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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s new natural resources secretary has halted an investigation into allegations of illegal construction in a protected area on the island’s southwest coast, sparking outrage.
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The administrative order published late Thursday comes after Gov. Jennifer Gonzalez, who was sworn in last week, called the investigation that began under the previous administration “political persecution.”
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The investigation targeted alleged offenders, including Gonzalez’s in-laws, who are accused of illegally cutting down mangroves and expanding and redesigning a platform or pier at their home in La Parguera, which was designated a nature reserve in 1979 and known for its bioluminescent bay.
Gonzalez and her in-laws – Jose Vargas and Irma Lavona – denied the accusations.
On Thursday, Gonzalez appointed Waldemar Quiles as Puerto Rico’s new secretary of natural resources. The new governor said the investigation was part of a “political process” that took place last year before her party’s primaries, in which she defeated former governor Pedro Pierluisi, who was seeking a second term. Pierluisi previously denied that the alleged attack was political.
The first administrative order issued by Quiles was to suspend the investigation and, among other things, legalize the presence of houses in La Parguera through fees that the owners must pay every five years.
“This is illegal,” said Pedro Saada, a Puerto Rican lawyer and environmental law expert, who noted that a procedure is required to grant liens on public domain assets.
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“How do you, as your first act, exempt from scratch, in a broad way, a whole range of illegal uses of public domain assets?” Saadeh said about the secretary’s move.
In a phone interview, he said he was concerned the order would set a precedent and roll back protections for other areas of Puerto Rico at a time when they are suffering from a growing number of illegal developments.
On Friday, the president of the Puerto Rico chapter of the Sierra Club, Hernalez Vasquez, called on officials to rescind Quiles’ nomination for natural resources secretary and criticized his order.
“This action is a direct affront to environmental protection and justice,” Vazquez said. “It is unacceptable for the (Natural Resources) Minister…whose job should be to protect our natural resources, to use his position to benefit the governor’s in-laws.”
“Retroactively legalizing construction that has negatively impacted a protected nature reserve is not only irresponsible, it is illegal,” Vasquez added.
The first buildings in La Parguera were built around the 1960s, where fishermen lived in dilapidated homes that have largely been replaced by upscale homes that environmentalists say should be removed.
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The investigation, which proposed a $25,000 fine on Gonzalez’s in-laws, was led by former Natural Resources Secretary Anais Rodriguez. She told radio station WKAQ last year that the investigation against Gonzalez’s in-laws should continue under the new administration.
On Friday, Puerto Rico Senate President Tomas Rivera Schatz wrote on Facebook that the Senate would ask Quiles to explain his administrative order. He wrote that remedies to avoid “selective prosecution” require “caution, transparency, and firmness to avoid falling into what may appear, be perceived, or actually be a selective benefit or privilege.”
A spokesman for Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources did not return a message seeking comment.
In written statements provided to El Nuevo Dia newspaper on Friday, Quiles said his administrative order was prepared by the previous administration and that it recognizes the acquired rights of those with homes in La Parguera and sets out the responsibilities they must adhere to.
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