Puerto Rican lawyers seek support for lawsuit

Advocacy groups join them in claim against fiscal oversight panel

Several advocacy organizations in Central Florida joined Puerto Rican attorneys Thursday night as they announced a lawsuit suing the federal government, the governor of Puerto Rico and the island’s federally appointed fiscal oversight board.

“The fiscal control board has no overseer. It has no supervision,” said Reynaldo Perez Ramirez, one of the attorneys who filed the suit April 24. “They want us to still repay this debt, and it’s a debt that has not been audited.”

Perez Ramirez was referring to Puerto Rico’s crippling billion-dollar debt, which led to the passing of the PROMESA law two years ago, which allows for the creation of the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board.

With the lawsuit, the attorneys want the U.S. government to render the fiscal board’s existence as illegal for its sweeping powers to manage the island’s fiscal decisions. They also say it violates the U.S. Constitution.

The seven-member board, appointed by former President Barack Obama, declined to comment on the litigation.

The event in east Orange County on Thursday night — held to explain the lawsuit and garner public support — brought together organizations including Boricua Vota, Misión Boricua, Hispanic Federation, Vamos 4 Puerto Rico and Alianza for Progress Florida.

“Knowing about the crisis and the deterioration that Puerto Rico is enduring breaks our heart, because many of us here have half of our families or our entire families back in Puerto Rico,” said Jimmy Torres Velez of Iniciativa Acción Puertorriqueña.

Activists also oppose the Republican Party of Florida’s 2018 Sunshine Summit in Orlando on June 29, which will be attended by board chairman José Carrión III; the island’s resident commissioner in Congress, Jenniffer González; and Florida Rep. Bob Cortes, R-Altamonte Springs.

“The fact that this board was imposed ... is a problem of dignity,” said attorney Roberto Maldonado Nieves.