Puerto Rico: Struggle against US Imperialism
In the middle of July this year
the people of Puerto Rico mobilized
en masse to demand the
resignation of Governor Ricardo
Rossello and echoing the call for
decolonization of the island. For
days together people gathered
around the presidential palace of
the governor braving the brutal
police repression.
The present mobilization of
people came in response to the
arrest of 6 people including former
officials by the FBI on corruption
charges and leak of a group
discussion with governor Rossello.
The corruption charges include
misappropriation of $15 million
worth Medicaid and education
funds. In the group chat Rossello
made degrading remarks on the
opposition and even joked on 4645
people died in the aftermath of
Hurricane Maria.
These two incidents sparked
mass protests. They are ventilation
of people’s anger that arose from
their sufferings for two years even
after the hurricane struck. The
recovery from the devastation
caused by the Hurricane was
wantonly delayed by the US
imperialism. For weeks it blocked
the arrival of supplies, took control
of the entire health and security
apparatus. It basically slow down
the process of recovery.
These were the immediate
causes that sparked mass protests
in July this year. The people’s
anger has been brewing for a long
time on deeper issue of US
domination. Just a year before the
Hurricane hit, on August 31, 2016,
the US Congress passed the
Puerto Rico Oversight, Manage-
ment and Economic Stability Act,
which authorised the formation of
Fiscal Control Board by the US
government to tackle the ‘debt
crisis’ of Puerto Rico.
October - 2019
The measures taken to
address the so-called debt crisis
have been destroying and were
even worse following the Hurricane
Maria. Pensions of retirees have
been cut, the tuition fee at the state
university has been tripled, labour
‘reforms’ were passed which
trampled worker ’s rights and
guarantees, state enterprises were
put on the block of privatization,
environmental regulations have
been relaxed to promote mining
activities and hundreds of schools
have been shut down.
A US citizen belonging to
Republican Party, Julia Keheler
was appointed as secretary of
education
in
Rossello’s
administration with a salary of $
250,000. She closed down 442
schools and allowed privatization of
Puerto Rico’s public education
system. Now she was arrested on
the corruption charges. Another US
citizen Angela Avila-Marrero was
head of the Puerto Rico’s health
insurance administration and she
slashed the budget for health care
in a country reeling after
devastating hurricane. She was
also arrested on corruption
charges. These people along with
other officials and the governor
himself were using government
funds for personal gain while
pushing the people into misery and
despair.
One of the senior journalists
writing on people’s movement in
Latin America, Jocelyn Velaquez
Rodriguez summarized the
situation: “The clumsy theft of our
public funds has been a standard
occurrence for us for decades. The
arrest of functionaries, advisors,
friends, family members by the
agencies of the US government is
a running show. The same federal
agencies have lifted many of these
corrupt individuals into power and
facilitate their permanence there.
They are the same institutions that
arrest, intimidate and persecute
those who raise their voice to
demand greater transparency,
denounce and fight against
corruption and the colony”.
One Da
y Pr
otest Strik
e of
Day
Protest
Strike
Coal India Mines
More than 5,56,000 workers of Coal India Ltd went on a one-
day strike on 24 th September. The strike call was given by the
unions of All India Federation of Coal Mine Workers in protest
against the central government decision, to permit 100% foreign
direct investment in all sectors of coal mining, handling, transport
and sales.
The coal workers unions affiliated to AITUC, INTUC, HMS, CITU
and AICCTU have jointly given this strike call. The RSS affiliated
BMS has given a separate call.The strike was the total in all the
coal mines managed by CIL and its subsidiaries like Singareni
colories in Telangana.
It is estimated that the production loss in CIL mines is 2.13 million
tonnes of coal causing a loss to the tune of Rs.4,000 crore. He
striking workers also warned the management, if the coal sector is
decentralized as has been proposed, they would go into an
indefinite strike.
9