- two months ago, hurricane maria tore its way through the island of puerto rico. - more than 50 people died and the place went dark.

The damage still visible and the place struggles to recover. But then another storm is brewing as people and politicians are asking the questions "where is the help?

" - i really wanted to come to puerto rico to see for myself what's happening. It's an incredibly difficult situation after hurricane maria, the aftermath.

When you have no energy, when you realize that this is an island that owes $70 billion and tens of thousands of people leaving the island, what's left? Tonight, the real story of what's going on in puerto rico.

- we will no longer be able to hide our inequality and our poverty behind palm trees and piña coladas. - if other puerto ricans don't help you, what happens?

- maybe other peoples die. - i feel like we're being treated as if we're a charity case.

Why is puerto rico any different? - i'm right here precisely to ask those questions?

- two months after hurricane maria hit, this island is still struggling. I'm going to meet some people who are barely getting by, living in darkness and some puerto ricans who are doing everything they can to help.

No one has been more critical of the way the trump administration responded after the hurricane than the mayor of san juan, carmen yulín cruz. We met at the roberto clemente coliseum normally used for sports and music.

This is where she's been living and organizing relief efforts. You are the face of, a new voice in puerto rico and everybody knows you in the united states.

- you don't know how much i wish i was not that face because that would mean that maria had never come and devastated puerto rico but my mother didn't teach me and my father to shy away from a fight. But i will start very little fights but i will finish all of them.

- she suddenly started a few fights. Days after the hurricane, the mayor pleaded for more aid.

- i am done being polite. I am done being politically correct.

We are dying here. - that didn't sit with well with president trump who tweeted that the mayor was being nasty to him.

- actually, i was asking for help. I wasn't saying anything nasty about the president.

- it will take years, maybe decades to recover. The damage is in the billions of dollars.

The economy is in a big recession. Thousands of homes were destroyed or beyond repair.

More than half of the island has no power and it is still risky to drink the water. Over a hundred thousand people have fled, some for good.

In the meantime, the mayor is getting food and water to the people of san juan. - we have already in our supply chain of aide...

- uh-huh. - 116,000 people just from san juan and this is all done by, by these volunteers that we're gonna be ...

- so, these are volunteers over here. - these are employees and volunteers.

When fema wasn't doing a good job. It's still not doing a great job but it's gotten better.

They're still assessing somethings, for heaven's sake. You know, how much assessment do you need when people don't have food, water or access to medication.

I had to speak up and i said that we will no longer be able to hide our inequality and our poverty behind palm trees and piña coladas. You know, this is wrong.

- when nobody dared to criticize president trump because puerto rico really needed a lot of help, you were the first one and you continued doing that. - he's telling everybody he's doing a great job while people here could very well see the discourse and the reality have to go hand in hand and that wasn't happening at all.

- so to say that he was doing a great job, that's fake news for you. - that's a crock of shit!

That's what it is. That's what it is.

- when president trump came to san juan, nearly two weeks after the hurricane, the mayor was there. When you saw that he was throwing rolls of paper towel to some of the victims of the hurricanes, what was your reaction?

- i was angry. I was insulted and i knew i couldn't stay quiet.

- the mayor says the trump administration treated the people of puerto rico differently than the victims of recent hurricanes in texas and florida. For example, the us government sent less than one third of the personnel to puerto rico than it did to texas or florida for harvey and irma.

The question is why? - i don't know if this because we're latin, we're hispanics, we're in the caribbean.

Whatever it is, we're human beings and we're in a very, very bad and difficult situation. - but is it racism?

- it is racism. - the mayor showed us the room where she's been sleeping in the weeks since the hurricane.

- this is mara lago. Welcome to mara lago.

- so, this is, this is. - this is it.

- but you have everything here. - yeah, it is.

Somebody help us. This is a foundation we're going to start.

- the mayor's combative style is in contrast with puerto rico's governor, ricardo rosselló. He has avoided criticizing the trump administration.

I've been talking to many puerto ricans in the last couple of days and whenever i tell them what donald trump has said in the past, they simply don't agree. Trump has said what a great job.

We've saved lots of lives. We've done an incredible job considering there's absolutely nothing to work with and of course that he deserves a 10.

- i'd say it was a 10. - in my conversations with the president, he has always stressing the job that the people here have done and i have to agree with him.

You know the dod, fema personnel, for the most part, they have been working 24 hours a day. - but is it a 10?

Maybe, maybe that's the question if it's really a 10? - well, i don't think we're at a juncture to judge right?

This is just a beginning. - was he just?

He said yes. - that's right.

So, that's why when i was asked that question i stated that all the petitions which are true that we asked up the president. He's answered quickly and he's been very affirmative.

- but even the governor who wants the island to become the 51st state recognizes that puerto ricans don't receive equal treatment. - puerto rico is a colonial territory.

So, we've been experiencing inequality for you know the better part of 100 years. - we wanted to see how people are living here.

So, the mayor took us to visit cupey, a neighborhood hit hard by the storm. We met 9-year-old, jose lebron.

His family lost their home and he lost most of his books. This is san juan, the city of san juan.

- this is san juan. Look at it.

- but it's, when i think of san juan, i think of hotels, i think of -- - beaches. - highways or traffic jams.

- puerto rico needs much more than just billions of dollars in hurricane relief. - but you cannot let any kid not get the proper education and not have the opportunity to be whatever he or she wants to be.

- basically what you're saying, he could've been forgotten. - he could've been forgotten.

- and you're making sure that everybody remembers his face, his name and his talent... - and many like him.

- still ahead on the "real america," we meet the puerto ricans bringing relief to communities, one meal at a time. Some people, without your help simply won't have a meal.

- it's amazing to help puerto rico and what better way to do it than feeding people? - and some famous friends doing all they can to help.

- that was my initial, initial thought. I got to get to puerto rico.

How do i find a way to get down there? Lays] - this is despacito, the music video by puerto rican artist luis fonsi and daddy yankee watched more than four billion times.

It also made the la perla neighborhood in old san juan a tourist destination. - today, a very different view.

These are the streets of la perla. It has a reputation of being a tough neighborhood.

Well, like everything else in puerto rico, it's been affected by the hurricane. But like everyone else in puerto rico, they're telling me they're coming back and they're coming back stronger.

They're lifting up their island by helping each other. Puerto ricans like michael sauri, a food truck owner working with world central kitchen.

That's a nonprofit headed by celebrity chef, jose andrés. Today we're heading into loiza, a small coastal town just outside the capital.

It's also considered among the poorest in puerto rico. But weeks after the storm, loiza has no power or clean drinking water and food is scarce.

- so, who can tell me what happened during the hurricane? In just minutes, the whole neighborhood gathers outside.

People in loiza come in from all over the place to get food from the food truck. And this is the best example on how puerto ricans are helping all the puerto ricans without the government.

They've served almost three million hot meals on an island of nearly three and a half million people. She's hungry, no?

- so, if she doesn't get this meal what happens? - we're seeing people get inadequate nutrition.

We're also seeing a lot of dependency on canned goods, on mres, on things that don't nourish and sustain bodies like these. So, our goal is to get her at least one hot meal a day.

- this food has become a lifeline for many like maria mercado, a grandmother of two. So, if other puerto ricans don't help you what happens?

- maybe that the peoples die. - people die?

- yes. - if you had a chance to talk to president trump.

- yes. - what will you tell him?

- puerto rico needs very, very emergency help. Yeah.

- emergency help. - emergency help, yes.

- i saw that some people without your help simply won't have a meal. It was beautiful to see the kids coming.

- yeah, it's amazing. They just recognize the truck and they just come running.

- it's amazing to help puerto rico and what better way to do it than feeding people? - west of loiza, the city of manatin was already facing an economic crisis before the hurricane.

Almost half of the 40,000 people here live in poverty. After maria, their situation has only gotten worse.

They rely on pastor marcos rivera sanchez and dozens of volunteers at these food bank reaching up to 2,000 families every day. - we met jose.

This mattress is among the few things he has left. - as night falls over san juan, many of the streets are still completely dark.

But there are some signs of light. Some areas in san juan are doing better than others.

But what happens if you're at home. You're probably bored.

You want to talk to people. There's no internet and you want to socialize.

Well then you go to el local this bar has become a community kitchen in the city's santurce neighborhood. People come, young people come, they bring a little bit of food.

- exactly. - and then they can eat.

No money exchanged. - no money exchanged.

Volunteers come and see what's available and prepare a meal. - here we found no internet and no working cellphones, just honest conversations.

- right now, i think we could get more help than we are getting. Just i don't know, we're just not getting it.

- so, if i were to come here in about a year, do you think i will find you here? - i'm planning to leave to florida to search for a better job.

I don't want to leave puerto rico, you know, but, for me, things are little bit hard for me and my family right now. And i am looking for a way just to help, you know.

- how will you describe the job of the government after the hurricane? - the job, pathetic.

The governor right now doesn't have a word of his own. - what do you mean?

- what i saw when we saw trump made me cry. - why?

- the paper towel thing, that's embarrassing. We're a joke for him.

He doesn't like us. - we're paying for something that we didn't do.

Like he said oh, you cannot expect a lot from me because you guys owe us debt. I mean this is not fair.

- coming up. - puerto rican stars come together to help the island recover.

- hurricane maria ripped through puerto rico making landfall as a category four hurricane. - i saw that the hurricane was gonna cover the whole island and i told jorge we have to do something.

We have to do something. - that was my initial, initial thought.

I got to get to puerto rico. How do i find a way to get down there?

- as jorge and laura posada watch hurricane maria destroy the island where they were born, they decided to do something about it. Just days after the storm, the posadas made their way to the island.

They recognize you when you got there. - yeah, they did you know they said.

- jorge posada, i know you. - they couldn't watch the game.

That was one of the things that most of the male were saying. They said we can't watch any of the games.

- posada was a catcher with the new york yankees for 17 years winning five world series along the way. - he retired in 2012.

- i will officially announce that i'm retiring from playing the game of baseball. - now, he's taking on his biggest project yet, helping rebuild puerto rico.

- hey guys, we're here to tell you that we have opened a fund to help out people in need in puerto rico. - we went along with the posadas as they visited four towns on the western side of the island where aid has been hard to come by.

- we are in san sebastian de las vegas this is the town where my grandfather was a mayor for 12 years. So, this is our first stop.

- we were able to bring in a fedex cargo plane, 162,000 pounds. Before the most we were able to bring was 10,000 pounds.

So, we were very excited to bring you know all that supplies here. - we're ready to rock and roll and just start delivering this stuff to las marias which is our next stop.

- here in las maria, this school serves as a shelter for dozens of families. - next stop, añasco.

- we're in añasco and we're delivering goods door to door. This community was super hard hit.

It's one of the most devastated in the island. - these houses were underwater.

We're just trying to bring a little happiness. - and finally the small town of isabella where hundreds of people lined up waiting for basic supplies.

- this is what puerto ricans are all about, you know we love our country, we love each other. We support each other.

We're strong people and i think it shows here today. - like so many here, the posadas say they are frustrated with the president's response.

- first of all, we're americans. - do you know that 54% of us citizens do not know that.

- yeah. - that puerto ricans are americans.

- yeah, they don't know that and our president doesn't know that. - we're american citizens and i think we deserve a little more attention and a little more respect from our president.

- still ahead, puerto rico will never be the same again but maybe it could be even better. - i actually don't want to go back to normal.

I want to make puerto rico better. - i think hurricane maria has proved that having an american passport is no guarantee that you will be treated like an american citizen.

And everything goes back to the political status of puerto rico. They don't vote in presidential elections.

Puerto rico is not a state. Puerto rico is not independent.

Puerto rico, it's a colony of the united states. They feel honestly a little different and despite that, they keep on fighting.

What do you think is gonna happen to puerto rico after the hurricane? - the most interesting thing that i saw was people helping people.

Puerto ricans helping puerto ricans. - as puerto ricans, we are an example to the world of what it's like to love your country and to do whatever it takes to overcome adversity and come back stronger than ever.

- of course, thousands of them have left the island. As a matter of fact, right now more puerto ricans live outside the island than in puerto rico.

But those who are staying have decided to make sure that things will be better than before hurricane maria. The future of puerto rico will rely exclusively on puerto ricans.

- puerto ricans are strong. We keep going.

- and they are rising to the challenge, united!