Puerto Rico – Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced admitted that she knew of the existence of the warehouse in Ponce with supplies after days in which she aimed to ignore the handling of the place, and initially claiming that she didn’t know.
Vázquez Garced said she was aware of the existence of the controversial warehouse after the now ex-commissioner of the Emergency Management Bureau (NMEAD), Carlos Acevedo, revealed publicly that the governor knew.
“Elmer (Román) and the Governor know that there is a warehouse, they know that that warehouse had water that could not be distributed, and that is why it was not being taken out, and the instruction was to use my warehouse, and they knew that it was being used, the warehouse of the Bureau to serve supplies, “he said in his first interview after the dismissal of Acevedo.
The Governor agreed, in an interview with the press, with the version offered by Acevedo to the media.
“If we are going to know who knew, and I do not want to get too much on this subject because it is being investigated, everybody knew it because it was in press conferences,” Vázquez Garced said in the interview.
Her expressions arise after last Sunday, at a press conference, the Governor alluded to precisely that, because several officials could not detail what they were, where they were located and what supplies the stores of the island had, decided to request the resignation of Several agency leaders.
“In the area of family service, so important, they have multiple collection centers and distribution of supplies. At that time, I could not be given information on specifically where those stores were, if inventories of those stores had been made, what those stores had, none of that information was provided to me, “Vázquez Garced said last Sunday.
Vázquez Garced alluded to not informing her about “where the stores were” and “what they had”, prompted her to request the resignation of the then Secretary of Housing and the then Secretary of the Family, Fernando Gil and Glorimar Andújar, respectively.
“For this reason, we understand and it is my request and I inform the people of Puerto Rico that the actions of these officials could even have a negative effect on the progress we had made with the federal government… For that reason, I inform the people of Puerto Rico, that I have requested the resignation of the Secretary of the Family, Glorimar Andújar and the Secretary of Housing, Fernando Gil,” the Governor continued in her press conference on Sunday.
In fact, the departure of Gil and Andújar has also provoked separate controversies to that of supplies. On the one hand, a possible political sanction is mentioned to Gil, for being tied to the opponent of Vázquez Garced, Pedro Pierluisi. However, the Governor then submitted statements mentioning that the departure of this former official occurred by “putting at risk” federal funds directed to Puerto Rico and there is even talk of a referral to Justice, although the former secretary of the Interior, Zoé Laboy, revealed yesterday to the press that since December 31, La Fortaleza did not forward any referral about Gil to Justice.
Meanwhile, on the side of Andújar, several media have reported that his departure responds to the fact that he refused to paralyze the suspension of an official related to the use of supplies in the middle of the seismic sequence affecting Puerto Rico since December 28.
In both cases, the versions distance themselves from the one offered last Sunday by Vázquez Garced, when from the Palace of Santa Catalina she explained that the officials were leaving their positions for not answering to her about supply stores.
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