In January this year an earthquake (6.4 on the Richter scale) hit Puerto Rico. Damage occurred in many places in Puerto Rico. Strong aftershocks have continued. One of the buildings damaged was a warehouse. In that building were literally tons of emergency relief aid from Hurricane Maria (2017).
Thousands of pallets, double and triple stacked, of key and essential emergency supplies are present. Bottled water, shelf-stable food, diapers, baby formula, blankets, tarps, tents, propane grills, propane, emergency lights, batteries, flashlights, emergency radios, potable water cans and much, much more.
There is serious money at play here.
The finding of the warehouse upset many in Puerto Rico already angry over their government’s botched response to Hurricane Maria. On Saturday the governor fired the emergency relief director.
(VIA CBS) Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez fired the island’s emergency management director on Saturday, after a video showing aid sitting unused in a warehouse went viral on social media. Some of the aid has allegedly been sitting in the warehouse since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017.
“There are thousands of people who have made sacrifices to help those in the south, and it is unforgivable that resources were kept in the warehouse,” Vázquez said in a statement.
She has ordered Secretary of State Elmer Roman to conduct a “thorough investigation into the mishandling of emergency aid in a warehouse in Ponce,” CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reports.
“I have given 48 hours for this investigation. The investigation is to include this warehouse and any others which may exist,” her statement read. “In the same vein, I have decided to relieve Carlos Acevedo of his duties as the commissioner of the National Emergency Management and Disaster Relief Agency.”
Vázquez said she would nominate the current Puerto Rican National Guard chief for Senate consideration to replace Acevedo. (read more)
On Sunday Gov. Wanda Vázquez also fired the heads of Puerto Rico’s housing and family departments over the emergency supplies scandal.
It is difficult to adequately describe the amount of supplies present here that remain undistributed since 2017. That these supplies would be a godsend to those still living out of doors is an understatement. See the video below for a brief tour of the facility.
The finding of the warehouse vindicates PDJT, who has long blasted island leadership for their poor planning in the aftermath of the 2017 hurricane. He tweeted in April: ‘So many wonderful people, but with such bad Island leadership and with so much money wasted.’
Charges of incompetence and fraud against the Democrats running Puerto Rico have been omnipresent since Hurricane Maria. It is truly amazing how often PDJT gets proven correct over and over again.
Corruption in Puerto Rico was legendary before the hurricanes hit. In some circles the level of corruption was compared to the Ukraine, formerly one of the most corrupt countries on the planet.
For government officials to try to say they knew nothing about this warehouse and what was inside is ludicrous. The warehouse is owned by the government of Puerto Rico, through a government-run ‘public corporation’ called the Puerto Rico Trade and Export Company. The government-owned company is headquartered at the south end of the *SAME* warehouse parking lot.
Hat Tip…CTH
Puerto Rico’s people have become incensed with the ongoing corruption on the island. During 2019 tens of thousands of people protested. This eventually led to the resignation of the governor. Supposedly this was because of some controversial text messages. However, the people on the island are just fed up with the endemic corruption.
$48 Billion is available to Puerto Rico in emergency relief aid. Congress has appropriated another $43 billion in supplemental aid. Recently another $8.2 Billion was authorized. The Democrats there pretty much wanted the money to be made available without documenting how it would be used. Of course, this would just be an invitation to a money laundering operation like what appears to have been going on in Ukraine during the Obama administration.
It is interesting to note that Natalie Jaresko, who served as Ukraine’s Minister of Finance from December 2014 until April 2016, is now executive director of the Financial Oversight & Management Board for Puerto Rico. Coincidence?
This article is another thread in that corruption timeline.
These people need to be investigated. Whoops! How silly of me. I forgot they were Democrats. Each has just thrown their hat in the ring for the 2024 presidential election and therefore, cannot be investigated. I believe this is known as the “Biden rule.” (sarc)
The Democrats tried to advance the narrative that Hurricane Maria was going to be Trump’s Katrina. Instead we now see it was the corrupt Democrat officials in Puerto Rico who stashed the goods away from the pubic eye in order to condemn Trump.
How many times does the U.S taxpayer have to get burned in these disaster relief scams that always seem to occur. Not only is the taxpayer ripped off but, the lack of aid being distributed to the victims is used as a political hammer against conservatives and conservative presidents. It’s a double slap in the face.
The current administration is requiring documentation. This has led to charges from the political elites in Puerto Rico that PDJT hates the people of Puerto Rico. Wrong! What he hates is the scheming and fleecing of Americans to line the pockets of corrupt politicians.
Sundance over at CTH notes,
As Sundance has said, Get the help to the people who need it.
Oh and BTW does all this have anything to do with Preet Bharara and Chuck Schumer? Initially Bharara was kept on by PDJT as head of the SDNY office of the DOJ at Senator Schumer’s request. Later PDJT fired him. Was that because of this case? Does this tie into the warehouse scandal in any way? Is this why the Puerto Rican governor wants a quick determination of blame so as to get it out of the news cycle?