Puerto Rico natural resources chief shelves investigation targeting governor’s in-laws

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Puerto Rico's new natural resources secretary has shelved an investigation into allegations of illegal construction in a protected area on the island's southwest coast, sparking an outcry.

The administrative order published late Thursday comes after Gov. Jenniffer González, who was sworn in last week, called the investigation that began under the previous administration "political persecution."

The investigation targeted alleged violators including González's in-laws, who are accused of illegally cutting mangroves and expanding and remodeling a platform or dock at their home at La Parguera, which was designated a natural reserve in 1979 and is known for its bioluminescent bay.

González and her in-laws – José Vargas and Irma Llavona – have denied the accusations.

On Thursday, González named Waldemar Quiles as Puerto Rico's new natural resources secretary as she claimed the investigation was part of a "political process" that occurred last year ahead of her party's primaries, in which she beat former Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, who was seeking a second term. Pierluisi has previously denied it was an alleged political attack.

Quiles’s first administrative order was to shelve the investigation and, among other things, legalize the presence of homes in La Parguera via a fee owners must pay every five years.

"That is illegal," said Pedro Saadé, a Puerto Rican attorney and expert in environmental law, who noted there's a required procedure to grant concessions on public domain assets.

"How are you, as your first act, going to exempt from scratch and in a broad way, a whole line of illegal uses of public domain assets?" Saadé said of the secretary's move.

In a phone interview, he said he worried the order would set a precedent and roll back protections for other areas in Puerto Rico as it struggles with a growing number of illegal developments.

The first infrastructures were built in La Parguera around the 1960s, with fishermen living in ramshackle houses that have largely been replaced by high-end homes that environmentalists say must be removed.

The investigation, which proposed a $25,000 penalty against González's in-laws, was led by former natural resources secretary Anaís Rodríguez. She told WKAQ radio station last year that the investigation against González's in-laws should continue under the new administration.

On Friday, Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz wrote on Facebook that the Senate will ask Quiles to explain his administrative order. He wrote that remedies to avoid "selective prosecution" require "caution, transparency and firmness so as to avoid falling into what could appear, be perceived or in effect be a selective benefit or privilege."

A spokesman for Puerto Rico's Natural Resources Department did not immediately comment.

In written statements provided to El Nuevo Día newspaper on Friday, Quiles said his administrative order had been prepared by the previous administration and that it recognizes the acquired rights of those with homes in La Parguera and establishes responsibilities with which they must comply.