Comments | ontd_political: Puerto Rico is "raining money and drugs"

killerqueen in ontd_political

Puerto Rico is "raining money and drugs"

Sep 26, 2011 00:31

By Kelly Cobiella

Puerto Rico is on track to set a dubious crime record with at least 847 murders so far this year, or 140 more than this time last year. Officials say 75 percent of the murders are drug-related.

( Read more... )

drugs, crime, puerto rico

Comments 9

my_private_muse September 26 2011, 05:43:01 UTC

La Perla. Of course it is, I'm not surprised. This isn't anything new for the island. La Perla has been, 'La Perla: not even la policia goes in there, holy shit', since the 70's. Lol. Seriously. And that tiny walled-off community refuses to budge. You know how many times ~the big wigs~ have tried to buy them out of Old San Juan? Ha. They've lived there for decades upon decades, and the community within La Perla refuses to leave ( ... )

my_private_muse September 26 2011, 05:45:44 UTC

Mi gente*

Wow. Rest is near.

browneyedguuurl September 26 2011, 13:44:23 UTC

Te entiendo bb. Mi parte el alma. I live in fear for my loved ones that are there.

sentinelsoul September 26 2011, 14:47:29 UTC

I visited the island with my high school Spanish class, and within that week there I fell in love with the place, and I've been wanting to go back ever since. It breaks my heart to see this. I loved the culture so much, exploring the Taino grounds and enjoying the rain forest and listening to the people having BBQs at the beach. And the history! I could go on forever about it ( ... )

browneyedguuurl September 26 2011, 13:43:21 UTC

As someone who was born and raised in PR and left due to this and the massive unemployment problem, I can attest to this being the reality my country lives on a daily basis. The issue has gotten so out of control, you can't even be driving during the middle of the day without being scared.

Also, our completely corrupt government isn't helping. There are some politicians that are funded by these drug cartels and everyone knows it, yet there they are, holding public office. Plus the current administration is also incompetent and the new police superintendent is a moron.

whats going on my caribbean people? __planitbremix September 26 2011, 17:22:42 UTC

The same thing is happening in Trinidad. Some of my kin down there are outraged that they now have a curfew due to these drug/criminal wars. My uncle also stated the only safest time to visit is during Carnival, and thats if you stay in the tourist area. *sighs* But as Browneyedguuurl said, and my uncle, to get rid of the drug problem means high officials int he government would also be outed..

massielita September 26 2011, 18:56:48 UTC

I'm 1/2 Puerto Rican and I was over there this summer with my husband and both our parents (yes, we are very brave people). I will tell you that I was greatly saddened by how scared I was. Our parents were also affected because it wasn't the Puerto Rico they lived in. You know how old people are, they get chatty and when you are in the pueblos they will talk up to anyone about who they are with and what they are doing. We had to sit them down and explain to them that we had to be smart and not talk to people and let them know where we are staying and that we are visiting family. The first weekend we were there, there were 17 tourist related deaths. My father in law bought the newspaper and still has it. It freaked them (and us!) out.

very_veggie September 26 2011, 22:01:18 UTC

So is the problem mostly confined to San Juan, or is it island-wide?

killerqueen September 26 2011, 22:43:21 UTC

From what I understand, it's mostly in San Juan (probably because about 1/4 of PR's population lives there), but there really is crime all around.

It's sad, really. I love absolutely love PR and am proud to have been born and raised in San Juan, but I'm starting to doubt that my future lies here. Things have gotten progressively worse in the past few years.