The Cruelest Storm: 200+ Academics Speak Out for Puerto Rico
The destruction brought by Hurricane Maria has exposed the profound colonial condition of Puerto Rico
CD Editor’s note: The following statement—signed by over two hundred scholars, writers, professors, and experts with close personal and/or academic ties to the island—comes amid the growing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico following the destruction left by Hurricane Maria earlier this month. The Spanish-language version can be read here.
Introduction
The destruction brought by Hurricane Maria has exposed the profound colonial condition of Puerto Rico, as millions of human beings are faced with a life or death situation. The financial crisis manufactured by American bankers, colonial laws such as PROMESA and the Jones Act that controls maritime space, are legal mechanisms that prevent Puerto Rico’s recovery, and even call into question the validity of American citizenship on that island. Given the severity of the situation, political action is necessary.
The State of Facts
Puerto Rico is experiencing a humanitarian crisis as a result of Hurricane Maria, which struck the island on Wednesday, September 20, as a Category Four hurricane. Immediately thereafter, Governor Roselló declared a curfew from dawn to dusk for security reasons. More than a week after the event, hundreds of communities are still flooded, isolated without any food or drinking water, as highways and roads are blocked or destroyed, making communication between towns, neighborhoods and cities impossible. Telephone, internet, drinking water and electricity services have not been re-established in most communities. The weather radar was destroyed as well as the surveillance towers at the San Juan International Airport. There is a public health crisis due to the precarious conditions in hospitals and the threat of epidemics stemming from contaminated water. Cities, towns and neighborhoods outside the metropolitan area have been abandoned, and efforts are concentrated in the San Juan metro area. The western part of the island, for example, lacks minimum services.
The images shared with the world by visibly shaken journalists, television anchors, and meteorologists speak of the human drama caused by the disaster. What is missing from many of those reports is concrete information of plans and immediate, achievable initiatives to move the country ahead, as well as an ongoing plan. Explanations are necessary for why so many efforts to reach, house, feed and clothe many Puerto Ricans are unsuccessful. The people and the local government need the freedom to make and act on decisions quickly. There is no sensible political analysis of the situation due to such dire absence of communication. The state of precariousness in which the entire population of the island finds itself forces individuals to concentrate all of their strength on survival. Many have already opted to leave the country as the re-opening of the Luis Muñoz Marín airport demonstrated in its first day of service after the hurricane. It is a cruel way of emptying Puerto Rico of its most valuable resource, its people; the potential silencing of any dissident voices in the process is unacceptable. This state of emergency could be used to promote new measures of austerity that will not benefit Puerto Rico, a country already devastated by the financial disaster of an unpayable debt.
The Caribbean has been pummeled by two major hurricanes in the month of September: Irma and Maria. The Virgin Islands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Dominica, Barbuda, Antigua, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts, and Puerto Rico are geopolitically precarious: physically as islands and politically for their colonial history and status. They were traditionally called “Overseas Provinces” because of their political and economic dependence on a metropolitan mainland. The world has found out in the past few days what our history has always stubbornly made visible to us.
Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States. Its political status stems from the U.S. invasion of 1898 and a series of laws that served only to consolidate U.S. control, hindering the possibility of Puerto Rican sovereignty and political emancipation. One such law is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, or Jones Act, which determines that Puerto Rico’s maritime waters and ports are controlled by U.S. agencies. The limits on shipping imposed by the Jones Act double the cost of consumer goods arriving at our shores, since they curtail the ability of non-U.S. ships and crews to engage in commercial trade with Puerto Rico. The recent legislation, PROMESA (or “promise,” a cynical and injurious acronym for the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act), which imposes millions of dollars of accrued debt and stringent austerity measures on Puerto Rico and its inhabitants, is yet to be audited. PROMESA has established a supra governmental body with complete control over finances and the laws and regulations adopted by the PR government. PROMESA represents Congress’ most significant overt act to restate its colonial authority over Puerto Rico in total disregard of democracy, republicanism, and popular sovereignty. Here is where the need to repeal PROMESA and the Jones Act intersect, as both are exercises of colonial power to further the economic and political interest of the metropolis. At this time of humanitarian crisis and dire times for Puerto Rico Washington will not act in the best interest of the people of Puerto Rico by repealing both PROMESA and the Jones Act.
The US citizenship of Puerto Ricans, in this circumstance, is not a privilege, but the branding of a slave. It is a restrictive citizenship subject to the limits imposed by the US Congress without any interpellation of the subject to whom it is imposed. As an American colony, citizenship in this case actually denies Puerto Ricans any of the rights obtained by other regions impacted by the same events in the North American mainland. Citizenship makes us hostages, dispensable entities and victims of calculated charity. It is necessary to repeal the Jones Act, which imposes restrictions on the entry of other vessels to the island, even if their intention is only to offer humanitarian aid. It is necessary to abolish the PROMESA Law, since Puerto Rico cannot be rebuilt on the basis of an unpayable and fraudulent debt. Both laws condemn the country to an unsustainable economic future that will intensify the exodus of Puerto Ricans from their island.
The manner in which aid delivered to Puerto Rico has been confiscated and controlled by FEMA, along with the refusal to assist Puerto Rico in a manner similar to that offered to mainland localities affected by Hurricane Irma, for example, shapes our interpretation of this event. It subjects the inhabitants of a territory in crisis to the limits of what a federal agency is willing to do, and denies aid that may come from other countries at this critical time. Beyond the paternalism that this implies, it turns Puerto Ricans into hostages of their colonial condition.
While exploiting the physical deprivation Puerto Ricans are experiencing, FEMA’s presence also promotes psychological servility. As military uniforms increase and become more visible due to this emergency, a very troubling image is emerging of the Puerto Rican people, under increasingly fragile and precarious conditions. Efforts are delayed for a population that the federal government considers expendable. Rampant indifference is affirmed with lack of solidarity with neighboring towns by preventing other kinds of aid from flowing into and through the island. This situation brings Puerto Ricans down to their knees, at the mercy of the equivocal aid provided by the US, while other humanitarian aid is blocked. Puerto Ricans are placed under peril, endangering the lives of thousands that still have not been reached. The ultimate goal of this federal aid is unknown. Its growing militarization at a time when Puerto Ricans are deprived of the basic means of survival and communication is alarming. It turns this state of emergency into an opportunity for some to thrive financially while hundreds of people die from lack of water, food and medical treatment.
No political or economic reason justifies the death of diabetes patients who do not have the means to keep their insulin cool nor dialysis patients who have seen their treatments interrupted due to lack of electricity. The consequences of this blockade on solidarity could be greater than the victims produced by the hurricane itself. The recent statements by President Trump are unworthy of any president. In the midst of a humanitarian crisis, he demands payment of the credit debt. Immediate actions must be taken. The PROMESA law and the Jones Act must be repealed. This is not the time to invoke the false rights inherent in second-degree citizenship, but to claim the right of every human being to life.
Faced with these facts, we demand:
- The recognition of a state of humanitarian crisis.
- The immediate repeal of the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) for Puerto Rico and the repeal of the PROMESA Law.
- That the aid provided by the federal agencies not be subjected by any conditions that can delay or limit its reach.
- The opening of the ports to all those who wish to show solidarity with the Puerto Rican people.
- The reestablishment of all means of communication across the island.
- Dedicated funds and assistance for the thousands of people without home, water, food, and electricity.
Signatories:
Áurea María Sotomayor Miletti, University of Pittsburgh
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Georgia Tech University
Sheila I. Vélez Martínez. University of Pittsburgh
Myrna García Calderón, Syracuse University
María de Lourdes Dávila, New York University
Nemir Matos Cintrón, Ana G. Mendez, Florida
Adriana Garriga López, Kalamazoo College
Luis Othoniel Rosa, University of Nebraska
César A. Salgado, University of Texas, Austin
Lena Burgos Lafuente, Stony Brook University
Kahlil Chaar-Pérez, Editor and independent translator
Rubén Ríos, New York University
Julio Ramos, University of California, Berkeley
Arnaldo Cruz Malavé, Fordham University
Jossianna Arroyo, University of Texas, Austin
Miguel Rodríguez Casellas, University of Technology, Sydney
Licia Fiol-Matta, New York University
Juan Carlos Quintero-Herencia, University of Maryland
Dafne A. Duchesne Sotomayor, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
René A. Duchesne Sotomayor, Junior Architect, Pittsburgh
Margarita Pintado Burgos, Ouachita, Baptist University
Kelvin Durán Berríos, University of Pittsburgh
Edgard Luis Colón Meléndez, University of Pittsburgh
Gustavo Quintero, University of Pittsburgh
Urayoán Noel, New York University
Jaime Rodríguez Matos, California State University, Fresno
María Dolores Morillo López, California State University, Fresno
Ivette Romero, Marist College
Rocío Zambrana, University of Oregon
César Colón Montijo, Columbia University
Ivette N. Hernández-Torres, University of California at Irvine
Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel, University of Miami/Rutgers University
Wanda Rivera-Rivera, Bearley School, New York
James Cohen, Université Paris 3, Sorbonne Nouvelle
Nayda COllazo Lloréns, Kalamazoo College, Michigan
Cristina Moreiras-Menor, University of Michigan
Odette Casamayor, University of Connecticut, Storrs
José Quiroga, Emory University
Cristel Jusino Díaz, New York University
Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, University of Michigan
Eliseo Colón Zayas, University of Puerto Rico
Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Pamela Voekel, Dartmouth College
Diana Taylor, New York University
Alejandra Olarte, Universidad de La Salle, Bogotá
Jasón Cortés, Rutgers University, Newark
Yara Liceaga, Writer and Cultural Activist
Diana Guemarez Cruz, Montclair University
Luis F. Avilés, University of California, Irvine
Ramón López, Hunter College
Carina del Valle Schorske, Columbia University
Pablo Delano, Trinity College
Arlene Dávila, New York University
Néstor E. Rodríguez, University of Toronto
Efraín Barradas, University of Florida, Gainsville
Raquel Salas Rivera, University of Pennsylvania
Ronald Mendoza de Jesús, University of California
Iván Chaar-López, University of Michigan
María R. Scharrón-del Río, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Miguel Luciano, artist
Monxo López, Hunter University
Guillermo Irizarry, University of Connecticut
Myrna García-Calderón, Syracuse University
Cecilia Enjuto Rangel, University of Oregon
Iván Chaar-López, University of Michigan
Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago, Arizona State University
Ángel Rivera, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Claudia Sofía Garriga-López, New York University
Mónica Alexandra Jiménez, University of Texas, Austin
Reynaldo Padilla, University of Puerto Rico
Mónica E.Lugo-Vélez, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Luis J. Cintrón-Gutiérrez, University at Albany/SUNY
Jorell A. Meléndez-Badillo, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Jonathan Montalvo, Graceland University
Sandra Casanova, Binghamton University
Diana Guemárez-Cruz, Montclair State University
María del Mar González, Independent Scholar
Alai Reyes Santos, University of Oregon
Nayda Collazo-Lloréns, Kalamazoo College
Isa Rodríguez-Soto, University of Akron
Marcela Guerrero, Whitney Museum of American Art
Vanessa Arce Senati, University of Buffalo
José G. Luiggi-Hernández, Duquesne University
Moisés Agosto-Rosario, Director of Treatment at NMAC, Washington DC
Cecilia Enjuto Rangel, University of Oregon
Patricia Villalobos Echeverría, Western Michigan University
Christina A. León, Princeton University
Frances Aparicio, Northwestern University
Beliza Torres Narváez, Augsburg University
Judith Sierra-Rivera, The Pennsylvania State University
Joshua G. Ortiz Baco, The University of Texas, Austin
Lcdo. Gabriel E. Laborde Torres, Goldstein & Associates
Cristina Pérez Jiménez, Manhattan College
Santa Arias, University of Kansas
Daniel Nevarez, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Sally A. Everson, University of the Bahamas
Aurora Santiago-Ortiz, J.D. University of Massachusetts
Valeria Grinberg Pla, Bowling Green State University
Joseph A. Torres-González, City University of New York
Marco A. Martínez Penn State University
Jessica Mulligan, Providence College
José Martínez-Reyes, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Halbert Barton, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Long Island University
José R. Irizarry, Villanova University
Jorell A. Meléndez-Badillo, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Ronald Mendoza de Jesús, University of Southern California
Isatis M. Cintrón, Rutgers University
Karrieann Soto Vega, Syracuse University
José R. Días-Garayúa, California State University Stanislaus
Marisol LeBrón, Dickinson College
Giovanna Guerrero-Median, Yale Ciencia Initiative, Puerto Rico
Agustín Laó-Montes, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Luis J. Beltran Álvarez, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Shariana Ferrer-Núñez, Purdue University
Catalina de Onís, Willamette University
Selma Feliciano-Arroyo, University of Pennsylvania
Emma Amador, Brown University
Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Columbia University
Liza Goldman Huertas, MD, West Haven, CT
José Quiroga, Emory University
Carlos Gardeazábal Bravo, University of Connecticut
Alexa S. Dietrich, Wagner College
Maritza Stanchich, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Don E. Walicek, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Yadira Pérez Hazel, University of Melbourne
Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, American University
Carlos E. Rodríguez-Díaz, Universidad de Puerto Rico-Recinto de Ciencias Médicas
Stephanie Mercado Irizarry, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Libertad Guerra, Director of the Loisaida Cultural Center
Alfredo Villanueva-Collado, CUNY
Joaquín Villanueva, Gustavus Adolphus College
Laura Briggs, University of Massachusetts
Maximilian Alvarez, University of Michigan
Ivonne del Valle, University of California, Berkeley
Francisco Cabanillas, Bowling Green State University
Jason Ortiz, Hartford CT, President CT Puerto Rican Agenda
Carlos Amador Michigan Technological University
Karen Graubart, History, University of Notre Dame
Raul Santiago Bartolomei, University of Southern California
Oscar Ariel Cabezas, UMCE, Santiago de Chile
Féliz Padilla Carbonell, University of Connecticut
Juan Sánchez, Hunter College, CUNY
Laura Marina Boria González, University of Texas at Austin
Daniel Torres Rodríguez, Ohio University
Anne Garland Mahler, University of Virginia
Vanessa Pérez-Rosario, Brooklyn College/CUNY
Raul Santiago Bartolomei, University of Southern California
Jean Carlos Rosario Mercado, City University of New York
Carlos J. Carrión Acevedo, Universidad de Puerto Rico
Ryan Mann-Hamilton, CUNY Laguardia
José R. Díaz-Garayúa, California State University, Stanislaus
Juana Goergen, De Paul University
Pepón Osorio, Temple University
Ingrid Robyn, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Carlos Fonseca, Cambridge University
Jacqueline Loss, University of Connecticut
Pamela Cappas-Toro, Stetson University
Michelle Osuna-Díaz, KIPP Austin
Kristina Medina, St. Olaf College
Jennifer S. Hughes, University of California, Riverside
Jorge Matos- Valdejulli, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Mariana Cecilia Velázquez, Columbia University
Carmen Rabell, Universidad de Puerto Rico
Pedro López Adorno, Hunter College
Luis J. Cintrón Gutiérrez, University at Albany, SUNY
Idania Miletti, Orlando, Florida
Javier Román Nieves, Yale School of Forestry
Kaliris Y. Salas Ramírez, CUNY School of Medicine
María M. Carrión, Emory University
Stephanie Mercado, University of Connecticut
Arturo Arias. University of California, Merced
Cristián Gómez Olivares, Case Western University, Ohio
John Beverley, University of Pittsburgh
Ana Dopico, New York University
Irizelma Robles, Universidad de Puerto Rico
Mónica Barrientos Olivares, Universidad de Chile
Roger Santibañez, Temple University
Eddie S. Ortiz, Bike Courier
Ivette Román Roberto, Artist
Malena Rodríguez Castro, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
Sally Everson, University of The Bahamas
Jorell Meléndez Badillo, University of Connecticut
Elizabeth Monasterios, University of Pittsburgh
Daniel Balderston, University of Pittsburgh
Tania Pérez Cano, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Jerome Branche, University of Pittsburgh
Karen Goldman, University of Pittsburgh
Judith Sierra-Rivera, Penn State University
Nicole Delgado, La Impresora
Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, Oberlin College
Ronald Mendoza-de Jesús, University of South California
Yomaira Figueroa, Michigan State University
Joshua Ortiz Baco, University of Texas, Austin
Mario Mercado Díaz, Rutgers University
Carla Acevedo-Yates, Michigan State University
Frances Aparicio, Northwestern University
Luis Aponte, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Miguel Cruz-Díaz, Indiana University, Bloomington
Ricardo Monge, Artist
Marina Reyes Franco , Curator
Bianca Premo, Florida State University, History
Talía Guzmán González, University of Maryland
Jara Rios, University of Wisconsin
Yasmin Ramirez, Hunter College, CUNY
Mark Schuller, Northern Illinois University
William García
Nilvea Malavet
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Aurea María Sotomayor, born in Puerto Rico, is professor at the University of Pittsburgh. With her PhD from Stanford University and JD from University of Puerto Rico, Sotomayor scholarly work focuses on Caribbean Literature, Literature and Law, Women Studies and Violence. A translator and anthologist, she is the author of Femina Faber, Rizoma, and Poéticas que armar.
Juan Carlos Rodríguez is Associate Professor of Spanish at Georgia Tech and co-editor of the collection of essays New Documentaries in Latin America (Palgrave, 2014). He is also co-editing a book series, Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/o America(Florida University Press).
Sheila Vélez Martínez is the Jack and Lovell Olender Professor of Asylum Refugee and Immigration Law at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also the Director of Clinical Programs and the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Myrna García-Calderón, Ph.D. teaches Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Literature and Culture at Syracuse University.
Lourdes Dávila was born and raised in Puerto Rico, has a PhD from Harvard University, and is Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University, where she directs the online journal Esferas. She writes about the intersection of movement and image with literature.
Nemir Matos Cintrón, is a Puerto Rican poet. She has a Ed.D from Nova South Eastern University and is a Higher Education Learning Designer and Adjunct Professor at Ana G. Mendez University.
Adriana Garriga-López, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Anthropology and chair of the Anthropology and Sociology Department at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Luis Othoniel Rosa is the author of two novels: Otra vez me alejo (2012) and Caja de fractales (2017), and the book Comienzos para una estética anarquista: Borges con Macedonio (2016). He studied at the University of Puerto Rico and holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University. He currently teaches at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
César A. Salgado teaches Latin American and Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of From Modernism to Neobaroque: Joyce and Lezama Lima(2001) and co-editor of Latino and Latino Writers (2004), Cuba (2011), and TransLatin Joyce: Global Transmissions in Ibero-American Literature (2014).
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Featured image is from The National Guard/flickr/cc.