Puerto Ricans Face ‘Sacrifice Everywhere’ on an Insolvent Island -<br />By FRANCES ROBLESMAY 6, 2017<br />SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Angel González, a retired schoolteacher facing a 10 percent cut to his pension, is beginning<br />to wonder whether his three-person household will have to cut back to one cellphone and take turns using it.<br />Mr. Domenech, 50, the general contractor, who lives in Aguadilla in western Puerto Rico,<br />said he had no idea where people like him stood in the new Puerto Rican reality.<br />“They don’t think that fiscal plan is appropriate; they think they should get more money and that the people of Puerto Rico should get less,” he said.<br />People who do not have jobs do not take the bus to work.”<br />These are some of the voices of Puerto Rico’s business owners, retirees<br />and public servants who are caught in the middle — they would say the bottom — of the largest local government insolvency in United States history.<br />“Of course, my position is I am completely against that, and I will protect the people of Puerto Rico over anything.”<br />When he took office, Mr. Rosselló said his first task was to determine “how deep the rabbit<br />hole went.” He expected a $3 billion deficit, and instead found a deficit of $7.5 billion.<br />“There isn’t a single sector that hasn’t been hit: The older people are worried about their retirements, the parents have had their hours cut,<br />and the young people are on strike at the university, and the kids are about to see their schools closed,” Ms. Matos, 64, said.
