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Vol. 81/No. 14 April 10, 2017
Chicago rally hits U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico
Militant/Naomi Craine
CHICAGO — More than 100 people rallied downtown here March 22 as part of
a “Day of Action: Breaking the Chains of Puerto Rico’s Debt.” Protests
also took place in several other cities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico
opposing the deep attacks on the jobs, wages and social conditions of
workers being imposed by Washington’s Financial Oversight and Management
Board for Puerto Rico. The colonial rulers in Washington and Wall Street
demand Puerto Rican workers pay for a $70 billion debt to the capitalist
bondholders.
“Our families did not create this crisis, but are paying the price,”
said Noel Sanchez, who lives and works in Chicago but has relatives on
the island. He described the deep cuts to jobs, education, health care
and other social needs being inflicted on working people.
“Today marks the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico
in 1873,” José López, speaking above, executive director of the Puerto
Rican Cultural Center, told protesters. The fight to abolish slavery and
for independence had been intertwined in Puerto Rico, he said, as they
were in Cuba.
The picket line and rally took place outside the offices of McKinsey &
Co., which López said is getting paid some $1 million a month as a
“strategic consultant” to the fiscal board. Many participants came from
the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and from the Albizu Campos High School
affiliated with it. Service Employees International Union Local 73 also
joined the action.
— NAOMI CRAINE
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