In the aftermath of the 2017 hurricane season, which devastated United States territories Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, more than five thousand projects were earmarked to receive federal recovery money. Two years later, the money has stalled, with fewer than 500 projects funded.
“We are in the same situation as we were in the days after the hurricane,” Rafael Surillo Ruiz, the mayor of Yabucoa in Puerto Rico, told The New York Times. Throughout Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, hospitals are still shut down, with patients receiving care in trailers, and roads and other infrastructure remain in disrepair.