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La Fortaleza, the Governor’s mansion, in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico (Source: Ligocsicnarf89, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Opinion for The Latino Newsletter
SAN JUAN — Can the government of pro-statehood Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) Governor Jenniffer González Colón survive?
That’s the question gaining traction in Puerto Rico after the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) Secretary Sebastián Negrón Reichard abruptly resigned, citing a loss of trust in the administration.
It was a deft political move that blew open La Fortaleza’s doors, exposed the chaos within, and pointed directly at those responsible, starting the countdown on how long González Colón can cling to power. Negrón Reichard’s departure was yet another nail in the coffin for the already embattled administration grappling with blackouts, a water crisis, political appointees facing conflict-of-interest allegations, and a drugs-for-votes scandal by prison gangs.
Can she hang on until the 2028 elections, or could we witness a repeat of the summer of 2019, when mass protests ousted a governor? There have already been multi-day protests in front of La Fortaleza demanding her resignation. A recent poll found that 42% of Puerto Ricans rated her performance very poorly. Many on the island are fed up with a government they perceive as not acting in their or the archipelago’s interests.
The outlook is bleak, very bleak.
For now, it’s a wait-and-see political game. But one thing is clear: the stage for whatever happens next has been set by Negrón Reichard, once the brightest star of González Colón’s cabinet and the public face of Puerto Rico’s economy.
His forced exit couldn’t have come at a worse time. Puerto Rico — still emerging from bankruptcy, with remaining public debt and fragile infrastructure — needs foreign investment to get ahead of a likely economic slowdown and keep the archipelago’s economy afloat. Yet, faced with a government that disregarded its own rules, he saw no way out but to quit.
His resignation made this clear.
“The post demands mutual trust and respect,” he wrote. “That trust no longer exists.”
Negrón Reichard added that his authority was undermined by “interventions, through other officials, in areas whose powers the law delegates to the Secretary, with direct consequences for the Department's internal governance and institutional integrity.”
Among those interventions were the reversal of two summary suspensions he issued against DDEC officials for alleged improper interference with certain contracts. Both cases remain under review by the Justice Department and the Office of Government Ethics.
Negrón Reichard concluded that he could not do his job without compromising his integrity. He resigned days after the governor’s State of the State Address, during which she extolled the “economic progress” her administration was bringing to Puerto Rico — with his help. Nice timing.
It’s a huge loss. The former chief of staff of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board, Negrón Reichard helped attract billions of dollars in new investment commitments during his tenure as DDEC Secretary.
And, Negrón Reichard didn’t leave alone. More than 10 of DDEC’s top officials joined him, including the heads of Puerto Rico’s incentives program and reshoring initiatives.
“Staying was not an option, since the atmosphere between La Fortaleza and the DDEC changed completely in a matter of days,” Director of the Office of Business Incentives Ernesto Zayas told Tax Notes.
With their departure, the private sector is nervous, fearing that multi-million-dollar investments will wither and die in the blistering political heat. We’re already seeing the fallout of the resignation. Digimedida, a marketing agency suing DDEC for alleged irregularities, amended its lawsuit to say there is a “pattern of corruption” in its contracting process.
“It’s almost as if the governor is committed to harming her own political figure and the Puerto Rican people,” Federico de Jesús Febles, a Washington-based Puerto Rican political consultant, said.
Resigning after clashing with the governor is in Negrón Reichard’s DNA. The former DDEC Secretary’s grandfather, Hector Reichard de Cardona, served as attorney general but was forced to resign after publicly clashing with former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló over the Cerro Maravilla investigation.
Although rumors of Negrón Reichard’s impending departure and its causes had circulated for days, González Colón claimed to be “surprised” by his exit.
While his resignation letter didn’t name Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech, it’s an open secret that he’s the power behind the throne in Fortaleza. Domenech, who’s been González Colón’s right-hand man for two decades, has faced his own share of scandals, like a senate hearing about a lobbying firm he founded that has gotten $183 million in contracts during this administration. Yet, González-Colón has not even hinted at the possibility of firing him.
Shortly after Negrón Reichard resigned, González Colón partied the night away at a posh PNP fundraiser. For now, Roberto LeFranc Fortuño — an ex-wedding planner whose rise depends on loyalty to both González Colón and Domenech, and who was recently slotted in as DDEC undersecretary — is filling in for Negrón Reichard. Meanwhile, González Colón insists her administration is considering names for a proper replacement, though nothing has been announced. That hardly inspires confidence or suggests continuity for investors.
But in González Colón’s world, Puerto Rico is a happy town — doing fine. Denial is her Hail Mary. From her perch at La Fortaleza, she refuses to face the obvious: this might be the summer of her political discontent, when every scandal comes home to roost.
A former News Director for Univision Puerto Rico and conflict correspondent, Susanne Ramírez de Arellano is a Columnist for The Latino Newsletter.
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