San Juan, July 14 (RHC)-- Protests in Puerto Rico against the controversial U.S. Federal Control Board ostensibly aimed at helping the island tackle its crippling $73 billion debt crisis are still going strong with an occupy movement against the "junta in the Hato Rey district of San Juan and other actions over a week after President Barack Obama signed off on the disputed PROMESA bill.

Opponents of PROMESA, known in full as Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, held a march in San Juan, rejecting the bill.  Meanwhile, the protest camp outside the U.S. Federal Court in Hato Rey, launched on June 29th, has grown in recent days with more tents popping up to protest the bill.

Under the banner: “Federal Control Board, Colonial Dictatorship,” the movement slams the debt relief plan approved by Congress on June 30 as a colonial policy that will undermine Puerto Ricos democracy by handing over control of the island's economy to a U.S. president-appointed, Republican-dominated control board.  Critics say the board will have power to slash the minimum wage to $4.25 per hour for minors, implement mass layoffs, and cut basic services with no protections for pensions and worker rights.

The camp is demanding that the approval of PROMESA be immediately overturned, with activists refusing to recognize Puerto Rico's public debt as legitimate and advocate a process of democratic self-determination for the island.

The anti-PROMESA effort has gained support from various groups including labor unions, artists, the movement against aerial fumigation on the island, and the LGBTQ community, which held an event earlier this week under the banner Pride Against the Junta in solidarity with the occupy camp.