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Photos Of A Puerto Rico Memorial Protesting Hurricane Maria's Official Death Count Will Move You
By CAITLIN CRUZ
2 hours ago
On Friday in San Juan, an impromptu memorial of shoes sprung up at the Puerto Rican capitol building to honor victims from Hurricane Maria, whose death toll the government has yet to finalize. NPR's Adrian Florido reported there were more than 400 pairs of shoes outside the capitol building.
The anger and demand for government accountability that led Puerto Ricans to leave shoes in memoriam at their government's feet were thrust to the forefront on May 29. That's when the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released a study saying more than 4,600 "excess deaths" occurred in Puerto Rico between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31. The study's methodology of surveying 3,299 random households in Puerto Rico led them to an estimate of 4,645 "excess deaths", which is much larger than the official government toll of 64.
One Puerto Rican, Luis Vázquez, told NPR he left his own shoes in memory of his father. "We already threw all of his shoes away," Vázquez told NPR. "So I put my own, and I'm going to leave them there."
Another Puerto Rican, Mercedes Rodríguez, wrote in Spanish on Twitter that she went to the memorial for "love and justice" of those represented by the hundreds of pairs of shoes.
More:
https://www.bustle.com/p/photos-of-a-puerto-rico-memorial-protesting-hurricane-marias-official-death-count-will-move-you-9275635