The Hero Of Facebook In Puerto Rico

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The powerful winds of Hurricane Maria knocked down Puerto Rico's communications system when it hit the island last week. Suddenly, the vast majority of its 3.5 million inhabitants were cut off from their loved ones.

Faced with this great problem, Ángel Ríos Boneta gave himself up to putting them back in contact.

According to ABC, the 31-year-old man has been posting videos on Facebook for several days in which anonymous citizens tell their relatives and friends that they survived the cyclone and are well.

Ríos had the idea when he traveled from San Juan to the municipality of Utuado, one of the most affected, to find out how his family was doing. In addition to food and water, he noted that one of the population's greatest needs was to communicate with loved ones.

Then he began asking those who were interested to say a few words in front of his cell phone camera to place it on his Facebook account, and thus try to connect them. The initiative became a passion, so it has continued to do so.

On his Facebook page, this father of two children has shared more than 50 clips in Spanish and English in which victims of Maria simply give their names and say what their loved ones so much want to know: that they are well.

By reading the multiple messages of thanks that people write to him, it is evident that many have begun to see him as a kind of hero in that social network.

However, Ríos considers that he has only done what was in his hands. "I am satisfied that families can see that [their loved ones] are alive. There are many people who do not know about their family from the first day. For a full week they do not know if they are alive and the videos help," he said.