Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Needs President Trump, Luis Miranda Says

NEW YORK, NY – Luis Miranda will be the first to tell you that he’s not a fan of President Donald Trump and his administration. At the same time, the long-time Hispanic activist has a request of his fellow New Yorker.

“Please go to Puerto Rico,” says Miranda, the father of "Hamilton" writer Lin-Manuel Miranda. “Because when you go, not only will you see for yourself the devastation, you will bring cameras. And they will bear witness to what has happened.”

Miranda — a long-time figure in New York politics having served under Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani, on the board of education as well as chairman of the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation — is a Puerto Rican native working feverishly to help the island recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria. (For more on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

“Imagine Katrina,” he says. “But so much worse. There is no electricity. It will be months. The island is in desperate need of help. People do not know just how bad it is is. The damage has been massive. Communication is very limited.

“The entire country is without electricity."

And that is why Miranda says that it is so important for the president to go. So that reporters will go with him and see the help that is needed.

Miranda may have left Puerto Rico when he was 18 years old, leaving his home to attend New York University, but the island has never left him. He still owns a home down there, has family there and regularly visits.

“I am the only one of my family who emigrated,” he says. “My brother, my sister, my family is still down there.”

They all made it through the storm safely.

“I had seen on Facebook that they were OK and was able to talk with some friends down there,” he says. “But I was only able to talk to my sister on Saturday. Finally.”

Among the homes that have been lost, he says, is the home where his parents lived, where his children — Lin-Manuel of "Hamilton" fame and his sister, Luz — would go every year to spend time with their grandparents.

“It is sad,” Miranda says. “The destruction is heartbreaking. But there is no time to focus on that, to allow ourselves to dwell on what has been lost.

“We need to use our energy on the work that must be done. We need to channel our focus on helping them rebuild and recover.”

That is why Miranda is working around the clock with the Hispanic Federation — the umbrella group of dozens of organizations that he helped found in 1990 — to raise money and get supplies and help to the island.

“Our first plane landed in San Juan with first responders on Sunday morning,” he says. It was supposed to have been there earlier but the entire region is struggling and the airport had to close for repairs.

“There is so much work to do.”

Miranda says he has spoken with people who have painted a dire picture of life on the island.

“Outside the city, once 7 p.m. comes, you cannot see anything,” he says. “There is no light, there is no nothing.”

Miranda says that because of the darkness and the curfew, his brother and other family members who live in the countryside have been staying in his apartment outside San Juan where there is some ambient light from the streets.

The darkness in the country, he says, has also led to a safety issue.

“People with guns showing up at people’s homes and stealing generators,” he says. “Things are very bad right now.”

Miranda says one of the most heartbreaking aspects of what is going on now is the way that Puerto Rico – even in terms of disaster coverage – is treated as second-class.

“People forget that Puerto Ricans are Americans,” he says. “In some ways, it is not that they forget, it is that they are never told. Look at the coverage of Florida, of Houston. And then look at the coverage of Puerto Rico.

“We get maybe eight seconds. If we get that much.”

Miranda says that what Puerto Rico needs now is people to give money to one of the major organizations (such as the Hispanic Federation) putting together relief efforts.

“We need money to buy supplies, money to hire people, money to fly planes to bring everything down there,” he says. “We need people with tools. There are so many roads that are still impassable.

“It will be weeks before we are even able to fully grasp just how bad the damage is. We know that it is very bad. We suspect that it is much worse.”

Miranda says that he is grateful to have his son helping with relief efforts, rallying people to the cause.

But, Miranda says, it is the stories of small donors that inspire him.

“I heard from one woman who gave us $10,” he says. “She said that she was giving all that she could but she gets paid on Wednesday and hopefully will be able to give more.

“It was the sweetest treat.”

For now, Miranda says, the focus is on continuing to raise awareness.

It’s been about 45 years since he left Vega Alta on the island’s northern coast. Despite the destruction, it is a place as beautiful now as when he left, a place worthy of help, he said.

“The island needs help,” he says. “The kind of the help that people can provide — but only to a degree. It really is the kind of help that the federal government needs to provide.”

Which is why, despite not being a fan of Trump, he would like — he needs — his help. Miranda, who runs the Mirram Group political consulting group and has worked for candidates including Freddy Ferrer and Hillary Clinton, understands the importance of a good photo op.

“This administration has shown, again and again, a lack of empathy,” he says. “For immigrants, for working people, for those in need. But Puerto Rico is part of the United States."

He knows the value that a presidential visit would bring to relief efforts.

“Go there," he says to Trump. "See the destruction, bring the cameras, let the world know what has happened. And what needs to happen.”

Photo courtesy the Mirram Group