Puerto Rican Cultural Center

In this historical moment in Puerto Rico, it is important that the voice that has always been CLARIDAD for our people remain alive. Throughout it’s nearly sixty years of continuous and uninterrupted publication, CLARIDAD has been a consistent advocate of Puerto Rican nationality and spokesperson to Puerto Rican patriotism, the ideals of independence for Puerto Rico and all causes of social justice. The outcries printed on its pages have stalled plans and actions of the government and the private sector when they have made attacks on our heritage and our national culture. In its pages we have shared and found support to just causes and claims of workers, students, women’s organizations, art workers, the environmental movement and other marginalized communities in Puerto Rico.

Before Hurricane Maria came through Puerto Rico, CLARIDAD had already been affected by an economy that had been in recession for ten years. The hurricane force rammed us on September 20 and we never imagined the devastating consequences that we would suffer and much less than it would be for such a long period of time. It is estimated that around 5000 small and medium enterprises have had to close operations in our country, either temporarily or permanently. CLARIDAD has been no exception to this. We had been unable to operate in our space since the week that Maria hit and until the week of October 31. It was not until the evening of Friday, November 3, that electricity returned to our headquarters. This led to a suspension of our newspaper’s circulation and with this the ability to sell ads and subscriptions, as well as the sales of Claritienda.

During this period we continued working, first from the Operations Center established by the government and where an area for the press had been established. This was made possible thanks to the efforts of fellow photojournalist Alina Luciano, who managed the space for Claridad. After two weeks there, we moved to the Cooperative League of Puerto Rico, who provided us with a meeting room so we could operate from there. They were working with a generator, so the schedule was limited, but allowed journalists to continue working to feed our website, as they had access to Wi-Fi service. We returned to our space on Monday, November 6, but the first week consisted of organizing our different workspaces.

The total number of weeks we were unable to print and take to the streets were 8. During this time we were only circulating on our website. When we finally returned, we did so with great uncertainty, not knowing how we would cover basic operating expenses, such as printing and payroll, as our employees did not receive pay for the month of October. The time that we remained out of print meant a loss in revenue of 12 thousand dollars, and between commercial sales and our own, and a loss of 2,000 US dollars from the sale of advertisements in the newspaper. The time that we lost unable to open our space meant a loss for Claritienda of approximately 5,000 US dollars and another 4,000 US dollars in the loss of subscription revenue. All this worsened our already ailing economy. So far we have been able to work through the generosity of people who donated money or provided us with emergency loans, but our situation remains precarious and unstable.

Please support the rebuilding of Claridad. Donate generously.