After Irma, Jose and Maria, Puerto Rico is experiencing a humanitarian crisis further exacerbated by the challenges of island logistics and its status as a U.S. territory. Puerto Rico is not a U.S. state, but it is not a separate, autonomous country, either. It’s this confusing hybrid “territory” that provides Puerto Rican residents with U.S. citizenship status but not full rights or access to U.S. benefits and protections.
Where does this leave them? Do we abandon them? After all, they are not really, really American…
WRONG! Some 3.4 million U.S. citizens live in Puerto Rico, and they are entitled to the same government response as any state.
I want to remind you that those suffering are our very own fellow Americans.
Amigos, please help.
Veronica Cool is founder of Cool & Associates LLC, a business management firm specializing in financial wellness and diverse segment marketing. Her column appears twice a month in The Daily Record and online. Contact her at hola@CoolAssociatesLLC.com. Follow her on Twitter at @verocool.
*This article was originally posted on The Daily Record.
