Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico 120 days (approximately 4 months) ago. Recent statistics estimate that approximately 64% of the island has electricity and it was just a few days ago that Twitter trended a story about a school in Puerto Rico finally getting back to some sense of normalcy. 93% of the island has water and 100% of the island is still under advisory to boil their water. We have all seen the pictures of the destruction that Hurricane Maria caused in Puerto Rico. We have seen dilapidated homes and debris-ridden streets. We have seen the faces of Maria’s victims. If we have been paying attention, we have seen the cries for help from residents of Puerto Rico, people on the mainland and organizations such as Hispanic Federation. Likewise, we have seen the outpouring of support from generous Americans amid the video footage of Donald Trump throwing paper towels at them. Most of the mainland, on the other hand, complains when the Wi-Fi is too slow.

There are issues on the mainland that need to be addressed, such as the clean water crisis in Flint, Michigan and schools in the east that are failing to provide adequate heat in their classrooms. This blog entry however, is concerned with the ongoing crisis in and insulting response to Hurricane Maria victims in Puerto Rico. Tossing paper towels at these victims is quite possibly the most insulting response they have received, but also insulting was the delay in aid immediately after the hurricane hit, the seeming lack of recognition that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and therefore entitled to American aid, the continual refusal to provide adequate aid to Puerto Rico, followed by an implication by Donald Trump that Puerto Ricans are lazy and do not want to help themselves and an attack on San Juan’s mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz and now the decision to withhold the emergency loan promised to Puerto Rico three months ago. This decision, the U.S. government states, is due to the fact that Puerto Rico reportedly has $7 billion available to them. Whether this figure is accurate or not is not really the issue when you take into account the insurmountable debt that Puerto Rico has and the approximately $95 billion worth of damage suffered by the island as the result of Hurricane Maria. Debt aside, trying to take care of $95 billion worth of damage with $7 billion in reserve is akin to owing your dealer $95 and you only have $7 to offer. You’re going to get your ass kicked! This is a terrible analogy, but necessary for the sake of recognizing the urgency of the matter. Puerto Rico needs help now, not when the U.S. government gets around to it.

Another issue is the fact that this relief that the U.S. government reneged on is not a handout; it was to be yet another loan to add to their already over $70 billion debt. With over $70 billion in debt and $95 billion in hurricane damage, Puerto Rico is never going to be able to recover with the $7 billion the U.S. government claims they have in reserve. They are going to be forever in debt, forever struggling to catch up, forever poor and forever little more than a third world country that is actually part of the United States. Over 300,000 people have already come over to the mainland from Puerto Rico as a result, and many of those are now facing eviction from their new safe haven, creating a continual state of flux for these displaced victims.

Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is cracking down on immigrants, many of which have lived in the United States longer than some of us have been alive. Many of these immigrants that are being deported have never really lived in the country they are being sent back to, and in some cases, don’t even speak the language. I am in favor of deporting people who are causing problems here, but I cannot in good conscience support the splitting up of families, especially when they have been here for years and are contributing members of society such as doctors and other hard-working individuals. This seems to be in direct contrast to the family values that the Republican Party claims to uphold. Furthermore, if the Republican Party is so against immigration and so obviously racist toward persons of color, creating a situation in which over a quarter million people must come over from Puerto Rico in order to just remain alive seems rather foolish on their part. This presidency is going to go down as one of the cruelest and most fiscally irresponsible, but at least Trump got some exercise on the golf course and his supporters got, well, nothing but a false sense of security.

Embrace your new neighbors. They really had no other choice and they are, after all, American. Help them do what is necessary to become registered voters now that they are on the mainland because, well, 300,000 new votes could make one hell of a dent.