carlos (vibe describer) Profile picture
hijo del caribe | freelance journalist always keeping tabs on collapse | member @iwwfju @nppa | él/he | carlosBP (at) protonmail (dot) com
Sep 25, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
1/x Another PR mayor, fed up with the slow response from LUMA, decided to take matters into his own hands and hire his own electrician brigades. Once he posted about his actions, he claims that LUMA personnel arrived to where they were working to take pictures of them 2/x He also claims that he later received a call from a LUMA manager who "threatened to withdraw their [LUMA's] brigades from Isabela."

They later went to the local police headquarters to a file a complaint against him, he claims.
Sep 25, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
There's no translators for the electrical system update from @AEEONLINE and @lumaenergypr, a problem that we've seen come up again and again.

facebook.com/watch/live/?re… This is such an incredibly easy to fix problem!!!! Senior VP of Operations Lawrance Kazmierski has headphones on, which makes me think that he's getting real-time translations.
Sep 25, 2022 27 tweets 11 min read
1/x Yesterday, we spent the day in Loíza, the hub of African culture and Afro-boricuas in PR. The municipality was greatly affected by the flooding caused by Hurricane Fiona. While the water has gone down quite a bit, the people are still suffering. 2/x The first place I visited was the Batey de los Hermanos Ayala, a historic cultural center. That bright yellow building is a shop where they sell handmade drums and other instruments. Thankfully, it was relatively unaffected by the rain.
Sep 24, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
The PR metro is reporting en masse that they’ve just lost power. Earlier today, LUMA was claiming that ~56% of PR was energized. I’d love to see what number they’re claiming now.
Sep 23, 2022 11 tweets 4 min read
I spent the last 2-3 days rolling around the south coast of Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Fiona made landfall, and talking to some of the people most affected by the destruction. They tell me they have not seen much government aid and have had to mostly rely on their communities. Many of these communities were still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and the 2020 earthquakes when they were battered by Hurricane Fiona.

Many remember little state and federal aid then as well.
Sep 23, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
Me he estado quedando con mi abuela mientras reporto en el sur y hes la primera vez que veo cable tv en años. Solo ha cementado mi odio por la mayoría de los programas de cable. Acabo de ver el typo.
Sep 23, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
“LUMA’s bad performance in energizing the island after Hurricane Fiona is unacceptable for Guaynabo and for Puerto Rico,” says Guaynabo Mayor Edward O’Neill Rosa, who worked for PREPA for more than 20 years. He’s not the first mayor to express his frustration at the rate that LUMA has started bringing electricity to PR. Currently, about 1 million customers (out of ~1.4 million) don’t have power.

Utuado’s Mayor Jorge Pérez Heredia, former PREPA employee too, said something similar.
Sep 18, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
Catching up w/ news about Fiona in this thread now that I have signal.

All of PR is currently w/o electricity and there are flash flood warnings in effect across the archipelago. All Puerto Ricans haven’t had electricity for a little bit now.
Sep 18, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
A hurricane warning has been in effect in PR since yesterday with Tropical Storm Fiona likely to become a Cat 1 Hurricane later today when it passes through the south. As of right now, there’s upwards of 240k customers without electricity across PR, totaling ~17% of the population. The actual number is likely higher than this though.
Sep 17, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
There’s been a hurricane warning issued for Puerto Rico because of Tropical Storm Fiona, warning of mudslides, flooding and power outages. apnews.com/article/floods… alert made me jolt out of my seat
Sep 16, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
@sanbenito dropped a new music video w/ @bgraulau to talk about imperialism (and a bunch of other very other bad stuff that’s happening to PR). While the music’s banging, the reporting is very important for everybody to see!

Also your boy contributed some footage to it Image
Aug 26, 2022 49 tweets 10 min read
I am once again in Old San Juan, covering an anti-LUMA anti-Gov protest. There’s pretty much no one here, less than a dozen protesters. When I went to but a water bottle, I got to talking with a woman who moved from Mayagüez to San Juan who claims that LUMA is charging her an $800 debt she does not owe. She claims that she’s explained to LUMA multiple times that she no longer lives in the property they’re…
Aug 26, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
Last night, journalists and protesters were attacked by police while protesting a recent string of blackouts, LUMA Energy, and Gov. Pierluisi’s administration.

latinorebels.com/2022/08/26/pue… My day of thread:
Aug 26, 2022 17 tweets 6 min read
1/x Vamos a hablar de la municiones que usaron los policías anoche en contra de los manifestantes anti-LUMA. Image 2/x La mayoría de las municiones “antidisturbios” son manufacturadas por Defense Technology y se han tratado de encubrir como “no-letales” pero la realidad es que son “menos letales” que armas de fuego regulares. ImageImage
Aug 26, 2022 56 tweets 14 min read
Clearly identified as a member of the press still got hit by riot munitions Riot line down the street body’s on fire
Aug 25, 2022 80 tweets 20 min read
I am in Old San Juan where activists are holding an anti-LUMA protest. Support for the protest quickly grew after popular artists like @Residente and @kanygarcia shared this graphic through their social media. Since then, multiple labour and activist groups have given support… to today’s protest.

There were a string of large blackouts throughout all of August that left hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans without electricity. Sadly, this is not a new trend. Puerto Ricans have been experiencing worse and worse blackouts since @lumaenergypr took…
Aug 18, 2022 10 tweets 3 min read
1/x At a press conference (without official ENG-to-SPA translators), LUMA Energy claimed that they “had 30% less outages than the year before” and “19% less substation events compared to year before.” 2/x This conference came after three large (+100k customers) blackouts in less than 2 weeks. And a series of blackouts and brownouts that have become monthly events at this point.
Aug 18, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
1/x "I'm not satisfied with LUMA's performance. For me, it's obvious that there has to be changes in their execution plan to significantly improve the service they're offering our country," Gov. Pierluisi said in a public statement today following multiple large blackouts. Image 2/x "LUMA has to accelerate the grid reconstruction projects that are pending, get the approval of FEMA and COR3 and utilize the resources they have available in an effective manner for essential services," he continued.

"Finally, LUMA as well as AEE have to accelerate the...
Aug 18, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
Another fire at an electrical substation in Puerto Rico, this time in Fajardo. Reportedly, firefighters can't get into the area because "there's no keys" Another angle of the fire:

Aug 17, 2022 14 tweets 6 min read
ANOTHER massive blackout in Puerto Rico. Conflicting reports about the number of customers without power. @lumaenergypr says +215k without power, while @PowerOutage_us says +158k. Caguas, Carolina, Bayamón and San Juan are the areas most affected. ImageImage Video reportedly from Aguirre power plant where an explosion can be seen from the back of the pylon structure.

Feb 18, 2022 115 tweets 27 min read
Today’s a big day in Puerto Rico because public workers are holding a “national strike.” Across the island there will be multiple protests scattered throughout the day and at different locations organized by different labour/activist groups all demanding fair pay for their work. Healthcare workers are currently on the south side of PR’s Capitol building and will be marching towards La Fortaleza demanding fair pay and better pensions in what’s been dubbed the “White Flu”