Puerto Rico’s newly elected Gov. Pedro Pierluisi this week that the island territory wants “the same treatment” that states get when requesting relief for the coronavirus pandemic and for natural disasters.
Pierluisi, a Democrat who took office earlier this month, attended President Joe Biden’s inauguration in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, and noted in remarks to reporters afterward that “it’s very important to attract attention for positive reasons, not negative ones, so that they do not forget us and we are present in Washington's agenda,” according to NBC News.
Puerto Rico is still rebuilding after several intense earthquakes last year exacerbated the damaged caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017, which was the deadliest natural disaster in the U.S. in the last 100 years, according to a study from George Washington University's Milken Institute of Public Health.
The island also faces the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history, as well as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which in Puerto Rico has infected over 82,500 and killed at least 1,447.
The governor, in a conversation with Biden’s team, pressed the White House to lift the restrictions placed by the Trump Administration on using relief funds to fix the island’s electrical grid, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria, and on using funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"I'm not looking for Puerto Rico to get better treatment than other states. I'm asking for equality. We want the same treatment," Pierluisi said.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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