Puerto Rico governor pledges to improve island's crumbling power grid after repeated outages

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — 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.

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.