DEMOCRATS
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade Puerto Rico's general-obligation bonds to junk status was "unfair," the island's governor said.
"It's an opportunity to begin from zero," he said at a hastily arranged press conference following the announcement.
S&P cut its ranking of Puerto Rico's debt from BBB- to BB+ and suggested further cuts could be forthcoming.
The New York-based agency also scaled back its rating of bonds issued by the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico by two levels to BB.
The island's treasury secretary, Melba Acosta, recognized that the downgrade is going to move up the obligation to pay part of Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt.
The island is now in the eighth year of recession and has an unemployment rate of more than 15 percent.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/money/2014/02/05/puerto-rico-takes-yet-another-economic-hit-this-time-downgrade-in-bond-rating/?cmpid=GoogleNewsEditorsPicks&google_editors_picks=true