https://themilitant.com/2019/08/31/workers-in-puerto-rico-face-crisis-of-colonial-rule/
Eyewitness Report
Workers in Puerto Rico face crisis of colonial rule
Protests oust governor, spur debate on way forward
??By Seth Galinsky
??and Alyson Kennedy
Vol. 83/No. 33
September 9, 2019
Yasmin Morales, from family that live by fishing, describes conditions
in El Negro area of Yabucoa in Puerto Rico to Alyson Kennedy, Socialist
Workers Party 2016 presidential candidate Aug. 17. The capitalist
parties are like ???sharks going after the small fish,??? Morales said.
Militant/Seth Galinsky
Yasmin Morales, from family that live by fishing, describes conditions
in El Negro area of Yabucoa in Puerto Rico to Alyson Kennedy, Socialist
Workers Party 2016 presidential candidate Aug. 17. The capitalist
parties are like ???sharks going after the small fish,??? Morales said.
YABUCOA, Puerto Rico ??? When she returned to what was left of her home in
the small El Negro neighborhood overlooking the sea after Hurricane
Maria in September 2017, Yasmin Morales looked up at the nearby hills.
???There wasn???t a leaf on a tree,??? she told Socialist Workers Party
members on a solidarity and reporting trip here Aug. 23.
Many people say that storm exposed the widespread poverty in the
countryside, for the first time easily visible from the main highways.
Two years later the leaves are back as lush as ever and many houses have
been repaired. But tens of thousands remain damaged, some roofless,
covered for two years with blue tarps meant to last 30 days, or
abandoned despite the billions of dollars in ???aid??? received by the
colonial regime in this U.S. colony.
The SWP delegation of Alyson Kennedy, the party???s 2016 candidate for
U.S. president, currently a Walmart worker in Dallas; Seth Galinsky, the
party???s candidate for New York City public advocate; and Linda Joyce, a
campaign supporter from Atlanta, spent five days talking to working
people, and exchanging views on what can be done to defend their interests.
Our trip came just a few weeks after 15 days of massive demonstrations
forced the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossell?? at the end of July. They
showed the potential power working people have when they organize and unite.
Lenis Rodr??guez, a worker in Yabucoa; Ra??l ???Ruly??? Laboy, a retired
electrician from nearby Humacao; as well as Rosalina Abreu and Mildred
Laboy, president and vice president of Arecma, the Recreational and
Educational Community Association of Mariana Neighborhood in Humacao
introduced us to workers in the area. Party members John Studer and
Mart??n Koppel had met them here last year.
Some 20 opponents of U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico exchanged views
with Socialist Workers Party delegation visiting Mariana neighborhood of
Humacao Aug. 17 at invitation of Arecma community group. From left,
Rosalina Abreu, Arecma president; retired teacher Mildred Laboy; farmer
Julio Antonio Rivera; and unidentified participant.
Militant/Linda Joyce
Some 20 opponents of U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico exchanged views
with Socialist Workers Party delegation visiting Mariana neighborhood of
Humacao Aug. 17 at invitation of Arecma community group. From left,
Rosalina Abreu, Arecma president; retired teacher Mildred Laboy; farmer
Julio Antonio Rivera; and unidentified participant.
Rodr??guez introduced us to Morales. Though her family of fishermen has
lived in El Negro for decades, like thousands of others across the
island she doesn???t have official title to her home. On the pretext that
the neighborhood is on a nature reserve, the government has never
allowed her to connect to the electric grid, even though a power line
runs right down the street in front of her house.
Unlike many of the thousands without title to their homes, Morales, who
made her living fishing until she was hurt in an accident, was able to
get $15,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin
rebuilding. ???But that wasn???t near enough,??? she noted. ???That???s why I???m
still doing most of the work myself.???
When a nonprofit group put on a new roof and installed solar panels,
Morales??? home had electricity for the first time. But an inverter, a key
component, broke. ???It costs $600,??? she said, which she doesn???t have, so
she doesn???t have power.
Morales didn???t join the protests against Rossell??, but she doesn???t like
either of the two main capitalist parties in Puerto Rico ??? the Popular
Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party. ???They???re all sharks
going after the small fish,??? she said.
Life for fishermen wasn???t easy before Hurricane Maria, Julio Angel
Morales Alicea, secretary of the Yabucoa Fishermen???s Association, told
us Aug. 18 as he prepared to head out to sea.
After the hurricane ???the government left us on our own,??? he said. Before
the storm the association ran a pescader??a by the boat ramp, where they
cleaned and sold fish to the community. The couple dozen or so small
fishermen in the association shared the work, expenses and income. The
cooperative was built on land rented from the Yabucoa municipal
government. ???We did up to a $1 million in sales a year,??? he said.
But the building was badly damaged in the storm. And the mayor of
Yabucoa, instead of helping to rebuild, revoked their lease. ???Now we
sell our catch on the side of the road,??? he said.
The government claims that electricity has been restored 100%. But the
day before, Morales Alicea said, his neighborhood was without
electricity for six hours. Such blackouts are common. The roads in the
wealthier neighborhoods have been repaired, he said, ???but you saw the
potholes on the way here.???
???Gov???t is corrupt, incompetent???
???I agree with President Donald Trump on one thing,??? Morales Alicea told
us. ???He said that the government of Puerto Rico is corrupt and incompetent.
???Look around, where did all the aid money go???? he asked. He joined the
protests against Rossell??.
Top, unrepaired home in Yabucoa two years after Hurricane Maria. ???What
did government do with millions in aid???? said fisherman Julio Morales.
Below, Karelys Vel??zquez and neighbor Nelson Mart??nez in Punta Santiago
discuss common challenges facing workers in U.S. and Puerto Rico with
SWP delegation.
Militant/Linda Joyce
Top, unrepaired home in Yabucoa two years after Hurricane Maria. ???What
did government do with millions in aid???? said fisherman Julio Morales.
Below, Karelys Vel??zquez and neighbor Nelson Mart??nez in Punta Santiago
discuss common challenges facing workers in U.S. and Puerto Rico with
SWP delegation.
While the island???s population has been shrinking for a decade as tens of
thousands move to the U.S., we ran into many workers who have worked in
the U.S. or go back and forth between the two countries. The use of
English is common.
In Punta Santiago, near where Hurricane Maria made landfall, every
street still has damaged and abandoned homes. Hearing salsa music from
one home, we stopped and introduced ourselves.
We spoke with Karelys Vel??zquez, a nurse, and her husband Eduardo
Alberto L??pez. When we pointed out that workers in the U.S. and Puerto
Rico face similar capitalist exploitation, their neighbor Nelson
Mart??nez jumped in.
???I know. I???ve worked in the fields in the U.S. picking vegetables and in
the Tyson chicken processing plants in Arkansas,??? he said. He described
the breakneck line speed at the Tyson plant. He worked with a lot of
Mexican workers without papers, he said, who are hired to keep wages down.
Crisis of colonial rule
In 2016 President Barack Obama signed bipartisan legislation imposing
the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico. Its
purpose is to maximize payment on some $74 billion in debt the colonial
regime owes to wealthy bondholders. The Junta, as it is called here, can
override all local government decisions.
Puerto Rico???s gross domestic product has declined every year except once
since 2006.
It took a year before electricity was restored in many areas. In the
face of government inaction, working people across the island held
protests to demand light, and helped each other out, clearing fallen
trees from the roads, repairing each other???s homes, even setting up
communal dining halls where storm survivors could get a good meal, which
is what Arecma did in Humacao.
When secret online ???chats??? of Rossell?? and his closest advisers became
public, showing their scorn for working people, the pent-up anger burst
as hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand his resignation.
Government officials implicated in corruption or other political
skulduggery in the chats began resigning.
Few workers believe new Gov. Wanda V??zquez will be much different. But
many hope the size of the demonstrations against Rossell?? will cause her
to think twice before imposing new anti-worker measures.
The mass protests have many working people thinking about which way forward.
Twenty longtime supporters of the fight against U.S. colonial rule in
Puerto Rico from a half-dozen small towns in the Humacao area responded
to an invitation by leaders of Arecma to meet the Socialist Workers
Party delegation.
They wanted to learn more about the party, including the international
current the party represents, the party???s view of what is happening in
the class struggle in the United States and how to continue to work
together to advance the interests of the working class in both countries.
Among those who came were school teachers, small farmers, and
construction and other workers, supporters of a wide range of
pro-independence organizations.
Kennedy and Galinsky described the party???s support for the fight for
independence for Puerto Rico, going back to the founding of the
communist party in the U.S. in 1919. ???We believe that working people in
the U.S. can???t be free as long as the government that oppresses us
maintains Puerto Rico as a colony,??? Kennedy said.
???Working people face the same problems and the same opportunities in the
U.S. and Puerto Rico,??? Galinsky said. ???We need to build a fighting
working-class movement, to organize independently of the capitalist
parties, their state and their government.???
Our party believes the revolution made by working people in Cuba in 1959
is an example for us both in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico and points the
road forward for how the people in Puerto Rico can wrest their
independence from the rulers in Washington.
Kennedy presented meeting organizers with a solidarity message from some
three dozen of her Dallas Walmart co-workers.
After the meeting the delegation joined a festival, enjoying
performances by local musicians and home-cooked food, a fundraiser for a
young resident of Marianas leaving for Boston to further his talents as
a player of the cuatro, a traditional 10-stringed guitar.
Exploitation by big Pharma
We met Adamaris Cruz, 25, there. She moved back to Humacao after serving
eight months in the U.S. Army and being discharged after injuring her
ankle. Cruz is a temporary worker at one of the dozens of pharmaceutical
companies that dot the island, making just $7.25 an hour, the federal
minimum.
???I???m moving back in with my mother,??? she said, because even a rent of
$350 a month is not sustainable.
Cruz said few temporary workers joined the demonstrations against
Rossell??, worried that that would jeopardize their chance to become
permanent. ???But all the supervisors knew our hearts were with the
protests,??? she said.
At Amgen, another nearby pharmaceutical plant, as many as 10% of the
workers skipped work the day of the biggest protests.
There are dozens of big pharmaceutical plants on the island that employ
tens of thousands of workers churning out profits for bosses on the
mainland. Few are unionized. Like in the U.S. less than 7% of workers at
private companies are in a union. Cruz said her co-workers have begun
talking about forming a union.
???I???m not an independentista,??? she said. ???Our people aren???t prepared for
independence.???
???Working people get prepared by standing up and fighting for our rights
today,??? Galinsky replied.
???That makes sense,??? she said.
Another place the impact of U.S. colonial rule is striking is in
agriculture. ???We can grow all year-round, we have land, we have water,???
said Antonio S??nchez Camacho, an agronomist who works with an
association of banana farmers in Yabucoa. ???They say we import 85% of our
food. It???s closer to 99%.??? He said they just can???t compete with U.S.
agribusiness.
Since Puerto Rico is a colony it can???t levy tariffs on U.S. imports to
protect the island???s farmers. And the best land has been taken by giant
U.S. agriculture companies like Monsanto. The minimum wage for
farmworkers is $5.25 an hour.
Flor D??vila, 24, cleans rooms at a luxury tourist hotel. Like most of
her co-workers, she told us, she???s a temp worker, earning $7.25 an hour,
and gets less than 30 hours a week. They have to clean each room in 45
minutes.
An elderly couple who Davila???s mother used to help out moved to the U.S.
after the hurricane. They let D??vila, her 2-year-old child, and her
mother move into their house in Yabucoa rent-free, where we met her. But
expenses add up, she said. ???I don???t know how I???d get by if I had to pay
rent.???
???My co-workers have been talking,??? she said. ???Some say if we can unite
and get rid of a governor, can???t we do the same thing and demand higher
wages, more hours and to be made permanent????
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Miners win support in fight against Blackjewel
???Workers in Puerto Rico face crisis of colonial rule
??????New York Times??? changes its ???story,??? says race-baiting can topple
Trump
??????We need to organize workers to defend environment, safety???
???Florida prison officials lift ban on 5 issues of ???Militant??? after
protests
???Working people in Syria face growing crisis from attacks by Assad regime
Feature Articles ???Gov???t to give pork bosses sole power over line speed
Also In This Issue ???Communications Workers hold four day strike across 9
states
???Toronto cop who killed youth paroled after only two years
???Organize workers to defend class interests
???Israeli rulers bomb Tehran???s bases in Syria and Iraq
On the Picket Line ???Airline catering workers picket Dallas airport in
contract fight
???Asda store workers in U.K. rally against concessions contract
Books of the Month ???Socialist revolution is ???historical mission of
modern proletariat???
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Letters
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