Puerto Rico Deserves Same Bankruptcy Support as US Cities - Bernie Sanders

Puerto Rico should have the same bankruptcy protections as municipalities across the US have, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders claimed.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Puerto Rico should be given similar bankruptcy safeguards to other US municipalities to protect the Caribbean island’s people and economy, a release said.

“I strongly believe Puerto Rico should be afforded the same bankruptcy protections that exist for municipalities across the United States,” Sanders said.

On June 29, 2015, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that Puerto Rico could not pay its $73 billion debt and would soon run out of money to operate its local government.

Sanders said the United States should allow Puerto Rico to restructure its debt in a rational way that will not harm people, ordinary investors or pension funds.

The Vermont Senator said Puerto Rico’s unsustainable debt was the result of austerity policies and US financial institutional greed.

Sanders noted that more than 45 percent of Puerto Ricans lived in poverty, and childhood poverty rates were higher than 56 percent.