Washington - Focusing on members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, members of Junte de Mujeres 2018 (Women's Meeting 2018) sought last week to change the narrative they hear from Congress members about Puerto Rico's political future and economic situation.
In four days of meetings with Congress members and officials, Washington-based study groups and Puerto Ricans living there, Marilú Guzmán, Mariana Nogales, and Wilma Reverón stressed that ending the colonial situation through a binding self-determination process should be a priority.
At the same time, they sought to raise awareness on the "dire consequences" of PROMESA, which since 2016 has imposed a Board to oversee the island´s public finances and gave way to a public debt restructuring process, and also of federal Cabotage Rules.
The meetings sponsored by Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora and Democratic Socialists of America and included talks with officials from think tanks such as the conservative Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute and the Inter-American Dialogue.
Between Tuesday and Friday last week, they had nearly 25 meetings with Grijalva, officials from the offices of Senate Republican Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Minority leader Charles Schumer, and Democratic Representatives Nydia Velázquez, David Cicilline and Debra Holland, among others.
