Public Safety chief to serve in key federal law enforcement partnership

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

Public Safety Secretary Alexis Torres Ríos announced Monday that he will serve on the Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Partners Advisory Board (HSLE PAB) for a term of two years.

With the appointment, Torres Ríos becomes the first head of an agency of the island government to hold such a position, a significant development for Puerto Rico and the Public Safety Department.

“It is an honor to be part of this important Board,” Torres Ríos said. “I am proud to represent Puerto Rico and the Department of Public Safety in this very important role, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to help protect the nation’s security.”

As part of the advisory board, Torres Ríos and the HSLE PAB provide Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and the rest of the leadership of the federal intelligence community, with the opportunity to better carry the message of the national intelligence needs and issues of state, local, tribal and territorial partners (SLTTs), in addition to gaining insight into the intelligence’ community’s ability to help address key national security challenges manifesting in the United States.

Torres Ríos, with more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement and emergency management, has been director of international operations in charge of the Western Hemisphere and deputy director of Puerto Rico operations for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The HSLE PAB supports the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in its efforts to coordinate and integrate the intelligence community’s approach to outreach and engagement with state, local, tribal, and territorial partners. The advisory board’s mission is to facilitate effective and efficient communication, coordination and collaboration between the intelligence community and its partners in support of the nation’s security.

By THE STAR STAFF

Rep. José Aponte Hernández described as “hypocritical” the statements of Cuban President Miguel

Díaz Canel about his commitment to the “self-determination and independence of the People of Puerto Rico.”

“Dictators are like that, they talk to the peanut gallery about what they don’t practice in their respective countries,” the veteran New Progressive Party lawmaker and former speaker of the island House of Representatives said Monday. “Cuban dictator Díaz Canel makes hypocritical statements about Puerto Rico’s self-determination, but his alleged commitment to that is not consistent with what he does in Cuba, where he deprives citizens of freely exercising their political determination, even expressing themselves. On the contrary, what we all see in Cuba is an effort by the communist government to limit the expression of its people. The threat of reprisals, the deployment of military force and the state of terror that exists in Cuba speaks for itself of Díaz Canel’s style of governance.”

“Meanwhile, we do not see any leader of the Citizen Victory Movement, Dignity Project or Puerto Rican Independence parties rejecting these totally hypocritical statements,” the prostatehood leader added. “The reason for this is simple: these organizations seek the same as Cuba; that is what they want for Puerto Rico, a dictatorial model where, in addition to bringing independence to Puerto Rico, they also cut rights to perpetuate themselves in power. That is the model they want for Puerto Rico.”

Díaz Canel said at the IberoAmerican Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday that “we reaffirm the historic commitment to self-determination and independence of the people of Puerto Rico.”

“The July 2021 protests in Cuba were silenced with military force, imprisonment without warrants, and trials without lawyers for the accused,” Aponte noted. “That is what those who are silent about Cuba’s abusive dictatorial regime want. In Puerto Rico we reject that, believe in and practice democracy, which is guaranteed by the Constitution of our nation, the United States. Puerto Rico will never be like Díaz Canel’s communist Cuba, no matter what the independence alliances want. The people of Puerto Rico have demonstrated overwhelmingly their support for the permanent union in order to guarantee U.S. citizenship.”