Watch Rep. Luis Gutierrez School Congress on the History of Puerto Rico

Congressman Luis Gutiérrez dropped some serious knowledge on his colleagues this Tuesday about Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.

Speaking in the House Chamber, the Democratic Illinois Representative, who himself is of Puerto Rican descent, led his 5-minute talk with a lesson on the Caribbean island’s colonial status, saying, "it is [the U.S.’] colony, and we rule over it."

But Gutiérrez’s truth bombs didn’t stop there. The progressive politician, hailed as the Latino community's closest figure to Martin Luther King Jr., also blamed Congress for Puerto Rico’s $72B debt, which the island’s governor Alejandro García Padilla said wasunpayable last month.

"The Puerto Rican people must begin putting direct pressure on this Congress for action because Puerto Rico’s problems are mostly the creation of ... you guessed it ... Congress."

#toma

Here, five additional quote-worthy parts of Gutiérrez’s impassioned speech:

1. "Now the same people who cash in on debt in places like Greece and Argentina are lining up to cash in in the Caribbean by stepping up their demands for austerity measures, privatization of utilities and restructuring on their terms that will make them very, very rich at the expense of the Puerto Rican people."

2. "The Puerto Rican people are being distracted by the promises of Statehood by every politician who travels to San Juan or needs the votes of Puerto Ricans in Orlando."#JebBush

3. "Los dueños de bonos están haciendo fila para recibir sus pagos aun cuando el resto de Puerto Rico se derrumba." (The bondholders are lining up to get paid even if the rest of Puerto Rico collapses).

By Raquel Reichard

Watch Rep. Luis Gutierrez School Congress on the History of Puerto Rico