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Sunday, September 25, 2011

$7 Million in Federal Funding for New Veterans Cemetery in Aguadilla

Washington, DC- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is providing Puerto Rico with $7.1 million to construct a new veterans cemetery in the Municipality of Aguadilla, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi announced today.

This will be the first veterans cemetery on the Island to be operated by the government of Puerto Rico. It will provide burial plots for service members who die on active duty, veterans, and their eligible spouses and dependent children.

“This is welcome news for veterans, who for years have been seeking the new cemetery. I want to thank and congratulate the Mayor of Aguadilla, Carlos Méndez, who has worked hard for over a decade to make this cemetery a reality and who donated the land on which it will be built,” said Pierluisi.

The Resident Commissioner personally advocated for the establishment of this new cemetery in a meeting with the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki.

The funding is being provided under the Veterans Cemetery Grants Program, through which the VA assists states and territories in providing gravesites for veterans in those areas where VA’s national cemeteries cannot fully satisfy their burial needs. Puerto Rico currently has a national cemetery in Bayamón, which recently received nearly $34 million in federal funds for improvement and expansion, but which will reach its full capacity in 2019.

The new cemetery, which will contain over 1,000 burial plots, must conform to the federal standards prescribed by VA.