Wanda Vázquez withdraws Maritere Brignoni’s appointment to the Supreme Court

The Governor Wanda Vazquez Garced this afternoon withdrew the appointment of Maritere Brignoni Mártir as an extraordinary judge at the Supreme Court.

The Governor’s statement was read at around 5:30 p.m., the deadline set by the President of the Senate, Thomas Rivera sweetheart, to the first executive to revoke the designation, or else they would reject it.

“The Honorable Brignoni Mártir has requested that her appointment be withdrawn. In accordance with the authority conferred on me by the Constitution and the laws of the government of Puerto Rico, I will revoke the appointment of the Honorable Brignoni Mártir before the Senate is pending, ”said the first president.

Brignoni’s confirmation was always uncertain. As of last week, it was known that the judge of the Court of Appeal does not have the 16 votes it needs to be confirmed. Brignoni had the favor of nine senators, namely: Carmelo Ríos, Miguel Romero, William Villafañe, Migdalia Padilla, Luis Daniel Muñiz, Miguel Laureano, Carlos Rodríguez Mateo, Axel “Chino” Roque and Henry Neumann.

Through a press release, Vázquez Garced reaffirmed that the appointee had the personal qualifications as well as the merits necessary to hold the position. “With great sadness and in the interest of the people of Puerto Rico, of the profession in robe, for the peace of the lawyer and her family, the attorney Brignoni Mártir asked me this afternoon to withdraw her appointment,” the governor said. .

The Senate too today was the unanimous appointment of the authorized public accountant Kermit Lucena Zabala for the controller of Puerto Rico after statements made by the nominee of a racist nature or with sexual vocabulary were revealed in their social networks. After knowing the publications, the nominee asked the legislator not to take these statements into account since he made them as a “private”.

The rejection of the two appointments submitted by the governor on Sunday exposed the rift in executive-senate relations that seemed to be widening after the first executive insisted on appointing Brignoni to the Supreme Court, although she knew that it was not so it had the advice and assent of the Senate.

During the negotiation process between the two offices, Vázquez Garced received the names of the Judges of the Court of Appeal Ivelisse Domínguez Irizarry, Aida Nieves Figueroa and Grace Grana Martínez, but no one was welcomed by the President, who insisted from day one in which the vacancy that Anabelle Rodríguez will leave this week, when she turns 70, must be filled in by another woman.

As the governor revealed yesterday, Rivera Schatz expressed an interest in having her credentials for the position assessed.

For his part, Vázquez Garced did not only request the appointment of her husband, the judge during the negotiation process Jorge Diaz Reverón to the Court of Appeal during the month of January, just at the beginning of the next four-year period, but also requested that a number of people in her area be left in strategic positions, including Marisol Blasco and Lilian Sanchez, Undersecretary of the Interior, several sources confirmed The new day.

“Today is a sad day for Puerto Rico and a disastrous chapter that tarnishes our history. I have fulfilled my constitutional duty and with my dedication to the people, closing the issue of these two appointments, ”said Vázquez Garced.

“I will not give in to pressure”

Having regard to the proposal of the New Progressive Party (PNP) majority in the Senate think of the secretary of the Senate, Manuel Torres NievesAs the controller of Puerto Rico, Vázquez reminded Garced that it is in the hands of the executive to make the appointments.

The Senate, for its part, is responsible for “evaluating the candidates with due respect, reverence and rigor, giving them the opportunity to present their credentials, which were not attributed to these two distinguished professionals”.

Let the residents of Puerto Rico know that I will not succumb to political pressure of any kind, let alone any form of blackmail, because in the order of Puerto Rico’s interests come the credibility and seriousness of the government agencies in the first place, ”he said in writing.

During the hearing, the PNP spokesman in the Senate, Carmelo Rios, asked the governor to seek the advice and consent of Mr. Manuel Torres Nieves as the controller of Puerto Rico. “He has the credentials, he has the capacity, he has the historical records, he is a servant of over 25 years who has served the people of Puerto Rico well,” said Ríos.

For the Senator of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), Juan DalmauWith its actions, the PNP majority recognizes the “absolute break” with the executive. “This process that is done in public is what is typically done during meetings between the Senate and the governor, in letters and written communications, in legislative conferences,” Dalmau said.