Puerto Rico needs more than Trump's cynical ploy
Opinion by Luis V. Gutiérrez
Updated 8:17 PM ET, Sun September 20, 2020
Editors Note;
Luis V. Gutiérrez represented the 4th Congressional District of Illinois for more than 25 years and has been a leading advocate for immigration reform, health care and climate action. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion articles on CNN.
(CNN)Three years after Hurricane Maria tore through Puerto Rico, hardship on the US territory is still palpable. Thousands of Puerto Ricans still live under blue tarps after losing their homes in the storm. Hundreds of schools shut down after the destruction of September 20, 2017. Death tolls in the storm's wake range from 3,000 to as many as 4,645 -- the exact tally is likely to remain a mystery. And the island's crippled economy hasn't recovered.
But Friday, after years of inaction and omission, and only 45 days before the election, President Donald Trump, who once boasted "I'm the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico," decided it was time to send the island $13 billion in disaster aid. Before the announcement, the Trump administration had been holding back billions in funds approved by Congress for disaster relief in Puerto Rico.
Such a cynical move could only lead us to ask: Why now?
Voters in Florida, a key battleground state, are crucial for the presidential election. It's no coincidence that the Sunshine State is home to thousands of Puerto Ricans who fled the island after Maria. With the many others that were there before the tragedy, Puerto Ricans now make up almost a third of the state's eligible Hispanic voters, a similar share to that of Cubans, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau data.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/20/opinions/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-trump-cynical-ploy-gutierrez/index.html
