The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump lies when he says that his government gave $91 billion to this US territory to recover from the scourge of two hurricanes followed in 2017. “Mr. President: Stop spreading false information! Puerto Rico has not received $91 billion”, Rosselló tweeted after the US Senate blocked millions of dollars on Monday to alleviate disasters due to Trump’s refusal to send more relief to this US island in the Caribbean.
Rosselló said that Puerto Rico, which was completely devastated and spent months without electricity after the passage of Irma and Maria in September 2017, had received only $300 million. Trump had tweeted before “Puerto Rico received $91 billion for the hurricane, much more money than anyone ever received before for a hurricane, and all that local politicians do is complain and ask for more money.” Trump adding, “That place is a disaster, nothing works”.
Rosselló, who last week told CNN -referring to Trump- that he would be willing to punch the “bully” in the mouth, responded: “Obviously you have been misinformed by your advisors.” Comparing María’s disaster with that left by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in Louisiana, Governor Rosselló affirmed that this southern state had received “$120 billion in federal support, while Puerto Rico has not been able to spend a single dollar of the money already allocated from Congress.”
“That ‘place’ to which you refer is Puerto Rico, home to three million proud Americans who are still recovering from the storm and need federal assistance. We are not his adversaries, we are his citizens”, said the governor, asking the Senate to approve the allocation of funds. Days after Maria’s scourge, when the death toll was at 16, Trump minimized the seriousness of the tragedy. Images of the president throwing paper towels at the victims were considered offensive and his administration was accused of not responding adequately to the disaster.
Then, when the figure of 3,000 dead became official a year later, Trump considered it exaggerated and dismissed criticism of his administration. Rossello then answered the president for the first time accusing him of having delayed the response to the “colonialism” with which Washington deals with the island.
If these circumstances weren’t enough to paint a grim picture of Puerto Rico’s current relationship with Washington, it’s because the history is far much worst. During the Obama administration a federally appointed Fiscal Board was authorized to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances, the reconstructing of its debt and even have powers over the approval or disapproval of local legislation. Something many critics in the island compare to a modern form of slavery. Where the Board only responds to the President of the United States, while the citizens have essentially no say over matters that affect their future. This is a realization that Puerto Rico and other US Territories where acquired during a time that segregation was legal and whose master-to-slave relationship in territorial governance has not changed in over a 100 years.
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