Posted on 10/05/2013 10:35:58 AM PDT by SilvieWaldorfMD
Frustrated, sweating tourists with hands on their hips stood in front of a seaside 16th-century fortress on Tuesday after discovering it was one of several sites in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico closed by the partial federal government shutdown.
The majority of Puerto Rico’s 10,000 federal employees were affected by the shutdown, which led to closure of the imposing San Felipe del Morro fort in San Juan, along with other tourist destinations including El Yunque, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system. Also affected are national wildlife refuges in the nearby islands of Culebra and Vieques, according to Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi.
“The shutdown is denying public access to every one of Puerto Rico’s federally staffed and protected natural treasures,” he said. “Closure of these sites, particularly El Yunque, harms Puerto Rico’s tourism base and hurts small businesses that depend on tourists as their customers.”
Several visitors learned about the closure of the San Felipe del Morro fort only after trudging along the long entrance path in the sticky tropical heat.
“I walked all the way up there and almost died,” said Jim Kuehn, a 68-year-old from Pine Mountain, Georgia, who was visiting Puerto Rico with his son. He noted that no one had yet posted any closure notices.
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Ping
Hopefully, Puerto Rico learns a lesson from this. Being dependent upon the BIG U.S. Government is not always a good thing.
My family there says that the pro-independence and pro-Cuba crowd on the island is having a great time beating the drum of so much US dependence, etc. and there’s an outcry from these people to sever ties with the US.
As far as I’m concerned, we need to cut PR loose. They refuse statehood, and are a net-drain on US resources.
Let them go their own way.
if that lady in the article almost died just walking to the fort,and it is a long walk,i’ve been many times, she’s lucky it was closed. Climbing would have finished her off.
Independence. Give them back those Puerto Rican in the NY jails.
The stairs leading from the very front of the fortress to the entrance (from the inside of El Morro) are the worse steps in the Caribbean region. They are brutal!
by pass San Juan and head to Cartagena. The walled “old city” is massive, huge walls, beautiful narrow streets with horse carriages, tourist friendly and great food!
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