Extend Relief to Vieques and Culebra.

Vieques & Culebra are islands and municipalities of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands.

The hospital in Vieques, P.R. was destroyed after Hurricane Maria in 2017, and it has yet to be rebuilt. This means the general and emergency needs of some 9,000 Viequenses have been neglected for over three years, resulting in unnecessary deaths. This long-existing abysmal health care access has been exacerbated by additional disasters and COVID19.

Vieques and Culebra also have disproportionately high cancer rates because of exposure to munitions-specific carcinogens directly attributable to the U.S. Navy's history of using the islands for military exercises.

Federal funding needs to be directed toward building hospitals to withstand climate change effects, improving the essential transportation infrastructure, and continuing the decontamination and cleanup efforts.