By Berta Joubert-Ceci on August 2, 2025
The governor of Puerto Rico has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard after thousands of homes were left without water. Photo: Prensa Latina
The governments that have administered this country, especially in recent years, have completely ignored their main objective, which is to ensure public welfare. This means guaranteeing all the basic services necessary for the people to live a dignified life: primarily health, housing, and education. These services must be accompanied by a complementary network of other services such as telecommunications, water, and energy. But as the neoliberal process deepens colonization, the corruption that accompanies privatization also advances unchecked, with no restrictions within government structures to defend the people. In other words, in Puerto Rican slang, we are “algarete,” that is, out of control, disorganized, adrift.
This time, apart from the disaster of the power outages caused constantly by the poor performance of the energy privatizers, in recent weeks there has been a lack of water in many parts of the island. This is happening in the midst of a wave of intense heat and pollution from Saharan dust covering our skies.
And let us remember that water has been declared the most important strategic natural resource for the planet in the 21st century.
Although the Water and Sewer Authority that manages our water resources is not fully privatized, it does hire incompetent firms for millions of dollars to do the work that experienced public workers, grouped in the Independent Authentic Union, usually do excellently and at a lower cost to the people.
But the incompetence of these luxury contractors has caused pipe breaks and poor operations that have led to interruptions because they do not know how to handle the complicated valve system, thus depriving thousands of families, including elderly people who live in isolated mountainous areas where water is crucial to their health.
Meanwhile, the current government continues to pay more contractors who do nothing to solve the problem and instead aggravate the crisis by damaging the aqueduct system, ignoring the experienced source of our public workers.
From Puerto Rico, for Radio Clarín in Colombia, this is Berta Joubert-Ceci.
Source: Struggle – La Lucha, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English