Tag Archives: Puerto Rico

Newsweek reports: Puerto Rico’s governor has called on President-elect Donald Trump to respond after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called for an invasion of the island territory. Maduro’s comments were an “open threat to the United States and our national security,” Jenniffer González-Colón wrote in a post on X on Monday. On Friday, the U.S. announced a $25 million reward for …

The New York Times reports: A sweeping blackout hit Puerto Rico early Tuesday morning, plunging nearly all of the island into darkness on New Year’s Eve. As of 10:20 a.m. Eastern, only 13 percent of Puerto Rico’s 1.4 million utility customers had power, according to the tracking page of Luma Energy, which supplies power to the U.S. territory. The company …

The Daily Beast reports: Rapper Bad Bunny posted a video celebrating Puerto Rican culture on Tuesday after a comedian at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Bad Bunny’s video was captioned “garbage,” a reference to Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist comments at the rally, featuring multiple clips of Vice President Kamala Harris …

“This Puerto Rican has something to say about the island that I love, where my family is from. Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump. Americans. We voluntarily serve disproportionally high in the military, while you have bone spurs. “And we vote. We vote, Donald Trump. Trash? And by the way, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, Luis …

The Huffington Post reports: The archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, called Monday for former President Donald Trump to personally apologize for a series of racist remarks made by a comedian at his campaign rally in New York City. “I enjoy a good joke,” the archbishop, Roberto O. González Nieves, wrote in a letter posted to Facebook. “However, humor has …

Variety reports: Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin were among the notable industry figures who boosted Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Sunday after a speaker at Donald Trump‘s political rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” The starkly racist comment stirred outrage among prominent Puerto Ricans and many others in …

The Weather Channel reports: T​ropical Storm Ernesto has formed and will spread heavy rain, winds and some coastal flooding across the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico through Wednesday, before it turns north and intensifies into a hurricane. Ernesto became the fifth storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season late Monday afternoon after a Hurricane Hunter mission found a small, closed …

CBS News reports: The House passed a bill Thursday that would allow Puerto Rico to hold the first-ever binding referendum on whether to become a state or gain some sort of independence, in a last-ditch effort that stands little chance of passing the Senate. The bill, which passed 233-191 with some Republican support, would offer voters in the U.S. territory …

The Hill reports: President Biden will travel in the coming days to Puerto Rico and Florida to tour damage from Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian, respectively, the White House announced late Saturday. The president and first lady will travel to Puerto Rico on Monday, followed by a trip Wednesday to Florida. The White House did not disclose where the president …

“You saw what happened in Cuba, I mean, the entire island is completely out of power. And it gives you — you know, you feel terrible for people in Puerto Rico who were just hit, in Cuba who were just hit. Thank God we have better infrastructure in our country. We’ve put a lot of investment into making sure that …

CNN reports: Power has gone out across all of the US territory of Puerto Rico on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us, as Hurricane Fiona bears down on the islands, which are already grappling with the threat of flooding and mudslides stemming from the Category 1 storm. “Puerto Rico is 100% without power due to a transmission grid failure from Hurricane Fiona,” …

Vanity Fair reports: In their forthcoming book, The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021, authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser report that while it might have seemed like Trump just woke up one day and thought to himself, “I’d like to buy Greenland,” the idea was actually put in his head by billionaire Ronald Lauder, after which the president …

Axios reports: Puerto Rico has the highest percentage of people fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in the United States as of Oct. 19, according to data from the CDC. The island has managed to accomplish such feats amid frequent power outages, earthquakes and high dependence on imports of health technologies from outside the region. By the numbers: 72.2% of Puerto …

NBC News reports: Under Trump, HUD had previously approved a total of $20 billion for the island’s reconstruction, a historic amount. But the agency stalled the release of the aid in 2019 and imposed additional restrictions and requirements last year on how Puerto Rico could gain access to the funds, citing corruption and financial mismanagement concerns. “Puerto Rico needs to …

Axios reports: Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi told “Axios on HBO” that “Congress is morally obligated to respond” to the island’s recent vote in support of statehood, and said he expects a bill to be introduced in the House by mid-March. Although statehood has been discussed for years, advocates say it is more likely now because Democrats control the House, …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump on Friday claimed he was the “best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico,” despite personally blocking funding to the U.S. territory for years, even as the island tried to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017. “I have to say in a very nice way, very respectful way, I’m the best thing …

The Daily Beast reports: President Trump once asked aides if he could sell Puerto Rico and buy Greenland instead, according to former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor, who told MSNBC on Wednesday that he heard the remarks directly in Aug. 2018, when officials were regularly going to Puerto Rico to coordinate hurricane recovery efforts. “One time before we …

From a New York Times interview with former Acting Homeland Security Sec. Elaine Duke: She said that as Hurricane Maria approached Puerto Rico and Ms. Duke argued for an emergency declaration before its landfall, Mick Mulvaney, then the president’s budget director, resisted. The next day, Ms. Duke said she was pleased when the president himself expressed concern about the people …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: The Georgia Department of Driver Services has agreed to make it easier for Puerto Ricans and applicants from other U.S. territories to get driver’s licenses under the terms of a federal lawsuit settlement announced Monday. The department agreed to allow residents from the territories — who are U.S. citizens — to transfer their driver’s licenses to …

The Miami Herald reports: Most Democrats running for president have tip-toed around the issue of Puerto Rican statehood, saying they want Puerto Ricans to decide whether or not the U.S. territory becomes the country’s 51st state. But Michael Bloomberg is going further. The former New York mayor and 2020 presidential candidate broke with most of the Democrats vying for the …