There are a few shows that comfort the soul. The West Wing is one of them. Currently, while I sit in the Archipelago of Puerto Rico, I dream of a leader like Jed Bartlett and his competent crew. I have already made it through today’s power shortage. I hope there’s no more. I currently have enough water to shower over a bucket, so I can also clean my toilet bowl. The pressure is not enough to fill the water tank. I have spent five days doing my best to deal with the water outage. I am grateful. Some people have spent a month or more without water. I live in the city – the outage is not a rural problem, but an infrastructure one.
Puerto Rico has a lot of resources, but also the most corrupt government in our history. Republican Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez Colón is a small replica of the situation in Continental USA. She has been part of the government in different ways for almost 30 years, and yet none of the problems are her responsibility.
The most insulting thing about her government is the daily drama of a new cabinet member doing something deplorable. Her cabinet members have been accused of sexual harassment. One had to leave the office because she owned a business that was taking people’s money for car certifications and not filing them. Another used her power to give millionaire contracts to her alleged lover. The AG retired 229 corruption complaints without remark, while the comptroller gutted rules and regulations meant to stop corruption. Her Secretary of Natural Resources used his first order to remove a complaint against the governor’s in-laws (for having a house in protected wetlands, no less). These are just some examples of our Lady of Corruption Government. Last weekend, while we were all dealing with the water debacle, she was raising funds for her campaign at a party on the beach.
The jewel in her corruption crown is Puerto Rico itself, via a law that permits development on protected lands. This legislation had a project in mind – Esencia, a development with nearly half a billion dollars in tax breaks across two thousand acres in Cabo Rojo that we don’t have water for. If the project succeeds, they would need to desalinate water, and that project would raise everyone’s costs in an economy that is already in shambles, including some of the highest cost of living in the USA.
By the way, Cabo Rojo is the LGBTQA+ capital of Puerto Rico. It is also the place locals most like to vacation with family and friends. But the law is rigged so much toward developers that, to sue them, you need to deposit 10% of the project’s proposed budget. Yes, you read that right – to have standing against a development that ravages our natural resources and displaces locals, you need $200,000,000 to start.
The opposition is not a Jed Bartlett team either. There’s a conservative nepo baby with no experience who promotes Esencia, an egocentric divisive current senator, a religious ultra conservative party that wants to give women 99 years of jail for abortion, and the independent party who wants independence for Puerto Rico. The right to make our own decisions. But Puerto Rico has been brainwashed into not wanting independence, because we’ve been told we’ll run out of resources and end up like Venezuela or Cuba. The irony is that we’re already there.
Obama gave us an oversight board that spends at least twenty million a year and has been in place for 10 years without positive results. The Fiscal Board is depleting funds from our University while it permits the governor to add funds to her media tours and “trusted employees” – aka overpaid, underqualified staffers who helped elect the governor. For example, the ex governor’s daughter, with just a high school diploma, works as a Secretary of Administration and makes on average $13,000 a month. The average Puerto Rican makes $24,000 a year. We don’t have any money for infrastructure, but we have money for corruption. They will make laws to support their mafia. It can be legal, but it doesn’t mean it is right.
I have read a lot of articles about why we haven’t stopped the corruption yet. We are working on it – we’re organizing and protesting and asking for help. Staying here is an act of defiance and love for our nation, but we can’t fight this fight alone. There are more Puerto Ricans in the diaspora than there are in the Archipelago. Instead of being proud from the couch, please donate, organize, and protest. Support independent media and artists who know what’s right.
Bad Bunny was right: lo que le pasó a Hawaii could be our reality. We desperately need new leaders, real impact, and accountability. Sadly, the West Wing staff is not coming to save Puerto Rico. We have to do it ourselves, together.
