Puerto Rico — the longest-held colony in the world — is a beautiful but precarious place that has been devastated by hurricanes, earthquakes, power outages and, most recently, the second iteration of a debt restructuring plan that builds upon the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) — Obama-era legislation that led to the creation of what is colloquially known as “La Junta,” and formally referred to as the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB).
Debt restructuring under PROMESA and the FOMB has resulted in brutal austerity measures that are hollowing out the public sector.
The state of the island's electrical grid has worsened after being forcibly privatized
The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) system budget is shrinking
(K-12) public schools are closing
Pensions are being frozen
While some have called for an audit of the debt, others have insisted on outright cancellation—arguing that residents of Puerto Rico should not be forced to pay bondholders at all.
Protesting PC1003
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi signed PC1003 into law on Oct. 26 following weeks of protests against the debt restructuring plan and legislative deliberation. Contrary to the official narrative, PC1003 — now called Law 53-2021 — “serves to establish multi-generational austerity measures that will increase the island’s debt, feed vulture funds, and make Puerto Rico unlivable for the working class,” Latino Rebels reported (follow independent freelance journalist Carlos Edill Berríos Polanco on Twitter @Vaquero2XL for the latest on resistance and austerity politics in Puerto Rico).
Despite reports of illegal surveillance from the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) and alleged violence from UPR campus security, protestors have been on the frontlines calling for a reversal of the debt restructuring plan under the FOMB.
Public Education
Among the protestors are UPR students who are resisting the planned evisceration of the entire university system. Of the 11 campuses in the UPR system, eight have gone on strike and at least one campus is at risk of permanent closure.
The Nation reported that Law 53-2021 will lead to a “decrease in the quality of education provided, further tuition increases, and the unavoidable closure of some of the smaller campuses, which serve some of the poorest students on the island,” adding that: “Many experts believe that all of this damage from the plan… will sink Puerto Rico further into debt and lead to another default.”
Law 53-2021 is slated to cap the UPR system budget at $500 million. Since higher education in Puerto Rico is public, protestors have demanded that the university system be declared an essential service to shield it from the deleterious impacts of austerity measures.
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