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Puerto Rico victimized by colonial plunder

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.