Details scarce on Puerto Rico governor’s plan for voters

Speaking to a packed room of Puerto Ricans in Kissimmee, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló vowed in January to unify the island’s post-Hurricane Maria diaspora into political action, an effort he said would influence the U.S. midterm elections.

But organizations leading getout-the-vote efforts in the Puerto Rican community say they haven’t heard from Rosselló since his visit, or seen any indication that the organization he proposed is taking shape in Central Florida. Some said his plan is destined to fail.

Jimmy Torres Velez, a coordinator with the Orlando-based organization Boricua Vota, called Rosselló’s proposal an “attempt to meddle” and said, as of now, the initiative the governor described “doesn’t exist.”

“That’s made up. And if something like that exists, it should be imploded,” he said. “We have enough of a capacity to know who are the politicians who haven’t helped Puerto Rico. … They don’t have to come here and give us a lecture on democ-

racy. It’s disrespectful.”

Rosselló again touted his plan for Florida Puerto Ricans in an interview with Politico released this week, telling the publication that he had already begun voterregistration efforts in the state, along with his allies.

But months after his initial announcement, little is known about Rosselló’s plan to organize Puerto Ricans to vote against candidates who don’t support the island’s interests, including federal hurricane relief funds and ongoing restoration efforts.

Yennifer Álvarez, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Rosselló has continued working to build his organization since his January trip and would roll out the details during another visit to Central Florida at the end of the month. She would not comment on what organizations he has been in touch with.

Torres Velez said neither Rosselló nor the Puerto Rican government had reached out to his organization to help mobilize Puerto Ricans who fled here after Hurricane Maria or educate them on the state’s political process.

His main concern, echoed by others doing similar voter-outreach efforts, is that an organization led by Rosselló — who heads the island’s pro-statehood party — would inject island politics into an already-divided voting bloc that they have worked for years to unify.

Though Álvarez said the governor’s plan is to lead the organization through a nonpartisan approach, she said Rosselló would not shy away from explicitly supporting statehood as a solution for the question of Puerto Rico’s status, an issue that deeply divides Puerto Rican voters.

“I’m not really seeing how Rosselló can do that when he brings up statehood,” said Adela López, president of the Central Florida nonprofit Misión Boricua. “I’m not sure if what Rosselló is explaining will come to fruition because … it’s such a divisive issue.”

López said her organization decided to “table the topic” of political status and focus on educating voters on the process of electing local leaders, so they will be inclined to show up at the polls.

“Voter registration is important, but we need to educate ourselves,” she said.

Even though there’s “anger and animosity” toward the federal government’s post-Maria restoration efforts on the island, she said Puerto Ricans on the mainland don’t usually vote for one cause.

“We’re not Cubans,” Lopez said. “We’re still coming from different diasporas and even between those diasporas … we don’t have a common enemy” like the late longtime Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, she said.

With tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans fleeing to Central Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, experts agree that the idea of an organization that can unify Puerto Ricans could be powerful to address the island’s problems from the mainland.

UCF Professor Dr. Luis Martinez-Fernandez, who specializes in Latin American history and Puerto Rican studies, said that the governor’s proposal comes at an important time for the island’s history.

Because of a number of circumstances that have stripped power away from the island, including a federally appointed board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances, he said the local government’s strategy to look to the diaspora to make a difference could prove viable.

However, he questioned whether Rosselló could successfully lead such an effort.

“There’s something that has united Puerto Ricans and that’s a general rejection of the actions of the federal government,” Martinez-Fernandez said. “But why does it have to be a political leader who is in the vanguard of this movement?”

He said Puerto Rican politicians would have to work across parties and stay away from the topic of statehood for the movement to earn credibility.

“He won’t have the support. It’s very sad but I wouldn’t augur any success,” he said.

Gretchen Sierra-Zorita, a consultant and expert on the Puerto Rican diaspora based in Washington D.C., also argued the governor was not the right person to lead the effort he was proposing.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “He’s in the middle of some very controversial negotiations with the [oversight] board … he has a lot of balls in the air.”

She said Rosselló should prioritize the challenges people are still facing in Puerto Rico.

“Why are we doing this in the middle of the post-Maria hurricane recovery, we’re still in the middle of it. Why are we diverting resources … this energy and focus into this?”