Gov't Efficiency: Trailers Full of Supplies From 11 Months Ago Found in Puerto Rico
For those of you blaming the Trump administration for the mess down in Puerto Rico in the 11 months since Hurricane Maria made landfall on the island and caused unspeakable havoc, 10 trailers full of supplies would like to have a word with you.
“Donated food sent to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria were left to rot in a parking lot of a government facility,” CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reported on Friday.
“Additionally, about 10 containers filled with non-perishable supplies sat at the government facility for 11 months.
“Video of supplies covered in rodent droppings was first posted by a Puerto Rican radio station Radio Isla on Thursday. When Begnaud visited, the trailers with the containers were locked Friday.”
The video seemed to highlight some of the issues surrounding the government inefficiency in Puerto Rico during the hurricane relief effort, although officials swore that wasn’t the case. If the CBS report is correct, and the supplies have been sitting unused for 11 months, that means the unused material has been there since virtually the hurricane passed.
“Nicolás Gautier, an official at the facility, told CBS News one of of the containers had ‘food for dogs, and apparently several of the boxes were broken. After the placement in the van, that brings a lot of rats and it infected everything,'” CBS reported.
“The goods were at Puerto Rico’s elections commission, which has been serving as a collection site for donations.”
The discovery of the trucks opened old wounds for residents of the island territory, where a fierce battle raged between local politicians, who blamed Washington (and very specifically President Donald Trump), and Washington officials who blamed a Puerto Rican political infrastructure long past repair, where boxes of supplies sat rotting in warehouses while public officials preened for the cameras.
Yes. Because Trump is a racist, he literally FORCED the Puerto Rican government to leave food rotting in warehouses for eleven months.
Honestly. You people are clowns. https://t.co/NoZIgt44EV
— Ian McKelvey (@ian_mckelvey) August 11, 2018
In case you were still wondering which side “won” this sordid dispute, consider San Juan Mayor Yulín Cruz, who earned the briefest 15 minutes of fame I’ve ever witnessed with her anti-Trump diatribes.
Fast-forward to this summer and several high-ranking officials from Ms. Cruz’s party — the Popular Democratic Party, a Puerto Rican party linked to the Democrats — are facing charges of siphoning off millions in federal funds for their own personal use. But the fact that Puerto Rico remains ravaged is still Trump’s fault.
The real losers in this, sadly, are the Puerto Rican people.
It would be profoundly unkind to say that these are voters who got the government they deserved.
No one deserves this — not even followers of Yulín Cruz, who famously stated that “what is really nasty is that anyone would turn their back on the Puerto Rican people,” and said (with a straight face) that her people “are dying, and you (Trump) are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy.”
Those trailers full of supplies are waiting, Mayor Cruz. They tell a story of greed, incompetence and ego that likely cost lives.
The truck may not be able to hear your answer, but your city and your island will.
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