AMERICA/PUERTO RICO - Eric LeCompte: "The solution to the debt crisis must protect the most vulnerable"

San Juan (Agenzia Fides) - "Puerto Rico needs a solution to the debt crisis that prevents austerity and protects the vulnerable", said to Fides Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group, Jubilee USA Network, the network of organizations and religious communities committed to promoting poverty reduction and to find solutions to the crisis triggered by international indebtedness of economically weaker Countries.
Puerto Rico passed the Recovery Act in July 2014 to allow some of its public companies to restructure their debt. A U.S. district court ruled the Recovery Act invalid on the grounds that US bankruptcy law pre-empts it. Puerto Rico is currently not eligible for bankruptcy protection under US Federal law.
The Catholic Church has proposed initiatives to address and resolve this situation (see Fides 04/12/2015). Meanwhile over 45 percent of the Puerto Rican population lives in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, and there are growing concerns about the possible effects of economic chaos, due to the predictable collapse of health services. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/12/2015)

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