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Legal Action Filed Against Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission Over Public Information Denial

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San Juan, PR – The Puerto Rico State Elections Commission (CEE) is under scrutiny for failing to address multiple information requests related to issues during the electoral process. These requests, submitted by journalists Damaris Suárez and Vanessa Colón Almenas of the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI), remain unanswered despite the requirements outlined in the Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act. As a result, the CPI has taken legal action to obtain the requested data. “All the requested information is public and of high interest to the people of Puerto Rico. To address public distrust in the electoral process, the CEE must be transparent and provide the requested information promptly.

English

CPI Files Mandamus Against Department of Treasury for Access to Information

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San Juan – The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) has filed a legal motion to compel the Department of Treasury and its acting secretary, Nelson J. Pérez Méndez, to release invoices from an advertising agency that have been withheld, ensuring compliance with his ministerial duty of transparency in public management. “We have exhausted all available administrative remedies to obtain the requested information through the Treasury’s Communications Office without success. We fulfilled our duty to request the invoices over two months ago. With no other remedy available, we have turned to the Court of First Instance, San Juan Division,” said Carla Minet, the CPI’s executive director. The CPI’s initial effort to obtain the information began on September 25, 2024, when its journalist José Manuel Encarnación Martínez sent an email to Vilmar Trinta Negrón, director of the Treasury’s Communications Office.

English

CPI ASKS COURT TO ORDER LAND AUTHORITY TO DELIVER INFORMATION ABOUT ITS GOVERNING BOARD

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San Juan, PR – The Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) today sued the Puerto Rico Land Authority (ATPR, in Spanish) for ignoring a request for access to public information about the composition and minutes of its Governing Board.   

Since January 23, 2024, journalist and founder of Bonita Radio, Carmen Enid Acevedo, who received a scholarship from the CPI Journalism Training Institute, requested by email from Irving Rodríguez executive director of the ATPR the minutes of the Governing Board meetings, the composition of the Board, and who have been its secretaries from 2018 to the present, . After several days without getting a response, the journalist went to the Land Authority headquarters to follow up. She was told it was necessary to submit her request for information, again, in writing. After making the requested arrangements and informing at least three agency officials about the request, in person and in writing, including the executive director of the ATPR, Irving Rodríguez, Acevedo  waited for several days without getting a response and then called the agency several times until they told her again that they were working on her request. But as of today, more than 10 weeks after the original request, the requested information has not been received.

English

ODSEC to Court for Concealment of Public Information about Community Centers

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San Juan – The Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) filed a mandamus against the Puerto Rico Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development (ODSEC, in Spanish) and the Special Communities Perpetual Trust to demand access to public information related to the ownership of community centers, recreational facilities, or sports facilities in Puerto Rico’s special communities. From September to October 2022, Journalist Luis Joel Méndez González, from the CPI, requested a list of community centers and recreational spaces over which the ODSEC has jurisdiction. The petition was also submitted to the Special Communities Perpetual Trust. Although the ODSEC and the Trust stated several times that they do not have jurisdiction or ownership of facilities in Puerto Rico’s special communities, subsequently, Thais Reyes Negrón, as executive director of the ODSEC and chair of the Trust, granted at least two management agreements for community centers, recreational facilities, or sports facilities in Puerto Rico’s special communities, in which the Trust was identified as the owner of said properties. A few months later, the CPI saw that the Special Communities Perpetual Trust announced on its social networks that it had signed two administration agreements to share the management of a gym in the special community of Las Curías, in San Juan, and the Rosa E. Rivera community center of the Los Filtros community, in Guaynabo.

access to information

CPI Demands Access to Public Information on the Performance of Health Plan Insurance Providers

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San Juan – A special petition for access to public information was filed this Wednesday in the San Juan Superior Court against the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Services Administration (ASES, in Spanish) for failing to comply with a request from the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) regarding the government’s health insurance plan. On May 24, the CPI, through journalist Jeniffer Wiscovitch Padilla, began efforts to obtain data on the providers that participate in the government’s health insurance plan named Vital and their quality reports. After multiple telephone and email communications with ASES, the legal recourse was filed given that the term provided by Act 141-2019 (Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act) has elapsed for the agency to respond or provide what was requested. In its filing, the CPI also asks the Court to order ASES to prospectively disclose this information when requested, in compliance with Article 4 of the Transparency Act. “In this case, the request made to ASES complied with the requirements established by the Transparency Act; everything requested is public information of high interest to the people of Puerto Rico and isn’t protected in any way by any privilege or confidentiality claim,” said Carla Minet, executive director of the CPI.

English

CPI Scores Federal Court Win Against Fiscal Control Board and For Access to Information

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The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston rejected the Fiscal Control Board for Puerto Rico claim that due to “sovereign immunity” it did not have to submit to the right of access to information recognized under the Commonwealth’s Constitution and deliver documents on their processes requested by the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish). “In this case, the Board stated that, under the PROMESA law, it enjoyed complete immunity from the people’s claims of access to the information in its archives. Through this decision, the First Circuit Court in Boston rejected this assertion that highlights the Board’s impunity and total power. A court has finally put a stop to some of the Board’s abuses. The people of Puerto Rico have the right to know what their de facto rulers are doing.

Actualidad

Puerto Rico’s Government has Problems Complying With its Transparency and Open Data Laws

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More than two years ago, laws were passed to ensure the availability of specific data generated by public agencies and to establish procedures to access government information. The Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, in Spanish) found that the government has appointed 98% of the Public Records Officers and only 36% of the Data Officers in the agencies, while the contact information for the majority of these appointed officials has not been made available to the public. Approximately 20% of both types of officers’ appointments occurred after the CPI sent public information requests in January. In an exercise to oversee the implementation of Act 122 of 2019, “Puerto Rico Open Government Data Act,” and Act 141 of 2019, “Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Public Records Access Act,” the CPI sent information requests on the compliance of these statutes to La Fortaleza (the Governor’s Office), the Office of Management and Budget (OGP, in Spanish), and the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Services (PRITS). In light of the information received in response to these requests, it is clear that there is duplicity, and even confusion, with regards to the appointments of Public Records Officers and Data Officers.