Community Resistance as Public Health Activism in Puerto Rico

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 110; no. 10; pp. 1454 - 1455
• Main Author: Rodríguez-Díaz, Carlos E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington American Public Health Association 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Activism; Air pollution; Bankruptcy; Citizens; Colonialism; Colonization; Community Health; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Earthquakes; Economic conditions; Electricity; Food; Health care access; Hispanics/Latinos; Human Rights; Human rights violations; Hurricanes; Injury/Emergency Care/Violence; Natural disasters; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Public health; Quality of life; Seismic activity; Self determination; Socioeconomic Factors; Strikes; Water pollution; United States > US; Puerto Rico
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2020.305884

After nearly three years, Puerto Rico is still recovering from the consequences of these hurricanes. Since the summer of 20 19, it has also been dealing with political and economic bankruptcy, earthquakes, air pollution, and the COVID-19 pandemic.3,4 As we know in Puerto Rico. when a disaster strikes, it blows the leaves away from the rotten problems that lay beneath them. Rivera Joseph et al. suggest a human rights approach as a way to "assess the ongoing human rights violations of the quality of life to support millions of American citizens on the island."(p1512) I agree with the authors' rights-based approach, but such a response is warranted not because Puerto Ricans are US citizens but because we are humans. [...]the remedy for colonization is self-determination, a prerequisite to the full enjoyment of all other human rights. In their essay, Rivera |oseph et al. highlight a variety of human rights violations in Puerto Rico, including those affecting the right to water, electricity, and health care access; these are, in fact, well-documented inequities affecting people living in Puerto Rico.