Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Puerto Rico Crippled Before Hurricane Hit
Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
12 Dec 2017
🖨️ Print Article

Harsh austerity measures imposed by a federal financial oversight board set Puerto Rico up for disaster, said Lara Merling, a researcher for the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. A new study shows about 1,000 more deaths resulted from Hurricane Irma than were officially reported. “It’s not surprising that the Puerto Rican government had no ability to respond” to the storm, as a result of the spending cuts, said Merling.

Puerto Rico

Related Podcasts

BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio March 6, 2026
06 March 2026
In this week’s segment, we discuss past and present U.S.
Puerto Rico independence movement
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution and Struggle for Independence in Puerto Rico
06 March 2026
Brianna Alvarado Ramos of Diaspora Pa’lante Collective discusses the challenges
BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio September 19, 2025
20 September 2025
In this week’s segment, we discuss a new book that analyzes the latest iteration of fascism currently emerging in the United States.

More Stories


  • ESSAY: The War Aims of World War I and World War II and Their Relations to the Darker Peoples of the World,  Merze Tate, 1943
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The War Aims of World War I and World War II and Their Relations to the Darker Peoples of the World, Merze Tate, 1943
    29 Sep 2021
    A 1943 Merze Tate essay provides a trenchant critique of the false hope of peace offered by the white west to “the darker peoples” of the world.
  • Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
    29 Sep 2021
  • Ethiopian Mystery: The Case of the 428 Disappearing Food Aid Trucks
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopian Mystery: The Case of the 428 Disappearing Food Aid Trucks
    29 Sep 2021
    For nearly a year, warmonger and USAID administrator Samantha Power has been shrieking about famine in Ethiopia's Tigray, and demanding the humanitarian corridor that 428 massive food aid
  • Teaching Politically and the Problem of Afropessimism
    Nino Brown, Derek Ford
    Teaching Politically and the Problem of Afropessimism
    29 Sep 2021
    The authors argue that the theory of Afropessism is antithetical to the development of political movements.
  • Tunde Ozasua
    Building the Movement to Shut Down AFRICOM
    29 Sep 2021
    October 2021 is the 13th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us