"The entire United States is with you," Biden tells Puerto Ricans after Hurricane 'Fiona' hit

Before Florida, Puerto Rico.

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, visits this week the scenes of the latest natural disasters that, in the form of hurricanes, have hit the United States.

Puerto Rico's peculiar status as a commonwealth has sometimes kept it on the sidelines of the help it needed.

Biden himself has recognized this before embarking on the flight to the island: "I am going to Puerto Rico because they have not been treated very well," he said.

Once on the island, he reiterated his message of help and also of solidarity: "We are here to show that we are with you, the entire United States is with you," he said in a speech in Ponce, one of the areas hit by the hurricane.

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Biden has recalled the chain of misfortunes that Puerto Rico has experienced since the destruction of the great Hurricane

five years ago.

Then followed a major earthquake, then the pandemic, and now

The new cyclone has again destroyed electrical infrastructure, left the island without power (it has not yet fully recovered) and caused catastrophic material damage.

"It's time to rebuild everything and do it in a resilient way so that when the storm comes back it won't damage it so much again," Biden said.

The president of the United States will visit Florida on Wednesday, where Hurricane

has left a trail of devastation and death, with tidal waves that resembled a tsunami on the southwestern coast and torrential rains in much of the interior of the island.

The number of deaths indicated by official sources already exceeds one hundred, although those certified by the coroner as caused by the hurricane are still a few dozen below.

In Puerto Rico,

hasn't been as devastating, but the knock-on effect of natural disasters and the island's greater relative poverty complicates matters.

“For all those who suffered

Fiona has been an all too familiar nightmare.

You know better than anyone that the losses are piling up,” Biden said.

“I am committed to Puerto Rico rebuilding itself faster than in the past, and to being better prepared for the future.

We are going to make sure that they receive every one of the dollars promised, ”he added, recalling that he approved the first series of relief funds before the recent storm hit.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, had claimed something like this before: "We want to receive the same help as the rest of the Americans," he said before thanking Biden for his presence on the island.

Biden was prepared: “We have to work harder to ensure that when the next hurricane hits Puerto Rico, it is prepared.

Today I'm announcing more than $60 million in funding to help Puerto Rico's coastal areas better prepare for the storm.

For example, we can create a flood warning system to help shore up levees and retaining walls.

In addition, there are almost 700 million investments in infrastructure in Puerto Rico that have already been announced since the bipartisan infrastructure law was signed last November," he said, after also mentioning the federal aid for cleaning and debris removal and aid to families who have lost or seen their homes damaged.

Biden has recalled that in the state where he resides, Delaware, there is an important Puerto Rican colony.

“In a way, I grew up politically in the Puerto Rican community, at home,” she has stated.

He has come to the island accompanied by a Democratic congresswoman from New York, Nydia Velázquez, a descendant of the island, where a good part of her family still lives.

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