Threatened, arrested, attacked, and shot, Puerto Rico’s environmental activists have endured a lot while trying to enforce the environmental protection laws they feel the government refuses to enforce. Still, most of them refuse to back down.

With miles of beaches and lush rainforest, Puerto Rico is often touted as a paradise for vacationers. But for the people who live there, rampant development and the worsening effects of climate change have bred a sense of ecological anxiety that drives many to fight for the environment.

On the island of Puerto Rico, 20 out of the 27 landfills are considered illegal dumps violating required federal regulations.

On Monday, U.S. Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm announced a $453.3 million commitment to finance rooftop solar panels and battery systems for Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable communities.

In the absence of protection and a safe home, and the discrimination aggravated by factors such as religious ideologies, the Waves Ahead organization is developing housing projects aimed at these populations while bills to amend local laws are in limbo.

As the effects of climate change intensify across the Caribbean, it will only lead to more extreme weather events that will in turn force Puerto Ricans out of the places they once considered “safe” and make many reconsider their life plans.

Stepping outside in Puerto Rico’s capital city feels like walking inside a giant oven due to an “unprecedented” and record-breaking heat wave, which has already caused power and water outages as well as health concerns.

The tour through the mountains offers Puerto Rico’s most emblematic natural views, while reflecting government abandonment, the slow pace of post-Hurricane María reconstruction, and the urgency of funds for a new management plan.

The only practical way for Puerto Rico to decolonize, democratize, and safeguard its economic future and maintain its national identity is through national sovereignty—and trends indicate that support for sovereignty is growing.

Like many firsts of May in the past, this year’s May Day will see workers and activists around the world take to the streets to demand greater labor rights and protections. In Puerto Rico, they will also be condemning displacement and environmental destruction.

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago has sent a letter to Congress requesting that at least half of the funds allocated for Puerto Rico’s Nutritional Assistance Program be directed to supporting the island’s farmers and promoting greater self-sufficiency.

During the last few decades, illegal construction projects have encroached on Puerto Rico’s beautiful beaches, leading to the destruction of mangrove forests that protect the coastline from storms and rising sea levels.

A ruling by Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court has thrown into limbo hundreds of thousands of business and construction permits issued by a U.S. territory already struggling to attract investors amid an economic crisis.

On Saturday, hundreds of activists flooded Playa Almendros in Rincón, Puerto Rico to complete the demolition of a wall that was illegally built too close to the beach by a condo developer.

On Wednesday, Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources ordered a developer that built illegally built on top of Cueva Las Golondrinas in Aguadilla must restore the area impacted by the construction.

On this episode of Latino Rebels Radio, host Julio Ricardo Varela speaks with Latino Rebels’ Caribbean correspondent Carlos Edill Berríos Polanco about the challenges environmentalists face in their fight against land privatization in Puerto Rico.

A judge in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico has ordered the demolition of two illegal structures built on top of Cueva Las Golondrinas after ruling that the lawsuit filed by the municipality against Aguadilla Pier Corporation has merit.

Human rights groups and activists are demanding that Puerto Rican and U.S. authorities launch an investigation into the shooting of an environmental activist by private security personnel in the coastal town of Aguadilla on Sunday.

As Puerto Rico moves toward its stated goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, there are still gigantic leaps that need to be taken if it plans to reach that target date, though it is becoming increasingly unlikely that such monumental steps will be taken.

Fed up with the slow government response, Puerto Ricans in beach towns along the western coast have set up encampments to demand action be taken to stop illegal construction from further destroying the environment.

Despite ample federal funding, less than one percent of the federal money slated for the island’s public water utility corporation since 2018 has been set aside to buy generators for water pumps. Local officials instead have been forced to rely on a patchwork supply of emergency units.