Tuesday 3 October 2017

Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria

Puerto Rico has been devastated by Hurricane Maria; there are multiple deaths and massive damage has been done to the island and its infrastructure. The damage alone would be difficult enough to recover from but Puerto Rico is both not an American state (it's a territory) and is deeply in debt to Wall Street; as such, recovery will be deeply painful.

So! What does the current President of the United States do? Oh, only made his usual nonconstructive remarks:


Rather than guaranteeing Puerto Rico aid, he has instead used the "could have been worse" argument with regards to the death toll, as his administration has received criticism for its sluggishness in sending aid. Granted, Puerto Rico has not received the same amount of death has other places have done but making comparisons trivializes those who have died.

Puerto Rico has a long road to recovery ahead of it. Perhaps those who hold its debt could provide it with some relief, such as by writing it off or at least putting lengthy extensions on the repayment plans. Changing the legal status of the island would help, too, but in the short term, it needs help rebuilding.

1 comment:

  1. I bet he didn't even know it was part of the US until the hurricanes

    ReplyDelete