Going Dark: Puerto Rico in the Wake of Maria

Americans took the bait. President Trump attacked players like Colin Kaepernick who used a silent protest to raise awareness of police brutality and social injustices plaguing people of color. Right on cue, Americans spent the next two days with their eyes fixed on professional football players locking arm in solidarity to rebuke the President’s newest divisive rhetoric. For a few days, the media ignored the expanding humanitarian crisis on the island of Puerto Rico — with five of the major Sunday political talk shows dedicating less than one minute total covering the crisis.

One week after Hurricane Maria struck, 3.4 million of our fellow American citizens are in dire need of food, water and medical care; and with no electricity or cell phone service. People are waiting in long 15-hour plus lines and fighting to get gas. A few main bridges have collapsed, and thousands have lost their homes. Few of the island’s hospitals are operating and even then, have very limited capacity. The destruction on the island is post-apocalyptic, and many have taken to social media and described atomic blast type of destruction.

When President Trump took to Twitter to finally discuss Puerto Rico, he criticized the island and its people. He blamed a catastrophic natural disaster on the broken infrastructure, old electrical grid, and massive debt, saying that the island “is in deep trouble.” His choice of words makes Puerto Rico seem like an annoying and irresponsible child: “Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks, which, sadly must be dealt with.” He continued a narrative that depicts Puerto Rico and its people as inferior and unworthy of help from the mainland even though Puerto Ricans are Americans and serve in the military.

In the midst of the largest humanitarian crisis Puerto Rico has ever seen, described as “Trump’s Katrina,” everyone is desperate to communicate. Maria wiped out 100% of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, and a report from the Federal Communications Commission revealed that over 95% of cell sites were out of service. Puerto Ricans are quite literally in the dark.

The lack of communications is unsettling and dangerous. Stories are pouring in of many people in the mainland unable to reach family members. On the island, people are desperate for a Wi-Fi or even the smallest cell signal, to the point that they are pulling off to the side of the road as soon as that little bar pops up.

This underscores a basic fact: cell phones are not a luxury, but a basic necessity. In an article describing the dire state of communications, Andres Lopez, a resident of San Juan’s Miramar neighborhood, aptly described how vital cell phones are to our everyday lives, “Nobody could find their relatives — but more than food and water, what people craved the most was for that little rectangle to work.”

I am one of the lucky few that have heard from my family in Puerto Rico. Soon after hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, I received a text from my aunt: “We are all safe. The island is devastated. It looks like an atomic bomb went off here.” But recent updates show that the worst is far from over.

What the island needs right now is for cell towers to be restored and creative solutions to get internet access up and running. This is a critical step in recovery efforts. Currently, 911 emergency services are unavailable, so even if people have cell service, they are unable to call for help. The communications situation has also hampered air traffic control, adding an extra layer of logistical difficulty to getting supplies and needed personnel to the island.

Maria is the worst hurricane to cross over Puerto Rico in close to a century. Access to food, water, and medical care is scarce to nonexistent. Businesses and education are at a stand still. While FEMA is on the ground and some emergency supplies are getting to the island, distribution is difficult and slow. The federal government needs to deploy and commit additional resources and manpower given the magnitude of the crisis. The Administration should extend the waiver of the Jones Act beyond ten days, and the President and the Congress should deploy any and all emergency resources for our fellow citizens in their dire hour of need.

Puerto Ricans are strong and doing everything possible to help themselves, but they cannot do it alone.

By: Carmen Scurato, Director, Policy & Legal Affairs for the National Hispanic Media Coalition