BONUS: The State of the U.S. Colonies
For this bonus episode, we’re sharing a Facebook Live panel discussion from Power 4 Puerto Rico. The topic of discussion is on the State of the U.S. Colonies. Listen in to hear from leaders, scholars, and activists from American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands on the major challenges these colonies face and how to be an ally in struggles for land rights, food sovereignty and more.
BONUS: A Crushing Blow to Puerto Rico: A New Debt Restructuring Plan
For this bonus episode, we’re sharing a Facebook Live panel discussion from our friends at Power 4 Puerto Rico. The topic of discussion is Puerto Rico’s recently approved debt restructuring plan that the US colonial board - La Junta - imposed on Puerto Rico. We talked about the new debt restructuring plan and its faults in our last episode and took a deeper dive on our Instagram page - @paseopodcast - as to why this new plan could lead to devastating effects down the road for la Isla. But what we’re sharing today will provide a more in-depth unpacking of the details of the plan.
Episode 54: The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act
For this week’s episode, we’re sharing 2 separate, but related, interviews. We speak to Federico A. de Jesús, Senior Advisor for Power 4 Puerto Rico and a Former Obama-Biden Official, about the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, including misconceptions of the bill, how it came to be, how it seeks to address Puerto Rico’s status, and how it compares to the The Puerto Rico Statehood Admissions Act.
We also speak to Giovanni Pagan Velez & Andrésb Rodriguez Brauer, members of the research team responsible for a recent study released by Data for Progress on Puerto Rican Status Preferences. They polled likely voters in Puerto Rico to see what their preferences were on Puerto Rico’s status by simulating a ranked choice voting scenario. We’ll learn about their findings, what status questions they asked Puerto Ricans, and more when we take the deep dive into their research.