Puerto Rico’s September 18-25 political week in tweets

by Sep 28, 2016News Week in Tweets0 comments

State of emergency declared in Charlotte after protests erupt

Protests erupted in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday after a police officer killed Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man. North Carolina’s governor was forced to declare a state of emergency in the city after protests against the police killings became increasingly violent.

 

Puerto Rico slowly recovering from electric blackout affecting entire US territory

Puerto Rico is finally making its recovery after experiencing a blackout that affected its entire territory and 78 municipalities. In the wake the outage, social media has erupted with posts condemning Lisa Donahue, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s chief restructuring officer. Many are expecting this blackout incident to advocate for a switch to privatization of the public utility which is dealing with a $9 million dollar debt that it cannot repay.

 

UN Security Council adopts resolution on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament

In the past week, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution to urge all States to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which proposes a ban on all nuclear explosions for both civilian and military purposes. The Council states that the treaty will enhance international peace and security through effectively preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons and furthering nuclear disarmament.

 

Puerto Rico reports 2nd death tied to Zika-related Condition

Health officials in Puerto Rico report that a 75- year old has been the 2nd person to die from Zika-related illness. The concern over Zika in Puerto Rico has not been handled as there is still no public health expert on the island’s new de facto governing board and nearly 20,000 cases of Zika infections reported.

 

40-year battle over abortion blocked Zika funding

Recently a long House of Representatives Conference Report aimed at excluding funds for Zika-prevention from going to Planned Parenthood partner clinics in Puerto Rico. Currently Puerto Rico has at least 1,700 cases of Zika virus involving pregnant women, who are most vulnerable to the disease as it is known to cause birth defects. Republicans offered to remove the Planned Parenthood exclusions to include Zika funding in a further resolution. In exchange for this, they expect Democrats to offset Zika spending by finding cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Currently, democrats are weighing the deal.