U.S. Colonialism is to Blame for Puerto Rico’s Collapsing Healthcare System
A new in-depth report by The Washington Post and the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico is drawing public attention to the disastrous state of the island’s healthcare system. The collapse of the medical system has led to thousands of preventable deaths among Puerto Ricans.
Our campaign understands that the culprit behind this disaster is U.S. colonialism. We are sickened at the massive, needless suffering inflicted by a colonial order that loots Puerto Rico and leaves the people without the most basic necessities. The only way to solve this and the other dire problems facing Puerto Rico is through independence. We stand for a free Puerto Rico that is liberated from U.S. rule.
Conditions on the island keep getting worse and worse. The death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic was astronomical due to the neglect of the U.S. government. Instead of helping Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria in 2017, the US government facilitated corporate profiteering. A wave of real estate speculation has led to skyrocketing housing costs.
But even earlier, the U.S. government was taking steps to inflict exceptional misery on the Puerto Rican people. In 2016, Congress took advantage of Puerto Rico’s debt crisis to impose the dictatorial rule of an appointed “Fiscal Control Board” over the island’s finances – power that the board has put to use slashing public services and privatizing vital public enterprises. And going further back, in 1994 the public health system was privatized and quality medical care became out of reach to many working class Puerto Ricans.
Large numbers of people are being forced out of the island by these terrible conditions. This includes many medical professionals, accelerating the collapse of the healthcare system. But inside the United States as well, Puerto Rican communities are still subjected to racist neglect, poverty, police violence and gentrification.
125 years of U.S. colonialism is long enough – we demand independence for Puerto Rico! And in addition to independence, the corporations that have grown rich exploiting the island must pay reparations so that Puerto Rico can embark on a path of independent economic development. Only when Puerto Ricans are able to control their own destiny can the people be guaranteed a life with dignity. This is an essential part of our socialist program for the creation of a new kind of society in the United States.
