MIAMI — Former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez is facing criminal accusations of corruption, federal authorities on the island announced Thursday morning.
Current Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said in a written statement that Vazquez’s arrest showed that “no one is above the law in Puerto Rico.”
“Faced with this news that certainly affects and lacerates the trust of our people, I reiterate that in my administration we will continue to have a common front with the federal authorities against anyone who commits an improper act,” he declared.“ ... Under my Administration there is zero tolerance against corruption.”
The United States District Court for Puerto Rico announced it would hold an initial public hearing Thursday in the case United States v. Wanda Vázquez-Garced. Magistrate Judge Camille Vélez-Rive will preside over the proceedings.
FBI spokeswoman Limary Cruz-Rubio told the Miami Herald the names of the accused will not be shared at the moment, but that federal prosecutors will reveal the indictment of three people at a news conference in San Juan.
Vazquez came to power in 2019 after former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló was ousted following the leak of a chat of his inner circle, which ignited massive protests on the island calling for his resignation.
She was the first unelected governor in the island’s modern history and only the second woman to hold the position. Vázquez also belongs to Pierluisi’s ruling pro-statehood New Progressive Party, and ran against him in the last round of gubernatorial primaries for the party. Before becoming governor, she served as the island’s Department of Justice Secretary and had led the Women’s Advocate Office, a local public agency in charge of defending women’s rights.
The development comes after recent arrests of Puerto Rican public officials and government contractors accused or convicted of corruption. In July, the finance director of the town of Toa Baja admitted to embezzling $2.5 million in federal housing funds. Only a week before, the ex-mayor of the town of Guayama had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for taking bribes.
In June, the former mayor of Trujillo also pleaded guilty to accepting bribes, while the former mayor of the beach town of Rincon has sentenced and the former municipal public works director for the town of Cataño for the same crime.
Vazquez’s representation had previously told local television outlet Teleonce in May that her arrest was “imminent.”
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