1. Puerto Rican Strikes
The Arroz con Habichuelas conflict
An essay by Roy Z. González
The small island of Puerto Rico is well known around the glove for its non
stopping holidays, for its happiness and for its rich gastronomic culture. Furthermore,
Puerto Ricans love the daily taste of arroz blanco and habichuelas guisadas; many enjoy
it so much that they eat it everyday. However, not all Puerto Ricans have the same love
towards arroz con habichuelas; they eat it for a few days and they get tired of it. In time
they begin to look for different plates to feast on daily yet they still end up getting tired of
it or how we Puerto Ricans say “empachao”. This specific detail of the diet of most
Puerto Ricans can be compared with the situations that have occurred during the last
months of the year 2009. The government of Puerto Rico fell into economical crisis and
began to fire thousands of public employees; this causing numerous strikes around the
island. However, life continued and just as the citizens of Puerto Rico get tired of arroz
con habichuelas many have also become tired of strikes or “paros” has we call them. To
believe in such comparison we must first see the facts, the outcomes and of course the
consequences. Therefore, many of the strikes performed in the island of Puerto Rico have
never been effective and have no positive outcomes.
As many know in the history of Puerto Rico the citizens have performed various
mighty strikes against the government’s decisions and for other aspects that won’t be
mentioned. Going back in history we find ourselves in the year 1997; the governor of
Puerto Rico at the moment was Pedro Roselló. The government decided to make a
second attempt to sell the Puerto Rico Telephone Company to a private organization in
order to generate millions of dollars for the countries economy. This attempt unleashed a

2. 41 day strike by the employees of the company; this strike was violent, bloody and full of
brutality. In addition, many citizens that were not employed by the company decided to
join the cause and make a yellow t-shirt with a cow on it that said “Puerto Rico no se
vende”. Even though this creative, powerful and violent strike caused a head ache to our
government the PRTC was sold in the year 1999, generating two thousand million dollars
to the government. Another fascinating strike occurred the 15th of October, 2009 when
100,000 Puerto Ricans created a massive strike that froze the entire country for 1 whole
day. This enormous strike originated from the 17,000 sackings of public employees; this
peaceful yet massive protest was embraced by hundreds of Puerto Ricans throughout the
island including all University of Puerto Rico campuses. However, the strike ended and
still the government continued sacking more employees. In addition, more sackings are
yet to occur in January 2010. History still gives solid proof of the failure of strikes
especially in the UPR. During the year 2005 the president of the UPR “Antonio Garcia
Padilla” decided to raise $10 to tuition credits. This raise provoked the students to
paralyze all UPR campuses; the strike lasted about 3 weeks. Even though the strike
mobilized all students the President of the UPR raised ten dollars per credit to all
freshmen or “prepas” and eventually the entire student body. In sum, history has proved
that strikes have been inappropriate and useless.
All strikes are believed to cause positive outcomes according to those who
participate in them. However, what happens when they bring negative outcomes? Who
will respond for those negative outcomes? What will the promoters of such strikes do
afterwards? As mentioned before strikes have not been as successful as many believe; in
fact, they become a problem. Strikes that have occurred had caused millions of dollars in

3. losses for the government of this country. In addition, economy has not been the only
matter that has been damaged by such movements; students and I state all the student
body of the University of Puerto Rico has been affected by such strikes. Concerning the
losses of the government the Puerto Rican press interviewed “José García” who is a
member of the board of directors of the Puerto Rican Association of Economists; the
matter discussed in the interview is, who looses in this strike? This expert stated “this
strike caused great impact on the economy of Puerto Rico causing millions in losses
including the sackings”. Furthermore, strikes have not only affected the economy but
have directly affected the calendar of the University of Puerto Rico. After these strikes
the students are left with nothing more than accumulated assignments and a longer, tiring
semester. Thus, at the moment of each strike many students decide to visit local beaches
and bars instead of supporting the strike they voted in favor of; now the rice is over
cooked.
To conclude, I quote President John F. Kennedy who said “It’s not what your
country does for you is what you do for your country”, these words have been forgotten
by the people of Puerto Rico, by doing so our country looses more instead of gaining
more. There are better diplomatic ways to resolve these problems; strikes have literally
been proved to be unsuccessful. And so we remember the arroz and habichuelas, we eat
it and get tired of it; why not break the habit and try something new for a change.