On Mother's Day In Puerto Rico, Hope To Visit A Mother's Grave Turns To Anguish
The municipal cemetery in Lares, Puerto Rico, has been closed since Hurricane Maria hit. Residents flocked to visit when a portion of the cemetery was opened for Mother's Day, but many were unable to reach their loved ones' graves.
Mariano Torres Ramirez woke up early on Sunday. He got out of bed just after 5 a.m. and stepped into his garden to cut a little bunch of yellow marigolds — a gift for his mother.
"I'm going to tell her I'm sorry it's been so long since I've seen her," Torres said.
It has been almost two years since the soft-spoken 82-year-old last visited his mother's grave in 2017, just a few weeks before Hurricane Maria sent a landslide rippling through the municipal cemetery in the town of Lares, Puerto Rico. It damaged nearly 1,800 tombs, uprooting caskets from their graves
