Wanda Vázquez withdraws the appointment of Maritere Brignoni to the Supreme Court

governor Wanda Vazquez Garced withdrew this afternoon the appointment of Maritere Brignoni Martyr as an associate judge of the Supreme Court.

The governor’s communication was read around 5:30 p.m., the deadline set by the president of the Senate, Dear Thomas Rivera, to the first executive who withdrew the appointment or would otherwise continue to reject it.

“The Honorable Brignoni Mártir requested the withdrawal of his appointment. In accordance with the authority conferred on me by the Constitution and the laws of the Government of Puerto Rico, I withdraw the appointment of the Honorable Brignoni Mártir before the examination of the Senate “, said the first president.

Brignoni’s confirmation has always been uncertain. It was known last week that the judge of the Court of Appeal did not have the 16 votes he has to confirm. Brignoni had the favor of nine senators, these being: Carmelo Ríos, Miguel Romero, William Villafañe, Migdalia Padilla, Luis Daniel Muñiz, Miguel Laureano, Carlos Rodríguez Mateo, Axel „Chino” Roque and Henry Neumann.

In a press release, Vázquez Garced reaffirmed that the appointee had the personal qualifications as well as the merits necessary to fill the position. “With great sadness and for the benefit of the people of Puerto Rico, the dressed profession, for the peace of the lawyer and his family, lawyer Brignoni Mártir asked me this afternoon to withdraw his appointment,” the governor said.

The Senate, too today the appointment of the certified public accountant Kermit Lucena Zabala was unanimously suspended for the Puerto Rican controller after expressions of the nominee were revealed on their social networks of a racist nature or with sexual vocabulary. After learning about the publications, the candidate asked the legislators not to take these expressions into account since he had made them a “private citizen”.

The rejection of the two appointments made by the governor on Sunday exposed the pause in relations between the Executive and the Senate that seemed to grow after the first executive insisted on appointing Brignoni to the Supreme Court, even though he knew he did not have Senate advice and consent.

During the negotiation process between the two branches, Vázquez Garced was given the names of Court of Appeal Judges Ivelisse Domínguez Irizarry, Aida Nieves Figueroa and Grace Grana Martínez, but neither was welcomed by the President, who from day one insisted on which vacancy that Anabelle Rodríguez will leave this week, when she turns 70, must be filled by another woman.

Rivera Schatz, as the governor revealed yesterday, showed interest in having his credentials for the position evaluated.

Vázquez Garced, in turn, requested during the negotiation not only the appointment of her husband, the judge Jorge Diaz Reverón to the Court of Appeal in January, right at the beginning of the next four-year period, but also called for more close people to be left in strategic positions, including Marisol blasco and Lilian Sanchez, Undersecretary of the Interior, confirmed several sources to The new day.

“Today is a sad day for Puerto Rico and a disastrous chapter in our history. I also fulfilled my constitutional duty with the commitment to the people, for which I consider that the problem related to these two appointments has been concluded “, said Vázquez Garced.

“I will not give in to pressure”

Before the proposal of the majority of the New Progressive Party (PNP) in the Senate considers the Secretary of the Upper House, Manuel Torres NievesAs Puerto Rico’s controller, Vázquez Garced reminded that it is in the hands of the Executive to make the appointments.

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

“Tell the people of Puerto Rico that I will not submit to political pressure of any kind, much less blackmail of any kind, because in the order of Puerto Rican interests, the credibility and seriousness of government institutions come first,” he said in writing.

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

For the Senator of the Independence Party of Puerto Rico (PIP), Juan DalmauThrough its action, the majority of the PNP recognizes the “absolute rupture” with the Executive. “This process, which is made public, is what is usually done in meetings between the Senate and the governor, in letters and written communications, in legislative conferences,” Dalmau said.