Puerto Rico to Capitol Hill: Territorial status is root cause of many woes
Hounded by the coronavirus and a steady stream of political scandals, Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez on Tuesday accused her enemies of trying to “tarnish” the island’s reputation on Capitol Hill and said it’s Washington’s own policies that have been keeping the U.S. territory from recovering from a myriad of crises.
In an eight-page letter to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Vázquez defended her administration’s handling of the pandemic and pushed back against insinuations that she had not gone far enough in rooting out fraud. The letter comes after Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent her a laundry list of questions on April 15 regarding the resignation of cabinet members and the status of ongoing corruption investigations.
In her response, Vázquez thanked Washington for recent financial aid and increased spending on the island, but said it was Puerto Rico’s status as a territory that had created “structural inequalities” that were undermining the island’s ability to respond to hardship.
“These inequitable policies lead to an overall quality of life in Puerto Rico that is below the standard of the states in multiple respects,” she wrote. “This disparate quality of life is the primary reason for Puerto Rico’s ongoing population loss, which is detrimental to Puerto Rico’s tax base, labor force, consumer demand, debt repayment capacity, and overall prospects for economic growth.”
While Vázquez said she was complying with Grassley’s requests for information, she said his comments “seem to have been inspired by individuals with a personal agenda who seek to tarnish Puerto Rico’s reputation.”
“It is particularly troubling that your allegations come at a time of great distress in Puerto Rico and the world, when precious time and resources should be used to address our collective humanitarian crisis,” she added.
Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of 3.2 million people, has been caught in a decade-long economic downturn and has been battered by hurricanes, earthquakes and now the coronavirus. In addition, successive governments have been accused of mismanagement and corruption.
In his letter, Grassley asked Vázquez to turn over investigations into “possible malfeasance by the government” for the last four years. Among the reports the committee asked for were investigations into contracts awarded after Hurricane Maria in 2017, the previous governor’s acquisition of a $245,000 sports utility vehicle, the alleged politicization of Puerto Rico’s Institute of Statistics, and a lawsuit surrounding lack of public death data following recent hurricanes.
In her response, Vázquez said she had complied with that request, only withholding sensitive documents that were part of ongoing investigations. The information she forwarded to the committee was not immediately made public.
Vázquez also used her letter to push back against the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board, a federally appointed body that must approve many of Puerto Rico’s financial decisions. Vázquez accused the board of engaging “in unnecessary letter-writing campaigns while creating delays and inefficiencies that could easily be resolved with a phone call.”
On April 24, for example, the Oversight Board sent a letter to the governor providing recommendations on the use of $2.2 billion allocated to Puerto Rico through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
“While we appreciate the Oversight Board’s initiative, their failure to even attempt to have a direct line of communication with this administration on such an important matter is surprising,” Vázquez said.
Puerto Rico has reported 1,400 cases and 86 deaths due to the coronavirus. Even so, the Health Department has said it is reviewing its data after it became apparent that some figures were inaccurate. The island has been on lockdown and under curfew since March 16 — a measure slated to end on Monday.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 5:57 PM.
