Puerto Rico Imposes Partial Shutdown
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Schools closed. Building permits were on hold. Renewing a driver’s license was impossible.
Many basic functions of Puerto Rico’s government were unavailable Monday as the U.S. commonwealth ran out of money and imposed a partial public-sector shutdown — putting nearly 100,000 people — including 40,000 teachers — out of work and granting an unscheduled holiday to 500,000 public school students.
The shutdown — the first in Puerto Rico’s history — happened despite last-minute attempts by members of the legislature and Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila to agree on a bailout plan.
Police and other emergency services were not affected, but dozens of public offices were either shuttered or partially closed. Hundreds of government employees stood in the rain outside the capitol to protest the politicians’ failure to avoid the shutdown, and to spur them into resolving the impasse.
”I’m not earning any money and the kids don’t have classes,” said Sonia Ortiz, a 44-year-old teacher and single mother of two who attended the protest. ”I have savings but not enough.”
A protest late in the afternoon in San Juan’s financial district turned into a confrontation between police and masked youths, who scrawled graffiti calling for revolution. Officers used nightsticks to disperse the protesters and one youth was taken away in an ambulance. There were no reports of arrests.
nytimes.com