Marine veteran Mario Salazar has staged an extraordinary mercy mission to reach his starving family in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico – declaring: ‘If Donald Trump won’t rescue them, I’ll do it myself.’
Salazar, 35, spent $19,000 on satellite phones and life-saving supplies before cramming it into it nine suitcases and flying from New York to San Juan with half-brother Jose Serrano, 23.
The brave pair navigated the country’s crumbling road network to reach the lawless central area of Cidra not knowing whether their loved ones were dead or alive.
But their incredible SOS ended in unbridled joy as Salazar pulled up to his family’s blacked-out home and mom Madelene Cintron, 58, raced into the street to embrace her son.
Marine veteran Mario Salazar has staged an extraordinary mercy mission to reach his starving family in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico – declaring: ‘If Donald Trump won’t rescue them, I’ll do it myself’
Salazar (pictured inspecting damage to his home), 35, spent $19,000 on satellite phones and life-saving supplies before cramming it into it nine suitcases and flying from New York to San Juan with half-brother Jose Serrano, 23
The brave pair navigated the country’s crumbling road network to reach the lawless central area of Cidra not knowing whether their loved ones were dead or alive. Jose Serrano is picturd outside his family’s home
Outside Salazar’s family home in Cidra, Puerto Rico, during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria
Damages at the family home of Salazar and Serrano in Cidra, Puerto Rico, following Hurricane Maria
After finally snapping up airline seats Salazar and Serrano (pictured), a Miami-based security guard about to enter the merchant marine, shelled out $1,300 in excess baggage alone
‘There is no gas, no phone signal. People are killing one another for a piece of bread,’ wept Cintron. ‘I wanted to die, I wanted to commit suicide. My body is so weak I’m shaking.
‘But I knew my son would not abandon me. He is my hero, my Hercules – the world has left us to die but he came back for us.’
Salazar, a New Jersey-based tech CEO had spent days unsuccessfully trying to book a flight before Hurricane Maria made landfall, fearing his family’s rural neighborhood would be wiped off the map.
After waiting by the phone for an entire week he received his one and only call – a brief, hysterical plea for help before the line cut out.
‘They were ecstatic to speak to me but I could hear their fear and desperation,’ said former Corporal Salazar, who left Puerto Rico at 17 and served in 3rd Transport Support Battalion, based out of Okinawa, Japan, for four years, before settling in the mainland US.
Salazar’s Brooklyn, New York-born mother served in then Puerto Rico-based 390th Company from 1979 to 1986 and two more relations are active US servicemen. His stepfather Felix Rivera, 61, served in the US military during the 1950s.
Their life-saving kit included food, water, machetes, two satellite phones, portable generators, water purifiers, solar-powered chargers, torches and hundreds of batteries. Salazar inspects the damage at his former church, Fuente de Agua Viva Church in Carolina, Puerto Rico
Salazar’s (left) and Jose Martin Serrano’s (right) inpsect their former church, which was destroyed in Hurricane Maria
Serrano is seen cutting tree limbs around his famiy’s home in Cidra, Puerto Rico
But their incredible SOS ended in unbridled joy as Salazar (pictured right hugging a family member) pulled up to his family’s blacked-out home and mom Madelene Cintron, 58, raced into the street to embrace her son
Salazar sees his sister, Tiffany, 25, for the first time since the passing of Hurricane Maria in Cidra, Puerto Rico
The family of Mario Salazar is happily reunited in Cidra, Puerto Rico, after he and his brother traveled from New York and Miami in search of their family, who they had not been able to contact since the passing of Hurricane Maria
‘They told me they had no food, no water. They said Mario we don’t have anything, please help us,’ Salazar told DailyMail.com. ‘I won’t ever forget the terror in their voices.
‘It was surreal how little coverage Hurricane Maria was getting on the news at the time. I was walking around Walmart throwing anything useful I could find into three shopping carts when a woman comes up to me and asks “there’s been a hurricane in Puerto Rico?”
‘I served the US, my mother served the US, I shed blood for the US. Puerto Rican people are American people.’
After finally snapping up airline seats Salazar and Serrano, a Miami-based security guard about to enter the merchant marine, shelled out $1,300 in excess baggage alone.
Their life-saving kit included food, water, machetes, two satellite phones, portable generators, water purifiers, solar-powered chargers, torches and hundreds of batteries.
‘I got a flight up from Miami and went without sleep for three days so I could come out here,’ added Serrano.
‘I knew he was serious when I saw the shopping carts.
‘What p**ses me off most is that Houston was back on its feet in days but nothing is changing in Puerto Rico. It looks like the hurricane hit yesterday.’
The pair landed late Thursday and a DailyMail.com reporting team accompanied them as they set off at 5am to reach their family home.
Their dangerous journey took them right by the mangled wreck of the Fuente de Agua Viva Baptist church, in Carolina, where they worshiped as children.
‘It started out as a tent and grew into something the size of ten bowling alleys. Now it’s completely obliterated,’ said Salazar, who has an eight-year-old son named Akiles.
Hours later he and his half-brother arrived at their family’s $200,000 four-bed property, perched on the side of a mountain in the Barrio Honduras neighborhood on the outskirts of Cidra.
Salazar’s (left) Brooklyn, New York-born mother, Madelene Cintron (right), served in then Puerto Rico-based 390th Company from 1979 to 1986 and two more relations are active US servicemen
Salazar’s stepfather Felix Rivera (pictured), 61, also served in the US military during the 1950s
Tiffany Rivera kisses her father, Felix Rivera, in Cidra, Puerto Rico, as they celebrate the arrival of supplies and their family
Serrano comforts Madelene Cintron (left) as she recounts her experience during Hurricane Maria in Cidra, Puerto Rico, during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria
Tiffany Rivera, 25, goes through supplies in Cidra, Puerto Rico, shortly after her brother’s arrival
A fallen tree rests precariously against the side of the building and a snapped-off branch has speared the driver’s window of their Toyota Highlander SUV – but to their relief everyone was unharmed.
There they were greeted with delirious joy by Cintron, Rivera, Salazar’s sister Tiffany Rivera, 25, and her two kids, Juandriel, nine, and eight-year-old Shanielis.
Another sister, Krystal Rivera, 30, arrived moments later with her two children, 13-year-old Ashanti, and David, five, shrieking with joy as she spotted her brother and raced to embrace him.
In spite of their plight, the family refused to take all of Salazar’s supplies, taking just what they needed so he could distribute the rest to other relations or those in greater need across Puerto Rico.
‘This storm was like nothing we have ever experienced before,’ Cintron explained, choking back tears.
‘At first we took cover on the floor because we thought the windows would break but then the water came pouring down the hillside and into the house.
‘We climbed on to the bed and screamed at one another but it was so loud we couldn’t hear anything. The dogs messed themselves on the couch because they were so scared.
‘The hurricane lasted for a day and a half but when it finally died down we were too afraid to leave the house for 24 hours.
‘Since then our lives have been a waking nightmare. There’s no phone signal, no gas, you make it to a shop and there 400 people in line ahead of you. Where is the aid we’ve been promised?’
The family’s home used to look out on a stunning forest canopy teeming with birds and wildlife.
But the trees are now completely stripped of trees and smashed homes litter the apocalyptic landscape.
Rivera cries and drinks water as her brothers drop off supplies in Cidra, Puerto Rico, during the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria
Communications expert Salazar (right, giving his sister a kiss on the head) now runs New York-based firms Ultima Smart Systems, Blockfinitiy and Databay, specializing in artificial intelligence and financial software
The next objective is to reach Serrano’s grandfather, Florentin Serrano, 84, a farmer and US armed forces veteran from the northwestern municipality of San Sabastian farmer, who has not been heard from in more than a week
‘We were drinking from the river until we realized there was a dead horse in the water,’ added Krystal, an accountant who lives a few minutes’ drive away.
‘The storm ripped the power poles right from the ground like they were matchsticks. There’s no police, no law, no street lights.
‘When I drove 30 minutes to get cell signal I passed a car that had been carjacked and set alight. People are waiting hours for fuel then having it taken away from them at gunpoint.
‘Even with the Martial Law we have to go out at night to get the things we need. When I saw my brother’s car from up the street I thought he was FEMA. I’m so proud of him.’
Communications expert Salazar now runs New York-based firms Ultima Smart Systems, Blockfinitiy and Databay, specializing in artificial intelligence and financial software.
The next objective is to reach Serrano’s grandfather, Florentin Serrano, 84, a farmer and US armed forces veteran from the northwestern municipality of San Sabastian farmer, who has not been heard from in more than a week.
After that the pair will assist relief efforts across the island and travel to marooned communities so residents can use their satellite phones to contact loved-ones in the US.
‘We got here before Trump and he’s a f***ing president,’ he said of his perilous mission: ‘If I have one regret in all this is that I can’t do more.’