The Puerto Rico control board, a key feature in the rescue legislation that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last week, faces political opposition on the island that may make its operations difficult.
The Puerto Rico House of Representatives on June 8 unanimously passed a measure condemning the control board. "While it is recognized that state legislatures have the authority to establish a board to create restructuring mechanisms, it is imposed unilaterally on Puerto Rico," the measure said.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act 297 to 127 the next day. PROMESA now goes to the U.S. Senate, with support from President Obama, as Puerto Rico struggles with about $69 billion of debt the island government has said it cannot pay.
At the start of June, Puerto Rico's bar association approved a resolution saying the association had an army of lawyers who would defend residents who engaged in civil disobedience against such a control board, according to the El Vocero news website.
While Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla and Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi have offered hedged support for the bill, Puerto Rico Senate President Eduardo Bhatia Gautier has condemned it.
"The imposition of an unelected board of fiscal control with enormous administrative and financial powers over Puerto Rico violates the democratic values that we have aspired from time immemorial," he said.
"PROMESA represents another example of the failure of the U.S. Congress to seek alternative solutions that are in tune with the context and circumstances of the crisis on our island," Bhatia Gautier added. "In the past we have made weak decisions that have led us to where we are. However, this does not mean that our problems are solely the result of our mistakes.
"The mandate of the board is to take more money from the poorest and worsen an economy in ruins," he said.
Both major party candidates for Puerto Rico governor are opposed to PROMESA. Popular Democratic Party nominee David Bernier has promised to sue against the bill if it becomes law.
At a Puerto Rico debt conference Tuesday in New York City, Phoenix Management Services senior managing director Martha Kopacz said control boards have a history of successfully handling debt crises.
"I doubt this is going to be as rosy and honeymoony as Ms. Kopacz says it will be," responded Sergio Marxuach, public policy director at the San Juan-based Center for the New Economy. Puerto Rican political disputes are very contentious and bitter; the board is going to have to intervene much more than has been the case in other control board situations, he said.
Also at the debt conference, Puerto Rico New Progressive Party gubernatorial nominee Ricardo Rossell- Nevares acknowledged polls earlier this year that showed a majority of Puerto Ricans supported a federal control board. He said these reflected Puerto Ricans' belief that there needed to be collaboration with the federal government to deal with the debt crisis. However, when the details of PROMESA are explained to them, their support for it declines and more people oppose than support it, Rossell- Nevares said.
The debt crisis and the resulting austerity in Puerto Rican government spending have already led to civil disobedience. This spring student strikes and actions closed several University of Puerto Rico campuses. In March Puerto Rico's Treasury Department shut down its main building in anticipation of possible problems with university students at a planned demonstration outside the building.
Meanwhile, some Puerto Ricans feel the U.S. Supreme Court, when it released a decision Thursday, joined the U.S. Congress in robbing them of some of their autonomy. The court found that for the purpose of criminal prosecutions, Puerto Rico has less sovereignty from the federal government than states and Indian tribes have.
On Thursday Gov. García Padilla promised to go to the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization on Jan. 20 to defend Puerto Rico's right to self-government.
On Monday the Supreme Court issued another ruling limiting the Puerto Rico government’s autonomy. The court said that the commonwealth could not introduce its own government bankruptcy law.
