Last week Thursday, a coalition of Puerto Ricans living in the diaspora sent a letter to Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, urging him and other House members for transparency in their proceedings on a draft bill to resolve Puerto Rico’s status.

Hours before President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday, members of the Frente Independentista Boricua gathered in Washington, D.C. to call on the federal government to decolonize Puerto Rico, a U.S. possession since 1898.

On Wednesday, Power 4 Puerto Rico, a group comprised of diaspora leaders and allies advocating for Puerto Ricans on the island and abroad, released a statement condemning U.S. Judge Laura Taylor-Swain’s approval of a plan to cut Puerto Rico’s public debt by 80 percent and commence debt service payments through 2034

“Congress should have already passed a desperately-needed disaster aid package instead of delaying action,” Erica González said.

“The Board has been tangled in conflicts of interests, and its wealthy members have no grasp of the realities faced by working families in Puerto Rico.”

“The story of PROMESA is the story of deepening poverty in Puerto Rico.”

Human rights groups and activists are demanding that Puerto Rican and U.S. authorities launch an investigation into the shooting of an environmental activist by private security personnel in the coastal town of Aguadilla on Sunday.

On Thursday the House passed the Puerto Rico Status Act, which received a floor vote after its approval by a House committee on Wednesday. Now, the race is on to get approval from the Senate before a new Republican-controlled House is sworn in on January 3.

Puerto Rican legislators from New York and local activist groups joined forces on Thursday to repudiate the Puerto Rican government’s contract with LUMA Energy and ask Gov. Pedro Pierluisi not to grant the company control over the archipelago’s electrical system for the next 15 years.

As fuel in Puerto Rico grows scarcer after Hurricane Fiona, an oil tanker loaded with much-needed diesel fuel is treading water off the coast of Puerto Rico, unable to dock because a 1920 law, known as the Jones Act, requires ships to be U.S.-owned if they want to load or unload.

The legislative clock is running out on the Puerto Rico Status Act, and according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), votes have yet to be counted due to what he says are “outside interests” delaying progress on the bill.

Rep. Grijalva, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee which has jurisdiction over Puerto Rico, says the sudden increase in lobbying against the Puerto Rico Status Act is not about process but instead about maintaining the island’s current colonial status.

Twenty-nine amendments were debated by members of the House Natural Resources Committee who ultimately voted 20-25 to advance the bill, with every Republican voting against the bill except Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner, Jenniffer González-Colón.

While movement this week from the House Committee on Natural Resources is likely focusing on a consensus Puerto Rico Status Act for a hearing before the August recess that could get the draft bill past committee and onto the House floor, Illinois’ two Senators have added their name to a growing list of upper chamber co-sponsors of a current self-determination bill that contains no consensus provisions with the island-colony’s statehood proponents.

In a surprising display of bipartisanship, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) and Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR) issued a joint statement on Thursday concerning the ongoing debate in the House of Representatives on Puerto Rico’s political status. My statement with @RepJenniffer below. pic.twitter.com/rmmtFEzJcZ — Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) April 28, 2022 “We both […]

A year after being re-introduced in the House and Senate, a Puerto Rico self-determination bill appears ready to die on the vine again in the current Congress.

The letter was dated the day after Puerto Rico statehood advocates formally introduced a bipartisan Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act of 2021 to the House.

“Not doing so could spell disaster for hundreds of thousands,” the letter said.

“Candidates have failed to address the impact of the Jones Act on the Island, among other critical issues,” the Power 4 Puerto Rico (P4PR) Coalition noted.

A Telemundo poll found that 70% of Florida Latinos would not support a “socialist” candidate.

On Monday, women held a “Day without Women” with an untold number of women not attending work and school.