Puerto Rico’s new governor says she intends to remain in office

FILE PHOTO: Wanda Vazquez, former Secretary of Justice, is sworn in as Governor of Puerto Rico by Supreme Court Justice Maite Oronoz after Pedro Pierluisi's former oath was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 7, 2019. Also pictured are Vazquez's husband Jorge Diaz (back L) and their daughter, Beatriz Diaz. REUTERS/Gabriella N. Baez/File Photo

SAN JUAN (Reuters) – The revolving door at the governor’s office in Puerto Rico may finally stop with Wanda Vazquez, the newly sworn-in chief executive of the bankrupt U.S. territory, who said on Thursday she has no plans to resign.

In a series of interviews with local media, Puerto Rico’s former justice secretary denied reports that she had agreed to resign soon to allow Jenniffer Gonzalez, the Caribbean island’s nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress, to take over.

“I have never had such an agreement. I don’t know what kind of agreements (New Progressive Party and legislative leaders) have reached,” Vazquez said on a morning radio show, emphasizing that she intends to remain in office for the remainder of former Governor Ricardo Rossello’s term, which ends on Jan. 1, 2021.

On Wednesday, Vazquez became Puerto Rico’s third governor in less than a week, after Rossello, who took office in 2017, stepped down on Friday, and his hand-picked successor, Pedro Pierluisi, was removed by the island’s supreme court.

The nine-member court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that Pierluisi’s assumption of the office was unconstitutional because the Puerto Rico Senate had not confirmed his July 31 appointment by Rossello as secretary of state, the post that is next in line for governor under the territory’s constitution.

The high court’s ruling followed weeks of political turmoil, with Rossello on July 24 announcing his intention to resign after of days of protests.

The demonstrations, which drew around a third of the island’s 3.2 million people, were sparked by the revelation of offensive chat messages between Rossello and his closest allies, and federal corruption charges brought against two former members of his administration.

The chat message scandal led to the July 13 resignation of Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marin, whom Rossello eventually replaced with Pierluisi.

Vazquez last week initially voiced reluctance to take over the island’s top government post after being targeted by protesters for alleged corruption and being too close to Rossello.

On Thursday, Vazquez said she did not see herself as a politician, emphasizing she would not run for governor in the 2020 election.

The political upheaval comes at a critical time in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy, as it seeks billions of dollars in federal funding for healthcare and recovery efforts from devastating 2017 hurricanes.

As governor, Vazquez must deal with Puerto Rico’s federally created fiscal oversight board, which filed the government’s bankruptcy in 2017 in U.S. District Court to restructure about $120 billion of debt and pension obligations.

“The board is there and we must seek consensus,” Vazquez said in an interview, adding that the majority of Puerto Ricans oppose the board.

(Reporting By Luis Valentin Ortiz in San Juan; Additional reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing by Frank McGurty and Matthew Lewis)

Puerto Rico’s new governor is challenged in court: newspaper

FILE PHOTO: Pedro Pierluisi holds a news conference after swearing in as Governor of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico August 2, 2019. REUTERS/Gabriella N. Baez/File Photo

(Reuters) – The legitimacy of Puerto Rico’s newly-installed governor has been challenged in court, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, adding further drama to who will lead the U.S. territory after weeks of protests.

Pedro Pierluisi, the handpicked successor to disgraced former governor Ricardo Rossello, was sworn in on Friday.

Pierluisi, 60, said his term might be short as the island’s Senate still had to ratify his position.

That vote was expected to happen on Wednesday.

But late on Sunday, Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz sued Pierluisi in a San Juan court, claiming he usurped the office by ignoring a constitutional requirement for the Senate to vote to confirm him, the Journal reported.

Pierluisi, a lawyer who formerly advised the despised, federally-created board supervising Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy, was sworn in even though his appointment had not yet gone before the Senate for a vote.

The lawsuit asks the court to strip him of the title and stop him performing any acts as governor, the Journal reported.

Reuters could not confirm the lawsuit, nor reach Pierluisi or Schatz for comment early on Monday.

At his first news conference as governor last week, Pierluisi acknowledged that Puerto Rico’s Senate was still to meet to vote on whether to confirm his position.

Schatz has previously said that installing Pierluisi before the vote was “unethical and illegal.”

But Pierluisi had countered: “The Senate will have its say and by the end of Wednesday we’ll know whether I am ratified.”.

If he is not ratified then the second in line, the secretary of justice of Puerto Rico, will take over the governorship, he said.

Rossello, a 40-year-old, first-term governor, had tapped Pierluisi as secretary of state, a position putting him first in line as successor.

The island’s leading newspaper El Nuevo Dia subsequently reported that Schatz had rescheduled the session to vote on the appointment for Monday.

Pierluisi’s statement capped a week of political chaos in Puerto Rico after Rossello said he would resign over offensive chat messages that drew around a third of the island’s 3.2 million people to the streets in protest.

The chats between Rossello and top aides took aim at female politicians and gay celebrities like Ricky Martin, and poked fun at ordinary Puerto Ricans.

The publication of the messages unleashed anger building for years in Puerto Rico over the island’s painful bankruptcy process, ineffective hurricane recovery efforts and corruption scandals linked to a string of past governors, including Rossello’s father.

Until an appointment was confirmed by both chambers, Schatz and other senators said the next in line for governor, under law, was Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez.

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)