Friday, July 29, 2016
Puerto Rico delegates proud to make history at DNC, angry over not being able to vote [Video]
Puerto Rico delegates proud to make history at DNC, angry over not being able to vote
Puerto Rico Fiscal 2016 Revenue Comes In Short at $9.7 Billion
Puerto Rico collected $9.7 billion of general-fund revenue in fiscal 2016, $117 million less than estimated in the island’s budget, as individual and corporate tax receipts were below projections.
The commonwealth brought in $2 billion of personal-income tax revenue in the 12 months ended June 30, making up the largest share of the budget, Treasury Secretary Juan Zaragoza said in a statement Thursday. Puerto Rico collected about $1.7 billion of corporate tax receipts. Individual and business revenue was $51 million below revised budgeted estimates.
Puerto Rico on July 1 defaulted on nearly $1 billion of principal and interest, the largest such payment failure in the $3.7 trillion municipal-bond market. Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said he needed the funds to maintain essential services.
Tax receipts on foreign manufacturers totaled $1.86 billion, the general fund’s second-largest revenue stream. It was about $16 million below estimates.
The general fund received $1.56 billion of sales-tax receipts, about $27 million more than projected. The island collected a total of $2.4 billion of sales-tax revenue in fiscal 2016, including $696 million that went to repay debt, called Cofina bonds, that are backed by the revenue stream.
Michelle KaskePuerto Rico Fiscal 2016 Revenue Comes In Short at $9.7 Billion
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Virgin Islands Echoes Puerto Rico as Utility’s Bonds Cut to Junk
Another U.S. territory is sliding into junk-bond status.
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, the Caribbean archipelago’s utility, had the credit rating on its most secure debt cut below investment grade Wednesday by S&P Global Ratings. The rating company cited its low levels of cash and a backlog of unpaid bills, some owed by the government.
"The downgrade reflects weakened debt service coverage and liquidity, due in part to delayed payments on government-related accounts," said S&P credit analyst Peter Murphy in a statement.
The Virgin Islands, with about 100,000 residents, is contending with some of the same forces that pushed nearby Puerto Rico into a cascading series of defaults: a declining population, retirement-fund debts and a history of borrowing to cover budget shortfalls. Its $2.4 billion of debt, issued by various arms of the government, amounts to some $23,000 per person, even more than Puerto Rico’s $20,000.
The pressure on the utility is also similar: The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, squeezed in part by unpaid bills from government agencies, struck a deal with creditors in December to restructure its debt.
The Puerto Rico crisis prompted the U.S. government to step in last month, when President Barack Obama enacted a law that gives that island legal power to reduce what it owes, similar to how U.S. cities have in bankruptcy.
Virgin Islands officials opposed the legislation, and the agency that does much of the government’s borrowing remains investment grade. But the federal intervention rattled investors by setting a precedent for a territory to write off debts once seen as legally iron clad, causing Virgin Islands bonds to tumble 17 percent this month, according to S&P’s index.
S&P considers the water and power authority’s finances to be "somewhat vulnerable," with accounts receivable at the end of fiscal 2015 of $45 million, or 17 percent of operating revenues. While the agency has since cut that roughly in half, the credit-rating company said liquidity remains weak.
The utility has $231 million of debt outstanding. S&P cut the grade of senior debt by one step to BB+, a notch below investment grade. Subordinated securities were downgraded two steps to BB-. S&P said that outlook is negative, indicating it could be lowered again.
Molly SmithVirgin Islands Echoes Puerto Rico as Utility’s Bonds Cut to Junk
Fast-growing Allegiant expands to Puerto Rico and Trenton, N.J.
Allegiant's route map continues to accumulate more dots.
The leisure carrier will begin flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico , and Trenton, N.J., cities that join Allegiant’s network as part of a six-route expansion to be announced Thursday. Allegiant also will increase service on three of its existing routes.
“It’s really exciting for us.to be adding these new cities and flights,” Lukas Johnson, Allegiant’s VP of network and pricing, says in an interview with Today in the Sky.
Allegiant’s expansion to Trenton comes just a month after it announced new service to another new destination in New Jersey: Newark Liberty International . Johnson said Allegiant’s addition of Trenton the helps it round out its offerings in the mid-Atlantic, a region where the carrier wants to expand its footprint.
“The mid-Atlantic was a huge hole for us in our network,” Johnson says. “It’s one area we’re trying to fill this year.”
Trenton becomes will become the third mid-Atlantic airport to join Allegiant’s route map in 2016, joining Newark and Baltimore-Washington International (BWI).
Allegiant’s expansion to Trenton also will end Frontier’s monopoly on commercial flights there. Frontier, another “ultra low-cost carrier” that began flying from Trenton in 2012, is currently the only airline offering regularly scheduled service there.
“It’s not the first time we’ve been the second carrier or the second ultra-low-cost carrier to an airport,” Johnson says. “For us, the time is right. We expect to carry not only vacationers down to the destinations, but plenty of ‘friends and family’ (passengers visiting loved ones).”
Allegiant’s Trenton service will begin Nov. 3 with nonstop flights to the Florida destinations of Orlando Sanford and Punta Gorda. A day later Allegiant will add service to St. Petersburg, Fla.
Though Trenton sits just about 40 miles from downtown Philadelphia and about 65 from New York City, Johnson says Allegiant’s main focus is on developing the broader base of Trenton travelers.
“For us, it makes more sense to be going into these areas that we think are a little bit underserved,” he says about Trenton. “Well over a million people would say Trenton is their closest home airport. Those are the people we’re targeting. We’re not targeting Philadelphia or Newark.”
Allegiant’s service to Puerto Rico will begin Dec. 14, when the airline launches four weekly nonstop flights between Orlando Sanford and San Juan.
“It’s going to be our first scheduled service to the Caribbean ,” Johnson says. “We’re very excited about it, and it’s coming from our largest base on the East Coast.”
Allegiant’s Orlando service operates not from the Orlando International Airport served by most major U.S. carriers, but rather from the Orlando Sanford International Airport that’s emerged as a hub for discount airline service in central Florida. Sanford sits about 30 miles northeast of central Orlando. It’s also only about 45 miles from Florida’s Atlantic Coast destinations like Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral .
“There’s a lot of current service (from Puerto Rico) to Orlando International,” Johnson says. “But there’s no service out east toward Sanford where we’re based. It makes a lot of sense to do that.”
Elsewhere, Allegiant also announced two new routes from Las Vegas, the carrier’s main base and home to its headquarters.
Five weekly Oakland flights begin Oct. 5 while twice-weekly Kansas City service launches Oct. 20.
Scroll down to see details on all of the new routes included in Allegiant’s Thursday announcement:
Trenton (TTN)
Orlando Sanford: Three weekly flights begin Nov. 3. The year-round service will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft.
Punta Gorda: Two weekly flights begin Nov. 3. The year-round service will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft.
St. Petersburg: Two weekly flights begin Nov. 4. The year-round service will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Orland Sanford: Four weekly flights begin Dec. 14. The year-round service will be operated with a mix of MD-80 and Airbus A320 aircraft.
Las Vegas
Oakland: Five weekly flights begin Oct. 5. The year-round service will be operated with a mix of MD-80 and Airbus A319 aircraft.
Kansas City: Two weekly flights begin Oct. 20. The year-round service will be operated with MD-80 aircraft.
Existing routes
Kansas City-St. Petersburg: Increases to three weekly flights, up from two
Akron/Canton-Punta Gorda: Increases to three weekly flights, up from two
Akron/Canton-St. Petersburg: Increases to three weekly flights, up from two
Ben Mutzabaugh
Fast-growing Allegiant expands to Puerto Rico and Trenton, N.J.
An important week for Puerto Rico In Philadelphia
The issue of the United States Territory of Puerto Rico will be upfront at the 2016 Democratic Party National Convention in Philadelphia. Finally, after decades of negligence by the two major political parties in the mainland, Puerto Rico will be taking center stage.
The dramatic and chaotic situation on the Island have forced the hand of Washington, finally!
Make no mistake about it, Puerto Rico is submerged in an historic economic depression that, if left uncheck, will ultimate lead to a complete collapse of our socioeconomic system. As it stands right now, our insular government operates with a massive structural debt estimated at over $70,000 million.
We are also in the middle of the longest economic recession in the history of the United States. Our economy began its contraction right about the last quarter of 2005, that’s 12 years ago! We have not seen a two consecutive quarters of growth in well over a decade and our labor force has dipped below the one million mark.
For the first time in the history of the Territory, a government have defaulted in its payment obligations. Holiday sales, the backbone of a consumer-based economy such as ours, were down up to 30 percent amid a worsening economic crisis, accordingly to Puerto Rico’s United Retailers Association.
Current data also shows that due to the prolonged recession, people are not buying houses. In fact, there was a sharp 30.5 percent drop in the number of new mortgages generated in the third quarter of 2015. That figure contrast dramatically to the one seen in the rest of the Nation where housing value jumped 2.5 percent in 2015.
Because of this, Congress was forced to act, approving H.R. 5278, better known as PROMESA, a comprehensive bill aimed at establishing an Oversight Board to assist the Government of Puerto Rico, including instrumentalities, in managing its public finances. A few days later, PresidentBarack Obama signed it into law.
We need more, we need equality with the other 50 states of the Union. This is why this will be an importer week for the more than 3.4 million Americans citizens that call Puerto Rico home.
There’s in the Democratic Party Platform a comprehensive part dealing with the injustices that Puerto Rico have suffered over more than a century of colonial rule by the U.S.
Although the platform deals with issues of inequality such as funding for Medicaid and Medicare, as well as the right to a presidential vote, the most important part is that the Party, and its new leader, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pledges to solve the island’s status issue within a time frame of four years.
No more empty promises, hollow pronouncements or campaign slogans, the Democratic Party is committed to solving this urgent matter within a reasonable timetable and with specific triggers that will finally grant the people of Puerto Rico the equality we have fought for so long now.
Make no mistake about it, we, the American citizens living in Puerto Rico, will make sure that this renewed promise will be held, after all, we are all Americans.
This is why this is an important week for Puerto Ricans.
By Ricardo Llerandi Cruz
An important week for Puerto Rico In Philadelphia
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Congress and Supreme Court Shape a Path Towards Financial Recovery
Puerto Rico’s financial woes have recently been front and center in financial news. Although a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed Puerto Rico’s ability to enact its own legislation to address its debt situation, late last month President Obama signed into law legislation designed to allow Puerto Rico to restructure its vast public debt, giving new hope to the Commonwealth’s financially strapped public utilities. The particulars of how this legislation will be implemented will have significant implications for these public utilities, which bear a combined debt exceeding $20 billion. Stakeholders in Puerto Rico’s financial fortunes are closely reviewing the developing legal landscape.
PROMESA: Congress Adopted Legislation to Aid Puerto Rico in Restructuring
A bill that was recently approved with bipartisan support in both the House of Representatives and the Senate could provide a way for Puerto Rico to restructure some of its heavy debt load by creating a process for what may be the largest municipal debt workout in U.S. history. The legislation creates a seven-member board to oversee the process and balance the island’s finances. Members of the oversight board will be appointed by the president from lists of candidates submitted by congressional leaders.
The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) does not provide for federal funds to be contributed to assist Puerto Rico to resolve its financial problems. Instead, PROMESA establishes procedures and requirements for the oversight board to initiate a procedure to restructure the island’s debt, with the board operating as Puerto Rico’s representative.
Certain aspects of PROMESA provide procedures similar to provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. Establishment of the oversight board operates as an automatic stay preventing creditors from enforcing claims against the Commonwealth’s government. The board will also be empowered to divide creditors into different pools based on the characteristics of the debt, and each pool can vote on a plan to restructure debt. And also similar to a case under the Bankruptcy Code, if a certain percentage of the outstanding principal amount of a pool agrees with the restructuring plan, the pool can file a petition in court to bind the dissenting creditors to the plan.
PROMESA also empowers the oversight board to approve and enforce budgets, and approve a fiscal plan proposed by Puerto Rico’s governor.
The U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Puerto Rico’s Recovery Act Is Preempted
Passage of PROMESA comes in the wake of a loss for Puerto Rico before the Supreme Court. In a 5-3 decision, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, No. 15-233, Slip Op. (June 13, 2016), the Supreme Court ruled that a law enacted by Puerto Rico to put itself on the path toward fiscal recovery was preempted by Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code. The decision, which affirms decisions by the District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, ends a dispute between Puerto Rico and a group of investment funds (the Funds) about the feasibility of the Puerto Rico Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act (the Recovery Act), which enabled Puerto Rico’s public utilities to execute a plan to restructure their debt.
In Puerto Rico, the Funds sought to enjoin the Recovery Act, arguing that section 903(1) of the Bankruptcy Code, which bars “states” from enacting municipal bankruptcy laws, preempted the Act. The Commonwealth responded that it was excluded from the scope of the preemption provision because the definition of “state” in section 101(52) of the Bankruptcy Code excluded Puerto Rico for the purpose of defining who may be a debtor under Chapter 9. The Commonwealth also argued that the Recovery Act is not a “state law” that can be preempted under section 903(1). The District Court enjoined the enforcement of the Recovery Act and the First Circuit affirmed, ruling that the exception in section 101(52) did not remove Puerto Rico from the ambit of the preemption provision.
The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the Recovery Act is precluded by Chapter 9. The Court first turned to the “gateway” provision, section 109(c), which requires a Chapter 9 debtor to be an insolvent municipality that is “specifically authorized” by the state “to be a debtor.” The Court then turned to the definition provision, section 101(52), and held that under its plain text, the provision excluded Puerto Rico “for the single purpose” of defining who may be a Chapter 9 debtor under the “gateway” provision. Puerto Rico, Slip Op. at 9-11. The Court concluded that if Congress had intended to exclude Puerto Rico from Chapter 9 altogether, including the preemption provision, then Congress would have done so. Id. Addressing the Commonwealth’s argument that the Recovery Act was not a “state law” subject to preemption under section 903(1), the Court held that the Commonwealth’s reading was excessively technical to support such a “[f]undamental chang[e] in the scope” of Chapter 9’s preemption provision. Id. at 11-14.
Justice Sotomayor and Justice Ginsberg dissented. The dissent reasoned that if Puerto Rico municipalities, including its fiscally desperate public utilities, cannot access Chapter 9 bankruptcy, they effectively have no other legal options to restructure. Puerto Rico, Dissenting Opinion at 1-2. The dissent also reasoned that the preemption provision applies only to states that have the power to authorize their municipalities to seek Chapter 9 protection, arguing that the provision must be read “in context of the overall statutory scheme.” Id. at 5-6, 8.
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court’s decision in Puerto Rico limited Puerto Rico’s options for comprehensive financial restructuring. The decision also comes on the heels of a recent opinion by the Court holding that Puerto Rico does not have the same rights to sovereignty with respect to criminal proceedings as U.S. states. See Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, 136 S.Ct. 1863 (June 9, 2016). Together, these two decisions define the limits of the island’s ability to address its public debt obligations. Yet the passage of PROMESA suggests that the path to financial recovery lies through Congress. How swiftly the law is implemented, how effectively the board employs its powers, and who will win or lose are unanswered questions, given limited precedent for such a large-scale financial recovery. Distressed debt traders, Puerto Rico’s creditors and others with a financial stake in Puerto Rico’s financial well-being are monitoring developments.
Congress and Supreme Court Shape a Path Towards Financial Recovery
Hatch Appointed Chairman of Congressional Task Force on Puerto Rico
The House on Monday appointed Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to serve as chairman of a bicameral task force charged with investigating the causes and possible solutions to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.
The House approved Hatch’s appointment in a pro forma session Monday afternoon. That session also formalized the appointments of Reps. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) as the House Republican appointees to the task force. Rep. Nydia Velázquez of New York and Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative in Congress, are the two House Democratic appointees.
In addition to Hatch, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) are members of the task force.
The Puerto Rico bill that Congress passed in June lets Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) decide who gets appointed as the task force’s chairman.
Hatch Appointed Chairman of Congressional Task Force on Puerto Rico
For delegate fleeing poverty in Puerto Rico, DNC is a one-way trip
Like thousands of other delegates to the Democratic National Convention this week, Gendy Tchuda made her way to Philadelphia by plane. Unlike most, the 25-year-old from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, bought a one-way ticket.
"There's no jobs in Puerto Rico right now," said Tchuda, who's been searching fruitlessly for work since graduating from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras in May 2015. "If I can get an opportunity, I would stay here."
Tchuda is among 23 Bernie Sanders delegates from Puerto Rico, which sent 67 delegates altogether. While many Sanders delegates are speaking out on issues like campaign-finance reform and the role of superdelegates, the Puerto Ricans have more immediate concerns: The island's unemployment rate, 11.2 percent, is more than double the national average, the 45 percent poverty level is the highest in the nation, and about 38 percent of households use food stamps.
Because of the crushing economy, Puerto Ricans have been fleeing the island at a rate of 230 a day.
The situation became so dire this year that the government started a campaign to turn the tide, with a hashtag #YoNoMeQuito - roughly, "I don't quit."
Tchuda didn't initially intend to join that exodus. But, for the first-time delegate, even getting to the convention was a stretch. She was shocked when she learned that the hotel was $200 per night.
"We didn't expect the convention would be that expensive. I have zero savings," she said. She started fund-raising on the website GoFundMe. "But I didn't have the money for the return ticket."
Since she's here, she'll see if she can make the trip pay off. She plans to stay with a friend in New York and look for work, perhaps at the United Nations or a think tank. (She studied political science and international relations, and interned in Congress and the Puerto Rican Senate.)
Going home, Tchuda said, isn't much of an option. She's been living with her mother, who works in retail, but they're barely getting by.
"I can't help her financially. I'm actually squeezing her," she said.
For all delegates from Puerto Rico, the economy is top of mind.
Manny Rivera, 33, also of Bayamon, has held four jobs in three years, he said.
"I've been working for different pharmaceutical companies, and all of them are leaving Puerto Rico," he said.
Rafael Yulian, 43, who owns his own commercial diving business in San Juan, said the government - $70 billion in debt - also impacts his business. He used to rely on government contracts for work repairing piers and barges. Those dried up in 2012 or 2013, he said. "Because they have no money, they can't start projects. So nothing moves."
Tchuda said her peers who do have work are piecing together low-wage, part-time jobs. "How can you live like that? Many of us are living with our parents," she said.
She got involved with Sanders' campaign after he spoke at her college, emphasizing restructuring the Puerto Rican debt and giving residents control over the territory's fate.
"He said Puerto Rico is a colony. I haven't heard that word from any other president or nominee," she said. "When I heard those words, I said I have to sign up to be a volunteer for the Bernie Sanders campaign."
As for a President Hillary Clinton, what would she do for Puerto Rico?
"Nothing," Tchuda said. "She didn't even bother to come to the island during her campaign."
For now, Tchuda's hoping to make an impact at the convention where she can. It may be her only chance, since Puerto Rico residents can't vote in the general election.
smelamed@phillynews.com
215-854-5053@samanthamelamed
SAMANTHA MELAMED
For delegate fleeing poverty in Puerto Rico, DNC is a one-way trip
"There's no jobs in Puerto Rico right now," said Tchuda, who's been searching fruitlessly for work since graduating from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras in May 2015. "If I can get an opportunity, I would stay here."
Tchuda is among 23 Bernie Sanders delegates from Puerto Rico, which sent 67 delegates altogether. While many Sanders delegates are speaking out on issues like campaign-finance reform and the role of superdelegates, the Puerto Ricans have more immediate concerns: The island's unemployment rate, 11.2 percent, is more than double the national average, the 45 percent poverty level is the highest in the nation, and about 38 percent of households use food stamps.
Because of the crushing economy, Puerto Ricans have been fleeing the island at a rate of 230 a day.
The situation became so dire this year that the government started a campaign to turn the tide, with a hashtag #YoNoMeQuito - roughly, "I don't quit."
Tchuda didn't initially intend to join that exodus. But, for the first-time delegate, even getting to the convention was a stretch. She was shocked when she learned that the hotel was $200 per night.
"We didn't expect the convention would be that expensive. I have zero savings," she said. She started fund-raising on the website GoFundMe. "But I didn't have the money for the return ticket."
Since she's here, she'll see if she can make the trip pay off. She plans to stay with a friend in New York and look for work, perhaps at the United Nations or a think tank. (She studied political science and international relations, and interned in Congress and the Puerto Rican Senate.)
Going home, Tchuda said, isn't much of an option. She's been living with her mother, who works in retail, but they're barely getting by.
"I can't help her financially. I'm actually squeezing her," she said.
For all delegates from Puerto Rico, the economy is top of mind.
Manny Rivera, 33, also of Bayamon, has held four jobs in three years, he said.
"I've been working for different pharmaceutical companies, and all of them are leaving Puerto Rico," he said.
Rafael Yulian, 43, who owns his own commercial diving business in San Juan, said the government - $70 billion in debt - also impacts his business. He used to rely on government contracts for work repairing piers and barges. Those dried up in 2012 or 2013, he said. "Because they have no money, they can't start projects. So nothing moves."
Tchuda said her peers who do have work are piecing together low-wage, part-time jobs. "How can you live like that? Many of us are living with our parents," she said.
She got involved with Sanders' campaign after he spoke at her college, emphasizing restructuring the Puerto Rican debt and giving residents control over the territory's fate.
"He said Puerto Rico is a colony. I haven't heard that word from any other president or nominee," she said. "When I heard those words, I said I have to sign up to be a volunteer for the Bernie Sanders campaign."
As for a President Hillary Clinton, what would she do for Puerto Rico?
"Nothing," Tchuda said. "She didn't even bother to come to the island during her campaign."
For now, Tchuda's hoping to make an impact at the convention where she can. It may be her only chance, since Puerto Rico residents can't vote in the general election.
smelamed@phillynews.com
215-854-5053@samanthamelamed
SAMANTHA MELAMED
For delegate fleeing poverty in Puerto Rico, DNC is a one-way trip
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
National Puerto Rican Agenda: New Group Forms to Address Island's Unprecedented Economic Crisis [PBS: Radio]
Some 150 Puerto Rican elected officials, community leaders and activists from across the United States gathered Sunday near Philadelphia ahead of the Democratic National Convention to found the National Puerto Rican Agenda to organize support for Puerto Rico during the island’s unprecedented financial and economic crisis. This comes a month after Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the controversialPROMESA law, which provides a way for Puerto Rico to restructure its $70 billion debt but also creates a new financial control board to oversee the island’s financial affairs. Today, on the 118th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, and on the 64th anniversary of the creation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the new group plans to press its concerns to Democratic Party delegates with a rally near Philadelphia’s City Hall. We speak with two of its newly elected leaders, Roseni Plaza and Natascha Otero-Santiago.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We are "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency," broadcasting from PhillyCAM—that’s Philadelphia’s public access TV station—for this full week, two hours a day, expanded coverage of the Democratic National Convention. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, some 150 Puerto Rican elected officials, community leaders and activists from across the United States gathered for an all-day assembly Sunday, just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention, to found the National Puerto Rican Agenda, an organization that will seek to organize support for Puerto Rico during the island’s unprecedented financial and economic crisis.
The new group of stateside Puerto Ricans convened in Camden, New Jersey, just across the river from Philadelphia, less than a month after Congress passed and President Obama signed the controversial PROMESA law, which provides a way for Puerto Rico to restructure its $70 billion debt, but which also creates a new financial control board to oversee the island’s financial affairs.
AMY GOODMAN: Its members approved a program, bylaws, and elected officers, and vowed to monitor how the new PROMESA law is implemented. They approved plans to marshal pressure on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to equalize funding for Medicaid and Medicare in Puerto Rico, to exempt Puerto Rico from onerous U.S. shipping laws that drive up the cost of goods entering Puerto Rico, and to advocate for Congress to finally begin the process of decolonizing Puerto Rico in accordance with international law. And today, on the 118th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, and the 64th anniversary of the creation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the new group plans to press its concerns to Democratic Party delegates with a rally near Philadelphia’s City Hall.
To talk more about the new group, we are joined by two of its leaders who were elected yesterday. Roseni Plaza was elected treasurer of the new national organization, and Natascha Otero-Santiago is the board member in charge of social media.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Why don’t we begin with Natascha? Tell us what you’re planning to do.
NATASCHA OTERO-SANTIAGO: Well, The National Puerto Rican Agenda, that we had started in October, we actually have had a communications plan through Facebook and Twitter and NationBuilder, and I’m part of that communications team. I’m also the chairman of the South Florida chapter that was just incorporated yesterday. It’s very necessary. There are more than 300,000 Puerto Ricans in the South Florida area, in the Tri-County area, which a lot of—a lot of people give attention to the Puerto Ricans in Orlando, Tampa, I-4 corridor, but a lot of people don’t know about how many Puerto Ricans have moved and migrated to South Florida in the last 10 years. So, I think it’s necessary to pay attention to that Puerto Rican community of professionals that are moving to South Florida.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of this meeting, which I had the opportunity to attend the entire thing, it was a long, long day. In terms of what you are hoping to accomplish by actually formalizing a structure, officers and leaders of the Puerto Rican community in the United States?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, it’s an advocate group. It’s an advocate group that is looking to have connections in Washington, D.C., with senators and councilmembers in all the major areas where there are Puerto Rican communities, like Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Lancaster, New York and Florida and Chicago. And that’s one of the things that we are—we are the most interested in, finding new political leaders, adhering ourselves to political leaders that are right now, letting them know that we are a watchdog now for the PROMESA and the fiscal board, and I think that’s one of the things that is most important for us.
AMY GOODMAN: Roseni, can you talk about what’s happening in Puerto Rico right now and how it relates to these conventions and what’s happening in the U.S. Congress?
ROSENI PLAZA: Well, you know, at this point in Puerto Rico, there are so many people that are actually suffering over there, and this humanitarian crisis has really brought us to form this organization. And, you know, as people in the United States, we really have a sense of responsibility for the people in Puerto Rico. You know, one of the major things that I always even speak to my son, my niece, my family here, is to help them understand that when you are in Puerto Rico, you cannot vote for the president of the United States, but once you fly into the mainland, as we call it, you’re able to vote for the president. So, for us, it’s a very big responsibility that we actually speak for our Puerto Ricans in Congress and we do that, you know, the way we’re trying to do it, in an organized fashion, getting all our elected officials to really go in for us.
AMY GOODMAN: This is an issue that’s close to your heart, Juan. Talk about why that is, people in Puerto Rico not voting for president of the United States. And what’s happening right now with PROMESA and the control board?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, obviously, one of the issues that folks have to deal with is the reality, as—and one of the planks of the new organization is to finally get a decolonization process, because as long as Puerto Rico remains a territory of the United States, where the residents of the island are citizens of the U.S. but do not have the chance to vote for president, do not elect members to the United States Senate—
AMY GOODMAN: Unless you move to New York, Pennsylvania or Florida.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: —or to elect members of the House of Representatives. So, the problem when the PROMESA bill was being debated in the House and in the Senate, that the very people that it affected had no voting representation in the House or the Senate. They only had one nonresident commissioner, who had a voice in the House of Representatives, but no vote. So, the reality is that the elected officials here and the community leaders here become, as you were saying, the voice of the Puerto Rico community, because they have no actual voice in Congress. But I wanted to ask you, one of the things that you apparently—that was decided at the assembly yesterday was to especially focus efforts, advocacy efforts, in three states—Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Why?
ROSENI PLAZA: Because this is where we have a major shift in population. You know, there are many Puerto Ricans who are now moving to these very specific states because of the fact that they’re looking for jobs. They’re looking to—you know, to come here and get away from what is happening in Puerto Rico. And being that we’re here, now we want them to vote. We want them to register to vote. And we want them to activate that voice that’s been silenced by just living in Puerto Rico.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you’re also talking about battleground states.
ROSENI PLAZA: Absolutely, absolutely. And we are trying to get them out voting, all the Puerto Ricans that have moved over here. We want them to be registered right here to vote and understand the importance of our political voice.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And why here at the Democratic convention? And why have a rally here at the Democratic convention today, this afternoon?
NATASCHA OTERO-SANTIAGO: Well, I think it’s very important. I think that it’s to represent, to let them know that this national gathering of more than 150 people, and actually, we’re expecting more for the rally, but yesterday we were 150 delegates from throughout the United States, and that we have this voice. And it’s necessary for both Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the DNC, even the Bernie Sanders campaign, to understand the importance of the Puerto Rican voice and vote in the United States.
ROSENI PLAZA: And we also want to show that we’re united. We’re a united front. And this is something that is very important to the Puerto Ricans here in the United States. So we need to absolutely demonstrate that to all the delegates that are going to be around town.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Juan, the significance of these anniversaries—118, 64—for people who aren’t familiar with U.S. colonial history in Puerto Rico?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, July 25th happens to have a special meaning in Puerto Rico, because it was on July 25th, 1898, that General Nelson Miles and several thousand U.S. Navy troops landed in Guánica, Puerto Rico, during the Spanish-American War to supposedly liberate the people of Puerto Rico. But then the Navy and the military never left, and Puerto Rico then was—remained a colonial territory of the United States. And then, in 1952, when the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was created, it was created specifically on July 25th to commemorate the original American invasion. And so, it is sort of the founding day of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, July 25th, 1952.
And what we’ve seen in the last few weeks, through the decisions in the Supreme Court, through the Obama administration’s arguments in those cases, and through the actions of the Congress in PROMESA, is that all branches of the United States government—the Supreme Court, the White House and Congress—have all said, "Guess what, Puerto Rico didn’t really get autonomy in 1952 when the commonwealth was declared. We lied to the United Nations that the people of Puerto Rico had self-government, because we are now imposing a financial control board, and we’re arguing before the Supreme Court that there is no sovereignty on the part of the Puerto Rican people."
AMY GOODMAN: And, of course, we’re going to continue to follow this issue, as we always do. We want to thank you, Natascha Otero-Santiago and Roseni Plaza, for joining us.
ROSENI PLAZA: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Officials with the newly formed National Puerto Rican Agenda. This is Democracy Now! We are "Breaking with Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency."
National Puerto Rican Agenda: New Group Forms to Address Island's Unprecedented Economic Crisis
Friday, July 15, 2016
Pelosi Appoints Nydia Velázquez and Pedro Pierluisi to Puerto Rico Task Force
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today appointed Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi to the Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico, established under the recently enacted Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).
“Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez’s advocacy on behalf of Puerto Rico and the more than 100,000 people of Puerto Rican descent in her New York district has been unwavering and resolute,” said Leader Pelosi. “Born in Yabucoa, she has deep roots in, and cares deeply about, Puerto Rico. Nydia’s leadership has been pivotal in focusing congressional attention on urgent action to assist Puerto Rico in emerging from the current fiscal and public debt crisis. As Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee, she brings extensive expertise on economic development and job creation, both essential to restoring economic growth in Puerto Rico.”
“Puerto Rico has a strong and relentless champion in Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi,” Leader Pelosi continued. “Since arriving in the House nearly eight years ago, he has worked tirelessly to ensure fair and equitable treatment for Puerto Rico under federal programs. On the House Natural Resources Committee, Pedro played an instrumental role in the negotiations that resulted in the PROMESA legislation. And as the voice of Puerto Rico in Congress, he will bring an indispensable perspective to the work of the Task Force.”
“I am confident that Congresswoman Velázquez and Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi’s strong voices will make the Task Force all the more effective as Congress considers next steps to restore robust economic growth to Puerto Rico,” Leader Pelosi concluded.
Pelosi Appoints Nydia Velázquez and Pedro Pierluisi to Puerto Rico Task Force
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Puerto Rico’s Rude Awakening
IT’S official now. Puerto Rico has about as much sovereignty as a United States colony.
The word came down from Washington in mid-June, in two Supreme Court rulings that insult our pride as self-governing United States citizens.
One said our courts lacked the power of state courts to try local criminals separately after federal prosecutors weighed in. The other said we must go hat in hand to Congress if our public utilities are to get debt relief. Unlike states, we cannot help them seek bankruptcy protection.
A third insult — from Congress — came as we reached the brink of default two weeks ago. As it finally consented to debt relief, the Senate also approved an oversight board that could tell our elected government how to handle our finances.
In vulgar street talk here, Puerto Rico has been stripped naked and put on show to be shamed.
This after we’d grown up being told we had a unique, privileged relationship with the United States — we were full citizens, free to migrate north, and autonomous to govern our own affairs. A bit like a state, without surrendering our Latin personality.
But now it is clear that was a charade. We’ve learned how much it left us at the mercy of an unsympathetic Washington. Even as he offered debt relief, the Senate’s majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, rubbed it in. “The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is in crisis,” he declared.
Territory? Really? I thought — as did Justice Stephen G. Breyer in his dissent from the prosecutorial powers ruling — that Washington granted us a far better status in 1952. As the United Nations pushed for global decolonization, Justice Breyer wrote, we and the Truman administration entered into a social contract that made us neither colony nor state, but something new, called a “commonwealth” in English and, in Spanish, an "estado libre asociado” (free associated state).
My generation, the baby boomers, was told autonomy made us equal but exceptional as citizens, and indeed there were advantages. Tax breaks initiated in the 1970s attracted employers like pharmaceutical producers. Billions of federal dollars flowed to us. All we had to do was behave, serve in the military when called (I was wounded in Vietnam as a combat medic), and not call ourselves a “colony.”
Dissenters advocating statehood warned that “self-government” was a mirage without a vote in Congress, or for president. Still, Congress never showed interest in accepting a bicultural Hispanic state that had more workers than jobs.
There were occasional nationalist uprisings. But Puerto Ricans have never been good at rebellion. Instead, we jabbered away about our politics. And every few years we replayed the same referendum: Statehood? Independence? Stay autonomous?
A clear majority never emerged, partly because the plebiscites were just theater. The results weren’t binding on us, nor on Congress. And we didn’t want to fracture a close-knit island society over that.
So we drifted, even as globalization began undermining what competitive advantages we had; in 1996, Congress even withdrew the tax exemptions that had lured statesiders to invest in industry here.
Today, those industries, jobs and many stateside banks have fled, private employment has cratered, and our debts are due. Our main employer is our destitute government. Emigration and violent crime have soared. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of compatriots have left, bringing to more than five million the number of Puerto Ricans living in the states, according to the Pew Research Center; local demographers estimate that only 3.4 million remain here.
An image, passed down many years ago by my grandfather, haunts me now, in this terrible summer.
Grandpa Chu was a little boy during the Spanish-American War, living near where the last, short battle for Puerto Rico was fought at Asomante, in the island’s central mountains. Afterward, United States troops searched house to house for arms, ordering inhabitants to stay home.
The first “Americano” whom Grandpa Chu saw frightened him; he had eyes like hailstones in a freckle-spattered face. All the soldiers were stoned-faced and humorless, even when showered with local hospitality. He stared at them, not knowing what to expect.
Now I feel something similar, after the triple whammy of political reality we have endured. I ask how we can help ourselves. This much has become clear to me: Puerto Ricans must first rediscover our inner political strengths, and unite to demand that Congress, within a decade, allows us a binding referendum on our island’s status.
The choices would be statehood, with whatever consequences for our culture and economy, or independence, with its own economic pitfalls and challenges.
“Autonomy” would not be a choice. It has been drained of all appeal by promises broken over the decades, and indignities recently inflicted; it should be put to rest as the sham it was all along.
This won’t be easy. Puerto Ricans will have to organize politically where members of Congress can hear us — their own districts. For that, we can call on perhaps four million enfranchised compatriots of voting age stateside to form a huge bloc to campaign — and vote — in our support.
In short, we must demand the respect due every United States citizen by using that most powerful weapon of democracy: one person, one vote.
By
Puerto Rico’s Rude Awakening
Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis Just Got Even Worse
Puerto Rico, the U.S. commonwealth that recently declared a historic default, could be shut out of debt markets for two more years as it battles with fiscal challenges, the island’s governor said on Tuesday.
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said emergency fiscal measures in response to a $70 billion debt were not sustainable and that “Puerto Rico will not endure any more austerity.”
He said a new law enacted by Washington allowing the federal government to appoint a control board would undercut self-government, but added it would help the island confront its fiscal problems.
“Our challenges are not over and prosperity will not return overnight,” the governor said during a discussion at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington.
“It will take maybe two years until the market opens back to Puerto Rico if we do the right thing,” Garcia Padilla said, adding the government had been producing fiscally sound budgets that would help win back creditors. The island has been shut out of debt markets for about a year.
Citing falling debt levels, he said it was a “moment of opportunity” in Puerto Rico, which has struggled with high debt loads and a weak economy for years.
Puerto Rico defaulted on $779 million of constitutionally backed debt on July 1, among its most senior bonds, opting to pay for essential services for its citizens over obligations to creditors.
Garcia Padilla said the Puerto Rican government would take steps on its own to get its fiscal affairs in order, therefore minimizing meddling by the oversight board.
For example, he said that if the island’s government passed responsible budgets on its own, the control board would not need to impose its own fiscal plans.
Garcia Padilla said, however, that while the government must become more efficient to improve its fiscal situation, that should be done through attrition rather than laying off workers.
Asked by a reporter about steps that could be taken to shore up the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, and the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, or PRASA, Garcia Padilla said: “PREPA is pretty advanced. We’ll be able to reduce a lot the debt related to PREPA. We want to do the same with PRASA. I think we’ll be able to do it.”
It doesn’t seem possible
Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis Just Got Even Worse
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Summer promotions drive travelers to Puerto Rico [Cruise Deal]
The Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC)'s fourth annual Summer is Easy promotion is outpacing last summer's bookings. The campaign generated a 6 percent rise in participating partner room night sales in May and a seven percent rise in June —versus the same months in 2015.
Comparatively, bookings through Summer is Easy partner Expedia are currently 9.7 percent above 2015 bookings. The promotion highlights how travel to Puerto Rico has never been easier—no passport is required for U.S. citizens, more than 70 direct flights from the U.S. to Puerto Rico daily—and just how many things there are to do on the island—travelers can choose from beach vacations, rainforest adventures, cultural explorations, and more. This promotion, combined with PRTC's dedicated efforts to educate travelers about Zika misperceptions and how they can enjoy a worry free vacation in Puerto Rico is clearly paying off.
"We have been working hard to ensure that travelers are educated about the Zika virus and understand that by following the CDC's simple guidelines, they can have a worry-free experience on the island," said PRTC Executive Director Ingrid I. Rivera Rocafort. "By providing travelers with the facts and dispelling the misperceptions about Zika on the island, we have been able to show travelers that, unless they are pregnant or planning a family in the near future, the Zika virus is nothing to be afraid of. This early success with the Summer Is Easy campaign suggests that informed travelers are choosing facts over fear and continuing to book Puerto Rico."
The PRTC has been working closely with the CDC and the local Department of Public Health to stay at the front line of defense against the virus. It is taking every precaution possible, including working with hotels to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds, providing education materials about preventing mosquito bites to hotels and guests, and encouraging all travelers to stay informed and prepared.
According to Puerto Rico Hotel & Tourism Association (PRHTA) President and CEO, Clarisa Jiménez, "PRHTA hotels are actively and aggressively spraying the grounds using Department of Health-endorsed mosquito control companies." Jiménez added that "The PRTC, PRHTA, and partners have taken all the measures that the CDC has recommended from day one to protect anyone who visits our beautiful island."
Summer promotions drive travelers to Puerto Rico
Samsung Pay Launches in Puerto Rico
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced today that it is bringing Samsung Pay—the most widely accepted mobile payment system—to Puerto Rico. Starting today, Samsung Pay will support eligible credit cards from Banco Popular, Puerto Rico’s largest bank, and will be available on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Claro networks in Puerto Rico.
Samsung partners with Banco Popular, Puerto Rico’s largest bank
Samsung Pay Launches in Puerto Rico
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Samsung Pay Launches in Puerto Rico
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