Last Monday, as Exonians rushed into the Assembly Hall, they had the pleasant surprise of being greeted by a rather extraordinary visitor. Indeed, they had the opportunity to hear Sandra Guzman speak about Puerto Rico. She is not your average reporter: born in Puerto Rico, she feels very strongly about the injustices Puerto Ricans suffer and about their drastic standard of living following the hurricanes.
She has gone there to bring help (giving out non- GMO seeds to help farmers grow food, for example) and, as a journalist, makes sure to spread awareness about what is happening in Puerto Rico, such as floods, lack of electricity (one third of the population did not have access to it) and food, contaminated waters and thousands of deaths all caused by the category 4 and category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria. Not to mention Puerto Ricans’s lack of political power despite being citizens of the United States: they are treated as second class citizens and do not possess the same voting rights.
Ms. Guzman is working hard to criticize and combat these injustices as a journalist by getting people to talk about them and leading protests via several media platforms (magazines, television, books, newspapers). However, her perseverance does not stop there: she is an author, speaker and activist as well (you probably got a taste of her passion during Assembly).
Her strong commitment has earned her several awards, and she is currently working on a very important documentary.