Last week a federal judge nullified Puerto Rico’s Labor Reform Law approved only months ago, saying that Gov. Pedro Pierluisi did not provide evidence that the law would not impact the oversight board’s fiscal plan.

Puerto Rico could experience a spike in its electricity bills for the next 35 years if a debt restructuring proposal is accepted by a federal bankruptcy judge in New York.

Debt restructuring efforts for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s $9 billion debt have come to a new standstill after almost six years of negotiation. Multiple failed attempts to exit bankruptcy have led nowhere.

On the same day it was set to expire, the Puerto Rico Public-Private Alliances granted LUMA Energy an extension of its provisional contract that will only end once the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s debt restructuring is completed.

Three days before LUMA Energy’s contract is set to expire, the Public-Private Partnerships Authority requested authorization to extend LUMA’s provisional contract until the debt restructuring process for the publicly owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is finalized.

Teachers and electrical workers in Puerto Rico are calling for protests outside schools on November 30, the day that LUMA Energy’s contract is set to expire, in hopes that the government cancels the company’s impending 15-year contract.

Puerto Rican legislators from New York and local activist groups joined forces on Thursday to repudiate the Puerto Rican government’s contract with LUMA Energy and ask Gov. Pedro Pierluisi not to grant the company control over the archipelago’s electrical system for the next 15 years.

As Hurricane Fiona bore down on Puerto Rico two weeks ago, the U.S.-imposed fiscal control board and the U.S.-based judge who handles the public electric utility’s debt restructuring deal forced Puerto Rican lawyers to file motions even as the archipelago was experiencing an island-wide blackout.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. government announced Wednesday it would temporarily waive a federal law and allow foreign diesel deliveries to Puerto Rico as it faces a dwindling supply of fuel nearly two weeks after Hurricane Fiona pummeled the U.S. territory.

While intense public pressure led to the worst parts being left out of the debt adjustment plan, many Puerto Ricans still view it as only leading the archipelago further into ruin through ever-expanding budget cuts and austerity measures.

On Friday, classrooms across Puerto Rico continued to sit empty as thousands of public school teachers protested at the foot of the Capitolio, home to Puerto Rico’s legislature, and then walked to the governor’s official residence, La Fortaleza, to demand fair pay and pensions.

“A Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans” has become almost cliche in talks concerning the current wave of gentrification washing over the islands. It’s a phrase so bold-faced about ridding the island of its native inhabitants that one is tempted to view it as satire, if the message behind it hadn’t become all too real for the people of Puerto Rico over the past decade.

The debate over the gentrification led by an influx of wealthy Americans turns on complicated and contested issues, including housing, taxes, and economic development. But it also begs a much deeper question: whether Puerto Ricans are a nation, or merely the current tenants of a particularly attractive piece of real estate in America’s empire.

Inside the Clemente Ruiz Nazario United States Courthouse, Judge Laura Taylor Swain presided over the first day of confirmation hearings for Puerto Rico’s debt adjustment plan. Outside, hundreds of people flooded the courthouse gates to express their repudiation of the plan.

On Tuesday, October 26, after the majority of protesters had left, the Senate approved PC1003. Gov. Pierluisi signed the debt restructuring bill into law almost immediately after it was passed, calling it “a great step forward to end the bankruptcy and get out from under the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board.”

En los últimos seis años, más de $300 millones en fondos públicos han ido a consultores relacionados a la AEE que establecen la pauta en el manejo de la corporación pública.

Groups demand that contributions to Puerto Rico pensions not be used to pay “illegal” $72B public debt

Groups rallied as part of day of action asking for elimination of $72 billion public debt.

“The story of PROMESA is the story of deepening poverty in Puerto Rico.”

“We refuse to sit back and watch how Wall Street destroys Puerto Rico.  Expect more protests and public mobilization to resist this abuse,” said Julio López Varona, The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD).

El sol comienza a bajar fuerte y caliente en San Juan poco después de las 4:00 de la tarde del martes, 15 de enero.