New York protest says ‘Puerto Rico is not for sale!’

Puerto Ricans and supporters held an early-morning militant protest Feb. 1 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in lower Manhattan.

They were there to confront the U.S.-colonialist-appointed Financial Oversight Board (“La Junta”) which was meeting to plot the further privatization of Puerto Rico’s utilities and resources in the wake of last September’s Hurricane María. The Puerto Rican people also continue to suffer from a genocidal lack of disaster relief from the Trump regime.

When protesters and journalists demanded entrance to the Junta meeting, they were met with brutal treatment by armed, white supremacist Department of Homeland Security goons. Nevertheless, the bankers and other members of the board were forced to run a gauntlet of angry protesters chanting “U.S.A., out of Puerto Rico!”

Organized by A Call for Puerto Rico, the action was supported by many community, labor and left organizations.