https://themilitant.com/2019/07/27/huge-puerto-rico-marches-demand-governor-resign/
Huge Puerto Rico marches demand governor resign
Support the fight to end US colonial rule!
??By Seth Galinsky
Vol. 83/ No. 28
August 5, 2019
July 17 protest demanding resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossell?? in San
Juan, Puerto Rico. Hundreds of thousands have marched. Question posed is
what should working people do next.
Reuters/Gabriella N. Baez
July 17 protest demanding resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossell?? in San
Juan, Puerto Rico. Hundreds of thousands have marched. Question posed is
what should working people do next.
The July 23 march of some half a million people in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, made it clear that the daily actions there since July 13 won???t
stop until Ricardo Rossell?? resigns as governor. And that his
resignation won???t put an end to the deep political crisis in the U.S.
colony.
Protesters came from all across the island. Some even flew from the
United States to join in. It was several times larger than the historic
Feb. 21, 2000, march demanding the U.S. Navy get out of Vieques. The
Navy had used the small island as a live bombing range for decades
against the will of the Puerto Rican people.
The immediate spark of the protests was the July 13 release of more than
800 pages of online ???chats??? between Rossell?? and his closest officials
and advisers in the New Progressive Party. They oozed with contempt for
working people as well as his bourgeois political opponents.
The crass comments ???were the drop of water that overflowed the cup,???
retired electrician Ra??l ???Ruly??? Laboy, told the Militant by phone from
Humacao on the eve of the march. Humacao was one of the areas hardest
hit by Hurricane Maria.
???Take the board with you???
Laboy was referring to the pent-up anger over the negligence of the
Puerto Rican and U.S. governments in the face of Maria; widespread
government corruption; and decades of attacks on the standard of living
of working people. And anger over the imposition by the Barack Obama
administration of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for
Puerto Rico. The Wall Street-based board has the power to override
decisions of the colonial regime, slash government programs and force
working people to pay for the ???Commonwealth???s??? $74 billion debt to
bondholders.
One popular chant at the actions was ???Ricky, resign, and take the board
with you.???
On July 10 the FBI arrested six people on charges of corruption,
including former Education Secretary Julia Keleher and ??ngela ??vila
Marrero, former executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance
Administration. The two were accused of steering $15.5 million in
federal contracts to their friends.
???The government closed four out of five schools here since the
hurricane,??? Laboy said. ???Many roads are still closed. Others have only
been reopened by the actions of working people ourselves.???
In the chats released by the Center for Investigative Reporting,
Rossell?? and his cohorts call New York City Puerto Rican politician
Melissa Mark-Viverito a ???whore??? and complain that San Juan Mayor Carmen
Yul??n Cruz, from the Popular Democratic Party, the main bourgeois
opposition, is either ???off her meds??? or a ???son-of-a-bitch.??? They insult
rivals in their own party. They discuss how to throw government
contracts to their cronies and joke about those who died from the hurricane.
Handmade signs dotted the march. Many simply said, ???4,645,??? one estimate
of the number who died from the effects of Maria, or the name of a loved
one who died. For nearly a year, Rossell?????s colonial government claimed
only 64 people died from the storm. Finally, after he could deny the
truth no more, he admitted at least 3,000 had perished.
Most deaths were not from the storm itself, but from the social
catastrophe in its wake ??? due to government inaction both in Puerto Rico
and in Washington and the dog-eat-dog workings of capitalism.
Storm shelters didn???t have enough food or water. Hospitals and health
clinics shut down or couldn???t provide adequate care because power went
out. Electricity wasn???t restored in large parts of the island for a
year. The one hospital on Vieques still isn???t open.
Reconstruction aid has been dispensed with an eyedropper and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency denied aid to thousands because they had
never been able to get a title to their homes.
Adding insult to injury was the widespread corruption, while the
government and the fiscal board keep cutting pensions and health care
and closing schools.
???Completely indignant???
???We???re completely indignant,??? Rufino Carri??n, a pastor who organized
protests against the slow pace of power restoration last year, said by
phone from Gurabo. ???It is always the most vulnerable, the poor who pay
for the broken plates. Nearly two years after the storm there are still
15,000 homes with only a blue tarp as a roof ??? and these corrupt
politicians of both parties are stealing millions and millions of dollars.???
Leaders of Rossell?????s party have joined the clamor demanding his
resignation, including former Gov. Luis Fortu??o; nonvoting
representative to Congress Jenniffer Gonz??lez; and the mayor of Bayam??n.
Many of Rossell?????s aides have quit.
According to the island???s colonial constitution, if Rossell?? resigns,
the next in line is the secretary of state. But that post went vacant
after Luis Rivera Mar??n resigned due to his participation in the chat
scandal. Next in line is the secretary of justice.
Worried that they can???t put in place new faces that will carry out the
needs of the U.S. rulers, the Washington Post demanded in a July 19
editorial that ???Congress should take steps to strengthen the [fiscal]
board??? and impose more ???rigorous oversight,??? over Puerto Rico.
???Both parties are the same,??? Laboy said. ???But the left is not strong
enough to govern.???
He hits at a real problem. Struggle by working people here has yet to
develop a working-class leadership capable of taking political power,
like Fidel Castro and the July 26 Movement did in Cuba. When Rossell??
goes, he???ll be replaced with another crooked stooge of Uncle Sam.
Laboy???s sister, Mildred, a leader of the community group Arecma, told
the Militant, ???If Rossell?? resigns and things continue to be the same,
then the people will have learned something.???
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public advocate, issued the following statement July 24.?? Angry over
capitalist politicians??? disregard for their lives in the wake of
Hurricane Maria, decades of government attacks on their standard of???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Huge Puerto Rico marches demand governor resign
???Moonwalk 50 years on - what it shows about life on earth
??????I???d like to see the miners fighting back everywhere???
???Hundreds protest gov???t refusal to charge cop who killed Eric Garner
???US rulers step up threats, sanctions against Iran - US hands off!
???Florida prisons ban ???Militant??? for reporting on prison censorship
Feature Articles ???In new victory Gibsons win $6.5 million in attorney
fee award
Also In This Issue ???Six years after Lac-Megantic, how to fight for rail
safety?
???Fight to keep family planning clinics open that offer abortion
???Independence for Puerto Rico!
On the Picket Line ???Indiana Machinists strike for health care, higher pay
???Quebec workers strike senior residences for $15 minimum pay
???Baltimore Symphony musicians protest lockout, moves to cut pay
Books of the Month ??????Toilers of the East awakening is part of world
revolution???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
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Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
???
??? Voltaire,
