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WORLD NEWS Saturday 9 april 2022
Puerto Rico struggles to emerge from outage as anger builds

By DÁNICA COTO demonstrated the fragility
Associated Press of Puerto Rico's electrical
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) grid, which Hurricane Maria
— Shuttered businesses. razed in 2017 as a power-
Sleepless nights. Canceled ful Category 4 storm. Emer-
classes. Hundreds of thou- gency repairs were made
sands of people across at the time, but reconstruc-
Puerto Rico remained with- tion efforts have yet to start
out power on Friday, nearly on the crumbling electri-
two days after a fire at a cal grid that has caused
main power plant sparked weekly outages in dozens
an island-wide outage. of communities
Crews have restored power Late Thursday, the U.S. Fed-
to some 650,000 customers eral Emergency Manage-
out of nearly 1.5 million, but ment Agency said it had
people in several neighbor- approved nearly $9.5 bil-
hoods have complained lion to Puerto Rico's power
that the electricity went out company in September
once again as the island 2020 to rebuild the grid, but
struggles to emerge from that it has not yet received
the blackout that also left any transmission and distri-
more than 160,000 clients bution projects for evalua-
without water. tion and approval of con-
The outage forced the gov- Traffic lights are out of service on a street in San Juan, Puerto Rico, early Thursday, April 7, 2022. struction funds.
ernment to cancel classes Associated Press In addition, the Costa Sur
and shutter agencies for ing-class neighborhood fragile," said Shay Bahrami- ly they'll have lights again. generation plant, one of
the second day in a row on with a high crime rate, but rad, an engineering vice "I haven't slept," said Fer- four main ones on the is-
this U.S. territory of 3.2 mil- the heat inside her house is president with Luma. nando García, a 51-year- land, was damaged dur-
lion people as frustration overwhelming. The company has said that old construction worker ing a series of strong earth-
and anger bubbled over. "Those who have genera- a circuit-breaker failure who is more worried about quakes that struck southern
"This is unbearable," said tors are doing well, but could have caused the not being able to find work Puerto Rico in recent years.
Maribel Hernández, 49, as what about people like blackout after a fire erupt- in the past two days given Kevin Acevedo, a vice
she wiped her forehead us?" she said, adding that ed late Wednesday at the the outage. "I don't have a president for Luma, said
with a small blue washcloth she's been forced to throw Costa Sur power plant in budget right now." Friday that the company
that she hung over her left out all her food. southern Puerto Rico, but García stood outside a hopes to have restored
shoulder. Officials with Luma, which that it will be weeks be- small outdoor cafeteria sell- power to 1 million custom-
Hernández, who is recover- took over transmission and fore they'll know the exact ing eggs and greasy turn- ers by late Friday night.
ing from cancer, has been distribution from Puerto Ri- cause of the interruption. overs known as empanadil- Those who have power
sleeping on the concrete co's Electric Power compa- Meanwhile, the lack of las, grateful that the owner back said they are relieved
floor in her home's narrow ny last year, have said they power prompted at least allowed him to charge his but worry about the impact
outdoor patio with only a don't know exactly when one city to distribute food phone for the day as he the outage had on shrink-
sheet because her mattress power would be fully re- to the elderly and ice to continued to look for work. ing budgets already hard
doesn't fit there. She worries stored but note crews have those with health condi- Luma CEO Wayne Stens- hit by the island's more than
about being mugged be- been working nonstop. tions including diabetes as by has called the outage decade-long economic
cause she lives in a work- "The system is extremely many wonder when exact- "very unusual" and said it crisis.q

South China Sea issues handled

‘properly,’ Xi tells Duterte

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing has had limited suc- cooperation, benefited the
Seeking to put a positive cess separating the Philip- two peoples, and effec-
spin on a relationship that pines from its treaty ally, the tively safeguarded region-
never quite produced the United States. al peace and stability,”
hoped-for benefits, Chi- Xi made no mention Xi was quoted as saying
nese leader Xi Jinping told of disputes, saying the by the official Xinhua News
outgoing Philippine Presi- sides “have adhered to Agency.
dent Rodrigo Duterte on the important consen- “China’s policy toward the
Friday that the two nations sus reached, adhered Philippines maintains con- In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese
have “properly” handled to good-neighborly and tinuity and stability, and Coast Guard ship sails near a Philippine Coast Guard vessel
the sensitive issue of the dis- friendly cooperation, in- (China) is willing to work during its patrol at Bajo de Masinloc, 124 nautical miles west of
puted South China Sea. sisted on properly handling with the Philippines to pro- Zambales province, northwestern Philippines on March 2, 2022.
Xi made his remarks in a differences, and insisted on mote the continuous and Associated Press
phone conversation with working together for com- sound development of Chi- recent developments al countries to adhere to
Duterte, who nurtured clos- mon development.” na-Philippines relations and showed that “regional se- the concept of common,
er ties with Beijing after tak- “The proper handling of the continuously advance to a curity cannot be achieved comprehensive, coopera-
ing office in 2016. South China Sea issue by new level,” Xi said. by strengthening military al- tive and sustainable securi-
Despite cozier relations, both sides has provided an Xi also took a swipe at Ma- liances.” ty (and) firmly hold regional
however, sporadic territori- important foundation for nila’s security pact with “China is willing to work with security leadership in their
al spats have persisted and China-Philippines friendly Washington, saying that the Philippines and region- own hands,” Xi said.q