Many people get away to Puerto Rico during the winter, but few know it was a home of the Taino people before Columbus arrived in the Americas, and that Taino culture is alive and well there. Archaeologist Miquel Bonini of the Puerto Rico State Historic Office recommends that vacationers hit La Piedra Escrita in the town of Jayuya, where there is a huge, river-bound boulder covered with 86 prehistoric Taino petroglyphs. The site La Piedra Escrita, or "The Written Rock," is 32 feet high and 13 feet wide, and rests right in the middle of the Rio Saliente, in the central forested, mountainous region of the island. About half the petroglyphs on it resemble people, a few have animal shapes, and others are geometric or abstract. The petroglyphs date to sometime around A.D. 600-1200, but the significance of the boulder is unknown. Getting there It should take about two hours by car from San Juan to reach Jayuya, a town known for its deep love of its Taino heritage. There is no fee to view the petrolgyphs, and there is a recreation area, restrooms, and a parking lot. A wooden boardwalk leads down to the river for a closer look, but Bonini requests all visitors to refrain from touching the boulder. We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution. It marked the most significant attempt at armed revolution in Puerto Rico since the late nineteenth century who’s written extensively on the uprising is the sixtieth anniversary of the 1950 independence revolt in Puerto Rico by the island’s Nationalist Party you’ve been writing a lot about this uprising and I think that the — it is a little-known incident in US history or the history of the United States empire but it really remains one of the defining moments in the island of Puerto Rico’s history the events leading up to it are important to understand that in 19—- this is in the post-World War II period as many of the countries that were coming out of World War II were forced by the events of having to win the war to begin granting independence or autonomy to their colonies — England to the Commonwealth to India and all of its other colonies; France to its overseas colonies; and the United States attempted after World War II to claim that Puerto Rico had been granted autonomy but the island is still ruled by the United States and by Congress and is militarily occupied so that the Nationalist Party was part of this anti-colonial movement of the ’40s and ’50s the Nationalists rise up against the United States in a planned insurrection It actually started a couple of nights before when some Puerto Rican police intercept a caravan of Nationalists And the Nationalists immediately decide it’s time to revolt Congress had passed what’s known as Law 600 ordering that the Puerto Rican people have a referendum on a new constitution And that referendum was to take place the following year and voter registration for that referendum was to begin on November 4th and 5th of 1950 So the Nationalists saw this referendum as illegitimate and they began the uprising first with a planned prison uprising in the main prison in Puerto Rico as a hundred inmates broke free from the prison and then with revolts in about eight cities in Puerto Rico That’s why it’s called the Revolt of Jayuya the Puerto Rican government had already adopted a law to muzzle the Nationalists which made it a crime to even advocate independence or the overthrow of US rule in Puerto Rico Two towns were bombed by the National Guard: Jayuya and Utuado The Nationalists attacked the governor’s mansion They burned down a couple of police precincts is that since communication was cut off from the island very few people in the United States knew what was going on A couple of Nationalists in New York City decided to make an armed attack to attempt to assassinate President Truman — Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola — on November 1st went — traveled to Washington and attempted to shoot Truman at the Blair House Oscar Collazo was captured and eventually spent about twenty-five years in prison in terms of being able to achieve Puerto Rican independence And Muñoz Marín tried to play it down as just a few extremists But because of the attempt on Truman’s life mass arrests occurred over the next few days on the island Anybody who had any kind of political leanings toward independence or was seen as a leader was thrown into jail it was impossible for supporters of independence to get jobs in the government It really was an enormous repression and crackdown that occurred in the years following was involved first in a standoff in his own home in San Juan before he was arrested and sent back to prison He had already spent ten years in federal prison for conspiracy to overthrow the American government He’s sent back to prison now and pretty much stayed in prison or in a hospital between 1950 and 1965 So that the revolt failed to achieve Puerto Rican independence there’s still a legacy of that revolt that people really are not aware of The fact is that Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party represented The reality is that today — what are we 112 years after the United States occupied Puerto Rico — the Puerto Rican people still speak Spanish as their language in their public schools even though they are United States citizens they still conduct their courts in the Spanish language and they still have a firm sense of their nationhood and of their existence as a people and there’s still an enormous sense of nationhood in Puerto Rico and even among those who support statehood for the island So I think the legacy of the Nationalists sixty years later is that there’s still a Puerto Rican nation remains a people that see themselves distinct from the colonial power that still rules over the island And I think that that is the biggest — the biggest legacy of the Nationalist Party still to this day even though the revolt has long been forgotten by most people in the United States is a very important history of Latinos in the United States and should be read by everyone I think one of the best histories of this whole period And it is really the legal history of what happened in that period of time We are hiring for an Individual Giving Manager to support our fundraising team Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text Robinson Funeral Home - Powdersville Road Chapel This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors the key to making the finest coffee is sticking to the methods — and even the equipment — that have served his family well for four generations and nearly a century This article was adapted from National Geographic Traveller (UK).“He came here from Palma de Mallorca in the late-19th century and developed a passion for agriculture and coffee,” says the 65-year-old and it’s my responsibility to emulate his passion for high-quality coffee.” Roberto has been working on the farm for the past 45 years, taking over from his father, Alberto. The Hacienda San Pedro plantation sits high up in the leafy valleys of the Jayuya municipality and his team includes his daughter Rebecca who also owns four coffee shops in the island’s capital An ordinary day for Roberto starts at 4am with a cup of black coffee with no sugar He claims that coffee runs in his veins and seeing as he drinks 10 to 12 cups of the stuff every single day from picking and milling of the cherries (the term for the reddish fruit encasing the beans) to the roasting and even the eventual packaging of the coffee a process the Atienzas call “project seed to cup” A coffee that’s velvety and slightly sweeter than most “Although the processing machines have changed [since Don Emeterio’s times] the procedures remain traditional: the coffee is pulped the fermentation process is either natural and the coffee is dried in metal drums or sundried on African beds that were used by my grandfather,” says Roberto who owns four coffee shops in the island's capital San Juan.He pays particular attention to the critical coffee-drying process and often spends nights awake next to the drums waiting for just the right moment He’s even continued the family tradition of giving each and every coffee tree on the plantation its own name When asked what makes Jayuya so well suited to the cultivation of coffee cooler temperatures and rich combination of soils has made Hacienda San Pedro a favourite among locals but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Atienzas Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico and destroyed approximately 90 per cent of the island’s coffee harvest and plantations “It was the beginning of the crop season,” says Roberto “Everything was destroyed within a few hours.” Since then Roberto and his team have been working tirelessly to restore the farm — planting new crops fertilising and rebuilding all that Hurricane Maria took away visitors to the hacienda can tour the fields learn about Puerto Rican coffee at the on-site museum and take home a bag from the hacienda’s shop Despite the temptations to bring in new equipment or machinery Roberto is perfectly happy making coffee the same way it was done almost a century ago You could say he marches to the beat of his own drum from picking and milling of the cherries to the roasting and even the eventual packaging of the coffee Café Cola’o bayside cafe in Old San Juan offers a selection of coffees from small farms dotted around the central mountains of Puerto Rico Don Ruiz Coffee Shop San JuanInside Ballaja courtyard is this coffee shop and museum where you can try not only Puerto Rican coffee but rum Café Tres Picachos JayuyaOne of the island’s oldest haciendas Café Nativo JayuyaSituated on top of a hill in the heart of lush Jayuya Cafe Nativo offers a sublime menu of waffles discoverpuertorico.com Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More there is music and joy felt between people as the nightlife begins both hope and daylight are swallowed up on the steep mountainsides in Jayuya It’s one of the most inaccessible areas on the island Spectrum News’ Erin Murray and the crew she traveled with had to walk the last part of a path to a home they were trying to reach The road ended about a quarter of a mile before the house For six years, Miguel Pagan has lived in small, two-room building. Even before Hurricane Maria Batteries run a radio in the 62 year-old agricultural worker’s home It’s the only source of connection to the outside world He said it is very difficult. His life is dictated by the sun because of the lack of power, and his biggest hope is clear. “Porque me ayuden,” said Pagan — he wants help. A few groups are answering that call for help. One man is helping him get a solar generator too. On the mountaintop, the visit came to an end with a prayer. “Padre en el nombre de Jesus, venimos ante tu presencia nuevamente Miguel, nombre the angle,” said Javier Camacho. As the party begins their walk back down the mountain to the nearest road, Miguel turns off his radio and settles in for the dark night ahead. The group hopes to get Miguel power by the end of May. daughter of the late Emilio and Gloria (Rivera) Maldonado Sonia and her family made the decision to move to Dunkirk in 1994 Sonia worked in the cafeteria for Dunkirk City Schools for many years Survivors include her son Ricard (Kellie) Rivera Maldonado Jr.; Grandchildren Glorimar Preceded in death by her parents Emilio and Gloria (Rivera) Maldonado and her daughter Glorimar Maldonado Rivera Friends and family are welcome to attend Calling Hours on Wednesday where Funeral Services will be held the following day Copyright © 2025 Ogden Newspapers of New York | https://www.observertoday.com | PO Box 391 Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownFuneral Homes In Puerto Rico Say They Have a Lot More Dead People Than The Government Has CountedThe government says it’s conducting a certified count of the dead after Hurricane Maria Funeral home directors told BuzzFeed News they have dozens more bodies An emergency room tent outside the Centro Medico in San Juan in September PUERTO RICO — The Puerto Rican government’s official tally of people who died as a result of Hurricane Maria appears to be widely undercounted Four funeral homes in San Juan said they have dozens of bodies but two said they don’t think the deaths are storm-related Rosselló has said the lack of power — about 95% of the US territory remain without electricity — is hampering communication with the local authorities It could also be that local medical and funeral home officials and residents still wading through the storm’s aftermath are burying the dead without being approached by the state government or without notifying the state government themselves There seems to be confusion in the process for counting the dead Pesquera told reporters that hurricane deaths would need to be certified by the Institute of Forensic Sciences in San Juan to be included in the death toll they send bodies to the institute only when the death appears to be the result of an accident or a crime Rosselló also said he instructed his staff to communicate with hospitals and the institute to update the death toll The funeral directors said the bodies they receive have not necessarily ever passed through a hospital — some come directly from wherever the person died Particularly with the breakdown of transportation and communication infrastructure reaching a hospital may not be possible for some Rosselló’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment Someone inside the Institute of Forensic Sciences on Sunday yelled through the door to contact Rosselló’s office "Deaths and the cause of deaths are declared by local officials who then pass the information to corresponding state or commonwealth government agencies." Herman Alvarez sitting by his father's casket In the mountain municipality of Jayuya, home to around 17,000 people, the Puerto Rican government’s count includes one official death as a result of the hurricane — a man who died after a landslide wiped out his house BuzzFeed News spoke to staff at Jayuya’s funeral homes who said at least 18 people there had died either during the hurricane or as a result of it in the past two weeks sitting in a chair by his father’s open casket A few family and friends filtered in and out of the room died on Wednesday after his oxygen ventilator ran out He had been fighting colon cancer for 10 years Alvarez said they spent the hurricane in a senior citizens’ home where there was a generator — but that it wasn’t really equipped to power anything more than lights outside the building and water started flooding into the building Alvarez relied on generators to keep the machine running but there were times that the power supply cut out I think he had a heart attack or something like that Finally on Wednesday, the supply of oxygen to the machine ran out, and Alvarez was not able to leave his father on his own to get help. Without a working telephone (Jayuya, like 82% of the island, is still without cell phone service as of Sunday) “In Jayuya there isn’t a company that supplies [the oxygen tank] to patients Alvarez said he quit his job 10 years ago to be his father’s caretaker He has two undergraduate degrees and a master’s degree in guidance counseling He said he’ll now try to leave Puerto Rico and find work somewhere else Over time he learned about that business and worked in the countryside all his life,” he said of his father That’s why I looked after him to the very end.” told BuzzFeed News they had received six bodies of people who died since the hurricane because they lacked electricity “Three to four of them were in the hospital in [nearby] Ponce water or oxygen and that affected them,” Rivera said “We understand that almost all these deaths are related to what's happened because we don't have services.” Of the 68 hospitals in Puerto Rico, 66 are open as of Sunday — 25 are operating with full electricity, according to officials said they’d received 12 bodies of people who died of direct or indirect causes from the hurricane: One was the man who is listed on the government death toll and one was a dialysis patient who died after the machine lost power there were a lot of deaths,” said Misael Peris This situation creates uncertainty and anxiety that can kill you Especially for people who already had compromised immune systems.” A doctor at Jayuya’s Mario Canales Torresola Hospital told BuzzFeed News four patients there had died because of a lack of electricity or medicine in their homes — that included people who depended on dialysis machines and ventilators It’s likely that the four bodies at the hospital went to the funeral homes The hospital is running on a diesel generator from the municipality — its own backup generator exploded during the storm The lights are on and medical machinery has power but the generator can’t power air conditioning The town’s coordinator of emergency medicine, Jaime Rodriguez, said his staff of six has been working 16-hour days to try to reach people whose lives are in danger as a result of the fallout of the hurricane — he said diabetics who haven’t been able to keep their insulin refrigerated people here have died because they didn’t have electricity,” Rodriguez said “When we get there they’re deteriorating already.” the official government death toll counts three people — all elderly sisters who died during a landslide The town’s streets are still full of mud and rubble Funeral directors there told BuzzFeed News they’d received 25 bodies of people who have died during the hurricane or afterward of related causes Hospital officials wouldn’t give numbers to BuzzFeed News The Utuado Memorial funeral home also received the bodies of a person who died of pneumonia three who died of septicemia — an infection of the bloodstream — and 14 people who died of heart attacks during or after the storm They also received the three sisters the government counted “The septicemia could have been because of the storm and with the infection it can get bad,” said Olga Sureda Of the 14 people who died of heart attacks “They would have had heart conditions and then the hurricane worsened their condition.” The other funeral home in town that’s open after the storm received four bodies of people who had died of heart attacks his family said there was a loud thunderclap that startled him and he had a heart attack,” said Rys Rivera BuzzFeed News also visited four funeral homes in San Juan where many cases were people who died of heart attacks after the storm At the Villa Nevarez funeral home in San Juan staff said they’d received around 30 bodies of people who had died of heart attacks since the hurricane Another four or five who were older people who died in shelters due to asthma staff said they’d received about 55 bodies since the hurricane They said they could not provide the exact breakdown of those numbers staff said they have received around 40 bodies since the hurricane — mostly people who were already sick and in hospitals before it hit adding they did not think the deaths were related to the hurricane said they’ve been at capacity since the hurricane but that they didn’t think any of those cases were directly or indirectly related to the hurricane an associate professor of clinical medicine at Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute at Tulane University School of Medicine and author of a study that examined a rise in heart attacks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina said heart attacks in the wake of a natural disaster should be counted in the death toll because they are known to spike dramatically after traumatic events He said that in addition to the stress factor people in the aftermath of natural disasters tend to be more focused on trying to survive and rebuild than being diligent about taking medication and looking after their health — even when they have access to medication which many in Puerto Rico currently may not because stress is a known factor for heart attacks,” he said “There’s no way I can say definitively that that’s the cause in each case but there have been so many studies that have looked at high-stress situations in general and heart attacks and it has been shown that there is a spike in heart attacks during these events.” the rate of heart attacks tripled after Hurricane Katrina Due to the added stress and disruption to people’s medical routines and lifestyles This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page “The hurricane has aggravated the island's existing dire situation caused by debt and austerity measures,” the experts said in a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) calling conditions “alarming” for the 3.5 million residents in the US territory There are allegations that the water available ¬–for those who have access to it – may be contaminated,” the experts elaborated we call for a speedy and well-resourced emergency response that prioritizes the most vulnerable and at risk – children The Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights said that “even before Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico's human rights were being massively undermined by the economic and financial crisis and austerity policies The experts maintained that even before the hurricane struck nearly half of Puerto Rico's population were living below the poverty line “We can't fail to note the dissimilar urgency and priority given to the emergency response in Puerto Rico, compared to the US states affected by hurricanes in recent months,” pointed out Leilani Farha, Special Rapporteur on the right to housing with around 90 thousand homes totally destroyed It's the obligation of all levels of government to act to protect them and to ensure that lives can return to some normality quickly People need safe and adequate homes – temporary and long-term – with electricity clean drinking water and sanitation facilities” she stressed The Special Rapporteur on the right to food highlighted: “Hurricane Maria wiped out most of the island's crops Banana and coffee – the Island's most valuable exports – were the hardest hit The population is facing immediate food shortages but also long-term consequences from the destruction of the entire agricultural infrastructure.” “We call on the United States and Puerto Rican authorities to remove regulatory and financial barriers to reconstruction and recovery,” they stated “All reconstruction efforts should be guided by international human rights standards ensuring that people can rebuild where they have lived and close to their communities Reconstruction should aim to increase the resilience of Puerto Rico's infrastructure housing and hospitals against future natural disasters.” They also stressed the need for debt relief for the island which filed for bankruptcy in May 2017 under the Puerto Rico Oversight A federal court in San Juan has begun hearings over the biggest public debt restructuring in US history Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff Jayuya Mayor Jorge González Otero speaks openly he told the top officials in charge of Puerto Rico’s recovery that they should “slash” the contract granted to stateside firm ICF Incorporated Jayuya is the municipality with the most funds available to reconstruct buildings “Those people [ICF Incorporated] don’t do any work they change their minds and instructions every day,” said the mayor affiliated with the opposition Popular Democratic Party about the company’s performance has landed $406 million in contracts with the Puerto Rico Department of Housing and the Central Office of Recovery Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3) to advise and provide administrative consultancy to municipalities and government agencies to get funds Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority Executive Director Omar Marrero flanked by COR3 Executive Director Manuel Laboy Rivera and Housing Secretary William Rodríguez Rodríguez heard the mayor during the meeting to follow up on the needs of the municipality caused by Hurricanes Irma and María González Otero’s other concern is the significant damage to the roads that lead to Jayuya which are the central government’s responsibility Every time he knocked on the doors of the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP in Spanish) and the Highways and Transportation Authority during the previous administration he claims that former secretary Carlos Contreras told him DTOP staff told him they identified 56 sections of the roads that were damaged but the municipal staff filed a report that claims that after carefully inspecting the sites and identifying broken gutters landslides and affected sewers the real number is 115 “No one had told us the truth,” the mayor complained Four years after hurricanes Irma and María González Otero’s complaints gain strength when other mayors say they face similar obstacles which — coupled with the increase in the cost of materials legal lawsuits against insurers for non-compliance and confusion in bureaucratic processes — delay the recovery period Only 1% of the funds obligated by FEMA for permanent work projects have been disbursed according to an analysis by the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI in Spanish) of the data published on the COR3 website FEMA had obligated $19 billion for permanent works COR3 disbursed $217 million of that amount among municipalities Puerto Rico was allocated $62 billion in recovery funds from FEMA the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) The biggest amounts are split among three areas: FEMA’s Public Assistance programs and disaster recovery and mitigation grants Puerto Rico has spent $333 million of the $9.7 billion allocated from CDBG-DR funds according to HUD data through the end of July None of the $8.2 billion of HUD’s mitigation funding has been spent Section 428 of the Stafford Act still hindering After three and a half years of dealing with COR3 and FEMA New Progressive Party mayor of Canóvanas announced in May her first project using recovery funds: improvements to the Cubuy neighborhood basketball court at the basketball court in the Cubuy neighborhood Photo by Vanessa Colón Almenas | Center for Investigative Journalism Proposals to begin work on other Canóvanas projects exceeds FEMA-approved funding for her municipality More than two projects in Canóvanas exceeded the awarded costs Spiking prices in the cost of construction materials and FEMA’s delay in awarding projects affected current construction costs Guaynabo Mayor Angel Pérez Otero pointed out that materials such as wood and rebar increased between 25% and 30% in the market A five-eighths-inch slotted wood panel that used to cost between $16 and $17 is now at $59 Funds for major permanent works in Puerto Rico — costing more than $123,100 — are authorized by sections 406 and 428 of the Stafford Act FEMA allocates money based on actual costs while under 428 it allocates money based on fixed cost estimates Critical facilities are those that provide electricity Section 428 states that if costs increase after estimates are approved municipal governments are responsible for the extra expenses incurred Soto Villanueva said FEMA should recognize the actual construction costs and not the estimated fixed costs awarded “Projects under 428 should be changed to 406,” she stressed The Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator for Puerto Rico He asked the mayors to show him the cases with increases “I haven’t seen a significant case yet,” he said Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator for Puerto Rico Photo by Gabriel López Albarrán | Center for Investigative Journalism and confusion over federal processes delayed the development of permanent work projects after María as five mayors told the CPI in separate interviews This was compounded by austerity measures imposed by the Fiscal Control Board the effect of the earthquakes in early January 2020 A project using Section 406 funds will be built based on its pre-disaster usage and occupancy capacity while a facility under 428 can be built to its pre-existing condition the funds can be used for improved projects opted for section 428 for all its projects except those that were in historic areas and the culverts (or projects that allow drainages access to communities and the fishing docks) director of reconstruction projects in Salinas They told us it would be faster [via 428],” said Salinas Mayor Karilyn Bonilla Colón The decision was made after an orientation provided by COR3 and FEMA staff in 2019 if there is money left over after the project is completed the municipalities don’t have to return it to FEMA paying insurance policies and salaries of authorized personnel Figueroa Díaz explained that FEMA is reclassifying some Salinas projects as small (less than $123,100) “It’s pulling them from the [Section] 428 funding pool,” which reduces the chances of transferring money among those projects the federal government established that all projects in Puerto Rico costing more than $123,100 would be developed under the alternative procedures of Section 428 FEMA announced that it was optional in large projects that were not critical Mayors had until March 6, 2020, to choose which section they would use in the projects they had not yet submitted. Three weeks ago, COR3 Executive Director Laboy Rivera offered an orientation session to mayors on the advantages and disadvantages of sections 428 and 406 The new deadline for submitting projects is Dec “A lot of misinformation about 428 was cleared up,” said Baquero Tirado who participated in the orientation also open to heads of government agencies and representatives of nonprofit organizations The mayor of Canóvanas said she is sticking to her decision to change [Section] 428 projects to 406 “The reality is that projects that are already obligated are already obligated by 406 or 428,” said Baquero Tirado There are mayors who want to keep their projects under 428 It is yet unclear what will happen to those projects that are not obligated by the end of this year whether they will be managed under 406 or 428 FEMA has what is known as a 19-step project formulation process the mayors refer to this process as the “snake,” since the design of its graphic looks like one COR3 had an eight-stage process that could take an average of 240 days (to complete) The two processes “are scary anacondas,” the mayor of Guaynabo told the CPI His comment is a sample of the federal bureaucracy that they have had to deal with to seek monetary allocations.  documents had to be submitted through one computer program to FEMA and because the systems did not communicate [with each other] How’s it possible that they bought two different systems?” said Pérez Otero This situation took more than a year to resolve There was a group of people who were there for two or three months and then a new group from FEMA would come It meant starting over,” the Guaynabo mayor said.  FEMA has 1,008 employees to work with the María and earthquakes efforts the process was delayed because FEMA wanted proof that the damage was caused by the hurricanes and not due to lack of maintenance Some agencies had documentation; others didn’t because they had lost it during the hurricane or because in fact said he told FEMA that “unfortunately” they could not provide maintenance reports because “that doesn’t happen in the government FEMA warned the government and mayors that “they would give the money They cannot decide not to insure it from now on because FEMA won’t cover [in a future disaster],” Pérez Otero admitted FEMA had to review and approve each petition before COR3 made the disbursement Marrero announced an agreement between FEMA and the government of Puerto Rico that included the elimination of the manual reimbursement process The agreement included “new restrictions,” because to get reimbursements 100% validation that the work had been completed and the evaluation of compliance would be required cash advances would be limited to minimal amounts Laboy asked FEMA to eliminate that agreement the average before was 240 days for disbursements Although COR3 has adjusted streamline disbursements and advances the mayors are on a crusade to amend or eliminate the requirements that still hinder the process Federal Coordinator Baquero Tirado told the CPI that the decision will be made after receiving the results of a 2019 audit that he hopes will be ready this month Vanessa Colón Almenas is a corps member of Report For America Maria: The Money Trail is a project of the Center for Investigative Journalism focused on putting the spotlight on the recovery process in Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and María in 2017 This initiative is possible with the support of the Puerto Rico Foundations Network Si tiene una solicitud de investigación, queja, aclaración, ‘orejita’, prueba, inquietud, u observación sobre alguna información publicada por el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, escriba al correo electrónico [email protected] El CPI reconoce que el requisito fundamental para una verdadera democracia es que la ciudadanía esté bien informada y que existan entidades independientes con la capacidad de fiscalizar los poderes que accionan en la sociedad This work, Servicemembers clinicians training in Puerto Rico this week providing no-cost medical care, by MSgt Amy Lovgren, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. whereby the group would demonstrate to US leaders the unsustainability of maintaining a colony Blanca Canales was a student at the University of Puerto Rico. After she attended a talk by Nationalist Party leader Pedro Albizu Campos, she decided to join the party bore witness to the island’s transition from Spanish colonization to occupation by the United States and viewed the Nationalist Party as a viable path to a Puerto Rico liberated from subjugation Back in 1898, after the Spanish-American War, the United States obtained control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Since then, Puerto Rico has been recognized as an unincorporated territory of the US with commonwealth status. Early in the island's occupation, the US established a military government and eventually introduced the eight-hour workday for government employees The US occupation of the island signaled the start of a new struggle for liberation. At the forefront of this fight was the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, which was founded on September 17, 1922, and famously led by Albizu Campos the organization's primary goal was to gain independence for the island Albizu Campos and other members of the Nationalist Party viewed independence gained through armed occupation as the only way to change the island’s political and economic status To remain a colony would mean limited autonomy The objective of independence became Albizu Campos’s life mission when Lolita Lebron was the only woman to participate Today many of the roles and contributions of women have been overlooked and their names forgotten They taught themselves and others how to use firearms they had stockpiled on Canales’ farm not knowing when the time would come for them to stage a confrontation the government was tipped off to the party's plans and conducted a series of raids and arrests Canales realized the confrontation they had been preparing for was no longer an abstract future date but something they had to face now and an independent Puerto Rico would be tested Members of Puerto Rico's National Guard are shown surrounding the Jayuya home of Blanca Canales alleged leader of the Nationalist Party in that area reportedly the site where the plot to assassinate President Truman was hatched Blanca Canales was taken into custody by the National Guard in the roundup of Nationalists on the island This law was another instance in which the United States wielded its control over the island and forced acculturation Canales took the Puerto Rican flag off the wall and asked the other members to pledge allegiance to it and the liberty of the island a nod to both the flag’s importance in previous protests and its illegality waving it a few times as she declared Puerto Rico to be a free republic a subversive act that rejected the Gag Law and the governmental control of the United States and the island Canales’ comrade Carlos Irizarry was shot in the chest and because she had been responsible for transportation she passed her revolver to an associate and did the same with the flag she was charged by San Juan’s District Court with conspiring to overthrow the government and by the United States Federal Court with conspiracy to destroy federal property Canales maintained her innocence regarding the fires and other charges but the district attorneys insisted she had been the mastermind Her imprisonment mirrors the experiences of other Nationalist Party members and organizations who fight for liberation and rights In many ways, the actions and organizing of the Nationalist Party functioned in parallel to those of the Civil Rights Movement Though the Civil Rights Movement was largely nonviolent both groups were fighting for the right to exist in a society that incessantly withheld rights and liberty and members of both groups organized protests in which they used their bodies to occupy space central to their subordinate positions They understood the potential danger of their political acts but also recognized that without direct action racial minorities were still subjected to disenfranchisement Puerto Ricans didn’t possess the authority to produce their own constitution let alone choose who would fill administrative roles such as governor a museum where each room in the house is dedicated to a member of the Canales family and visitors can see some original furniture and objects owned by the family Though Canales and her comrades were not successful in attaining independence for Puerto Rico their actions remain a symbol of the sacrifices many have made over the last hundred years Puerto Rico's Nationalist Party is relatively less active today but Puerto Ricans continue to follow the path of Canales fighting for a future in which the island is finally freed from its colonialist shackles Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take 6 of the Most Famous Cults in U.S. History This Deadly Georgia Lake Holds Secrets About U.S. History Helen Keller’s Legacy Has Been Sanitized Why We’re Still So Obsessed With the Salem Witch Trials A Brief Timeline of How Women Won the Vote in the U.S. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownThese Are Some Of The Forgotten Villages Of Puerto Rico Where Food Is A 90-Minute Walk Away“I want them to take us into account That people live here,” one woman said of her town despite statements of President Trump and state officials Puerto Rico — For nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico was trapped on the mountain road where he and a dozen other families live he was able to leave and reach the outside world for the first time since Sept “There’s no light or water or anything,” he said about his town “We’re missing these things but the most important thing is that we can leave and go get things now.” He’s been making the hour-and-a-half journey on foot from Hoyos Planes to the nearby town of Jayuya every day because the roads are not passable by car In one precarious section of the hilly path out half of the road has collapsed into the Caonillas River below The pathways outside their homes were also blocked by debris until he and his neighbors started cutting the trees the town at the center of the municipality of the same name and services that people in the outlying areas need part of the US territory whose residents are US citizens areas in the middle of the US territory are struggling daily for necessities The villages of Hoyos Planes and Caonillas — which have about a dozen homes half of which were empty because people left before the storm — sit on the outskirts of the municipality of Utuado just over the line from the municipality next door Residents told BuzzFeed News that they are regularly neglected by the municipality they technically belong to which doesn’t take responsibility for them On Sunday, FEMA’s federal coordinating officer in Puerto Rico, Alejandro De La Campa, told reporters all 78 municipalities — think of a county in a US state — on the island had been reached by the central government but acknowledged that some of the more remote communities have still not been reached In Hoyos Planes and the small communities surrounding it Approaching the portion of the road that crumbles down into the river on Wednesday right at the border of Utuado and Hoyos Planes an emergency responder with the municipality of Jayuya turned back “That’s out of our jurisdiction,” he told BuzzFeed News locals said no one had arrived in the village since the storm — this BuzzFeed News reporter was the first outsider to show up has cleared the roads further up from the village “You are the first people to reach up to here,” said Jose His home was partially flooded after the storm took part of the roof had been struggling to find work even before the hurricane hit She lives in the two-story house their grandparents built — but the top level of the house is now completely exposed the roof and walls stripped bare by the hurricane winds “It makes me a little emotional to see it like this,” she said it has sentimental value.” On the bottom level where she and her 17-year-old son Josue live now and parts of the ceiling bulge ominously from the weight of the water on the floor above Josue was sweeping the water off the top level of their home while she cleaned the bottom floor as best she could Her neighbor — the only other one remaining on this stretch of road — is Suzanne Jorgensen “The coffee farm is how I made my living," she said She’s been living in Hoyos Planes for 30 years She said she was with a friend who lives a little higher up the mountain during the hurricane and I thought for sure I was going to die,” she said about an hours’ walk from Jorgensen’s house on a muddy path that’s now covered in fallen branches and rocks three families have been taking shelter in one home in the community of Caonillas has been walking three hours each way to the town of Utuado the main town in the municipality of the same name who has severe asthma and a disability that prevents him from walking without crutches The town of Utuado’s historic central plaza is surrounded by shops pharmacies and supermarkets — some of which have reopened after the storm Some 33,000 people live in the broader municipality She said a federal emergency rescue team arrived in a helicopter and landed near them 10 days after the storm bringing some emergency medical supplies for her husband but he told BuzzFeed News he refused because he didn’t want to leave his family “I didn’t want to leave them all here,” Mercado said They have seen a few other helicopters land in the surrounding area but they were too far away for anyone in the community to reach them before they take off again “Help is going to certain points,” Ramos said They go down there or up there to drop help The families staying here have been surviving off mostly canned food and water from the mountain Ramos has lived here on the banks of the Caonillas River all her life “Jayuya sent a machine to clear some paths but I think they’re already gone and they didn’t come down here,” she said “These five homes are in the worst area there is We can’t communicate with anybody and when we leave we have to take whatever road we can because as you saw everything has collapsed here She said that even if she reaches one of the two towns nearby because supplies are running low at pharmacies and supermarkets in both towns “We have problems in the supermarket because they’re not taking cards and we don’t have cash They said the one in Utuado was open so we went there Ramos said the most important thing the families need right now is food for the children She says the rescue team that came through in a helicopter promised they would send a doctor for her husband on Wednesday In another house nestled right on the edge of the riverbank another family is waiting for a way out to be cleared They’ve been able to leave on foot to get supplies for the past few days her main concern was that she couldn’t communicate with her son in Arecibo A few days ago she was able to get a message to him through friends in nearby towns She also has a 59-year-old family member living with her who has a mental illness that prevents her from leaving the house The Red Cross came and offered to airlift her out but she’s house-bound and Yderedia is not sure she’d make it “She can’t really leave her room,” she said But what worries Yderedia is that the coffee and fruit farm that the family depends on was destroyed but she’s not sure how long it will take to recover the money She said many in this area depend on agriculture “It makes me wonder what we’re going to do.” Gisela Rodriguez and David Medina grew up in a picturesque mountain city in central Puerto Rico Jayuya is home to about 16,000 people many of them farmers living in weather-vulnerable Many of their homes still remain roofless almost one year after Hurricane Maria's 155-mph winds plowed through the island "The devastation is depressing there," said Rodriguez She and Medina estimate more than 300 Jayuya houses are still covered with blue tarps awaiting repairs The couple raised more than $40,000 in monetary donations through their nonprofit and gathered more than $200,000 worth of equipment machinery and aluminum Galvalume metal to replace roofs there Along with nine other Tallahasseeans from different relief organizations including Habitat for Humanity the team helped train workers in Puerto Rico to rebuild metal roofs The team built three roofs to help demonstrate the method to the trainees Progress was often slowed by the lack of reliable electricity "We were doing a roof last week and these people had no power so we had to bring a generator to run the nail guns and compressors," Medina said More: Local Puerto Ricans mourn destroyed neighborhoods back home The amount of material delivered was enough for about 250 roofs Seeing the videos the locals have been sending her of their roofs being rebuilt brought tears to Rodriguez's eyes And just the thought that the foundation was able to give this to the town.. I cannot put into words how amazing this feels the family celebrated the five-year anniversary of the Giselle Marie Foundation named after their daughter who received a bone marrow transplant on July 18 2013. The then 6-year-old girl was suffering from a hemoglobin disorder It’s why they started the non-profit which provides financial relief and housing help for local families the help is for those suffering in Puerto Rico "The need is so great — we can't really be overwhelmed by everything We have to take projects one step at a time," Rodriguez said "This was monumentally difficult to put together." To donate, visit gisellemariefoundation.com Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_ Puerto Rico — People who visit a local community center here for bottled water or hot coffee often break down crying or shaking uncontrollably.  a community organizer who lost her home to Hurricane Maria seven weeks ago often cries at home before heading to the center to help others. When members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency first showed up a few weeks ago with pallets of water “There’s a lot of suffering right now.”   People in this storm-ravaged mountain town still need water But increasingly they also need help managing the anxiety and trauma that have seeped into their lives since Maria tore through here Sept The storm destroyed 157 homes in Vazquez's neighborhood alone More: Puerto Ricans remain in survival mode 7 weeks after Hurricane Maria More: Puerto Rican musical family helps neighbors where federal aid lags after Maria More: Maria's smallest victims: In Puerto Rico, children's mental health a growing concern Dealing with the long-term mental trauma of Puerto Ricans in the wake of Maria is becoming a growing concern for disaster officials in the island’s recovery destroyed thousands of homes and left remote mountain towns like Jayuya even more cut off from the rest of the world More than half of the island still doesn't have power and around 10% don't have clean running water.  Stress often sets in as storm survivors transition from securing basic needs to longer-term thoughts of where to live and how to rebuild their homes director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health "People are extremely vulnerable right now" in Puerto Rico "Virtually everyone needs some assistance to get through this." To help people in harder-to-reach communities officials at Ponce Health Sciences University in nearby Ponce began deploying teams of doctors psychologists and public health specialists into the mountains days after the storm. The private medical university has taken a leading role in recovery in the area and the teams have seen more than 6,000 patients since the storm.  administrators and university students drove more than an hour through winding mountain roads still being cleared of storm debris and mudslides to reach the community center in the Mameyes neighborhood of Jayuya The area has been without power or water since Maria stacks of bottled water and untouched military Meals Ready to Eat sat at one end of the darkened building. At the other a team of public health students urged locals to wear long pants and close-toed shoes if wading into a river to wash clothes or add a few drops of unscented Clorox to water before drinking.  university workers checked locals' blood pressure and noted medical histories then added a few extra questions: Are you sad Those with signs of anxiety or stress were directed to a psychologist in the rear of the center.  Helping locals overcome stress and trauma has become a key function of the school's role in recovery vice president of research at the university.  People need to have the mental health in order to regain some semblance of normalcy," she said "If you don’t get a grip on acute stress that could spiral into other things that could become potentially incapacitating We need to have a way to impact and help these people regain some hope." visited the Jayuya center to treat debilitating back pain but was also hoping to talk to someone about the stress of losing her home who along with her 13-year-old son moved in with her parents after the storm "Each time (we) talk about this subject You could see everything you had and now you have nothing." some members of the team drove further up the mountain to visit the family of Hector Vargas Vargas and his brother lost their homes during Maria and the entire extended family — all 11 members — moved into a half-built home they were in the process of building for their elderly mother with a zinc roof and unplastered walls that leak during rainstorms A strong mudslide could wipe the home off its mountaintop perch and send it crashing to the valley below They desperately need help fixing the more permanent homes battered by Maria The mental stress of living in such close and unsafe quarters is wearing on the family Vargas and his brother applied for FEMA aid about a month ago but haven't heard from the federal agency "We’re waiting to see if they can lend us a hand," he said Follow Jervis on Twitter: @MrRJervis.  Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development has awarded $125,100,000 million in disaster assistance funds to the municipalities of Cabo Rojo to repair damages to their municipal solid waste landfills caused by Hurricanes Irma USDA Rural Development State Director for Puerto Rico “USDA’s investments will ensure that Puerto Rico can withstand future natural disasters and support a thriving and sustainable economy,” said Trujillo-Ortega “These projects will also address environmental and health concerns and place the landfills in compliance with federal and state statutes and regulations including the resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Sanitary Landfill System Regulation of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER).” The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is funding dozens of projects to improve … Funding for the projects come from $163.4 million supplemental grant funding appropriated by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 for repairs to water and solid waste systems impacted by Hurricanes Harvey $102.9 million were allocated to repair and rebuild Puerto Rico’s hurricane-damage landfills and the remaining were obligated for water systems repair projects for the Puerto Rico Sewer and Aqueduct Authority (PRASA) and non-PRASA community water systems • Cabo Rojo received $3.9 million to build new cell in the land field • Guayama received $28.4 million to construct a cell relocate a culvert and establish a recycling and bale and wrap facility • Jayuya received $29.6 million to close a cell build a new cell and establish a recycling and bale and wrap facility Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack anno… • Juncos received $23.6 million to close a cell and construct three • Lajas received $17.2 million to close two cells Guayama also received $11.1 million under the 2022 Disaster Water Grants Program to close a cell appropriated under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023 helps communities repair damages caused by presidential declared disasters during 2022 To adopt a public policy that promotes practices to minimize the human footprint on the environment Email notifications are only sent once a day Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: 2017 at 8:18 pm ET.css-79elbk{position:relative;}CAMBRIDGE MA - Cambridge City Councilors on Monday unanimously voted to pass a new policy order which would establish a Sister City partnership with the cities of Coamo written by Former Vice Mayor Dennis Benzan and resident Melissa Colon will allow Cambridge to "strategically increase opportunities and pathways for collaboration and aid to these municipalities that have such deep ties to the city." Spokesperson for Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons and several City staffers will soon meet to discuss who will be responsible for reaching out to the cities that Cambridge is looking to work with (Subscribe to Cambridge Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.) Cambridge officials on Monday raised the Puerto Rican flag at City Hall / Courtesy Photo by Neal Alpert for the Mayor's Office "They will also be looking at options about how to determine what form our assistance will look like," he said prior to the Cambridge City Council meeting a few dozens of residents gathered at City Hall as Simmons addressed the need to help Puerto Rico Katherine Kelly and City Councilors Tim Toomey and Jan Devereux "This is the first step of towards a sustained relief effort," she said "I want to thank Dennis and all of you who have aided in this tremendous effort." a co-sponsor of the policy order alongside Mayor Simmons said the order underlined the inefficiency and lack of planning by the federal administration in regards to Puerto Rico here we are as a local government having to take action because of the ineffectiveness of the President," he said "It's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last." McGovern said the order would allow for Cambridge to support the selected cities and establish a relationship with them "There's a process to this and it doesn't happen overnight but this will bring attention to the issue and hopefully streamline support to Puerto Rico," he said "Some of that maybe trying to raise funds but certainly looking at how we can offer supplies as well." Elizabeth Rosa-Cologne is Puerto Rican and grew up in Cambridge and heard about the gathering on Facebook but we have cousin we haven't heard from and an uncle that died," she said Rosa said she was proud to hear that the policy order was under consideration "I'm from Cambridge so it means a lot," she said "Puerto Rico is in a state of crisis and it's important to see the city doing something." A small crowd gathered in front of Cambridge City Hall on Monday / Photo by Dana Forsythe Nicole dePaz is a pediatric resident physician at MGH and a Cambridge resident stopped by the rally to voice her support which has been selected by this sister city policy," she said "It's a mountain town and it's one of the towns that's been hit pretty hard." dePaz said she hopes the policy order will help speed up the delivery of aid to the inner parts of Puerto Rico Courtesy Photo by Neal Alpert for Mayor Denise Simmons Office Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Will support 50 students in Barceloneta and Jayuya Kinesis Foundation received a $100,000 donation from the biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Puerto Rico to support students of economic limitations with academic excellence The agreement between both entities will have an impact on students from 10th to 12th grade in Barceloneta and Jayuya This donation will support 50 students: 25 in Barceloneta and 25 in Jayuya Serving 50 students in university access clubs is under consideration Students participating the Bright Stars Program will receive the following services from Kinesis Foundation in a phased approach: Personal and career counseling technology certifications as a Microsoft Office specialist counseling on financial aid for college and college scholarship applications counseling in the college admissions process preparation and reinforcement for standardized college admissions tests academic strengthening in the English and Mathematics subjects and personal development with Leadership and Public Speaking certifications “We are very pleased with AbbVie's faithful commitment to education and to Puerto Rican students Since 2014 we have counted on their support we have continued to add positive stories in the lives of the students we serve we have managed to expand Kinesis programs to improve education in the municipalities of Barceloneta and Jayuya making it possible for students to receive the best academic training in an accessible way” You are enjoying stories from the Indianz.Com Archive Some outgoing links may no longer work due to age Arts & Entertainment Federal Recognition Indian Gaming Jack Abramoff Scandal Phone: 202 630 8439 (THEZ) | Email: indianz@indianz.com