Unless you have been following the ongoing disaster in Puerto Rico closely, you may not have seen the hashtag #JusticiaParaJaideliz — Justice for Jaiedeliz. Jaideliz Ninoshka Moreno Ventura, died recently on the island of Vieques, which is a municipality of Puerto Rico.
After Teen Girl Dies of Flu, Puerto Ricans Demand Hospital Destroyed by Hurricane María Be Rebuilt
In Vieques, a Puerto Rican island east of the mainland, a teenage girl died of the flu, and her family is blaming the death on the government for not rebuilding the municipality’s only hospital since it was destroyed two years ago during Hurricane María.
Jaideliz Moreno Ventura, 13, died of flu-like symptoms on January 12. The teen began feeling ill days earlier. Her family took her to a hospital on the mainland on January 10, where she was tested for influenza. When the results returned negative, she and her family went back to Vieques.
There, however, the girl’s symptoms worsened. On the day of her death, she began convulsing. Without a functioning hospital, the teen’s family took her to a local clinic. However, staff at the facility did not have the resources to care for Ventura. The girl, in need of a respirator to give her oxygen, was flown to the mainland in an air ambulance. She died on the way.
If you think the coverage of Puerto Rico in the mainstream media has been insufficient, double that for Vieques, which is neglected by both governments — mainland and island. We have a long ugly history with the island, which was used as a site for military war games during WWII. The people of Vieques continue to raise the issue of the contamination that was the result.
Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) has announced that her guest at the upcoming State of the Union (SOTU) on February 4, 2020 will be Jaideliz’s mother.
Press Release, January 30, 2020. Velázquez Announces State of the Union Guest
Washington, D.C. – Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) announced today that Jessica Moraima Ventura Perez will be the Congresswoman’s guest to the State of the Union on Tuesday. Ventura Perez is the mother of Jaideliz Moreno Ventura, a 13-year old girl who died in January on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques. Jaideliz's death has been attributed to the lack of adequate medical care on the Island of Vieques, which has not had a functioning hospital since Hurricane Maria struck more than two years ago.
At the urging of the community and Members of Congress, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently approved long awaited funds to expand medical services on Vieques. Nonetheless, the delay in the release of these funds is symptomatic of how this Administration’s help for Puerto Rico following the hurricanes and, more recently, the earthquakes has been uncaring, sluggish and incompetent. Perez will travel to Washington on Monday, spend the day with Velázquez on Tuesday and attend the speech on Tuesday night. Jessica’s husband, Luis Enrique, will accompany her to Washington.
“The delay in restoring health services on Vieques is symptomatic of how the Trump Administration has so callously treated Puerto Rico, first after Maria, and now, following the earthquakes,” Velázquez said. “Jessica’s presence at Tuesday’s State of the Union will send a powerful message that we cannot abandon our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico and we must hold the Trump Administration responsible for its feeble recovery and response efforts.”
“My family has suffered an unspeakable loss,” said Ventura Perez. “My daughter did not receive the appropriate medical services that could have saved her life when she needed it the most. Her death at such a young age, will not be in vain. We will make sure of that. There must be accountability of why the proper medical conditions were not and are still not there for the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico. There needs to be an explanation of why the funds for a proper health center have taken so long to be approved and disbursed. We need to know why the health center does not have the proper equipment, medicines and protocols. We are here to make a stand. The government and administrators of the health services and agencies of the federal, commonwealth and local health center, they all owe us an explanation and swift action to make sure more people don't die due to the lack of basic health services on this island of United States citizens who have waited three years to receive word of what is going to happen to them when lives are at stake. My daughter will not die in vain.”
The State of the Union comes as the U.S. House of Representatives is reportedly preparing to consider a $3.4 billion supplemental aid package for Puerto Rico in response to the recent earthquakes. Some White House aides have suggested the Trump Administration might oppose that package.
“Estimates suggest that 3,000 of our fellow citizens lost their lives after Maria,” Velázquez added. “Now, Puerto Rico faces another natural disaster and it is incumbent on our government to respond competently, compassionately and quickly.”
FEMA has finally approved funds for a new hospital:
Knowing what we have seen over the last three years, with “approved funds,” what guarantee do we have that the money will ever get there, since Donald Trump’s administration has reneged on sending billions of “approved funding”?
Some background on Jaideliz from CBS journalist David Begnaud.
Begnaud’s interview with the family:
To protest the lack of a hospital, people on the island have been collecting cement bricks, labelled with the names of Viequenses who have died since Hurricane Maria.
Other news from Puerto Rico:
Serious concerns are being raised about plans to implement online voting on the island.
Puerto Rico's Internet Voting Plan Threatens Election Security: ACLU
Puerto Ricans could be casting their ballots online only in the next eight years, according to a bill that is expected to pass this week.
Civil liberties advocates are ringing alarm bells over this plan to shift voting online, warning that the move threatens election security and voting rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union and its Puerto Rico chapter urged the island's governor, Wanda Vázquez, to veto a bill containing the Internet voting plan.
"There is no secure way to hold elections online," they wrote in a letter to the governor on Wednesday.
"This measure is misguided, dangerous, and will needlessly expose Puerto Rico's voting system to hacking and disruption." The ACLU said "such disruption will only result in greater public mistrust of key democratic institutions."
ACLU pushes back against Puerto Rico proposal to move voting online
The ACLU lawyers described the measures in the proposed law as “ill-advised,” and said they would “expose Puerto Rico’s voting system to hacking and other online threats,” particularly pointing to the inability for vote counts to be 100 percent guaranteed accurate due to cybersecurity concerns.
Beyond cyber concerns involved with online voting, the ACLU lawyers raised concerns about whether all Puerto Rican communities would have access to the internet to vote, particularly in light of the devastation suffered by Puerto Rico during recent natural disasters.
“Hurricane María and recent earthquakes along the southern coast have made clear that the island’s infrastructure—particularly, electrical power systems essential to internet access—remains precarious; it would be reckless to trust all voting systems to its well-being,” the lawyers wrote.
Neither of these stories raise the issue of disenfranchisement of poorer families around the island, who don’t have access at all. Some FCC data here.
FYI — I’m going to see if I can post a regular Friday diary at 8:30 EST with news from Puerto Rico, and from the other U.S. territories when available. Will continue to do a daily PR round up in Abbreviated Pundit Roundup (APR), and as part of a twice weekly Twitter Roundup in Black Kos, Tuesday and Friday’s at 5PM EST.
