Press Conference by Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz

Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, spoke on Friday afternoon at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. This is from September 29, 2017 after she heard the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said that Puerto Rico was a good news story.  That comment pushed the Mayor's buttons and she organized this press conference to ask for help.  The right wing was quick to point out that she was standing in front of food and water obviously misunderstanding the point of the press conference.  Mayor Cruz was calling out the FEMA response for being slow and inadequate.  She was not saying that there was no food and water, but she was saying the distribution and there was a pathetically small amount for the millions of people on the island.  We present this full transcript because it will be important for the record.

“We are dying here. And I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out the logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles. So, mayday, we are in trouble.
“FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Administration] asks for documentation, I think we’ve given them enough documentation.”

“They had the gall this morning – look at this [gestures to two large binders filled with paper] – they had the gall this morning of asking me: ‘What are your priorities, mayor?’
“Well, where have you been?"

 “And I have been very respectful of the FEMA employees. I have been patient but we have no time for patience any more."

“So, I am asking the President of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives."

“They were up the task in Africa when Ebola came over. They were up to the task in Haiti [after the earthquake of 2010]. As they should be. Because when it comes to saving lives we are all part of one community of shared values."

“I will do what I never thought I was going to do: I am begging. I am begging anyone that can hear us to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying. And you are killing us with the inefficiency and bureaucracy."

“We will make it with or without you because what stands behind me is all due to the generosity of other people. Again, this is what we got last night: four pallets of water, three pallets of meals and 12 pallets of infant food. Which, I gave them to Comerío, where people are drinking out of a creek. So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell because my people’s lives are at stake. And we are but one nation. We may be small, but we are huge in dignity and zealous for life."

“So I’m asking members of the press to send a mayday call all over the world. We are dying here. And if we don’t stop and if we don’t get the food and the water into people’s hands, what we we are going to see is something close to a genocide."

“So, Mr Trump, I am begging you to take charge and save lives. After all, that is one of the founding principles of the United States of North America. If not, the world will see how we are treated not as second-class citizens but as animals that can be disposed of. Enough is enough.”

transcription from the The Guardian newspaper.

This is an important part of the history of the Puerto Rico disaster.  I was on the island and was so frustrated that everyone was just accepting of their fate.  Where was the anger and frustration from the native population?  I could not understand why they were not angry that so many federal officials were standing around at the convention center while they were standing in six hour gas lines?  It was not until the Mayor spoke these words on Friday September 29 that I finally heard someone speaking out loud all that was wrong on the island.  She finally told the world what I saw over the last week.  This is a critical part of the record for how the island is going to recover.

by Brian Davis