Monday, January 22, 2018 10:00:53 AM
Armed Agents Storm PR Warehouse, Find Politicians Have Been Hoarding Relief Items
Some Puerto Ricans breathed a sigh of relief this week when, after 112 days of being without electricity since Hurricane Maria devastated the island, power finally returned to their homes, schools and businesses — but no thanks to the corruption and incompetence of their own government.
According to The Intercept, federal government officials learned that “a massive store of rebuilding materials” needed to restore Puerto Rico’s electrical grid was being hoarded by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, a state-owned corporation operated by the territory’s government.
Armed with this information, federal agents then raided PREPA’s warehouses on Jan. 6 with a security detail and thereafter “began distributing (supplies) to contractors,” confirmed USACE spokesman Luciano Vera.
“Among the materials recovered so far are ‘2,875 pieces of critical material to contractors’ along with the sleeves of full-tension steel, a component of Puerto Rican electrical infrastructure required to erect new power lines,” The Intercept reported, quoting Vera.
This encounter reportedly occurred as around 50 percent of Puerto Ricans still remained without electricity.
Puerto Rico Protests After Supplies Found in Gov't Warehouse
Thousands of "missing" materials were discovered during a raid of a Palo Seco warehouse which has largely contributed to the delays of electric repair by state-owned Electric Power Authority. | Photo: Reuters
Residents and workers in the Puerto Rican city of Toa Alta hit the streets with the town’s mayor leading the way to protest state-owned Electric Power Authority, AEE, on Thursday.
"The demonstration is to make it clear to the government of Puerto Rico and the AEE that they must accelerate the work and send more brigades to the city," said the Toa Alta mayor, Clemente Agosto.
The town’s demands are simple. An end to the continued series of delays which have left 65 percent of the city and at least 20 businesses dark and without power since Hurricane Maria hit the territory five months ago.
The company’s incredible mismanagement has contributed mainly to the months of delays surrounding the electrical repairs. This was made painfully clear after a statement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE, revealed that government authorities seized thousands of materials which were supposedly out of stock.
Over 2,875 pieces of materials were discovered during a raid of a Palo Seco warehouse which was led by federal officers, accompanied by armed security personnel.
"The material stored in the warehouse is critical for the mission of restoring Puerto Rico's electrical system ... Warehouse number five is in control of the Transmission Division, and has lacked transparency and responsibility in the inventory," said USACE spokesperson Luciano Vera told The Intercept.
Both the USACE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, were charged with managing the distribution of materials.
Vera stated he and the other engineers were shocked to find the wealth of building repairs filling the warehouse shelves. Meanwhile, half a million of Puerto Rican families remain homeless with 30,000 surviving the winter temperatures with blue tarps stretched over the gaping holes where their roofs once were.
"The irresponsibility and ineptitude of the Authority is such that they do not even know what they have in stock to repair the electrical network of Puerto Rico.
Here we have had Puerto Rican engineers who returned to their jobs in the United States annoyed because they could not give their best because of the lack of materials,” said Democratic Party House Representative Ramon Luis Cruz Burgos.
Now fast forward to Wednesday, when power finally began to flow in the Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan, spurring cries of joy from teachers and students alike.
The Washington Examiner further notes that by Wednesday, “83 percent of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority customers (had) power.”
Talk about a big improvement — and again, no thanks to the local government’s extraordinary incompetence.
But it gets worse. The Intercept pointed out that even “(a)s PREPA hoards crucial resources that could help remedy the island’s dire situation,” Puerto Rico’s government “is attempting to annihilate the power provider’s only regulator.”
“When the current administration was in the opposition, they opposed all the energy reform bills,” said former Puerto Rico state Sen. Ramón Luis Nieves, referring to the so-called New Progressive Party.
“Now that they are in power, they have been trying to eliminate the energy regulator and the reforms that were passed.”
Here’s another interesting tidbit of information: Because of PREPA’s hoarding, some mayors tried “taking matters into their own hands, reportedly buying grid restoration supplies out of municipal budgets,” according to The Intercept.
That sounds like a local elected official using personal initiative to get something accomplished in the face of a system that’s completely dysfunctional.
Not surprisingly, that list didn’t include San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who’s made it her personal mission to waste valuable time and resources constantly smearing President Donald Trump and his administration instead of doing her job.
Except that if it weren’t for the Trump administration’s raid last week, the kids at the Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo would likely still be without power — and again, no thanks to Cruz, the New Progressive Party and every other corrupt official in Puerto Rico.
https://conservativetribune.com/armed-agents-storm-pr-warehouse/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=minutemennews&utm_campaign=weeklyam&utm_content=libertyalliance
Some Puerto Ricans breathed a sigh of relief this week when, after 112 days of being without electricity since Hurricane Maria devastated the island, power finally returned to their homes, schools and businesses — but no thanks to the corruption and incompetence of their own government.
According to The Intercept, federal government officials learned that “a massive store of rebuilding materials” needed to restore Puerto Rico’s electrical grid was being hoarded by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, a state-owned corporation operated by the territory’s government.
Armed with this information, federal agents then raided PREPA’s warehouses on Jan. 6 with a security detail and thereafter “began distributing (supplies) to contractors,” confirmed USACE spokesman Luciano Vera.
“Among the materials recovered so far are ‘2,875 pieces of critical material to contractors’ along with the sleeves of full-tension steel, a component of Puerto Rican electrical infrastructure required to erect new power lines,” The Intercept reported, quoting Vera.
This encounter reportedly occurred as around 50 percent of Puerto Ricans still remained without electricity.
Puerto Rico Protests After Supplies Found in Gov't Warehouse
Thousands of "missing" materials were discovered during a raid of a Palo Seco warehouse which has largely contributed to the delays of electric repair by state-owned Electric Power Authority. | Photo: Reuters
Residents and workers in the Puerto Rican city of Toa Alta hit the streets with the town’s mayor leading the way to protest state-owned Electric Power Authority, AEE, on Thursday.
"The demonstration is to make it clear to the government of Puerto Rico and the AEE that they must accelerate the work and send more brigades to the city," said the Toa Alta mayor, Clemente Agosto.
The town’s demands are simple. An end to the continued series of delays which have left 65 percent of the city and at least 20 businesses dark and without power since Hurricane Maria hit the territory five months ago.
The company’s incredible mismanagement has contributed mainly to the months of delays surrounding the electrical repairs. This was made painfully clear after a statement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE, revealed that government authorities seized thousands of materials which were supposedly out of stock.
Over 2,875 pieces of materials were discovered during a raid of a Palo Seco warehouse which was led by federal officers, accompanied by armed security personnel.
"The material stored in the warehouse is critical for the mission of restoring Puerto Rico's electrical system ... Warehouse number five is in control of the Transmission Division, and has lacked transparency and responsibility in the inventory," said USACE spokesperson Luciano Vera told The Intercept.
Both the USACE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, were charged with managing the distribution of materials.
Vera stated he and the other engineers were shocked to find the wealth of building repairs filling the warehouse shelves. Meanwhile, half a million of Puerto Rican families remain homeless with 30,000 surviving the winter temperatures with blue tarps stretched over the gaping holes where their roofs once were.
"The irresponsibility and ineptitude of the Authority is such that they do not even know what they have in stock to repair the electrical network of Puerto Rico.
Here we have had Puerto Rican engineers who returned to their jobs in the United States annoyed because they could not give their best because of the lack of materials,” said Democratic Party House Representative Ramon Luis Cruz Burgos.
Now fast forward to Wednesday, when power finally began to flow in the Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan, spurring cries of joy from teachers and students alike.
The Washington Examiner further notes that by Wednesday, “83 percent of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority customers (had) power.”
Talk about a big improvement — and again, no thanks to the local government’s extraordinary incompetence.
But it gets worse. The Intercept pointed out that even “(a)s PREPA hoards crucial resources that could help remedy the island’s dire situation,” Puerto Rico’s government “is attempting to annihilate the power provider’s only regulator.”
“When the current administration was in the opposition, they opposed all the energy reform bills,” said former Puerto Rico state Sen. Ramón Luis Nieves, referring to the so-called New Progressive Party.
“Now that they are in power, they have been trying to eliminate the energy regulator and the reforms that were passed.”
Here’s another interesting tidbit of information: Because of PREPA’s hoarding, some mayors tried “taking matters into their own hands, reportedly buying grid restoration supplies out of municipal budgets,” according to The Intercept.
That sounds like a local elected official using personal initiative to get something accomplished in the face of a system that’s completely dysfunctional.
Not surprisingly, that list didn’t include San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who’s made it her personal mission to waste valuable time and resources constantly smearing President Donald Trump and his administration instead of doing her job.
Except that if it weren’t for the Trump administration’s raid last week, the kids at the Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo would likely still be without power — and again, no thanks to Cruz, the New Progressive Party and every other corrupt official in Puerto Rico.
https://conservativetribune.com/armed-agents-storm-pr-warehouse/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=minutemennews&utm_campaign=weeklyam&utm_content=libertyalliance
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