La Junta – ED MORALES

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Resistance in the Trump Era, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Hurricane Maria swept away the illusion of Puerto Ricans’ citizenship

Protesters in San Juan left more than 100 pairs of shoes outside the Capitolio, home to Puerto Rico’s legislature, as a silent rebuke to the government for undercounting the number of residents who died last year from the effects of Hurricane Maria. A Harvard University study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

In Puerto Rico, Disconnection and Chaos, but Grace Under Pressure

With almost no power and shortages of water and medicine, this island is full of people suffering from PTSD. By Ed Morales October 13, 2017 San Juan—As Donald Trump’s rule-by-disinformation strategy intensifies, three weeks after Hurricane Maria, a reeling Puerto Rico is becoming more of a sideshow for his callous stereotyping and ruthlessness. He is […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico Needs Massive Emergency Aid Now—and an End to Austerity

The island has become a target not only for rapacious vulture funds but also for exponents of Katrina-style “disaster capitalism.” September 27, 2017 Hurricane Maria has created a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. Much of the capital city of San Juan is flooded; there is contaminated water in the streets, shortages of gasoline and […]

Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Republican Party politics, Resistance in the Trump Era, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico’s Oversight Board Is About to Slash Government Workers’ Hours—and Pay

August 31, 2017 The most recent meeting of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB)—known colloquially as “La Junta”—was held Friday, August 4, at the luxurious Hotel El Conquistador of Fajardo, a remote fishing town on the island’s northeast corner. Far from the urban milieu of protest in the capital city of San Juan, […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Police Violence, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Resistance in the Trump Era, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

Puerto Rico’s Political and Economic Crisis Deepens

May 24, 2017 Last week, events in Puerto Rico continued to reach new levels of tension and emotion as the island’s bankruptcy proceedings began, the university’s month-long strike was threatened by court maneuverings, and the long-held political prisoner Oscar López Rivera emerged from house arrest to assertively spread an anti-colonial message to a people long […]

Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Police Violence, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Resistance in the Trump Era, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

How UPR Students Leading the Resistance to Austerity in Puerto Rico

Some $40 billion of the island’s debt could be illegal—so why is the government shutting down the audit commission? Aurora Muriente Pastrana, who is both a law-school student and adjunct professor in the humanities department at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), had come to the steps of Puerto Rico’s capitol building on April 18 with […]

America and Race, Globalization, Hemispheric Identity, Latinos and Race, Latinos in Media, Puerto Rico's Colonial Status, Republican Party politics, right populism, Urban/Global Politics, US Intervention in Latin America

How the Trump Clown Show Obscures Mexico and Puerto Rico’s Big Political Picture

The dominant narrative about Latinxs in the U.S. goes like this: A rapidly growing segment of the population, Latin(o)(a)s are a force to be reckoned with, and now that Donald J. Trump has continually demonstrated that he really is an unrestrained bigot preparing to unleash a deportation brigade on a sanctuary city near you, he […]