We are appalled that elected representatives of the Puerto Rico statehood party and affiliated groups are teaming up with the Heritage Foundation.
PUERTO RICO’S DEBT NEEDS TO BE CANCELLED, RESERVE FUNDS USED TO HELP EARTHQUAKE/HURRICANE VICTIMS, NOT WALL STREET
Jan. 23, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Power 4 Puerto Rico Coalition reiterated its call for Puerto Rico’s debt to be discharged, and for billions in reserve funds meant to pay down the island’s debt to instead be used to rebuild homes and provide shelter for tens of thousands of earthquake and hurricane victims whose homes and communities were destroyed by a series of natural disasters starting in 2017. The diaspora based coalition also called on the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB or the “Junta”) imposed by Congress on the island to authorize the use of billions of dollars it forced the Commonwealth to set aside to pay down Puerto Rico’s public debts to help the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria and the recent earthquakes that have rocked the island.
POWER 4 PUERTO RICO ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TREATMENT OF PUERTO RICANS
“President Trump has made clear that the safety and lives of Puerto Ricans do not matter to him nor his administration. He has reportedly and repeatedly expressed that the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico are somehow receiving ‘too much’ money for food, resiliency and recovery. This is outrageous considering the well documented damage, estimates and predicament of Puerto Rico and the thousands of families displaced after Hurricanes Irma and Maria,” said Power 4 Puerto Rico Director Erica Gonzalez. “This is also outrageous given that this month, 1 million Puerto Ricans' emergency nutritional assistance was cut and poor and elderly Island residents are literally struggling to put food on the table while some patients have had to sit in soiled diapers. Now, the President is falsely claiming that no one has taken better care of Puerto Rico than him.”