A protester holds a sign that reads in Spanish, “We didn’t take out a loan. We didn’t see a dime. We’re not going to pay” during a protest in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 15, 2015.
ATHENS, GREECE — Despite only making headlines in recent months, the economic crisis in Puerto Rico has been developing and worsening for the past several years, a crisis which has led to Puerto Rico being dubbed “the Greece of the Caribbean.”
In this interview, Déborah Berman-Santana, professor emeritus of geography and ethnic studies at Mills College in Oakland, California, analyzes the latest developments in Puerto Rico.
Berman-Santana is the author of “Kicking Off The Bootstraps: Environment, Development, and Community Power in Puerto Rico,” a detailed analysis of “Operation Bootstrap,” a post-World War II industrial program launched by the United States […]
This certainly seems like another totalitarian obfuscation of the reality that Puerto Rico should be allowed to be a state, or may even be better off if they just became a country which guides it’s own destiny. I cannot believe a supposedly democratic president, Obama, would sign the horrendous bill which would hurt Puerto Rican people more than it would help them. They are our neighbors and we should treat them as such; not as people to be exploited and their land made into a “free for all” for American investors with their “money is all that matters” mentality. It is shameful to see our government do such horrendous things to our good neighbors.