Damaris Suárez

Although dozens of municipalities have privatized the handling of public nuisance properties, others have chosen to establish community land banks or manage them through trusts that guarantee affordable housing.

Cataño’s Municipal Legislature approved a measure allowing its mayor to begin the expropriation process for eight properties, even though residents of the La Puntilla sector were not consulted. Many are also worried because their homes appear under other people’s names in public records.

Although municipalities and private individuals have filed dozens of lawsuits against Universal Properties seeking repayment and alleging breach of contract, five mayors awarded new contracts to a company tied to Universal’s management.

A new wave of military activity revives the island’s long struggle with years of U.S. occupation and its human toll.

Immigration lawyers and advocacy groups are sounding the alarm over widespread violations of immigrant rights in Puerto Rico, driven by racial profiling practices carried out by both local law enforcement and federal immigration agents.

The agency paid nearly $1.3 million to Dominion Voting Systems to upgrade equipment with 4G modems for result transmission, and an additional $23,379 to Claro for the SIM cards required for the connection.

On Election Day in Puerto Rico, voting equipment malfunctioned repeatedly — failing to turn on, shutting down unexpectedly, misreading ballot markings, and frequently jamming. Just a month earlier, the CEE had assured the public that similar issues encountered during the primaries last June had been resolved.

For the first time, a recent amendment to Puerto Rico’s Electoral Code allows voter eligibility to be disputed even after the Electoral Register closes — potentially just days before elections. The CPI has found that some voters facing these disputes are not notified, leaving them without the opportunity to respond.

Verdict: False

The CPI identified at least 34, out of 78 municipalities that were left completely in the dark due to the electrical system failures following Tropical Storm Ernesto.

The Government of Puerto Rico negotiated an energy transmission and distribution contract with LUMA Energy, which increases costs yearly. This agreement does not include options that previously allowed the company Ondeo to exit just 18 months after beginning operations with the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority.

The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau established the minimum performance levels the company must achieve to get incentives, but not the penalties, making its oversight difficult. The Public-Private Partnerships Authority now says that LUMA will only be penalized if any investigation concludes that it failed to fulfill its responsibilities.

Verdict: Misleading

Despite the judicial and political disputes that the 2020 Electoral Code would go through profound amendments, the current electoral cycle began with the statute practically intact due to the lack of leadership and the internal struggles within the Partido Popular Democrático (Popular Democratic Party) as well as the Partido Nuevo Progresista´s (New Progressive Party) reluctance to scale back its control over the State Elections Commission (CEE, in Spanish).

Since the new law came into effect, the CEE’s president practices the highest executive and administrative authority at the agency.

By now, in addition to answering phone calls from voters, the staff of the CEE support centers should be able to communicate through chats, cell phone messages, and emails to answer questions, something that has not happened.