Nueva auditoría federal concluye que el Departamento de Salud arriesgó la vida de los puertorriqueños durante el huracán María

El Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico (DS) “puso en riesgo” la vida de los puertorriqueños al no implantar de forma efectiva un protocolo de preparación y respuesta durante el huracán María, indica una auditoría del gobierno federal. 

La investigación de la Oficina del Inspector General del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos federal (HHS-OIG en inglés), publicada en julio de 2021, sostiene que el DS incumplió con un acuerdo colaborativo para atender emergencias. 

Una sucesión de errores y omisiones del DS causó que esta fuera la única de las agencias de algún estado o territorio en ser auditada por el gobierno federal. El DS no llevó a cabo iniciativas de preparación y respuesta específicas para las personas más vulnerables, como niños, ancianos, enfermos, con impedimentos, los aislados geográficamente y quienes tienen una barrera cultural o de lenguaje, según se lo exigía el acuerdo colaborativo. El DS tampoco consultó con el público su Plan Operacional de Emergencia, lo que era un requisito del acuerdo. La agencia puertorriqueña hizo todo lo contrario: alegó que era confidencial. Precisamente por que ocultaba ese documento público, el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) tuvo que ir a los tribunales a exigirlo. 

“La falta de participación de las partes con interés pudo haber limitado la preparación, respuesta y esfuerzos de recuperación del DS”, según el informe federal.

Como suero de brea los proyectos de envergadura que se harían con fondos de recuperación

El alcalde de Jayuya, Jorge González Otero, habla sin tapujos. En mayo, les dijo a los principales funcionarios a cargo de la recuperación de Puerto Rico que deben “darle machete” al contrato de la compañía estadounidense ICF Incorporated. Su envalentonamiento tiene un fundamento de gran peso, o mejor dicho, de muchos dólares. Con $250 millones federales asignados, Jayuya es el municipio con más fondos disponibles para reconstruir edificios, carreteras y puentes. Le sigue San Juan, con $96 millones.

Contract Awarded for Design of Diagnostic Treatment Center in Vieques, More Than a Year After Funds Were Obligated

A year and four months after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced a $39.5 million obligation to rebuild the Susana Centeno Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Vieques, which Hurricane María destroyed in 2017, the Infrastructure Financing Authority (AFI), the agency to which the Municipality delegated the task of managing the project earlier this year, awarded a bid for the conceptual design of the new building to CSA Architects & Engineers, LLP, for $147,340. Thirty-seven companies procured the documents to participate in the bidding process, and nine companies submitted proposals. After awarding the contract to CSA Architects & Engineers, the document should be signed in the next few days, AFI stated. The company has had contracts with nearly 30 agencies, municipalities and public corporations for more than a decade for work related to technical services, design, architecture, surveying and repairs. Under Ricardo Rosselló’s administration, CSA Architects & Engineers locked down $26 million in contracts at 10 agencies, according to Comptroller records.

FEMA Avoids Addressing Incidents of Sexual and Workplace Harassment in Its Puerto Rico Office

Invitations to sexual threesomes from bosses, unsolicited comments about clothing, sexual organs and the carrying of firearms, and even forceful kisses in the workplace are some of the types of gender-based violence incidents that Puerto Rican female employees have experienced from supervisors and co-workers in the Puerto Rico office of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which oversees the recovery process after Hurricanes Irma and María made landfall in 2017. The Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) received and confirmed these confidences through 13 testimonies from people who work or have worked for FEMA in Puerto Rico and who decided to tell their stories after the publication in March of an investigation by this media outlet that revealed a pattern of workplace harassment in the External Affairs Office of the federal agency, with at least six cases officially reported. There is now a total of 16 cases that the CPI has documented, the majority of which are from women who have officially filed complaints against several FEMA workers in Puerto Rico for alleged situations of sexual harassment, workplace harassment, persecution, intimidation, or discrimination due to age and gender during the job recruitment process and promotion. Some of these cases, which took place between 2018 and 2020, have remained unaddressed for more than three years and in certain instances, the employer keeps the people who filed the complaint close to their alleged aggressors and they have not been given any remedies. The CPI requested reactions and interviews on this matter for every claim related to FEMA, both local, regional, and the agency’s central office, but all refused to be interviewed and responded with general statements that do not address the questions asked and the issues reported.