I returned on Tuesday, May 29, that was the day when I became aware of the results of this study.
I knew this was true even after the first few days after Hurricane María battered the Island.
I will never forget or forgive the current American administration or the current Puerto Rican administration for the totally inadequate response to this disaster.
The conditions back home aren’t adequate still.
Uncle Sam, there’s Puerto Rican blood on your hands.
The mighty, imperialistic US of A doesn’t care about it’s colony.
The Puerto Rican government is as corrupt as the American one.
4,645 Puerto Ricans, (so far), paid the ultimate price!
Born and raised by underpaid public school teachers in Sanford, Fla., Andy Marlette graduated from the University of Florida and became staff editorial cartoonist at the Pensacola News Journal in 2007.
Marlette received a priceless editorial cartoon education while living with his uncle and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette in Hillsborough, N.C. Doug’s tragic death in July of 2007 made evermore poignant the elder Marlette’s fierce and faithful devotion to the art form of editorial cartooning as a cornerstone of American free speech.
With this in mind, Andy works daily to learn and uphold the disciplines and values passed on to him by his late uncle. Andy’s editorial cartoons have become both hated and adored by daily readers.
“That looks like a Puerto Rican statue of liberty on steroids.”
(a friend told me)
Some of you may know, others not.
I am a fan of tattoos, having a few of them myself.
I’m also Puerto Rican, born and raised, living in the mainland.
Since September 20, 2017, when Hurricane María battered and almost flattened my country, my personal feelings have come to the surface.
My heart and soul ache for Puerto Rico.
Today I visited my tattoo artist again for add ons, updates, coloring and, mostly, for completion.
Colors, shading, The ‘cemí’, the hibiscus flowers, the ‘Taíno coquí’ and the ‘Taíno sun‘ were completed.
It is still a bit swollen, it’s still a bit ‘shiny’.
The process is almost totally done.
Give a few weeks for skin healing and then another ‘sitting’ for any needed last detail.
My tattoo artist, Barefoot Stacy, is amazing!
Here it is!
This is a proud Boricua woman, holding her head up high, ready to hold her stand and give the good fight.
This happens in Puerto Rico every minute of every day.
The fortitude of the Puerto Rican woman has been tested during the trying times since Hurricane María battered the Island on September 20, 2018, a bit beyond six months ago today.
I wanted to share the ‘almost complete’ result with you today.
Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act
What does the new law do?
The new law is called the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act — PROMESA, for short.
It creates an oversight board tasked with resolving the island’s crisis by negotiating with Puerto Rico’s creditors –- the bondholders — and the Puerto Rican government to “restructure” the debt.
That might mean allowing Puerto Rico to pay back it back over a longer period of time and convincing creditors to forgive some of what they’re owed.
Greece may have overcome a major hurdle in fixing its economy, but Puerto Rico faces a more complicated obstacle to managing its crippling debt:
its murky status as a US territory.
“If Puerto Rico were a state, there wouldn’t be any question about it,” Jeffrey Farrow, a former adviser on Puerto Rico policy to President Bill Clinton, said of the island’s mounting debt crisis.
“If it were a nation, it wouldn’t have to worry about US federal rules, and then it could try to develop its own economy.”
But Puerto Rico is neither a state nor a country.
It’s technically a commonwealth, a status given to it in 1950 by the US government, which allowed it to draft a constitution and elect its own officials.
But even its commonwealth status is unique.
Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky are all commonwealths, but they have the full power of states. That’s not the case for this island of 3.6 million, which is, essentially, a colony, subject to the full control of the US Congress. The nature of its relationship with the federal government has left it with few options as it grapples with $72 billion in outstanding obligations that its governor, Alejandro García Padilla, says is “not payable.”
The crisis pits Puerto Rico’s creditors – including hedge funds, large US banks, and smaller investors – against the island’s public workers, with each side trying to avoid absorbing the inevitable losses. A July 14 report from the Puerto Rican investigative journalism outlet Centro de Periodismo – reprinted in English via Latino Rebels – suggests that since 2013, hedge funds have been particularly active in trying to manipulate the debt crisis to their advantage.
National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC) is the Premier national Hispanic non-profit non-partisan organization based in Washington DC that represent the interest of all Puerto Ricans on the mainland and the Island.
Our community contributes everyday to the social, political, and cultural landscape of America.
All Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens.
Our values are the same values and our day-to-day challenges are the same challenges as every American.
Born and raised by underpaid public school teachers in Sanford, Fla., Andy Marlette graduated from the University of Florida and became staff editorial cartoonist at the Pensacola News Journal in 2007.
It Is What It Is 