Aníbal Acevedo Vilá wants to help unite the PPD

At a time when the Republican leadership – from the White House and the Senate– has closed the way to statehood, even rejecting the November referendum, Acevedo Vilá said that the next candidate for governor and president of the PPD will have to address the status proposal of the community and the lack of interest of the federal government in resolving the debate on the political future of the island.

Acevedo Vilá – as a candidate for resident commissioner in Washington and former president of the PPD – said that he wanted to stay out of the contest between the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, the popular spokesman in the Senate, Eduardo Bhatia, and the mayor of Isabela, Carlos Delgado Altieri, for the candidacy for governor.

“If I stay neutral, it seems to me that it is easier for me on Sunday night to be an element of unity” and to be in tandem with the winner, he said.

He acknowledged, however, that among the three candidates he has had a longer personal relationship with Bhatia, whom he entrusted with the Washington office when he was governor., and he’s been less close lately to Delgado Altieri, who initially objected to his run for resident commissioner in Washington.

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At this moment, saying that I am close to Trump I don’t think it wins votes from anyone and I think it could cost votes to (Jenniffer González)

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“I have a lifelong relationship with Eduardo Bhatia, since high school. With Carmen Yulín, I have an excellent relationship and a lot of communication during her tenure as mayor, and with Charlie, in the past we had a very, very close relationship. We have not had that close relationship in recent times, but I am on record opening possibilities to the three candidates, “he said.

Delgado Altieri has been vice president of the PPD, including under the leadership of the late PPD president, Héctor Ferrer, whose ties to DCI Group – the public relations and lobbying firm that was in charge of propaganda for investment firms against the government of Alejandro García Padilla- were criticized by Acevedo Vilá.

Acevedo Vilá’s criticism of Ferrer’s relations with DCI Group generated tensions with Delgado and other close associates of whom he died as president of the PPD.

After the debate on Thursday night, Acevedo Vilá considered that more voters of the PPD will go out to vote and, although for the first time in the campaign there were harsh exchanges – and notable silences from Delgado Altieri-, he thinks that legitimate criticisms were made among the candidates to the government, without personal attacks.

In the midst of the multiple lawsuits and complaints among the pre-candidates of the New Progressive Party (PNP) to the governorship, the governor Wanda Vázquez Garced and the former resident commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, Acevedo Vilá considers, however, that the PPD overcame fears that the primary, for which he advocated, would divide his community.

For Acevedo Vilá, on the other hand, the PNP primary “is more closed than many people thought”, but he has been struck by “Pierluisi’s brutal negative campaign against Wanda Vázquez.”

“If you think you are comfortable to win, you do not insult the opponent in a primary, because you will need the next day (his followers) … If Pierluisi is giving a fight, then his strategies (for a primary) are a disaster, ”he said.

Whether Pierluisi or Vázquez Garced is the winner of the PNP primary, he will have to bear “the burden of this government,” he said.

“Sunday night, it’s going to be the same PNP legislative ballot with so many scandals. I believe that the PNP brand, although it continues to be larger in terms of people, is very affected and with that the candidate who is elected will carry the burden, “added the former governor.

After the experience of this four-year period, former governor Acevedo Vilá foresees new internal clashes in the PNP, especially if Vázquez Garced is the candidate for governor.