|
8/25/2026 Esencia No Va, Stand with the Puerto Rican people against the newest neocolonial project in the countryRead Now  Español abajo Esencia No Va, Stand with the Puerto Rican people against the newest neocolonial project in CountryThe Resist U.S.-Led War Movement stands with the Puerto Rican people in their resistance against the continued use of their land for U.S. militarism, colonial extraction, and the profit-driven agendas of the billionaire class. This onslaught is most recently embodied in the approval of "Proyecto Esencia," a $2 billion neocolonial Riviera for billionaires, authorized on August 1, 2026, while the country faces one of its most severe water and energy crises in decades and continues to be used as a military outpost for U.S. invasions across Latin America and the Caribbean. The project, approved by Puerto Rico's Permits Management Office (OGPe), is slated for roughly 2,000 acres in Cabo Rojo's Los Pozos, it would rank among the Caribbean's largest private resorts, offering 500 hotel rooms, 1,200 residences, a golf course, private airstrip, and marina. As many popular movements have pointed out and protested against, this is nothing but a new chapter in the military and political occupation of Puerto Rico by the U.S., administered by its local puppet officials and designed to benefit foreign investors while Puerto Rican communities face water rationing, austerity, and continued displacement from their land. On August 5, 2026, Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) announced cuts affecting more than 180,000 households and businesses in San Juan and six surrounding municipalities, citing a "historic drought." In neighborhoods like Santurce's Calle Loíza and Machuchal, some Puerto Ricans have already logged over one hundred separate days of service outages; the situation is set to worsen with the building of Esencia which estimates say will consume 1.25 million and 3 million gallons of water per day. Esencia is just one of dozens of luxury developments planned for the archipelago, as the territory's status as a tax haven and a corrupt local government that skirts environmental regulations have turned the colony into a magnet for wealthy developers looking to make a quick buck. The water crisis, while worsened by drought, is principally caused by continued U.S. colonialism and militarism. PRASA currently loses roughly 60% of its treated water to a crumbling infrastructure of pipes and delivery systems that have languished for decades without adequate funding and under negligent management. Since 2016, the island's fiscal decisions, including those affecting water infrastructure, have been steered by the Financial Oversight and Management Board, a body appointed by the U.S. President under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by Barack Obama in 2016, PROMESA was designed to “address” Puerto Rico’s illegal debt crisis by imposing a Financial Oversight and Management Board, otherwise known as La Junta, with full and complete authority over the fiscal policies and budgeting of Puerto Rico without any democratic decision-making from the people. For years, this board has imposed austerity measures on public agencies like PRASA. This crisis is also a direct result of the continuing U.S. military occupation of Puerto Rico. The U.S. Department of War operates extensive installations across the archipelago, including Roosevelt Roads Naval Station and Fort Buchanan. For more than one hundred and twenty-five years of United States rule, Puerto Rico has been used as a strategic enclave for military operations in the Caribbean and Latin America. The archipelago has served as the site of military bases, training grounds, war exercises, and operations of geopolitical significance that have advanced interests unrelated to the will of the Puerto Rican people. These military bases draw heavily from the same overtaxed water sources that are now being rationed for Puerto Rican families. These bases consume millions of gallons yearly for operations, housing, and landscaping, facing no rationing and no austerity-driven cuts, allowed to build "self-sustaining water production" financed by the over $1 trillion war budget, while Boricua families are ordered to conserve water and endure repeated service outages because of the austerity measures set by the U.S. government. Earlier this year, assets stationed in Puerto Rico were instrumental in supporting covert operations and intelligence-gathering missions tied to the invasion of Venezuela, which killed over 100 people and kidnapped President Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores. These same bases help enforce the illegal and genocidal blockade on Cuba, a sixty-year campaign of collective punishment on the Cuban people. As the Trump administration seeks to enforce its Donroe Doctrine over the Americas, Puerto Rico will be used as a staging ground for invasions just as it was used in the past century of US invasions and interference in Latin America. Under PROMESA and continued U.S. occupation, Puerto Rican territory, resources, and water are thus not being used for the benefit of its people, but as a staging ground for U.S. war crimes. The anti-war movement has a responsibility to recognize this connection and to stand in solidarity with Puerto Rican communities resisting these projects. Let us support the demands to end PROMESA, close the military bases that drain the island's resources and serve as launchpads for intervention across Latin America, halt developments like Esencia that prioritize profit over people, and affirm the right of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence. To learn more, follow Resist U.S.-Led War members, Diaspora Pa'lante Collective, Juventud Unida por la Independencia and Madres Contra La Guerra, join their ongoing educational series on the impacts of ten years of PROMESA on working people, as well as their continued calls to action against these colonial structures imposed on Puerto Rico. Follow Defend Cabo Roja to learn more about the struggle against Proyecto Esencia, read their analysis and join the fight. US Out of Puerto Rico Viva Puerto Rico Libre Esencia No Va Español Esencia No Va, Apoya al pueblo puertorriqueño contra el proyecto neocolonial más reciente en el PaísEl Movimiento en Resistencia a la Guerra Liderada por EE.UU. se solidariza con el pueblo puertorriqueño en su resistencia contra el uso continuo de su tierra para el militarismo estadounidense, la extracción colonial y la agenda impulsada por el lucro de la clase multimillonaria. Esta ofensiva se materializa más recientemente en la aprobación del "Proyecto Esencia", una Riviera neocolonial para multimillonarios a costo de $2 mil millones, autorizada el 1 de agosto de 2026, mientras el país enfrenta una de sus crisis de agua y energía más graves en décadas y continúa siendo utilizado como puesto militar para las invasiones militares estadounidenses en toda América Latina y el Caribe.
El proyecto, aprobado por la Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe) de Puerto Rico, está previsto para aproximadamente 2,000 acres en Los Pozos, Cabo Rojo; se ubicaría entre los complejos turísticos privados más grandes del Caribe, ofreciendo 500 habitaciones de hotel, 1,200 residencias, un golf course, una pista de aterrizaje privada y una marina. Como muchos movimientos populares han señalado y protestado, esto solo es el capítulo actual de la ocupación militar y política de Puerto Rico por parte de EE.UU., administrada por sus funcionarios locales títeres y diseñada para beneficiar a inversionistas extranjeros mientras las comunidades puertorriqueñas enfrentan racionamiento de agua, austeridad y desplazamiento continuo de sus tierras. El 5 de agosto de 2026, la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico (PRASA) anunció recortes que afectan a más de 180,000 hogares y negocios en San Juan y seis municipios circundantes, citando una "sequía histórica". En barrios como la Calle Loíza y Machuchal en Santurce, algunos puertorriqueños ya han registrado más de cien días separados de interrupciones del servicio de agua; se espera que la situación empeore con la construcción de Esencia, que según estimaciones consumirá entre 1.25 millones y 3 millones de galones de agua por día. Esencia es solo uno de los docenas de proyectos lujosos planificados para el archipiélago, ya que el estatus del territorio como paraíso fiscal y un gobierno local corrupto que elude las regulaciones ambientales han convertido a la colonia en un imán para desarrolladores adinerados que buscan acelerar su ganancia aún más. La crisis del agua, aunque agravada por la sequía, es causada principalmente por el continuo colonialismo y militarismo estadounidense. PRASA actualmente pierde aproximadamente el 60% de su agua tratada debido a una infraestructura de tuberías y sistemas de distribución en deterioro que ha permanecido abandonada durante décadas sin financiamiento adecuado y bajo una gestión negligente. Desde 2016, las decisiones fiscales de la isla, incluidas las que afectan la infraestructura hídrica, han sido dirigidas por la Junta de Supervisión y Administración Financiera, un organismo designado por el Presidente de EE.UU. bajo la Ley PROMESA (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act o la Ley de Supervisión, Administración y Estabilidad Económica de Puerto Rico). Aprobada por el Congreso de EE.UU. y firmada como ley por Barack Obama en 2016, PROMESA fue diseñada para "abordar" la crisis de la deuda ilegal de Puerto Rico imponiendo una Junta de Supervisión y Administración Financiera, conocida como "La Junta", con autoridad total y completa sobre las políticas fiscales y el presupuesto de Puerto Rico sin ninguna toma de decisiones democrática por parte del pueblo. Durante años, esta junta ha impuesto medidas de austeridad a agencias públicas como PRASA. Esta crisis es también un resultado directo de la continua ocupación militar estadounidense de Puerto Rico. El Departamento de Guerra de EE.UU. opera extensas instalaciones militares en todo el archipiélago, incluida la Estación Naval de Roosevelt Roads y Fort Buchanan. Durante más de ciento veinticinco años de dominio estadounidense, Puerto Rico ha sido utilizado como un enclave estratégico para operaciones militares en el Caribe y América Latina. El archipiélago ha servido como sede de bases militares, campos de entrenamiento de soldados, ejercicios y simulacros de guerra y operaciones de importancia geopolítica que han promovido intereses en contra de la voluntad del pueblo puertorriqueño. Estas bases militares extraen grandes cantidades de las mismas fuentes de agua sobreexplotadas que ahora se racionan para las familias puertorriqueñas. Estas bases consumen millones de galones al año para operaciones, vivienda y jardinería, sin enfrentar racionamiento ni recortes impulsados por la austeridad, y se les permite construir "producción de agua autosostenible" financiada por el presupuesto de guerra de más de $1 billón, mientras que a las familias boricuas se les ordena conservar agua y soportar repetidas interrupciones del servicio debido a las medidas de austeridad impuestas por el gobierno de EE.UU. A principios de este año, soldados activos estacionados en Puerto Rico fueron fundamentales para apoyar operaciones encubiertas y misiones de recopilación de inteligencia vinculadas a la invasión de Venezuela, que mató a más de 100 personas Venezolanas y Cubanas y secuestró al Presidente Nicolás Maduro Moros y a la primera combatiente Cilia Flores. Estas mismas bases militares ayudan a imponer el bloqueo ilegal y genocida contra Cuba, una campaña de sesenta años de castigo colectivo contra el pueblo cubano. Mientras la administración Trump busca imponer su Doctrina Donroe sobre las Américas, Puerto Rico será utilizado como plataforma para invasiones, tal como se usó en el siglo pasado para las invasiones e injerencias estadounidenses en América Latina. Bajo PROMESA y la continua ocupación estadounidense, el territorio, los recursos y el agua de Puerto Rico no se utilizan, por tanto, para el beneficio de su pueblo, sino como escena para los crímenes de guerra de EE.UU. Como un movimiento contra la guerra tenemos una responsabilidad de exponer estas coyunturas y solidarizarnos con las comunidades puertorriqueñas que están resistiendo estos proyectos. Apoyemos las exigencias de acabar con PROMESA, cerrar las bases militares que consumen los recursos de la isla y sirven como plataformas de lanzamiento para la intervención en toda América Latina, detener desarrollos como Esencia que priorizan las ganancias sobre las personas, y afirmar el derecho de Puerto Rico a la autodeterminación y la independencia. Para obtener más información, sigan a los miembros del Movimiento en Resistencia a la Guerra Liderada por EE.UU., al Diáspora Pa'lante Collective, a Juventud Unida por la Independencia y a Madres Contra La Guerra, únanse a sus serie educativa en curso sobre los impactos de diez años de PROMESA en los trabajadores, así como a sus continuos llamados a la acción contra estas estructuras coloniales impuestas a Puerto Rico. Sigan a Defend Cabo Rojo para aprender más sobre el Proyecto Esencia, leer sus análisis, y unirte a la lucha. Fuera EE.UU. de Puerto Rico Viva Puerto Rico Libre Esencia No Va 8/8/2026 81 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The U.S. continues to be the main nuclear threat in the worldRead Now On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instantly obliterating the cities and leaving hundreds of thousands dead upon impact. These were cold-blooded experiments in mass murder where the U.S. deliberately targeted these cities, relatively untouched by previous bombings, to test its new weapon's destructive power on a civilian population. It remains one of history's most aggressive acts of war, a stark example of the U.S.'s barbaric imperialist will. Extensive U.S. nuclear tests have also damaged the people's health and environments in many Pacific islands and atolls as well as on and near native American tribal lands, while medical tests in its clandestine laboratories have likewise damaged the health of numerous voluntary and involuntary human test subjects.
81 years after, the greatest driver of nuclear proliferation remains to be the U.S. itself. From the Cold War arms race with the Soviet Union to its current war against Iran and the the build up to war in Asia and the Pacific against China, the U.S. has repeatedly used its nuclear arsenal as a tool of intimidation to suppress adversaries and as a false justification to start wars against them. This strategy has only reinforced the lesson that nuclear deterrence may be the only reliable safeguard against American aggression. From its continued investment in nuclear weapons to its wars of aggression launched under the guise of preventing adversaries from acquiring nuclear capabilities, it is clear that the U.S. has never been concerned with the devastation these weapons unleash. Instead, it actively promotes proliferation among its allies and uses the specter of it to wage wars that have killed millions. The Specter of Nuclear Weapons and U.S. Renewed Wars in West Asia Since the development of nuclear weapons and their use by the U.S., the country has used rhetoric around nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction to create a pretext for war and invasions. In the 2025 and 2026 bombings against Iran, the U.S., in partnership with Israel, repeated the same move it made in 2003 when it falsely claimed that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. The WMD lie of the Bush Administration led to brutal U.S. invasion and occupation that tore the country apart, killed close to 1 million people, devastated infrastructure including hospitals and schools, and left the country's people in political chaos and dependent on U.S. oil and development corporations to this day. The U.S. wanted Iran and its people to suffer the same fate. Iran was not targeted because it is a threat to the world and is on the path to possess nuclear weapons; Iran was targeted because it was the strongest state in the region standing up to the genocidal expansionism of the Zionist entity and because it is the main roadblock in the way of full U.S.-led domination over West Asia. The so-called "nuclear talks" between Iran and the U.S. have never been about diplomacy or finding common ground on foreign policy goals between two equal states. Instead, the U.S., one of the largest holders of nuclear weapons in the world and the only state in history to ever use nuclear weapons in warfare, used the talks to manipulate public opinion, obfuscate the facts, and build justification for war with Iran. Trump has said his goals were to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, but the Islamic Republic has stated throughout its entire political existence that it has no intention to build a nuclear weapon and public inspections by the IAEA have confirmed this reality. During the war in Iran relentless U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have targeted not only military installations but also essential civilian infrastructure, including power grids, water treatment facilities, hospitals, and food supply chains. More than 600 schools have been demolished or damaged across Iran, with over 1,000 students and teachers killed or injured. In the bombing of the Minab primary school in early March, the U.S. and Israel murdered at least168 children in a single missile attack. Push for Further Rearmament in Asia and the Pacific In the Asia and the Pacific, the U.S. continues its incessant build up to war against China. By arming Taiwan to protect its semiconductor supply chain, rapidly expanding military alliances and military infrastructure in Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, and conducting provocative war games in the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula, Washington is systematically escalating tensions with its chief rival and nuclear power. These actions, from troop deployments to joint drills near China's borders, are not defensive but incendiary, pushing the world towards a potential world war between nuclear powers. This aggressive posture is now being reinforced to the upcoming new U.S. nuclear strategy. Reports coming out in August 2026 show that the Trump administration is drafting a nuclear strategy that would expand options for using shorter-range nuclear weapons in a regional war with China and Russia. The annual U.S. nuclear posture review , a report on their policy of how and when to use nuclear weapons, comes just six months after New START, the last treaty limiting U.S. and Russian strategic arsenals, expired without renewal, leaving the two largest nuclear powers without binding limits or inspections for the first time in decades. The expansion of the use of short-range nuclear weapons by the U.S. lowers the "acceptable" nuclear threshold and pushes the use of nuclear weapons to an even more inevitable outcome of U.S.-led wars. As part of its island chain strategy in its build up to war with China, the U.S. has enlisted Japan as a junior imperialist ally. This has led Japan, the target of the U.S. nuclear bombs in 1945, to start revising its peace constitution which currently prohibits Japan from going to war if not for self-defense. Military agreements forged after WWII enable the U.S. to station more troops in Japan than anywhere else in the region. One-fifth of Okinawa’s land is occupied by U.S. bases. Right-wing Japanese governments have pushed for constitutional changes which would allow Japan to re-arm offensively, leading to rising defense spending since 2007 and a doubling of the budget by 2023. In line with the Pivot to Asia, the U.S. continually rolls out new agreements. The Japan-U.S.-Korea alliance (JAKUS) and Japan-Philippines-U.S. alliance (JAPHUS) expand the U.S. military’s network, formalizing regular war games, enhancing intelligence-sharing and missile integration targeting China, and creating an anti-China economic bloc. These measures amount to an iron web of alliances in preparation for war against China. The U.S. Spends Billions on Advancing Nuclear Weapons The United States spent a record $69.2 billion on nuclear weapons in 2025, surpassing all other nuclear-armed nations combined. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) requested $32.80 billion for FY2027, a 29% jump driven by warhead stockpile maintenance, production modernization, and nuclear triad (air, sea and land based nuclear weapons), a three-part military force structure used to deliver nuclear weapons, upgrades. The U.S. is not only "modernizing" its old arsenal but leading in the production and proliferation of new nuclear weapons. This spending represents the largest among the nine nuclear-armed states, which together spent nearly $119 billion in 2025. The U.S. investment is part of a broader $71 billion effort to upgrade all three legs of its nuclear triad: the B-21 Raider bomber, the Columbia-class submarine, and the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM. The FY2027 budget also supports seven simultaneous warhead modernization programs, including the B61-13 gravity bomb. The investments show that the U.S. is planning to go far beyond maintaining an aging arsenal and is instead expanding it drastically. For instance, the NNSA aims to produce 80 new plutonium pits annually by 2030, intended for the production of new nuclear weapons. The companies set to profit from this nuclear buildup are some of the largest weapons and war transnational corporations in the world, which have also been profiting from the war of the genocide against the Palestinian people, the invasion of Venezuela and the current war against Iran. General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries were awarded a joint $76.6 billion contract to build 14 new Virginia- and Columbia-class nuclear submarines. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the new LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM, a program projected to exceed $141 billion in lifecycle costs, while Bechtel partners with Northrop on the missile's ground infrastructure and silo construction. Other major players include Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Boeing, which are involved in various missile systems and aerospace components across the nuclear triad. Resist U.S. Nuclear Proliferation, Defeat U.S. Imperialism, and Assert the Right of Peoples to Defend Themselves Against U.S. Barbarism As we pointed out in our primer "Resisting Imperialist Nuclear Threats": "The United States brought nuclear weapons into the world and then decided to arm its allies, attempting to use these weapons to impose its will wherever it pleased. The history of nuclear warfare, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the current three fronts of U.S.-led conflict, exposes the fundamental contradiction on the issue of nuclear weapons: while imperialist powers use atomic weapons to threaten and dominate, anti-imperialist states have developed them to prevent further war on their own people. Meanwhile, thousands have engaged in advocacy efforts to reduce the U.S. nuclear triad, demand cleanup and compensation for damages, and block the U.S. $1.7 trillion nuclear modernization program. Although the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has accumulated 94 signatory states since it entered into force in 2021, making nuclear weapons internationally illegal, the U.S. has no vision in sight toward dismantling its arsenal or joining the treaty. The US-led war machine has been at the head of the imperialist system for decades, therefore making it the main perpetrator and provocateur of nuclear proliferation. We must understand that the US refuses to give up its arsenal and, instead, is plowing headfirst into a potential nuclear catastrophe as a result of its imperialist agenda. The solution is not to impose disarmament on oppressed nations, but rather the complete dismantling of the U.S. imperialist war machine and its nuclear terror apparatus." |