In Puerto Rico mountains, more than muddy roads delay relief efforts
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Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
| Utuado, Puerto Rico
If it weren鈥檛 for her daughter, Silvia Maldonado is not sure how she could have made it.
Living through the two back-to-back hurricanes that brought life to a standstill in her mountain-nestled settlement of 300 residents was bad enough.
But it鈥檚 the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria that has the tidy elderly woman feeling overwhelmed: a month and counting of initially damaged services, and then the knock-out of no electricity, no water, and, she says, no sign of help from the civilian and military authorities buzzing around the flood-bashed streets and mud-caked roads of Utuado, a central Puerto Rican municipality of 35,000 people.
鈥淲e feel forgotten,鈥� says Mrs. Maldonado, begging pardon for weeping as she revisits what is now simply referred to across Puerto Rico as 鈥渓a situacion.鈥�
鈥淢y daughter was able to fill some jugs of water for me today,鈥� she adds, 鈥渂ut no, we don鈥檛 see help coming for the people in Mula,鈥� the Utuado village she calls home.
Such sentiments of abandonment are frustrating for the civilian and military officials moving mountains 鈥� sometimes literally collapsed mountainsides 鈥� to get everything from food, water, and medicines, to batteries for lamps and tarps to cover roofless houses, to the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who need them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 painful for us when we hear of people who are feeling like the help isn鈥檛 coming, when our attitude is we鈥檒l do what it takes to reach everyone 鈥� if a helicopter is needed to access the most remote settlement, I鈥檒l call one up,鈥� says Staff Sgt. Jos茅 Echevarr铆a, who is in charge of the 250 soldiers, airmen, military police, and engineers from Puerto Rico and the United States assigned to Utuado鈥檚 National Guard armory in the storms鈥� wake.
Working alongside the Puerto Rican National Guard are Katrina-tested engineers from Louisiana and 鈥� giving them a periodic assist 鈥� airmen and helicopters from New York (home to many Puerto Ricans) and Pennsylvania who are down helping the island effort.
鈥淲hat we say here is that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today,鈥� he says, adding, 鈥渂ut we know we still have a long way to go.鈥�
Every day brings with it new stories of daunting predicaments and unmet needs in most of Puerto Rico鈥檚 78 municipalities. Many isolated communities remain out of contact with the outside world, so when people from those areas get out, they bring with them stories of devastation and pleas for help.
A growing concern across the island is what could be the public health fallout of people without potable water supplies using the waters from streams for drinking, cooking, and bathing.
But Utuado 鈥� a collection of dozens of far-flung mountaintop and ravine-hugging settlements connected by narrow roads to the central town 鈥� has its own particular challenges, ranging from topography and demographics to politics.
Indeed, the state government has designated Utuado as one of the island鈥檚 15 municipalities most affected by Puerto Rico鈥檚 worst disaster in modern history.
Utuado already faced daunting straits before the storms.
Economic vulnerability
Many young people set their sights on the capital San Juan, about 70 miles out of the mountains to the northwest, or even farther afield to the mainland US, leaving behind a population that is about two-thirds senior citizens. The area鈥檚 main economic activities, agriculture and a nascent adventure-tourism industry, offered limited employment opportunities. The distances between rural settlements made delivering services difficult.
But after Maria, the Category 5 hurricane that roared through Puerto Rico three weeks ago on the heels of Irma, those problems have been sharply exacerbated, local officials say.
鈥淭his is an agricultural zone 鈥� coffee, plantains, some citrus 鈥� and we鈥檙e developing some nature tourism, so you can imagine the economic impact of storms that took out so many trees and roads and flooded so many fields,鈥� says Michael Abid Qui帽ones, the Utuado district鈥檚 representative in the island鈥檚 54-seat assembly.
Indeed, island officials and economists estimate that 80 percent of the island鈥檚 crops were lost, and that tourism, Puerto Rico鈥檚 bread and butter, will fall off sharply, for months at least.
Overall, an economy that was already experiencing annual declines will shrink further, economists say 鈥� encouraging more young people to leave and hasten the decline of towns like Utuado.
Mr. Qui帽ones is keenly aware of these challenges, but he and other officials here say that for right now their focus has to be on meeting immediate needs 鈥� getting tarps to as many as 7,000 houses in the district that lost roofs, power generators to priority sites like elderly residential centers, and food and potable water to the far corners of Utuado.
Partisan feud
The challenge would be big enough if it stopped there, but Utuado has another problem holding things back 鈥� a long-smoldering skirmish between Puerto Rico鈥檚 two main political parties that has burst into flame in the wake of the storms.
In what might look to outsiders like a mini version of the well-publicized spat between President Trump and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yul铆n Cruz over the quantity and effectiveness of federal aid to Puerto Rico, the mayor of Utuado and the National Guard here are hardly speaking.
Why? It appears to boil down to politics, and who will be able to claim credit for delivering aid when next year鈥檚 elections roll around.
Officials and some residents alike attribute at least some of Utuado鈥檚 slow delivery of aid to political conflict: Puerto Rico鈥檚 National Guard takes its marching orders from the island鈥檚 governor, Ricardo Rossell贸, who hails from the conservative New Progressive Party, while Utuado鈥檚 mayor is from the left-leaning Popular Democratic Party 鈥� the same party as San Juan鈥檚 mayor.
鈥淚 really think the attitude should be that during these times we don鈥檛 have political parties, we have Puerto Rico our home, and we are Puerto Ricans,鈥� says Qui帽ones, who is from the governor鈥檚 party. 鈥淏ut I have to admit that the political situation is having a negative impact,鈥� he adds, 鈥渋t鈥檚 affecting people because it鈥檚 slowing things down.鈥�
Military officials here express growing exasperation over the impact they say politics is having on their mission. The way the Puerto Rico relief effort is organized, with the military acting in support of the civilian Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA 鈥� works well when the local civilian authorities are on board, they say.
Where it doesn鈥檛 seem to work seamlessly is in cases like Utuado.
Noting that he holds an all-hands-on-deck meeting every 48 hours to assess progress and shortfalls and to plan the next two days鈥� aid deliveries and recovery projects, Staff Sergeant Echevarr铆a says, 鈥淲e have a standing invitation out to the mayor, we need him and his assets there, but he鈥檚 only come once. We all need to put the people first,鈥� he adds, 鈥渢here will be plenty of time for politics later.鈥�
The Monitor tried repeatedly over several days to reach Utuado Mayor Ernesto Irizarry for comment, but was unsuccessful. One Utuado native who declined to discuss the mayor鈥檚 motivations directly did note that some members of the mayor鈥檚 political party are leery of new initiatives out of the governor鈥檚 wife鈥檚 office. The programs are being publicly promoted as projects of the 鈥渇irst lady,鈥� and are being implemented with the assistance of the Puerto Rican National Guard.
Individuals coping
One of those programs, dubbed 鈥淪top & Go鈥� and creating one-stop centers for phone calls, device charging, and carry-out hot meals, is set to be in full operation in Utuado this week.
Yet out on the streets and mountain roads of Utuado, politics are the last thing on people鈥檚 minds.
听
Idania Gonzalez and Laura P茅rez, each with a daughter in tow, are hugging a fence across from the National Guard, trying desperately to capture the armory鈥檚 wifi signal so they can reach family on the mainland.
鈥淵ou have to pay cash for everything, but the ATMs are down and the banks are closed. You can鈥檛 even use food stamps, because the [card] terminals aren鈥檛 working,鈥� says Ms. P茅rez, adding, 鈥淧retty soon this is all we鈥檒l have to eat,鈥� and she pretends to chomp down on her arm 鈥� to the girls鈥� delight.
In another Utuado neighborhood, Jeannette Garcia supervises her husband, Roberto, as he prepares to repair his in-laws鈥� damaged roof. The Garcias flew down from New York, where they live, to Jeannette鈥檚 childhood home as soon after Maria as they could.
鈥淚t breaks my heart to see the island in this condition, but I do feel like people are helping each other out,鈥� Ms. Garcia says. 鈥淎nd it does seem like help in the form of everything people need is starting to arrive.鈥�
Over the mountain from Utuado in Arecibo, municipal workers are busy handing out FEMA-provided tarps to residents who were able to get to a distribution center to sign up for one.
鈥淭he mayor鈥檚 office got these tarps, and today we鈥檙e distributing 135 in just this zone of Arecibo,鈥� says Sigfredo Torres, who works in the municipality鈥檚 finance division during the week but has been spending weekends distributing aid.
鈥淎s you can see, there is tremendous need for these tarps,鈥� he says, as he hands one to Dorca Montalbo Rom谩n, who lost her entire roof and has been unable to live in her home since Maria. The 20x25-foot tarp she received won鈥檛 make her home habitable, but she hopes it will allow her to cover a portion and save some belongings.
Back in Utuado, Jeannette Garcia says she understands why people feel overwhelmed by their post-Maria plight, but she says she鈥檚 also doing her best to help her parents see that not all is disaster in their town.
鈥淲hen we heard that people with no water were bathing in the river, I said, 鈥楬ey Mom, didn鈥檛 you used to tell me that you washed in the river when you were a girl?鈥� 鈥� she says.
With no electricity for air conditioning and TV, Garcia鈥檚 parents have noticed that people are out more visiting with neighbors and sharing the suddenly precious supplies they do have: batteries, potable water, a crunchy lechon de cerdo, or roasted pork.
鈥淲hen my mom said the neighborhood seemed livelier since the storms, that more kids are outside playing now instead of sitting inside the house with TV or a computer, I said, 鈥楽ee Mom, it鈥檚 not all bad, in some ways it鈥檚 like your good old days.鈥� 鈥�
