Puerto Rican New Yorkers worried yesterday that the strike back home would turn violent, but defended the protest to prevent the sale of the state-owned phone company to "the Americans."
"It's terrible, but what can we do?" asked Mercedes Rodriguez, a travel agent at Diaz Tirado Travel on E. 116th St. who had 12 clients stranded by the strike. "It's not fair. There's nothing wrong with our phone company." A customer named Luz, who had just canceled her flight to San Juan, said: "The people are fighting for their rights. They're trying to sell the company to the Americans."
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and the island is a commonwealth _ not a state. The sense of Puerto Rican identity is strong.
Puerto Ricans in El Barrio watched news reports of the folks back home stocking up on candles and canned goods as riot police guarded ports and power plants.
"It's worse than a hurricane," said Jose Lopez, 43, a perfume salesman from the South Bronx.
Jaime Estades, executive director of the city's Hispanic Education and Legal Fund _ one of the groups behind the strike _ blasted GTE as "the Godzilla of globalization" who would chew up and spit out the island's labor force.
Gov. Pedro Rossells "is eating grapes while Puerto Rico is burning," Estades said.
Reading the strike coverage in the newspaper El Vocero, Lopez grew frantic over the safety of his wife, Astrid, and two young daughters, ages 2 and 3 months, who live in the San Juan suburb of Carolina.
"The roads are blocked and I can't get through on the phone," he said. "But if anything happens, I don't blame the people. I blame Rossells, because he's trying to privatize everything for political reasons. He's so _ how would you say in English? _ so arrogant. This is our phone company."