By Hedelberto Lopez Blanch on December 17, 2021
photo: Bill Hackwell
How can it be conceivable that the United States unilaterally and arbitrarily summoned chosen countries to a summit for democracy when it maintains in the Caribbean the oldest colony in the world: Puerto Rico?
Washington’s neglect of this colony, euphemistically called a Commonwealth since 1952, has led to 52.3% of its 3.2 million inhabitants living in poverty, according to a report released by the Commission for the Eradication of that scourge.
Based on public hearings, the head of the commission, Elizabeth Rosa-Velez explained that this negative figure is a consequence of several factors such as the coronavirus pandemic, the three hurricanes, and the earthquake that hit the island.
Rosa-Velez, of the governing New Progressive Party (NPP), which supports turning Puerto Rico into the 51st state of the United States, forgot to say that the neglect of the country and its people is the main factor of this situation.
The scenario is more stressful among children and women. Another document from the Institute for Youth Development (IDJ) denounced that 58% or six out of every 10 Puerto Rican children live in poverty. It added that 38% of them struggle to survive in extreme poverty.
The report indicates that women face a gender parity gap that reflects low levels of women in management or leadership positions, stagnant salaries, and low participation in the labor force.
For the president of the Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development of Puerto Rico (ODSEC), Thais Reyes Serrano, “many women in the country face additional situations that place them at a disadvantage to pursue their professional and economic development and self-sufficiency, such as economic dependence, and the corporate structure and mentality.
An example of the contempt with which the United States treats the people of that Caribbean nation was given by former President Donald Trump after hurricanes Irma and Maria (both in September 2017) devastated the colony. Thirteen days after the last hurricane, the former president arrived in San Juan, and instead of providing economic and financial support, he threw packages of toilet paper to several people gathered at a rally prepared by the authorities.
In addition, Trump wanted to sell Puerto Rico or trade it for Greenland because this U.S. territory in the Caribbean was “dirty and poor,” Miles Taylor, then chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told MSNBC.
The inhabitants of this Caribbean island suffered and still face immense needs due to the damage caused by the hurricanes that caused more than 3,000 deaths and injuries, destroyed homes, increased the lack of drinking water and food, and collapsed the electrical system.
Half a year before the hurricanes hit, the colony was already suffering an enormous economic-financial crisis that Washington did not help to solve and the country declared itself in a kind of bankruptcy, since its foreign debt was set at more than 73 billion dollars.
In the face of the deep crisis, Washington imposed a Fiscal Control Board (FSCB) on the country, which tightened the belt of Puerto Ricans and charged more than 300 million dollars for its “services”.
Accordingly, the colonial regime and the FSCB established cuts of about $2 billion in annual public spending until the end of 2020 (about 20% of the current budget) and $2.5 billion until 2025.
Social benefits, labor benefits, and acquired rights were reduced; dozens of schools were closed and the cost of public universities increased. Only 40% of the adult population is working or looking for work (the rest do not contribute or work in the underground economy). Investment fell by 20% and bank assets by 40%.
While poverty rages against Puerto Ricans, social organizations confirm that in the last decade, U.S. subsidiaries have extracted 380 billion dollars from the country, practically without paying taxes. It is very difficult for national businessmen to compete with transnational consortiums.
Washington’s stranglehold on the Caribbean island has become asphyxiating because it is only allowed to have one commissioner in the U.S. Congress who has a voice but no voting rights, even if it is a matter related to his country. Although they are recognized as US citizens, they cannot vote in US elections.
Without being able to decide on the economy (it depends largely on the budget granted by the metropolis), finances, foreign relations, that is, without having political independence or sovereignty, Puerto Rico is among the 18 colonies that still exist in the world.
Of course, the one thing that its citizens are allowed to do is to serve in the US Military as they have done in Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and dozens of other places where many have lost their lives.
There is no doubt that the Commonwealth is synonymous to a form of colonization in these times.
Source Portal Alba, translation Red en Defensa de la Humanidad – Cuba