NEW YORK – In his visit to Puerto Rico two weeks after the onslaught of Hurricane Fiona, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, admitted that more needs to be done on the island to speed up recovery and reconstruction.
In a tone that is completely different from that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, the Democrat did not reject the slowness in the processes of disbursement and processing of federal funds destined for the island. However, he assured that the federal government works in coordination with local authorities to streamline procedures and guarantee Puerto Ricans access to the help they deserve and need.
- Biden promises to accelerate the recovery and reconstruction of the island
“We have to do more. We have to make sure that we are ready for the next hurricane,” the president declared in a message from the port of Ponce, in the south of the island. “I am determined that Puerto Rico is built faster than in the past and stronger for the future,” Biden insisted.
“We are going to make sure that they get every dollar that we have promised,” he added. .
“Puerto Rico has been through too much, since the earthquakes two years ago. People slept outside out of fear. Then came the pandemic and Fiona. Puerto Rico is a strong place, it is strong people…”, said the president.
Before arriving in Ponce, one of the towns most affected by the hurricane, Biden said that he was traveling to Puerto Rico because Puerto Ricans have not been well cared for after the natural disasters they have faced since Hurricane María to this date.
2. Biden and his team spent about three hours on the island
Biden arrived in the United States at around 2 pm at the Mercedita Airport with his wife Jill and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Deanne Criswell, and spent three hours in the country.
3. Visit is coming soon for the midterm elections in the US
Little for the midterm elections in the US in which the electorate will choose a third of the legislators in the Senate and the entirety in the House in Washington DC, the speech of the US president was characterized by promises to Puerto Ricans to accelerate reconstruction, and, especially, of the electrical network, an issue that has provoked mobilizations inside and outside of the island to demand the cancellation of the contract to the Canadian company LUMA Enegy, in charge of the supply of electricity in PR
since the summer of last year
In fact, before finishing his presentation of about 17 minutes and without answering questions from the press, the president highlighted the work of the Democratic representative of Puerto Rican origin Nydia Velázquez. The president called her to the podium to praise her.
“One of the best congresswomen in the entire United States Congress,” Biden said before the two hugged.
Resident Commissioner Jennifer Gonzalez, a Republican, watched the scene smiling.
5. Announce $33 million for infrastructure in Puerto Rico
Biden announced the allocation of $86 millions of dollars to the island from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act approved last year in Congress in order to grow the economy, improve US competitiveness and create jobs.
In the case of Puerto Rico, the money should be used to strengthen dikes, flood walls and create a new warning system of floods.
As part of his plan for the island, the president also announced that he has instructed the secretary of the federal Department of Energy, Jenniffer Granholm, to lead a team aimed at accelerating the reconstruction of the electrical system.
This week, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans continue to be without power after the impact of Fiona on 18 of September. LUMA Energy said that this Thursday it could restore service for subscribers in the Mayagüez and Ponce regions.
Biden, however, did not refer to the provisions of the Jones Act, statute that keeps the island’s economy suffocated by preventing the free access of foreign-flagged vessels.
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security announced an exemption to the law but for the entry of a vessel with 300, barrels of diesel fuel due to the public controversy unleashed after it was stranded in Peñuelas for more than three days. Congressmen like Velázquez have called for the suspension of the law for at least 1 year to facilitate the flow of supplies to the island. This request has not been granted.
8. Biden met with victims and community leaders
After their expressions from the port of Ponce, the president and the rest of the group moved to the Sor Isolina Ferré Center, in the same town, where they met with victims and community leaders.
9. Biden and the governor of the island acted as comrades
The complicity between the president and the governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, was evident. Both marked the difference between the management of this administration versus that of Trump.
Pierluisi even seemed to stand up for Biden after he said that the The president was referring to the Republican Administration when he said that Puerto Ricans have not been well served.
10. Pierluisi establishes differences between the response of the Biden Administration versus that of Trump
According to Pierluisi, the difference is from “heaven to earth” in terms of the response of Biden and his team versus that of Trump, who left Puerto Rico in a muddy mess during his visit in the 2017 after Hurricane Maria after throwing paper towels at victims of the tragedy in a church in Guaynabo.
“I am very pleased,” said Pierluisi after the president’s visit .
The governor added that federal agencies have been receptive to requests from local government. “The departments of the Biden administration are responding to us,” he stressed..
“The culture has changed at the federal government level in Puerto Rico,” added the president of the New Progressive Party (PNP) , while cataloging the arrival of Biden as a sign of the equal and fair treatment of this Administration to Puerto Ricans who are US citizens.
The Puerto Ricans took the official’s visit bittersweet. Although they appreciated the gesture, at the same time they hope that it is not a mere advertising move ahead of the November elections.
. Group of demonstrators in San Germán protest against lack of electricity and performance of LUMA
In the town of San Germán, a group protested against the lack of light shortly after Biden left the island.
From the diaspora, complaints were also heard against Biden’s visit. The group “Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora” (BUDPR) had called for the “Biden Go Home” protest in Mercedita at 10 pm
However, the reports on the island do not account for the results of the call.
“Biden comes to Puerto Rico for a visit of less than 3 hours for a “photo-op” 1 month before the mid-term elections, and allegedly to announce an allocation of $60 millions in infrastructure, that goes into a dam, wall or bridge that the next storm will take!” BUDPR had shared on its Twitter account.
Others who thundered against the president’s brief visit to the island were the members of Casa Pueblo, an organization without ecological self-managed profit organization based in Adjuntas.
“How do you feel about the American version of Queen E Elizabeth visiting her colonies and all the homages of another symbolic visit? How do you feel about the American version of Queen Elizabeth visiting her colonies and all the homages of another symbolic visit?”, they expressed on the same social network.
2022
13. Statesmen take advantage of the visit to demand approval of the status project in the federal Chamber
Those who did make noise outside the airport were a group of statesmen who requested the approval of the Status Law for Puerto Rico presented in the House of Federal representatives who seek to hold a plebiscite between the non-territorial options of statehood, independence ence and free association. Velázquez and González sponsor the project, which is currently stalled in the Legislature due to complaints from members of the diaspora about the language and scope of the measure.
“He said that if Puerto Rico wanted statehood, it would support us, and what we want is for it to give us the opportunity, to support the project 2017 so that Puerto Ricans have the opportunity to have a binding referendum where we can decide our economic and social future. We are under the full powers of Congress and that is called colonization…”, said a protester identified as Ivette Chardón.
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