Other than relief funding being a major talking point in regard to the devastation that occurred due to Hurricane Maria, the death toll has been another issue that has been reported on. Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, spoke with the news saying that he defends his government’s efforts in tryin to get accurate numbers for the death toll of the resulting hurricane. Researchers not from the island concluded that the actual number that died from the aftermath was 4,645, which is almost 70 times higher than the original, official tally of 64 reported by the Puerto Rican government. Rossello stated that George Washington College would carryout another official study to get an accurate number for the death toll, and that the study has been delayed due to difficulty of obtaining correct death certificate information. However, according to a researcher apart of the Harvard study that was carried out stated that they did not receive any data from the government they requested. Despite these allegations Rossello stated, “I really want this to be very transparent. I want the truth to come out. That’s the bottom line. And I want us to learn from this tragedy”.

In the interview done with Rossello it appeared that he was unaware about data being withheld from researchers by his government, but he insists that they are doing all they can to be transparent with the people. Transparency seems to be a common thing among officials, especially with Rossello, following the hurricane, after recently mentioning the massive amounts of debt the country is in and why it sought so much aid from the US.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/puerto-rico-governor-responds-to-study/index.html