[ [link removed] ]Tell 2020 Democrats: Stand with Puerto Rico

Petition to 2020 Democratic presidential candidates:
"Return donations from employees of hedge funds invested in Puerto Rico's
debt and commit to ending the Financial Oversight and Management Board's
control over the economic life of the island"

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

Dear Jack,

[ [link removed] ]Tell 2020 Democrats:
Stand with Puerto Rico

What hedge funds are doing to Puerto Rico is despicable. The Wall Street
hedge funds, known as vulture funds, that own Puerto Rico's debts are
forcing the island to close schools and cut budgets to line their own
pockets. Their main tool is an unelected Financial Oversight Management
Board, known as the junta, that is imposing brutal austerity on the island
to serve the interest of Wall Street over the Puerto Rican people.

The vulture funds that are terrorizing the people of Puerto Rico already
donated more than $231,000 to 2020 Democratic candidates. Even though the
damage the firms are inflicting on Puerto Rico is clear, only Sens. Bernie
Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have returned the firms' donations.^1

Puerto Ricans fighting for their island's future are demanding an end to
the junta and for 2020 Democrats to return vulture fund contributions.^2
We need to stand in solidarity and echo their demands.

[ [link removed] ]Tell 2020 Democrats: Stand with Puerto Rico. Click here to sign the
petition.

Four hundred public schools have been closed. Local government budgets
were slashed by $150 million so far, and another $220 million in cuts are
planned. The University of Puerto Rico's budget was cut in half. Those
massive cuts are going to the vulture funds that buy up debt for pennies
on the dollar and demand repayment in full. These Wall Street vulture
funds are costing lives and creating suffering to line their own
pockets.^3

The heroes of the resistance in Puerto Rico are the people – with women
and LGBTQ leaders at the front – who are rising up against this despicable
state of affairs, including by ousting corrupt, misogynist Gov. Ricardo
Rosselló.

Top recipients of vulture fund cash include Michael Bennet ($49,800), Beto
O'Rourke ($28,750), John Delaney ($26,300), Joe Biden ($25,350) and Pete
Buttigieg ($21,350). Sens. Kamala Harris ($15,500), who co-sponsored a
Warren-Sanders bill to cancel Puerto Rico's debts, and Cory Booker
($23,300), who signed a letter demanding the end of the junta, have also
not yet returned donations. Sanders and Warren joined other progressive
champions in the House of Representatives and Senate in a letter demanding
an end to the junta's control over Puerto Rico.^4,5

Our friends at the Center for Popular Democracy, Make the Road Action,
Vamos4PR Action, New York Communities for Change, Hedge Clippers, Boricuas
Unidos en la Diáspora and many more are demanding that 2020 Democrats
return dirty money from Puerto Rico vulture funds. As their letter to the
candidates puts it so clearly: “You can either stand with the people of
Puerto Rico or with the hedge funds that have harmed Puerto Rico. You
can’t do both.”^6

Tell 2020 Democrats: Stand with Puerto Rico. Click below to sign the
petition:

[ [link removed] ][link removed]

Thank you for speaking out,

Heidi Hess, Co-Director
[ [link removed] ]CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

References:

 1. David Dayen, "[ [link removed] ]Hedge Fund Cash Flows to Presidential Candidates—at
Puerto Rico’s Expense," The American Prospect, Aug. 22, 2019.
 2. Kate Aronoff and Alleen Brown, "[ [link removed] ]Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez call for
reversal of Puerto Rico austerity measures," The Intercept, Sep. 24,
2019.
 3. Dayen, "[ [link removed] ]Hedge Fund Cash Flows to Presidential Candidates—at Puerto
Rico’s Expense."
 4. Aronoff and Brown, "[ [link removed] ]Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez call for reversal of
Puerto Rico austerity measures."
 5. Dayen, "[ [link removed] ]Hedge Fund Cash Flows to Presidential Candidates—at Puerto
Rico’s Expense."
 6. Ibid.

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