Puerto Rico, now known primarily in the United States as a tourist hotspot, is a Caribbean island filled with a unique culture and people who love the land. In recent years, the island has transformed from the once cherished home of so many Puerto Ricans to an American playground, according to Andrea Hernandez-Ferraiuoli, a native of the island and President of the University of Connecticut’s Puerto Rican Student Association.
In the midst of all this change, the island has been battered by two devastating hurricane in the past five years, Maria and Fiona, respectively. Both storms killed many islanders, and left thousands without food, water, and electricity for months. Hernandez and two of her fellow members in the student group, Valeria Ramirez and Adriana Suria, recount in this episode the night Maria hit, and the devastation it left in its wake.
Alongside their story of the two storms, the three Puerto Rican women describe the constant disrespect they received from American tourists on the island, Americans in the mainland, and the United States federal government.
“I don’t want to be in a place where I’m not respected and I’m looked at as inferior and I feel the need to prove myself because I’m simply just a territory,” Suria said.
The three women provide insight to what it means to be Puerto Rican, and the spirit of the island that refused to be put out.
