‘This is where the diaspora can help. While the island has a nonvoting member of Congress, stateside Puerto Ricans have voting representatives who can advocate for their concerns, including debt relief, financial aid and the lifting of maritime laws that make imported everyday items more expensive. They can also put pressure on lawmakers to ensure that the rebuilding process is transparent and not a victim of the island’s culture of patronage and back-scratching.’
… and that is what I will do!!
An excellent article by David González for The New York Times. To quote Pablo Delano, “In a nutshell . . .”
After a month of silence since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Edwin Aponte finally made contact last week with the world beyond his town of Coamo. It came via a Facebook post, a simple check-in from afar that his friends celebrated as if it brought news that they had hit the lottery. Sure, he had no water, power and little food. Nor did he have his apartment, which was flooded. But he had hope. “Coamo was hit hard,” he wrote, “but we will be reborn stronger than ever.”
The devastation is widespread and heartbreaking, he said a few days later by phone. The first glimpse he got of federal emergency workers, he said, was 12 days after the hurricane. Some military rations and a case of water were…
View original post 893 more words
