The 63,000 residents of the border province of Elias Pina have been disconnected from the rest of the country. After the late-May rains destroyed the bridge and roads there, the people of the impoverished province have been left to fend for themselves, as reported in the ?Que se dice? column in Hoy newspaper. The writer says that the National Emergency Commission director, Vice-Admiral Radhames Lora Salcedo, has washed his hands of them, and that neither the Public Works Ministry nor INAPA have the funds to restore the bridge, important roads or the city?s aqueduct.