As dozens of leaders and elected officials joined for National Day of Action for Puerto Rico, a group of protesters took the streets of Center City on Nov. 3 to demand accountability from the United States government and call for the cancellation of the debt payment.

The Philadelphia-Camden Boricua Committee stated that because the island has been unable to exercise autonomy to solve its economic problems, U.S. corporations have “squeezed the resources leaving Puerto Ricans with no alternative but to migrate.”

“The U.S. and its corporations benefit from this colonial relation. We, the Philadelphia-Camden Boricua Committee feel that the crisis in Puerto Rico has been created by the U.S., that for more than a century has kept the island in bondange as a colony of the U.S.”
 

Fermín Morales, a North Philly resident present at the march said the solution lies in the people of Puerto Rico and the diaspora in the United States fighting together for independence. “Let’s put lies aside — Puerto Rico is a colony. Certain people want to live that lie but we want to live as free people, free to think,” he said.

“They’ve (U.S. Government) created this debt. Puerto Rico has never been able to have commerce with other markets,” Morales said. “They have instituted their own companies that pay very little or no taxes. There is no investment of that money in the island.”

The National Day of Action for Puerto Rico unfolded as Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla “signed an executive order to use money earmarked for servicing the debts of several public corporations to pay interest and principal on $354 million in Government Development Bank bonds partially guaranteed by the commonwealth,” Bloomberg Business reported.

"Starting today, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico will have to claw back revenues pledged to certain bonds issued in order to maintain essential public services. We have taken this difficult step in the hope that Congress will act soon," Garcia Padilla said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Congressman Brendan Boyle joined Councilwoman María Quiñones-Sánchez and other elected leaders to urge Congress to pass legislation addressing the growing fiscal and humanitarian crisis.

“It is extremely important that we stand with Puerto Rico in restructuring its unsustainable debt burden,” said Congressman Boyle. “We also need to help them grow their economy so that Puerto Ricans can focus on the essential work of investing in a brighter economic future. The inequitable treatment by the federal government has constrained Puerto Rico’s ability to restructure its debt through an orderly court-supervised process. It is essential.”

“A historic coalition of Puerto Rican leaders and allies have asked The President and Congress to provide the tools for Puerto Rico to recover from this crisis, which include; Allowing the government to file for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy to restructure its debt (An authority the island’s government had until 1984), Creating parody for the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements under the Affordable Care Act, and extending the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Income Tax Credit to the 3.5 Million U.S. citizens on the island” Councilwoman María Quiñones-Sánchez