Puerto Rican Government Threatens Terrorism Charges For Laid-Off Workers At Oct 15 Protest
A controversial plan by Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno to lay off 17,000 government workers in the coming weeks, and possibly up to 30,000 in the coming months, has enraged the island's labor force. Stoking the fires, the Governor's administration has now threatened to charge picketing civil servants for engaging in terrorism if their actions during a planned October 15 protest infringe upon the flow of trade at the island's ports.
The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is struggling with a $3.2 billion deficit and a 15 percent unemployment rate, higher than any U.S. state. The announced layoff of 17,000 government employees will raise the unemployment rate to 17 percent, according to government officials. The territory's Education Department will be hardest hit, with 7,249 layoffs, followed by Transportation and Public Works with 1,522, and the Economic Development Administration with 681.
Labor union organizers have called for a general strike among the island's workers on Thursday October 15. A prominent union leader said that organized labor is preparing to launch "the most massive movement in the history" of Puerto Rico. Union officials question the wisdom of the governor's plan, arguing that the massive layoffs will devastate Puerto Rico's fragile economy, already in its fourth year of recession.
The Fortuno administration responded to news of the planned October 15 labor strike with extreme rhetoric, threatening to charge picketing public servants and protestors for engaging in acts of terrorism if they prevent the flow of goods and passengers at the island's airports and seaports, shocking civil liberties advocates who say the right to protest is clearly protected by the Puerto Rican and U.S. Constitutions.
"Calling individuals who are exercising their right to protest terrorists is dangerous in a democracy, and I am very worried about the turn of events. These are public servants," said American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director William Ramirez on Wednesday.
Puerto Rican Senate Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia has proposed an alternative plan to cut the daily workday of all government employees by 30 minutes to save the laid-off workers' jobs. Bhatia asserts that roughly 40% of the laid off employees are single mothers and couples facing the loss of both incomes.
Senator Bhatia previously invited the fired employees to attend the Senate session on October 1st, hoping their presence would evoke sympathy from the government and derail the layoffs. But when 150 of the workers showed up with their pink slips in front of the Senate building waiting quietly to enter, police intervened and blocked the doors. Senator Bhatia and other members convinced the police to let the group enter the building, where they sat waiting for three hours in a hallway outside the Senate visitors' gallery. The Senate Vice President then announced that the workers would not be allowed to enter the gallery, claiming that they posed a threat to the security of Senators inside.
"They were never allowed into the gallery, violating the Constitution of Puerto Rico which clearly states that all sessions of the Senate are public. Some majority senators expressed later that 'public' means that they should be televised," Senator Bhatia wrote in an email to supporters describing the incident.
The laid off workers are now troubled by the Fortuno administration's threat of terrorism charges during the protest next Thursday, and worried that police will overreact. Recent evidence of harsh tactics used by police during the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh provides cause for concern.
President Obama said today that winning the Nobel Peace Prize serves as a "call to action" to confront the challenges of the 21st century. One of the challenges he must address is the suppression of the right to peaceful protest in a democracy. The Obama administration should send a clear message to the Puerto Rican governor and police chief that they must not suppress these rights in Puerto Rico, a U.S. Territory.
These U.S. citizens protesting the loss of their jobs are civil servants - educators, transportation workers, engineers and traffic planners - and they deserve the right to protest peacefully next Thursday without the threat of being labeled "terrorists" for speaking out against injustice on American soil.
Follow Brendan DeMelle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bdemelle
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I can't the believe the Huffington Post has published this article without checking its facts and only getting information from the opposition party. This article is unabashedly biased and should be removed because it doesn't present a clear picture of what is going on in the island right now. If you want to know more about the issue I suggest you do more research on PR's deficit, previous administrations, and the current Administration's response to the strike. Again, I cannot believe how this issue has been portrayed to the world...I've never read something so sensationalist and clearly biased being passed as journalism.
The deficit is not something new, it has been growing a long time. Still the government hasn't certify it yet. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I'm saying that it's not official. I'm not gonna talk about past administrations because I think that it's not the point of this article. It's human rights and about this government use of fear as a tool to control the masses. Comparing protesters to "terrorists" gives you an idea of the kind of people that are in the government. What he threatened to use was "the patriot act" which cannot be used in PR, unless is used by the federal government. The response to of the government was the expected one. They're are gonna do nothing but they don't care what happens to the people who actually voted for him. They said there where only 15,000 people when there where more than 100,000 people from ALL parties. This is a government that works to benefit a few. People should be able to see beyond political parties. We can all agree to disagree, but we cannot look the other way when people are suffering, when their rights are being violated, when they are treated like number in a checkbook balance and not a living, breathing human being.
Terrorism is a loaded word and may not be the right one but I am not completely comfortable with the protest for a couple of reasons. Ok, you stop all traffic, now if someone has an accident, a heart attack, a fire. How are the paramedics, firemen etc going to get there? The protesters are being to selfish for not thinking about that. A few years ago it took me 3HOURS to take my pregnant, bleeding wife to the hospital due to a smaller strike, not even my and her crying pleas moved the organizers, my car suffered some dings because in the end I decided to just drive and if I had to ran over someone, well I was going to. Closing the roads is a big deal and puts in danger the very people who are sympathetic to the cause.
Also, what about tomorrow, they had their fit today but what is the plan? Its well documented and admitted by union leaders they didn't want to follow any of the offered alternatives to the layoffs, no reduced hours, nothing so what are they going to do? Protest to change a situation have a track record of success but protests to keep the status quo fail, the world keeps moving, we have to move. What we need is to channel that energy into new, creative wealth building solutions.
If you are a puerto rican living in the island you know this is a class-conscious goverment, where the voice of the people its not heard .The objective of this administration is to make the rich more rich and the poor to live off welfare to increase our dependency of the US Government.There will be no middle class after this four years. The Obama administration gave 2 billion dollars to the PR Gov. to CREATE jobs and prevent LAYOFFS, and there's have been more that 20,000 people fired. You say there's no other alternative because the unions didn't want to reduced hours. Well they didn't want layoffs neither, and they still did it. Why didn't the government pass a law to make the reduction of hours mandatory? Because the plan all along was to layoff the workers to give the FEDERAL funding to the private sector, aka. the people who did his campaign.
I understand your point that, in the case of an emergency, it will be difficult to transit in that area but they did leave a lane free for emergencies. It's the firemen and police work to have a plan for emergencies. It's their responsibility.
You say to move forward, but if you think about it, we're moving backwards. Fortuño's plan is Reganomics 101, which proved to be a failure in the US when it was implanted.
I could go on and on about the things that are wrong in this government.
It's time for everyone to get together and stop this elitist "politicians" who forget they are here to serve the people and not their own interests. Thank you for helping us get the word out there
Search for #ParoPR in Twitter. We, the people from Puerto Rico, are trying to let everyone know what's happening in our island. A lot of people are on the streets right now, public transportation and the main roads in the island are paralyzed. Also, there are reports of police confrontation. But the most important thing is that the boricuas are fighting today against the tyranny of a republican government that is trying to impose the same practices that George W. Bush imposed in America.
Some local bloggers have created a blog and a twitter account for independent brodcast of today's protests. The blog is here: http://paropr.posterous.com/ (mainly in spanish, but has some interesting english info, like a pdf document about the fiscal situation on the US territory).
The twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/paropr. Also those bloggers are encouraging the use of the following hashtags on twitter to talk about the strike: #paroPR #ParoPR.
Even if you are not a native spanish speaker you will find pictures, sounds and videos troughout the day. I am sure some english posts will come up.
"These U.S. citizens protesting the loss of their jobs are civil servants - educators, transportation workers, engineers and traffic planners - and they deserve the right to protest peacefully next Thursday without the threat of being labeled "terrorists" for speaking out against injustice on American soil."
They also deserve the right to be represented by a full vote in Congress and to vote for their President as he sends their kids to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's something we can all make happen. Call your Congressman today!
Thank you for posting about this important international issue. What is happening in Puerto Rico is a clear display of despotism and should be known.
Gotta protect the right to peaceful protest. so sad to hear how this economy is impacting Puerto Rico. We need a massive push for green jobs.
There's an awful lot of bad law with the word "terrorist" in it.
Wow, that is amazing, I hope the White House intervenes. I am half Puerto Rican and I have visited San Juan(drank the water, got sick and lost 18 lbs. in 24 hours, hahaha) and it is absolutely beautiful. I had no idea that unemployment was so high there.
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