Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, wrote to Jose Carrión, chair of the PROMESA fiscal oversight board, “I am writing to reiterate my request… Read More »Gonzalez-Colon Calls on PROMESA Board to Speak Out on Healthcare Funding
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Price told the Senate Finance Committee yesterday that the Federal government would have to find additional money… Read More »Trump HHS Nominee Promises to Look into Healthcare Resources for Puerto Rico
As PROMESA moved through the legislative process, one of the challenges facing bill drafters was the lack of reliable data on Puerto Rico. At the Senate Judiciary Committee… Read More »Economists Cite Need for Reliable Economic Data to Achieve Recovery in Puerto Rico
After 25 years of sending manufacturing jobs to Asia, the United States is seeing a return of manufacturing jobs. A 2013 Boston Consulting Group report… Read More »Manufacturing Renaissance for Puerto Rico?
Forty additional members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sponsored the bill to make Puerto Rico a State in 2021 if Puerto Ricans vote… Read More »91 in U.S. House Have Sponsored Statehood Bill
Manufacturing in the United States as a whole is experiencing a renaissance. After years of offshoring, American manufacturing is adding new jobs at an impressive… Read More »Manufacturing in Puerto Rico: Falling Behind the States
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla is deciding whether to sign his bill to prevent financial failures of the Puerto Rico’s Highways and Transportation Authority and Government Development… Read More »Gov’s Highways Relief Bill Passed But He Doesn’t Like Amendments
Puerto Rico’s economy starts 2014 significantly worse off than it began 2013 — continuing many years of deterioration. 2014 commences during the eighth year of… Read More »“Commonwealth” Economy Continued to Shrink in 2013 and is Expected to in 2014
A CNN article reports that Puerto Rico, an island with a population of 3,706,690, had 1,136 murders last year — 70% of them related to drug trafficking. For perspective, consider that New York City, with a population of more than 8 million people, had 496 murders in 2011.
Travelers from Puerto Rico to the mainland do not have to go through customs when they arrive, making it easier to smuggle drugs from Puerto Rico than from Canada or Mexico. Combined with limited protection of Puerto Rico’s coastline, this fact makes Puerto Rico a significant conduit for drugs.
“We have been asking the federal government to help us patrol…the Puerto Rican coasts, which we are unable to cover entirely by ourselves,” Gov. Luis Fortuño said Wednesday. “We want them to help us protect it in the same way they protect the borders with Mexico and Canada.”Read More »Puerto Rico: Undefended Front in the War on Drugs
