Carla Minet

The process that led Gov. Jenniffer González to sign the Transparency Act amendments on Sunday — a measure proposed by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz — was not only deceitful but also revealing.

The Senate announced late Friday that this week it will bring to a vote a bill that threatens the right to know for all of us who live in Puerto Rico.

In recent days, we’ve been saturated with media appearances by Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González. Her extensive media tour, marking the first 100 days of her administration, has swamped us with optimistic messages about her performance. All we see are kisses, hugs, handshakes, and smiles. Puerto Rico is doing well, or so the official narrative […]

Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to talk in this Public Briefing of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the Civil Rights Implications of Disaster Relief: Hurricane María in Puerto Rico. I hope that this becomes a productive forum in which we are not only heard, but that can be linked to solutions to […]

Journalists, because of their training, are a distrusting people. And, based on our experience, we especially distrust politicians and structures of power. No exceptions. It’s in our nature. Despite this, last week I spent three days at the Capitol Building, summoned by Reps. José Betito Marquez of the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC, in Spanish) and […]

Anyone who wants to find information on a high-profile criminal case or the professional execution of an official from the 90s or 2000s, or on the history of a business, an artist, or an athlete, has no choice but to go to the newspaper and magazine collection at the José M. Lázaro Library at the […]

During the past years, Puerto Rico has been witnessing a mise en scene in which the Fiscal Control Board says, “We have to cut here” and the government tells the press “I am not going to cut anything.” The net result is that many of the cuts have indeed been made, seen and felt. As […]

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives’ Government Commission is investigating the result of the implementation of Acts 122, “Open Data Act,” and 141 of 2019, “Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act.” The Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) was invited to the public hearing held last Tuesday and we testified […]

Bad news about the COVID-19 epidemic in Puerto Rico hit this morning like a bucket of cold water: the Health Department had been incorrectly reporting data on infections on the island for the past four weeks. Health Secretary Lorenzo González acknowledged today to the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI) that the agency has been mixing […]

State Epidemiologist Carmen Deseda, responsible to advise and inform citizens on how to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Puerto Rico, has no formal academic training as an epidemiologist, but instead took a course that accredits her as an Epidemiology Officer, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) found. According to her curriculum vitae, Deseda […]

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares and his closest advisers, or “brothers” as he refers to them, did political campaign work during regular hours and used public resources, shows a Telegram group chat in which members discussed, among other things, how to control the political narrative through the island’s social media and press. The 889 […]

Of those who arrived in Chicago affected by Hurricane Maria , only 67 families entered the hotel program of the federal agency, while 155 were located or are on a list for subsidized housing in the city. Others already returned when they did not get where to stay.

Erasmo Cruz-Vega is puzzled. “Three weeks ago, the neighbor from up there died of lung cancer and another one who lived nearby died of the same cause last year,” he said whispering. “He wasn’t 60 years old.” While looking at his hands and counted each one with his fingers, he added that on Street D, […]

The “work plan” to deal with these cases, the commissioner noted, was a verbal instruction given to the members of the Criminal Investigations Unit, the leadership of the Missing Persons Division and all police commanders. Coronel Francisco Rodríguez, the CIC’s Auxiliary Commissioner, gave the verbal order. The “plan” said that investigators had to visit the missing persons’ homes to see if they had returned and to also conduct more targeted searches, according to Sergeant José Carlo Rosario, the head of the Missing Persons Division. However, based on several interviews, agents just called or visited shelters and hospitals in their respective areas.

All one needs is to visit town halls, police stations, and funeral homes in Puerto Rico’s towns to find them. The doctors also recognize them, but privately. The government, however, does not want to see them. They refuse to document them. But in the last three weeks —through interviews with mayors, security officials and emergency […]

The showcase was designed to impress. Puerto Rico is up for sale to foreign millionaires. Adworks company, sponsored by the Department of Economic Development and Commerce and UBS, fashioned a display with all the offers of the season: exemption of all taxes and benefits of Laws 20 and 22; exalted the natural charms of the Caribbean and the warmth of its people; that it is a country in full economic recovery; divine weather; offering health services equal to those of the mainland USA; and professional services available at less than half the cost of the United States... that was what was being pushed by the presenters on both days.