What Does Russia Want with Puerto Rico?
Russia’s transnational crime syndicate uses our own weaknesses against us, to entrench their weaponized corruption. Take, for instance, the Act 22 tax loophole that lets rich Americans buy up land in Puerto Rico to avoid paying any money in federal taxes. It’s called “trickle down theory,” but the locals call it gentrification and tax dodging. So why is RT (Russia Today) latching on to a grassroots campaign to close the Act 22 tax loophole threatening to turn Puerto Rico into a dangerous money-laundering vipers den, with no affordable housing? Could it be that Russia is trying to stop this movement by discrediting it?
Ringing the alarm on how the Act 22 tax loophole jeopardizes Puerto Rico’s sovereignty and U.S. national security are Nomiki Konst, an activist and filmmaker, and Federico de Jesús, a public affairs consultant. They joined forces in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria to launch "Losing Puerto Rico," a documentary-in-progress and movement by the same name against the Act 22 tax loophole. Konst, a longtime ally of Senator Bernie Sanders, chosen by Sanders to work on the unity commission for the DNC following the 2016 election, cut her teeth as an investigative journalist under Wayne Barrett, the first reporter to warn us about Trump. De Jesús, who helped lead Hispanic outreach in campaigns for President Barack Obama and Senator Harry Reid, focuses on human rights issues in Puerto Rico. They explain what’s at stake with the Act 22 tax loophole, why Russia may have taken an interest, and their urgent advice for Biden on how to defeat Trump in the 2024 election, including how to win back Hispanic voters who have been trending Republican.
This week’s bonus show, available to subscribers at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon, features the recording of the Gaslit Nation Make Art Workshop: The Business Side of Things, alongside the transcript. To access the workshop, all bonus shows, ad-free episodes, exclusive event invitations, and more, subscribe to the show and join our listener community at Patreon.com/Gaslit! Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!
Listen to “Pur Sun” by Whose Hat Is This? https://bassmagazine.com/tim-lefebvres-whose-hat-is-this-releases-new-single-pur-sun-listen/ You can find more music by Whose Hat is This? on Bandcamp at whosehatisthis.bandcamp.com or whosehatisthis.com Thank you to Tim Lefebvre and Whose Hat is This? for your music! Got music to share with the world? Submit your song to be featured on Gaslit Nation here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1-d_DWNnDQFYUMXueYcX5ZVsA5t2RN09N8PYUQQ8koq0/edit?ts=5fee07f6&gxids=7628
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Show Notes:
Losing Puerto Rico – learn more about the movement to protect Puerto Rico, U.S. security interests, and repeal the Act 22 tax loophole and the film-in-progress: https://www.losingpuertorico.com/
Losing Homeland - How a Speculators and Tax Cheats are Stealing Puerto Rico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6K2SxZNxGQ
Inside the Oslo accords: a new podcast series marks 30 years since Israel-Palestine secret peace negotiations
https://theconversation.com/inside-the-oslo-accords-a-new-podcast-series-marks-30-years-since-israel-palestine-secret-peace-negotiations-212985
What is the International Criminal Court and why it has Israeli officials worried
Israeli, U.S. Officials Say New Sanctions Due to Conduct of Ben-Gvir, Smotrich A U.S. source said the far-right ministers were considered for sanctions themselves, but the White House feared impacts on bilateral relations. Some U.S. figures object to the use of the term 'sanctions,' and say that the U.S. is simply holding Israel to the standard it holds all aid recipients
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-21/ty-article/.premium/israeli-u-s-officials-say-new-sanctions-due-to-conduct-of-ben-gvir-smotrich/0000018f-018b-d6a0-a9ef-c19f11020000
How today's college protests echo history
German ex-soldier admits spying for Russia as trial opens
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/german-ex-soldier-admits-spying-161900658.html
2 Ukrainians were stabbed in Germany. Prosecutors are examining a possible political motive
https://apnews.com/article/germany-ukrainians-stabbed-russian-suspect-4a432eb55a05885c541b2515be1b20d5
The song you heard at the top of the show was 'Pur Sun' by Whose Hat is This?.
With their electrifying, all-improvised sets, Whose Hat is This? are a group that embodies unhinged musical spontaneity. The collective of current and former Tedeschi Trucks Band members bassist Tim Lefebvre, saxophonist Kebbi Williams, and drummers JJ Johnson and Tyler "Falcon" Greenwell seamlessly conjure up whirling music that combines elements of experimental jazz, funk, electronica, and just about everything in-between.
'Pur Sun' is off their latest album, Ponyboy, the title of which comes from the character in S.E. Hinton's novel, The Outsiders. The band all feel like outsiders in their respective musical worlds, and indeed all the members of the band are far from traditionalists. On Ponyboy, Whose Hat is This? explore the outer reaches of the groove, finding connections between far-flung musical lineages through the sheer rapture of playing music together. In an era of social unrest and pop commodification, this unlikely gang of musical misfits might just be the supergroup we need.
Legendary bassist Tim Lefebvre, who sent us the song, provided this statement:
It's a song about keeping your head up during tough times. We all need a little sunshine. A little water so that we grow.
We'll post a link to 'Pur Sun' on our social media feeds and in the show notes for this episode on our Patreon page. You can find more music by Whose Hat is This? on Bandcamp at whosehatisthis.bandcamp.com or whosehatisthis.com.
I am your host, Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer of the journalistic thriller, Mr. Jones, about Stalin's genocide famine in Ukraine.
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The film the Kremlin doesn't want you to see why because they're carrying out the same genocide today and they have been in a war that's lasted 10 years. With a lot of complicity across so-called Western democratic countries, including in Germany where several enemies of the Kremlin, most recently two Ukrainian soldiers who are rehabilitating in Germany were just killed by Russian nationalists. And then you have a German army captain who just admitted spying for Russia. He serves the far-right party, the AfD party, however that's pronounced Afta Nazi, the far right AfD party, which gets its talking points, which gets all of its backing from the Kremlin and it's driving a wedge in the historical wound of Germany. Germany of course, was once a divided nation, a significant percentage of the population, namely of course in the east fell under the Kremlin's orbit and you have a lot of sympathy there.
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That's still remains, that's where the far-right parties do very well. There was an attempted right-wing coup against the German government, which was of course stopped and the coup plotters brought to justice and some of the allies of that far right movement included some very high up German elites, including former royalty. And there's been lots of reporting on how Kremlin infiltration, far-right infiltration have reached the highest realms of power across Germany's military. And that problem continues to fester. We just have to point it out as we see it. It's a big reason why Germany historically in recent decades has been so reluctant, especially under Angela Merkel to do anything to really stop Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Everyone wants Ukraine to come to the table and negotiate. They've tried that through several attempts that Angela Merkel led, where Ukraine would give land for peace. They've tried land for peace.
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The only way to finally defeat the Kremlin is for the world to get a backbone, give Ukraine everything it needs to liberate all of its occupied land because everything that's occupied is a Soviet hellhole. It’s history repeating. Watch my film Mr. Jones to understand why and God help us when it comes to Germany because Germany is supposed to be a leader of Europe and right now it's a hotbed of Kremlin espionage and infiltration of the West and trying to divide and conquer the west. Alright, so let's all remain vigilant of that. I just wanted to start us off with a little bit of recent Cold War history that is really not history. The Cold War continues, the Kremlin wants its rematch. Alright, so it's springtime in America, which means it's hunger game season with the US Supreme Court. So far the terrifying cases the extreme Supremes are weighing in on include whether a president can get away with assassinating their political enemies like Putin does.
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This has long been Trump's dream. He said when he campaigned in 2016, he could shoot someone in fifth Avenue and the cult would still be there. He would still have his hardcore supporters because he's cultivated them specifically for this. Having literally studied speeches, rallies by Hitler according to Trump and his soulless team of lawyers, you can absolutely assassinate whoever you want. This would incentivize all sorts of dangerous people to run for president to escape facing accountability, which is an important check on their power. A verdict in this case is expected June or July where Americans have become accustomed to learning the fate of long, hard fought rights we've enjoyed thus far. The Supreme Court, which was packed by the Russian backed Christian nationalist movement that helped bring Trump to power in 2016 successfully delayed a decision to help special prosecutor Jack Smith proceed with his January 6th case against Trump, which means that a verdict would come out after the election on that case.
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So I want to make everybody clear on what's happening with the Supreme Court taking on this immunity case, deciding on an unprecedented immunity. The Supreme Court agreed to address this, but more philosophically in what it means for our country. And the specifics that Jack Smith needs in order to proceed with his case are getting kicked down to a lower court, which drags out that trial. Which means once that trial finally gets going, the verdict will come out maybe when Trump has won already the 2024 election. And then at that point he's dictator from day one just as he's promised. And project 2025 comes into effect. What is Project 2025? You've heard me talk about it with recent guests. Project 2025 is the long held plan by the Christian nationalists who have diligently worked since the civil rights victories the 1960s to fight back, claw their way back into power, taking over all facets of society as much as they can entrench themselves in, from media to entertainment to government, working really hard in setting up their laboratories of dictatorship on the state level like in states like Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and so on, to set up a white male patriarchal dictatorship.
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Basically what Iran has, but for white male Christians, that's what they're after. So if Trump becomes president, he's going to throw out the cases him because the attorney general that he'll carefully select will now be the head of his personal security forces to wage war on his enemies and no one is safe. And you better believe it that the thousand plus or so traitors to our country arrested for trying to violently overthrow our democracy on January 6th. They'll all be pardoned and lead up all the militias to terrorize any opposition, including any woman anywhere daring to get an abortion anywhere. Anywhere, okay? Because this whole fallacy of red state, blue state, there's pockets of red and blue all across this country. And so these militias will have their little empowered pockets wherever they need to operate to terrorize and drive a wedge between Trump's opposition. And remember, from studying dictatorships, from talking to people that have survived dictatorships, fear spreads like a virus.
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What we're living now in the spring of 2024 may be the good old days, maybe the last of shreds of normalcy we might experience, okay, this is real, this is happening and you better believe it that if Trump gets in and becomes President, what else is going to happen? The Republicans will likely win the Senate. We're going to try to stop that. Obviously Gaslit Nation is working with some great groups to try to stop that. We're going to fight valiantly to prevent that. But the Senate map this year favors the Republicans. The Democrats just have more seats to defend. And so if Trump gets in as president and Republicans hold the Senate, they're going to be packing the courts right now. They're able to get 30% of our courts in another four, eight years of Trump whenever he dies as dictator in power. Imagine what our courts will look like after all that time and when you have all of the courts hijacked, that is going to delay and derail any chance of progress anywhere in this country.
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Because even if we fight back to create a sort of protective buffer against that, basically our federal government having fallen to Trump's dictatorship backed by his Christian nationalist attack dogs and anyone thinks we can be safe by just getting down in the trenches on the state level and guarding our communities on the state level by ensuring that our state governments are filled with progressives who believe in good governance. That's not going to be enough to protect us if Trump and the Republicans have hijacked what 50% of the court, 60% of the courts over the next eight, 10 years or so. Because then what you have is our state governments locked up in legal warfare with the federal government waging war against us trying to criminalize us on the state level for trying to exercise our rights, protect our rights, expand our rights, including environmental protections.
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It's going to be nasty and we cannot let it get to that point. We're talking about a generational level fight, whereas if Biden eeks through and we're talking eeking now because it's going to come down to a handful of votes and key districts across America in the electoral college, if Biden eeks through, we're looking at a 10 to 15 year battle. If Trump gets through, we're talking about my lifetime and my kids' lifetime trying to undo that massive damage if we get so lucky to be able to do that because remember at the same time, if you have America fall to a dictatorship, you're having technology exponentially expand and that could help dictators tighten their hold and control over us and so on. If you want more on that, go to the dictatorship tech series that we did last summer, which looks to the future based on how dictators are using technology now, what's readily available now and what that tells us about where things are headed.
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Yeah, pretty existential times guys. I'm not going to sugarcoat any of this for you. And if you feel any sense of despair, if you are curling up in the fetal position, the place for you is the Gaslit Nation 2024 Survival Guide, which you can find on our website, gaslit nation pod.com. That's gaslit nation pod.com. And right there on our homepage, find the 2024 Gaslit Nation Survival guide and chip in however you can to do your bit to protect democracy in America and therefore the world. Okay, grassroots power is the most reliable power we have Now, there's a lot that the Biden campaign should be doing to better protect us. We've covered that in many episodes and this week's guest will go into that a bit more. One of the things that I strongly feel that along with so many others that Biden can do to not only help democracy here at home but also protect the stability of the world would be of course to do everything he can to incentivize, to ensure a lasting permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, an area, a region, a conflict that has long been neglected by the US.
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It was obviously undermined by Kushner during his time in office when he did his Abraham Accords, which were basically just a gaslighting plan to help empower Israel and its part across the region. And meanwhile, you had rising genocide against Palestinians, some of the deadliest years on record for Palestinians in the West Bank. And remember September, 2023, September, 2023, the month before October 7th, that marked the anniversary of the Oslo accords, the 30 years since the Oslo accords, which laid a groundwork for peace between Israel and Palestine, a process that many think were undermined by the Palestinian side. But in reality there was a huge pushback by Israeli terrorists like Ben Gvir who are now in power. And there's this whole extremist far right movement in Israel that assassinated Rabin, one of the signers of the Oslo accords. And that far right movement is what helped bring Netanyahu to power and keep him in power as the longest serving prime minister of Israel, where he, as many reports have shown deliberately propped up Hamas, funded Hamas to sideline the more moderate Palestinian authority that recognized the existence of Israel and wanted to work for a two-state solution by having Hamas be empowered that would delegitimize the Palestinian liberation.
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Cause that was the strategy there by Netanyahu and his ruling coalition of terrorists. And so what is the solution here? Well, Biden and his team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, they could sanction the low hanging fruit, the many Steven Millers that are keeping Netanyahu in power, starting with Ben Gvir who oversees state security for Israel, who's been arming the terrorist settlers who have been driving Palestinians out of their homes in the West Bank and territory that's internationally recognized as Palestinian. So that's just a one low hanging fruit example of what Biden sworn policy team can do. So if you're yelling at me listening to this, wherever you are in the world, there's low hanging fruit left still that Biden and his team just aren't touching. And it's leading to several resignations from the State Department, including in public facing roles. And it's leading to the largest ever protest, anti-war protests since the Vietnam War.
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And what the smokescreen in the media wants you to believe is that these protests are pro Hamas, whatever, whatever. I have no doubt being a person of the left having experienced myself, many among the left in the circles that I've organized with coming across people who spout Kremlin talking points to me who are brainwashed by rt. I have no doubt those types of people are there in these protests leading these protests and shouting pro Hamas statements and romanticizing Hamas as resistance fighters. No, Hamas are terrorists. They're corrupt. They lie. They deliberately target civilians. They're genocidal. There needs to be regime change for both Palestine and Israel. Okay, regime change on both sides. That's been my position since the beginning and I stand by that. So I have no doubt those elements exist in these protests. I've met them myself when it comes to organizing with the left, and it's horrifying.
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And I do feel threatened by meeting these idiots like spouting Kremlin talking points. They suck. Those people suck, so I have no doubt they're there. But when you have protests across campuses like you do in the US right now with such overwhelming numbers, this is different. The majority of those protestors just want peace. The majority of those protestors want to see meaningful action by Biden and his team to force Netanyahu and his coalition of terrorists to stop, to stop, to absolutely not go into Rafah, where over a million Palestinians are sheltering million displaced, so many displaced by the war, and he can do that. Biden is just giving lip service now. And he can simply do this by just sanctioning those around Netanyahu and allow the international criminal court to go ahead with their war crimes verdict and arrest warrants should those be forthcoming and not block those.
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They blocked the largely symbolic vote for Palestinian statehood in the United Nations. This is all low hanging fruit people. This is basic stuff they could be doing to curb, to stop, to try to contain Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians. And this is in everybody's interest, everybody's interests. And so what's going to happen if Israel's war continues? It's not just the 35,000 plus civilians who have been killed in Israel's collective punishment against Palestinians and the million plus more that have been displaced. It's also a powder keg across the region, which is going to lead to God knows what the big old Pandora's box opening up for the world. Because what you're having is a lot of these demonstrations across countries like Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and elsewhere in solidarity with the Palestinians demanding that the war stops. A lot of these protests are supported by their governments, but what's happening is the protests are activating people.
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And so they're not just Gaza protests, they're also protests against these governments themselves like Egypt and Morocco. And so now the governments are clamping down against those protests they originally promoted and supported. And so it's really interesting we could be in for another Arab Spring should that happen. And why is that significant to us? Because the original Arab Spring led to a long war that continues to this day in Syria and Russia getting involved and so on. So yeah, this is a powder keg moment and unfortunately by the Biden administration giving Israel a blank check leading to greater instability in greater danger. And again, there's low hanging fruit there that they need to go after. And the kids across this country, in their protest camps across this country, the majority of those kids want the Biden administration to end its vacuum of power and its blank check to Israel.
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And to show some moral courage here by sanctioning the worst of that regime at the bare minimum, to divesting from the companies that are empowering the collective punishment of Palestinians by ending this genocide immediately. And the US can absolutely do that because historically when the US pushes back against overreach by Israel, it's effective. And we're not seeing that at all from the Biden administration. We need to see that for the sake of all humanity everywhere, especially of course, the civilians on the front lines and their families who are dealing with unmatchable horror and tragedy, right? And lifetimes of trauma. So it's all about ending the cycles of violence, which if Biden wants to go down as a great president, he needs to do that now for the sake of all of us. And of course, part of the many casualties, if he chooses not to, could be American democracy itself. That is a very real possibility. All right everyone, so we have an interesting discussion this week. What does Russia want with Puerto Rico? This week's guests are bringing a lot of urgent insights for us and national security, media literacy, and how Russia hijacks movements, how Biden and the Democrats can still correct course to win electoral college and ensuring Puerto Rico's sovereignty, especially from transnational crime.
Joining me at Gaslit Nation this week are Nomiki Kunst, a political analyst, investigative reporter and filmmaker directing a documentary on Puerto Rico, which began in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria. In conjunction with the film Losing Puerto Rico, she is the co-director of the impact campaign with the same name to abolish the Act 22 tax loophole, facilitating inequality and a displacement crisis in Puerto Rico. Nomiki serves on the board of Matriarch, an organization dedicated to training, recruiting, and supporting working class women to all levels of office to overcome the threat of Proud Boys running for local office. Matriarch trained over 500 women to run for office, from school board to Congress in 2022, Nomiki cut her teeth as an investigative journalist working under the great Wayne Barrett, the most tenacious investigative reporter to be early in exposing Donald Trump, desperately trying to warn all of us.
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Nomiki has a long history serving in politics at the local and national levels. After the 2016 election, Senator Bernie Sanders appointed her to the 21 member DNC Unity and Reform Commission tasked to reform the Democratic Party in 2016 and 2020. She served as a national surrogate for Bernie Sanders for president and on the DNC platform committee. And before that worked on the Obama campaign, her partner in producing the documentary and the movement losing Puerto Rico to abolish the Act 22 tax loophole, facilitating inequality. And the de displacement crisis in Puerto Rico is Federico de Jesús. Federico is the co-founder of Power for Puerto Rico, a national coalition of organizations working to clear federal hurdles in the way of the island's ability to become more self-sufficient. He was the National Communications Director for Hispanic Media and the Obama for America 2008 presidential campaign where they secured nearly 70% of the Latino vote. He later performed the same role in the office of the President-Elect, and as a political appointee to the Department of Transportation, he served as the director of Hispanic Communications for Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, and spent many years working in Puerto Rico on various political and human rights efforts. Here's a clip from their documentary Losing Puerto Rico that sums up the stakes for repealing Act 22, a transnational crime tax loophole
Trailer for Documentary Losing Puerto Rico (00:25:59):
Because of Act 22 and the federal tax loopholes, Puerto Rico is the only place where a wealthy American with no tie to the island can move and evade paying any federal taxes. And while those Americans seek out a tax shelter in Puerto Rico, they're driving up the price of rent by 600%. Act
Trailer for Documentary Losing Puerto Rico (00:26:19):
22 is the largest story, and it should be
Trailer for Documentary Losing Puerto Rico (00:26:22):
Repealed. Congress has the responsibility to close the Act 22 loophole hurting Puerto Rico.
Trailer for Documentary Losing Puerto Rico (00:26:29):
The island passed several laws in 2012. The move was promoted as something to incentivize investors to move into the US territory in order to boost the economy.
Trailer for Documentary Losing Puerto Rico (00:26:39):
But there's also an argument to be made that effectively this is a handout to the super in an island that already has a bankruptcy crisis. Was the
Trailer for Documentary Losing Puerto Rico (00:26:45):
Idea here explicitly to turn Puerto Rico into an alternative to say the Caymans or perhaps Bermuda, Singapore?
Andrea Chalupa (00:28:12):
I want to focus on the Russia element of what you're working on. What does Russia want with Puerto Rico?
Nomiki Konst (00:28:18):
What a great question. Well, thanks for having us. I mean, Fede here knows more about his island's history and his nation's history than anyone I can think of. But I'll just chime in real quick and he can go through the long history, but I think that they're looking for wedge issues and there's a very sophisticated propaganda operation that may start with a few accounts online, some friendly faces that seem to be echoing fairly progressive anti-imperialist stances. But in this situation, Russia, RT decided to do a video, a very well-funded video where they sent a reporter to the island and touched on almost everything that the United States has failed in providing and overseeing on the island of Puerto Rico. And that, of course, gets the left excited as they should be about these issues and as they're organizing, but it also brands it with rt. And what I can say just briefly is that due to some tax breaks that exist on the island and that it's a Secret Sea jurisdiction, which is a place, there are many secret seed jurisdictions all over the world in which it is easier to move money through certain banking institutions, real estate.
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And by money, I mean in most cases it's sturdy money. So Puerto Rico is the colony and there are a lot of in the laws and there are these tax breaks. And when you have tax breaks and secrecy jurisdictions, it's a prime formula for foreign money to move into US dollars. And Russia oligarchs, bad guys all over the world are doing that on the island. The FBI has gotten involved, there have been indictments, there have been schemes with foreign governments influencing elections through bankers. They indicted a former governor. And I think that putting the RT label on the left basically makes it toxic for the left to what they're attempting to do is for the left to advocate to a larger audience in Washington who is getting frustrated by these tax schemes and fe, I mean, you've got so much more to say, I'm sure, but that's my brief analysis. I would say
Andrea Chalupa (00:30:29):
Russia has always used countries in the Caribbean against us in that part of the world. You have Cuba, which is largely dependent on Russia financing its debt. You have Venezuela where there's a Russian back dictatorship there under Maduro, a large influx of recent asylum seekers are coming from Venezuela because it's a failed state under this Russian backed regime. It's a wedge issue, right? Because you have the Russian backed Republican party trying to politicize these asylum seekers, make this whole white panic scare of unquote an invasion on our border, when really these are asylum seekers that are looking for risking their own lives to find a better life in America and so on. So it is very scary when the two of you approached me with the fact that there is a tax scheme set up by the federal government under a Republican, Republican administration to try to encourage trickle down investment by corporations and multimillionaire and billionaires in Puerto Rico.
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And that loophole has been being used now for money laundering and crypto grifters and gentrifying Puerto Rico, which further pushes out the average Puerto Ricans that have been through so much abandonment by the federal government, certainly under Trump hurricanes devastation, and they're vulnerable to the climate crisis. And Russia is taking advantage of all this because it gives them another space to occupy to further pressure us here in the West. So fdi, given that you are a Puerto Rican and you've been a long time advocate for human rights and equality in Puerto Rico, could you speak to this larger issue of what the stakes are for Puerto Rico? Why should we be concerned by what's going on there?
Federico de Jesús (00:32:16):
Sure. And just want to highlight that the report by RT is spot on except for one error that they made. The report is like Nomiki said, very sophisticated and they interview real people that are going through real hardship. And the only problem isn't that the report is wrong is that it's just got the Russian state media behind it and therefore that could be used to a real movement to stop colonial gentrification in Puerto Rico and get these tax sheets to stop inflating and creating this real estate bubble that is making housing unaffordable. Since Hurricane Maria in 2017, the average ran in Puerto Rico skyrocketed by 593%, which makes it really hard for people to afford to live on the island and therefore causes displacement within communities and also having Puerto Ricans having to leave the island. And so yes, there was a Republican governor in Puerto Rico that approved this law that exploits a federal loophole.
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Basically a resident of Puerto Rico doesn't have to pay federal income taxes and other taxes because Puerto Rico is a territory. Puerto Rico as a colony is considered a foreign country for tax purposes. This law basically exempts any individual investor, as they call it, from capital gains dividends and other investment income in Puerto Rico. But by virtue of moving there, they're also free of federal income tax. And Puerto Rico's the only place in the world, and I have to repeat this, it's the only place in the world where an American can move, not pay any federal income taxes, and not have to give up their US passport. So Puerto Rico went from a manufacturing hub, pharmaceutical industrialized economy or Latin American tiger really. After Congress got rid of tax incentives for those jobs, the island got into a financial crisis. And in desperation, I guess they said, well, let's bring in millionaires to just magically turn this around.
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And what it's created is an affordable housing crisis. The IRS is investigating, they've set a hundred individuals on everything from money laundering to all sorts of schemes and cheating on the law. So the law allows legal tax evasion, but on top of that, people are cheating and they're not required to invest in the economy. They only have to create three jobs. So that's the guy that mows the lawn, your accountant and your lawyer, if that. But the cost socially is creating a wealth gap in Puerto Rico and making it impossible to afford to live there. But it's also depriving states and local governments and the federal government in the US from tax revenue to fund schools and roads. So it's not benefiting the people in the United States, it's not benefiting the people in Puerto Rico, it's just benefiting these rich outsiders, again, a lot of whom have been already arrested for money laundering and other shenanigans and others that the IRS is investigating. So it's really a lose lose and it's just another way for the rich to game the system.
Andrea Chalupa (00:35:12):
Tell me about the documentary you two are working on and how you came together, how this issue got on your radar,
Nomiki Konst (00:35:19):
The documentary. Thank you so much. He is, if he hasn't shown already, I was connected to him when I was working on the island two years ago. I've been working on this documentary for about seven years. It started off as a reporting project, a reporting series after Hurricane Maria. And I just had so much information coming in from folks who after the cameras left, after Hurricane Maria just kept feeding me information because unfortunately there isn't enough Western. And when I say western media, I mean English speaking media, that's the traditional colloquial way of using it. It's not my term. There wasn't enough English speaking media covering the corruption that happens after a disaster disaster capitalism as some know it. So it initially began as a film about disaster capitalism. And then just as we were about to go into post-production right before the pandemic, a governor had to step down.
(00:36:09):
One out of three Puerto Ricans showed up on the streets demanding that he stepped down because of this egregious chat that was leaked in which friends and family and administration members basically insulted every demographic on the island in the most horrific ways, including people who died because of the storm. And it was really kind of a response to how he managed the storm response and much more, of course. So I had to go back into production, the pandemic hit when we got vaccinated, I went to the island and I basically lived there for the year and FE had been there during the pandemic and we just got to talking and we saw how quickly folks were moving there exploiting the fact that there was distressed real estate because of the ecoNomikic collapse, because of the debt crisis that occurred a few years prior. That property was even more distressed after Hurricane Maria.
(00:37:04):
And there were these tax breaks that existed. And this happened all over the world actually. As people were working remotely, a lot of folks were moving from their expensive big city apartments and homes to warmer climates that were cheaper, whether it was Portugal or Mexico City, or of course Puerto Rico, which is much easier because you don't have to have a US passport and it's easier to of course move there. So we saw it happening in real time. I was experiencing it in real time because I was jumping from place to place and seeing the prices increase astronomically and that the housing shortage. And we discussed is there something that we can do while this documentary is in process? And so we're in post-production on the documentary, but in conjunction with it, we have an impact campaign to abolish act 22, which is the law that the loophole that allows for these rich outsiders to come in and basically buy up land for very little at the time at least, and take advantage of these tax breaks and it's displacing folks. We decided to do this impact campaign before the documentary comes out just because things are moving so quickly and hopefully the documentary will be out within a year, but the documentary is much more just disaster capitalism and unfortunately the displacement cut crisis, it's also discussing national security issues that have been baked into these loopholes because of this unique status that Puerto Rico has.
Andrea Chalupa (00:38:36):
At the center of the story, what you're navigating against is weaponized corruption. And right now Puerto Rico, due to this loophole has become a magnet for transnational forces, transnational crime forces to come in and take advantage.
Nomiki Konst (00:38:51):
Totally. You said it well said. I want to put that on a bumper sticker.
Federico de Jesús (00:38:55):
That's great. That's great. And look, one of the things that's highlighted in this injustice of these tax breaks is spoiler alert, they're not available to local residents of Puerto Rico. So all these rich outsiders are getting tax breaks that aren't available to regular Puerto Ricans or any Puerto Rican that's already living on the island. The law says that it's only available if you didn't live on the island seven years prior to the enactment of the law in 2012. And a lot of people are asking us, well, if it's a local law that caused this, why are you asking Congress to close the loophole? That's obviously a great question. And obviously when it comes to Puerto Rico, nothing is simple, but the long and the short of it is that after the US invaded Puerto Rico and took it over from Spain, they decided to exempt local residents from paying federal taxes.
(00:39:40):
And it wasn't because, oh, let's not have taxation with our representation like I have in DC where I pay federal taxes and I don't have anybody, members of Congress, they did it. So there would be a local functioning government and to create a sense of order, but that was meant to benefit Puerto Ricans and in outside corporations like Sugar Mills later pharmaceuticals. But it was never meant for individual people to just live on a beach and not pay any taxes either to the Puerto Rico government or the federal government. And on top of that, it's not available to Puerto Ricans that live on the island. And so it's a loophole that the Puerto Rican government exploited, but it was created by federal law. So what we want is to protect Puerto Ricans to keep their tax exemption and not have that threatened by all of these people moving from the outside and exploiting Puerto Rico and turning it into the Cayman Islands because Puerto Rico's a lot more than that.
(00:40:30):
It's not a PO box in the Caribbean, it's a thriving island with more than 3 million people that are struggling, but have done a lot of great things in the past. And this was just a gimmick, like you said, trickle down a tent. The governor who ran on this said, I'm going to bring a hundred millionaires and that's going to solve everything. And what's happened is, sure, there's some accountants and realtors that are making money off of this, but the reality is that people can't afford to live on their own island. And that's why we're asking Congress, who has the ultimate power over Puerto Rico as the country that oversees everything on the island to do something about it. So it's kind of using the weapons of imperialism against the empire in a way to benefit the people. And we do have luck that there are a lot of people in the US Congress that have stood up and said, yes, Congress should close this loophole.
(00:41:16):
And a lot of grassroots in the diaspora and allies like Nomiki, so many others that are standing up and the campaign is taking steam, and it's no wonder that some people are trying to discredit it. I remember I was talking off camera with Nomiki that, again, going back to rt, what they say is true. And I remember when the report came out, a lot of Puerto Ricans were sharing it on social media, and I was trying to point out to people, Hey, this is Russian propaganda, but it is true. And there's a saying in Spanish, which means two plus two is four. It doesn't matter if a crazy person says it right? So it's important to tell the truth on this and not to have any other outside influence discredit a real movement for justice and wellbeing of the island.
Nomiki Konst (00:42:02):
This is just something that I think always needs to be reinforced for folks who may not be drowning in the details of what we're dealing with every day. Puerto Rico, of course, is a colony, and I know that when I go out into the mainland and I talk to people about these issues, they say, oh my God, I can't believe what happened with Donald Trump throwing paper towels. And also Puerto Rico should be a state. The politics, the islander are very complicated. The statehood party is traditionally very conservative, and the statehood party is also the party that brought you these tax breaks. The island is three times poor than Mississippi, which is our poorest state. The island was hit by a storm, they still have not recovered. After seven years, the island has been paying off a debt that I think is fair to say was somewhat manufactured to benefit a whole bunch of rich Wall Street folks.
(00:42:47):
And on top of that, they have this thing called the Jones Act. So almost everything that is eaten on the island is imported, and it is more expensive. So the cost of living is already more expensive on the island in which it's already struggling with so many other financial issues. The roads are just starting to get repaired after many years of the debt crisis. And so on top of this all, they don't have the tax revenue locally. The island is being ripped to shreds essentially by all these new folks coming who are literally plowing through the beaches. Logan Paul is there. He's gotten in trouble for taking over beaches and yeah,
Andrea Chalupa (00:43:27):
Logan Paul is that bro that does cage fighting, and it was like a YouTube star
Nomiki Konst (00:43:33):
Page fighter. So one thing that I want to really, really make clear is this coalition that's a calling to abolish Act 22 is incredible. It is a coalition of local groups and diaspora groups and allies, as FE says, that want this law to be abolished because oversight is not enough. Oversight is literally just being like, okay, we're going to find a couple people here and there and these people don't qualify. But you still have Logan Paul on the island, you still have Brock Pierce and a whole group of crypto folks. You still have Michael Turpen who was the first crypto enthusiast to move to the island, who also has brought crypto conferences there. It's not just crypto, it's much more, you still have all these folks who are living there. Yeah, it's
Andrea Chalupa (00:44:16):
Money laundering
Federico de Jesús (00:44:17):
And more people that will move in, right? Because you can arrest a couple of people, but that doesn't change the law that allows more people to keep exploiting the island.
Andrea Chalupa (00:44:25):
So all of your efforts, the coalition that you guys have painstakingly built over years having watched this gentrification and transnational crime make itself at home now in Puerto Rico, which is a danger to a US national security and the height of stupidity, but you're now concerned because Russian propaganda like RT has latched onto the issue and you're worried that they're doing this almost knowingly to sabotage it. They like the loophole because they're taking advantage of the loopholes themselves with their offshore bank accounts moving in and buying up property. And so you're worried that the Russians by trying to align themselves with you, just weakens you and you want to make clear that that's what they're doing
Nomiki Konst (00:45:09):
Possibly. Exactly. Quite frankly, next week, this coalition is going to Capitol Hill for the second time to talk to members of Congress. And our team knows that, I mean, Russians know that. They know that there's been an act of campaign to move members of Congress to abolish this loophole, and they know that it's easier to keep the loophole on the island because of political dynamics, which there's this battle, that meme where everybody's pointing to each other and shooting at each other. That's the politics of the island. I think nothing's ever going to happen because they've designed the system in which it's much easier to keep things in limbo on the island. It's actually quite comical that it's easier to do things done in Washington than it is there. But the truth is is that we've seen Republicans, democrats, centrist progressives, all come together on how despicable this issue is.
(00:46:01):
I mean, Chuck Schumer has spoken out against it publicly very, very loudly. And then you have Congress member Cory Bush who's spoken out on it. I mean, that's a coalition right there. So of course the Russians and any other folks that might be playing this game with them do not want this loophole to be abolished when tax breaks are attached to secre to jurisdictions, as most experts who deal with money laundering know it is an opportunity for foreign influence. And oh, and one big, big, big thing that we buried the lead on the FBI came out with a report earlier this year stating that Puerto Rico is going to be used as and a location where foreign influence, Chinese and Russian influence would be spreading disinformation for the political campaigns on the island. There are elections on the island this year that's obviously happening everywhere, but I don't know if Eddie, have you seen that kind of influence in the past, at least in the last 20 years or so?
Federico de Jesús (00:46:56):
There has been, obviously the US has medaled in the elections in Puerto Rico, and there's been attempts from other countries. This reminds me of there was a movement to get the US Navy to stop bombing and target military exercises in the island of Vieques. So Paradise Island next to Puerto Rico. And it was really something that United Puerto Ricans, sorry,
Nomiki Konst (00:47:18):
Which is part of Puerto Rico, so people understand,
Federico de Jesús (00:47:20):
Yes, it's a municipality of Puerto Rico. It's like the Staten Island of Puerto Rico, but where people live there and the military practices and bombings, uranium and all these contaminants created a cancer and other health crisis. Point is that Puerto Ricans United, we kicked the navy in 2003. By the way, they're still in one tunnel also Fidel, and those people haven't kicked them out. And I mentioned Fidel because back then Fidel Castro was still alive and he decided to have a hundred thousand people marching Havana to support the cause. And then we got a lot of blowback for people saying like a lot of pro Navy people saying, oh, this is a movement backed by sad Hussein and Fidel Castro. And they tried to discredit the movement. Thank goodness we created a coalition and we were able to peacefully get the Navy to stop their bombing and leave.
(00:48:06):
We still need them to clean up and address the healthcare crisis. But it's another example of how even well-intentioned foreign influence can harm a movement. So this is a struggle that Puerto Ricans and allies are waging. Nomiki and I are just foot soldiers in this, and we're going to descend on Washington on May 1st and second to remind members of Congress who've talked the big game about how this needs to end to actually legislate it and get it done. Because again, it's a local law in Puerto Rico, but it's the federal tax exemption. And Congress has the power to say, yes, Puerto Rican should not pay taxes because they don't have any representation and it's good for their development. But we should close that loophole for all these outsiders that are gaming the system and creating this housing crisis in Puerto Rico that we do not need.
Andrea Chalupa (00:48:51):
I am grateful for all the work that you guys are doing, and we'll link to the resources you sent me,
Federico de Jesús (00:48:58):
Losing Puerto rico.com and we'll send you
Andrea Chalupa (00:49:00):
LosingPuertoRico.com. Okay, so folks can check this out and understand that we need to nip this in the bud because it can get a lot worse.
Federico de Jesús (00:49:08):
And remember, this is really harming congressional districts, communities, states, counties that are being deprived of their tax revenues because people are moving from those places to Puerto Rico to not pay any federal, but also the state and local taxes, right? So if you're an individual in New York or in Florida and you move to Puerto Rico, you're no longer a resident of New York and Florida, therefore you're not paying Palm Beach County, you're not paying the state of Florida, you're not paying the federal government any taxes. And then you wonder why it is that the infrastructure in the United States is in such decay.
Nomiki Konst (00:49:38):
And it's interesting to say that because New York just issued something a couple days ago that they were going to start cracking down on folks who were saying that they're residents somewhere else. So they're starting to oversee it from the New York end if you spend more than so-and-So number of days in New York, we know you're still a resident here because it's that much of a crisis now that the tax revenue's leaving New York in particular.
Federico de Jesús (00:50:00):
Exactly. And it's such a ruse to qualify for these tax exemptions, you only have to live there in Puerto Rico for 183 days a year. You have to donate to charity a certain amount, and they create their own charities, and you only have to create three jobs, and the government doesn't oversee whether you're creating those jobs or not. So the rest of the half of the year, you can live in the Hamptons, you can live in Palm Beach, you can live in whatever us state you want in
Andrea Chalupa (00:50:24):
Tax dodging state, Florida, we lost New York State, lost a lot of revenue to Florida, for instance. It's incredible. We just need to tax the damn rich more given the issues that we’re dealing with.
Federico de Jesús (00:50:37):
Let’s start with Puerto Rico and the rich outsiders.
Andrea Chalupa (00:50:39):
Absolutely. I'm all for this. And how dare the Russians try to sabotage it by hijacking the cause as their own when they really don't mean it. So thank you for bringing this to my attention. I would love to get comment from each of you. This is such a politically toxic election as every election is, and obviously you have a very divided left and everything is going to come down to unity with this extraordinarily close vote. In the electoral college, Biden won by only 44,000 votes spread across three states in 2020. So Trump could win, Trump could win, or it could be a tie that is decided by Congress. So very scary scenarios there. You each have a really interesting vantage point on the election. Nomiki, you were part of the Unity Coalition following the 2016 election, being a Bernie Sanders advocate, you were picked by Bernie Sanders to represent progressive interests to try to unify Dems. And Federico, you of course, have worked on Hispanic voter outreach, namely of course for President Obama. I would love to get your perspectives on what advice would you give Biden in the Dems in this election to try to unify everyone to ensure that Trump doesn't eek through in the electoral college?
Nomiki Konst (00:51:59):
Oh, man, I feel you by the way. I freak out because that margin is smaller than it was between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Of course, that's because the electoral college where those votes lived. I think there's a lot of deep, deep, deep analysis to be done here with different demographics. But on a very high level, 40,000 foot perspective, I would say we have a lot of crises in this country. I mean, I'm in New York right now where literally the streets are being lined with protesters because of what's happening in Palestine. But what I'll say explicitly is I think Biden really needs to shake up his team. I think they need to be much more creative. I've worked with some of these people. I know Federico has as well. I think they're I, they're just stuck in an old groove of politics. And frankly, a lot of 'em really aren't that connected to much of the progressive movement, which is ignited around the country for legitimate reasons.
(00:52:53):
I think they're so afraid of Biden's age that they're not putting him out there. And in a time of crisis like this, any president should be giving grand speeches and feeling and hearing the pain and really getting deeper. Listen, if it's about, give him Adderall or something, I don't care. I'm sorry to be so explicit, but if that's what they're concerned about, which we all know that's what they're really freaking out about and hiding him from the cameras, get some surrogates out there. I mean, talk about these issues in a deeper way. I understand that he's doing a lot of this foreign policy negotiation with Netanyahu behind closed doors, but you need to communicate with the people on a regular basis. You need to hear what's happening. You need to acknowledge it. You need to not just, obviously with Palestine, but so many other issues.
(00:53:36):
I mean, I understand what they've done for student loans and that's incredible, but it's being drowned out because students are on the streets. The same students that they want to show up and vote are out on the streets right now. I mean, that's just specifically for that issue. But I think they need to get creative about their campaigning. I don't know where their surrogates are. If they're waiting to last minute, that's a huge risk. It's not like they don't have the money. I think that they, let me just go back to my 2017 rant. Let's start funding our state parties again. Part of this issue is that the money is concentrated towards a presidential campaign. The DNC has since Obama really been a house for Democratic presidential elections and a rotating cast of characters that work in those elections, some of which are very good, some of which probably we need to filter out a little bit.
(00:54:24):
But parties around this country are not being funded barely. I don't even think we have a Democratic party in Florida right now. We're relying on political action committees and advocacy groups to do the work that Democratic parties used to do and unions used to do. So two things are, I think they need to shake things up, get some creative members on the team and put Biden and surrogates out there. And the second thing is, which is a much bigger issue, go back to funding those parties. And I don't mean with $15,000 grants that Tom Perez gave, I mean actually funding state parties all very well said.
Federico de Jesús (00:54:57):
So here's my take. I play a political analyst on TV, literally. And I think that the polls started to turn around after the State of the Union where contrary to the caricature, the American people saw a president in full control with energy and vigor. And I don't understand how the campaign hasn't cut video clips and put them on ads on TV and online showing that energetic in command Biden, right? Because you need to milk that. And whether it's Adderall or a B12 injection that he got, he obviously still there and he's obviously in command and you just need to show people as opposed to hiding him not doing the Super Bowl interview. So that's a general audience message. Cut those videos from the state union, put them on TV and on radio and online and on TikTok and everywhere else. If you don't ban it, the Hispanic vote.
(00:55:47):
Two things. Number one, I think that trying to move to the right on immigration and saying that you want to close the border or that you want to build a wall, it's just a huge mistake. People that really want to close the border are never going to vote for a Democrat, and it just depresses a lot of progressive Hispanic and regular working Hispanics. And number two, in terms of surrogacy, I'm on Hispanic media every week, and there's a dearth of getting Democratic surrogates out there. And the Democrats usually leave this to the end. They bring in a bunch of Hispanic celebrities and spend millions of dollars on Hispanic radio, which is great. But these last three and a half years, the Republicans have ironically dominated the airwaves in Hispanic media. And for the first time ever, Donald Trump is winning the Hispanic vote. So again, it's not just about cutting ads and sending Eva Longoria out there, which is great, but it's the day-to-day, week to week work of getting these people on the radio stations and the TV stations and on the shows and on the TikTok programs that people actually listen to as opposed to just drowning out the airwaves a couple of months before the elections with bilingual ads.
(00:56:52):
And I think that they can do it, but when Ron Plane isn't being listened to in that campaign, that should worry people. So they need to broaden who they listen to. And the good news is that Robert Kennedy Jr. Is now harming Donald Trump more than Biden, right? There's that NBC poll that came out recently that said that he's taking away more votes from Trump since obviously he's gone to the right and speaking about Russia, who knows who's behind that campaign, but it's the same donors that donate to Trump. So eventually I think people were going to notice that he's lurking to the right and not a candidate at all. So that's my rant and I'm sticking to it.
Andrea Chalupa (00:57:25):
Good. All good. I endorse both rants.
Nomiki Konst (00:57:28):
Thank you.
Andrea Chalupa (00:57:30):
Thank you, thank you. Thank you both so very much for coming on the show. Come back again as we get closer to the election and keep us posted on all the great work that you're doing and any action calls to action that you need for us to amplify to get this horrible transnational crime syndicate loophole closed.
Federico de Jesús (00:57:50):
Thank you. And call your member of Congress and tell 'em to close the Act 20 to loophole and go to losing Puerto rico.com to find out how.
Nomiki Konst (00:57:56):
Yeah, on losing Puerto Rico, you can do everything from Sign a petition, share the petition, share the videos. We have, oh my gosh, we have three videos that we've done that are online everywhere. Share those. They were a lot of work, a lot of insider information. I've been filming on the inside for a long time. So I use some of that footage to put into those videos. And if you're generous enough to contribute to our campaign, it is really a grassroots effort. So we of course would be grateful and we're thankful to you for highlighting this because it's been very hard to get out there.
Andrea Chalupa (00:58:26):
Thank you both so much.
Andrea Chalupa (01:02:52):
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