Two Months After Maria Hit, Puerto Rico Recovery Slow

FEATURING ROSA CLEMENTE – It has been 2 months since the devastating Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico leaving majority of the island without power, clean water, access to healthcare, medicine, and food.

Even as Puerto Ricans struggle toward recovery the New York Times reported on Friday that the law that Congress passed before the hurricane to deal with Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis is hampering its post-hurricane recovery.

And, there is now federal scrutiny into government contracts given to corporations hired to rebuild, including a small energy company from Montana that won a massive $300 million contract to fix the power grid.

Economists are estimating that it could be more than a decade before Puerto Rico recovers from the hurricane damage.

For more information visit www.pronthemap.com.

Rosa Clemente is a community organizer, active with Black Lives Matter, freelance journalist, 2008 Green Party Vice Presidential candidate, and currently a doctoral candidate in the W.E.B. DuBois Department of AfroAmerican Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also a news correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. She traveled to Puerto Rico after the hurricane hit and reported for our show from there. She now returns to our airwaves for a report back.