upcoming general strike in puerto rico! 🇵🇷

last weekend, an estimated 70% of puerto rican teachers went on strike to demand better pay and pension protection. the strike was prompted by the death of pablo mas oquendo, a teacher who was killed in a car accident commuting from his third job. puerto rican teachers are some of the lowest paid in the US, taking home just $1700 a month on average. the most recent campaign to raise teacher wages was actively blocked by the US-imposed financial control board which has overseen increased privatization and exploitation of puerto rico.

in a transparent attempt to keep the teachers quiet, pr’s governor pedro pierluisi (who previously worked as an attorney for the control board) offered them a temporary raise of $1k but did nothing to address pension security or any of the other systemic issues undermining educators and schools on the island. now teachers - along with paramedics, social workers, nurses, and firefighters (who pierluisi directly insulted by telling them to “get a different job” if they wanted better pay) - plan to lead a general strike on february 18th. protesters have also gathered this morning (february 9th) to demand pierluisi’s resignation and fair pay for all workers.

unsurprisingly, these protests have either been ignored or minimized by US media. you can keep up with the latest news on the ground by checking out/following bandera roja and bianca graulau on instagram & devilette and vaquero2xl on twitter among others. que viva puerto rico libre 🇵🇷