FEMA says it is not cutting off aid to Puerto Rico

HAVANA – The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is not cutting off food and water supplies to Puerto Rico despite reports that it intended to do so.

FEMA spokesman William Booher tells The Associated Press that the agency had been evaluating whether enough stores and supermarkets had reopened by Jan. 31 to justify ending distribution of food and water to municipal governments on the island. He says that decision had not actually been taken but officials mistakenly made the date public this week.

Booher says FEMA is in the process of winding down food and water distribution as stories and markets come back online, but will continue to distribute aid to needy towns for the foreseeable future.