Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez has fired the island’s director of emergency management after officials found a warehouse full of emergency supplies dating back to 2017’s Hurricane Maria.
Vasquez dismissed Carlos Acevedo on Saturday and gave officials two days to investigate why the wasted supplies were forgotten. The warehouse was initially investigated for damage following recent earthquakes in the area, and investigators found thousands of items of supplies, including food, water, diapers, and medicine that were intended to help those affected by Hurricane Maria years ago.
¡Esto le saca las lágrimas de coraje a cualquiera! ??? Pañales, comida para bebés, estufas, radios, agua, carpas, toldos, ENTRE MUCHOS OTROS SUMINISTROS PERDIÉNDOSE DESDE MARÍA!!! ESTO ES TODO LO QUE PIDE LA GENTE DEL SUR CON LOS TERREMOTOS!!! Video: El León Fiscalizador pic.twitter.com/cd11rdhhhK
— Jeremy Ortiz (@JeremyOrtizTV) January 18, 2020
Vasquez has nominated Brig. Gen. Victor S. Perez, the head of the Puerto Rican National Guard, to replace Acevedo.
The warehouse is located in the Guancha de Ponce sector in the city of Ponce. Ponce Mayor Mayita Melendez denied having any knowledge of the supplies sitting in the warehouse and said that the city did not manage the storage facility.
“Our people suffered greatly bc of how Hurricane María was managed. We cannot allow history to repeat itself,” Melendez said on Twitter. “The City of Ponce and its Government had NO knowledge of the findings made in this warehouse near the Guancha de Ponce.”
2. As we previously stated, the City of Ponce and its Government had NO knowledge of the findings made in this warehouse near the Guancha de Ponce.
— Mayita Meléndez (@mayitaalcaldesa) January 18, 2020
The discovery in the warehouse follows a series of communication failures between the United States federal government and the Puerto Rican government in responding to Hurricane Maria, which struck the island in September 2017 and destroyed thousands of buildings while almost entirely knocking out its electric grid for weeks.
Nearly 3,000 people reportedly died because of the hurricane and its lasting effects on the island. Mass protests in Puerto Rico in the hurricane’s aftermath led to the resignation of former Gov. Ricardo Rossello in July 2019.
In September 2018, hundreds of pallets of water were found abandoned on an airstrip. The water had gone bad sitting in the sun for months, while many in Puerto Rico lacked access to clean water. A month prior, a local radio station found crates of food, water, medicine, and other supplies left to rot in a state elections office. By the time the discovery was made, rats and other animals had already broken into the supplies and torn through trailers full of aid.
