The ability to communicate during a disaster is a life-and-death issue.
In Puerto Rico, the collapse of the communications networks following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 contributed to the historic death toll: Between 3,000 and 5,000 people died.
A scene of devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria
Flickr user Army Corps of Engineers
Since then, Free Press has worked with Puerto Rican allies to hold the Federal Communications Commission and the federal government accountable. We also released a groundbreaking report documenting the FCC’s failures. We’re calling on the agency and Congress to investigate all of the factors that contributed to the communications crisis to prevent this kind of catastrophe from happening again.
Why are you working on communication rights in Puerto Rico?
The history of colonialism and neglect from the federal government contributed to the scope of the communications disaster in Puerto Rico. In addition, climate change disproportionately impacts communities of color. And too often, telecom infrastructure is less likely to be resilient in these communities, endangering residents’ lives. Understanding what happened in Puerto Rico is critical to adopting policies to prevent such a tragedy, especially since storms like Hurricane Maria are becoming the norm.
Why is this work personal for many Free Press staffers?
Several members of the organization’s Puerto Rico team are Puerto Rican. The fight for Puerto Ricans’ digital rights is also a struggle for racial justice and against the harms caused by colonialism, racism and capitalism. We hope our work in Puerto Rico will help people identify the importance of addressing similar injustices in their own communities.
