In Puerto Rico, the federally appointed oversight control board has announced it will slash the pensions for the majority of retired workers by up to 25 percent and reduce the workday for all public workers, except police, by up to two days a month, as part of the ongoing austerity measures imposed by the unelected financial board. Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rosselló says he will refuse to implement the latest austerity measures, which are aimed at cutting public spending in order to pay the island’s debt to Wall Street bondholders. But José Carrión, the chair of the Financial Oversight and Management Board, says the reduction of workdays and pensions will be imposed despite the local government’s objections.

José Carrión: “We don’t consider this to be a recommendation. This was an integral element of the certified fiscal plan. As an integral element, it is not a recommendation, as the government alleges. Therefore, we are asserting what we agreed upon, what we have decided.”