The Associated Press’s Javier Colón Dávila reported on the Pierluisi cousins.
Two cousins of Puerto Rico’s Gov. Pedro Pierluisi pleaded guilty Thursday for embezzling an estimated $3.7 million in federal funds earmarked for the management of public housing on the island.
Walter Pierluisi, 58, and Eduardo Pierluisi, 52, entered their pleas on charges of federal funds theft before Judge Camille Vélez in federal court in San Juan. A third co-defendant, David Vélez, was expected to plead guilty later.
[…]The case against the governor’s cousins stemmed from an FBI raid on offices of American Management & Administration, or AMAC, which had been awarded $73 million in contracts since it was incorporated by Walter Pierluisi in 1995 to administer public housing complexes in Puerto Rico. Eduardo Pierluisi and Vélez were employees of the company.
Here are a few social media posts about the arrests and guilty pleas.
New York Puerto Rican Democrat and former New York City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito posted a Twitter thread detailing the Pierluisi family’s lucrative history.
On top of the busted grifter cousin news, Pierluisi has had to distance himself from his enthusiastic participation in a groundbreaking ceremony for an evangelical megachurch to be rebuilt with $32.5 million in FEMA funds.
Translation:
Governor Pedro Pierluisi announced the reconstruction of the Fuente de Agua Viva Church in Carolina, at a cost of $32.5 million from FEMA funds.These funds were granted by mandate of former President Donald Trump to rebuild churches affected by Hurricane Maria. The old structure of the famous church, founded by Rodolfo Font, was completely demolished a few weeks ago.
“My administration, with the support of FEMA, has worked to help hundreds of faith-based institutions apply for funds to rebuild after the impact of Hurricane Maria. Churches provide services that are an integral part of our socioeconomic development, Therefore, its reconstruction is also important for Puerto Rico. Strengthening its infrastructure and guaranteeing the continuity of the services they provide is essential for hundreds of thousands of citizens on our Island,” said Pierluisi.
Pierluisi has denied that his support of the FEMA church funding might garner him votes in the coming election. Yet Fuente de Augua Viva Pastor Otoniel Font has 365,000 Instagram followers and 2.6 million followers on Facebook who can read all about the new church that funds from Pierluisi built. Hmm.
Font recently responded to criticism of his church getting $32.5 million from FEMA when people still live with blue tarp roofs five years post-Maria—by blaming them for their situation.
As Telemundo’s Valeria Collazo explains in the video below, “Pastor Otoniel Font says there are still houses with blue tarps because people used FEMA money to buy televisions and other things. He also says that many still do not have property titles because there are people who do not want to put their things in order.”
As Leysa Caro González reported for El Nuevo Día (the newspaper with the largest circulation in Puerto Rico), Pierluisi was quick to separate himself from Font:
Pierluisi distances himself from expressions of Pastor Otoniel Font about FEMA funds
“I think that one should not generalize in such a way. FEMA has its processes and has its requirements. Sometimes it doesn’t provide assistance because (the applicant) hasn’t met the requirements but I’m not going to be generally judging people that way because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. There may be exceptions, it may be that someone has not used the funds they receive correctly, but one cannot generalize,” said the governor during a press conference in which he announced a million-dollar allocation for the construction of affordable housing.
[…]“The fact that they are giving funds to faith-based entities to repair temples or facilities has absolutely nothing to do with claims for home repairs or construction of new homes impacted by Hurricane Maria,” Pierluisi explained.
Over the years since Maria, I have posted Puerto Rico stories daily here at Daily Kos in the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup (APR) comments section, in Black Kos twice a week, and frequently here in Caribbean Matters. What makes it difficult is the language barrier. Most mainland U.S. citizens do not read Spanish, including a large group of Puerto Ricans who may be second- or third-generation (or beyond). Yet, most of the news from Puerto Rico, on both broadcast and social media, is in Spanish. Few readers will take the time to use translation software, as I have here.
I am a big fan of Puerto Rico’s preeminent leftist political cartoonist/caricaturist and graphic designer Enrique (Kike) Estrada, whose work is featured in the Claridad newspaper. Because his cartoons are not in English, I hesitate to share his work on Pipo’s problems, which live on his website.
Kike’s toons are labeled in Spanish and can be found on social media—but if you aren’t following the news from Puerto Rico, you may not get his biting humor. Kike is politically an independentista (pro-independence)
This cartoon shows Pierluisi trying to distance himself from his guilty cousins by insisting that they are “very very, very third cousins (and possibly fourth).”
Here’s his take on the Pastor and Pipo: “God begging and Pipo robbing $32.5 million for the Font Pastors. Hallelujah!”
In this one, Pierluisi’s cousins are dubbed “the Mafia that administers the residenciales (housing projects for the poor)” with “control” scratched out.
I’m hoping that the continuing saga of Pierluisi’s problems will lessen his future chances of becoming governor again—not that I want to see González Colón in that seat either. But that’s a story for another day; I will keep you posted.
Please join me in the comments for more on these stories, more cartoons from Kike, and for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.
