San Juan, PR – Initially in the evening of Tuesday July 24th social media outlets began to leak information that Ricardo Rossello was finally resigning.
These rumors continued to intensify as the evening continued. Rumors of when and how even made it into newspapers and news broadcasters all over.
The resignation of Ricardo Rossello as governor will be a strong win for the struggling island of Puerto Rico, but many say this is far from over. Citizens in the island have included chants such as, “Ricky Renuncia y llevate a la Junta!” (Ricky Resign and take the Board with you), referring to the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board.
Extreme austerity measures, mass lost of jobs, exodus of professionals and much of the island’s labor force compounded with negative growth has been attribute to what many see is another failed attempt in Washington’s hand to control Puerto Rico’s affairs by implementing a Fiscal Board which only responds to the President. Many believe that the only way to set the island in a clear path of recovery is to solve the issue status once and for all. Currently, Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States with a single non-voting representative in Congress, and in addition the citizens cannot vote in the Presidential elections. Many of the island’s dysfunctional ways has been attributed to decades of the United States Congress’ politized mis-management of Puerto Rico. The justifications are made in that by controlling federal regulations that affect U.S. Territories, Congress and most notably the House Natural Resources Committee has set the stage for winners and losers, most notably the citizens as losers as special interests groups tend to have the upper hand in Washington.
Just this week PREPA (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) was running out oil to maintain it’s generators running due to the Fiscal Board’s negligence not to approve purchases in a timely manner. As a result, PREPA made last minute purchases at twice the market value of oil price. Announcements immediately followed that there will be a hike to electric bills as a result of the Fiscal Boards negligence. This simply adds fuel to the people’s anger towards the FOMB which citizens view as an undemocratic entity which was imposes to serve Washington and their Wallstreet backers. Many anticipate that the Fiscal Board is going to take advantage of the current government turmoil to gain more power over the island’s affairs, including the power of veto which will amount to the failure of democracy.
Many are also eyeing the current Fiscal Board members replacement deadline of August 31st, as Board members seem very comfortable with remaining in their current roles. It is suspected that they will seek to ingrease their autonomy over Puerto Rico and solidify their positions for a longer term.
Aside from the controversial “Junta” (FOMB), of the scandals that are surrounding Ricardo Rossello’s time in government, Representative of the local House of Legislatures, Manuel Natal has posted several images in his Twitter that show the magnitude of contracts that involved Elias Sanchez, key person in the corruption schemes and linked Thomas Rivera Schatz who is the current President of the Puerto Rican Senate. Thomas Rivera Schatz is also the person Ricardo Rossello named as the new president of his political party. Mr. Rivera-Schatz has recently come into fire for what many criticized was excessive waste of monies on a bronze statue of a roster, figures say around $36,000 was spent between actual cost of the statue and activities to reveal it to the public, at a time the island has displaced public workers such as teachers who make an average of $12,000 per year. It is said that he had requested additional funds for said purpose to the tune of $204,000.
En el 2011, mientras Elías Sánchez tenía contratos con @trschatz51, contrató a @ricardorossello mientras éste hacía campaña en “Boricua, ¡Ahora es!”. pic.twitter.com/fuHRrblTjJ
— Manuel Natal Albelo (@manuelnatal) July 24, 2019
The Elias Sanchez circle of contracts dollar amounts well exceeds over a billion dollars.
Los contratos de los clientes de Elías Sánchez durante la administración de @RicardoRossello sobrepasan los MIL MILLONES DE DÓLARES. pic.twitter.com/MtGaroqHVi
— Manuel Natal Albelo (@manuelnatal) July 24, 2019
The next constitutional successor to Puerto Rico’s governor’s seat is Wanda Vazquez, the Secretary of Justice (since the Secretary of State was fired due to corruption charges). Someone who is currently facing heat for what many say deliberately delayed investigations into members of her own party, improperly intervened in a case of the alleged theft of government property, and was specifically criticized for not fully investigating the possible diversion of aid-supply trucks meant for hurricane victims through a charity linked to the first lady Beatriz Rossello. In addition, Vazquez is accused of not investigating alleged influence peddling in a medical cannabis regulatory body, among other criticism. Protesters have included #WandaRenuncia noting that she is a continuation of Ricardo Rossello’s administration which need to vacate the ranks of government.
There are claims that about 100 federal agents landed in Puerto Rico last night for what is expected to be another round of arrests.
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