This week is turning out to be quite an eventful one at the State Capital (el capitolio), where police clashed with protestors today, and had to use pepper spray and lacrimogenic gas to disperse them. It all started on Monday, when the pugnacious State Senator majority leader Thomas Rivera Schatz (PNP) made an inappropriate homophobic remark towards Senator Eduardo Bhatia (PPD), who also fired back with an insult. For the integrity of this blog, I won't delve into the details of this exchange. Truth be told, the actions of these two gentlemen makes me wonder about the direction of Puerto Rico's future. When two elected officials have to resort to cat-calling, and behave like children, one can't help but do some soul-searching. Like the popular public service announcement slogan says, "¿Que nos pasa Puerto Rico?" (Translation: "What's going on with us in Puerto Rico?")
Mr. Rivera has seemingly not given this question much thought, and decided to grab as many headlines as he can possibly get. Yesterday, he finally bowed to pressure and allowed the public and the press to attend congressional sessions. He had gradually been limiting such access, especially after the intense media coverage of the arrest last week of Sen. Héctor Martínez (PNP), who is facing charges of corruption. The Senate majority leader's restriction on the press has been called unconstitutional, and various local press associations have gone to the Puerto Rican Supreme Court to demand the re-opening of the plenary sessions to the public.
Today's skirmishes occurred when University of Puerto Rico students attempted to enter the capitol building to attend the congressional session taking place. Some journalists and photographers were assaulted by the police as well. Today's session was the last before the start of the new fiscal year 2010-2011. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have not been able to find common ground on various budgetary measures. During a period in which Puerto Rico is experiencing some very tough economic challenges, as well as social problems, such events serve no purpose in helping the island move forward in resolving its issues.
This week is turning out to be quite an eventful one at 
