Page 12 - aruba-today-20170222

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 22 February

Board: Puerto Rico to be hit with painful austerity measures

DANICA COTO lic retirement system that address an anticipated $7 would not be fair to bond- system. Currently, Puerto
Associated Press is expected to run out of billion deficit, the board will holders. Rico police officers do not
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) money within a year. Last implement its own plan. His comments come just receive Social Security
— The newly appointed week, nearly a dozen top “We have to take control days after a federal judge and depend solely on the
head of a federal control said he will hear arguments island’s troubled public re-
board that oversees Puerto from bondholder groups tirement system for their
Rico’s finances warned on opposed to a debt mora- pensions.
Tuesday that the U.S. terri- torium imposed by the is- Rossello also signed a bill
tory will be hit with painful land’s previous governor. aimed at retaining doc-
austerity measures in up- The ruling was a blow to tors in Puerto Rico. The ter-
coming months. the government of the U.S. ritory’s number of doctors
Interim Director Ramon Ruiz territory, which is seeking has dropped from 14,000
said there are no other op- to keep negotiations alive to 9,000 in the past de-
tions given the island’s dire with creditors and restruc- cade, the majority leav-
economic situation and ture nearly $70 billion in ing for higher salaries and
recommended that the public debt amid a string of lower living costs on the U.S.
government act quickly. multimillion-dollar defaults. mainland.
“We allowed this to reach Ruiz declined to comment Overall, more than 200,000
too critical of a point,” he on the judge’s ruling be- Puerto Ricans have left the
said. “Everyone will be im- Gov. Ricardo Rossello speaks in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The cause he said it was not island in recent years, and
pacted by the decisions newly appointed head of a federal control board that oversees final and could still be ap- many fear the exodus will
that will be made.” Puerto Rico’s finances warned on Tuesday that the U.S. territory pealed. worsen as new austerity
Gov. Ricardo Rossello has will be hit with painful austerity measures in upcoming months. In addition to submitting measures are implement-
until next Tuesday to submit (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) a fiscal plan, the gover- ed.
a revised fiscal plan that nor has approved several Ruiz said the board is not
will outline where the cuts university officials resigned of the situation that exists,” measures aimed at cutting responsible for the conse-
will be made and what es- in protest of the looming he said. “A lot of people, costs, promoting economic quences of those measures
sential services will be af- cuts, and tens of thousands especially those who are development and stabiliz- because it’s up to the lo-
fected. of retired government most vulnerable, will be af- ing the economy. Rossello cal government to decide
Some government officials workers fear for their finan- fected if we don’t act im- announced on Tuesday he what services might be af-
have balked at measures cial future. mediately.” would submit a measure fected.
suggested by the board, Ruiz said the local govern- Ruiz also said it’s unlikely the calling for a special refer- “They have to be fiscal-
which include slashing $300 ment is cooperating with board will extend a May 1 endum that would allow ly balanced within two
million from the public uni- the board, but warned that deadline that currently police officers to vote on years,” he said. “How they
versity’s budget and cut- if it doesn’t submit a fiscal shields Puerto Rico from whether they want to be do that is their responsibil-
ting 10 percent from a pub- plan with cuts needed to creditor lawsuits because it part of the Social Security ity.” q
Mass funeral held for 20 Haitians who died in dismal prison

DAVID McFADDEN old inmate fell ill with tuber- grief as a priest called out flourish in packed Haitian of detainees and access to
Associated Press culosis and severe anemia the names of the dead. prisons and jails have led to basic services.”
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) while he was jailed in Haiti’s It was the third funeral ser- an upsurge in malnutrition- Similar calls have gone un-
— Relatives wailed in grief filthy and overcrowded vice for National Peniten- related illnesses and other heeded for years and dis-
or stared stoically as flowers National Penitentiary on a tiary inmates organized by preventable diseases. mal prison conditions wors-
were placed on 20 caskets rape charge. Port-au-Prince chief pros- U.N. Special Representa- ened over the last year as
at a mass funeral for the lat- “Jesus, give me back my ecutor Danton Leger since tive Sandra Honore said in a caretaker government
est group of inmates who son! He was my only boy,” April. It came a day after a statement that 42 detain- was in power. Ludjy Be-
died miserably in Haiti’s she sobbed, banging her The Associated Press pub- ee deaths so far this year lizaire said she visited her
largest prison, most without fists against a wooden pew lished an exclusive report are linked to “the worsen- incarcerated 25-year-old
ever having been convict- in a Catholic church in on record overcrowding ing of cruel, inhuman and brother Etzer as often as
ed of any crime. downtown Port-au-Prince. and appalling conditions degrading” conditions. She she could over the last
Marie Lumane Laurore Emotions that had been inside Haiti’s biggest lock- called on Haitian authori- year, especially when he
broke into piercing screams dammed up, in some cases up. ties to urgently improve the started complaining that
as she collapsed in a church for years, over their loved Recurrent shortages of situation, saying it was “the he was weak with hunger
pew before the coffin of ones’ lengthy detentions food and medicine as well responsibility of the state to and getting sick. He began
her son, Eddy. The 30-year- broke in a crescendo of as infectious diseases that ensure respect for the rights shedding weight rapidly. q