“In the historical moment that Puerto Rico is experiencing, with a fiscal board imposed in a dictatorial manner, an economic situation in constant deterioration and a corrupt ruling class, it is unheard of for the government to insist on promoting an idea that the people reject,” said Julio Pabón, an activist with “Respect & Justice for Puerto Rico”, a grassroots organization in the Bronx.
“The corrupt ruling class in Puerto Rico, the one that has allowed the looting of our resources and that has participated in the loot through theft, is precisely part of the most assimilationist and submissive of the country. Year after year they have conspired, in the midst of a kind of symbiotic relationship with US imperialism, to destroy the backbone of our country, which is their nationality. They have failed,” Eric Ramos, leader of the New York PIP, said.