On July 25, 1898, the United States invaded and seized Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American war, colonizing the island, exploiting it of its resources and oppressing the people of Borinquen. Yesterday, Borinquen activists from El Frente rallied on Wall Street across from Federal Hall calling for an independent Puerto Rico and ending 121 years of colonialism and oppression. The rally came on the heels of Governor Ricardo Rosselló resignation after almost two weeks of peaceful protests. Many Puerto Ricans want to seize the momentum of political activism and rid the island’s government of La Junta, an eight-member oversight committee established in 2016 that is supposed to restructure Puerto Rico’s more than $70 billion debt. Given the lack of rampant corruption which has ailed the island for many years and the lack of La Junta’s transparency, the island’s residents fear that they are, once again, on the losing end of economic progress.
The activists chose the Wall Street location because many believe that the debt is made up of illegally issued bonds. They eventually adorned the statue of George Washington with a Puerto Rican flag and continued their rally on the steps of Federal Hall.
The corruption does not end with Rosselló and calls for the resignation of the island’s next governor, Secretary of Justice Wanda Vásquez who is supposed to assume office on August 2, are already mounting. Vásquez, an ally of Rosselló, is already under investigation that she ignored evidence of possible corruption in the provision of hurricane relief.
Scenes from the rally on July 25, 2019
