On Thursday, October 15, it was National Strike in Puerto Rico. This was also the day that Stewart was flying into Puerto Rico to come see me! So, I was going to the hotel Stewart was staying at to check in for him, because he wasn't coming till a little later, and it was at 8:30am in the morning when I took these pictures right outside my dorms! I was incredibly shocked to see thousands of people in the street marching already! I knew that this was going to be a HUGE deal in Puerto Rico because I heard that some thousands of people were expected to be on strike for the Governor, Fortuno's recent layoff of thousands of workers in the island, making Puerto Rico have the highest current unemployment rate of any US state of close to 16%.Everything was shut down- buses were not running, streets were blocked off, the biggest mall in the caribbean which is here in Puerto Rico was even closed for this strike day. Other stores and restaurants and places were closed as well. Anyway, it was just such an experience to see puerto ricans, people in my classes and people i knew demonstrating their need for change. They have been hit incredibly hard by the recession in San Juan and it is evident that people want to see improvements in their land.
I even saw a newspaper article with an expressway shut down and people marching with signs and same color shirts across the expressway. It was a wild day for sure. It didn't effect Stewart getting in to Puerto Rico though since he didn't get in until later.
I even saw a newspaper article with an expressway shut down and people marching with signs and same color shirts across the expressway. It was a wild day for sure. It didn't effect Stewart getting in to Puerto Rico though since he didn't get in until later.
