Puerto Rico ordered to release death records to CNN and others
Source: CNN
By John D. Sutter, CNN
Updated 12:42 PM ET, Tue June 5, 2018
San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) - The Puerto Rican government has seven days to release death certificates and related data to CNN and a local journalism organization investigating the true toll of Hurricane Maria, a Puerto Rican judge ruled Monday.
The decision comes amid controversy over the US territory's handling of the official death toll from the hurricane, which battered this Caribbean island on September 20.
Puerto Rico had argued that some information contained in death certificates should be kept private in order to protect the identities of the dead. Puerto Rico Superior Court Judge Lauracelis Roques Arroyo ruled these records are a matter of public information and must be released, with the exception of the social security numbers of the deceased.
CNN and the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI) in Puerto Rico sued for access to death records. Both organizations have published extensive investigations questioning Puerto Rico's official death toll, which is 64.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/05/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-death-records/index.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
