Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

In September, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated

the American island of Puerto Rico.

At the time of this writing 12 days after the hurricane,

almost 95% of the island's residents

are still without power,

and close to half don't have clean water.

Just months prior, we shot an episode there

hoping to capture the staggering economic crisis

that Puerto Ricans were already dealing with.

So now we have to ask ourselves,

can the island ever rebuild,

and what is our responsibility as Americans

in making that a reality?

It's the American dream, right?

What so many of us work for,

sell our labor or pieces of our souls for:

an island in the sun...

Preferably one where they speak English

and the dollar is accepted everywhere.

Puerto Rico: it's America, right?

It's ours, and we've held on to it,

fiercely at times, since 1898

after taking it by force

during the Spanish-American War.

I want to take you

to one of worst-performing economies

in the developed world.

$73 billion debt...

The employment rate is only 35%.

Highest sales tax of any United States jurisdiction,

11.5%.

45% live in poverty.

Biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Over the last ten years, more than

5% of the population has fled.

But what's it like for Puerto Ricans,

for the people who live here,

whose families have lived here for generations?

Many have left for an easier life in the States.

More keep leaving... but not all.

What do you write about most of the time?

What do you cover?

Right now, I'm covering a lot of politics.

Journalist Hermes Ayala is one of those diehards

who's sticking it out.

The more I've done

investigative and political journalism in Puerto Rico,

the more I feel a responsibility to stay here

and help out my nation.

So this is Santurce.

Somebody called it on the way over

the art district?

This is sort of an art district,

but this was a barrio that was founded

by freed black slaves, right?

Going through tons of transformations,

like every working-class neighborhood.

Some people think that Puerto Rico

takes advantage of the States,

but it's a two-way street.

- Right? - You know?

Right there.

This is my friend Laura right here.

- Hi, Laura. - Hi.

- How are you? - Nice to meet you.

Like everyone here, Hermes

and fellow journalist Laura Moscoso

are trying to make sense of a situation

that seems Kafka-esque at best.

So dumb question. What is Puerto Rico?

It's not a state.

It's kind of like a colony, but it's not.

It's not kind. It is.

It is a colony.

It's an unincorporated territory.

"Unincorporated territory."

- Yeah. - Yeah.

So, you know, what's that? What is that?

We're still trying to figure out sometimes, you know?

Would you say the majority of Puerto Ricans

consider themselves Americans?

Or do they consider themselves Puerto Ricans or both?

I think that they consider theirself Puerto Ricans

with the privilege of having the United States citizenship.

Yeah, but it's kind of a half-ass citizenship.

Can't vote for president.

Nor Congress.

- Or Congress. - Anything.

You don't really have much voice

in your own destiny.

Exactly. You can only go to war.

That's the only thing that you can do with right.

Right. But Puerto Rico owes, what, $75 billion right now?

- 72, yeah. - 72.

I don't see statehood.

I don't see Congress or Senate ever...

Me neither.

Ever taking on a $72 billion debt load,

especially for a lot of people who speak Spanish.

Exactly.

What's the way out of this?

Oh, my God.

What about tourism?

It's an industry of services

to service the wealthy.

And then at the same time, you take $450 million

out of the university, for example,

so you're gonna have less educated people

willing to do any type of work...

To survive.

You are not really producing an economy

that a person can survive in, you know?

This is a country where people live,

where we do things.

And we have culture and literature and music

and produce intellectual, important work.

They are selling us as only a good resort

to have a piña colada in the beach and that's it.

We actually invented piña coladas, so...

Even though we are, like, getting over by...

- Vultures. - Yeah, a lot of vultures.

The people of Puerto Rico are good people,

and I think that we are gonna get past this.

The situation here is truly grave.

So how exactly did Puerto Rico find itself

so deeply and seemingly irrevocably screwed?

In the early '70s,

things were looking pretty good for Puerto Rico.

A tax incentive was introduced,

which helped lure dozens of major companies to the island,

employing significant numbers of people.

But when that incentive expired in 2006,

concurrent with a major recession in the States,

those companies packed up and left.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans followed,

looking for jobs that no longer existed on the island.

The tax base shrunk drastically,

creating a dire need for cash

to shore up basic needs and services.

So along came the municipal bond,

a big, fat IOU that appeared to be salvation

for a near-broke government.

They're sexy for investors, triple exempt from taxes,

and bond owners buying Puerto Rican debt

would have to be paid back before anyone.

That's anyone.

Hedge funds, or vulture funds,

as they are often referred to in these cases,

had profited from similarly desperate situations

in Greece, Argentina, and Detroit.

As the situation worsened for Puerto Rico,

you could buy up more and more bonds

for pennies on the dollar.

This was a fire sale too sweet to pass up.

And the resulting insurmountable debt,

it means drastic austerity measures

determined by an unelected board

who have near absolute power to raise taxes;

empty teachers' pension plans;

close down schools, hospitals;

basically squeeze every dollar out of Puerto Rico

to pay back the funds.

Every Puerto Rican is being made to feel the pain.

I mean, I know schools are closing, yes?

Last year, 240 schools closed.

- Last year alone. - In the last two years.

This year, there's a list of 300 schools

that are "in risk" of shutting down.

Born in Puerto Rico?

I was born in Chicago, Illinois.

In Chicago.

My family came back

mostly because our family was here.

Puerto Ricans want the family to stick together.

If you can live close to each other,

the better.

I decided to stay,

because I wanted my kids to grow up here.

Better times.

Better times, of course.

What changed?

The government took too much in loans

and couldn't pay them back.

So they kept putting taxes on the people,

the working-class people like me,

and we cannot pay them.

Like many professionals here,

Liza-Marie Cordova would probably have

an easier time of it in the States.

But she chooses to stay.

With the crisis here in Puerto Rico,

mostly I think about my kids.

Will they have the options to stay here

and work and have a family?

Okay, so where are we?

We are at Casa Vieja in Ciales.

This is a typical 1960, '50 grandmother's house.

And the food is grandma food?

It is grandma food, actually.

Those are corn fritters with ham.