On the night of July 24, Puerto Ricans who had been protesting for hours in San Juan began to chant a victorious “Olé Olé Olé” as they celebrated governor Ricardo Rosselló’s resignation. The protests came after the revelation of homophobic, sexist, anti-worker, and other bigoted comments revealed by an in-depth journalistic investigation into the Puerto Rican government. But just as pressing for the Puerto Rican people were the revelations of blatant corruption. These revelations were, in some ways, the straw that broke the camel’s back in Puerto Rico. Decades of neoliberal reforms and privatization schemes have devastated the island, but have also sown the seeds for the revival of a people’s anti-colonial movement.

In this episode, we talk with Norma Perez, a teacher formerly with the Federacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico, or Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico. Perez now works with Call to Action on Puerto Rico in New York City as part of the Puerto Rican diaspora organizing for independence from U.S. colonialism. Over the next hour, we discuss the broader economic and political situation in Puerto Rico, especially the social and cultural changes that have rocked the island in the decades leading up to Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico’s disaster capitalism.