Trump attacks Puerto Rico mayor

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out against a Puerto Rico mayor, after she criticised his administration’s response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.

The Category 4 storm struck the US territory in the Caribbean on September 20, killing 18 and leaving the island’s inhabitants without food, water and power.

In a series of tweets, Trump attacked the mayor of capital San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, after she made a desperate plea for fed- eral help.

“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump. Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort,” he posted.

On Friday, Cruz had said: “We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency, and the bureaucracy... So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell.”

She had also attacked acting secretary of homeland security Elaine Duke after the latter referred to the relief and rehabilitation efforts in Puerto Rico as a “good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place”.

Cruz had said:” “This is a people-are-dying story.”