The root of Puerto Rico’s crisis: Colonialism
NOVANEWS
By Max Evan Aguayo
119 years a U.S. colony
Puerto Rico is all over the news lately. There are headlines about Puerto Rico’s staggering $73 billion debt to U.S. funds. There are images of students shutting down the island’s universities in response to the austerity measures and tuition hikes. There’s the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Jones Act that made Puerto Ricans “citizens” of the United States. There’s the front page news that a so-called “terrorist” is being honored at this year’s Puerto Rican Day Parade. The same day as the parade, June 11th, the island will also hold a non-binding plebiscite on whether Puerto Rico should become a U.S. state, an independent nation or continue as a “free associated territory.”
So many headlines, so little clarity.
With so much at st...