Members of New York’s Puerto Rican community rallied Monday to protest a meeting between Puerto Rican officials and creditors over possible austerity measures to address the island’s financial crisis. Among those at the meeting was former International Monetary Fund official Anne Krueger, who has backed cutting the minimum wage below $7.25 an hour and slashing subsidies for the University of Puerto Rico. Protesters gathered outside the Manhattan offices of financial giant Citigroup, where the meeting took place.

David Galarza: “My name is David Galarza, and I live here in New York City. I’m puertorriqueño, and my parents and my family live in Puerto Rico. I’m here with a bunch of other puertorriqueños from the diaspora, from all over the city and different parts, in solidarity with the people in Puerto Rico, who are saying in one clear voice 'no' to the austerity plans being proposed by a former IMF official by the name of Anne Krueger. And we’re also saying 'no' to the austerity plans being pushed by the hedge fund owners and the managers and the banksters that created similar situations in Greece, in Spain and even in this country.”