Peaceful Protest In Puerto Rico In The Summer Of 2019

Peaceful protest in Puerto Rico in the summer of 2019

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Peaceful protest in Puerto Rico in the summer of 2019

Introduction

Puerto Rico is Caribbean island and is unincorporated in the territory of the United States of America. The country had had hard times recently with both natural and man-made disasters which have rocked the nation down to its core. The country’s economy is based on the agriculture sector but primarily it was mostly supported by manufacturing and the services industry. On September 20, 2017 Puerto Rico was struck by a massive disaster that had plunged the island into devastation and let to a high loss of life. This storm was known as Hurricane Maria, however, this essay is to focus on the protests that had emerged in Puerto Rico in the summer of 2019.

Discussion

Puerto Rico has been one of the most competitive and dynamic economies within the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. However, most of its economy is sustained by the aid that is flown in from the United States of America (Villanueva, et al, 2018). Until the 1900’s the economy of Puerto Rico was mostly dominated by agriculture such as sugar. However, as time passed the manufacturing and services industry surpassed it and become a forty six percent contributor to the country’s total GDP. However, since 2006, there has been a negative growth in the economy of this Caribbean island due to the removal of the tax preferences given to the USA companies to operate in its territory (Williams and Waxman, 2017).

In the morning of September 20, 2017 a devastating storm by the name of Hurricane Maria struck the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. In over eighty years this was one of the worst storms that ever hit this island (Kishore, et al, 2018).. This had resulted in the migration of a total of 130,000 people from the land of Puerto Rico, however, most of the citizens that had left they were also US nationals. Furthermore, it is estimated that by the year 29024 there would be a further drop in the population of the island by eight percent.

In the summer of 2019, nearly nine hundred pages of conversations between the Governor Ricardo Rossello and his aids was released. The fact is there is always leaks that occur in the political atmosphere so it would not have been much of a problem. However, the sad part of this was that the ;leaked conversations showed the Governor and top eleven of his aides involved in messages that were misogynistic, profanity laced and homophobic in nature (Sanchez, 2019). Furthermore, these messages were directed at the people in media, politicians and even celebrities. This was obtained by the center for investigative journalism. Furthermore, the messages showed the Governor and his aides making fun of the people that had been devastated by Hurricane Maria. All of these further aggravated the people of Puerto Rico and they came out in full force to protest the actions of the Governor. They blocked every major road in and out of San Juan and asked for the resignation of the Governor. This protest kept going for twelve days and kept pressuring the governor for his resignation. As the governor became more and more alienated by his fellow party members and other politicians he finally decided to give up office after twelve days of continued protests (Robles & Rosa, 2019).

Conclusion

The heinous actions of the governor and his aides led to the people of Puerto Rico coming on to the streets of SanJuan to ask for the resignation of their governor. This was a historic moment as this was the first time that ever a sitting governor was ever kicked out without an election. Their remarks regarding the damages to life and property of the people of Puerto Rico is further gruesome in nature.

References

Kishore, N., Marqués, D., Mahmud, A., Kiang, M. V., Rodriguez, I., Fuller, A., ... & Maas, L. (2018). Mortality in puerto rico after hurricane maria. New England journal of medicine, 379(2), 162-170.

Robles, F., & Rosa, A. (2019). ‘The People Can’t Take It Anymore’: Puerto Rico Erupts in a Day of Protests. Retrieved 8 November 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/us/puerto-rico-protests-politics.html

Sanchez, R. (2019). These are some of the leaked chat messages at the center of Puerto Rico's political crisis. Retrieved 8 November 2019, from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/16/us/puerto-rico-governor-rossello-private-chats/index.html

Villanueva, J., Cobián, M., & Rodríguez, F. (2018). San Juan, the Fragile City: Finance Capital, Class, and the Making of Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis. Antipode, 50(5), 1415-1437.

Williams, E., & Waxman, S. (2017). States can adopt or expand earned income tax credits to build a stronger future economy. Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.