Washington, Oct 1 (IANS): US President Donald Trump on Saturday responded to harsh criticism of his administration by San Juan's mayor, saying that she and other Puerto Rican authorities had shown poor leadership in the wake of devastating Hurricane Maria.
Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz and others on the US commonwealth were failing to act decisively amid the lack of electric power and serious problems with accessing fuel and water, Efe news reported.
"Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job." Trump, who is scheduled to visit the Caribbean island on Tuesday, wrote.
Trump made his remarks after Cruz on Friday night harshly criticized acting US Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke, who on Thursday hailed the efforts of federal authorities to resolve the humanitarian crisis as "really a good-news story."
"It is not a good-news story when people are dying, when they don't have dialysis, when their generators aren't working and their oxygen isn't providing for them. Where is there good news here?" Cruz said.
Trump also has come under fire in recent days from some US lawmakers, who accuse him of not giving sufficient importance to the situation and responding too slowly to the crisis in Puerto Rico, where the electrical infrastructure was totally destroyed and people are having to wait in extremely long lines for food, fuel, water and cash.
Only around 4 percent of people have electricity and only 9 percent of telecommunications towers are functioning 10 days after the powerful Category 4 hurricane barreled through the island on Sept. 20
On Thursday, Trump waived the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (also known as the Jones Act), a federal statute that requires all goods transported by ship between US ports be carried on US-flagged vessels built in the US, owned by US citizens and crewed by US citizens or US permanent residents.
The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that the waiver of the law would be in effect for 10 days and allow foreign-flagged ships to supply Puerto Rico with fuel and other products.