Puerto Rico
International Organizations Stand in Solidarity with the People of Puerto Rico
Scene from XXVI Seminar Parties and a New Society, held in Mexico City from September 22 to 24, 2022
Within the framework of the XXVI Seminar Parties and a New Society, held in Mexico City from September 22 to 24, 2022, 73 organizations from the 30 countries present unanimously expressed their solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico. They also accused both the Puerto Rican colonial administration and the United States government of creating the material conditions within which a Category One hurricane like Fiona caused so many tragedies for the people with a large part of Puerto Rico without electricity or water. More than 13 people have perished, thousands are at risk, houses have been lost, structures have collapsed, and floods have caused countless tragedies.
The government of Puerto Rico has negligently failed to fulfill its responsibility to maintain the infrastructure of the archipelago in good condition, thus propelling reservoirs and rivers to easily exceed their limits and endanger the structures and lives of surrounding residents.
It is shameful that in the 21st century, the United States possesses Puerto Rico as a colony and has imposed a Fiscal Control Board on it since 2016, created by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Under PROMESA, the control board has cruelly been an instrument used for the destruction and impoverishment of the people, taking away resources for vital essential services and transferring them to vulture bondholders in a process of collecting an illegitimate debt.
The Fiscal Control Board and the colonial government of Puerto Rico have imposed privatizations that have plunged the people into conditions of great suffering, especially the privatization of energy under the recently created U.S.-Canadian company Luma Energy. The government promoted this company as a world-renowned, experienced company that would improve the country's energy system and reduce rates.
Women's
demonstration in Puerto Rico, September 2022, against Luma which
they accuse, with the government, of leaving Puerto Rico without hydro
and water services after Huricane Fiona.
But the reality is that since Luma assumed control of the country's energy system in June 2021, the Puerto Rican people have experienced seven major blackouts, substation explosions, service instability resulting in many losses of domestic and industrial equipment, almost all caused by lack of proper maintenance of the electrical agency's facilities. In addition, they have increased the rate seven times. And as a punishment for the working class and people, the experienced labour force of the state energy agency was displaced and replaced with workers without the required experience. Many were brought from the United States and paid almost triple the salary that the displaced workers earned.
The cruel inefficiency of Luma and its defence by the colonial government have aggravated the current situation where even hospitals and care centers are without power, putting thousands of lives at risk. Faced with this calamity, the displaced workers from the Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers' Union and other national energy unions asked the government for an Executive Order to employ these experienced public servants and thus speed up the energy reconstitution process. However, Governor Pedro Pierluisi rejected this offer that would save Puerto Rican lives. Instead he prefers to endorse the hiring of foreign workers brought to Puerto Rico under onerous multimillion dollar contracts which add to the debt burden the people are forced to pay.
The eyes of the world are now on Puerto Rico and this terrible situation will be made known as widely as possible. The organizations participating in the XXVI Seminar urged the governments of Puerto Rico and the United States to take action to stop the enormous suffering of the Puerto Rican people.
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 20 - September 29, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520204.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca