Puerto Rico: our lives on the line
Our Response – CoronaVirus (COVID19)
Community of Puerto Rico,
At the María Fund, we see ourselves as a community - including those in the diaspora - made up of interdependent people who aspire to live a life with dignity and common well-being. Experiences like Hurricane Irma, María, the earthquakes that have devastated the southern region, and most recently the COVID19 pandemic, have taught us lessons of solidarity and mutual aid – of how to sustain ourselves as a nation in times of crisis.
These moments, however, have also been undeniable proof that there are inequalities and inequities that precede the disasters we are facing and policies that maintain them. In Puerto Rico – during these #covid pandemic times – we are once again confronted with a political system that exploits us, favors a few, and disproportionately impacts and threatens the lives of our most vulnerable communities.
For too long we have seen how a small group of individuals, corporations, hedge funds and other entities with power and money try to divide us to guarantee their own profits, dismantling public systems and social guarantees, like the hospitals and public agencies that now we need so direly. Their greed has brought us to this crisis, where most of us in Puerto Rico don't have access to a healthcare system to get better, economic security to stay home or accumulated wealth to survive the economic and social crisis that grows.
Two months into harsh physical distancing measures, with few social protection policies approved and an aggressive push from some economic sectors to reopen their businesses, we find ourselves confronted with yet another sad reality. Up to date, no massive testing is being done, no contact tracing system is in place and the numbers of tests reveal double and triple counting, which means we have a disproportionately high case fatality rate. These official numbers don’t represent our reality.
It is the moment to act. It is time to demand an interdisciplinary and holistic response centered on the people, one that addresses the social inequalities in our country and prioritizes a life with dignity for all, especially are most vulnerable populations. It is the moment to question the systems, the structures, and people who have benefitted from those inequalities. It is the moment to value the lives of the people who live in this Puerto Rican archipelago.
It is the moment to demand changes that not only guarantee our well-being during this pandemic, but also a future that guarantees a quality of life for our people.
SUPPORT SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTS IN PUERTO RICO
A RESPONSE CENTERED ON OUR PEOPLE: WE DESERVE A LIFE WITH DIGNITY
Now, more than ever, we deserve to live with dignity - it is a priority that brings us together. Living with dignity requires a holistic approach that takes into account our mind, body, emotions, spirit, and the collective bodies in which we move, with whom we move: our families, friends and communities. To live with dignity, today and always, we deserve the guarantee of the following 10 social protections:
ECONOMIC SECURITY
HEALTH
HOUSING
EDUCATION
FOOD
TRANSPORTATION
COMMUNICATION
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
COMMUNITY AND CULTURE
DEMOCRACY,PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY
It is an issue of integration that requires prioritizing policies that guarantee our rights, and that consider the following principles:
Securing a life with dignity for all is a collective issue.
To attain a good quality of life, we must ensure that everyone else - primarily our most vulnerable - are also, well. Social inequities create conditions that expose different populations to higher health and social risks. We must consider the nurse working non-stop, the woman living with an agresor, those living without secure housing or food, the elderly who live alone, those working at gas stations, hospitals, supermarkets, and providing other essential services. Their lives are our lives.
Guaranteeing a life with dignity for all, requires that we recognize there are historically marginalized populations and communities
more severely impacted in times of crisis that deserve that all measures takes them into consideration. We must prioritize the wellbeing of children, women, people without stable homes, black communities, the LGBTTQIAP+ community, immigrants and people with functional diversity, among others.
It is important we take geography into account
to guarantee a life with dignity
and recognize how geography changes the reality of a community, be it because of the historical unequal treatment they have faced, access to factors or any other factor that puts them at a disadvantage. For example, in the South region of Puerto Rico - where there are people still living in tents - like the residents of the island municipalities of Culebra and Vieques to whom the government has failed in providing services for their health, mobility and access. Also, the reality of rural communities who have more difficult access to health centers.
Guaranteeing a life with dignity for all requires just and equitable measures.
We must create and approve just measures that reduce the unequal impact of the pandemic on vulnerable communities. We must protect our small and family-run farms and farmworkers who continue working. The government’s decision to shutdown and/or intervene with small and family-run agriculture markets is evidence of unjust.
Guaranteeing a life with dignity for all, is a public issue; we have resources to do better.
It is the public sector’s duty to prioritize the people. We pay income taxes, sales taxes and invest in other ways to supposedly mandate resources to strengthen public structures. Public officials are, in fact, employed because of this. In Puerto Rico, we know that there are more than $9 billion dollars sitting in a bank account designated to pay off a questionable public debt. These funds should be used to strengthen the infrastructures that take care of our people.
It is the responsibility of the people in public roles to approve the necessary measures to make these 10 guarantees a reality right now.
The public system is ours – it is paid with our money, and it exists to share resources and guarantee a life with dignity for all of us. The government’s response to the COVID 19 pandemic, is a reflection that those in power are responding to an agenda that is not ours. Their lack of transparency, plans, the corruption, and punitive measures we’ve experienced, instead of protecting us, puts our lives at risk.
WE DEMAND CONCRETE ACTIONS FROM PUBLIC OFFICIALS: SUPPORT THE DEMANDS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS IN PUERTO RICO
We call on all people in Puerto Rico, from Puerto Rico and allies around the world to support the demands of organizations in Puerto Rico that are working hard day-to-day to present information, proposals, demands and actions that represent an equitable and just response that the people in Puerto Rico need right now.
We support the efforts of organizations and groups that recognize that in this moment, besides demanding action from the state, we need to strengthen mutual aid and solidarity actions.
These organizations are working hard to build the alternatives that all people in Puerto Rico should know, support and use to demand what we deserve now and always: a response centered in the dignified life of people.
This statement was endorsed by: Construyamos Otro Acuerdo, Mujeres de Islas, HASER, Taller Salud, G-8 Inc.,
SUPPORT DEMANDS AND EFFORTS OF SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS
We join in on the demands for a comprehensive plan to guarantee a decent life during this pandemic, and in the future. We encourage those in public office to consider and ACT ON the alternatives proposed by social justice organizations and leaders that have already drafted and sent petitions, letters, reports and analysis of the impact of #Covid19 with specific public policy proposals that could already be approved.
Organizations with demands we support:
MUTUAL SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY
We would also like to make visible the efforts of organizations and groups that recognize that – at this time – we must strengthen our efforts to provide mutual support and solidarity for those impacted, in addition to demanding action from local and federal governments.
