Puerto Rico: Activists to demonstrate June 18 in San Juan's Hato Rey area to protest electrical grid privatization

Event

Activists and union members associated with the "All Puerto Rico against LUMA" Broad Front will stage a protest in front of the World Plaza Building in San Juan's Hato Rey neighborhood starting at 10:00 June 18. The purpose of the action is to protest the recent privatization of the territory's energy grid in a contract awarded to LUMA Energy; the World Plaza Building houses the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB), which has backed the privatization move.

While the event will almost certainly remain peaceful, authorities could deploy additional police to the area out of an abundance of caution. Localized transport disruptions are possible, particularly along Highways 1 and 23, as well as the Milla de Oro (Avenida Juan Ponce de Leon), should protesters choose to block traffic.

Context

While both the FOMB and the Puerto Rican government have supported the privatization, the move has received a mixed reception from the general public.

The protest will come just days after another temporary blackout struck the territory on June 16, leaving over 300,000 customers without power. Although LUMA officials worked to restore that outage within hours, a separate blackout a week earlier stemming from a substation fire affected some 800,000 customers, including almost all of the San Juan metropolitan area. Some subscribers were without power for the entire day. Such outages represent a problematic start for LUMA, which assumed control of the grid on June 1 from the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (PREPA), an agency long plagued by accusations of waste, mismanagement, and insufficient maintenance.

Advice

Avoid the area of the protest during the morning of June 18. Allow extra time to reach destinations in the vicinity of the World Plaza Building until the demonstration ends and all participants have dispersed. Monitor local media for traffic updates.