New Caledonia, a South Pacific archipelago, has belonged to France since 1853. Last week, a referendum on independence brought out more than 80% of the voters, and they chose to stay with France. There are similarities between this case and that of Puerto Rico, which has belonged to the United States nearly as long as… Read more »

Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) wrote to the PROMESA Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) last month, expressing concern over the unequal treatment Puerto Rico receives under Medicaid. The Board responded, thanking Soto for advocating for Puerto Rico and providing a list of proposed solutions to the problem. Puerto Rico, like States, is responsible for the… Read more »

The Boston Red Sox have won the World Series for the 9th time in their history. Naturally, Boston is excited. But manager Alex Cora, who hails from Caguas, Puerto Rico, has created excitement on the Island, too. Cora asked for a plane load of supplies for Puerto Rico disaster relief last year when he negotiated… Read more »

Four Democratic members of Congress who are active on Puerto Rico related issues have written to the PROMESA Financial Board to strongly object to the Fiscal Plan for the territory it adopted a week ago citing the “devastating impact” the plan’s “overly generous debt service” and “severe austerity” would have on Puerto Ricans. Senator Elizabeth Warren… Read more »

A new report on Puerto Rico’s recovery a year after Hurricane Maria says that “it is obvious that Puerto Rico’s subordinate, some would say colonial, political status has been an obstacle to the recovery process.” The report, authored by Sergio M. Marxuach of the Center for a New Economy, identifies specific aspects of Puerto Rico’s… Read more »

A series of research reports from biologists worldwide has shown that the world’s insect population is falling sharply. A new report published in in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences spotlights the same problem in Puerto Rico. This is not the result of Hurricane Maria. The researchers had visited El Yunque, the tropical… Read more »

During its 15th public meeting today, the Federal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) voted unanimously to certify a fiscal plan to govern the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The board, created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Security Act (PROMESA), also certified a fiscal plan for the University of Puerto Rico. Upon passage… Read more »

On a recent episode of the Colbert Show, Lin-Manueal Miranda, creator of Broadway phenomenon Hamilton, explained that founding father Alexander Hamilton ended up in the American colonies because of a Caribbean hurricane. Miranda explained that Hamilton wrote a letter describing the terrible devastation of the hurricane of 1772. It went viral. For 1772, that meant… Read more »

by Howard Hills Puerto Rico’s democratization process was disrupted during turbulent high level management changes at U.S. Department of Justice in April of 2017 Shortly after President Trump was inaugurated, the Acting U.S. Attorney General left in place by the outgoing Obama administration ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) not to defend or enforce an… Read more »

Of the 100 current U.S. Senators, 91% are non-Hispanic and white. In the U.S. House of Representatives, 88% of Members are in the same demographic group. These current percentages are a historic high level of ethnic diversity. It’s still not very diverse. The United States as a whole has about 60% non-Hispanic whites, a far… Read more »