Puerto Rico’s Christmas in the Dark

By Christan Ramos

A new year brings about feelings of prosperity, success, and contentment, however, for the citizens of the United States territory of Puerto Rico the new year brings sentiments of the loss that they had to bear and the hardships they still face due to Hurricane Maria, the Category 4 hurricane that struck the island mid-September 2017.

The hurricane completely devastated the ‘isla del encanto’ or ‘island of enchantment,’ as it is affectionately referred to. El Yunque, the island’s rainforest, was transformed from a lush green jungle paradise to a desolate array of barren valleys that now look as if there was never any living plants or animals living there for centuries. In the mountain town of Utuado, nestled in the center of the island, countless deaths can be attributed to Hurricane Maria. The highlands and copious amounts of rainwater produced many deadly landslides.

The official death count as a result of the storm totaled 64 people but there is likely to be over 1,000 deaths due to Maria. The government of Puerto Rico has endured a great amount of backlash concerning the death count, as they have been accused of lying about the real devastation that Maria has caused the island.

The world-renowned resort community Humacao is now a ghost town. Even with it’s high tourist season, no one is using the three-tiered pool. In the town’s largest hospital, four of the five floors are closed. Jobs and means of livelihoods have vanished. There is a common phrase uttered by nearly everyone, ‘no hay luz,’ or, there is no light or power. Long lines still form for water and ice. In the middle of octopus season, nothing is in the water. They have left. People’s lives have changed radically, and the occupants of this region are desperate to know how they will make their daily wage. The unspeakable fear of what the next hurricane season will bring is overwhelming, causing citizens to doubt if they would make it through another storm.

Humacao is also known for its world-class golf course at the Palmas del Mar and its pharmaceutical and medical supplies industry. Unfortunately, U.S.-based pharmaceutical behemoth Bristol-Myers Squibb – which manufactures cardiovascular and anti-diabetes products – is still running on generators, and the hospitals on the mainland have had to change the composition of the medications so that they are able to be stretched out, ensuring that no patients are without their life-sustaining medications.

Still, more than three months after the storm, roughly only half of all Puerto Ricans have their power restored. This statistic is just one of many of the sobering realities that is plaguing Puerto Rico at the moment, one of the many statistics that Americans living in the contiguous United States cannot fathom. The government on the island has been struggling with knowing the percentage of power restored; however, it is reported that some of the most remote areas of the island will not have their power restored until May 2018.

The destruction caused in the wake of Maria combined with the utter economic disaster of being billions of dollars in debt before the storm, has caused much of the millennial generation to consider leaving the island to find better job opportunities, if they haven’t already left. Usually, if someone has a friend or family member on the mainland, they will do their best to help get them a job so they can relocate and start to work.

FEMA has provided roughly 4,000 out of a total of 10,742 survivors with Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) in approved hotel rooms across the United States. The top five states where these survivors are living are Florida, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. TSA was set to expire on January 15^th, however, Darren Soto, the governor of Florida, asked that Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello request an extension for 180 days. Rossello requested a 60 day extension, and is still awaiting a decision.

The current mentality in Puerto Rico is that of desperation and exhaustion. There is a consensus among the citizens on the island that the government is very corrupt. In addition, thousands of police officers have been calling out sick as a way to demand pay that they are owed. Despite all the hardships, the Puerto Rican people are resilient. There was a time when the island suffered from a smallpox epidemic in the 1500s, which killed half of the native population. If Puerto Rico can survive after losing hundreds of thousands of its citizens, they can certainly survive Hurricane Maria. The people on the island are hopeful and certain that their home will rise again, ‘Puerto Rico Se Levanta.’