NPP mayors publicly rally behind governor following resignations of top officials

Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz

By THE STAR STAFF

For the first time in over a year, a group of New Progressive Party (NPP) mayors voiced strong support on Wednesday for Gov. Jenniffer González Colón, highlighting what they described as steady fiscal management, accelerated reconstruction projects, and improved coordination between central and municipal governments.

The show of support comes amid political turbulence in La Fortaleza following Tuesday’s high‑profile resignations of La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech Fernández and Assistant Chief of Staff Itza García Rodríguez after a panel of the Special Independent Prosecutor’s Office agreed to investigate them. The governor has yet to appoint their successors. Before the resignations, none of the NPP mayors came out in support of the governor amid allegations of corruption against Domenech and García and calls for transparency and investigation from political leaders across parties.

The mayors emphasized that the González Colón administration has secured two consecutive budgets with the federal Financial Oversight and Management Board -- an unprecedented milestone since the board’s creation. They argued that the agreements have provided stability and allowed reconstruction and development projects to advance across Puerto Rico. As the report notes, the mayors said the administration’s work “continues to ‘produce concrete results’ for the benefit of citizens.”

Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz pointed to several longstanding issues the administration has addressed, including payments tied to the Carrera Magisterial, granting permanent status to school directors, and settling outstanding obligations with police officers.

“Her administration has attended to historical claims by paying the debt of the Teaching Career ... and strengthened public safety with the opening of a new Police Academy,” Rivera Cruz said.

The mayors also cited more than $7 billion in water and sewer system modernization, widespread road and bridge reconstruction, and the expansion of the bilingual education program from 36 to 119 schools. Social initiatives such as strengthening the Amas de Llaves home‑care program and investments in public housing communities were also highlighted.

Maunabo Mayor Ángel Omar Lafuente Amaro called the funding for the Amas de Llaves program “invaluable support” for elderly residents, while others praised what they described as González Colón’s hands‑on leadership and responsiveness to municipal needs.

Some mayors offered explicit political endorsements. Naranjito Mayor Orlando Ortiz Chevres reaffirmed his support “both today and in November 2028,” while others pointed to specific projects in their towns -- from flood‑mitigation work in Cabo Rojo to road improvements in Villalba and educational initiatives in Las Piedras.

San Lorenzo Mayor Jaime Alverio Ramos said progress in his municipality “has not stopped” during the administration’s first 19 months, crediting alignment between local and central government priorities.

The NPP delegation in the island House of Representatives, led by Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, echoed the party’s mayors later on Wednesday in voicing their support for the González Colón administration’s work over the past 19 months, highlighting the historic tax benefit of $554 million directed mainly to the working class this year, according to an NPP press report.

“The Administration and the Legislature have worked to provide the people with the first tax relief in 15 years and the most substantial in three decades; that is two generations of Puerto Ricans who had not seen a reduction in their tax burden of this magnitude,” the House speaker said. “Over 690,000 taxpayers were impacted by this initiative. …”

Co-Deputy House Speaker Yashira Lebrón Rodríguez added that “[w]e had the best start of classes (Back to School) in the modern history of the island, recognized even by the political opposition.”

“Schools have now been rehabilitated since March, not in summer as was the custom before,” she said. “With this, they were ready in August 2025 and will be ready in three weeks to receive our children; that is a tangible and real achievement.”

Co-Deputy Speaker Ángel Peña Ramírez highlighted that the “impact the Administration has had with children with special needs has been a historic one.”

“Led by our Speaker, the non-profit organization Ser de Puerto Rico already has its annual recurring contribution to continue helping children with autism, among other conditions,” he said. “In the same way, the allocation to non-profit entities has been approved and advanced during the first session of the year, unlike past four-year periods that took place between August and September. This is a tangible achievement of real agility in favor of our people.”

Majority Leader José “Pichy” Torres Zamora noted that “not only did we remove the Police [Bureau] from the Department of Public Safety, but we gave [police] a substantial pay raise, the first in more than a decade; another real achievement.”