Puerto Ricans Slam Trump Admin for Insufficient Relief Efforts: ‘People Are Suffering Outside’

Ken MeyerSep 29th, 2017, 9:18 am
 

The pressure on the White House is building as more and more Puerto Ricans express their frustration with the Trump Administration’s reaction to island’s humanitarian crisis.

The devastation caused by Hurricane Maria has torn apart Puerto Rico’s infrastructure and reduced its bureaucracy to minimal functionality. Most of the island’s water and electrical utilities are down, food, fuel and emergency supplies are running scarce, and many of the remaining local resources have been stretched to the breaking point.

Even though President Trump has waived Jones Act shipping restrictions and Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said that thousands of federal workers are currently deployed in the territory, various locals are panning the administration for not taking greater action by this point. Legislator Jose Enrique Melendez complained to the Associated Press that federal officials are more focused on posturing for the media than in providing crucial aid to rural islanders.

“The federal response has been a disaster,” said Melendez. “It’s been really slow. There are people literally just modeling their uniforms. People are suffering outside.”

Various people outside of San Juan have also said that they haven’t seen any federal assistance go beyond the Puerto Rican capital.

“I have not received any help, and we ran out of food yesterday,” said Mari Olivo while she and her family waited in line at a city water truck to fill their buckets.

Earlier today, San Juan mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz also slammed the administration after Trump’s acting Homeland Security Secretary, Elaine Duke, said the federal response has turned the crisis into “a good news story.”

Even on the U.S. mainland, the presidency continues to face major criticism from those who say that Trump failed to adequately handle the aftermath of the storm. Yesterday, Trump attacked the political press again by tweeting about how their coverage supposedly hasn’t been fair to him.

Here are Trump’s most recent tweets on the subject, including a retweet of Republican Party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

[Image via screengrab]

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