Pega'os en la mañana - Miércoles, 11 de marzo de 2026

·1 hr 4 min·4 clips

Puerto Rico has no legal limits on police reading your private WhatsApp messages if you appear in a criminal suspect's contact list—even if you have no connection to the crime.

1. Pegaos en la Mañana, hosted by Mili Mendes on Radio Isla, covers Puerto Rico institutional news on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. 2. Host Mili Mendes interviews feminist leader Eda López, attorney Ernie Cabán (former independent special prosecutor), economist Dr. Ramón Barquín, and Jonathan Lebrón as political commentator. 3. The episode's central theme is governmental accountability: a gutted protective law, an escalating political war over a cabinet secretary's inspection center, and an unresolved constitutional question about digital privacy. 4. Feminist leader Eda López explains that House Bill 543, signed by the governor, increases prison sentences for violating sexual assault protection orders to three years but removes the provision allowing police to automatically arrest violators on the spot. 5. López traces the bill's history: introduced by Representative Che Pérez, it was assigned to Senate President Tomás Rivera Chatz's innovation committee, where language recognizing violation of protection orders as part of a violence pattern was stripped out. 6. The result, according to López, is a law that addresses punishment but not the immediate physical safety of victims who face their aggressors in violation of a court order. 7. Dr. Ramón Barquín of the Centro Unido de Detallistas (retailers) explains that while Puerto Rico will not face product shortages from the Strait of Hormuz conflict, consumers are already experiencing price increases—particularly in gasoline, which uses 20% of Middle East petroleum—and freight costs will translate to higher prices across all imported goods. 8. Barquín recommends the government temporarily suspend the 'crudita' (a petroleum excise tax established under Governor Rafael Hernández Colón), which could reduce gasoline prices by approximately $10 per barrel, as was done during hurricanes Irma and María. 9. Attorney Ernie Cabán explains a constitutional case arising from the 2020 Pueblo v. Nelvin Nieves criminal proceeding, where police obtained search warrants for all the suspect's private social media messages, including conversations with third parties unrelated to the investigation. 10. Cabán notes that federal courts have established Fourth Amendment protections for private social media communications, but Puerto Rico has no equivalent jurisprudence or statute, leaving a legal gap that allowed the conviction of Nieves partly on a message with an uninvolved minor. 11. The appellate court is now deciding whether constitutional protections for physical premises—requiring specificity in search warrants—should apply equally to private digital communications regardless of platform. 12. Housing Secretary Ciari Pérez Peña faces an ongoing criminal investigation: 68 vehicle inspection centers allegedly violated the law, an inspection center was listed in her name until December of the previous year, and sworn declarations from Arturo De Liz allege she attempted to change the center's ownership documentation while already serving as Secretary. 13. Senate President Tomás Rivera Chatz publicly called government contractor Antonio Zagardia (former Justice Secretary) a 'buscón' (political fixer) for publicly defending the Housing Secretary, then immediately demanded 48-hour contract disclosure from the Departments of Education, Housing, and Family, the Energy Authority, and the State Insurance Fund. 14. Zagardia denied being the Secretary's lawyer in a social media post, stating his media appearances were as a former Justice Secretary, not as legal counsel. 15. Jonathan Lebrón argues that the Department of Justice's decision to refer the Housing Secretary case to the FEI (independent special prosecutor) legally implies the existence of evidence of misconduct during her tenure as Secretary—not before—defeating both the Secretary's and the governor's stated defenses. 16. Point 28 of De Liz's sworn declaration reportedly states that in early 2025, already serving as Housing Secretary, Ciari Pérez Peña attempted to change the name on the inspection center's ownership documents at DITOB in Humacao. 17. Lebrón notes that the governor has repeatedly stated the events predate the Secretary's appointment—but if the FEI referral holds, the Department of Justice found something from within the appointment period. 18. The episode also previews an upcoming habeas corpus petition in the Antoni Ska case, as the defendant has been in preventive detention for over six months without trial beginning. 19. The episode moves between formal legal analysis and conversational banter; the hosts and guests use humor and interruption as part of an informal, fast-paced format. 20. Best suited for Puerto Rican listeners following island governance, constitutional law, and media accountability; not suitable for audiences unfamiliar with Puerto Rico's political parties or government structures.

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