Fears that Hurricane Dorian would wreck Puerto Rico were unrealized after the island was spared from the brunt of the hurricane that tore through the British and U.S. Virgin Islands this week. On Monday Governor Wanda Vázquez declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico and urged people to prepare for the storm. Schools were closed on Wednesday.
As the island prepared for the worst, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to complain about “yet another big storm” heading its way, and adding that Puerto Rico’s “political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt. Congress approved Billions of Dollars last time, more than anyplace else has ever gotten, and it is sent to Crooked pols. No good!…” He closed his rant by claiming he was the “best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!”
Those are big claims for a president who saw about 3,000 Americans die from Hurricane Maria alone and whose response to the 2017 Hurricane season was subpar. To this day, Puerto Rico has not fully recovered. According to federal data, as of May, out of the $42 billion Congress approved for the island’s recovery, only $14 billion has been turned over to the Puerto Rican government. And earlier this month, the Trump administration placed new restrictions on about $8.3 billion in Housing and Urban Development disaster mitigation funding to Puerto Rico.
There is little faith in both the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments to help islanders. As Lorraine Feliciano, a 22-year-old student at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras said “we are not simply preparing for another storm; we are preparing for the government to fail us again.”
