Puerto Rico governor pledges to improve island's crumbling power grid
after repeated outages
[May 30, 2025]
By DÁNICA COTO
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor pledged Thursday to
improve the island’s crumbling electric grid and boost the economy in
her first address after being elected last year as anger intensifies
over chronic power outages and an increase in cost-of-living expenses.
Gov. Jenniffer González Colón, of the pro-statehood New Progressive
Party, spoke for nearly two hours as she listed her accomplishments
since taking office in January and announced multimillion-dollar
investments to improve Puerto Rico’s health, education and public
safety.
“Without a doubt, the road has been difficult and full of lessons that
we must ensure we don’t repeat,” she said.
González Colón said the upcoming budget includes funds to hire 800 new
police officers, $12 million to hire new firefighters and $24 million to
recruit resident doctors as health professionals continue to move to the
U.S. mainland, leaving Puerto Rico with few or no specialists in certain
areas.
She noted that more than 60%, or roughly $8 billion, of the upcoming
general fund budget is slated for health, education and public safety.
The budget has not yet been approved.
María de Lourdes Santiago, vice president of Puerto Rico's Independence
Party, said after the governor's address that the numbers announced are
not sufficient given that thousands of certain government employees,
including police officers, are needed.
González Colón, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, decried
federal bureaucracy during her address, noting her administration would
keep pushing to free some $18 billion in federal funds set aside to
improve Puerto Rico’s power grid, which Hurricane Maria razed in
September 2017 as a Category 4 storm.
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She also renewed her pledge to cancel the government’s contract with
Luma Energy, a private company that oversees the transmission and
distribution of power in Puerto Rico.
“The termination of this contract will be a reality,” she said as
supporters stood up and applauded.
González Colón said reliable power is essential to attract
investment as she promised to keep attracting more manufacturing to
Puerto Rico. In upcoming months, she said she would announce the
expansion of five industries on the island.
The length of her address and the speed at which she sometimes
delivered it surprised some.
Political analyst and university professor Jorge Schmidt Nieto said
it seemed like a ploy to distract those who have criticized her
administration of inaction and the government of so far not
approving many laws.
“She tried to bring an optimistic tone because she knows she has
received a lot of criticism," Schmidt Nieto said.
Another who criticized González was Pablo José Hernández, Puerto
Rico’s representative in Congress and president of the opposition
Popular Democratic Party: “If one word describes the start of this
government, that word is disorder."
He noted that in the past five months, González has presented three
candidates for Puerto Rico’s secretary of state, two candidates for
its justice department and another two candidates for its labor
department. None of those positions have been filled as González’s
party has failed so far to approve her nominees.
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