In Puerto Rico, Veterans Face Delayed Care

Soon after President Donald Trump took office for his second term in January, significant layoffs of federal workers began. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, has eliminated thousands of jobs in departments like education, health and human services, and veteran affairs. These personnel changes are affecting workers throughout the U.S. and its territories, including Puerto Rico, where at least 288 former federal workers have already sought unemployment assistance. 

In Puerto Rico, roughly 68,000 veterans are registered to receive services at the veterans hospital. El Nuevo Día reported in March that 26 employees from that hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, were laid off as a result of the DOGE cuts. Of those laid off, 25 are members of the union American Federation of Government Employees. Eighteen worked in the supplies area, and 12 of them are veterans, according to the same newspaper, which also noted that most of those veterans have a disability tied to their service. 

Puerto Rico has a complicated panorama regarding health services in general. For example, a recent study commissioned by Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Oversight Board about the health care workforce found that there is a significant shortage of specialized doctors — about 1,200 fewer than needed — and that the population’s overall health is deteriorating. It’s common to hear residents talk about long wait times to schedule doctor appointments and the high cost of medications.

The layoffs are already affecting services in Puerto Rico, said José Ismael Irizarry Betancourt, a Vietnam War veteran and founder of Veteranos con Puerto Rico, a veteran care coordination company. “When you have a system that is already slow, imagine now with less employees; it’s slower.”

It remains to be seen if more layoffs will affect veteran services in Puerto Rico, as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is slated to cut about 83,000 jobs by August. 

Differences based on location

U.S. territories, such as Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and outlying areas and freely associated states, including the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia, all contribute enlistees to the U.S. military, “but are governed by a patchwork of laws that contribute to disparate treatment and benefits,” the War Horse reported last year. 

About two-thirds of Puerto Rican veterans live in U.S. states. Irizarry Betancourt said many Puerto Rican veterans prefer to live in the states due to economic incentives and better benefits. 

Irizarry Betancourt launched Veteranos con Puerto Rico about seven years ago after learning through his son of a housekeeping program available for veterans and their widows in Florida. This program had existed since 1960 and could have been operating in Puerto Rico as well, but the organization running the program in Florida needed a partner organization in Puerto Rico. Veteranos con Puerto Rico filled that void.

Communicating with veterans is one of the principal tasks that Veteranos con Puerto Rico carries out through radio, television, an in-person center in San Juan and other initiatives. So far, the organization has helped more than 100 veterans, Irizarry Betancourt said. 

“Not everyone qualifies; there are some requirements. Everything that has to do with veteran compensation and benefits is really slow, and a lot of times veterans feel disheartened.”

A long history of service

According to the Puerto Rican Institute of Statistics, in 2021, there were 64,295 veterans in Puerto Rico, or about 2.4% of the population age 18 and over; more than 80% of the veterans were over 55. One percent of the veterans had served in World War II, 12% in the Korean War, 35.7% in the Vietnam War, 14.4% in the Gulf War from August 1990 to August 2001, and 15.7% from September 2001 and later. 

Puerto Rican service to the U.S. armed forces dates back to volunteers during the Spanish-American War, after which Puerto Rico and other then-Spanish colonies were ceded to the United States in 1898 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, according to the National Museum of the United States Army. Puerto Ricans have served in every war the U.S. military has been involved in since then, through different units and in different branches, in some cases with distinction. One of the most well-known groups that fought during the Korean War and was mostly made up of Puerto Ricans is the 65th Infantry. Commonly called the “Borinqueneers,” they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Barack Obama in 2016, per the Department of Defense. 

“It is the first Hispanic American unit to receive the award. It is also the first unit from the Korean War honored,” according to the National Museum. April 13 was designated as National Borinqueneers Day in 2021 by the U.S. Congress. 

Despite a long history of service, Irizarry Betancourt said that veterans have been facing, and continue to face, stigma in Puerto Rico. 

“When I left the army, they used to tell me ‘100%’ because everyone’s looking for 100% compensation,” he said.

“A perception existed that a lot of Vietnam veterans, for example, were only interested in obtaining total compensation and even faked mental health conditions to make it happen,” added Irizarry Betancourt. “With time, ‘100%’ became a type of nickname that was sometimes used in a joking tone or even a derogatory way, particularly by some civilians or VA employees.”