Puerto Rico

July 25, 2019

CONTACT: Elianne Ramos, eramos@latinojustice.org, 212-739-7513 
 

LatinoJustice PRLDEF Statement on the Resignation of Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló

Below is a statement by Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, in response to the Resignation of Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló: 

Now, a significant portion of the island and the diaspora are demanding the resignation of the current governor, Ricardo Rosselló. Leaks over online chatroom conversations between the governor and his cabinet revealing his misogynistic, homophobic and vile beliefs have received unanimous condemnation. That reaction is fueling, in part, the current government crisis because federal aid for hurricane relief – being stymied by the current occupant of the White House, our white-supremacist-in-chief – hangs in the balance of the omnipotent role that Congress continues to have over its colony. The leaked banter merits condemnation.

New York, NY– LatinoJustice PRLDEF submitted a public comment in May to the U.S. Navy detailing the ongoing health concerns of residents in Vieques affected by the Navy’s continued use of open-air burning and open detonation (OB/OD) as its preferred method of fulfilling its “clean-up” obligations to address over sixty years of military activities, including detonation of armaments on the island. Residents in Vieques continue to live with the long-term consequences of decades of weapons testing by the Navy, which have been exacerbated by their half-hearted clean-up tactics that ignore, and even aggravate, the health concerns of the people of Vieques. After much advocacy, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on an Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020 that would authorize budgeting $10 million for closed detonation chambers to be used in the clean-up efforts in Vieques. If passed, this would signal an initial step towards a more responsible clean-up approach.