Abstract
First paragraph: It has been nearly two years since Hurricane Maria unleased her fury on Puerto Rico, Dominica, and the U.S Virgin Islands in September 2017. Hurricane Maria caused an estimated US$94 billion in damages, with the majority of those damages reported in Puerto Rico (Mercy Corps, 2019). It is estimated that 2,975 Puerto Ricans lost their lives because of the hurricane, though the eventual death toll may have reached 4,000 (Mercy Corps, 2019). When Maria hit, the islands were still in recovery from Hurricane Irma, which had struck the north side of the main island just days before. The entirety of the archipelago, all 3.4 million residents, lost power after Maria, and it was estimated that Puerto Ricans, on average, went 84 days without power, 68 days without water, and 41 days without cellular phone service (Mercy Corps, 2019). Overnight, Puerto Rico became disconnected from the outside world. Prior to the 2017 hurricanes, Puerto Rico was already grappling with widespread poverty and a crumbling infrastructure after years of disinvestment and structural adjustment.[1] These inequalities left Puerto Ricans with a host of challenges related to their wellbeing. For instance, according to the National Resources Defense Council, in 2015, 99.5% of Puerto Ricans were served by community water systems that violated the Safe Drinking Water Act (NRDC, 2017). Before Maria, 1.5 million Puerto Ricans were food insecure, with children experiencing food insecurity at a rate of 56%—triple the U.S. average (Bread for the World, 2019). [1] Structural adjustment refers to the delivery and administration of loans to states or regions in economic crisis, often loaned by institutions like the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. These loans are given on the condition of economic reforms. Structural adjustment is widely critiqued as a mechanism that deepens poverty and increases dependency. See the press release for this article.
Highlights
It has been nearly two years since Hurricane Maria unleased her fury on Puerto Rico, Dominica, and the U.S Virgin Islands in September 2017
Prior to the 2017 opment Company, encouraging Puerto Ricans to hurricanes, Puerto Rico was already grappling with move away from the agrarian traditions that had widespread poverty and a crumbling infrastructure sustained them for years and into light manufacafter years of disinvestment and structural adjustturing and white-collar work, in the ment
For scale trade and development policies, and from the instance, according to the National Resources pressures to grow mainly export crops such as Defense Council, in 2015, 99.5% of Puerto Ricans coffee and sugar, Puerto Rican farmers have long were served by community struggled to sustain small-scale water systems that violated the agricultural livelihoods
Summary
1.5 million Puerto Ricans were food insecure, with children experiencing food insecurity at manifestation of the colonial relationship between the U.S. It is impossible to discuss Puerto Rico’s economic system—past, present, or sovereignty over their food system, but their entire added, artisanal foods based in Carolina, Puerto Rico; and Luis Alexis Rodríguez Cruz, a docfuture—without talking about the islands’ relationship with economy. In my interviews with these two inspiring ing of international support, the United States did individuals, one thing became abundantly clear: for not immediately waive the Jones Act, doing so Puerto Ricans, there is a definitive dichotomy of more than a week after the hurricane hit and only. The Jones Act, a clear manifestation of the colonial revealed a transformative opening for building relationship between the United States and Puerto resiliency and sovereignty into the heart of the. Limits the islands’ autonomy and sovereignty islands’ food and farming future. Begun cane—is poised to bring new forms of local conin 1947, Operation Bootstrap encompassed a series trol and connection to food on the islands
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