From the memoir essay:
DiaspoRican Manifesto: The 'Real' Story Behind the Curtain of My Colonial Life in Puerto Rico Post-Maria
[14 reference links]DiaspoRican Manifesto: The 'Real' Story Behind the Curtain of My Colonial Life in Puerto Rico Post-Maria
by Norma Iris Lafé
Years from now, I shall remember my post-Maria, totalitarian, ‘apocalyptic’ island world—buried under Pompeian ghostly ruins, hurricane flash floods, and an avalanche of debt—as the ‘Golden Age of Island Miracles’ (too meaningful to be forgotten). Miracles that, at once, restored my faith in humanity and reaffirmed my unequivocal assertion, the inhabitants—and descendants—of the archipelago of Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra languishing in the Caribbean Isles [epicenter of the tumultuous and climate-changing globe] are a force of human nature, not even two Category 5 Hurricanes—Maria and Irma—could take asunder. (Nor the misanthrope in the White House and his cohorts in Congress holding the remote controls over ‘La Colonia’.)
'Isla Bendita' I The Backdrop
Much like the Greek gods from high atop Mount Olympus were known to wreak havoc on the lives of mere mortals, for sheer amusement or to endow them with super-human Godly powers, to make manifest their omnipotence on Earth; for centuries, since Spanish Catholic colonial rule, many islanders have held on to the supernatural notion that La Virgen ‘Maria’ de la Providencia—Virgin Mary of the Providence—hovers over our beloved island, protecting the prayerful as though under a dome, or holy force field. That by the heroic accounts of ALL the Lovers of Puerto Rico: the island’s faithful, Marian devotees, Christian prayer warriors and otherwise; survivors, or the ‘Resilient Ones”; rescuers, the ‘Real’ First Responders, philanthropists, Good Samaritans and the like; Celebrity Ambassadors endowed with “Super Talent”; the island's remarkable ‘Brain Trust’; broadcasters and journalists, unrivalled bilingual communicators, bar none; and the ‘Boricua Social Transformers’, new generation activists fighting the good fight in the trenches of climate and social justice, and allied ‘Angels in the Mist’ that abide, is believed to be an ‘Isla Bendita’ or Blessed Island—a place where miracles reside.
¡Qué Dios y La Virgen nos amparen! Prayers by the multitudes for divine intervention (and intercession) preceding and following the double whammy of Hurricanes Maria [September 20] and Irma [September 6], that scarred the face of our ‘Bella Isla del Encanto’ forever, the Motherland battered and bruised beyond recognition. Further, stripped of her dignity by Father USA’s insults, crass insensitivity and humiliation. A critical mass of invocations that (I venture to say) may account for the salvo of the ‘Maria Effect’. A most unusual phenomenon occurring in the aftermath of the most ‘unnatural disaster‘ (Social Justice Journal) in the history of US/Puerto Rico colonial relations, and FEMA Federal Emergency Management Assistance failed recovery attempts (and double standard). By a curious twist of fate, the hurricane refugees fleeing to the battleground States, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Connecticut and Florida, foreshadows the political clout [the ‘Puerto Rican Power] by the Diaspora to turn the tide on the ‘Evil Incarnate’ reigning over our beloved Borinquen (and the Republic, for that matter).
Out of the hotter-than-usual dark and ominous depths of the Atlantic Ocean, rise two freakish [180 mph] monster cyclones and three vicious tornadoes (IMAGINE: Twisters in Puerto Rico!). Poseidon unleashes the deadliest tropical cyclones—Maria and Irma—ever recorded in the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. More menacing, by far, than the continental Hurricanes at landfall: Harvey in Texas [Category 4, 130 mph], Katrina in Louisiana [Category 3, 120 mph] and the “Superstorm Sandy” in New York [Category 1, 80 mph]. That by Category 5—Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale—'off-the-charts’ definition alone (at formation) has the “greater potential for significant loss of life or damages and leaves the land of impact uninhabitable for weeks or for months.”
Now one does not measure catastrophe by the death toll alone—certainly, not inside America’s colony. Nor has Maria’s estimated $90 billion in extensive damages or widespread destruction compelled a life and death U.S.A. emergency response, specific to the critical livelihoods lost and the homes vanished. Multiple “shocked” communities in every coastal area, metropolitan zone and rural mountainside of the island’s 78 ravaged municipalities, were racked with fear, stress and anguish in the fight or flight for survival, the heretofore unheard-of spike in suicides, the desperate solution for some: our beachfronts, agricultural lands, fishermen cooperatives, tourist attractions, forests and wildlife preserves, open-air recreational spaces, sports stadiums, public squares, public schools, shopping malls, City Halls, universities, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, legions of struggling small businesses, and countless ‘food trucks’ built by the sweat of one’s brow by the poorest of the poor to eke out a meager living, beset by the criminal absence of an appropriate and speedy FEMA emergency and recovery response. Despite the “White House Reality Show” ´fake reports´to the contrary. And the incriminating facts: that more Americans died from Hurricane Maria than the terrorist attacks in 911.
The controvertible official tally of Hurricane-related fatalities (64) and inexplicable island government secrecy, prompting the lawsuit filed by the tenacious Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Journalism, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (or CPI), has been an “Erin Brockavich” repeat performance of documenting one-on-one interviews with hundreds of bereaved and inconsolable families—caregivers, health institutions, funeral homes and forensics experts—unearthing the blatant disregard for the unknown numbers of hurricane victims caught in the death and dying stages, and necessarily cremated, buried in backyards (or otherwise denied a proper Christian burial). By all accounts, the cavalier attempts by ranking government officials to suppress human casualty information, by omission or commission, and then ordered by the Courts to release government records, llora ante los ojos de Dios, is an offense before an all-seeing God. That (for me) is forevermore enshrined on a ‘National Tombstone of Shame.’ And the epitaph reads:
Now one does not measure catastrophe by the death toll alone—certainly, not inside America’s colony. Nor has Maria’s estimated $90 billion in extensive damages or widespread destruction compelled a life and death U.S.A. emergency response, specific to the critical livelihoods lost and the homes vanished. Multiple “shocked” communities in every coastal area, metropolitan zone and rural mountainside of the island’s 78 ravaged municipalities, were racked with fear, stress and anguish in the fight or flight for survival, the heretofore unheard-of spike in suicides, the desperate solution for some: our beachfronts, agricultural lands, fishermen cooperatives, tourist attractions, forests and wildlife preserves, open-air recreational spaces, sports stadiums, public squares, public schools, shopping malls, City Halls, universities, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, legions of struggling small businesses, and countless ‘food trucks’ built by the sweat of one’s brow by the poorest of the poor to eke out a meager living, beset by the criminal absence of an appropriate and speedy FEMA emergency and recovery response. Despite the “White House Reality Show” ´fake reports´to the contrary. And the incriminating facts: that more Americans died from Hurricane Maria than the terrorist attacks in 911.
 |
| Shoes of the deceased memorial outside of the Puerto Rico State Capitol and reporter David Begnaud on the scene. |
The Death Toll
The controvertible official tally of Hurricane-related fatalities (64) and inexplicable island government secrecy, prompting the lawsuit filed by the tenacious Puerto Rico Center for Investigative Journalism, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (or CPI), has been an “Erin Brockavich” repeat performance of documenting one-on-one interviews with hundreds of bereaved and inconsolable families—caregivers, health institutions, funeral homes and forensics experts—unearthing the blatant disregard for the unknown numbers of hurricane victims caught in the death and dying stages, and necessarily cremated, buried in backyards (or otherwise denied a proper Christian burial). By all accounts, the cavalier attempts by ranking government officials to suppress human casualty information, by omission or commission, and then ordered by the Courts to release government records, llora ante los ojos de Dios, is an offense before an all-seeing God. That (for me) is forevermore enshrined on a ‘National Tombstone of Shame.’ And the epitaph reads:
“Here repose those who went untimely to the grave under a cloud of dubious unnatural causes, following Hurricane Maria’s calamitous landing on our vulnerable island shores”
Seniors and the chronically ill relegated to the ‘dishonored ones’ of our more Christ-affirming and gracious Puerto Rican society. Whose elderly personas de la tercera edad are deemed the repository of knowledge, memories and wisdom by virtue of their venerated standing. The 'Doñas and Dons’ who have earned their stripes in the cycle of life, and perpetuity of the proud Boricua Nation. This cultural debasement, broken transmission, of Puerto Rican customs and respect for the deceased must never, ever again be repeated or allowed. And warrants atonement (in my opinion) to restore the balance in Borinquen, the hallowed land where roam the spirits of our ancestors, from whom we are descended.
CPI’s journalistic (and intrepid) due diligence seeks answers to the one inscrutable question from every stratum of today’s mournful society: Why the government cover-up? That could conceivably reveal (based upon my qualified observations of unaddressed colonial grievances) that ‘someone’ in the highest echelons of power is liable for the wrongful deaths of loved ones taken too soon.
Had my dearly departed and bedridden Hospice-care parents been still alive.
Had my fateful journey from California back to the homeland, delivering my sweet and humble Mami and Papi to their final resting place El Campo Santo de Salinas, sacred communal town cemetery, been suddenly disrupted.
Had I, their sole 24/7 caregiver out in the boonies of Guayama in the rural South, been forced on their limited means—in a fretful dystopian world of shortages and rationing—to hunt down a costly generator ($1,000 a pop) and suffer skyrocketing gas or diesel fuel costs (6-hour gas station wait lines) to keep their frail conditions stabilized, their sick room air-conditioned, their motorized hospital beds and back-up respirators operable, their oxygen flowing, my father’s diabetic life-saving insulin properly cooled, while scrambling in the mayhem for weeks or months at a time.
Had I, to contend with prolonged exposure to noxious generator gasoline fumes (the stench alone would have wiped me out!) And watched the horror of them succumbing to their final breath and the diabetic convulsions that can tax the hypertensive octogenarian heart. Had I, too, been powerless to summon an ambulance and keep the Grim Reaper at bay, during the helter-skelter fight for survival in the wake of the storm’s passage.
After Mother Nature’s demolition of the island’s power grid pulled the plug on—at-home and hospital—life-support medical equipment [lacking reliable generator backups] on a ‘US territorial possession’ condemned to a decaying electric utilities infrastructure KNOWN for frequent power failures and negligent maintenance—to begin with.
A rather bold indictment, and only one of many more, that I, Doña Norma make, duty bound by the love of country and Mi Gente to chronicle Hurricane Maria events, bearing witness to the painful, traumatic and life-threatening circumstances islanders (too often) suffer in silence. Having no recourse to the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization resolutions (37 so far as tracked by Compañeros Por La Descolonización de Puerto Rico):
“calling on the Government of the United States to assume its responsibility to expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence.…and “to move forward with a process to allow the Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a sovereign manner, and to address their urgent economic and social needs, including unemployment, marginalization, insolvency and poverty…”
Recognizing, of course, the C-word--colonial--is seemingly verboten among mainstream media outlets—defenders of truth, justice and fairness—are skirting accountability for the 3.4 million American Citizens subjected to unchecked colonial abuses of power and nefarious intent. Not to mention breaching journalism canon, as accurately reflected in the Global Research report “Media Ignoring Puerto Rico’s Shock Doctrine Makeover” (02/11/18):
“The fear is that however much islanders are suffering in the midst of their ongoing humanitarian emergency, it’s the phase after the emergency passes that could be even more perilous. That’s when policies marketed as reconstruction could well morph into their own kind of punishment, leaving the island more unequal, indebted, dependent, and polluted than it was before the hurricanes hit.”
And to think that FEMA operatives were already in place in the Caribbean, picking up the pieces after Hurricane Irma, begs the question by my daughter Mija and I, as it did for the provincial and mainland media covering the manifold effects of climate change: What’s with the deplorable and dehumanizing treatment and slow-as-molasses response to US American citizens in Puerto Rico?—Trump's Katrina and FEMA's Waterloo.
Not-so-nice negligence and haphazard strategic planning, to which my daughter and I can also attest, having safely pulled through to the finish line of the rigamarole and waiting game of “Catch the FEMA Inspector If You Can”, only God knows how. Thankfully, from a distance, my California crackerjack paralegal niece and her savvy city planning hubby and other loving friends, family, and mutual aid neighbors, came to the rescue of their island family in crisis mode.
A social justice writer, across the miles from California, in the course of monitoring media coverage of the humanitarian disaster, I make the serendipitous discovery, my Chicana activist 'comadre-in-arms´ Dorinda Moreno, sits at the hub of a powerful pipeline of progressives and justice-seeking journalists, writing the wrongs committed against the colonized subjects of Puerto Rico.
It would be the 7th mensiversary of Hurricane Maria, on April 19, 2018, that the PROMESA Fiscal Control Board appointed by the US Congress, or La Junta de Control Fiscal, unveils the nefarious designs of their 'Master Fiscal Plan' imposing draconian austerity measures, and rollback Labor and Education antidemocratic reforms, on the bankrupt government of Puerto Rico, under the guise of economic recovery and island reconstruction.
It would be the 7th mensiversary of Hurricane Maria, on April 19, 2018, that the PROMESA Fiscal Control Board appointed by the US Congress, or La Junta de Control Fiscal, unveils the nefarious designs of their 'Master Fiscal Plan' imposing draconian austerity measures, and rollback Labor and Education antidemocratic reforms, on the bankrupt government of Puerto Rico, under the guise of economic recovery and island reconstruction.
From this day forward, history may (very well) one day write:
Denied the due process of 14th amendment law, on May Day, International Workers Day, May 1, 2018, as the world witnessed the indignation and island upheaval of the poor and downtrodden Puerto Rican masses, behind the scenes of the international spectacle, islanders came upon the neoliberal dictates of the ‘Masters of the Universe’ (totalitarian terror wrought by America’s Plutocrats that brings to life the end-of-days science-fiction movie!) tightening the colonial grip over the (un)democracy of Puerto Rico under new terms of modern-day enslavement."From where I sat, reeling from the manmade disaster here at home, the humanitarian crisis already unfolding in Bankrupt Puerto Rico. On the eve of both Hurricanes Maria and Irma, during the ongoing David and Goliath battle usurping our duly-elected Governor Rossello’s fiscal authority, La Colonia was about to be dealt the mortal (and immoral) blow by La Junta. Island wide the clock was ticking, and nerves were on edge. La Junta’s government downsizing demands, meant balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and grossly underpaid working class (for current FY 2018). Governor Rossello’s visions (at the time) for a sustainable renewable energy island transformation were also discernibly on the line. And along came the overriding and ruinous Hurricane Maria (divine intervention many islanders on the chopping block firmly believed) for a temporary stay in execution—and my miracle #1.
Pondering the fate of Mi Gente at the hands of the ‘Masters of the Universe’, our island democracy under siege, the backroom deals and Machiavellian designs on the bankrupt and corrupt PREPA electric power authority, the megalomaniac’s attempts to censor web access to climate change information with the repeal of internet neutrality; moreover, the impending doom of the "Shock Doctrine "and the Governor Rosselló ‘privatization spree’ being shoved down the throats of islanders, without a social justice prayer, when public opinion is skewed to the right.
I, too, had begun to silently petition for my miracles of faith:
That we bridge the political divide for the sake of cultural self-preservation.
That we set aside the statehood debate, for once.That we band together as “One Nation” against the one common enemy:
Colonial subjugation.
That we be self-empowered on our own terms
That we strive to transcend the colonial limits on our hidden potential.
So that together we can BRING IT!
And show the world who we the Puerto Rican people truly are.
For, there’s one thing I (now) know for certain, underneath the political discord over status, fundamentally, los corazones puertorriqueños laten como uno, the hearts of ALL Puerto Ricans beat as one”.
(Do I hear an Amen?)
Sadly, although an answered prayer by the many miracles to unfold, the ensuing euphoria of islander solidarity, out of solemn respect and empathy for the monumental human suffering of our brethren—hermanas and hermanos—petered out during the first 30 days Post-Maria.
After which, the staunch politicking [Politiquendo with a capital “P”] by our democracy’s untouchable upper realm La Clase Política, elite political partisans, in a bitter feud over influence, power and unbridled personal wealth, lacking sense and sensibility for the island’s able-bodied population strapped to unmitigated poverty, started up all over again at an even higher pitch!
‘Strange’ forces are undermining the security and safety of islanders, I surmise.
But, I'll let my survivor's story speak for itself..
At 6:30 am the shelter’s electricity abruptly turns off. Fans and refrigerator shut down. My portable radio starts crackling static. Zap! NotiUno Radio makes a broadcast disappearing act. Mija sits still, a prescient flash in her eyes. Mami, listen...The winds are blowing in the direction of the front doors and not from the windows behind us. We’ve been saved, she gasps. Amazed and relieved. Oh God help us now! I beseech from the deepest core of my soul. Trembling.
I browse my digital portable radio for any sounds of talking life. And only one radio station was left standing--for my miracle #2. WAPA Radio would become the single most valuable nexus [the 'Grand Central Station'] connecting the 3.4 million incommunicado islanders descending into darkness, a hellish heat, dystopian chaos and fates unknown...
NEXT: Episode 1: Hurricane Maria’s ‘Howling’ Winds of Change: “D-day”
please go to sidebar link
No comments:
Post a Comment