Corruption, privatization and colonialism in Puerto Rico

Neoliberalism has imposed privatizations of essential services around the world and Puerto Rico is no exception. Moreover, as a dependent colony of the neoliberal leader, the United States, Puerto Rico has once again served as a guinea pig where the cruelest neoliberal measures are practiced regardless of the damage they do to the people and the very future of the country. 

There are very few agencies here that have not been impacted by this policy, either because they have been sold to an entity, generally foreign, or because they have been imposed with the subcontracting of companies with profit motives. 

But with private contracts comes corruption, and this week, the prevailing news has been great corruption, this time of mayors and contractors being investigated by the FBI. Because our state as a colony deprives us of exercising true justice in this field and this agency of the U.S. federal government, who does not care about the transparency of transactions in PR, claims this power only when it is the interests of the United States that are compromised. 

Luxury gifts, bribes or kickbacks, and pressures of all kinds accompanied the contracting of a garbage company and an asphalt company, for which the mayor of the prosperous city of Cataño, who has just resigned and collaborated with the FBI, was fingered.  

Even if this triggers a series of arrests and resignations, corruption will continue until the people take to the streets en masse to overthrow this colonial system. And we hope it will be sooner rather than later.

Viva Puerto Rico Libre!

From Puerto Rico, for Radio Clarín de Colombia, Berta Joubert-Ceci spoke to you.

Translated by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.