Former Governor of Puerto Rico Statement Regarding Exoneration by Independent Prosecutor

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Governor Ricardo Rosselló of Puerto Rico was exonerated today after the commonwealth's Independent Prosecutor (FEI, its acronym in Spanish) released the report on its 16-month investigation that resulted in no charges against Rosselló. 

The FEI investigation was launched on July 15, 2019 by the Puerto Rico Independent Prosecutor to examine the leaked – and according to FEI and the Institute for Forensic Sciences of Puerto Rico a document that is not original and is incomplete and modified – text messages.

"First and foremost, I want to thank my wife, Beatriz for being a pillar of strength and love. I also want to thank my children, my entire family, and all of my friends and supporters for their unbending belief and love during this long and arduous process," said Rosselló. "As I have said all along, this regrettable issue was used by my political opponents to distract attention away from the significant reforms we were achieving on behalf of the people of Puerto Rico – chief among them eliminating the culture of corruption."

Rosselló points out during his administration the creation of an Inspector General office, a streamlined procurement reform, a turnkey collaborative MOU with the federal government to battle corruption, the first anti-corruption code for the island, regulation of lobbyists by creating the first public registry, a local freedom of information act, and transparency efforts to publish financial data that had previous to his administration always been withheld. 

"I regret that as consequence of this issue my administration was thwarted in a sincere desire to faithfully serve the people of Puerto Rico," he said. 

Rosselló, who has an extensive and distinguished background in biosciences, is currently living near Washington, D.C., where he is working the creation of businesses to help address the global pandemic. He is also lecturing graduate classes in government, where he shares some of the lessons learned from his experience in leading Puerto Rico.

"I am grateful to the people of Puerto Rico for allowing me to serve and I am proud of the achievements we made together, under the toughest of circumstances," Rosselló said. "Facing unprecedented fiscal challenges, economic decay, social stagnation, government structural collapse, an imposed fiscal oversight board, and the impact of two devastating storms in the span of two weeks, we did much to address the corruption, inefficiency and complacency that plagued our government for years. Our accomplishments in streamlining government, reforming the energy, health, and education sectors, reducing crime rates, growing the economy, and advancing the rights of women, the poor, faith-based communities and the LGBTQ communities put Puerto Rico in a better place. While many challenges still lie ahead, I remain confident of a more hopeful future, and that future includes statehood for Puerto Rico."

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SOURCE Ricardo Rosselló