http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41478640

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41447184

Within this article by BBC, they talk about the amount of time that Puerto Rico had to wait to finally receive some help from the U.S. after the hurricane that had swept through and devastated the island. Most citizens on the island believe that they are receiving the help way too late and are mad because, as one citizen said in an interview, they believe that if they were a state of the U.S. instead of a “possession” then they would have received help ASAP instead of waiting and suffering for 9 days without any help. although having to wait 9 days for the help that should have arrived much sooner, they are still happy that the U.S. had come to help them in their time of need.

A main reason that many citizens of Puerto Rico were very upset about the lack of help from the U.S. was that Puerto Rico was utterly devastated by the hurricane. They had lost nearly lost all of there hospitals as 1 of the 69 hospitals were left operational and 55% of the island was left without access to clean water during this time. Along with this, they lost about $780 million in crops, which is about 80% of there crops leaving the island with little food. A big problem that the hurricane caused for Puerto Rico was the destruction of most of the cell phone towers which left the island unable to communicate with each other and their families. Since the U.S. didn’t respond in a timely manner, the celebrities decided to take it on themselves to try and help Puerto Rico in its time of need. Many celebrities decided to help and some very well known ones from Puerto Rico decided to help, like Luis Fonsi, an artist that was born in Puerto Rico and is most known for his huge hit song, Despacito.

The hurricane left the people of the island helpless and struggling for survival while having to wait 9 days for hurricane relief and this article makes the people of Puerto Rico seem to be like the ugly second cousin to the U.S. is a way that portrays the U.S. from trying to relate itself to the island even though they are technically “related”. Or in a better example, by the citizen interviewed in the video within the article, they are more of a “possession” of the U.S. rather a part of the U.S. which seems pretty ridiculous that this is the U.S. makes itself look to Puerto Rico.

This article relates to the class theme as it shows the direct affiliation with Latin America and the United States and how they interact with each other. It shows how the U.S. sent help to bring food, water and cleanup for Puerto Rico, although it took a long time for that help to come. This article also shows how strong the people of Puerto Rico are as most survived with little water and food for 9 days, and it also shows how they stay strong together as a island and culture from how the celebrities decided to give back when the U.S. government wouldn’t send help. Although it took our president 9 days to decide to send help to the devastated island, this gives us an opportunity as a people to decide what we can do to help the people who are in dire need of assistance in Puerto Rico.