Letter from San Juan

On posters, graffiti and stickers, two words – "¡Fuera Luma!" ("Luma, out!" in Spanish) – could be seen on nearly every corner in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital, and in many other cities across the Spanish-speaking island in the Greater Antilles. The slogan (along with its many, often less polite variations) expresses the anger felt by the vast majority of the 3.2 million islanders towards Luma Energy, the private operator that has managed the electrical grid, since June 2021, of this territory under United States sovereignty.

For years, countless power cuts have disrupted daily life on the island. The outages have been caused by decades of underinvestment in maintaining the grid, which is powered by four thermal power plants, and by the severe damage created by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Puerto Ricans have finally had enough.

"What's happening in Puerto Rico is a tragedy. A real disaster," complained Juan Fernandez Garcia. The 67-year-old pharmacist is vice president of the Merchants Association of Old San Juan. The organization, which counts nearly 200 members among business managers in the historic center of the capital, "recorded at least 35 power outages" in the central district between November 1, 2024 and January 12, 2025. According to the pharmacist, the situation has been made worse by "electrical installations [that] are 150 years old and obsolete."

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