One Month In, Let's Get Political

We've officially lived in Puerto Rico for 1 month today, and I have to say, so far, we love it here! Let me clarify - I'm not speaking sarcastically. We really love it, in spite of what I'm about to discuss.

Politics is the predominant theme on our one month anniversary. Today is May Day, International Work Day, the last day of a legal stay protecting PR from lawsuits due to debt, and it's also the day of a national strike here in PR. While there are marches and protests going on back in the states for #nobannowallnoraids, here in PR workers and students are on strike to protest large cuts to university funding and municipal budgets. Many businesses are closed today for the strike, including all of our local government offices, and we may even lose power. Although to be fair I should mention we lose power all the time anyways.

Found on Twitter:

As an artist producing political work, back in Texas I was hyperaware of federal, state and local goings on in government. In Puerto Rico, it's a whole new world of political craziness, with a little Trump administration mixed in. Trump mentioned Puerto Rico in a recent tweet and it was not well received.

I still have much to learn about the political landscape in PR, but here's what I've gathered in my first four weeks living on the island: There are different political parties here than in the states, and they are based on whether or not Puerto Rico should become the 51st state. As of July 1st the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico will lose their funding from the central government. Unemployment is at 15%, and 51% of the island is employed by the government of PR. So half of the island stands to have hours reduced, salaries reduced, or will face lay offs after July 1st. That's scary stuff, especially when so many families are already living below the poverty line. Property values are at an all time low. Schools are being closed due to lack of funding. Public utilities have suffered greatly due to lack of maintenance, including power lines, roads, and water supply lines. When an issue arises, the general public opinion is that it will take 3 months to fix. A recent example is a Facebook post on a local page regarding a large pothole. The pothole now prevents trash trucks from entering the area, and residents are left with no solution. No trash pick up. For 3 months. Or longer. With the July 1st budget cuts looming, who knows when that municipality will be able to address the issue.

For us personally, so far we are only directly affected by infrastructure problems. We bought a car that could handle giant potholes. Our condo has a generator, but it only allows each unit two working power outlets during an outage. So no A/C, but you can still plug in a fan and charge your devices. Generators power Jason's office 100% during an outage so work can continue. Jason does not work for the PR government, so his job will not be affected by the upcoming budget cuts. I have not heard of any major issues with water supply in our area unless there is hurricane, at which time FEMA trucks arrive and supply water until service is restored.

Healthcare in Puerto Rico is pretty awesome. Puerto Rico provides universal healthcare on the island. PR is exempt from US national health care law, so if Trumpcare were to pass it would not apply here. Coverage is fantastic and affordable. We do not have a deductible or copays on our health plan. However, we've been told to expect long waits for appointments. I'll report back on our experience here in a few weeks when we go meet our new doctor.

One service that is seriously lacking in PR is animal control. Puerto Rico has a huge stray dog problem. This stems from a lack of animal control services and facilities but also from a culture with a long history of animal abuse. Non profit organizations do as much as they can to rescue dogs (and cats and horses) and also to educate the public about responsible animal treatment. We see satos (the word for mutt in Spanish used to describe stray dogs here) everywhere: wandering streets, on the beaches, at the grocery store, and sneaking in to restaurants. It is HEARTBREAKING. I will be fundraising for satos in our area - more on that in a future post.

I'll revisit politics in Puerto Rico soon, as there will be some major developments this week regarding how the national debt will be settled (possible bankruptcy option). We're also gearing up for a vote in June regarding statehood. The party for statehood is encouraging everyone to vote. The party for commonwealth (the current status of PR) is encouraging everyone to boycott the vote, even though commonwealth is a choice on the ballot. They even have t-shirts that say (in Spanish) Keep Calm and Go to the Beach (instead of voting). Then after the election they'll claim the result is invalid because only statehood supporters voted. And that shit actually worked in the last vote in 2012! Statehood won the vote, the commonwealth party complained, and the US Congress threw out the results of that vote and the commonwealth people rejoiced because nothing changed for another 5 years (they won). Like I said, crazy.