Criticism of Trump Brought Into Question

Arrests have finally been made. Two years after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, which was the strongest hurricane to hit the island in 89 years, former officials who served in Governor Ricardo Rosello’s administration have been arrested for charges of directing federal funds to politically connected contractors.

Six months later, over 100,000 residents were still without power.

The FBI indictment charges Puerto Rico’s former Education Secretary Julia Keleher, former Health Insurance Agency Chief Ángela Ávila-Marrero, and four others with crimes related to grifting U.S. disaster aid. Keleher and Ávila-Marrero both served in Rosselló’s administration before leaving in April and June, respectively.

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Donald Trump Criticized For Years

The arrests come on the heels of years of criticism aimed at President Donald Trump and his administration for allegedly not doing enough for the island to help them recover from the devastating storm. However, the facts tell a different story. Puerto Rico received a record amount of Federal funding to help them recover, more than $91 billion, yet while asking for such financial relief, paid out $100 million in Christmas bonuses to those on the island in government positions.

After discovering the $100 million that was paid in bonuses, Representative Tom McClintock said, “Puerto Rico has demonstrated time and time again that its government is incapable of responsibly handling its finances. This is yet another instance.” Nearly $7 billion was initially allocated, which was intended to help the bankrupt U.S. territory recover from the storm. The $4.9 billion that was allocated for PR was meant to shore up the near-bankrupt Medicaid system, and another $2 billion under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program was meant to repair the destroyed electric grid.

Puerto Rico Received $91 Billion

PR would receive a total of $11 billion provided under CDBG, a program operated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with any additional funds that remained to be used to help local businesses and homeowners repair their storefronts or build new homes. When it is tabulated today, Puerto Rico received $91 billion dollars, more than any other state in the history of the United States. In comparison, Texas received $39 billion and Florida received $19 billion after the disastrous hurricanes that affected those areas.

There have been obvious misappropriations, but the mainstream media, desperate to hurt Donald Trump at any cost, has kept this reporting quiet. Now that multiple former senior officials have been arrested, even the Washington Post has had to report on the truth. In August of 2018, The New York Times reported that thousands of pounds of relief supplies for Puerto Rico were found in bad condition in a state elections warehouse.

The supplies were intended for the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and should have been distributed by the National Guard. The Times reported that the local radio station in the region, Radio Isla, published a video showing cases of items like Tylenol and water covered in rat and lizard droppings. A spokesman for the National Guard, who ended its mission in Puerto Rico in May of 2018, agreed that the supplies should have been handed out as soon as they received them.

More Left to Rot

In September of 2018, FEMA reported that over 10 million bottles of water were found on an airport tarmac in Puerto Rico. They were deemed “excess” and left to rot. Justo Hernandez, an operational coordinator division director for FEMA said “We had provided [water] to every volunteer agency that had a warehouse, every entity… a lot of municipalities had excess water,” adding that they stopped distributing water at the time because “commerce was coming back” to Puerto Rico and officials “didn’t want to injure the economy more than it already was.” Essentially saying that they would rather financially benefit from selling water instead of distributing it to those still recovering and still in need.

President Donald Trump signed a disaster relief bill in June 2019 for $19 billion to be split up between the areas that were decimated by hurricanes, flooding, wildfires and earthquakes. The recipients included the state of California, Florida, Georgia and Iowa in addition to the territory of Puerto Rico. After Trump signed the bill he tweeted:

Just signed Disaster Aid Bill to help Americans who have been hit by recent catastrophic storms. So important for our GREAT American farmers and ranchers. Help for GA, FL, IA, NE, NC, and CA. Puerto Rico should love President Trump. Without me, they would have been shut out! pic.twitter.com/HXvYYdcNW5 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2019

Puerto Rico was not prepared for the two hurricanes that would batter the island in 2017. More than 3.3 million were left without power, seriously damaging the entire electrical grid, leaving the island in darkness for the longest blackout the U.S. has ever seen. Six months later, over 100,000 residents were still without power. The hope now, two years later, is that the $91 billion given to Puerto Rico was used to fully set up or reinforce their power grid to avoid such a catastrophe in the future.