LAWSUIT ALLEGES DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PUERTO RICANS SEEKING GEORGIA DRIVER’S LICENSE

The advocacy group Latino Justice has filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia on behalf of Puerto Rican Kenneth Cabán González, who alleges that he was the victim of discriminatory questioning when he attempted to apply for a driver’s license in that state. According to Cabán González, upon applying for the license, his documentation was confiscated by the Georgia Department of Driver Services, who arrested him for forgery. The lawsuit alleges that the state has violated the Civil Rights Act by holding Puerto Ricans to requirements more stringent than those applied to people from other states. 

According to Gerry Weber of the Southern Center for Human Rights, Cabán González is not the only Puerto Rican to have faced this experience, although the precise number is unknown. Weber also claimed that these actions are the result of a 2017 directive that came into effect after that year’s hurricanes increased Puerto Rican migration to the mainland United Sates.

ON RENEWABLE ENERGY AND HURRICANE READINESS, PUERTO RICAN COMMUNITIES TAKE THE INITIATIVE

As the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) looks at natural gas to meet its energy needs, communities in Puerto Rico are taking steps to transition to solar power, thanks to small-scale operations serving neighborhoods and districts. In Mameyes, a small community of around a thousand residents, Francisco Valentín has, with the help of foundations, charities, and the University of Puerto Rico, wired several important community buildings to operate using solar power, including Mameyes’ school and health clinic. 

It is not only in the area of energy that Puerto Rico’s communities have decided to work independently, foregoing involvement by the central government. In the Caguas community of Las Carolinas, the Center for Mutual Support (CAM, in Spanish), has set up a kitchen within an abandoned elementary school to prepare meals for many residents, many of whom still need help after the damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: PUERTO RICO UNABLE TO CARE FOR VETERANS IN CASE OF NATURAL DISASTER

According to a congressional report obtained by NBC, Puerto Rico may not be able to care for its veteran population if a hurricane or natural disaster strikes the Island. A visit by the staff of House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano (D-CA) to San Juan’s VA Medical Center found several “issues with the facility’s emergency preparedness and disaster response capabilities that could impact thousands of veterans who live on the Island”. These included a lack of training on how to access the hospital’s cache of medical supplies, and a failure to maintain a consistent and updated way to communicate with veterans across the Island. 

While the San Juan VA Medical Center was able to remain open in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, several patients expressed dissatisfaction with the level of support provided by the facility. “As casualties came in, those veterans whose conditions were stable were discharged, whether or not they had a home left to go to,” reads the congressional report. On occasion, veterans were discharged into homes without power, water, and no way to reliably deal with their illnesses or disabilities.

HOUSE TO HOLD HEARING ON PUERTO RICO AND VIRGIN ISLANDS AFTER HURRICANES IRMA AND MARIA

On Thursday, July 11, the House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Road to Recovery: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after Hurricanes Irma and Maria.” Witnesses will include Chris P. Currie, Director of Homeland Security and Justice of the Government Accountability Office (GAO); Omar J. Marrero, executive director of Puerto Rico’s Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience (COR3), and Adrienne L. Williams-Octalien, Director of the Office of Disaster Recovery of the Virgin Island’s Public Finance Authority. Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) will preside.