A destroyed house in Barinas Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Jan. 17. (Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/For The Washington Post)

The Jan. 23 Politics & the Nation article “Stricken by disaster, Puerto Ricans still wait for U.S. aid” cast much-needed attention on the ongoing issues of disaster recovery in Puerto Rico.

Never has a U.S. jurisdiction been so restricted by the federal government in the use of disaster aid.

It is urgent that policymakers realize that withholding aid or imposing further centralization and restrictions is not the answer. Instead, working to empower local civil society should be the priority.

In our experience responding to disasters around the world, Oxfam has seen how overly controlled aid by Washington — including the kind seen in Puerto Rico — does not prevent corruption and leads to ineffective and poorly prioritized spending.

Oxfam has worked with civil society organizations in Puerto Rico in support of federal legislation to authorize the creation of a Civil Society Task Force as an alternative for the coordination of recovery funds. We urge Congress to introduce and pass legislation to move this proposal forward.

The federal government is clamoring for good governance and accountability, and so are the people of Puerto Rico. Let’s empower — not sideline — Puerto Ricans in the recovery and rebuilding of their island.

Adi Martínez-Roman, Washington

The writer is senior policy analyst on Puerto Rico for Oxfam America.

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