Puerto Rico -- That oh so fascinating island

When I moved to Puerto Rico in 1992, I was unaware how a small island could be packed with so much news and scandal. I joined the team of The San Juan Star, the island´s only English language daily and perhaps the only unbiased newspaper in Puerto Rico, where I covered government and the federal court system. Puerto Rico, for many who don´t know (and you would be surprised how many in the United States are unaware) is a U.S. commonwealth or territory, mind you. In short, it´s governed by federal law with the U.S. departments and agencies retaining jurisdiction over most island matters. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but do not pay federal income taxes nor are they eligible to vote in the presidential elections. The irony of the matter is that if a Puerto Rican moves to a stateside location or even a foreign country the islander then has a responsiblity to the IRS and is eligible to vote for president. There are many characterizations and incorrect stereotypes of puertorriqueños that I will not touch on them here. I will dare to say that, like in most places, you can divide the community into two camps -- the honest and hardworking citizen and the corrupt and greedy private manager or public official. Corruption, unfortunately, has been the source of the island´s current problems. The present government is dealing with a huge budget deficit stemming from runaway spending by offsetting it with a more than 100 percent whopping rise in public service fees. This has islanders up in arms. It wasn´t until about six years ago that the surmounting problem of corruption was made public when the U.S. Justice Department began a series of investigations into a pattern of government-contracts-for-kickbacks schemes at a number of island public offices and agencies. These violations of the Hobbs Act permanently scarred the pro-statehood New Progressive Party which, through its once-charasmatic leader Gov. Pedro Rosselló, was on a fast track to modernize the island through massive construction and public works projects. Top ranking party officials including Education Secretary Victor Fajardo Vélez and House Speaker Edison Misla Aldarrondo are serving long terms at different federal prisons following their convictions on Hobbs Act, money laundering and other violations of the U.S. criminal code. Even Rosselló´s private secretary, Marí­a de los Angeles Rivera Rangel, better known as Angie, who worked with Rosselló for the eight years he was in office, is serving a four-year term for receiving kickbacks from businessmen in exchange for easing their way to see the governor and other government officials. A mousy woman in her early 50s who always took backstage to the governor, Rivera Rangel has always maintained her innocence. Corruption activities stooped so low during the Rosselló period when another dozen individuals were convicted and went to jail for stealing federal money that was destined to treat HIV/AIDS patients. One of these now imprisoned personalities is the patriarch of one of the island´s wealthiest families and influential New Progressive Party cash contributor, Luis E. Dubón. Now in his 70s, the multi-billionaire Dubón is serving a five year federal sentence for receiving a mere $10,000 in what became known as the San Juan AIDS Institute scandal. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his conviction. As the scandals progressed, intrigued but embarassed Puerto Ricans were unwillingly treated to a juicy story line which was better than any writer could put to script in a Latin American soap opera. But the last chapter remains unwritten. And, depending who you speak with, the question still surfaces as to when the feds will close in on Pedro Rosselló A once prized boy of the National Democractic Party, Rosselló was the epitome of the generation of young leaders a la Bill Clinton that embarked on the country in the 1990s. Abandoned by the Democrats, the now local senator from Arecibo district still commands massive support from a good section of his local New Progressive Party who want him to wrest the senate presidency from his once long time cohort Kenneth McClintock. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney´s Office on two ocassions had to make unusual public statements that Rosselló was not the subject or target of any investigation. These came when the press published corroborated statements from sources in federal inquries that implicated Rosselló in various schemes, including opening a secret bank account in Panama. (The then-governor had a special relationship with then-Pananamanian President Ernesto Balladares; both were college roommates at Notre Dame in 1960s.) Still, in an ongoing contract-for-kickback inquiry in a waterworks project that led to the indictments of Rosselló´s former campaign manager Dr. Rene Váquez Botet and former New Progressive Party secretary general Marcos Morell, federal investigators continue to ask witnesses whether they know if Rosselló had knowledge of any of the crimes going on while he was governor. Váquez Botet and Morell will go on trial next year. This time the U.S. government´s inquiry is being led by a team of prosecutors from the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. In a dramatic move, they have asked the federal judge in the case Juan Pérez Giménez to recuse himself because they believe he is politically biased and because he has postponed the trial on different occasions without good reason. A controversial figure on the local scene, Judge Pérez Giménez has never hidden his pro-statehood views. He was once chastised by the Judicial Conference in 1980 for speaking in favor of statehood during a July 4 celebration. Rosselló, a former pediatric surgeon who gave up his scapel for politics more than a decade ago, has not been charged with any crime. But the implications and the allegations are there. It´s only a matter of time before Puerto Ricans will learn the final chapter of their long homebrewed telenovela -- whether the main character turns out to be a sympathic hero, a victim of vicious lies and deceit of those around him, or whether he is a common protagonist of a Greek tragedy who is doomed by his own ambitions. It is such a fascinating island, indeed.