Gov. Alejandro García Padilla defended Puerto Rico's sovereignty as it looks for help restructuring its debt, arguing that if the U.S. government took control of Puerto Rico's government, it would be held responsible for the island's obligations.
Several Republicans in the U. S. Congress have called for the U.S. government to appoint a Federal control board over the island's government as it attempts to restructure $70 billion of public sector bonds.
"If you do not respect the autonomy of Puerto Rico, it is not right," García Padilla said Tuesday. "If Puerto Rico does not have enough autonomy to administer itself, it also must have lacked it when it borrowed. Well then, they should pay the debt!" he said, referring to the U.S. government.
The governor's remarks follow comments by him and Puerto Rico Sen. José Nadal Power's concerning a U.S. Justice Department brief in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In its brief in Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle, the Justice Department argued that Puerto Rico does not have the level of sovereignty enjoyed by the 50 state governments.
In letters sent to Pres. Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, García Padilla argued against the Justice Department's position. He pointed to a letter from the U.S. to the U.N. in the early 1950s, when Puerto Rico was given self-governance, that indicated Puerto Rico's constitutional status had changed, he wrote.
Nadal Power believes that if the U.S. Dept. of Justice position prevails with the Supreme Court and "therefore Puerto Rico has no internal sovereignty, the commonwealth might be as a result impaired to provide sovereign guarantee to its general obligations, making the federal government a default co-guarantor since the only remaining sovereignty on the island would be the federal sovereignty," a Nadal Power spokeswoman wrote in an email in early January.
On Wednesday morning U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew met with García Padilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"I have tried to be very clear that restructuring and oversight have to move together but that oversight has to be done in a way that is respectful of Puerto Rico's system of self-government," Lew said. "There are no alternatives to congressional action in terms of coming up with a solution that is lasting and that provides the avoidance of a long protracted period of pain on the island."
Lew also met with a group of officials, including Puerto Rico Senate Pres. Eduardo Bhatia Gautier, House President Jaime Perell- Borrás, Senate Minority Leader Larry Seilhamer Rodríguez and House Minority Leader Jenniffer González Col-n.
He met separately with Puerto Rico's non-voting member of Congress Pedro Pierluisi, who said in a statement: "With respect to a possible fiscal oversight board, I insisted that I would only support such a measure if it were paired with more equitable treatment under federal programs and a mechanism that enables Puerto Rico to restructure debt in a way that is fair to creditors and that enables Puerto Rico to provide essential services to our people. The board should have the power to oversee the Puerto Rico government's budgeting and fiscal practices, but the board must respect our constitution."
Pierluisi is running in the New Progressive Party primary to become its candidate for governor against Ricardo Rossell- Nevares. On Tuesday Rossell- Nevares sent a letter to Lew saying the García Padilla administration's "focus on debt restructuring is a distraction from the urgent need to reduce government expenditures and restore economic growth."
