IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller
By Wallice J. de la Vega
LARES,
Puerto Rico (CNS) — Hurricane-related deaths in Puerto Rico have been
attributed to drowning and illness, but many Puerto Ricans, including local
media professionals, see a link between such deaths and poverty.
On
a recent tour through Puerto Rico’s central-western mountains, Catholic News
Service found several people voicing support for this opinion.
“One
has a higher probability to die in a hurricane if one is poor,” said
Ismael Perez Acosta, 71, who lives alone in a rural shanty in Lares. His
87-year-old house, almost completely covered by vegetation and barely seen from
the road below, is a dilapidated small wooden structure built by his
grandfather.
Perez
has no income, surviving on donations and casual odd jobs. His water comes from
a stream that flows next to the house, a structure that has no electric power
connection.
“There
are many people like me, who normally live (under conditions) like a hurricane
went by every day,” said Perez, who has some college education from the Pontifical
Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo. “But to many people we are
invisible, even though maybe we are the majority (of the island’s population).”
Poverty
in Puerto Rico is a largely unspoken legacy of colonial times, when agriculture
was the island’s main source of wealth, and it goes as far back as slavery.
Many of today’s poor are descendants of a working class whose status has
morphed since the Spanish arrival in 1493.
That
line started with black African slaves and white Spanish laborers. Blacks mostly
toiled on sugar cane fields in the lower coastal flatlands, and whites worked on
coffee and fruit plantations in the central mountains.
After slavery ended in
1873, both groups’ work and social status went through several labor-social
arrangements with wealthy landowners — including a scheme of unpaid work in
exchange for use of a small plot of land for personal farming and living —
commonly known as “arrimados” or “agregados.”
“My
grandfather used to work on this land, and then my father,” said Perez, “first
as a sharecropper and then as an ‘arrimao,'” living on the employer’s land
without a title but receiving a salary.
Jose
Perez, no relation to Ismael, lives in the financially depressed Guajataca
sector of Quebradillas. His old concrete house had its metal windows blown out by
Hurricane Maria Sept. 20 while he was inside.
“I
was very scared, listening to the noise and the wind, but didn’t want to leave
my house,” he told CNS Oct. 21. “In the middle of the night, I felt
my mattress wet, so I went to the other one I have (both on the floor), and
that one also got wet. So I curled up in a corner and just waited.”
Jose
Perez also spoke of the relationship between poverty and deaths.
“We,
the poor people, do suffer more than others, because we have no money before
hurricanes and after hurricanes,” he said. “We die more in hurricanes
because we don’t have (the means) to protect ourselves. Our lives before
hurricanes and after hurricanes are the same.”
With
the main road following a gorge, this area of Guajataca practically became a
huge muddy lake during Hurricane Maria’s flooding. Weeks later, the receded
waters uncovered several abandoned vehicles that had ended stuck in the
foliage.
Guajataca
was declared one of the most dangerous areas in Puerto Rico after Hurricane
Maria, because a nearby dam was threatening to break, which would have washed away
thousands of homes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took charge of the
situation and was working on the necessary repairs.
Like
many poor people in central Puerto Rico, Jose Perez had relatives in the area,
but over the years, most moved away. Many moved to cities like Arecibo and San
Juan, but lately most move to the mainland United States.
“I
have relatives around here, but most of my family moved to the U.S.,” he
said, “and this house was practically abandoned by one of my sisters.”
Although it obviously had some damage previous to Hurricane Maria, at the
moment the house was completely empty, except for a tiny kerosene stove. He
said relatives and friends stop by once in a while to bring him food “and
other things.”
“These
days I spend my days here, to see what happens,” he said, “and on
Sundays I go to the (Catholic) chapel up that way, where I get a nice lunch.”
According
to 2016 Census Bureau statistics, close to 1.5 million Puerto Ricans — 43
percent — live below the U.S. poverty line, almost double the rate of
Mississippi, the poorest U.S. state. Census figures also show that 55 percent
of those 16 or older were employed before Hurricane Maria. The U.S. Department
of Labor shows Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate was 10 percent.
Although
locally, poverty is commonly considered a rural problem, it extends to Puerto
Rico’s cities. San Juan, where the average tourist sees only the neatly
conserved areas, has severely economically depressed pockets.
A
few steps west of the territorial capitol building, for example, La Perla
neighborhood is a constant reminder of the presence of extreme poverty. Located
on a narrow stretch of land exposed to ocean threats outside the city walls, La
Perla grew during the 19th century as a place to house freed slaves, domestic
servants, a slaughter house and the city’s cemetery.
Martin Pena Channel neighborhood is an example of the effects of massive exodus
from the countryside in the 1930s. As highlighted by a “PBS NewsHour”
show in 2016, “the area is strewn with trash, breeds mosquitoes, and is a
health hazard for nearby residents. Due to the narrowing of the channel over
time, the area is subject to frequent flooding, including raw sewage from
buildings with insufficient sanitation.”
La
Perla and Martin Pena are among the San Juan neighborhoods most damaged by
hurricanes.
“Those
who are poor have little money,” said Ismael Perez. “Little money
gives us weak houses; weak houses don’t survive a hurricane; more people die in
weak houses. … That’s why poverty is the cause of most deaths (in a
hurricane).”
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