CLEVELAND — Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico. Maria's damages cost the island years of recovery. This Sunday, Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico, leaving many without power and flooded houses.
The Young Latino Network of Cleveland wanted to bring awareness to what was going on in Puerto Rico. They held a candlelight event on Tuesday evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Roberto Clemente Park in Cleveland.
Advocates say since Maria, the island's infrastructure became severely damaged and the government didn't do much to help with this problem.
Selina Pagan, the co-executive director of operations and development for the Young Latino Network said she wanted the voices of Puerto Ricans and other Latinx community members to be heard.
Pagan encourages people to sign up to vote so they can have access to ballots and advocate for policies that directly affect them. She also stated that "there are a lot more Puerto Ricans in the U.S and they should have a say so in this democracy".
Watch: News 5 spoke to concerned Northeast Ohioans
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