Rivera Schatz: Let Domenech take over DDEC for now

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz

In salty social media post, Senate president cites 2025 executive order giving La Fortaleza chief of staff broad powers

By THE STAR STAFF

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said Tuesday there is no rush to address an interim appointment of a new secretary at the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC by its acronym in Spanish) following the recent resignation of Sebastián Negrón Reichard.

“After Sebastián Negrón Reichard’s abrupt departure as head of the DDEC, the signing of contracts and decrees, among other things, remained pending,” Rivera Schatz wrote on social media.

The Senate president stated that he was informed that it is “urgent” for the Senate to approve an interim secretary at the DDEC so that pending transactions awaiting signatures and authorization are not halted.

“We were informed that it is ‘urgent’ for the Senate to approve an ‘interim’ Secretary at the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) so that these ‘transactions’ are not halted and can be signed and authorized,” he wrote in the post.

Rivera Schatz cited Administrative Bulletin OE-2025-008, an executive order signed by Gov. Jenniffer González Colón on Jan. 17, 2025, which establishes the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the La Fortaleza chief of staff, a position occupied by Francisco Domenech Fernández.

The order, among other powers, authorizes the chief of staff to supervise personnel and daily operations of the executive branch, issue instructions on activities or projects, establish executive measures, and carry out any other responsibilities delegated by the governor.

Rivera Schatz said the executive order “grants the La Fortaleza Chief of Staff broad powers to address this matter. See sections 2, 10, 12, and 20.”

He asserted that if the pending transactions comply with the law and ethics, then the chief of staff may authorize them.

“There are no excuses for delaying the signing, unless, as I believe, the allegations made by Attorney Sebastián Negrón Reichard that led to his resignation are true!” Rivera Schatz wrote.

“Whoever wanted ‘absolute and unlimited’ powers has had them since January 2025! Let them exercise them, with caution and decency, as Attorney Negrón Reichard rightly demanded,” the Senate president added.

“There is no rush regarding the interim appointment or the replacement at the DDEC; we will address it diligently when it is submitted, but in the meantime, Executive Order 025-008 ‘resolves’ the matter!” Rivera Schatz concluded in the post.

Negrón Reichard resigned as DDEC secretary on May 26, a departure accompanied by the resignations of more than 10 senior officials across the agency.

In a letter, Negrón Reichard said he submitted his resignation to the governor after concluding that the mutual trust required to carry out the responsibilities of the position no longer existed.

The former secretary said the breakdown followed his referral of findings from an internal evaluation of a competitive process to the appropriate authorities. He stated that subsequent actions by La Fortaleza, including interventions through other officials in areas where the law delegates authority to the DDEC secretary, made it impossible to continue performing the role with the autonomy and integrity it requires.

Negrón Reichard cited, among those actions, the reversal of two summary suspensions issued for alleged improper interventions in contracting processes. He said the decision left personnel who reported alleged irregularities without institutional protection.