{"id":696640,"date":"2026-05-27T07:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/696640\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T07:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:23:25","slug":"puerto-ricos-development-agency-chief-resigns-after-claiming-government-interference-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/696640\/","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico\u2019s development agency chief resigns after claiming government interference \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) \u2014 The head of Puerto Rico \u2019s key economic development agency announced his resignation on Tuesday as he criticized the U.S. territory\u2019s administration of Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez, accusing it of interfering in the department\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

The departure of Sebasti\u00e1n Negr\u00f3n Reichard from the powerful Department of Economic Development and Commerce comes at a critical moment for Puerto Rico as it seeks to revive its economy and attract wealthy investors.<\/p>\n

Negr\u00f3n Reichard noted in his statement that more than 10 officials with leadership roles at the agency \u2014 including its chief of staff, general counsel and the finance chief \u2014 also stepped down following what he called interventions by the government. He said those include reversing two summary suspensions that Negr\u00f3n Reichard had issued after an investigation found improper interventions in the agency\u2019s procurement activities.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFILE – Jenniffer Gonzalez speaks after she was sworn in as governor outside the Capitol in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo\/Alejandro Granadillo, File)<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s actions \u201cmade it impossible to continue performing the duties of the position with the integrity and autonomy that the role requires and that every secretary owes to the public,\u201d Negr\u00f3n Reichard said.<\/p>\n

He added that those actions also left \u201cunprotected the staff who reported alleged irregularities in internal processes.\u201d Negr\u00f3n Reichard said he would not comment further, pending legal actions.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gonz\u00e1lez expressed disappointment after reporters questioned her about the resignation and brushed off questions about alleged interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed because I think he was a great agency secretary,\u201d she said. \u201cWe accomplished a lot and worked hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico Senate President Thom\u00e1s Rivera Schatz, who has recently been at odds with Gonz\u00e1lez, though they are from the same pro-statehood party, called the resignation \u201cextremely regrettable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that those responsible for evaluating and understanding the scope of these circumstances will do so and take the corrective actions they need to take, which I\u2019ve been warning them about for quite some time,\u201d Rivera Schatz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t, well, I\u2019ll be talking to these people, and if they bring evidence to me that shows something is wrong, I\u2019ll go after them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) \u2014 The head of Puerto Rico \u2019s key economic development agency announced his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-696640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}