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

More than 60 Puerto Ricans and supporters held an early morning protest Feb. 1 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in lower Manhattan, where the U.S.-colonialist-appointed Financial Oversight Board (“La Junta”) met to plot the privatization of Puerto Rico’s utilities and resources in the wake of last September’s Hurricane María. Meanwhile, the Puerto Rican people 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, members of the board were forced to run a gauntlet of angry protesters chanting “U.S.A., out of Puerto Rico!” The action was organized by A Call for Puerto Rico, and supported by many community, labor and left organizations.