PUERTO RICANS PROTEST TRUMP
Caravan, crowd show solidarity with Puerto Rico post-hurricane.
As Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico a year ago, Sylvia Chaluissant watched water pour into her home through the electrical outlets in the walls.
Soon after, her home was flooded and her furniture was ruined.
“And I was one of the lucky ones,” the Puerto Rican native said Saturday.
Chaluissant was one of about 800 protesters gathered at the Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach protesting the federal government’s response in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
The hurricane hit Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, causing nearly 3,000 more deaths over the next five months than would be normally expected on the island, according to a George Washington University study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.
The rally — organized by Power 4 Puerto Rico, the Latino Victory Project and Alianza for Progress — began with a caravan of vehicles driving into Palm Beach and past President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
Saturday’s protest came just one week after Trump sent a series of tweets disputing the study: “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico.” When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000...”
Attendees traveled from all parts of Florida, mostly by car
and bus, many from Broward County, Orlando and Kissimmee. Some came from as far south as Miami to drive past the president’s Winter White House with Puerto Rican flags. Some caravans were comprised of at least 30 cars.
A long line of sedans and pickup trucks that were part of the protest caravan honked and waved Puerto Rican flags as they drove to the amphitheatre along Flagler Drive.
Protesters gathered at the amphitheatre as Puerto Rican music played, many carrying signs in English and Spanish that read “Justice for Puerto Rico,” “Respect My People” and “Do Not Forget Puerto Rico.”
“Today we mourn but tomorrow we vote,” could be heard over the microphone as speakers took the stage.
“I’m here for all the lives lost and the fact that our president doesn’t recognize the death count,” said Mari Bashaireh of West Palm Beach, who wore a Puerto Rican flag dress in honor of the dead. “It’s all for support of Puerto Rico.”
Bashaireh said her cousin, Manuel Quintana Sonera, died two months after the storm hit due to health complications and medicine not arriving on time.
As the day continued, protesters gave impassioned speeches in Spanish to a cheering crowd.
“Trump has said many bad things about us but he doesn’t help,” said Olga Nieves, who traveled to the rally by bus with a group from Kissimmee.
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who met with reporters at the protest, said the event was organized because “people recognize that Puerto Ricans have been treated as second-class citizens.”
“When the next (storm) comes, and there will be a next one, let’s be prepared,” Nelson said, adding that Trump’s assertion that the island’s death toll did not reach 3,000 people in the storm’s aftermath was “an insult to injury.”
“We are here to fight for justice for Puerto Rico,” West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio said from the stage. “Well over 4,500 people perished (in Puerto Rico). The president doesn’t understand that number.”
Also in attendance was Democratic nominee for governor Andrew Gillum, whose remarks critical of the government’s response to the island’s ongoing crisis elicited cheers from the crowd.
“We shouldn’t have to remind this country to do right by the people in this country,” Gillum said.
The rally also featured a 20-foot tall Baby Trump balloon that took two hours to fully inflate. The balloon is one of six replicas making their way around the country on a tour organized by People’s Motorcade, a group of anti-Trump activists based in New Jersey.
Mark Offerman, a Wellington activist who has organized multiple anti-Trump protests in Palm Beach County, was selected to host one of the six U.S. replicas through April. The balloon may be seen again during the season when Trump stays at Mar-a-Lago.
Ruth and David Cann, a married couple from Parkland handing out white “Detester” shirts, said the Trump administration “forgot about our American citizens on the island.”
“My heart is broken over what he did to those people. To our people,” said Ruth Cann, whose husband, a former pilot, delivered generators to the island in the storm’s aftermath. “It’s a shame that this man is occupying the White House.”
Edgardo Agrait Comas, an Orlando resident, said he came to show solidarity with other Puerto Ricans.
Comas said he lived in Puerto Rico for 15 years before the hurricane hit, and he said one-third of the island’s hospitals were in disrepair for two months after the storm.
“The people of Puerto Rico now know they can’t count on anybody but themselves,” Comas said. “Hopefully it leads to more political activism.”
Trump supporters were mostly absent from the protest, with the exception of a small group who showed up in the late afternoon holding Trump flags as they walked onto the field in front of the amphitheatre. As they waved their flags, a group of about 25 protesters surrounded them and chanted “down with Trump.” Both groups began to chant over each other until they were separated by police and security without incident.
The day was not without celebration as crowds sang and danced before observing a moment of silence as the event drew to a close.
In the shade, Chaluissant sat in a lawn chair with a Puerto Rican umbrella, holding a sign: “P. Ricans are born American.”
She said she was happy she took time out of her vacation to attend Saturday’s protest, and she said she hopes this changes how much aid is given to Puerto Rico when the next storm hits.
“We matter, too,” she said.