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The Criminality of Good Business in Puerto Rico Kuwary Torréns Negrón [email protected]

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The Criminality of Good Business in Puerto Rico Kuwary Torréns Negrón Ktorrens@Usfca.Edu The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Theses Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Fall 12-14-2012 El que hace la ley, hace la trampa; The criminality of good business in Puerto Rico Kuwary Torréns Negrón [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/thes Recommended Citation Torréns Negrón, Kuwary, "El que hace la ley, hace la trampa; The criminality of good business in Puerto Rico" (2012). Master's Theses. 37. https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/37 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of San Francisco EL QUE HACE LA LEY, HACE LA TRAMPA: THE CRIMINALITY OF GOOD BUSINESS IN PUERTO RICO Kuwary Torréns Negrón December 2012 Master of Arts in International Studies EL QUE HACE LA LEY, HACE LA TRAMPA: THE CRIMINALITY OF GOOD BUSINESS IN PUERTO RICO In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS in INTERNATIONAL STUDIES by Kuwary Torréns Negrón December 2012 UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Under the guidance and approvals of the committee, and approval by all the members, this thesis has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree. Approved: _______________________________ ______________ Advisor Date _______________________________ ______________ Academic Director Date _______________________________ ______________ Dean of Arts and Sciences Date Abstract This thesis analyzes the relationship between the increase in unemployment caused by the implementation of the 2009 economic policy-Ley Siete and the increase in crime. In order to analyze this link I examine the neoliberal rhetoric used to implement policies in Puerto Rico in the past and over the last four years. This thesis demonstrates how Ley Siete became a government tool that further developed economic disparities and helped crime flourish. The economic policy managed to benefit some while laying off thousands of people and the government became complicit in crime by not developing a plan to tackle the increase of bloodshed seen on the streets every day. The research gathered in this thesis demonstrates the effects governmental policies have on the individual as well as the importance of economic stability in a society that is bound by capitalism, ruled by commodities and politics and constantly threatened by crime. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract............................................................................................................................................i Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................iii Chapter 1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................1 2. Methodology................................................................................................................. 10 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Setting 2.3 Sample Participants 2.4 Materials 2.5 Procedures and Measurement Instruments: Validity/Reliability 3. Historical background....................................................................................................17 3.1 From the colonization of Puerto Rico to the Yankee invasion: 1943-1898 3.2 The Yankee invasion: 1898-1900 3.3 Economy, Industrialization and the Effects of Capitalism 3.4 Puerto Rican Politics 3.5 Then and now, Privatization and Crime: 1990-2000 4. Literature Review...........................................................................................................30 4.1 Post-Colonial Theory 4.2 The Neoliberal Agenda: Ley Siete 4.3 Sociology and Criminology: Capitalism, Crime and Violence 5. Findings and Analysis....................................................................................................46 5.1 Legitimate Employment Opportunities 5.2 Criminal Opportunities 5.3 Consumption of Criminogenic Commodities 5.4 Response of the Criminal Justice System 6. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................64 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................68 Appendix.......................................................................................................................................72 A.1 Sample Questions...........................................................................................73 A.2 Economic Policy Ley Siete-Text Only (Spanish)…………………................76 A.3 Type 1 Crime Statistics (Years 2008/2009/2010/2011)…………………....147 Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the persons who have contributed to this thesis. I truly appreciate all the help and support throughout this writing process. A special thanks to Police Commissioner Hector R. Nieves, Sergeant Keila Martinez and their staff for giving me the opportunity to complete my research on such short notice. Certainly being a part of your team was a wonderful experience that I will always remember. I would like to show my gratitude to Professor Anne Bartlett for making sure I was always on the right track, to Mary Zweifel for being my lifeline throughout my internship process and to Professor Christopher Loperena for becoming a part of this project even when time was running out. I appreciate all the support and the encouragement to make this a significant piece. Thanks to you I will never forget to “unpack” my sentences in any future projects. I would like to thank the remarkable contribution of my MAIS colleagues and friends, without their presence and motivation this year and a half would have been unmanageable. I want to thank them for sharing their thoughts and ideas and making the long days at the library seem shorter. I am deeply grateful to my family for the constant support even in the distance and for believing in me even when I failed to believe in myself. They are the driving force behind the success I have been able to achieve throughout my life. iii Chapter 1: Introduction “The theoretical utopianism of neoliberal argument has, I conclude, primarily worked as a system of justification and legitimation for whatever needed to be done to achieve this goal.”1 ~ David Harvey In the years 2009 and 2010 as I was preparing to finish my last years of college some of my friend’s parents were on the verge of being laid off, and as students they were considering not finishing the year because tuition had been increased by the government. In many conversations with my peers about the government, I kept hearing the saying El que hace la ley, hace la trampa (He who makes the rules gets away with cheating). In Puerto Rico, this saying is usually related to people in power and politics regardless of their party affiliation. It refers to people that for whatever reason find themselves in a position of power and think that they can get away with bending the rules. During this time, student conferences were being held on campus regarding the increase in tuition and budget cuts. The conversations pointed out how the government’s plan affected everyone, including professors. Not only did tuition increase but class sessions were reduced and summer classes were not available. These were the reasons that encouraged the student population to exercise their right to demand better solutions to the University cuts and the up and coming economic crisis announced by the government. In the middle of the semester about a hundred students organized to block the entrance to the University by creating a temporary camp. They put banners in their tents that read; La Upi no se vende (The University of Puerto 1 David Harvey. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. (Oxford:University Press, 2005) p.19 1 Rico is not for sale). They painted the street with signs that said: No a la privatización (No to privatization) and La educación es un derecho, no un privilegio (Education is a right not a privilege). Others simply took to the streets in protest of the increase in tuition and the layoffs that were implemented that year. Nevertheless, everyday that these students, my friends, were out fighting for something they believed in, others just as young were getting killed in the streets. Every morning I would wake up to the news of strikes and deaths, which seemed to be simultaneous and constant. The question that remained in my head was-what was the government doing? The answer was anything but simple. While it should have been creating plans to better services like health and education, it was instating fear of an economic crisis and violating the rights of citizens. Simultaneously, unemployment and crime were increasing and social instability and discontent became the order of the day. The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of the correlation between crime and unemployment through an analysis of the Ley Especial Declarando Estado de Emergencia Fiscal y Estableciendo Plan Integral de Establización Fiscal para Salvar el Crédito de Puerto Rico (Special Law Declaring State of Fiscal Emergency and Establishing Integral
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