It's a hillside community dotted with coffee and plantain farms on the island's southwest coast and like many other cities and towns across the island, it was heavily damaged by Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rico's National Guard arrived in Guayanilla on Monday with food and water provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. It was the first time since Hurricane Maria tore across the island two weeks ago that FEMA supplies had come directly to Guayanilla. Local officials previously had been going to the capital, San Juan, to pick up FEMA aid.
This time, National Guard members made the two-hour drive around the island to deliver the aid: more than 6,000 bottles of water and more than 3,500 meals.
Even local officials in Guayanilla said neither FEMA nor the Puerto Rico Army National Guard gave them any notice they were coming. Cell service is nearly nonexistent on this part of the island, two weeks after the storm.
Criticism continues to grow over the Trump administration's response to the disaster in Puerto Rico. President Trump says any talk of a slow response is fake news. In Guayanilla, where almost no one has electricity at home yet and few have running water, residents say the delay feels very real.
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