
The FBI is carrying out investigations of corruption and has arrested
several people, including two former officials the day before the
release of the chats. ???But we don???t want the FBI. When we are an
independent country we will confront the corruption ourselves,??? Rosa said.
???The problem is the system. There can be no democracy, no ???transparency???
under colonialism,??? Rosa added.
March for Independence???Personally I am for cancelling the debt. It???s not
our debt, it???s theirs,??? Rosa said. Calls to audit the debt have been
part of many of the recent protests, he noted, but have not been a
central theme.
???All the parties have marginalized working people,??? said Mildred Laboy,
a leader of the community group Arecma, in Humacao. ???We???ve been
abandoned by the government.???
???One party wins and defrauds us,??? she said by phone July 30. ???Then the
other one wins and it???s the same.??? No matter who is the new governor,
she said, struggles against government measures that hit working people
will continue.
Laboy, a retired teacher, said she would be joining a demonstration the
next day in Humacao to protest government plans to close more schools
and threats to cut pensions. ???We have to keep fighting for everything,???
she said.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Colonial rule, capitalist crisis fueled Puerto Rico
protests
???Airline, auto bosses target workers to boost profits
??????Amnesty for immigrants is in interest of all workers???
??????Cuban people will resist US embargo and violations of our sovereignty???
???Democrats??? Mueller expos?? falls flat as clashes in party sharpen
???Florida prison officials??? ban on ???Militant??? attacks Bill of Rights
Feature Articles ???Yazidis in Iraq still displaced two years after
Islamic State???s defeat
Also In This Issue ???Joyce Meissenheimer was ???on right side of history???
???US gov???t plans to restart death penalty, target workers
???Black lung at highest rate in decades among miners
???Ohio college posts bond over ???racism??? smear of bakery owners
Editorials ???Cuban Revolution shows workers can win
Books of the Month ???How capitalism is revolutionizing parts of Africa
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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??? George Carlin