puerto rican national guard beyond the horizon 2017

Puerto Rico's politics are divided among those who want to remain a semi-independent commonwealth, those who prefer U.S. Many have complained about their treatment by the U.S. Its 3 million residents also have reeled in recent years from a financial crisis, Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Puerto Rico struggles with a high poverty rate.

More than 300,000 Puerto Rico residents could be eligible for the benefit at a cost of $2 billion annually, the federal government said. Their lawsuit is on hold while the Supreme Court considers the matter in a similar case pursued by another Puerto Rico resident, Jose Luis Vaello Madero, who received SSI benefits when he lived in New York but lost eligibility when he moved to the territory in 2013. Constitution's guarantee that all people be treated equally under the law. Social Security Administration seeking access to the SSI benefits, arguing that the exclusion violates the U.S. 'We are American citizens living in Puerto Rico. 'It's discrimination,' Rivera Berrios, 70, said in Spanish, as his son listened from his bed, with a Christian cross fastened with a safety pin next to his striped pillow. The nine justices, whose new nine-month term begins next Monday, are scheduled to hear arguments in a case on this issue on Nov. Congress unconstitutionally denied the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit to Puerto Rico's residents. Supreme Court will soon rectify the matter.Īt issue is whether the U.S. He and his family argue that this denial is unlawful and are hoping the U.S. mainland, he is denied a federal benefit worth hundreds of dollars a month that other Americans are routinely eligible to receive. He cannot walk and needs help performing basic tasks.Īs a resident of Puerto Rico and not the U.S. Now 35, Rivera Fuentes spends most days in his room in the family's modest teal-colored house in Toa Alta, a town about 20 miles (32 km) west of the U.S. The drugs represent just one aspect of the care he requires, a burden that largely falls upon his parents, Abraham Rivera Berrios and Gladys Fuentes Lozada, who adopted him when he was a baby given just weeks to live. TOA ALTA, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Emanuel Rivera Fuentes, severely disabled since birth and lying in bed at the home he shares with his parents in Puerto Rico, recites a list of 14 medications he must take daily for medical conditions including cerebral palsy.

Puerto rican national guard beyond the horizon 2017