Puerto Rico Debt Tragedy's Second Act Is Close. Here Is the Cast
- Draining cash, island may default on Dec. 1 bond payments
- Pathway out to be charted by veterans of major debt crises
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The second act of Puerto Rico’s long-building debt drama is about to begin, and waiting in the wings is a veteran cast. It includes an embattled politician, his foe, the former executive of a failed bank, and those with roles in the Wall Street bailout, Argentina’s default and America’s biggest municipal bankruptcies.
Locked out of the capital markets as it edges toward a record-setting default, the Caribbean island of 3.5 million people may run out of cash as soon as this month. With $354 million of debt payments due on Dec. 1, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla would have to decide whether to pay bondholders or conserve whatever funds he can find to keep the government running.