The mayor of Puerto Rico's largest city earned a rebuke from President Donald Trump on Saturday after pleading for more federal assistance in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
"We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy," San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said Friday at a news conference. She highlighted donations from companies and others, including 200,000 pounds of food donated by Goya, as a contrast to federal help.
"This is what we got last night: four pallets of water, three pallets of meals and 12 pallets of infant food — which I gave them to the people of Comerio, where people are drinking off a creek," she said. "So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell."
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Criticism has been mounting over the Trump administration’s response to what is being called an unfolding humanitarian crisis, with some likening the situation to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
However, Trump hit back early Saturday, accusing Cruz of "poor leadership ability" and criticizing Puerto Rican officials. "They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort," he wrote on Twitter. "10,000 federal workers now on island doing a good job."
Hurricane Maria knocked out power to most of Puerto Rico when it struck as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 20. The storm came on the heels of Hurricane Irma, which skirted past the island but still knocked out power to more than 1 million.
The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
...Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
...want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
Some 18 people have been confirmed dead in Puerto Rico in the wake of the storm, while 16 died on the island of Dominica and one on the French territory of Guadeloupe.
Related: Delayed Response to Puerto Rico Has Echoes of Katrina for Some
Initially, the Trump administration named a one-star general to run U.S. military operations, then upgraded the command to three-star Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, who headed to Puerto Rico on Thursday.
An Army spokesperson said that as of 4 p.m. ET Friday the Army had more than 4,900 soldiers and Army Corps of Engineers civilian personnel in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which were also hit by the hurricane. Thirty aircraft and more than 500 trucks are committed to relief efforts, the spokesperson said. The National Guard said it projects 1,400 guard forces will be sent to Puerto Rico over the next four days.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency said this week that Puerto Rico has received 4.4 million meal kits and 6.5 million liters of water.
Yulín Cruz said help has not been reaching residents quickly enough. She said FEMA "has collapsed" in Puerto Rico.
"I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles," she said. "If we don't get the food and the water into people's hands, we are going to see something close to a genocide," she said later.
"I am asking the president of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives," Yulín Cruz said.
FEMA Administrator Brock Long said on MSNBC Friday that progress is being made. He said airport and port capacity is increasing. "We are making progress, every day capacity is coming open," he said.
People use tubes to collect water from the mountain on September 28 in the Toa Alta and Corozal area of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Andre Kang / GDA via AP
"We've worked to clear 11 highways, we’re continuing to push forward and open up those arteries to be able to pump more in," Long said. "The bottom line is that the capacity will continue to increase."
President Donald Trump has praised the government’s response after the hurricane. “We have done an incredible job, considering there’s absolutely nothing to work with,” Trump said, adding that “the power grid is gone."
Vice President Mike Pence tweeted Friday that he had called the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, "to ensure we're doing all we can to back his recovery efforts."
The vice president also announced that he would travel to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands next week.
Trump on Puerto Rico relief: "We have done an incredible job, considering there's absolutely nothing to work with" https://t.co/fRuw7TZ0PR — NBC News (@NBCNews) September 29, 2017
Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke said Friday that "clearly, the situation here in Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane is not satisfactory, but together we are getting there.”
dick_van_weiner on September 30th, 2017 at 12:33 UTC »
Social media was fun until old people started using it.
Noxzi on September 30th, 2017 at 12:05 UTC »
As an observer from overseas I just don't get how he just continues to embarrass himself and his country over and over. I just don't get it. Don't you have professionals to keep him at least looking sane and professional?
yabbadabbajustdont on September 30th, 2017 at 11:57 UTC »
The democrats told her to be mean to him? I wonder more and more with each tweet how horrible it must be inside his mind, with that level of paranoia and narcissism.