SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez was arrested Thursday on bribery charges related to financing her 2020 campaign, the latest blow to an island with a long history of corruption that has led to new political upheaval on the territory of the USA.
Vazquez is accused of participating in a bribery scheme from December 2019 to June 2020 — while she was a manager — with several people, including a Venezuelan-Italian bank owner, a former FBI agent, a bank president and a political consultant.
“I am innocent. I have not committed any crime,” she told reporters. “I assure you they have done me a great injustice.
The arrest has embarrassed and angered many in Puerto Rico, who see the island’s already shaky image as further tarnished, leaving a growing number of people who have lost faith in local authorities wondering if federal authorities are their only hope to uproot entrenched government corruption. Concerns about previous corruption cases led to a delay in federal aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria as the US government implemented more safeguards.
Thursday’s arrest was also a blow to Vasquez’s pro-state New Progressive Party, which is pushing for a referendum next year in a bid to become the 51st US state.
Vazquez was the second woman to serve as governor of Puerto Rico and the first former governor to face federal charges. Former governor Anibal Acevedo Villa of the opposition Popular Democratic Party was accused of campaign finance violations while in office and was found not guilty in 2009. He was the first governor of Puerto Rico to be charged with a crime in recent history.
“For the second time in our history, political power and public office are being used to finance an election campaign,” said Jose Luis Dalmau, president of Acevedo’s party. “Using the government’s power to push political agendas is unacceptable and an affront to democracy in Puerto Rico.”
Vasquez’s consultant, identified as John Blakeman, and the bank’s president, identified as Francis Diaz, pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme, according to the US Department of Justice.
In early 2019, the international bank owned by Julio Martín Herrera Velutini was investigated by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions in Puerto Rico due to transactions that authorities considered suspicious and were not reported by the bank.
Authorities said Herrera and Mark Rossini, the former FBI agent who provided consulting services to Herrera, promised to financially support Vazquez’s 2020 gubernatorial campaign in exchange for Vazquez firing the commissioner and appointing a new one of his choice of Herrera.
Authorities said Vasquez accepted the bribe offer and in February 2020 asked for the commissioner’s resignation. She was then accused of appointing a former consultant to Herrera’s bank as the new commissioner in May 2020. After the move, officials said Herrera and Rossini paid more than $300,000 to political consultants to support Vazquez’s campaign.
A series of messages exchanged between people involved in the case during that time included heart emojis attached to the commissioner’s resignation letter and three sealed-lips emojis when someone provided Rossi’s name to Vazquez, who asked for the name of “the man by the FBI.” Herrera also texted Rossini about the need for a campaign manager and said he didn’t want a “Puerto Rican monkey.”
After Vazquez lost the primary to current governor Pedro Pierluisi, authorities said Herrera tried to bribe Pierluisi to end the audit of his bank on favorable terms. Herrera is accused of using intermediaries from April 2021 to August 2021 to offer bribes to a representative of Pierluisi who was actually acting on orders from the FBI, according to the indictment.
Officials said Herrera then ordered a $25,000 payment to a political action committee in hopes of trying to bribe Pierluisi.
Stephen Muldrow, the U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico, said Pierluisi was not involved in the case.
Vasquez, Herrera and Rossini are charged with conspiracy, bribing federal programs and honest services fraud. If convicted on all charges, they could face up to 20 years in prison, officials said.
Diaz and Blakeman, meanwhile, could face up to five years in prison, officials said.
Muldrow said officers believe Herrera is in the UK and Rossini in Spain. It was not clear whether the US would seek their extradition.
Juan Rosado-Reynes, a spokesman for Vasquez, told the AP he had no immediate comment.
Attorneys for the other suspects charged in the case could not be reached for comment.
In mid-May, Vazquez’s attorney told reporters that he and his client were preparing for possible charges because the former governor at the time denied wrongdoing: “I can tell the people of Puerto Rico that I did not commit no crime that I am not involved in any illegal or improper behavior as I have always said.
Vázquez was sworn in as governor in August 2019 after former governor Ricardo Rosselló resigned following mass protests. She served until 2021 after losing the pro-state New Progressive Party primary to Pierluisi.
In a statement Thursday, Pierluisi said his administration would work with federal authorities to help fight corruption.
“No one is above the law in Puerto Rico,” he said. “In the face of this news, which is sure to affect and undermine the confidence of our people, I reiterate that in my administration we will continue to have a common front with federal authorities against anyone who commits wrongdoing, no matter where it comes from or who may be involved.” “
Vasquez previously served as the island’s justice minister and district attorney for more than 30 years.
She became governor after Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court ruled that the oath of office of Pierluisi — who served as secretary of state in 2019 — as governor was unconstitutional. Vazquez said at the time that he was not interested in running for office and would only serve out the remaining nearly two years of Rossello’s term.
Rossello resigned after tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets angry over corruption, mismanagement of public funds and a profanity-laced chat in which he and 11 other men, including government officials, mocked women, gays and hurricane victims Maria, by the way.
Shortly after being sworn in, Vazquez told the AP that her priorities were to fight corruption, secure federal funds for hurricane recovery and help pull Puerto Rico out of a deep economic crisis as the government struggles to emerge from bankruptcy .
During the interview, she told the AP that she had long wanted to be in public service: As a girl, she would stand on her balcony and hold mock trials, always finding the alleged defendants guilty.
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