Gentrification Displaces Domestic Violence Survivors in Puerto Rico

Since the implementation of Act 22 approved in 2012 in Puerto Rico, which attracts foreign investors with tax incentives, access to affordable housing for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault has been a growing challenge.

  • May 5, 2022
  • 12:23 PM

Gentrification, Colonialism and Identity in Puerto Rico (OPINION)

The debate over the gentrification led by an influx of wealthy Americans turns on complicated and contested issues, including housing, taxes, and economic development. But it also begs a much deeper question: whether Puerto Ricans are a nation, or merely the current tenants of a particularly attractive piece of real estate in America’s empire.

  • Jan 21, 2022
  • 11:26 AM

Rincón, Puerto Rico: Between Gentrification and Colonialism

“While generational residents keep being displaced, without any government legislation to regulate the housing problem now, soon there will not be any generational native residents left in their town,” Ada Irizarry, an attorney from Rincón, said.

  • Sep 25, 2020
  • 12:12 PM

The Party’s Over in Puerto Rico (OPINION)

With a generational shift against the status quo, a growing reluctance among Puerto Ricans to see their islands become part of an increasingly authoritarian nation, and now a battle between its two leading figures —Gov. Pedro Pierluisi and Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Trump supporter— the ruling pro-statehood New Progressive Party’s days seem numbered.

  • Aug 14, 2023
  • 4:22 PM

Losing Puerto Rico, One Moonshot at a Time (OPINION)

This is the story of two Puerto Ricos—a phantasmagorical island cooked up by Pierluisi and the one Boricuas endure daily.

  • May 23, 2023
  • 4:53 PM

‘Losing Puerto Rico’ Campaign Launched to Abolish Act 22 (OPINION)

The Losing Puerto Rico media project launched a multimedia campaign to focus attention on an obscure and one-of-a-kind tax loophole that allows rich Americans to move to Puerto Rico and avoid paying most of their taxes.

  • Apr 26, 2023
  • 3:24 PM

Puerto Rico After ‘Roe’

A look at the battle over abortion rights in Puerto Rico following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of ‘Roe v. Wade’ in 2022, which undid nearly 50 years of reproductive rights protections in the United States

  • Jan 26, 2023
  • 3:40 PM

Puerto Rico’s Theatre of the Absurd (OPINION)

The recent image of a car stuck in a massive pothole in Humacao, Puerto Rico makes a fine metaphor for the state of Puerto Rico today and the role played by the pro-statehood Gov. Pedro Pierluisi and his New Progressive Party in the deterioration of the island.

  • Dec 6, 2022
  • 2:42 PM

Women’s Networks Drive Puerto Rico’s Decolonization Work

Puerto Ricans are pushing for sustained interconnectivity between stakeholders doing the rebuilding in the islands and the diaspora and its allies advocating for long-term investment from the mainland — and these coordination efforts are largely driven by women’s networks.

  • Oct 12, 2022
  • 11:53 AM

Bad Bunny contra la mamabichocracia de Puerto Rico (OPINIÓN)

La cortina de humo que lanzaron los agarra perlas —que es un irrespetuoso mal hablado y un soldado de la izquierda (algunos lo comparan con un joven Fidel Castro)— no puede tapar la verdad: Bad Bunny le pertenece a su generación y dice las cosas en su propio idioma.

  • Aug 2, 2022
  • 5:52 PM

Dystopian Puerto Rico: Macondo Is Changing (OPINION)

Puerto Rico is undergoing a fundamental shift in its social and political architecture, and for the first time since I can remember, strong winds are blowing in favor of self-determination and possibly, eventually, independence.

  • May 4, 2022
  • 12:46 PM

Puerto Rico, a Nation of Women (OPINION)

Women now account for more than half of Puerto Rico’s population and are spearheading —especially the young women— an unstoppable revolution, one that will change the island’s future.

  • Mar 23, 2022
  • 4:40 PM

Puerto Rico’s Normandie Hotel a Reflection of Colonialism (OPINION)

Boricuas are in an all-out struggle to save what is theirs from the crypto-barons and Wall Street vultures —their beaches, their homes, their neighborhoods and towns, and the beautiful architecture of their island— of which the Normandie is one of the brightest jewels in the crown.

  • Feb 9, 2022
  • 12:15 PM

Act 60 Brings People Into Puerto Rico and Pushes Others Out

“A Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans” has become almost cliche in talks concerning the current wave of gentrification washing over the islands. It’s a phrase so bold-faced about ridding the island of its native inhabitants that one is tempted to view it as satire, if the message behind it hadn’t become all too real for the people of Puerto Rico over the past decade.

  • Jan 25, 2022
  • 11:30 AM

A ‘Generational Howl’ Heard in Chile and Puerto Rico (OPINION)

The triumph of Gabriel Boric over the extreme right in Chile sent out “a generational howl” that is reverberating throughout the region and is echoed in Puerto Rico by young Boricuas who want to change the political and social architecture of their homeland.

  • Jan 24, 2022
  • 1:59 PM

Puerto Rico’s Big ‘Menu’ for Opportunity Zones

“The fact that almost the entire island of Puerto Rico is an Opportunity Zone, is a blessing, but at the same time it’s a complication,” Manuel López-Zambrana said.

  • Mar 12, 2019
  • 8:49 AM

Puerto Rico Gov’t Lacks Plan to Integrate Communities into ‘Opportunity Zones’

House Speaker Méndez says local legislation to enable the federal tax exemption program on the island will likely be approved, after being on conference committee since November.

  • Mar 5, 2019
  • 10:21 AM

Hurray for the Riff Raff Releases Anti-Gentrification Anthem ‘Rican Beach’

“Rican Beach is a fictional place, but it was written with my ancestors in mind.”

  • Dec 5, 2016
  • 2:54 PM

María and Maui (OPINION)

“As I watched TV coverage of the wildfires incinerating Maui… a single thought raged in my head: Colonialism is a brutal, never-ending story… The footage triggered memories of Hurricane María, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 and transformed the archipelago into a rich man’s paradise—and a no man’s land for many Puerto Ricans.”

  • Aug 21, 2023
  • 5:26 PM

Puerto Rican Pastor Spews Hatred From the Pulpit (OPINION)

During a recent “sermon,” the head pastor of an evangelical church in Puerto Rico denounced people of color as racist, slammed the LGBT community, and complained that the Black actress starring in Disney’s remake of ‘The Little Mermaid’ was ugly.

  • May 9, 2023
  • 3:04 PM

Jenniffer González Is More of the Same — and Probably Worse (OPINION)

González and Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, both of the ruling PNP, seemed united at a recent rally in San Juan, even as she schemes to replace him in 2024. If González is willing to stab her party’s president in the back to take his job, how far would she go to keep it?

  • Mar 8, 2023
  • 4:08 PM

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