Here are some facts for you. And some conjecture that sticks to the topic at hand, with references to back it up.
Have been googling this and the only references I can find are this article, the original referenced article, and the exact same same article in Spanish on a different website. Also there are various people linking to this BB post but quoting it as the source. There’s even some video on youtube of a guy basically reading this post with a few things changed. But basically nothing to back up the idea that PR’s streets are “crawling” or that it’s some kind of governmental action. But definitely information about who hired them, and enough data to allow some conjecture as to why.
First, the linked to article states one of the mercenaries says he “…works for a private security firm hired by Nicholas Prouty, the owner of the Ciudadela complex.”
Ciudadela is, “…a mixed use real estate development in Santurce and Puerto del Rey, the largest marina in Puerto Rico” according to http://www.naaonline.org/nicholas_prouty. Nicholas Prouty is a very big investor in it. Prouty actually moved to PR and has invested over $100 million into the Ciudadela complex according to http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/18/new-york-developer-to-invest-108-million-in-puerto-rico-apartment-commercial.html.
So I guess my reading of this all is a rich guy (Prouty) who lives in PR and invested millions in a development has hired private security guards to guard that space. He isn’t some offshore money guy who’s just sending in thugs to protect his assets. He lives there. He’s there to make Puerto Rico better, not wring money out of it. Read http://newsismybusiness.com/prouty-puerto-caribbean/ to get a sense of his thoughts on the place.
In other words, this is essentially FUD. Yea it’s scary that such “bad hombres” are out there and can be hired, but my gut feeling here is that Prouty has put many millions into an investment of a complex that he lives in, and he wanted it protected. Realistically he couldn’t get local people to hire to do it (too busy getting their own lives together), so he hired from offshore.
Guessing that the next thing to be questioned is Prouty’s own character and politics, he contributed $15,250 last year to US politics - all to democrats. $5,400 of that went to Hillary Clinton. You can see his contributions listed at https://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/nicholas-prouty.asp?cycle=16
