Jose Atiles is an associate professor of criminology, law, and society at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico.
Donald Trump is aiming to restore US supremacy in the western hemisphere through presidential will, military power, and emergency authority, unconstrained by Congress or international law — a strategic reorientation that runs through Puerto Rico.
The problem with Donald Trump’s recent firing of six members of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board isn’t who he decided to fire — it’s the board’s very existence as a tool of colonial rule over Puerto Rico.