Exceptionality and Colonial-State–Corporate Crimes in the Puerto Rican Fiscal and Economic Crisis

• Author: José Atiles Osoria
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20911466
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20911466

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 232, Vol. 47 No. 3, May 2020, 49–63

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20911466

© 2020 Latin American Perspectives

49

Exceptionality and Colonial-State–Corporate Crimes in the

Puerto Rican Fiscal and Economic Crisis

by

José Atiles Osoria

A sociolegal analysis of the sources of Puerto Rico’s fiscal and economic crisis points to

the use of the colonial state of exception as an economic development policy facilitating the

creation of a tax-haven-like economy and normalizing a series of a colonial-state–corporate

crimes. The Puerto Rican people need to hold those who generated the crisis accountable

both politically and legally. They must continue mobilizing and promoting the repolitici-

zation of recovery efforts by not paying the public debt, taking legal action against finan-

cial predators and corrupt politicians, clawing back fees and refusing to pay any additional

fees, giving more importance to the human rights of Puerto Ricans than to the rights of

bondholders and vulture funds, and initiating a process of decolonization that will allow

them to make decisions about their future.

Un análisis sociolegal de los orígenes de la crisis fiscal y económica de Puerto Rico

apunta al uso del estado de excepción colonial como una política de desarrollo económico

que facilita la creación de una economía parecida a un paraíso fiscal y normaliza una serie

de crímenes estado-coloniales y corporativos. El pueblo puertorriqueño debe responsabili-

zar a quienes generaron la crisis, tanto política como legalmente. Deben continuar movi-

lizando y promoviendo la repolitización de los esfuerzos de reactivación al no pagar la

deuda pública, emprender acciones legales contra depredadores financieros y políticos cor-

ruptos, recuperar tarifas y negarse a pagar tarifas adicionales, dando más importancia a

los derechos humanos de los puertorriqueños que a los derechos de los portadores de bonos

y fondos buitres, e iniciar un proceso de descolonización que les permita tomar decisiones

sobre su futuro.

Keywords: Puerto Rico, Debt, Colonial state of exception, Neoliberalism, Crimes of the

powerful

In the years 2016 and 2017, Puerto Ricans saw the intensification of the fiscal

and economic crisis that had affected the archipelago since 2006 and with it the

radicalization of austerity measures, budget cuts, and colonial neoliberalism1—

a crisis that was political, financial, economic, and humanitarian. When the

government defaulted on its debt in 2016, the public debt amounted to US$72

billion and the per capita debt burden was US$15,637.2 To make matters worse,

Puerto Rico was poorer than any U.S. state, having a median household income

of US$18,626. Against this background, on September 20, 2017, Hurricane

Maria practically destroyed the island, worsening the already precarious eco-

nomic situation.

José Atiles Osoria is a visiting assistant professor of criminology, law, and society at the University

of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

911466LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X20911466Latin American PerspectivesAtiles / Exceptionality and State-Corporate Crimes in the Crisis

research-article2020