Scandal in the United States: a senator from Texas visited Cancun in the midst of the crisis due to the storm

DALLAS (AP) .- While Texas is hit by a severe winter storm, the national senator representing this state Ted cruz he went to Cancun, mexico, taking his family on vacation, drawing strong criticism from much of the political spectrum in the United States. After a wave of outrage at his absence, lawmakers returned and said his trip was “clearly” a mistake.

In a statement released yesterday, Cruz said he was returning to Texas and She explained that she left with her family to Mexico after her daughters asked her to go on a trip with friends because classes were suspended for the rest of the week. “Wanting to be a good father, I traveled with them last night and I’m taking the plane this afternoon,” Cruz wrote.

And on this, he added, “My staff and I are in constant communication with state and local authorities to get to the bottom of what happened in Texas. We want our electricity, our water to come back and our homes to be warm again. ”

Cruz opened up about his trip hours after press reported he flew to Cancun on Wednesday, as hundreds of thousands of Texans continue to grapple with the devastation of a winter storm that has affected supplies in electricity and water under these conditions. The statement did little to appease critics, in a context where Cruz intends to seek the Republican presidential candidacy again in 2024. He was already one of Congress’ most vilified Republicans, having made opponents of all political stripes in a career defined by far-right politics and wrangling with his party leadership.

He has recently emerged as a figure in the former president’s attempt Donald trump to overturn the results of the presidential elections held in November last year. And a few weeks ago, there were signs hung along Texas highways calling for his resignation. Even the president of the state Republican Party refused to come to Cruz’s defense yesterday.

“This is something he has to answer to his constituents,” said Allen West, president of the Texas Republican Party, after being asked whether Cruz’s trip was appropriate.

Hundreds of thousands of Texans woke up yesterday for a fourth day without power, and a water crisis unfolding after a winter storm devastated the state’s power grid and other basic services. The authorities of Texas has ordered 7 million people, or a quarter of the people of the nation’s second most populous state, to boil their drinking water before drinking it, after days of low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and frozen pipes.

THE NATION