Hurricane Jeanne roils Puerto Rico politics
/- Originally published in the Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida) September 25, 2004
By Ray Quintanilla
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico _ For decades, only one force has been strong enough to drive this island's political agenda.
But that era ended on Aug. 15 when Tropical Storm Jeanne crept ashore.
Jeanne not only turned Puerto Rico into a federal disaster area, it also jolted the political landscape, blew the "popular" out of the Popular Democratic Party, and created a powerful new issue that is uniting all Puerto Ricans as the fall elections approach.
The burning political question no longer centers on whether Puerto Rico should become a state, a sovereign country, or remain a commonwealth. Today, voters are asking a much more practical question: Who will keep the lights on during the next major storm?
Many of them are fed up, frustrated and mobilized by Gov. Sila Calderon's decision to shut off the entire electrical grid serving the island's 4 million residents.
After Calderon's controversial decision, thousands continue to struggle without power and water, creating a political nightmare for the governor and her pro-Commonwealth Popular Democratic Party.
"This is what happens when people are without electricity for days and the person who turned off the power happens to be the governor," said Anibel Aponte, a professor of social sciences at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez.
"People don't just forget they've suffered through a terrible time and the actions of their government might have actually made their lives worse rather than better," added Aponte, who explained he can't recall a time when such a controversy has surfaced so close to election day.
That's bad news for the island's Resident Commissioner Anibel Acevedo Vila, the pro-Commonwealth party's choice to replace Calderon, who last year announced she would not seek a second term.
Within hours, politicians were calling for an investigation into the island's first major blackout. The University of Puerto Rico agreed to launch an independent investigation into whether the blackout, which affected nearly 4 million people on the island, was warranted.
Since the storm, phone lines into talk radio shows have been buzzing with angry residents trying to cope without power and water.
Smelling weakness, pro-statehood candidate Pedro Rossello almost immediately raised questions about Calderon's decision, calling it foolhardy. Turning off the power might have caused more damage to the grid than the storm would have, he added.
"You don't unplug the Christmas tree when you were looking for burned out bulbs," explained Rossello.
But Calderon is not backing down. She continues to defend the decision, which she made as a safety precaution, and pledges to "cooperate with those wanting to examine why it was done."
Her confidence has done little to thwart the widespread anger, even though the governor says electricity has been restored to 97 percent of the population and 95 percent now have running water again.
In remarks this past week, Calderon said she considered the "issue of power and water to be over with" since so many residents have had their services restored.
Now, she added, she's focused on getting the rest of the island back to normal.
During the storm, thousands had their homes flooded or damaged by high winds. Nearly 400 remain in shelters around the island because they have no water or power.
The storm was responsible for nine deaths, including two people who died from inhaling toxic fumes when they brought a generator indoors for power, government officials said.
In Carolina, where electricity and water were out for almost four days, Regina Cruz had to throw out hundreds of dollars of spoiled food. Pouring water into her toilet tank for flushing has been no fun either, she added.
"The election might just be a way for people who suffered the most to tell the politicians they made some big mistakes," said Cruz, 30, while reflecting on the hardships of the past week.
"Ask anyone on my block about the election, and you won't find talk about statehood or independence or anything else. They're mad like me, and talking about making changes on the island."
Before the storm, the hot campaign issue was whether Rossello could keep his temper in check to be an effective leader. For Acevedo Vila, it was whether he had made the right decision when he announced plans to stay on the island for the remainder of the campaign, rather than returning to Washington to carry out his official duties.
Acevedo Vila, who has often appeared with Calderon at campaign events, has sought to distance himself from her since the storm, political expert say. In fact, he's keeping an uncharacteristically low profile in the wake of what some are calling Calderon's callous decision-making under pressure.
Even before the storm, a public opinion survey by the newspaper El Nuevo Dia found Acevedo Vila's campaign trailing Rossello by nine percentage points. But few doubt that Calderon's decision widened that gap considerably, taking a race that was arguably still competitive and turning it into a fait accompli.
Though it's commonly believed that the island has about 150,000 voters who don't belong to any of the three major parties, it's difficult to find anyone on the streets today who hasn't already taken sides. Especially if that person were among those who went more than a day without water and power.
"The storm changed my life," explained Nelsa Carrion, a San Juan resident. "Four days without electricity and water does that. You don't forget about the hard times, like having to sit in the dark with no fan, and worry about getting water."
Carrion said the island's political status has taken a backseat to how the government dealt with the storm.
"It's always a hot topic, and nothing much happens," she said. "But the storm is something completely different, and our leaders need to know they messed up and we don't want this to happen again."
