After Greece, it’s now Puerto Rico’s turn to declare bankruptcy amidst a longstanding crisis that makes itunable to pay part of a $73 billion debt to international financial institutions. The Puerto Rican government does not have the funds for $58 million worth of principal and interest payments for Public Finance Corp. bonds. “The public debt, considering the present level of economic activity, is unpayable,” said Puerto Rican GovernorAlejandro García Padilla.

The present crisis facing Puerto Rico is one of the most enduring legacies of US colonialism which began when the US grabbed the Caribbean island territory, along with Cuba and the Philippines, from Spain in 1898 under the Treaty of Paris in exchange for $20 million. The case of Puerto Rico is a showcase of why the Philippines’ having remained a US colony or becoming a US state is not the paradise that starry-eyed fanatics…