Governor nominates new DACO secretary
- The San Juan Daily Star
- Mar 20
- 2 min read
By The Star Staff
Gov. Jenniffer González Colón on Wednesday nominated Valerie Rodríguez Erazo as secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO).
The nominee, a lawyer, is the daughter of former Senate President Charlie Rodríguez and is married to Elias Sánchez, who became embroiled in Puerto Rico’s summer of 2019 telegram-gate scandal, which led to the resignation of then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares.
Rodríguez Erazo’s appointment comes after the Senate rejected the nomination of Natalia Catoni to head DACO.
Senate Vice President Carmelo Ríos Santiago had accused Catoni of acting against the law by allegedly extending the probationary periods for employees in her agency.
Catoni became the first González Colón nominee to be rejected by the Senate.
The upper chamber’s Innovation, Reform, and Appointments Committee, chaired by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, prepared a report on the nominee’s credentials, but did not approve or endorse her appointment to the position.
“The Senate Innovation, Reform, and Appointments Committee, after study and consideration, has the pleasure of submitting to this Senate its report on the appointment of Ms. Natalia del Valle Catoni as Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs,” the five-page document reads.
During the approval process, no statements were made regarding the reasons for rejecting the appointment.
The governor also named attorney Astrid Piñeiro Vázquez as women’s advocate, certified public accountant Arnaldo J. Ortiz Miranda as administrator of the Puerto Rico Government and Judiciary Employees’ Retirement Systems and executive director of the Teachers’ Retirement Systems, Abner Gómez Cortés as commissioner of the Puerto Rico Emergency Medical Corps Bureau, and Roberto L. Lefranc Fortuño as executive director of the Puerto Rico Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development.
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