Puerto Rico victimized by colonial plunder
By
Arturo J. Pérez Saad
Published Mar 30, 2005 10:07 AM
Puerto Rico’s external debt
has now reached an all-time high of $1.4 billion. The neocolonial model is
supported by the higher echelons of society, ruling the coun try under the thumb
of the United States.
These neoconservatives claim they have solutions for
social problems, but none has worked. Just as with any other neocolonial
project, with this one the Puerto Rican people bear most of the brunt of the
expense—because their representative government long ago stepped back from
attending to the people’s needs and desires.
Whether pro-statehood
or pro-colony, the government promotes the status quo and insists on developing
the island’s tourist trade. This only increases its dependence on the
United States and the World Bank, as Puerto Rico sinks deeper into
debt.
To try to solve this problem, the Puerto Rican government sells off
public land at low cost to foreign investors and international corporations.
These in turn reap millions of dollars in profits. Meanwhile most of the
population sinks deeper into poverty.
According to the 2000 census, more
than 50 percent of the population is below the official poverty line.
This
poverty keeps the Puerto Rican people from buying their own land. Previous
administrations have promoted this privatization policy. The people have to
notice that their plot of land has now become even more exclusive through this
privatization.
To enrich themselves, transnational tourist corporations
have been vying to control a small stretch of land just east of the airport in
San Juan.
The Courtyard by Marriott chain is making the latest attack on
the community in Isla Verde. Workers now use this public beach for lunch breaks
or for bathing. The company plans to convert it into a 15-story hotel with an
expansive parking lot. (El Nuevo Día, March 25)
As an act of civil
disobedience the
community group, Neighbors of Carolina, set up a camp on
this Isla Verde site on March 13.
On March 23 Puerto Rico Indymedia
reported on the environmental damage that can be expected to result from the
privatization of this public beach. The March 21 El Vocero newspaper reported
that two biologists from the Department of Envir onmental and Natural Resources
said one endangered species of turtle would be greatly threatened. This would
accelerate the turtles’ rate of extinction.
March 27 was a day of
civil disobedience at the site where Marriott plans to claim land for tourists.
A group of activists had set up camp, called “Beaches for the
People,” and stayed there for the previous two weeks to protest the
privatization of this beautiful public beach.
The day’s actions
brought participants from a broad coalition of endorsers. They included the
Association of Fishermen of Río Grande, Mayagüezanos for the Envi
ron ment, Union of Workers from the Electrical and Irrigation Industry, the
Brother hood of Exempt Non-teaching Employees from the University of Puerto
Rico, Viequense Veterans for Peace, Committee Pro Rescue and Development of
Vieques, and Friends of the Sea.
The activists dug up new dirt, which
Marriott had brought in to cover the sand, planted trees and marched to nearby
hotels filled with tourists. With music and chants, they demanded that the beach
continue to belong to the people and not be owned by foreign corporations.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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