Successful Movement Against COFINA Negotiations

After hours of demonstration, spokespersons from several sectors described the expression of opposition against the agreement of the Fund of Interest of the Apremiante (COFINA) as successful.

“More than satisfied. We are talking about a weekday, which will be convened at 7:00 in the morning, and have had to close streets according to the number of people who have gathered “, said Senator Juan Dalmau, of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP)

Not only did the presence of protesters stand out, but they also celebrated that Judge Laura Taylor Swain acknowledged the number of expressions against the COFINA agreement received by the court.

“From there inside you feel the pressure of thousands of people who are rejecting the attempt to commit a new robbery with an agreement that is so detrimental to all the people of Puerto Rico,” said Edwin Morales, vice president of the Federation of Teachers, when leaving the Federal Court in the lunch break.

“Inside (in the courtroom) … what you see is that once again this government, in alliance with the big interests, who defend an illegal debt and who want to be paid out of pocket, brought a bulldozer to be approved an agreement without any serious analysis from the economic and financial point of view”, he added.

For his part, the president of the Utier, Angel Figueroa Jaramillo, when addressing the protesters, stressed that the judge “has recognized that there are more than 30,000 expressions of opposition to the COFINA agreement and that is a great achievement for the people of Puerto Rich”.

After a vigil that lasted from the afternoon of Tuesday, hundreds of people gathered at around 7:00 am in front of the tribunal in Hato Rey, which caused that a section of Chardón Avenue was closed.

With the passing of the hours, the arrival of more people continued, until the picket extended to the next block. Some estimates of observers ranged from 1,100 to 1,500 people at any given time, around noon.

The protest was peaceful, after being convened by several organizations – mostly retired government employees – who are concerned about the consequences to their pensions should the Cofina agreement be ratified.

After leaving the hearing, in which she participated as one of the deputies, Eulalia Centeno explained proposed the creation of a trust to create a new retirement system for government employees, which would be more viable for the economic development of the country than the conditions imposed by the COFINA agreement.

“That agreement is bad for all of Puerto Rico,” said Centeno. “It takes all the funds to one side, which is to guarantee the money 100%, where Cofina is an insurer as well as pensioners and pensioners we were not consulted about these alternatives, worse COFINA, as one of the rich represents of this country, they are being considered to guarantee their 100% contribution “.

“We have an alternative to create a trust,” he added. “That money, instead of giving it to COFINA, they have to give it to the employees to create a new retirement system. This would allow us to guarantee pensions of $ 3,000 or less.”