U.S. President Donald Trump (Xinhua file photo)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at the mayor of Puerto Rico's capital San Juan, after the latter complained about the lagging relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
"The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump," Trump tweeted.
"Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on island doing a fantastic job," Trump tweeted.
The attack came after Carmen Soto, mayor of San Juan, pleaded at a press conference Friday for help.
"People are dying in this country. I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy," Soto said.
The plea immediately raised questions in Washington and beyond whether the federal government has done enough to help Puerto Ricans, who were devastated in the past weeks by Hurricane Maria.
Food and fresh water are said to be running dangerously short on the island, and Soto said there is insufficient effort to bring the supplies to those in need.
Trump said he will visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday to meet with locals.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory in the Caribbean Sea, with a population of about 3.4 million.
