Thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets on Tuesday to protest pension cuts, school closures, university tuition hikes and slow hurricane recovery efforts in a march that ended in mayhem as police officers fired tear gas and pepper spray into the crowds.
As the Caribbean island attempts to rebuild eight months after Hurricane Maria, which left thousands of people homeless, jobless and hopeless, leading to a mass exodus of Puerto Ricans into the continental U.S., the protesters fear that emerging austerity measures could create more uncertainty for millions who are already struggling.
The measures, approved by an unelected federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances — known on the island as la junta — include a 10 percent cut to a public pension system, the doubling of tuition at its largest public university and the closure of 283 schools.
Among this week’s demonstrators were countless women, many of them students, mothers and teachers, desperate to be heard, seen and validated in their fight for their island’s stability and self-determination.
Here, some of the Puerto Rican women fighting on the front lines.
