Section 4

Infrastructure & Everyday Crisis

curated by Tania María Ríos

The fiscal crisis impacts every aspect of daily life.

Neoliberal austerity measures devastate and threaten many of the fundamental structures and facilities needed for the basic operation of society. 

The following five units provide resources with which to critically examine Puerto Rico’s intersecting energy, climate, environmental, and social crises, and foregrounds the work of communities organizing for change. 

Keywords: power grid, privatization, LUMA energy, energy colonialism, renewable energy, energy democracy, climate change, coastal vulnerability, water security, coal ash, contamination and pollution, environmental racism, COVID-19, the University of Puerto Rico, public school closures.

The Power Grid

James Barrata. “Puerto Ricans Fight Privatization of Energy and Demand Democratic Ownership.” Truthout, 19 Oct. 2021.

Summary
This article describes the public-private partnership between LUMA Energy and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority as a consequence of a “doomed neoliberal framework.” It details recent protests and acts of resistance against the privatization of the electrical grid, and places the archipelago in the context of a global struggle against austerity politics, corporate capitalism, and private ownership. It concludes with arguments about the necessity of public ownership for a democratic, decentralized and renewable energy system.

Cathy Kunkel and Tom Sanzillo. “Paying For Failure: High Fees for Finance Consultants Shortchange Puerto Rico Electrical Grid.” Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, April 2021.

Summary
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis reviewed professional services contracts related to debt restructuring and the transformation of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority from fiscal year 2015 to 2021. This report examines the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on professional consultants in an attempt to solve the electrical system’s problems. It argues that the proliferation of off-island, unaccountable consultants making key operational and financial decisions for the electrical system is symptomatic of a failure of governance reforms.  

Camilo J. Miguel Bosques, co-host/producer. “El Contrato de LUMA Energy.” Pesos y Contrapesos, Anchor app, 25 July 2021.

Summary
This podcast episode engages Jorge Lefevre Tavárez – professor, essayist and editor based in Puerto Rico – in conversation about the contested contract between LUMA Energy and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. They discuss the origins of the LUMA contract – including the Public-Private Partnership Authority Act of 2009 – and situate the contract within the greater historical and political context of privatization on the island, from highways and toll collection, to the airport. Their discussion includes analysis of a selection of opaque contractual provisions. 

Eliván Martínez Mercado. “Apagones empeoraron desde la entrada de LUMA, reconoce un documento de la empresa.” El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, 30 Sep. 2021.

Amy Goodman, host. “Hurricane LUMA: Puerto Ricans Fight Big Coal & Privatized Energy Amid Climate Disasters, Blackouts.” Democracy Now!, 3 Nov. 2021.

Fernando Tormos-Aponte, et al. “Energy inequality and clientelism in the wake of disasters: From colorblind to affirmative power restoration.” Energy Policy, vol. 158, Nov. 2021, 112550, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112550.

Van R. Newkirk II. “The Peril of Privatizing Prepa.” The Atlantic, 24 Jan. 2018.

Additional Sources

Oversight Hearing on the Transformation of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2020.

Lily Bui. “Rewiring Puerto Rico: Power and Empowerment After Hurricane Maria.” Medium, 28 March 2018. 

Maria Gallucci. “Rebuilding Puerto Rico’s Power Grid: The Inside Story.” IEEE Spectrum, 12 March 2018.

Adam Rogers. “Why Can’t We Fix Puerto Rico’s Power Grid?” Wired Magazine, 4 April 2018.

Frances Rosario. “Roselló firma la ley que dará paso a la privatización de la AEE,” El Nuevo Día, 20 June 2018.

Mary Williams Walsh. “At Puerto Rico’s Power Company, a Recipe for Toxic Air, and Debt.” The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2016.

Alternative Energy Futures

Catalina M. de Onís. Energy Islands: Metaphors of Power, Extractivism, and Justice in Puerto Rico. University of California Press. 2021.

Summary
Energy Islands provides an urgent and nuanced portrait of collective action that resists racial capitalism, colonialism, and climate disruption. Weaving together historical and ethnographic research, this story challenges the master narratives of Puerto Rico as a tourist destination and site of “natural” disasters to demonstrate how fossil fuel economies are inextricably entwined with colonial practices and how local community groups in Puerto Rico have struggled against energy coloniality to mobilize and transform power from the ground up.

Ruth Santiago, et al. “Powering Life in Puerto Rico.” NACLA Report on the Americas, vol. 52, no.2, 2020, pp. 178-185. DOI: 10.1080/10714839.2020.1768741.

Summary
“How many millions of dollars in public funds will be used for plans that contradict the best interests of the people of Puerto Rico?” Prominent thinkers Ruth Santiago, Catalina M. de Onís, and Hilda Lloréns set critical arguments against the Puerto Rican government’s proposed “transition” of the electric system, which is currently set to double down on methane gas infrastructure and generally perpetuate the archipelago’s current dependency on fossil fuels. They advocate for sustainable, technically viable, and cost-effective alternatives, including onsite rooftop solar and related options, while spotlighting the work of independent, community-based groups and organizations working to transform the electric system, including Casa Pueblo, AMANESER, Comité Diálogo Ambiental, the El Coquí Community Board, the Iniciativa de Eco Desarrollo de Bahía de Jobos (IDEBAJO), the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, and Queremos Sol.

Queremos Sol. “Queremos Sol: Sostenible. Local. Limpio.” Proposal Version 4.0. Feb 2020.

Summary
Queremos Sol is a coalition of researchers, environmental and community organizations, and electrical workers’ union members. They have created a platform and a proposal (available in Spanish and English) for renewable energy development in which they oppose the privatization of energy distribution and ongoing fossil fuel development, and advocate for community-based solar power through distributed microgrids.

Casa Pueblo. “Educando para el cambio: energía solar.” Youtube, uploaded by Casa Pueblo Adjuntas, 16 Oct. 2021.

Michelle Estrada Torres, et al. “Las mujeres y la energía solar: historias de lucha en la montaña.” Casa Pueblo, 2020.

Alleen Brown. “Energy Insurrection.” The Intercept, 9 Feb. 2020.

Additional Sources

United States, Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “Puerto Rico Energy Snapshot.” Prepared by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), May 2020.

Catalina M. de Onís. “Puerto Rican Energy Researchers Excluded From Island’s Energy Transition Deliberations.” Latino Rebels, 16 Oct. 2017.

Environmental Terrains of Struggle

Maritza Barreto. “Climate/Coastal Vulnerability in Puerto Rico.” Coastal Research and Planning Institute of Puerto Rico (CoRePI) at Graduate School of Planning, UPR Rio Piedras Campus, 11 Feb. 2021.

Summary
Caribbean islands face many challenges due to climate change, including coastal erosion, sea level rise and flooding, water supply impacts, and more. This Story Map aggregates facts from a variety of reports about the state of the climate and coasts in Puerto Rico. It also consists of an interactive map visualizing physical vulnerability (erosion and flood), social vulnerability, and areas of particularly high risk. Case studies and several courses of action are presented in an effort to inform coastal planning, management and policy.

José Luis Baerga Aguirre, director. El poder del pueblo. 2020.

Summary
El poder del pueblo: una lucha colectiva por la vida y el medioambiente (The Power of the People: A Collective Struggle for Life and the Environment) is a documentary film featuring the experiences of Jobos Bay residents in southeastern Puerto Rico. It demonstrates community resistance to the ongoing toxic assault caused by power plants and documents urgent alternatives in the form of solar projects. Information about how to access the film is available on this bilingual website, along with a rich variety of additional web-based resources, including an extended bibliography compiled by Catalina de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Carlos G. García-Quijano and Ruth Santiago pertaining to socio-environmental and socio-ecological research about the Jobos Bay Region.

Syra Ortiz-Blanes. “Toxic chemicals in Puerto Rican tap water linked to coal ash from energy firm, study says.” Miami Herald, 7 Oct. 2021.

Hilda Lloréns. “Toxic Racism in Puerto Rico’s Sacrifice Zone.” NACLA Report on the Americas, vol. 53, no. 3, 2021, pp. 275-280, DOI: 10.1080/10714839.2021.1961447.

Hilda Lloréns and Maritza Stanchich. “Water is life, but the colony is a necropolis: Environmental terrains of struggle in Puerto Rico.” Cultural Dynamics, vol. 31, no. 1-2, 2019, pp. 81-101. DOI: 10.1177/0921374019826200.

Anais Roque, et al. “Autogestión and water sharing networks in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María.” Water International, vol. 46, no. 6, 2021, pp. 938-955, DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2021.1960103.

Summary
(Abstract) Puerto Rico’s residents were left without water services for up to nine months in the wake of hurricanes Irma and María (2017). Further, it was clear that there were no viable plans for addressing water provision gaps in anticipation of future hazards. In response, Puerto Ricans initiated autogestión, a strategy to secure survival through self-provisioning. Utilizing mixed methods, we reveal two different emergent forms of autogestión water self-provision in three differently serviced Puerto Rican communities. These provide an informed reflection on the trade-offs and pitfalls of reliance on autogestión for water security in the wake of disaster.

Patricia Mazzei. “A Turtle, a Pool and the Fight to Save Puerto Rico’s Beaches.” The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2021.

Gustavo García-López. “Environmental Justice Movements in Puerto Rico: Life-and-death Struggles and Decolonizing Horizons.” Society and Space, 25 Feb 2020.

Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak. “Making the Case for a Right to a Healthy Environment for the Protection of Vulnerable Communities: A Case of Coal-Ash Disaster in Puerto Rico.” Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law, vol. 9, no. 2, 2020.

Health & the Care Economy

Catherine Garcia, et al. “Contextualizing the COVID-19 Era in Puerto Rico: Compounding Disasters and Parallel Pandemics.” Oxford University Press, 2020.

Summary
This paper discusses the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of older adults in Puerto Rico.  Fiscal austerity, income and wealth inequality, the debt crisis, emigration, and a dysfunctional health care system are described as “parallel pandemics” which exacerbate the suffering experienced by older adults. The authors also cite the inability of the government to address the long-term effects of disasters and crises that have structurally impacted the island, including displacement, damaged roads, power outages, and inadequate hospital infrastructure.  

Alana Casanova-Burgess, host. “Vieques and the Promise To Build Back Better.” La Brega, WNYC Studios, 24 Feb. 2021.

Summary
This episode of La Brega podcast traces the failure of the promised reconstruction post Hurricane María. One year after the approval of section 428 of the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act), none of the proposed rebuilding projects had made progress. Reporter Cristina del Mar Quiles from El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo explains the bureaucracy of federal disaster relief and its particularly devastating impact on the island of Vieques, an island that has long struggled for access to medical services.

Jose Atiles Osoria. “The COVID-19 Pandemic in Puerto Rico: Exceptionality, Corruption and State-Corporate Crimes.” State Crime Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, Pluto Journals, 2021, pp. 104–25, https://doi.org/10.13169/statecrime.10.1.0104.

Summary
There is a symbiotic relationship between the state and corporations. This paper uses a sociolegal framework to scrutinize measures implemented by the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses alleged cases of governmental corruption and pharmaceutical profiteering, and argues that the governments’ strategic use of states of emergency and executive orders has enabled a proliferation of state-corporate crimes, corporate profit, and wealth extraction.

Juan Declet-Barreto. “#coloniavirus, cambio climático y colonialismo: la construcción colonial de la precariedad en Puerto Rico.” Journal of Latin American Geography, vol. 19 no. 3, 2020, p. 289-295. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/lag.2020.0051.

Additional Sources

Javier Colón Dávila. “La Junta deja en cero el presupuesto para los CDT,” El Nuevo Día, 12 June 2018.

Summary
This article discusses the budget presented by the Junta and highlights which government agencies will be affected by the new budget cuts. Several departments like the Center for Diagnosis and Treatment (CDT) and the Department of Education (DOE) will be facing losses, with the CDT’s budget being reduced to 0 and the DOE facing at least $29.6 million. Other crucial agencies like the Fire Department, Medical Emergency Corps and the State Agency for Emergency Management are also going through cuts.

Greg Allen. “SOS: Puerto Rico Is Losing Doctors, Leaving Patients Stranded,” NPR, 12 March 2016.

Summary
This news article discusses how doctors in Puerto Rico have had to make the difficult decision to leave patients behind and seek employment elsewhere. Furthermore, the economic crisis has affected the healthcare of many citizens since the government provides health care for most of the population and nearly two-thirds are covered by Medicaid or Medicare. On an island that already had a shortage of specialists, the mass exodus of healthcare professionals is starting to have devastating effects.

Lizette Alvarez and Abby Goodnough. “Puerto Ricans Brace for Crisis in Health Care,” New York Times, 2 Aug. 2015.

Summary
This news article provides a context for the current health care crisis, describing how, for decades, there has been a vast disparity in federal funding for healthcare in Puerto Rico. In particular, the article focuses on Medicare and Medicaid, programs that have historically received less funding on the Island than in U.S. states. The cuts that will be made to Puerto Rico’s budget will seriously affect Medicare and Medicaid funds, which provide care for millions of Puerto Rican residents. There is a general feeling on the Island that the federal government is treating Puerto Ricans unjustly, forcing many to move to the mainland to seek equal treatment.

Marga Parés Arroyo. “Hospitales en bancarrota” El Nuevo Día, 18 May 2016.

Summary
In order to remain open and to continue functioning, many hospitals in Puerto Rico have had to resort to Chapter 11 or Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.  These hospitals incurred debt because of services rendered to the Administration of Health Insurances for services that were provided through the Health Reform Plan. Other problems include the denial of medical plans for patients with emergencies, the exodus of medical professionals, and the increasing population of the elderly. This news article further explains why the debt was incurred, as well as the process and effects that these hospitals will undergo after recurring to the Bankruptcy Code.

Marga Parés Arroyo. “La crisis fiscal trastoca la salud mental,” El Nuevo Día, 6 May 2017.

Summary
Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis has affected the health of many Puerto Ricans. Provoking fear and uncertainty, many have suffered from deteriorating mental health and suicidal thoughts. In the last year, the quantity of people seeking mental health professionals has greatly incremented. This news article describes how specific economic factors such as unemployment and the cutting of medical services affect mental health.

Jessica Mulligan. Unmanageable Care: An Ethnography of Health Care Privatization in Puerto Rico (New York: NYU Press, 2014). [Click here for eBook in NYPL catalog]

Summary
This piece of ethnographic scholarship arises from the author’s employment at a Puerto Rican firm that operationalized Medicare using managed care. The author addresses the effects of enacting public health insurance through the private sector. The rise of managed care did not create self-regulating citizen consumers or provide market efficiencies, a reduction of costs, or improved quality of care. By conducting interviews, practicing participant observation, and studying the everyday contexts where market reforms were enacted, the author demonstrates how privatization of health care in Puerto Rico made health care more chaotic and less accessible.
 

The Right to Public Education

The University of Puerto Rico

Rima Brusi. “‘The University of Puerto Rico Is Not for Sale!'” The Nation, 25 Oct. 2021.

Javier Córdova Iturregui. “Datos recientes sobre los docentes sin plaza en la Universidad de Puerto Rico,” Momento Crítico, October 15, 2021.

Joanisabel González. “El dilema de endeudarse para aprender,” El Nuevo Día, August 12, 2018.

Summary
This article analyses the increase in student loans in Puerto Rico due to the increase in tuition and the cost of living. Fiscal year 2017 saw the highest amount of student loans in a decade, with loans registered with Sallie Mae totalling $478.5 million. This, coupled with la Junta’s plan to increase tuition costs, will only result in the volume of student loan increasing exponentially as more students rely on the assistance to attend school. The stress of paying off student loans is only exacerbated by the shaky job market and the potential of defaulting on your loans.

Juan C. Dávila. “Students Of Puerto Rico Lead Resistance Against PROMESA,” Huffington Post, 9 April 2017.

Summary
On April 5 students of the University of Puerto gathered at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum where they discussed strategies and solutions to the austerity measures that the Fiscal Control Board plans to impose, primarily, the reduction of one-third of the University’s budget. This article discusses the demands upon which the students decided during this gathering, such as the need of a university reform that would represent all sectors from the university community, and zero budget cuts to the University of Puerto Rico. Yet, the students’ claims are not limited to the University, they also prioritize the need for an audit and a moratorium of the debt.

José Laguarta. “Pensar la huelga,” 80 Grados, 7 April 2017.

Summary
In this opinion piece, the author discusses how the students’ vote in favor of the strike has been criticized by society. In particular, he focuses on “well-intentioned” arguments. The first consists of the critique that one should not strike if the patron, the university, does not have enough resources to meet the students’ demands. The second, related to the first, is the idea that to close the university (through a strike) actually fulfills the desire of the government and the Fiscal Control Board and will lead to the permanent closing of the University. The author demonstrates that these critiques may seem sensible, but are, in fact, incorrect.

Francisco J. Fortuño Bernier. Cerrar para abrir:” Puerto Rican Student Struggles and the Crisis of Colonial-Capitalism,” Viewpoint Magazine,  April 27, 2017.

Summary
Analyzing the University of Puerto Rico’s student-led stoppage, one can see that the student movement did not limit its goals and interests to the crisis of public education, but, instead, made the university the locus where broader political struggles against neoliberal austerity and national debt-servitude can take place. For instance, the strike’s resolution states not only that it is in opposition to the budget cuts to the university, but also demands that the debt be audited and a moratorium on debt payments be declared. This in-depth article connects the student’s conscious insertion into the wide political field of struggle to the Island’s long history of student activism.

José Karlo Pagán Negrón. “Huelga 2017: 72 días en defensa de la UPR,” Diálogo UPR, June 8, 2017.

Summary
In the aftermath of the student strike, this article reflects on the new struggles the University of Puerto Rico faces.  For instance, the interim president and the dean resigned and the university may not continue to function with the impending budget cuts. As the author explains, whether the results of the strike were positive or negative   is a question of perspective: some see it as a waste of time, other consider it a fruitful time of reflection. This article includes a video that recounts the processes and circumstances of the strike.

The Public School System

Dalia Rubiano Yedidia, et al. Puerto Rico’s Public School Closures; Community Effects and Future Paths. Berkeley, CA: Othering & Belonging Institute, 2020.

Tatiana Díaz Ramos. “Azul el rastro de los fondos otorgados a Educación por las emergencias.” El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, 6 May 2021.

José Caraballo-Cueto. “Aprovechamiento Académico y el Cierre de Escuelas en Puerto Rico.” 2020.

Laura Jimenez. “Puerto Rico’s Earthquakes Have Put Thousands of Schoolchildren at Risk.” Center for American Progress, 10 Feb. 2020.

Paola Torres. “Al rescate del olvido.” Tinta Digital, 4 Dec. 2019.

Jennifer Hinojosa, et al. “Population Decline And School Closure in Puerto Rico.” Centro RB2019-01, May 2019.

Additional Sources

“In Solidarity with the UPR Student Movement,” 80 Grados, 6 April 2017.

Yana Kunichoff. “Amid Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, communities fight to keep schools” The Christian Science Monitor, 21 March 2017.

Summary
About 160 schools will close in Puerto Rico due to the economic crisis. The Department of Education also announced a proposal to close 600 of the island’s 1,400 schools in the next five years. The article provides critics’ point of view, who argue that the priority is not the students and that people’s lives should be considered before the debt. Some communities have fended off this action by convincing new students to enroll at schools marked for closure or by implementing specialized programs.

Catherine Morris. “The Future of Puerto Rican Education” The Nation, 1 Oct. 2015.

Summary
This article explains how, even though a strong system of education produces educated workers that will, in turn, benefit the country’s economy, Puerto Rico’s debt crisis has led the government to make cuts on public education. The report of the International Monetary Fund recommended a reduction to the University of Puerto Rico’s subsidy and an implementation of needs-based scholarships. The article describes the many challenges already faced by students and professors due to the economic crisis. Furthermore, UPR is particularly affected by these cuts because, unlike public universities in the United States, its main revenue comes from the government (not from high tuition costs) and it is greatly dependent on Pell grants.

Mary Williams Walsh. “In Puerto Rico, Teachers’ Pension Fund Works Like a Ponzi Scheme” New York Times, 8 March 2017.

Summary
In less than a year, the money Puerto Rico has to pay teachers’ pensions is expected to run out. The teachers’ situation is exacerbated by the fact that the teachers’ union opted out of Social Security long ago. The article explains how the failure of pension funds to be self-sustaining pools of money is due to the fact that it has functioned, essentially, as a Ponzi scheme: because of the lack of funds, the money contributed by working teachers flows straight out to retirees. Pensions will definitely be part of the debt restructuring that the Island is currently undergoing. The author compares the problems of Puerto Rico’s pension systems with those of various cases in the United States.

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