SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO—Puerto Ricans continue to demand Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced’s resignation after protests erupted on Jan.19 as a result of the discovery of forgotten disaster relief supplies.
Protesters assembled in front of the governor’s mansion in San Juan, Puerto Rico to demand Vázquez’s resignation as well as the release of the supplies in order to aid the victims of Puerto Rico’s numerous recent earthquakes.
According to CBS News, “Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced fired the U.S. island territory’s emergency management director, Carlos Acevedo, on Saturday [Jan.18] after a video showing aid sitting unused in a warehouse went viral on social media.”
Vázquez also fired two more officials, Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar over “lack of information regarding aid collection and distribution centers,” according to an article from NBC news.
“There are thousands of people who have made sacrifices to bring help to the south and it is unforgivable that resources have been kept in a warehouse,” Vázquez said in a statement on Twitter.
According to an article from NPR news, crowds in front of the governor’s mansion were shouting, “Where is Wanda? She’s not here. She’s busy hiding disaster supplies!”
Vázquez signed an emergency declaration request for Puerto Rico on Jan. 7. This emergency declaration would release more resources to help the island rebuild.
The supplies, originally intended for 2017 Hurricane Maria victims, were found in Ponce amid earthquakes that have rocked the U.S. territory since late December. The latest was a 6.4-magnitude earthquake on Jan. 9. The New York Times estimates that at least 1,000 quakes have disrupted the island since Dec. 28. Three deaths and about $200 million dollars worth of damages have been attributed to the earthquakes.
According to The Washington Post, the United States still owes Puerto Rico about $18 billion in federal funding for rebuilding after Hurricane Maria, which ravaged the island two years ago.