The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in San Juan, Puerto Rico has been uprooting the seeds of corruption with their recent indictments. Within the past month, two legislators and two capitol employees have been indicted due to a combination of bribery, theft, fraud and kickback conspiracy. On top of this, there have been extra counts of honest services wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
Now what most people don't understand is how important this truly is to the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. For decades, the island has had to deal with a multitude of elected officials that have corrupted things beyond repair. With the FBI finally indicting these people, this is a step in the right direction of cleansing Puerto Rico from lying and deceit, one legislator at a time.
With the indictment on María Milagros Charbonier-Laureno, also known as Tata, the people of the island can breathe a little easier knowing that the very same legislator that tried to ban same-sex marriage, no longer is in a high position of power. Her reasoning for this? She felt that the United States Supreme Court ruling of legalizing it, didn't even apply to Puerto Rico as it is only a territory of the United States and therefore, not a state.
When Nelson Del Valle Colon, along with two capitol employees, were indicted, Del Valle Colon already knew he was guilty as he actually tried to cover it up by deleting data off of his cell phone, which only led to a count of obstruction of justice being charged against him. Whatever happens on cell phones, is never truly deleted, especially when things are done through applications such as WhatsApp, but it seems as though this legislator thought he would still be in the clear.
The interesting part about these two cases, according to the United States Department of Justice, is that not only did their court cases happen within the past few weeks, but the charges were quite similar, with the only differences between particular amounts and the people involved. While the FBI in San Juan is doing a fantastic job catching these corruptors, I'm afraid that this is only the tip of the iceberg. I, along with the people of Puerto Rico, can only hope that this hot streak of catching these people in power continues and will lead to a government free of corruption.
