The leaked documents were published by the Center for Investigative Journalism, an award winning independent news outlet on the island.

The vulgar and violently misogynistic and homophobic chats included Rosselló mocking the dead victims of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. At least 3,000 people (estimates go as high as 8,500) died, but the Governor minimized the toll, trying to cover up his government’s culpability in the poor response in coming to the aid of the injured, which swelled the death toll.

Carla Minet, the executive director of the Center, said on Democracy Now, “We covered the story about the death toll [after the hurricane] …. It was a very deep feeling for the people, that its government didn’t take into account and didn’t address this issue in an effective and sensitive way.

“So, seeing these jokes about the bodies of the hurricane victims … was truly an insult to many people, that were aggravated in the first place because their loved ones were not buried correctly after the hurricane, but now hearing this on top of that? I think people will not forgive that.”

Another thing the chats confirmed was what people surmised, the rampant corruption in the government, fueling the anger.

The chats also included jokes about shooting San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who became famous for her denunciations of President Trump for Washington’s deliberate and cruel meagre aid after the hurricane. Another chat attacked Melissa Mark-Viverito, former speaker of the New York City Council, and the first Puerto Rican to led the Council. She was called a “whore” in the chat room.

Various gay people, including a popular singer, were made fun of.

After the release of the transcripts, protests began, at first small but quickly mushroomed. The immediate demand of the protests has been that Rosselló resign.

Four days after the release of the documents, there was a march of 100,000 in San Juan. And five days after that, July 22, a truly historic mobilization of half a million people swept through the capital, shutting down a major highway and paralyzing much of the city. Half a million out of some 3.2 million inhabitants of the island!

Many people took off work to join in, giving the mobilization a partial aspect of a political strike.

The New York Times reported, “The protest was one of the largest ever seen on the island, as Puerto Ricans streamed into the capital on buses – and some from the mainland – in a spontaneous eruption of fury over the years of recession [since 2005], mismanagement, natural disaster and corruption that have fueled a recent exodus [to the mainland].

“Ignoring sporadic deluges, demonstrators launched impromptu line dances, banged pots and and carried banners along several miles of highway, many shouting ‘Ricky, renuncia, el pueblo te repudia!’ – Ricky, resign, the people reject you!”

Live TV showed a sea of Puerto Rican flags everywhere on the march, but I saw no flags of the United States.

A reporter for Democracy Now on the island, Juan Carlos Dávila, said, “During the afternoon rain poured all over protesters. However, that didn’t stop them from continuing. Many of them took cover under a bridge and continued their activities.” He introduced some demonstrators for the show who said, in translation:

Jocelyn Velázquez: “This struggle is not only to remove Ricardo Rosselló. Rosselló is the decoration. We need to remove the group of corrupt thieves that demonstrated that beyond being thieves and corrupts, they are inhumane, making fun of people’s suffering to enjoy themselves. This cannot be forgiven.”

Vivian Hernandez: I am here with the other Puerto Ricans so that the governor of Puerto Rico resigns. We don’t want him here anymore. As we put him in power, we can also take him down. We are tired of the abuse, and we are tired of the corruption.”

Luis Dávila: I am here protesting against the governor, who has betrayed us. I was from his party, but not anymore. I gave him my vote, and he betrayed us. We’re here fighting to get him out of office, because what the governor did cannot be done to the people. If he doesn’t leave, there’s going to be stronger consequences.”

Many of Puerto Rico’s most famous performers have been out in the streets. Singers Residente, iLe and Bad Bunny released a song during the first days of the protest titled “Afilando Los Cuchillos” or “Sharpening the Knives”, which quickly became the anthem of the movement.

The publication of the vile online chats alone can not explain the power of this mobilization – it was the spark that ignited the accumulated resentment and grievances of the Puerto Rican people. These are rooted in the fact that Puerto Rico is a colony exploited by the United States.

Puerto Rico, which had been a Spanish colony, became a U.S. colony when the U.S. defeated Spain in the war of 1898, which Lenin called the first modern inter-imperialist war.

Soon after, the U.S. Supreme Court made certain rulings, still in force. One of these was that only those parts of the U.S. Constitution apply to Puerto Rico that Congress choses to apply. The Court ruled that Puerto Rico “belonged to, but was not part of” the United States. All major decisions involving the island are dependent on acts of Congress as interpreted by U.S. Courts.

Ever since, Puerto Rico and its people have been economically exploited by U.S. corporations and financial institutions. Without going into all the stages and forms this exploitation and domination has taken, we can zero in on the latest stage which throws light on what underlies these protests.

In the period that came to an end in 2005, U.S. corporations built industries on the island, exploiting low wages. This was facilitated by special tax breaks Washington gave these capitalist monopolistic enterprises. Beginning in 1996, under the Clinton administration, these tax breaks began to be withdrawn, as the cheap labor model started to find greener pastures in China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc.

By 2005, this process led to most of these enterprises having left Puerto Rico, which resulted in a depression that has lasted ever since. Gross national product fell 13 percent by 2015, and has continued to fall. Unemployment greatly rose and remains high.

The pro-imperialist capitalist politicians in the island’s government turned to borrowing from U.S. financial capitalists to keep the country afloat. Then more loans were necessary to repay earlier loans, in a vicious cycle that led to a crisis where Puerto Rico could no longer repay its loans any more by 2014.

The island was in debt to the mainland lenders to the tune of $73 billion. As the debt could not be paid, its price fell. Vulture capitalists moved in, buying up the cheap debt and then demanding it be paid at its full face value price.

Puerto Rico’s government instituted a policy of austerity. Huge cutbacks to social services, education, health care, etc. An example was the government-run electric power company — it could not pay to modernize equipment or even make repairs.

The U.S. for some time has tried to deny that Puerto Rico is its colony, using terms like “territory” and “commonwealth” to describe it. Taking advantage of the crisis, in 2016 the Obama administration, Congress and the judicial system ripped off the fig leaf by openly taking direct control. With bipartisan support, including from the liberals, a law was passed called PROMESA. It created an un-elected seven-person financial board appointed by the administration that has sweeping powers over Puerto Rico’s economy.

The Supreme Court made two rulings that underscored the point. One concerning a criminal procedure, explicitly stated that Puerto Rico is not “sovereign.” The other voided a law passed by the Puerto Rican legislature that allowed the island to use bankruptcy procedure to reduce the debt and extend the time for payments on the rest until the island’s economy recovered. The Court reaffirmed a 1986 law passed by Congress that prohibited Puerto Rico from declaring bankruptcy, unlike the 50 states and U.S. cities that have that right, and which some have used after the Great Recession.

At the time, San Juan Mayor Cruz said, “What the Congress has done, what the president of the United States has done, what the judicial system has done, is that they have unveiled to everyone, the international community and everyone in Puerto Rico, that we are a colony of the United States.”

She added, “While the U.S. people are fighting to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, this colonial control board will lower the minimum wage in Puerto Rico for people 25 or under to $4.50 an hour. It could sell our natural resources … and have sovereign power to revoke anything our next governor, our next legislature or any public official of the Puerto Rican government … will do.”

The board, with the connivance of the Rosselló-led government, has since intensified the austerity drive, made paying off the vultures the top priority, and driven privatization. The Trump Secretary of [mis]Education, Betsy De Vos, is on a campaign to privatize public education in the U.S., and has viewed Puerto Rico as a test case. The board has virtually smashed the public school system.

Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. The emaciated infrastructure on the island could cope only partially. The rickety electric system failed, adding to the death toll as hospitals were without power. It remains in a weak condition to this day.

The Trump administration purposely withheld adequate recovery aid. Trump even said that there was “no catastrophe” as a result of the hurricane. This added insult to injury. The island still has not completely recovered.

So the people of Puerto Rico have suffered a lot from the policies of Washington and their own comprador government. Opposition to many of these policies was reflected in many of the banners and signs on the huge march. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the Center for Investigative Journalism revelations, and all the pent up grievances exploded in the streets.

We wait to see what’s next, as many people, especially young people, have flexed their muscles and experienced their power when they stand together.

Barry Sheppard

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