San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz on Monday continued to criticize the Trump administration’s relief efforts in Puerto Rico while she praised the Clinton Foundation.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Cruz discussed the island’s widespread power outages and called for a transition to renewable energy sources. She praised the Clinton Foundation for providing the island with solar panels, saying the organization has formed an "alliance" with Puerto Rico that has helped bring power back to the island.
"We're still in a life-and-death situation," Cruz said. "And we need to get our power back, get it restored, but we need to also get the alliances in place, like the Clinton Foundation that is energizing part of San Juan, a farmers market, with solar panels and solar energy. We need to set that foundation for moving forward."
Her assessment of nonprofit established by former President Bill Clinton diverged sharply with her judgment of the federal government. She said the Trump administration has not met the same standards as the Clinton Foundation and other organizations.
"The heart of the American people has been there. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has not been up to par," she said. "They have not been doing the job with the respect and dignity that we deserve, and that contrasts starkly with the heart of the American people."
The Clinton Foundation itself has faced criticism for actions related to the Caribbean island of Haiti. Specifically, the foundation came under scrutiny for awarding donors with contracts in the rebuilding efforts following Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign, however, denied allegations of favoritism.
Cruz also praised various organizations for their help, including the charity Operation Blessing and the AFL-CIO union.
"The AFL-CIO took 320 union workers from different unions in the United States—doctors, medics, people that went to Puerto Rico, out of San Juan–for two weeks. We hosted them in our municipality and were able to touch 34 communities outside of the San Juan area."
Cruz has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump since the early days of the Puerto Rican relief efforts. Trump, in turn, questioned her leadership, and the two have disagreed publicly about how relief efforts are to proceed.