It’s time Puerto Ricans get to determine own future, free of perpetual colonial limbo

Recent weeks have evoked extreme emotions for Puerto Ricans everywhere. We were angry, sad, glad, scared, decided, doubtful. All were feelings triggered by the discovery last month of a massive warehouse in Ponce found with aid sent to Puerto Rico to help the 2017 victims of devastating Hurricane Maria.

We all tuned into our phones as a blogger named Lorenzo Delgado, new to many of us, gained access to this warehouse thanks to an anonymous tip. The warehouse was brimming to the top with blue tarps, diapers, wet-wipes, gas stoves, cots, and a sea of unending pallets of expired water and baby food. The scene was chaotic as many local residents turned up to see it for themselves and acquire supplies as they are not just hurricane survivors, but now earthquake survivors as well.

As the video continued, wide-eyed men read out expiration labels from the food and water, “October 2017”, “June 2018”, and so on. This prompted even more outrage from those assembled at the warehouse and from those of us watching on our phones. How many people could have been helped and saved by those items that were collecting dust in that warehouse?

Our minds turned to the obvious questions, “Who’s warehouse is this?” and “Who knew about this?” Sure enough, government officials’ heads quickly started rolling. First, the head of the Emergency Management Agency, Carlos Acevedo, was fired, followed out the door by Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar.

Meanwhile, the current governor, Wanda Vázquez, lamented what had transpired and sought to take a firm stand against it. However, reports a few days later surfaced of Vázquez’s own involvement as her signature was found on paperwork detailing the items in the warehouse months ago. Did she know and hide the items from the public or does she simply sign things without reading them?

Puerto Ricans have had enough of the corruption that laces the halls of the capitol and the governor’s mansion. We are done with all the backroom deals that serve to put money into the pockets of unscrupulous politicians who galavant through life thinking they have played us for fools. We are done!

In this way, it’s almost a blessing that the corruption is now clear for all to see and judge. We resolve to make a change for the better by voting for true public servants who have our best interests at heart.

However, there is much doubt that anything will change in the short-term because of how this looks to the U.S. government. The U.S. Senate and the Trump administration do not understand our day-to-day reality and have been withholding aid to the island since the 2017 storm.

Just a few days ago, a 13-year-old girl died in Vieques because there is still no hospital there. There are still more than 30,000 homes with blue tarps as roofs. And now, on top of the aftermath of the 2017 hurricane, we have a series of earthquakes rocking the southwest portion of the island. Thousands of people, including infants, pregnant women, the elderly and sick, are sleeping in outdoor camps.

We must continue to push the Trump administration for the sake of more than 3 million U.S. citizens on the island. And as we continue to rebel against the local mismanagement, corruption, and lies, we must also continue to push for what is right.

As Puerto Ricans under U.S. control as a U.S. territory, we do not have voting representation in Congress and we cannot vote for president. So as long as the U.S. insists that the sovereignty of the Puerto Rican people lies in Congress, lawmakers and the entire federal government are responsible for treating those citizens equally regardless of where they live. It’s their responsibility.

If Congress cannot live up to that responsibility, then it’s time they allowed Puerto Ricans to decide their own future and not be held in perpetual colonial limbo.

Adriana Rivera is the communications director for Alianza for Progress, a nonprofit organization advancing the power of Puerto Rican and Hispanic communities in Florida.