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For Immediate Release
March, 04 2016, 10:30am EDT
Contact:
Email:,coord(at)jubileeusa.org
Jubilee USA Launches Puerto Rico Radio Spots Ahead of Florida Presidential Primary
Ads Focus on Island's Debt Crisis and Air in Spanish and English across Florida
WASHINGTON
Jubilee USA is running radio spots focused on Puerto Rico's debt crisis in Florida ahead of the state's March 15th presidential primary. The ads first ran in Texas ahead of the state's "Super Tuesday" primary. The radio placement urges presidential candidates to address the crisis. Florida's primary may play an important role in the US presidential election and is home to more than 1 million Puerto Ricans.
"Puerto Rico's debt crisis is a critical campaign issue," stated Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, a religious development coalition. "The American citizens on the island are being treated like second class citizens and the Puerto Ricans in Florida are voting with the crisis on their minds."
Jubilee USA's radio placements emphasize the humanitarian crisis facing the US territory. Puerto Rico cut health funding by $42 million last year and is now battling the Zika virus spreading on the island. Nearly half the population lives in poverty and the government is cutting social services. Puerto Rico's government has said it cannot make its next debt payment in full.
At a recent Republican debate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio repeated his opposition to granting Puerto Rico access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. While former candidate Jeb Bush supported bankruptcy protection, the other remaining Republican candidates have not spoken in detail about the Puerto Rico crisis. The remaining Democratic candidates support bankruptcy protection. Congress is actively considering bankruptcy tools for Puerto Rico to restructure the $72 billion debt.
"Congress needs to provide Puerto Rico with comprehensive tools to resolve the crisis in a timely way," noted LeCompte. "If Congressional action is not comprehensive, Puerto Rico will still be knocking on the doors of Capitol Hill."
Listen to Jubilee USA's Puerto Rico radio spot
Read a timeline of Puerto Rico's debt crisis
Jubilee USA Network is an interfaith, non-profit alliance of religious, development and advocacy organizations. We are 75 U.S. institutions and more than 750 faith groups working across the United States and around the globe. We address the structural causes of poverty and inequality in our communities and countries around the world.
(202) 783-3566LATEST NEWS
As Trump Threatens Iran, Veterans Arrested Protesting 'War Machine' at US Capitol
"Continuing to help the war machine will only cause you more pain. There has never been a better time to reject those orders, and join a fight that matters."
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Dozens of veterans were arrested by US Capitol Police on Monday after they occupied the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill to protest President Donald Trump's illegal war on Iran.
During the protest, which was organized by a coalition of veterans groups, the demonstrators stood in the middle of the rotunda, holding red tulips and chanting anti-war slogans.
A video published by Reuters shows Capitol Police restraining the veterans and taking them into custody one by one.
Military veterans protest Iran war https://t.co/jtiGxiTMjv
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 20, 2026
One of the demonstrators arrested was Mike Prysner, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War (CCW) and a veteran of the 2003 Iraq War, who encouraged members of the US military to become conscientious objectors in a statement released ahead of the demonstration.
"The war I was sent to senselessly claimed the lives of thousands of Americans and a million Iraqis," said Prysner. "Like the other veterans here with me today, I have spent the last two decades wishing I could turn back the hands of time and refuse to go. Service members have that chance right now."
Prysner then informed US service members that "conscientious objection is your legal right, and we have professional counselors who will fight to ensure you are approved and kept from deployment."
Tyler Romero, conscientious objector client for CCW, said that he "decided to get arrested today because as someone who was a participant in a war machine that is responsible for untold suffering around the world, it is my duty to help put an end to it."
Like Prysner, Romero also encouraged service members to declare themselves conscientious objectors.
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Trump over the weekend renewed his threats to commit war crimes by bombing Iranian civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants, unless Iran agreed to a deal to give up its uranium enrichment capabilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
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As Iran reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz amid continued US and Israeli provocations, President Donald Trump renewed threats to destroy Iran and its civilian infrastructure, prompting calls on Monday for the US leader to stop threatening to commit war crimes—and for Americans to not normalize such criminal behavior.
Trump was embarrassed on the world stage after declaring Friday that it was "A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD" because "Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again."
While Iran's government did agree to fully reopen the vital Mideast waterway—through which around 20% of the world's oil is shipped—on Friday, Trump's continued blockade of Iran's ports and rampant Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon led to Tehran shutting down the strait again and accusing the United States of "acts of piracy and maritime theft."
Iranian naval vessels subsequently opened fire on a pair of Indian-flagged ships attempting to travel through the strait Saturday, allegedly after giving at least one of them permission to transit the waterway.
The following day, US forces attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman.
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Responding to Trump's post, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) said Monday on social media: "Threats of war crimes cannot become normalized. Trump’s repeated threats to destroy civilian infrastructure are not negotiation, they’re reckless escalations that endanger millions."
"The president must abandon this pattern immediately and pursue a serious, lawful, diplomatic strategy grounded in legitimate de-escalation," NIAC added.
Threats to commit war crimes such as blowing up entire countries or destroying civilian infrastructure can, like the acts themselves, be illegal under international law.
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"Honoring commitments is the basis of meaningful dialogue," Pezeshkian wrote in a social media post, adding that Iranians harbor "deep historical mistrust" toward the US government given its record of aggression against the Middle Eastern country.
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The Iranian president's comments came as his US counterpart, President Donald Trump, threatened to continue the bombing campaign that has so far killed more than 3,300 Iranians—and displaced millions—if the current two-week ceasefire expires Wednesday evening without an agreement to end the war.
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