Part of this aid was probably intended for victims of Hurricane Maria in 2017. A judicial investigation has been opened.
“Share this (…) so that you can see what impudence is in Puerto Rico.” The discovery in Puerto Rico of a warehouse full of emergency supplies, obviously intended for victims of natural disasters, sparked an outcry on the island on Monday January 20 and the opening of a judicial investigation.
A video posted on Facebook on Saturday shows a warehouse in Ponce, in the southern part of the American territory, filled with emergency supplies, such as tents, diapers and baby food, radios, batteries, portable stoves and thousands of apparently expired water bottles.
Part of this aid was probably intended for the victims of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in September 2017 and officially claimed 3,000 lives. Puerto Rico has also been the victim of a series of earthquakes for three weeks. More than 5,000 people live in open-air camps due to the hundreds of earthquakes that have affected the south of the island since December 28. After the video was uploaded, many of them went to the warehouse and looted it.
Governor Wanda Vazquez Garced responded to the scandal by immediately dismissing the head of the local emergency management agency, as well as the Secretary of Housing. The previous governor, Ricardo Rossello, had to resign under pressure from protesters after the publication of a conversation on Telegram messaging where he and other members of the government made fun of the victims of Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, who supported the protests, said on Monday Instagram that he would go to the island to respond to this new emergency: “I am on my way to Puerto Rico. Before long, I will accompany you again in this demand for respect, justice and peace”. “What happened in a warehouse in Ponce, Puerto Rico, is an unmatched act of insensitivity, abuse and irresponsibility”, he added.
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