Before the Deluge
How Washington sealed Puerto Rico's fate

http://harpers.org/archive/2018/02/before-the-deluge-2/
Publisher:  Harper's Magazine
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article

A look at the problems facing Puerto Rico prior to Hurricane Maria, which was already a plundered and mis-managed society with crumbling infrastructure long before the hurricane struck.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

In the summer of 2016, when Congress installed a financial control board to address Puerto Rico's crippling debt, I traveled to San Juan, the capital. The island owed some $120 billion, and Wall Street was demanding action. On the news, President Obama announced his appointments to the Junta de Supervision y Administracion Financiera. "The task ahead for Puerto Rico is not an easy one," he said. "But I am confident Puerto Rico is up to the challenge of stabilizing the fiscal situation, restoring growth, and building a better future for all Puerto Ricans." Among locals, however, the control board was widely viewed as a transparent effort to satisfy mainland creditors - just the latest tool of colonialist plundering that went back generations.