Title: Lights Out in Paradise: Puerto Rico Blacked Out While the Power Plays Keep Buzzing
Listen up, America. The lights just went out in Puerto Rico—again.
While the island bakes in Caribbean sun and political neglect, 1.4 million people were plunged into darkness faster than a campaign promise during midterms. An island-wide blackout, folks. Not a neighborhood brownout or a busted transformer. This was the whole grid throwing in the towel like a rookie senator at their first filibuster.
Now utility crews—those haggard front-line heroes—are scrambling to restore power. But let’s not pretend this is just about electricity. This is about power. Real power. Political power. And make no mistake, the fuse on this crisis was lit long before any line short-circuited.
Remember Hurricane Maria in 2017? Some said it was a tragedy. I said it was a revelation. Back then, Puerto Rico’s electric grid broke down harder than a senator realizing they left their notes at the golf course. Billions were poured in. Promises were made. Contracts were signed with more mystery than a CIA file. And yet, here we are—nearly seven years later—and Puerto Rico still can’t keep the lights on.
But oh, let’s spare a moment for the bureaucrats. The suits. The administrators who’ll toss around phrases like “grid modernization,” “resilience infrastructure,” and my personal favorite—“unexpected failure.” That’s Washington-speak for “We still haven’t fixed what we broke.”
Now let’s pull back the curtain on one of the star performers in this Caribbean circus: Luma Energy. The private firm, gifted the keys to Puerto Rico’s power grid in 2021 in a move that was supposed to bring stability. What it brought was rotating outages, public protests, and more finger-pointing than a Senate ethics hearing. Luma’s slogan should be “We’ll get there eventually… maybe.”
Meanwhile, the people of Puerto Rico are living in sweltering summer heat with spoiled food in their fridges, no air conditioning, and zero answers. But hey, look on the bright side—they still have inconsistent internet so they can tweet at government officials who’ll ignore them in real time!
This blackout is no accident. It’s a voltage-sized reminder of what happens when you slap privatization on public infrastructure without accountability, oversight, or long-term planning. Honestly, if FEMA operated with this level of coordination, we’d still be cleaning up debris from the Revolutionary War.
The U.S. Congress claims to “support” Puerto Rico. Translation: They support Puerto Rico the way a shadow supports a building. All appearance, no substance. Puerto Ricans are American citizens, but if we judged rights by services, they’d be ranked somewhere between ‘expired library card holder’ and ‘mall cop with a broken walkie-talkie.’
It’s time to stop flipping the metaphorical circuit breakers and start flipping the system. Infrastructure isn’t sexy. But you know what is? Not losing power every other month while mainland lawmakers sip lattes and craft Instagram posts about “island resilience.”
So while the utility crews soldier on, and the suits hold endless press conferences with zero volts of new information, let me be crystal clear: Until Puerto Rico gets the investment, coordination, and damn respect it deserves, it won’t just be lights out—it’ll be hope out.
And I don’t do hopeless.
The grid may be down, but Mr. 47 is always fully charged.
– Mr. 47
