• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Government in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria: Monumental Failure

José R. Rivera González by José R. Rivera González
11/09/17
in Opinion
hurricane maria in puerto rico solar energy Rosello

Dozens of people were killed in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

There is no test of government response capabilities more true than a natural disaster. The type of adversity brought forth by hurricane Maria reveals precisely its nature –- good or not so much –- in the midst of public perceptions and distraught.

With no way to spin this politically, in a polarizing or partisan way without looking insensitive, Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello Nevarez, his cabinet members, agencies, and state and municipal employees are discovering just how catastrophically egalitarian and democratic Maria was.

In the midst of the aftermath, they and us, are discovering the genuine extent of government, or rather its limits. There is also a sense that fanatical partisanship, which is the main and most distinctive attribute of Puerto Rican politics, won’t solve the crisis that follows something like Maria.

Governor Rossello is probably acquainting himself with the meaning of government. That administrative entity that tends to the state, the body in which the people deposits its consent and its trust, both of which are expected to be reciprocated by formulating commonsensical non-sectarian policy aimed at the common good.

Now, this is the part where a skeptic might balk. And with reason, the exercise of power is in its essence polemical (a term which shares the same root as the word politics), and there is animosity in the exchange between government and opposition. But there is a juncture in which publics expect their governments to do just that — govern. At times, the most civic and assertively-minded of publics do pressure governments to act in conformity to their duties.

At their most essential, such as this emergency, government’s measure up –- or not -– to their obligations. Natural disasters, the great equalizers they are, force upon them a perspective of action or helplessness, unlike any other contingency.

Take for example U.S.’ federal, state, and city responses when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans is 2005, where public authority essentially abandoned the city’s residents to their fate. Terrible lessons were drawn from that unfortunate event and used with effectiveness in that same state plus Texas and Florida in the aftermaths of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

In the international scene, both India’s effective evacuation of its eastern coast and the Philippines’ grossly-inadequate idleness when typhoons Phailin and Haiyan hit them hard are also quite illustrative of this point.

To be fair, there is almost no measure of readiness that can prepare you for a major climatological event such as hurricane Maria. All government and the population could do was to brace for the catastrophe that came and followed.

Herein lies the dilemma, though governor Rossello was successful in stressing to the public to take this emergency seriously, as he also did during Irma, probably saving countless lives in the process. He and his cabinet have been overwhelmed by the aftermath of Maria, revealing in the process just how broken government and governance are.

He is a victim and a product of consequence and electoral wishful thinking. To say it another way, he is living now with the poisoned fruit of a decadent polity. Decades of bad-faith politics, ushered by Puerto Rico’s two majoritarian parties, Rossello’s own New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party, along with their toxic, elaborated political fantasies, transformed the country’s politics into an abominable form of sports entertainment; bringing spectacle, scandal and pointless bickering into and art form that simultaneously entertained the feeble-minded and exasperated everyone else yearning for something of substance policy-wise.

Using Puerto Rico’s territorial status as an excuse to not govern or assume a national or country project –- any project -– political parties profited from an endless, sterile debate on whether annexation, an evolution of its current “autonomy” or full independence was the optimal option; all the while making the common good, economic activity, collective security, and an optimal infrastructure secondary to a change in status.

Everything will change for the better once we become this, or achieve the full potential of that, they’d say. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico became less and less viable as an entity, betting on chaos as a premise to significant change.

In this regard there is a third conspirator: the Puerto Rican Independence Party, which went along with this fall into the abyss, watching the country tear itself apart while patting themselves in the back inebriated in arrogant self-righteousness, while scraping enough votes to keep its organization registered in the Electoral Commission so it can keep suckling at the electoral fund.

With a crushing public debt assumed by previous majoritarian governments with ease and impunity, Governor Rossello has little maneuvering room for this emergency and everything else that requires his attention. He depends on the federal government of the United States and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), specifically to move relief aid to where it’s needed.

He and Puerto Rico are also recipients of the Puerto Rican diaspora’s goodwill, which has mobilized money and goods through social and traditional media to help out in this most trying time. The country has also been offered help by the Dominican Republic and Cuba, which, citing current shipping laws, the U.S. government has allowed only briefly.

But help has come, in droves. So why do we have kilometric lines at gas stations or supermarkets? There is an absence of coordination and logistics, where an increase in demand is met by precarious supply. Again, look at gas stations for a nefarious example. Lacking any rail system since the 1950s everything has to be hauled by trucks, they need gas and diesel, which we have, but it’s apparently, poorly distributed.

Also, everything is coming in through San Juan. Strange, considering there is a former naval air station (with docks) in the east of the island, a former Air Force base in its northwestern side, a port in the city of Mayaguez, a useless port and a regional airport in the southern city of Ponce. Perhaps a better strategy would be regionalizing aid and coordinating it coming in through these various entry points.

Security is also a concern. People were desperate and getting aggressive. There was also anecdotal evidence of mugging, people preying on the elderly, looting, perforating vehicles’ gas tanks to steal it. People couldn’t call the police or 911 because there was a total collapse of mobile communications, with the cellular reception in San Juan spotty at best.

Emergency services took hours to respond, the operative question: Is he or she bleeding? No? Then it’s not a priority, it’ll have to wait. In all this chaos Puerto Rico’s Emergency Management director had the temerity to say that the people will have to make do without the government for 72 hours.

First, it is a disturbing statement considering our society is on the brink of collapse. Second, it is irresponsible; everybody read, heard or watched that statement, including a Puerto Rico that exists but nobody talks about, the one that lurks in the shadows and feasts on anti-social behavior.

Finally, it is also inaccurate. It’s been more than a week since that statement and government is still struggling to barely have a presence. The only reason we haven’t plunged into the state of nature is simply because people, most of us at least, still adhere to the rules and the social contract.

But in the wake of Hurricane Maria’s catastrophic path, only two words describe the state of Puerto Rico’s governmental response: a monumental failure. With that, there’s barely a civil or institutional thread to hang on to.

In this emergency, Puerto Rico’s government should admit its limits in handling the emergency (they have) and ask for federal troops (they did). The streets should be full of soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen, alongside their respective military police, logistics and engineering units assisting governor Rossello in making this country operable and safe.

I’m no friend of the state of exception, but I don’t see any other option. This is a colony of the United States, full of American citizens. We are not disenfranchised, but the response is as if we were. They should have at least pretended to give a damn.

So where was the government. Where?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
Share3Tweet
José R. Rivera González

José R. Rivera González

Professor of Social Science at Universidad del Este and International Studies at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico.

Related Posts

Puerto Rican and American flags flutter in the Old Town district of San Juan. Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP
Featured

Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

by Matt Helder and José A. Cabrera
October 26, 2021
Protestor in Puerto Rico, where the nation angry over corruption and the release of insulting text chats
Opinion

Can’t We Just Sell the World’s Oldest Colony and Solve Puerto Rico’s Political Status?

by Luis Martínez-Fernández
July 16, 2020
A man carries a Puerto Rican flag during a protest against the referendum for Puerto Rico political status in San Juan, on June 11, 2017.
Opinion

Free Association: The Political Option that Can Save Puerto Rico

by Efraín Vázquez-Vera and Juan López-Bauzá
December 31, 2019
US President Donald Trump
National

Trump Attacks Puerto Rico as Major Storm Nears Landfall

by Staff Writer
August 28, 2019
Protestor in Puerto Rico, where the nation angry over corruption and the release of insulting text chats
National

Puerto Rico Court Declares New Governor’s Swearing-in Unconstitutional

by Staff Writer
August 7, 2019
Outgoing Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello. Photo: AFP
National

Puerto Rico’s Outgoing Governor Names Successor

by Staff Writer
July 31, 2019
Next Post
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited RT after its launch in 2013

Russia Drafts 'Reciprocal Measures' Over US Demands on Kremlin Channel

Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell

Catalan Speaker Spends Night in Jail for Independence Drive

Recommended

Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
An Iranian walking in front of a wall painting of the Iranian flag in Tehran

How Much Damage Has Israel Inflicted on Iran’s Nuclear Program?

June 16, 2025
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on November 19, 2017

Israel MPs to Vote on Opposition Bid to Dissolve Parliament

June 11, 2025
Two protesters wave Mexican flags while standing on a vandalized Waymo vehicle during a demonstration in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025, following a series of aggressive federal immigration operations in the city.

Unrest in Los Angeles Over Immigration Raids as Troops Sent by Trump Fan Out

June 9, 2025
US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on August 4, 2020. Photo: Drew Angerer/AFP.

US Steel, Aluminum Tariff Hikes to Take Effect Wednesday: W. House

June 4, 2025
textile workers in Kenya

Workers’ Rights in ‘Free Fall’ Globally: Report

June 2, 2025

Opinion

Tens of thousands of protestors shut down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, April 5, 2025, protesting the Trump administration's abuse of the separation of federal powers as well as the deep cuts to governmental services overseen by presidential advisor Elon Musk.

Civil Society Is Holding the Line. Will Washington Notice?

June 17, 2025
A Black Lives Matter mural in New York City.

Fuhgeddaboudit! America’s Erasure of History

April 2, 2025
Bust of Deputy Rubens Paiva in the Chamber of Deputies

Democratic Brazilians Are Still Here

March 18, 2025
A woman from Guatemala

Dispatch From Central America

January 28, 2025
US President Donald Trump

Dear Trump Supporters: Is This the America You Wanted?

January 28, 2025
Putin talks to Trump in Hamburg

From Roosevelt to Trump: The Complicated Legacy of Personal Diplomacy

November 15, 2024
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post