Power to the People

The entire world watched, riveted, by the events taking place in Egypt, a country in turmoil since January 25th. Ever since then, thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand for the country's President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for 30 years, to step down. As the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof sums it up in his Op-Ed piece, "We are all Egyptians." Perhaps one of the most remarkable outcomes of this revolution is the ability of the masses to use social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to unite and create a formidable force, which eventually resulted in Mubarak's downfall.

Coincidentally, although in completely different circumstances, the former Egyptian despot was not the only one to "resign" yesterday. Joining Mubarak was José Ramón de la Torre, now the former President of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). This came as no surprise, since de la Torre was widely considered to be inept and has not resolved many of the problems facing the university. De la Torre served as President for just a little over a year. Interestingly, while demonstrations in Egypt have now ended with fireworks, students at UPR are still protesting against the $800 fee. This latest round of protests began in November, but problems within UPR have persisted for quite some time now.

Unfortunately, the situation at the island's most prominent university has only gotten worse as clashes between the police and students have turned uglier. One strong commonality between the demonstrations which took place in Egypt, and the ones still going underway in UPR, is the role in which social networks have come to play in gathering support and mobilizing forces in reaching a common goal. In the case of Egypt, it was the Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said"
which helped drive people to the streets. At the university, the "UPR Sin Cuota y Sin Policia" page is one of several created to publicize their cause. As Egypt awakens to the post-Mubarak era and begins to move forward in rebuilding its country, those in UPR seem to stuck in the same tenuous situation as the demonstrations continue.

(The photo above was obtained from www.endi.com. It was taken during today's march, "Yo Amo La UPR.")

Got Milk?

I winced the other day, as I reached into the fridge at the supermarket to grab a gallon of milk. The price tag read $6.00 and, mind you, it's not even organic. Taking into account the 7% sales tax (1% municipal and 6% island), a gallon of milk in Puerto Rico costs consumers $6.42. This reflects an overall 7.14% increase in prices, as a quart of milk is now $1.50 and a half gallon is $3.00, before taxes. On January 20th, a federal judge approved the increase, ruling in favor of the lobby groups representing dairy farmers. Due to a 20% increase in cow feed, and other operating expenses, many farmers and milk processors found themselves with no other choice but to go to court and demand for this new increase in milk prices. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that the island imports an estimated 80% its food, and likely includes the cow feed.

Puerto Rico is not an anomaly though, since food prices throughout the world are expected to increase. Nevertheless, consumers are less than thrilled at having to pay more for milk. Ironically, Tres Monjitas and Suiza Dairy, the island's two principal milk processing plants have sided with consumers. They fear that this price increase will lead to a decrease in milk consumption. Indeed, during the past two weeks or so, I've noticed most of the milk gallons in the supermarket were dangerously close to expiring. In case you're wondering how much organic milk costs in Puerto Rico, I actually have never seen it sold on the island. I've been trying to convince my other family members to drink soy milk, which I purchase frequently at Costco. After doing some calculating, it's actually cheaper and it's organic.

Correction: the 6% island tax does not apply to necessities such as milk and water. However, the 1% municipal tax does apply. A gallon of milk should cost a total of $6.06.