Music filled the walls of San Cristobal Fort Thursday as a sea of white huddled below in remembrance of a dark day one year ago.
But the day to reflect on when Hurricane Maria hit the island, wasn’t sad. Instead it was uplifting, with several musical acts and speeches focusing on the strength of the people of Puerto Rico.
Members of the Puerto Rican government, from Governor Ricardo Rossello and his family, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez along with members of the Trump administration, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Florida Governor Rick Scott, joined the hundreds in white to honor those that stepped into help and those lives that were lost. Then the music went on.
The “vamonos” spirit filled the fort here near Old San Juan. The resiliency shown in each face, each song and each person we talked with on what was a difficult day for so many.
“You can imagine Puerto Rico went through one of the most horrible events in the history of the United States we say that Puerto Rico rise we have a lot of work yet to do but we’re doing the best we can and we have the help of everyone around the world,” Beatriz Rossello, Wife of Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said.
“You can see all of the energy here and all of the focus on the recuperation and the gratefulness for all the things people have done. You can see a lot of people in the audience they were from Florida and there’s a lot of people from Florida who did a lot of good things,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said.
“It’s a year that’s been very tough on the people of Puerto Rico. What we went through we have never been. But I think the resiliency of the people, the faith that people have on just we’re going to come up we’re going to be able to rebuild I think that was shown here today and I am very excited about what we saw here today and optimistic for the future,” Carlos Mercader Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration said.
That optimism for the future was shared by Puerto Rico’s Governor as he closed the event.
“Standing steadfast with the people of Puerto Rico allows us to look into the future,” Rossello added.
The path to recovery continues but the resiliency of the Puerto Rican people remains strong.
