Six months after Hurricane Maria: Secure the future of Puerto Rico for Puerto Ricans

We have a saying in Spanish — “después de la tormenta, viene la calma,” meaning “after the storm, comes the calm.” Six months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, calm is far from the state of affairs on the island.

The hurricane that pounded Puerto Rico last September knocked out a faulty power grid, resulting in the largest blackout in U.S. history. To this day, towns that we’re serving such as Las Palomas in Comerío and Punta Santiago in Humacao are without power, with the latter not expected to have it restored until June.

Thousands of homes remain roofless or in a state of disrepair while 20 percent of the island’s businesses are shuttered. Calls to suicide lines on the island have more than tripled, spiraling the island into a mental health crisis.

Already under the yoke of a massive debt, Puerto Rico has been plunged into an even deeper economic depression. The instability has forced tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans to flee to Florida, New York, and other states.

The toll of this humanitarian crisis is extensive, and its scars will be felt for years to come, largely because of the woefully inadequate response of the Trump administration. The most recent revelation of the dysfunction under President Trump is that the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) only delivered 50,000 of the 30 million meals it was required to get to Puerto Ricans after it hired a small, inexperienced and poorly-rated contractor to do the job.

As this shameful and unacceptable treatment has unfolded, countless individuals and organizations have stepped up. In the immediate days following Maria’s rampage, our team at the Hispanic Federation jumped into action. Through the generosity of more than 200,000 donors from all walks of life, we have been able to deliver over 6 million pounds of food, water and other emergency supplies to families in all 78 of the island’s municipalities.

With Puerto Rico’s long-term recovery at heart, we have also invested $15 million in 60 grassroots nonprofits and recovery projects, many headed by inspiring Puerto Ricans who are helping people rebuild their lives and neighborhoods enhance their self-sufficiency.

This ongoing commitment is rooted in a vision of a Puerto Rico that is treated equitably. Our policy principles emphasize a just recovery led by and for Puerto Ricans; the creation of a Marshall-like federal program that invests tens of billions of dollars to rebuild, revitalize and revive Puerto Rico’s health care system, economy, public social services and energy grid; and cancellation of Puerto Rico’s mammoth debt.

In the months ahead, we must remain steadfast in holding our federal government accountable for doing right by Puerto Rico. While Congress has dedicated some funding, it falls far short of what is needed for Puerto Rico to recover and rebuild.

Together, with the #Power4PR coalition and our many supporters, we are demanding that Congress deliver the federal aid that Puerto Rico and displaced families need, and initiate hearings to thoroughly investigate FEMA’s work in the island. We need all Floridians and Americans of good conscience to do the same. By texting PUERTO RICO to 21333 and telling Congress to take action now, we can remind our federal government that we need to secure the future of Puerto Rico for Puerto Ricans.

José Calderón is the president of the Hispanic Federation. Follow him on Twitter @HispanicFed.