The last two secretaries that the Health Department –Concepción Quiñones, on an interim basis, from March 13 to 26, and Lorenzo González, confirmed by the Senate on Saturday– arrived at the post in the midst of the worst pandemic Puerto Rico and the world have faced in the last 100 years .
The first management of both, however, had nothing to do with the coronavirus. As a first task, the two had to deal with the issue Mabel Cabeza, the right hand of former secretary Rafael Rodríguez Mercado, classified as “indispensable” by La Fortaleza, according to sources, and, today, dismissed and the subject of multiple investigations.
Quiñones wanted to fire her, he revealed this weekend, but from La Fortaleza they told him that it was “indispensable” and they did not allow it. He ended up standing out in the same Fortress, in charge of being the Health liaison with the team of doctors that advises the governor Wanda Vazquez in coronavirus. From that position, he continued to command Health in any capacity, Quiñones said, which led to the former secretary of the agency, a veteran public employee, ending up resigning amid explosions.
González, for his part, summoned Cabeza on Monday to his Health office, according to sources. He wanted to fire her early, get out of that problem before starting work. The woman did not show up. González then made the dismissal public.
Who is this person, who made two health secretaries put their eye to him even before the coronavirus itself? Why, despite the fact that it has long been known that some of his actions are investigated, he still had the protection of Fortaleza?
How is it that she survived after the fall of Ricardo Rosselló and the supposed disappearance of the public scene of lobbyist Elías Sánchez Sifonte, who is pointed out by multiple sources as the figure that placed her in Health?
Sources with a long history in the New Progressive Party (PNP) report that Cabeza, who is said to have training in marketing, not health, maintains that they never knew her as a member of that party.
How did you get to the big picture
When he was first seen, it was in Ricardo Rosselló’s campaign. He arrived, sources say, from the hand of Sánchez Sifonte’s wife, Valerie Rodríguez Erazo, and Marisol Blasco, today one of the closest assistants to Governor Wanda Vázquez.
The bond between Blasco and Rodríguez Erazo dates back to the time when they both worked at the Women’s Attorney’s Office, when Vázquez ran that agency. Blasco was a special assistant to Vázquez and Rodríguez Erazo, legal adviser. Through his friendship with Rodríguez Erazo, Cabeza also began to relate to Sánchez Sifonte, who led the campaign that brought Rosselló to government and virtually designed the cabinet that began the four-year term in January 2017.
Several sources maintain that Sánchez Sifonte, who along with other of Rosselló’s closest collaborators (basically those who appeared in the controversial chat that cost the former governor the position) placed people he trusted and who responded to him in the most important agencies. important, including, in more than a few cases, the bosses themselves.
In the case of Health, being his trusted person fell to Cabeza, who was designated Rodríguez Mercado’s main assistant, despite the fact that his training was in marketing and not in health.
“He had no administrative skills. He was not a leader. I didn’t know about public health, nothing about general health “Japhet Rivera, a former director of the Veterans Hospital in San Juan who was Assistant Secretary for Planning, Development and Federal Health Affairs from January 2017 to October 2018, said in an interview yesterday on Radio Isla.
Cabeza did not respond yesterday to an interview request from El Nuevo Día. According to sources, the former official basically ran Salud while Rodríguez Mercado was dedicated to the agency’s relations in Washington and to continue exercising his profession as a neurosurgeon. The assistant’s actions caused multiple problems.
Sources attribute the agency’s disastrous response to Hurricane Maria. He designed a contract review method that didn’t work, interviewees explained. It broke relationships with historic agency contractors. He promoted hires that are now being investigated by the Department of Justice, by the House of Representatives, by the Government Ethics Office, by the United States Department of Health and Human Resources and even by the FBI, which has questioned several employees of the agency. Rivera confirmed to Radio Isla yesterday that he, too, was questioned by the FBI.
The new secretary, González, who was in command of that agency during the Luis Fortuño government, has contacts there and knew about these things. Since he was appointed, he had the intention of dismissing Cabeza, despite the fact that he still has support in La Fortaleza. Yesterday, González processed more dismissals of people close to the former assistant.
The question remains of who in Fortaleza told Quiñones that Cabeza was indispensable. But it is known that he has very close relationships with Blasco and with the deputy secretary of the Interior, Lillian Sánchez, although the relationship with the latter is recent, according to sources.
In any case, the fact that a person with such heavy baggage has had such emphatic defenses from the headquarters of the Puerto Rican Executive yesterday worried more than one. “It worries me and it should concern us all in Puerto Rico,” said representative Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló.
– .
