Out with LUMA! Let’s get the PREPA back for the people.
Faced with the growth of the national movement to remove the privatizing LUMA Energy and recover the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) for the people, the governor Pedro Pierluisi has made irresponsible statements that lack the truth and that deserve to be clarified with firmness and wisdom.
The National Collective "Todos Somos Pueblo" demands from Governor Pedro Pierluisi:
Not to extend the LUMA Energy supplemental contract ending November 30.
Activate the transition process established by the contract.
Accept legislation that transfers the entire LUMA operation to a new PREPA, governed by a board of directors composed mostly of elected consumer representatives and with a minority share of the government.
Bring back displaced workers who know the operation of the authority and stop any attempt to privatize the electricity production of the PREPA.
The various personalities and social organizations that make up "Todos Somos Pueblo" reiterate the call to intensify the struggle, both to remove the privatizing LUMA Energy, and for the transfer of all its functions to a renewed PREPA. The people want a democratically reconstituted PREPA, free from politicking and with trained personnel to guarantee reliable, clean and low-cost electricity to the entire island.
It is public knowledge that the leonine contract that the government signed for 18 months ends on November 30 of this year (2022). In the original negotiations LUMA did not accept the approval of a long-term contract (15 years) until the PREPA Bankruptcy Adjustment Plan was approved because they intended to have fewer controls, more powers and revenues. But the LUMA plan was thrown out. The 18-month contract is about to end in November, without PREPA's exit from bankruptcy.
But the whole country now knows that LUMA is useless and that the supplementary contract should not be extended because it is extremely unfair, costly and harmful. However, there are people like Governor Pierluisi who do not tell the truth because they want to extend the LUMA contract. They want to hide that their party-political machineries are enriched by hiring and jobs that LUMA pays with our money. We warned Pierluisi that the real "madness" is betraying the country by extending the contract. He knows that those who betray their people are not fit to rule.
Once the supplemental contract ends on November 30, Governor must appoint a committee for the orderly transition of LUMA operations to PREPA, in the shortest time possible. In order not to repeat the mistakes and delays of the past, Todos Somos Pueblo proposes that the transition committee include three representatives of residential, commercial and industrial consumers, respectively. As long as the transition is under way, pressure must be exerted for the adoption of a law democratising the PREPA Board of Directors by adding consumer representatives, as set out above.
Let’s take out LUMA to end the misappropriation of public funds and promote from the transition process the eventual development of a new electricity company: public, at the service of the people, committed to the environment and a promoter of the economic development of the island.
With a clear purpose and will to fight, "Todos Somos Pueblo" urges all social, political, religious and union movement sectors of our country to join the local, regional and national activities of the movement "Out LUMA - Let us recover the PREPA for the People". The events include a variety of activities that will be announced at the appropriate time and will culminate with the huge concentration march on Sunday, November 27.
Press release supplied by "Todos Somos Pueblo"
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