President Trump arrives in Puerto Rico Tuesday to meet with some of the 3.4 million people struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria.
“We are going to be seeing all of the first responders, the military, FEMA, and, frankly, most importantly, we’re going to be seeing the people of Puerto Rico,” the president said before the trip.
The governor of Puerto Rico has worked closely with the White House in coordinating recovery efforts, but the mayor of San Juan has been vocal about what she sees as a slow response to the crisis.
“We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency,” Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said of the Trump administration during a press conference last Friday.
Over the weekend Trump fired back on Twitter.
…Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
…want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
More than two weeks after Hurricane Maria, the island nation still faces dire conditions.
Even as military and civilians work to hand out one million meals and two million gallons of water, 90 percent of residents are still without power or phone service.
Rural areas have not yet even been visited and assessed because they’re inaccessible.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday the president’s trip will be about the recovery.
“The top priority for the federal government is certainly to protect the lives and the safety of those in affected areas and provide life-sustaining services as we work together to rebuild their lives,” she said.
