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Speaker 1: to audience at latinousa dot org. That's audience at latinousa

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Speaker 1: dot org. We'll be listening to all of your voice

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Speaker 1: memos and your question might be featured on an upcoming episode.

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Speaker 1: Yess yes. So this month we're bringing you episodes of

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Speaker 1: La Brega. It's a special seven part mini series presented

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Speaker 1: by Latino USA and WNYC Studios about the Puerto Rican experience.

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Speaker 1: Today's episode viyekis and the promise to build back better

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Speaker 1: And if you'd like to hear any of the episodes

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Speaker 1: in Espanol, visit the La bregafed wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your podcasts Now, I'm handing it off to WNYC's Alana

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Speaker 1: Casanova Birges.

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Speaker 2: Thirteen days after Maria, a group of people affected by

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Speaker 2: the hurricane met at the Calvary Chapel. That's a church

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Speaker 2: in Guennabo, Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of loom the room.

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Speaker 2: President Trump was there visiting the island to assess the

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Speaker 2: hurricane damage. He stopped at the church and it was

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Speaker 2: in that visit that he did something a lot of

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Speaker 2: Puerto Ricans will never forget. He started throwing rolls of

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Speaker 2: paper towels towards the hurricane victims.

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Speaker 4: Great people.

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Speaker 5: It was, let's say, a controversial act, throwing paper towels

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Speaker 5: at the victims of the hurricane like it was a game.

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Speaker 4: I've never seen anything like that before.

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Speaker 6: You're supposed to be helping victims of a hurricane.

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Speaker 7: So he's like, there's a lot of love for me here,

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Speaker 7: right hey, through paper towsand people.

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Speaker 3: People loved it.

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Speaker 7: To kick federal citizens when they are down is shameful.

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Speaker 2: At the time, thousands were homeless and millions were without electricity.

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Speaker 2: It was an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and for many this

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Speaker 2: act by the president was deeply offensive.

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Speaker 8: Mister Trump also appeared to criticize the US territory for

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Speaker 8: their more than seventy billion dollar debt.

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Speaker 9: I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you've thrown

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Speaker 9: our budget a little out of whack.

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Speaker 2: The President made these kinds of remarks in public, but

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Speaker 2: in private, his advisers were having meetings with then Governor

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Speaker 2: Ricardo rossell Nevares and his team.

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Speaker 10: ELDA President, This.

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Speaker 2: Is Carlos Mercader, former director of the Puerto Rico Federal

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Speaker 2: Affairs Administration in Washington. In other words, he was Rosello's

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Speaker 2: point man on Capitol Hill. Mercader says that the day

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Speaker 2: after Trump's visit to the church, the Governor's team was

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Speaker 2: summoned to the White House. He says they were brought

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Speaker 2: to the Situation.

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Speaker 10: Room bonker Ki Blank West Wing.

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Speaker 2: A kind of bunker in the West Wing where military

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Speaker 2: decisions are made and crises are dealt with. Vice President

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Speaker 2: Mike Pence was at the head of the table, surrounded

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Speaker 2: by various FEMA representatives, all looking at maps.

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Speaker 10: Of Puerto Rico I and Fort President.

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Speaker 2: The atmosphere was tense, Mercader said, because the FEMA administrator

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Speaker 2: was defending the hurricane response, and the governor told him

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Speaker 2: in front of the Vice President that what they were

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Speaker 2: doing was failing. Later, Rosello's team met with more heads

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Speaker 2: of federal agencies. It was during this meeting that something

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Speaker 2: unexpected happened. The director of the Office of Management and

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Speaker 2: Budget at that time, Mick mulvaney, told them that President

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Speaker 2: Trump wanted to meet in person.

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Speaker 10: Governor Carlos Lodos.

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Speaker 2: And without knowing what to expect, they were shuffled directly

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Speaker 2: into the Oval office. Mercado says they actually bumped about

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Speaker 2: five or seven other federal agency heads that were waiting

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Speaker 2: to meet with Trump. The President entered the room, the

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Speaker 2: governor and his staff thought this would maybe just be

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Speaker 2: a photo op, something quick in a momento, and then

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Speaker 2: Trump told the governor, you know what, I want to

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Speaker 2: do a press conference with you. It was a total surprise,

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Speaker 2: something that was never on the agenda. In fact, the

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Speaker 2: administration had told them that Trump was too busy to meet.

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Speaker 4: They associate.

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Speaker 2: The President got out of his chair and walked to.

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Speaker 10: A cabinet.

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Speaker 2: Filled with cans of aerosol hairspray. He sprayed his hair

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Speaker 2: and with a very serious demeanor, looked back at Mercader.

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Speaker 10: And said, Carlos, you go there.

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Speaker 2: The White House Press Corps then filled the room.

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Speaker 7: Thank you very much.

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Speaker 9: It's great to have the governor of Puerto Rico with us.

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Speaker 9: We have gotten to know each other extremely well over

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Speaker 9: the last couple of weeks, and I can tell you

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Speaker 9: are a hard working governor. It's a tough situation, so

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Speaker 9: much has to be rebuilt, even from before. With that

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Speaker 9: being said, I think we've done a really great job.

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Speaker 2: In the recording, you can see a governor caught between

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Speaker 2: making the president feel comfortable and the need to communicate

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Speaker 2: the dire situation in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 8: Thank you, mister President. Thank you for setting this opportunity.

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Speaker 8: It's a catastrophic situation in Puerto Rico, as you know,

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Speaker 8: but certainly, working in a united front, we are going

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Speaker 8: to be We know we're going to build better than

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Speaker 8: before and today it's an example.

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Speaker 2: An example. That's how rose Yo described the work that

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Speaker 2: his government was undergoing alongside Trump's administration, an example of

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Speaker 2: working together to rebuild Puerto Rico, build back better. That

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Speaker 2: was the slogan of the promised reconstruction From WNYC and

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Speaker 2: Futuro Studios. This is La Vega. I'm Alana Casanova Burgess

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Speaker 2: and in this episode, the historic agreement that was supposed

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Speaker 2: to help the island's reconstruction after Hurricane Maria. Supposed to

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Speaker 2: when it comes to so many things, Puerto Rico is

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Speaker 2: the exception to the rule, including with federal responses to

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Speaker 2: natural disasters. This is how it's supposed to work. A

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Speaker 2: massive fire in gulfs California, a huge hurricane strikes Texas,

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Speaker 2: and another one makes landfall in Florida, and one of

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Speaker 2: the first federal agencies to respond is FEMA.

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Speaker 11: If you'd start with Harvey all the way over to

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Speaker 11: the California wildfires, over twenty five million Americans have been

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Speaker 11: an impact. The FEMA search and rescue teams alone saved

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Speaker 11: over nine thousand lives. Tens of thousands of lives have

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Speaker 11: been saved. Over four and a half million Americans have

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Speaker 11: been registered inside FEMA's Individual Assistance Program.

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Speaker 2: FEMA's ability to provide aid comes from something called the

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Speaker 2: Stafford Act, and the letter of the law in this

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Speaker 2: Act is clear. FEMA has the duty to rebuild, but

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Speaker 2: only up to the way things were before a disaster.

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Speaker 2: FEMA cannot make destroyed buildings better than they were before,

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Speaker 2: except in rare instances, and today's story is about one

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Speaker 2: of those exceptions. Christina del Marquillez from El Centro de

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Speaker 2: Perio TiO, the Center for Investigative Journalism in San Juan,

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Speaker 2: has been covering Puerto Rico's rebuilding efforts for more than

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Speaker 2: two years, and she takes the story from here.

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Speaker 3: After the im pronto press conference with Trump, the surprise

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Speaker 3: engagements from the White House kept coming for the Puerto

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Speaker 3: Rican team.

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Speaker 10: In the Momento I Almessani.

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Speaker 3: Carlos Mercare recalls a launch on the White House messanine

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Speaker 3: where Tom Bazzard, Trump's Homeland Security advisor, showed.

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Speaker 10: Up Bossard literal governor rom documents as the loguer Alua.

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Speaker 3: He had a handwritten document with some scribble notes and

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Speaker 3: ideas about Section for twenty eight of the Staffer Act.

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Speaker 3: This was a defining moment for the recovery of the island.

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Speaker 3: Section for twenty eight is a very specific part of

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Speaker 3: this tougher Act that grants FEMA the power to go

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Speaker 3: beyond the norm when it comes to reconstruction after natural disasters.

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Speaker 3: The document offered Rosse Joe help rebuilding everything that was

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Speaker 3: damaged on the island, and went even further and proposed

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Speaker 3: building new and improved infrastructure for example, if a building

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Speaker 3: had only lost some of its windows, Section for twenty

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Speaker 3: eight made it possible to replace all of them. The

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Speaker 3: idea was that the effected structure would be rebuilt better

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Speaker 3: than before. With Section for twenty eight, the federal government

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Speaker 3: was promising stronger and more resilient construction.

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Speaker 10: Una grand Cantidad, the Inner Opera, Comparatium and Tempomas Corto.

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico would receive more money in a shorter period

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Speaker 3: of time. Trump's people set at the launch. Section for

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Speaker 3: twenty eight had been used before, but in really isolated cases,

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Speaker 3: like the reconstruction of New York's Lower Manhattan subway station

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Speaker 3: and New York's energy plant. Back when Hurricane Sandy hit

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Speaker 3: the East coast in twenty twelve, the plan Buzzard had

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Speaker 3: for Puerto Rico was using Section four twenty eight for

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Speaker 3: the whole island's reconstruction. The most expensive use of the

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Speaker 3: section up to.

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Speaker 10: That Pointdrico de Nia selection Acatavanioch.

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Speaker 3: But Puerto Rico had to ask for it first. The

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Speaker 3: governor had to make a formal petition based solely on

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Speaker 3: that handwritten piece of paper given to him by Buzzard,

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Speaker 3: and he had to do it right then and there.

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Speaker 3: It was attempting offer. Any politician would prefer to end

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Speaker 3: their term with brand new infrastructure, better than the one

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Speaker 3: they came into power with. But there was a catch

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Speaker 3: in section for twenty eight, the local government would be

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Speaker 3: responsible for any unforeseen expenses during construction, and Puerto Rico

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Speaker 3: was a jurisdiction in the middle of a financial crisis.

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Speaker 3: In simple terms, Puerto Rico did not have the means

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Speaker 3: to deal with those unforeseen expenses. Merca says. The governor

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Speaker 3: told Baszard that he was open to the idea, but

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Speaker 3: it needed.

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Speaker 10: More Discussionoando and then Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: Merca remembers it as a constant struggle, meeting after meeting

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Speaker 3: of here debate about what would be best for Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: One of the main pieces of contention was the time

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Speaker 3: frame FEMA would allow the government of Puerto Rico to

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Speaker 3: inspect and describe the damage. FEMA basically functions as an

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Speaker 3: insurance company that evaluates and then approves money for reconstruction,

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Speaker 3: but they're always trying to spend as little as possible,

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Speaker 3: so in practice, FEMA wanted to use the four twenty

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Speaker 3: eight to build back better, but with as little investment

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Speaker 3: as possible under part while the Puerto Rican government was

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Speaker 3: trying to secure enough money to actually get the projects done.

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Speaker 3: So all parties had to reach an agreement on every

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Speaker 3: single project following an island wide disaster, and that obviously

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Speaker 3: was going to take some time, but the proposal from

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Speaker 3: the federal government was that all agreements would be due

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Speaker 3: in twelve months, and at that moment there were five

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Speaker 3: thousand projects pending for review, schools, community centers, parks, roads,

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Speaker 3: and public buildings. The total amount to make these projects

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Speaker 3: happen thirty billion dollars. A few weeks after the intent

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Speaker 3: meetings at the White House, Carlos Mercader remembers traveling back

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Speaker 3: to Washington with Governor rosse Jo to attend meetings and

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Speaker 3: related to four twenty eight. In one of those meetings,

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Speaker 3: Elaine Duke, acting Secretary of Homeland Security, burst into the

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Speaker 3: room with another piece of paper yea.

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Speaker 10: Yeogo and told the governor signed this.

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Speaker 3: It was a formal printed letter to be signed by

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Speaker 3: Ross Joe asking for authorization from the federal government to

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Speaker 3: implement Section four twenty eight for all of Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: Merca says she was very insistent, telling the governor they

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Speaker 3: had waited too long and that this had to be

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Speaker 3: done now, and the governor told her, look, I cannot

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Speaker 3: do it this way. What's the problem. What's missing? She asked,

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Speaker 3: and rose Jo responded, we need to discuss it because

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Speaker 3: you haven't agreed to anything we have proposed, and to

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Speaker 3: be honest, we have reservations. The most important reservation was

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Speaker 3: the process. For each reconstruction project. They had to navigate

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Speaker 3: a sea of red tape at both local and federal levels,

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Speaker 3: and while rose Jo evaluated if Section four twenty eight

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Speaker 3: was really worth it, the conversation with federal staff had

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Speaker 3: become more difficult, especially when talking about the amount of

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Speaker 3: money around the reconstruction. America says that every time Trump's

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Speaker 3: kevinet talked about money, he felt they had a grudge.

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Speaker 10: About it, and Amento on thescendency to annoy Doula mercader.

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Speaker 3: So their tune was condescending at times, and some like

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Speaker 3: Mick mulvany, who would eventually become Trump's chief of staff

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Speaker 3: and had been appointed to be the captain of this effort,

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Speaker 3: took it even further, acting this spody at times.

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Speaker 10: Deespota in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: Our podcast team Richette to Baszard, Mulveny, Duke and Brocklan,

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Speaker 3: who was famous administrator during the four twenty eight negotiations,

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Speaker 3: Only Long responded to our request and told us he

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Speaker 3: was not available. So during all these harsh negotiations, rose

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Speaker 3: Jo came to a conclusion amazing he would formally request

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Speaker 3: four twenty eight because it was evident that it was

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Speaker 3: the only way the federal government was willing to work

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Speaker 3: with Puerto Rico. Y Instead of twelve months, rose Jo's

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Speaker 3: team got the federal government to give them eighteen months

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Speaker 3: to evaluate all five thousand projects, and that's how Governor

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Speaker 3: rose Jo finally accepted and officially asked for Section for

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Speaker 3: twenty eight to be applied to Puerto Rico. It was

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Speaker 3: actually the only option on the table, but rose Jo

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Speaker 3: and his team went back to Puerto Rico to announced

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Speaker 3: implementation of Section for twenty eight as a resounding victory

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Speaker 3: of his administration. Tosinko at a press conference, he spoke

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Speaker 3: about important achievements they reached in a span of forty

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Speaker 3: eight hours.

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Speaker 8: Are you Mechani, Morven Keyama and Laso Deema.

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Speaker 3: He explains they made a series of requests to the

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Speaker 3: federal government and then mentions a quote novel mechanism section

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Speaker 3: for twenty eight. He then describes how for twenty eight

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Speaker 3: allows the government to take all big rebuilding projects and

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Speaker 3: add them all together. He says this gives more flexibility

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Speaker 3: to move estimates around, and this wasn't the only time

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Speaker 3: he praised section for twenty eight. The audio quality isn't

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Speaker 3: very good, but here he's speaking to the Puerto Rico

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Speaker 3: Builders Association. In this twenty seventeen speech, you can hear

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Speaker 3: how Rose Joe talks flowingly about the prospect of rebuilding

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico with a new set of tools. He asks

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Speaker 3: everyone to wrap this opportunity by the horns and make

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Speaker 3: a better, more robust, and resilient Puerto Rico. I admit

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Speaker 3: this is a little puzzling. After hitting met god that

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Speaker 3: explained how much pressure Washington put on the governor to

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Speaker 3: accept four twenty eight. So I asked him why, despite

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Speaker 3: all the troubles he had just described, they presented this

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Speaker 3: as an achievement of their administration.

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Speaker 10: Well process, so.

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Speaker 3: Because the read and agreement stated this would be a

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Speaker 3: faster process than the normal one, he said, but the

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Speaker 3: Porican government knew that Section for twenty eight was not

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Speaker 3: risk free and it was a massive undertaking. Even months

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Speaker 3: after the hurricane, the situation was dire for a lot

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Speaker 3: of Phorricans, and neither FEMA nor the local government had

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Speaker 3: a clear idea of how in practice they would really

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Speaker 3: build back better.

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Speaker 6: Basic supplies like food, water and medicine still scarce, and

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Speaker 6: shaw marias forcing many families to improvise their holiday celebrations.

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Speaker 10: Every school in the island has dealing with the same situation,

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Speaker 10: losing student, losing people, losing family.

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Speaker 2: Half of the island did not have electricity at the

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Speaker 2: end of twenty seventeen, three months after the storm.

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Speaker 12: You inside the medical crisis in Puerto Rico. Tomorrow marks

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Speaker 12: one year since Hurricane Maria devastated the island.

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Speaker 1: Right now, people are traveling hours to get the help.

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Speaker 8: They film out.

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Speaker 3: That last voice is on mar Marero, a former director

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Speaker 3: of the office that is in charge of the recovery

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Speaker 3: efforts in Puerto Rico. I interviewed him in February twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 3: and he told me that even a year after the

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Speaker 3: approval of Section for twenty eight, there wasn't a single

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Speaker 3: project greenlad, not even an agreement on a fixed cust

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Speaker 3: estimate for any of the rebuilding projects, and without those agreements,

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Speaker 3: not a single one of these projects could get started.

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Speaker 3: And these delays seriously affected one of the most important

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Speaker 3: projects of the promised rebuilding, the hospital and Vikes Island,

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Speaker 3: a project that had been planning since Hirek and Maria

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Speaker 3: hit the island, and which they even referred to as

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Speaker 3: an early project, a brand new hospital for the nine

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Speaker 3: thousand residents of this island municipality.

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Speaker 2: And the delay on this project will end up having

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Speaker 2: dire consequences. When we return what happened in Vikes, we'll

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Speaker 2: be right back, and we're back to.

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Speaker 3: La Brega Aquietoi treando baso entre algo the La Malasa.

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Speaker 2: This is Diana Ramos, a producer who lives on the

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Speaker 2: island of Jequis. Here she describes how hard it is

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Speaker 2: to reach what was the Centro diagn Centeno, the only

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Speaker 2: health center with an emergency room on vieks ay Algna.

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Speaker 2: She says some of the electric poles are still bent

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Speaker 2: over almost horizontally, and the area around the center is

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Speaker 2: overgrown with vegetation de larian henera. This was in October

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Speaker 2: of twenty twenty, more than three years after Hurricane Maria

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Speaker 2: hit Viekis and the rest of Puerto Rico, and this

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Speaker 2: was the first project of the Build Back Better Plan

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Speaker 2: under section four twenty eight of the Stafford Act. Cristina

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Speaker 2: del marquills from Elcent The per continues from here.

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Speaker 3: Vieks lea Isla, Nina is a place that is deemed

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Speaker 3: by many as the colony of the colony. It's an

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Speaker 3: island haunted by a long history of negligence and abuse

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Speaker 3: by both the Pourrican government and the federal government. To

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Speaker 3: understand the impact of four twenty eight in Vis, one

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Speaker 3: has to first understand the long struggle of this community

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Speaker 3: for better health services. This is saida Torres. She says

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Speaker 3: that Vikes has never existed for the poor Rican Department

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Speaker 3: of Health. Torres is now a retired nurse. She knows

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Speaker 3: the history of the islands health services because she spent

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Speaker 3: her entire career serving in the only hospital in Vis.

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Speaker 3: This health center is crucial since the nearest hospital is

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Speaker 3: an hour and a half away by boat or a

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Speaker 3: thirty minute flight. Getting on a plane is not cheap either,

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Speaker 3: and in reality is inaccessible to most of the x population.

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Speaker 3: So most people have to use what has been for

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Speaker 3: decades an inconsistent ferry system. Sadly SAIDA is also a

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Speaker 3: veteran to this commute. She's a cancer patient who has

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Speaker 3: to travel every twenty one days to Las La Grande,

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Speaker 3: the Big Island, to get the treatment she needs.

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Speaker 4: I mean problem.

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Speaker 3: Often the fairy is not available for one reason or another,

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Speaker 3: and she has to call to cancel her appointment. And

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Speaker 3: we're not even mentioning the days where she can travel

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Speaker 3: and how difficult it is for her to actually get

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Speaker 3: back home. She says that at least two times she

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Speaker 3: has had to wait for the eight pm ferry because

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Speaker 3: the procedure took longer than expected.

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Speaker 4: La Media.

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Speaker 3: She waited until eight pm, no ferry, then waited for

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Speaker 3: the ninth ory pm ride still no fairry. Her return

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Speaker 3: trip after a day where she underwent chemotherapy started at midnight.

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Speaker 3: It's as a cancer patient, it's the worst thing that

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Speaker 3: can happen to you, she says, and SAIDA is not

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Speaker 3: alone in this. Scientific studies have shown that ba caances

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Speaker 3: have hired cancer rates, as well as very high occurrences

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Speaker 3: of diabetes, hypertension, lupus, and asthma. When compared to the

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Speaker 3: big island, saida asks herself why this is?

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Speaker 4: This is a bitch to be a island near Puerto

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Speaker 4: Rico and the Caribbean Sea, peaceful isness, white sand, palm trees,

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Speaker 4: and the intensely blue water of the Tropics.

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Speaker 3: The answer can be found in films like this, an

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Speaker 3: industrial documentary from the fifties commissioned by the United States Navy.

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Speaker 4: But one day, ships of the Atlantic Fleet came from

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Speaker 4: the west and, slipping across the long horizon at dawn,

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Speaker 4: commenced to hurl steel and explosives against this strip of sand.

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Speaker 3: For more than six decades, most of vis Island was

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Speaker 3: used by the US Navy under Allies as an open

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Speaker 3: range where they conducted wargames with live ammunition and real explosives.

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Speaker 3: During those decades of constant bombing, various groups in Vies

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Speaker 3: and Puerto Rico demanded that the US Navy leave Viakes,

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Speaker 3: and then on April nineteenth, nineteen ninety nine.

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Speaker 10: Sea was bombas akinianas libre al Cansalom and postally observation

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Speaker 10: Danes Rodriguez monitorial as practical as Novales.

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Speaker 3: David Sanis was a against employed as a security guard

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Speaker 3: in an observation post inside the range where the Navy

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Speaker 3: practiced its wargames. Two five hundred pound bombs hit the

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Speaker 3: observation deck were he patrolled, killing him immediately. His family

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00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 3: heard the explosions and were kept in the dark about

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Speaker 3: what happened for at least a whole day. This death

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Speaker 3: sparked a civil disobedience movement. The against Puerto Ricans from

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Speaker 3: the main island. DYASPUR groups and US activists and politicians rallied.

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Speaker 3: They traveled to a military practice range, entered the area,

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Speaker 3: and waited for the federal authorities to arrest them.

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Speaker 7: This is portage a.

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Speaker 12: Line first to night the vehicles showdown. Activists on Puerto

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Speaker 12: Rico's Vehicus Island continued to wait today for a possible

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Speaker 12: federal ray.

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Speaker 4: What steps have you taken then to enforce the law.

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Speaker 6: It's a federal law. Sometimes it is not wise to act.

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Speaker 6: And all I'm saying is I'm giving you what I

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Speaker 6: think is good advice.

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Speaker 4: Someone's going to die doing that. That blood will be

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Speaker 4: on your hands now.

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Speaker 6: Somebody has already died. Mister senator, I understand if the

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Speaker 6: bombings continue not to do or thank you your content

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Speaker 6: very much.

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Speaker 4: We opened this hearing.

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Speaker 3: Don't push it, and at the end they actually made

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Speaker 3: it happen.

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Speaker 6: My attitude is that the Navy ought to find somewhere

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Speaker 6: else to conduct its exercises.

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Speaker 1: These are our friends and neighbors, and they don't want

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Speaker 1: us there.

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Speaker 3: In two thousand and one, President George W. Bush announced

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Speaker 3: that the US Navy would leave Viekes in two thousand

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Speaker 3: and three, but the legacy of the bombings continues today.

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Speaker 3: A group of Pekansas so the federal government asking them

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00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 3: to acknowledge the environmental harm caused by decades of warkins

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Speaker 3: and the contamination of land and sea, and even with

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00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 3: a federally mandated cleanup, there are at least ten years

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00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,960
Speaker 3: of work left. And so all this is the setting

404
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 3: when on the ninth of September nineteen twenty seventeen, Irak

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00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 3: and Maria made landfall in Vieges with sustained winds of

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Speaker 3: one hundred miles per hour. The devastation continued until late

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Speaker 3: afternoon the next day, disrupting the frile calm of the island.

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Speaker 2: Toota de Trossalo Budo.

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Speaker 3: This is Amadia kruz Ventura, a fourteen year old who

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00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 3: was born and raised in Viekis. She says everything was

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00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 3: in ruins after the hurricane yes impact, she was shocked.

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00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 3: In just one hour everything changed. Imajia spent the hurricane

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00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 3: huddled with her family in their home, and she recalls

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Speaker 3: how the situation of the island's health center following the

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00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:36,080
Speaker 3: hurricane left an impact on her. Out it was completely destroyed,

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Speaker 3: the roof seemed to be gone. Person Momento.

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Speaker 7: Algo pri Mario.

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Speaker 3: Amaya says that at that moment she thought that since

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Speaker 3: Hope is a top priority, someone would eventually fixed the hospital,

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00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 3: and it seemed at first like that would happen. Omar Marero,

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00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 3: who was the director of the Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency

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00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 3: Central Office known as SCRE III, set that rebuilding this

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00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 3: medical facility as a proper hospital would be the first

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Speaker 3: project to benefit from Section four twenty eight. It would

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Speaker 3: be an early project, and yes, as early as twenty eighteen,

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00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 3: they actually reached an agreement to start building a new

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00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 3: hospital for twenty two million dollars, but just eight months later,

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00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 3: FEMA started changing the initial cost estimates. Sam Marrero explains

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00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 3: that they changed the cost to fifty million dollars and

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Speaker 3: then to seventy million. He remembers saying to FEMA, that's

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00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 3: seventy million for a hospital for seven thousand people, was

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Speaker 3: going to be a tremendous hospital. In other words, he

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00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 3: was implying that maybe that was too much money for

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00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 3: a hospital for Viegs. Then one day FEMA changed his

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00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 3: mind and started talking about just repairing the facility instead

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00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 3: of rebuilding an improved version, and what the Puerto Rican

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00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 3: government originally feared about four twenty eight came true. It

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00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 3: was not easy to reach a working agreement with FEMA.

439
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,920
Speaker 3: Marrero then had to testify to different committees in Washington

440
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,719
Speaker 3: investigating the reconstruction.

441
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 1: Of Puerto Rico.

442
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:53,239
Speaker 3: In June twenty nineteen, a year after the announcement that

443
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 3: the hospital in Vieks would be the first project under

444
00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 3: Section four twenty eight, Congresswoman Alexander Andria Lucacio Cortez asked

445
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 3: Marrero the following question, and mister Marrero, are there patients

446
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 3: in Puerto Rico still receiving medical care in temporary facilities?

447
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am, Biggs Island.

448
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:15,760
Speaker 3: During all this time, the Againsas were using a makeshift

449
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 3: health facility covered by tarts when those were dem inadequate

450
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 3: for prolonged services. It was moved to an old building

451
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 3: near the destroyed facility as they waited for the new

452
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 3: construction and a more resilient hospital.

453
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 2: Why has it taken so long to rebuild these facilities?

454
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 6: The process section I don't know if you're familiar about.

455
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 6: In Puerto Rico, we're implementing for the first time in

456
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 6: female history, what is called Section for twenty eight. And also,

457
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 6: I'm sorry to add the fact that Section for twenty

458
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 6: eight is a pilot program. There's no clear guidance in writings.

459
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 3: And then Marrero gave an explanation of what Section for

460
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 3: twenty eight had meant for Puerto Rico, repeating a metaphor

461
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 3: they had used before.

462
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 6: So we're essentially designing the plane as we.

463
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 3: Live, designing a plane as it flew, while the federal

464
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 3: and Phurrican government figure out how to advance the recovery efforts.

465
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 3: Back in Vias, residents were dealing in any way they

466
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 3: could with their health issues.

467
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 7: And Tolamento l ambient the rectament.

468
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 3: That is Jessica Entura pees. Jessica is a Maya's aunt.

469
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 3: Jessica says she has always correlated the chronic asthma of

470
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 3: her second daughter, jay the les with environmental issues that

471
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:58,640
Speaker 3: exist in Vias Even before the hurricane, she was one

472
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 3: of the vacansas that prefer to schedule appointments outside of

473
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 3: Viegs due to a lack of quality service on the island.

474
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,760
Speaker 3: In January of twenty twenty, she noticed that her daughter,

475
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,000
Speaker 3: Jay Delis was not feeling well. She had a constant

476
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 3: cough and fell discomfort and pain in her body. So

477
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 3: Jessica took her to one of the specialized pediatric hospitals

478
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 3: in San Juan to get her examined. Malaga, she noticed

479
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,760
Speaker 3: that Jaydals looked out of it, not her normal self.

480
00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 3: The next day they got back to Vieges and Delis

481
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,760
Speaker 3: was looking better. They spent the afternoon with some friends

482
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 3: on their patio, and then around eleventh thirty pm, they

483
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:57,680
Speaker 3: went to sleep, but at midnight, a Jay Delis entered

484
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:02,240
Speaker 3: Jessica's room in tremendous pain. She was holding her head

485
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 3: and told Jessica that she had a terrible headache. Jessica

486
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:12,400
Speaker 3: sat Gadelys in her bed. At that moment, her teenage

487
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 3: daughter started having a sea shut. Jessica started screaming for

488
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,520
Speaker 3: help while taking her daughter to the car. One of

489
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 3: Jessica's neighbors heard her and helped carry Jaidelis. They headed

490
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:33,320
Speaker 3: to the provisional health facility in vs. Jessica remembers vividly

491
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 3: how when they arrived with her daughter having a violent seizure,

492
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 3: she asked the doctor what he thought could be happening,

493
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 3: and he responded, I see the same thing you see,

494
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 3: but you are the doctor and I am not, she

495
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 3: snapped back. After an hour and a half waiting, the

496
00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 3: assigned ped atrician arrived at the provisional facilities Jagon Medicamentos.

497
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 3: He had arrived empty handed and he couldn't really do anything,

498
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,120
Speaker 3: so he started making calls for an emergency helicopter to

499
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 3: move jay the List San Juan, but he told Jessica

500
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,680
Speaker 3: that that process was going to be a lengthy one.

501
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,839
Speaker 3: He then decides to charter a plane instead. They get

502
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,520
Speaker 3: jai List in an ambulance to the airport in Jags.

503
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,000
Speaker 3: When they arrive and take her out of the ambulance

504
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 3: to get her in the plane, Delis enters cardiac.

505
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:42,239
Speaker 4: Arrest ellam mambolans.

506
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 3: Here they had to intubate her in the ambulance and

507
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 3: rush back to the temporary facilities. When they arrived, Jessica

508
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 3: and family members that join noticed that Jails was not

509
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,839
Speaker 3: being connected to a ventilator to help her.

510
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:02,399
Speaker 10: Breathe the lamental lament.

511
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,719
Speaker 3: They realized that the facility didn't have a mechanical ventilator

512
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 3: on hand. They only had a manual respirator. Over the

513
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:23,880
Speaker 3: next hour, the medical personnel were exhausted from manually pumping

514
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 3: the machine keeping Gaidelis breathing. Three of Jaidelis and Jessica's

515
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:33,960
Speaker 3: family members volunteered to do it instead, and for the

516
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 3: next two hours, the paramedics and the family took turns

517
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 3: to do what a machine was supposed to do.

518
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 7: Lament parlamentarjah in opodoma.

519
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 3: Five hours after arriving at the provisional hospital, thirteen year

520
00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:58,480
Speaker 3: old jai Delis died. An autopsy later revealed that she

521
00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:03,800
Speaker 3: had suffered from as cerebral anaurysm, a medical emergency that

522
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 3: requires urgent actionatopol attention. That's Hector Ventura, Jessica's father, Jaidilissa's grandfather,

523
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:24,280
Speaker 3: telling a local news channel that his granddaughter died because

524
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 3: what can barely be called a hospital failed in giving

525
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 3: her the emergency attention she deserved. Jaid Lisa's death shook

526
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 3: the egess as a whole. Family and neighbors stormed the

527
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,800
Speaker 3: surrounding area of the provincial hospital to confront its director

528
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 3: and hold her accountable for the teenager's death. During Jaidelis's

529
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:02,160
Speaker 3: memorial service, Hey hell who William Rosa Cruz, a neighbor,

530
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:07,000
Speaker 3: asked everybody to join him in a special protest.

531
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:17,239
Speaker 10: Say given ala plaza, broke ala plaza.

532
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 3: Galia yes, for everyone to take a syndrome block to

533
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 3: vi As public Square right in front of their mayor's office,

534
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 3: and placed them there at six in the morning. The

535
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:43,240
Speaker 3: next day, the public square was filled with cinder blocks,

536
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,800
Speaker 3: a concrete display after plea for the construction of a

537
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 3: real hospital that could really give them dignified health services.

538
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,839
Speaker 3: Two days after the protest, a week after Gidalis's death,

539
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 3: Female announced a fixed estimate agreement for a new hospital

540
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:11,040
Speaker 3: for Vis thirty nine point five million dollars. It was

541
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 3: the third time in three years that a new hospital

542
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:25,200
Speaker 3: for Vis was announced. Later, the cinder block protest moved

543
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:29,400
Speaker 3: to San Juan in front of El Capitolio, the capitol building.

544
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 3: There begins us demanded the start of the hospital's construction.

545
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:51,320
Speaker 3: Then the pandemic started and nothing happened. In July twenty twenty,

546
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:57,399
Speaker 3: Peter gainor Femous Director, testified before Congress to explain why

547
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:04,120
Speaker 3: construction had not started. Congresswoman Ndia Velaskis confronted.

548
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 7: Him with a COVID pandemic, what are we saying to

549
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:13,080
Speaker 7: the children and the elderly in vs? Seven months after

550
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:19,000
Speaker 7: the money was approved? Why is that difficult to break

551
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:23,880
Speaker 7: brown in vs? That we send a message to the

552
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 7: people of vis that their lives matter.

553
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 8: Yes, ma'am, I mean so again, it doesn't happen overnight,

554
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 8: So there's design, the environmental.

555
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:37,880
Speaker 3: And the againstes are still waiting while Jay Deelys's mom.

556
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:42,280
Speaker 7: Asks and lock second student people one post dry.

557
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:48,239
Speaker 3: How many more jays will happen while they wait for

558
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 3: the construction of a hospital. It's impossible to say that

559
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:01,959
Speaker 3: the bureaucracy of Section for twenty eight caused Guidealista's death.

560
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:07,680
Speaker 3: Even without all the delays, It's improbable that a brand

561
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 3: new hospital would have been ready for Gidalis and for

562
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:14,719
Speaker 3: many others that die during the three years that Bias

563
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:21,800
Speaker 3: has gone without a proper hospital. But there is a

564
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,840
Speaker 3: history between BIS and the United States, a sequence of

565
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:30,760
Speaker 3: events of formalities, red tape, and protocols that are designing

566
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 3: offices in the most important departments of the federal government,

567
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:40,400
Speaker 3: modified in agencies and altered by officials, and when combined

568
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:47,239
Speaker 3: with negligence and neglect, this bureaucracy has deadly consequences for

569
00:42:47,480 --> 00:43:02,960
Speaker 3: people like Gidealist. It is really impossible for me not

570
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,160
Speaker 3: to wonder that maybe with a little more support to

571
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 3: start the construction of the hospital, more would will more

572
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:15,880
Speaker 3: commitment to building that hospital back better and have it

573
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 3: equipped with the right tools for emergencies, that perhaps Gidalist's

574
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 3: story would have been different. Could Jidalists have been saved?

575
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 3: We cannot know.

576
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:30,200
Speaker 11: What I know.

577
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,600
Speaker 3: Is that it's terrible to have to live in a

578
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,280
Speaker 3: world where we have to ask ourselves that question.

579
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,840
Speaker 2: Christina dere Marchuillez is a reporter for the Center for

580
00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:58,320
Speaker 2: Investigative Journalism and Central Patio. At the time of this recording,

581
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,840
Speaker 2: construction of the hospital and Yekis has not yet started.

582
00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:06,000
Speaker 2: Between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, the government of Puerto

583
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 2: Rico renegotiated the implementation of Section four to twenty eight

584
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:12,960
Speaker 2: to help advance some of the pending projects. There are

585
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,440
Speaker 2: four thousand, four hundred and eighty three projects from Hurricane

586
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:19,919
Speaker 2: Madia that still have to undergo this process and which

587
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:24,600
Speaker 2: still have no money allocated for them. In January of

588
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, a year after her death, Jaidalis's family

589
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:31,799
Speaker 2: sued the Puerto Rican government, saying their civil and human

590
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:35,280
Speaker 2: rights were violated when officials failed to guarantee health services

591
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,080
Speaker 2: to properly tackle the medical emergency that took the thirteen

592
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:42,640
Speaker 2: year old's life. Their claim, co signed by Jaidalis's aunt,

593
00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 2: her parents, and grandparents, asks the court to deem the

594
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:50,840
Speaker 2: abandonment of public health for Viekis as unconstitutional and a

595
00:44:50,960 --> 00:45:13,880
Speaker 2: threat to human rights. Lavrega is a co production of

596
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:18,640
Speaker 2: WNYC Studios and Fuburo Studios. This episode is available in

597
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:22,000
Speaker 2: Spanish as well, and you can listen to either wherever

598
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:26,800
Speaker 2: you hear your podcasts through Laverega's podcast feed. This episode

599
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 2: was a collaboration between Labrega and CPI, the Center for

600
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:34,800
Speaker 2: Investigative Reporting in Puerto Rico. It was produced by Isequiel

601
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,879
Speaker 2: Rodrigua Sandino with help from Diana Ramos.

602
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:38,400
Speaker 11: And from me.

603
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,520
Speaker 2: The story was edited by Luistre Yes and Carla Minette,

604
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,960
Speaker 2: and the English adaptation had additional editing by Marlon Bishop

605
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:50,840
Speaker 2: and Mark Bagan, fact checking by Istra Pacheco. Engineering is

606
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:55,040
Speaker 2: by Stephanie lebau Lea, Sha Dameran and Alicia ba. YouTube

607
00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:58,719
Speaker 2: original music for Labrega was composed by Balloon and her

608
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,759
Speaker 2: theme song is by Ethe. Art for this piece was

609
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 2: done by Gadvin Sierra. Deep Gratitude to Vanessa Colon, Almenas,

610
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:11,320
Speaker 2: Laura Morcoso and Luis Valentino Nortis. Leadership support for Labrega

611
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,400
Speaker 2: is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation and the

612
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:18,240
Speaker 2: john S and James L. Knight Foundation, with additional support

613
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,120
Speaker 2: provided by Amy B. Liss and coming up in the

614
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 2: next episode of La Brega, David and Goliath played basketball

615
00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:36,280
Speaker 2: in Athens Asta Labrouxima. Funding for Latino USA is coverage

616
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 2: of a culture of Health is made possible in part

617
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:42,800
Speaker 2: by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino

618
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 2: USA is made possible in part by the Heising Simons Foundation.

619
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 12: Unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities more at Hsfoundation dot org

620
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:59,839
Speaker 12: and the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front

621
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:01,920
Speaker 12: line means of social change worldwide,