June 5, 2018 - NHLA Decries the Government’s Mistreatment of Puerto Ricans and Mismanagement Post-Maria

June 5, 2018

NHLA Decries the Government’s Mistreatment of Puerto Ricans
and Mismanagement Post-Maria
The severity of loss of life resulting from mismanagement becomes clearer months after the storm

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 46 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, decries the blatant disregard for human life in the wake of Hurricane Maria. As the true cost of the storm, measured in lives lost, becomes apparent through a study recently published by Harvard University, it is clear that the death toll is far greater than was previously acknowledged. More than 4,600 deaths resulted, not from the Hurricane itself, but from a lack of care and consideration and a level of neglect by the current administration unparalleled in modern time.

Attempts to conceal the true impact of the storm on the residents and infrastructure of Puerto Rico, and the abject failure of the federal response, offer no comfort to the people of Puerto Rico. For these many months their voices, American voices, have been drowned out by false claims of success in the aftermath of the storm. The evidence of grossly inadequate access to life saving healthcare, electricity and clean-up from the storm afforded to the residents of Puerto Rico must be highlighted, and we must hold the administration accountable.

NHLA calls out the Trump Administration for its failed response to Hurricane Maria and its unwillingness to treat these American families with the respect and life saving care that they deserve. Hurricane Maria was the largest natural disaster in Puerto Rico’s history and we demand that this administration respond to its citizens in Puerto Rico accordingly. As we salute the resiliency of the Puerto Ricans, NHLA urges Latino leaders and others throughout the country to speak with one voice to condemn the Administration’s response to the storm and its continued efforts to deny the resources required to reclaim the island from the effects of the storm and the human failures that followed. No amount of funds can make up for the inattention to the cries of Puerto Ricans for help, resulting in so many thousands of lives lost, but as we enter a new hurricane season while still reeling from Maria, we must commit today to stronger preparation and response. Our neighbors in Puerto Rico deserve no less.

“Delay, ineffectiveness, and implicit bias that treats communities differently have real and dire consequences," said Thomas A. Saenz, Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and President and General Counsel of MALDEF. “All of the current and former residents of Puerto Rico had the right to expect better, and our national commitment must be to do better by them, now and in the future.”

“The complete disregard for human life in Puerto Rico after Hurricane María is shameful and unforgivable. We are outraged by the inaction of the Trump administration and find the federal government completely responsible for the humanitarian crisis that unfolded in Puerto Rico after the hurricane. The administration’s failed response to a people in dire need of health care, medical supplies, food, potable water, and electricity cost thousands of Puerto Ricans their lives. It’s been nearly ten months and the people of Puerto Rico are still living in homes without roofs and lack access to critical health care services. Puerto Ricans are resilient and will keep surviving, but they need and deserve better than a government that is indifferent to whether they live or die,” said Jessica González-Rojas, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), vice chair of NHLA, and co-chair of the Latina Task Force and the Health Committee.

“When history looks back at the Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Maria it will judge the president and his officials more harshly than any government in America’s fraught relationship with Puerto Rico. We are outraged that Trump twiddled his thumbs while his fellow Americans were dying by the thousands, and that local government officials in Puerto Rico were complicit in helping the president downplay the nature of this tragedy. The response to this injustice must come through the ballot box, and making sure that millions of our people use their vote to demand accountability and the leadership and resources Puerto Rico needs to address its ongoing humanitarian crisis.” said José Calderón, President, Hispanic Federation, Co-Chair, NHLA Puerto Rico Working Group.

“The death of thousands of Puerto Ricans – the exact number of which is still unknown, could potentially be much higher – was not directly caused by the hurricane, but rather by the tremendous incompetence and negligence of government in the months following. Local government officials decided to politicize relief efforts, noting that the federal government had provided all the aid requested, while communities across the island were left abandoned and without access to fundamental services and goods, evidently critical for survival. Our thoughts are with the millions of Puerto Ricans on the island and in the diaspora who continued to be affected by the hurricane in its aftermath, including forced displacement, the imposition of austerity that continues to cut critical public services, and the denial of FEMA of compensation for damages to belongings and housing structures,” said Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Co-Chair, NHLA Puerto Rico Working Group.

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ABOUT THE NATIONAL HISPANIC LEADERSHIP AGENDA

The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda is composed of 45 of the leading national and regional Latino civil rights and public policy organizations and other elected officials, and prominent Latinos Americans. NHLA coalition members represent the diversity of the Latino community – Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and other Latino Americans. NHLA’s mission calls for unity among Latinos around the country to provide the Latino community with greater visibility and a clearer, stronger influence in our country’s affairs. NHLA brings together Latino leaders to establish policy priorities that address, and raise public awareness of, the major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole. For more information, please visit: www.nationalhispanicleadership.org.

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