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U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley has shown his intentions to fix Puerto Rico’s financial crisis and announced he will travel to the island, becoming the first presidential candidate to do so.
Republican former Florida Governor and presidential hopeful Jeb Bush visited Puerto Rico in April, before he announced he was joining the race.
RELATED: Understanding Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis
The former Maryland governor gave an interview to the Puerto Rican News Paper “El Nuevo Dia” saying that Washington has the obligation to “help and fight injustice.” He added that he will help Puerto Rico to fund health care by requiring the federal government to offer hospitals the same Medicare payment rates that U.S. states receive.
“The main thing we need to do is extend the same bankruptcy protections that we have on the federal level to Puerto Rico,” he said.
The democratic candidate gave these statements as he tries to pick up pace in the presidential race. He is far behind in the polls against his Democratic colleagues Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. These last two have come out in favor of extending the protections to help mitigate Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt crisis, calling for lawmakers to pass the legislation.
RELATED: Debt Crisis Worsens as Puerto Ricans Fear the Worst
Puerto Rico is a territory under the sovereignty of the United States federal government, but is not part of any state, so its residents aren’t eligible to vote in the general election. However the current crisis has forced many locals to move to mainland, and O’Malley and other candidates would benefit greatly from the Latino vote.
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