PUERTO RICO NEWS REPORT 

M.A. Dworkin San Juan, PR - The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District Puerto Rico, announced the conviction on 23 counts, by a federal jury, of Myrna Faria, a/k/a Myrna Oliveras Santiago, a former Social Security Administration (SSA) employee, of embezzling and stealing $1,812,455 in SSA funds. The funds were stolen from the Retirement Insurance Benefits, Survivors Insurance Benefits, and Auxiliary Benefits payments. Ms. Faria was employed by SSA as a Social Insurance Speci

M.A. Dworkin San Juan, PR - Once stricken with daily disruptions of constant power outages, over 120,000 Puerto Ricans in the San Juan metropolitan area and surrounding municipalities are currently facing a severe running water crisis. Triggered by massive ruptures in the 72-inch “Superacueducto” pipeline in Bayamon - with breaks at three separate points - that has broken distribution lines and wrecked running water service down to an intermittent flow output or total and com

Jamie Leonard Off the Coast of St. Croix - The Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the most geologically complex regions on the planet. It stretches nearly 800 miles - roughly the distance from Boston to Chicago - running east-west across the northern edge of the Caribbean. This vast undersea gorge passes north of Puerto Rico, continuing past the U.S. Virgin Islands, and arcs out into the open Atlantic. At its deepest known point, called t

M.A. Dworkin San Juan, P.R. - As part of Operation Southern Spear, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has been deployed to the Roosevelt Roads military base in Puerto Rico, and is now classified as the “immediate crisis response force” in Latin America. Roughly 1,300 Marines from the 24th MEU are “officially” on hand to deal with the U.S. Pentagon’s ongoing mission to stem drug trafficking in the region. While MEUs often are embarked on Navy amphibious ships, th

The History of the Puerto Rican Flag John F. McKeon A national flag is more than a cut of fabric or hue of color; it is the embodiment of a nation's history and of its values. A flag serves as a testament to collective struggles, triumphs, and aspirations, and represents the shared identity and sovereignty of its people. Through symbolism, flags encapsulate the sacrifices of the past while providing a unifying beacon for future generations. Throughout its complex hist

M.A. Dworkin San Juan - There is a growing movement in Puerto Rico to break away from the United States and rejoin Spain, more than a century after it parted ways with the European country. There are currently several proposals spearheaded by a movement called Adelante Reunificacionistas, that may sound fringe at first, but its message is gaining quite a bit of traction in the hinterlands of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico fell under U.S. sovereignty in 1898 following the Spanish

M.A. Dworkin San Juan, PR - The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) has approved a $2.5 billion project to build a 150km, 700 MW HVDC submarine cable that will link the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, allowing Puerto Rico to import electricity from a new Dominican natural gas plant. The project, which recently received a Presidential permit from the U.S. Department of Energy, is expected to start construction in 2027 and be completed in 2031. It will integrate both th

John F. McKeon It is impossible to analyze the modern status of Puerto Rico as a US territory without first establishing the pivotal context of the Spanish-American War of 1898, as this conflict represents the definitive rupture in the island’s history that shifted its sovereignty from Spain to the United States. The war, culminating in the Treaty of Paris in December 1898, directly forced Spain to cede Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the US, transforming Puerto Ri

John F. McKeon The Puerto Rican independence movement is one of the longest standing anti-colonial struggles in the Western Hemisphere, spanning over 150 years across two different imperial powers. From the 19th-century revolts against Spain to modern-day political alliances, the movement has consistently sought full sovereignty for the island. Isolated historical events are rare, as history functions more like a cascading chain reaction. One development inevitably infor