Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 5-17-2018
DOI
10.1057/s41276-018-0125-z
Abstract
As the United States ascended to hyper-power status during the late 1970s, it changed colonial policy in Puerto Rico. The change, which included the elimination of favorable tax legislation and demilitarization, devastated Puerto Rico’s economy. Puerto Rico borrowed heavily in a failed effort to offset the dramatic decline in capital inflows. The federal government enacted PROMESA after Puerto Rico announced it could not repay the debt. The law was designed to restore Puerto Rico to financial solvency by imposing oppressive austerity measures. PROMESA was a watershed event because it stripped Puerto Rico of the limited sovereignty the federal government had allowed. But, just as colonialism is the source of Puerto Rico’s economic and humanitarian crises, colonialism will also sabotage PROMESA’s plan to extract wealth from an impoverished population. Hurricane Maria has guaranteed that Puerto Rico will never have the resources to repay the debt holders.
Recommended Citation
Caban, Pedro, "PROMESA, Puerto Rico and the American Empire" (2018). Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship. 33.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/lacs_fac_scholar/33
Terms of Use
This work is made available under the Scholars Archive Terms of Use.
Comments
This is the Author’s Original Manuscript of an article published by SpringerLink in Latino Studies. The version of the record appears here: Cabán, Pedro. (2018). PROMESA, Puerto Rico and the American Empire. Latino Studies. 16 (2), 161-184. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-018-0125-z.