1.

President Trump has attacked the Mayor of San Juan implying in his
tweet that Puerto Ricans expect everything to be done for them. Under the
current circumstances where the island is devastated and there is no
water, food, medicine or electricity, does this strike you as insensitive or
even racist?

President Trump’s comments regarding Puertorican’s lack of selfreliance is

a classic example of imperial discourse regarding its colonial territory.
Historically speaking the political discourse of domination has always
portrayed the dominated as deserving of their condition. The logic of
blamming the victim takes many forms, usually accompanied by a racial or
ethnic component. It is important to point out that responding logically to
the charge of laziness by enumerating all our individual and collective
efforts in all areas, such response would be a waste of time. It would be a
waste of time because Trump’s comments are pathological, and its quite
difficult if not impossible to reason with a pathology. It is pathological
because its an idea of a people based on preconceived notions rather than
reality. The president’s sensitivity, in terms of an emotional response, is
not something that I would consider important. On that score, to put it
bluntly, he is an equal opportunity offender. What I think is more insidious,
politically speaking, has to do with how the president keeps responding to
critical situations in his celebrity mode. This is something that not only
affects Puerto Rico, especially under our current circumstances, but that
will also have consequences on the mainland. As citizens, we should ask
ourselves, what are the political consequences of a commander in chief
that governs as if he were still on The Apprentice? And more importantly,
what has happened to our political culture, when millions of citizens find
this style of government appealing?

2. Are people on the island who have no phones or TV or radio aware that
President Trump is repeatedly telling the American people what a great job
he is doing in response to the crisis you are enduring and how much he is
helping Puerto Rico and how people are amazed at the amazing effort
underway by the Trump Administration?
News travel quickly, and as you are well aware, presidential news travel
particularly fast, even without phones or TVs. While there’s very little
electricity, around 25% of cellphones are working and several radio
stations are up and running. Hence the president’s comments are national
news here in Puerto Rico. This is to say that most people are aware of the
president’s constant self-congratulatory assessment. I think this is
something governor Rosselló and the president have in common. The
difference is that Rosselló is very articulate and has a strong command of
his discourse. After all, he holds degrees from MIT and the University of
Michigan. What I find most stricking about the president’s lack of self-
reflexivity, is that he probably believes that he IS DOING and amazing job
that he is the BEST at everything. While I think there is something comic
about the whole “I am the Greatest” attitude; there is a political problem
with it. When a regular Joe thinks he is GOD’s GIFT to the world, that
makes him a fool; but when the most powerful politician in the country
thinks he is infallible, that makes him a liability for democracy. If you all you
want to hear is the sound of your own voice, then you end up surrounding
yourself with ecoes. When dissent is considered treasonous, critical
thinking is criminalized and when you start to criminalize critical thought
you undermine the very essence of politics and the foundations of
historical progress.

3. Trump is blaming local truck drivers for the bottleneck of aid in the port
that is not getting out to the countryside but the Mayor is blaming FEMA
bureaucracy so what is the real story about why the aid is not being
distributed?

I don’t think anyone can give you the answer to that question!!! Everybody
has a different story regarding the bottleneck in the Port. The truck drivers’
union say one thing, the governor is constantly saying that everything is
under control and organized; there is the issue of bureaucracy; and then
there is the catch 22 of diesel fuel. Most truck drivers live in rural areas,
which were the most affected areas of the island. This means that diesel is
not getting there and the trucks needed to distribute aid run on diesel!! I
truly have no idea who’s telling the truth, but I do have a strong feeling that
most of what we are getting are half-truth, which is another way of saying
lies.

4. Trump has brought up the issue of PR's debt on repeated occasions so

what does that tell you about will be forthcoming in terms of reconstruction
and who will be paying for it?
Puerto Rico’s debt along with the Fiscal Oversight Board established by
Congress under president’s Obama ‘s administration, was probably the
most pressing issue we were facing before the devastation caused by
Hurracaine María. The debt still stands and we can be sure that
Bondholding companies as well as their insurers lobbists are knocking at
Congress and the president’s door seeking to ensure their money. A few
days ago, a group of Bondholder for the Electric Energy Company offered
a billion dollars loan to the public corporation, who already have about 9
billion in debt! Taking loans you won’t be able to pay back placed Puerto
Rico in financial troubled in the first place, so repeating that mistake is not
the way to go. So, what we are going to need in massive assistance from
congress for the reconstruction effort, rather than digging deeper into the
debt hole.

5. Will there be an exodus to the mainland? And given the racist nature of
Trump's appeals to his base in terms of stirring up anti-immigrant
scapegoating, could the Mayor make the argument to Trump that if you
don't help the people on the island stay alive then they will show up on
your doorstep.

That would be a very dangerous game to play for several reasons. First of
all, the “they will show up in your doorstop” game ironically plays right into
anti-immigrant racist fantasy. Thousands of puertoricans have been
leaving the island for years. This is a problem for US not for the United
States!!

The tragedy of poor people is that they don’t have the resources to get out
of the island. So to used them as a threat is adding insult to injury.
Sociologically and demographically speaking it’s mostly the young
educated and professional classes who have been leaving the island,
which is a huge problem for US: it depletes the tax base, it means the
United States instead of the Puerto Rico will get many of our best brains!
Most of them graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, which is mostly
publicly funded, Hence, after the taxpayers of Puerto Rico have subsidized
the best we have to offer, the great peoples of NY, Florida, Philadelphia
and Texas will have the benefits of their services and the taxes of their
income!

6. The Mayor has been deft at trying to point out to Trump that she never
said anything "nasty" to him but he has created an alternative fact-free
universe with Fox, Sinclair and right wing talk radio echoing his talking
points however fraudulent and fictional, so would it make sense to say
what a great guy Trump is and how he can work miracles and we can't wait
to see him on Tuesday show up and solve all of our problems.
The recovery and reconstruction of Puerto Rico is going to be a long,
complicated and difficult process. The Mayor of San Juan and President
Trump recent exchanges are also an instance of media driven fuzz. This is
not to say that the mayor’s concern are not legitimate, they certainly are
and I have no doubt of her sincerity and profound sense of resposibility
during this devastation, I also think that Trump’s characterization of Mayor
Cruz is off-base, but we should not forget that these are two politician who
are also playing politics. As a politician Mayor Cruz career has been quite
formidable. The problem with the media fuzz generated by their exchange
is that it has more to do with the news cycle and its constant search for
political controversy than with tending to our pressing needs. Trumps visit
will probably be hectic and he’ll probably tweet about the amazing people
of Puerto rico and will probably characterize things as the BEST of this or
that. However, a few days after his visit, the news cycle will be onto
something else, but our focus must be on the long terms institutional
support and infrastructure that will be needed for rebuilding the Island.

7. What explains the governor's fealty to Trump?

Let me give you a little bit of political background regarding Mayor Cruz
and Governor Rosselló. While both of them are democrats in terms of US
politics, they belong to opposing political parties in Puerto Rico. Many
people believe that the Mayor will be running for governor in the next
election, so while it may seem petty to be thinking candidacy in a tme of
profound crisis, that is what politician always DO! Governor Rosselló’s
main political goal is and has always been making Puerto rico the fifty first
state. While I don’t think that’s ever going to happen, his entire government
agenda is based not only on PR becoming a state, but significant parts of
his platform take that illusion as a reality. As far as he is concerned,
upsetting the president undermines the statehood project, so the mayor’s
battle with president can only be seen by the governor as a setback for his
larger project. He also must be really upset that his main political
adversary has been making international news for several consecutive
days, obscuring the governor’s own efforts.

8. Do you think the head of FEMA who said it was a "good news story",
has had a real change of heart now that she has seen the devastation for
herself?

9. Does waiving the Jones Act to get supplies in mean we will be forced to
debate citizenship without representation and reevaluate PR's colonial
status?
There should be no doubt that we are second class citizens. From the
jones act to PROMESA the relation between the USA and Puerto Rico has
been characterized by domination. In this sense, while Trump’s tweets are
usually inmmature and childish, its not like former presidents have taken
serious steps to addressing the political status of Puerto Rico. Regardless
of the campaign promises that democrats as well as republican make
every four years to Puerto rican politicians, the truth of the matter is that
every president’s response to the political status has been the same: that
is, you are what you are and will remain such: second class citizens.

10. Trump has tried to marginalize the Mayor by calling saying she is
taking orders from Democrats so Is the real problem with statehood for PR
that the Republican don't want 2 new Democratic senators and 4 to 5 new
Democratic House members?

That is

11. What is the status of the damn that is about to burst?

The governor just ordered an evacuation impacting the towns of Isabela
and Quebradillas, the closests to the damn. At the same time the mayors
of both towns, after having a meeting with the US Corps of Engeneers,
insists that the situation is under control and are asking the governor to
withdraw the evacuation order. There is a lot of confusion regarding this
situation.

12. When will be know the full scope of the damage both in terms of
property and the loss of human life?
I think its going to take at least a year to know the full scope of the damage
in terms of property. Regarding the loss of human life, we wont know the
magnitude of this tragedy until communications with all municipalities can
be restored.

13. When do you expect to have food, water, electricity, access to money
and medicine?
The Electric Energy Company estimates it will take six months to restore
the system, which was severely compromise to begin with. So I think when
they say that it will take six months, I think they mean to get it back to a
working but severely compromise state!! According to the water company,
they are up to 50% capacity. I have no idea about the veracity of that
information. Issues of access to money and medicine are closely related to
the geographical area, and of course to issues of class.