After weeks of mass demonstrations touched off by the publication of a trove of leaked chats and evidence of mass corruption by Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism, Ricardo Rossello has done what he swore he would not: resigned.
Rossello’s departure was preceded by so many other high-profile
resignations that the governor pro-tem will be Justice Secretary Wanda
Vazquez, as the secretary of state position is currently vacant. For the
next 17 months, Puerto Rico’s government will be “virtually symbolic,”
and “largely ceremonial,” in the words of University of Puerto Rico
economist Juan Lara.
Puerto Rico has been battered by a series of catastrophes, all stemming from its colonial past:
first there were the Wall Street banks that arranged to flog off
incredible quantities of state-issued bonds, pocketing hundreds of
millions in fees. Then there was Congress’s unwillingness to support Puerto Rico through the inevitable insolvency, as they would have done for a majority-white, majority-wealthy US state.
Then came the official federal overthrow of Puerto Rico’s government and
its replacement with appointed finance-sector managers who oversaw a
reign of austerity that saw cuts to schools, hospitals, pensions and
infrastructure, leaving the island terribly vulnerable to any kind of
shock – including Hurricanes Maria and Irma, which flattened the island
and tore through the weakened, brittle infrastructure like wet kleenex.
The island was plunged into powerless darkness for months, while the racist president of the USA literally threw paper towels at them while belittling the country’s few principled leaders.
People can only be pushed so far. After the disasters, radical groups moved to the forefront, providing the relief that neither the local nor the national government would supply.
It’s these same radical groups that took the lead after the Rossello
leaks, feminists and socialists, who formed the vanguard of a
mass-movement supported both by Puerto Ricans on the island and the vast
Puerto Rican diaspora on the mainland, refusing to let Rossello spin
his way out of his career-ending corruption and callousness.
Now, their efforts have paid off. The judge overseeing Puerto Rico’s
bankruptcy case has suspended the proceedings until after the next
election, saying that the case could cause “chaos that I’m trying to
tamp down.”
I think the chaos is coming, though: Puerto Ricans did not fill the
sweltering streets, day after day, merely to remove Rossello: they want
something better. They want the recognition and dignity that is their
legal and moral right as American citizens. They want climate justice
and decolonization. They want reparations for more than a century of
looting. They want it all.
Emergency services, transit service and affordable housing were among the services slashed as city council unveiled details of how its $60 million in budget cuts will affect Calgarians.
Council voted 13-1 in favour of the package of cuts shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Earlier this year, council approved a 10 per cent tax rollback for business property owners. Since then, the city has been searching for ways to pay for it.
Nearly every city department and service — a total of 48 departments from arts to waste and recycling — will feel the crunch.
[…]
Coun. Druh Farrell, the lone vote against the cuts, said the timing of discussing laying off dozens of people and cuts to vital services felt heartless, likely alluding to the city’s announcement it was prepared to go in on a $550-million arena with the Calgary Flames the day before.
“I won’t be supporting these cuts considering the discussion we had yesterday … it feels cruel,” said Farrell. “115 good people are going to lose their jobs.”
There will be impacts to accessible transit, slower response times to street light outages and cuts to New Year’s Eve celebrations. Budget belt-tightening will also affect planned activities to engage with multicultural groups, the city’s Indigenous relations office and the Council Strategic Initiative Fund.
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