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Founded in 1894 by the Carrión family, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico is one of the very few institutions of criollo capitalism that survived the transition from Spanish colonialism to US neo-colonialism. With the presence of over 15 commercial and personal banks on an island of 4 million people, BPPR now reigns supreme and is the principal catalyst of neoliberal policies in Puerto Rico, especially during the large privatization episodes of the 1990s. Richard Carrión, CEO President until spring 2004, was mainly responsible for the modernization, diversification and expansion of this, the Caribbean's most powerful autochthonous economic institution, a financial holding corporation with more than US$35.8 billion in assets with operations in Puerto Rico, the US and Latin America. Reaching a conglomerate position is, therefore, quite recent. But while following global trends of diversified banking and embarking upon sectors like real estate, auto sales and rentals, multiple insurances and investments, BPPR has defied the laws of traditional imperialism. With its expansion, not only among countries surrounding Puerto Rico, like the Dominican Republic, but also in the continental USA - serving the Puerto Rican diasporas and large Hispanic communities of New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago - this economic conglomerate of the world's oldest colony is actually absorbing local US banks facing trouble. Thinking towards the future, any foreign, more powerful bank willing and able to absorb this economic conglomerate will actually end up positioning itself as a hegemonic presence in the Caribbean's most productive region.

Cover -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword / Linden Lewis -- Introduction / Francio Guadeloupe and Yvon Van Der Pijl -- 1. Stories of Autonomy on Non-Sovereign Saba: Flipping the Script of Postcolonial Resistance / Nikki Mulder -- 2. "Education Must Be More!" Imagining and (Re)producing St. Martin/Sint Maarten Belonging / Jordi Halfman -- 3. People from Outside: Transnationalism and Nationness on Twenty-First-Century Curaçao / Guiselle Starink-Martha -- 4. The Trinta di Mei Labor Revolt and Its Aftermath: Anticipating a Just and Equitable Curaçaoan Nation / Rose Mary Allen -- 5. Some Are More Equal than Others? Human Rights Education at the University of Curaçao's School of Law / Lisenne Delgado -- 6. Thinking, Seeing, and Doing like a Kingdom: The Making of Caribbean Netherlands Statistics and the "Native Bonairian" / Francisca Grommé -- 7. After Free Markets and Foundations: Challenges to Self-Determination on St. Martin / Antonio Carmona Báez -- 8. Sweet Breakaway: Where Equality and Liberty Meet on Aruba / Gregory Richardson -- 9. "We Come out to Free Up": Movement, Dance, and Liberation in West Indian Calypso / Charissa Arlette Granger -- 10. "It's Gonna Be Incredible": Lessons on Being, Becoming, and Belonging from Statian Youth / Nicole Sanches and Yvon Van Der Pijl -- Epilogue / Anton Allahar -- Acknowledgments -- Notes on Contributors -- Index -- Series Titles.

Equaliberty in the Dutch Caribbean is a collection of essays that explores fundamental questions of equality and freedom on the non-sovereign islands of the Dutch Caribbean. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic research, historical and media analysis, the study of popular culture, and autoethnographic accounts, the various contributions challenge conventional assumptions about political non/sovereignty. While the book recognizes the existence of nationalist independence movements, it opens a critical space to look at other forms of political articulation, autonomy, liberty, and a good life. Focusing on all six different islands and through a multitude of voices and stories, the volume engages with the everyday projects, ordinary imaginaries, and dreams of equaliberty alongside the work of independistas and traditional social movements aiming for more or full self-determination. As such, it offers a rich and powerful telling of the various ways of being in and belonging to our contemporary postcolonial world