President Trump lacks compassion and leadership during his visit to Puerto Rico
On Tuesday October 3rd, President Donald Trump visited my devastated homeland, Puerto Rico, where millions of American citizens are starving due to the tragic storm that hit the island. There’s little power all over the island, there’s no water, only half of Puerto Rico’s grocery shops are open, supplies are minimal and there’s very little communication in and out of the island.
President Trump visited the island to work on strategic relief for the Puerto Ricans in suffering, but in the process dismissed the tragedy as not a ‘real catastrophe’ and lacked compassion and kindness towards the thousands of people who have lost everything. President Trump decided to compare the death counts from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Maria and diminished the 34 people that have died due to Hurricane Maria, comparing to the hundreds who died in Hurricane Katrina. I guess our President would rather see thousands of American citizens dead than starving to be able to consider the situation of Puerto Rico’s status a ‘real catastrophe’. Not only did President Trump only visit touristic areas like San Juan and Guaynabo, President Trump did not visit inland where the conditions are much worse. It’s hard to judge whether something is a ‘real catastrophe’ or not if you don’t have the full picture. Damages in San Juan and Guaynabo were less destructive compared to inland mountainous areas of the island.
Trump showed no empathy to the families of those who died or those who have lost everything. Even the mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan, said that President Trump had been ‘disrespectful’ and left her unsure if President Trump had taken the situation seriously. During the meeting the President used words like, ‘you’ve thrown our budget out of whack’ and was even seen throwing paper towels at people. President Trump lacked leadership during the visit to Puerto Rico. A real leader would’ve walked up to the citizens give them the item, shake their hand and say something supportive to give them hope moving forward.
Many Puerto Ricans are enraged at how poorly President Trump handled the situation, complaining about the cost of relief efforts, and also disrespected the family and memory of those who lost their life due to the hurricane. His behaviour was inappropriate, childish and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. With majority of my family in Puerto Rico who have lost so much and are currently suffering I’m ashamed to see that this is the way the situation was handled. Not only the people that currently live in Puerto Rico, but also thousands of Puerto Ricans who have migrated to the United States feel disrespected that this is the way a commonwealth of equal American citizenship as those in Texas, who were affected by Hurricane Harvey, were treated. Although Hurricane Maria has passed and the number of confirmed deaths is 50 victims less than the death toll in Texas, if Puerto Rico doesn’t get the help it needs from the United States Government that number of 34 confirmed deaths will only increase more. There’s no power in half of the hospitals in Puerto Rico, people are dying due to the lack of medicine and many Puerto Ricans are getting sick due to the poor conditions.
In this current situation there’s no sense of urgency to rescue Puerto Ricans from the humanitarian crisis they are currently in. I’m completely amazed at how different the situation is being treated to Texas and Florida, while Puerto Ricans are american citizens and should be treated just the same.