Puestos pa' la mañana - Viernes, 13 de febrero de 2026

·1 hr 31 min·7 clips

A 2020 lease contract shows Housing Secretary Ciari Pérez Peña signed as the tenant of the inspection center she claimed to have left in 2017.

1. Puestos pa' la Mañana broadcasts live on February 13, 2026 from Volkswagen de la Kennedy in San Juan, with hosts Jonathan Lebrón (journalist) and Luis Herrero (political analyst). 2. Jonathan Lebrón is an attorney with experience in environmental law and LLC registration; Luis Herrero describes himself as a former soccer referee turned political commentator. 3. The episode's core task is to fact-check Puerto Rico housing secretary Ciari Pérez Peña's written denial using public documents from OCP (the office of permit management) and the DITOP Transportation Department press release. 4. The Transportation Department (DITOP) issued a press release confirming a random audit of 412 inspection transactions at the Yabucoa center for June–August 2023, finding irregular certificates issued using unauthorized reproduction equipment and not recorded in the official database. 5. DITOP confirmed the center was closed administratively from September 7, 2023 to July 24, 2024 — a nine-month closure — with a documented payment of $5,000, while denying any record of a $25,000 fine mentioned in the whistleblower's sworn declaration. 6. The hosts' contact, journalist Aníbal, called the DITOP press release 'one of the most pusillanimous press releases' in Puerto Rican political history for confirming fraud without naming the secretary and for using vague phrasing like 'payment' instead of 'fine.' 7. Senator Juan Óscar Morales appeared on Directo y Sin Filtro and confirmed knowing the anonymous whistleblower personally — a career civil servant who worked in Morales's own PNP electoral operations in San Juan, whom the hosts describe as 'puercamente PNP.' 8. Morales stated the whistleblower has been stripped of all duties since July 2025, left with only a desk, a chair, and no computer, and publicly warned the Transportation Secretary that if this is retaliation, 'we are going to have problems.' 9. Pérez Peña released her own press statement denying involvement in the inspection center since 2017, calling the anonymous declaration 'from the shadows of anonymity' and labeling any contrary claims 'false and defamatory.' 10. The hosts immediately identify a timeline contradiction: Pérez Peña signs a lease contract in September 2020 as the named tenant of the inspection center's physical location, directly contradicting her claim of non-involvement since 2017. 11. The OCP (Office of Permit Management) accepted this 2020 lease contract — with Pérez Peña identified as tenant — as the basis for issuing the operating permit to the newly formed Yabucoa Auto Services LLC in May 2025. 12. The hosts argue this means the permit office was effectively misled, because the submitted lease identified Pérez Peña as the operator, yet the permit was issued to the new LLC as if it were a standard transfer. 13. A 2024 email from Treasury Department inspector Heidi Burgos Feo to Ciari Pérez Peña about the center's Marbete portal access had already been published by journalist Bárbara Figueroa and YouTuber Jay Fonseca before this episode, providing a second documentary contradiction to the 2017 claim. 14. The hosts explain the DBA (Doing Business As) structure: since the inspection center operated under Pérez Peña's name as a sole proprietor, all income flowed through her personal tax return, meaning her financial disclosures to the Senate confirmation committee should have included up to $400,000 in annual revenue from the center. 15. Sources tell the hosts that there were closed-door meetings on February 12 at the DITOP secretary's office, the DISCO (a separate transportation authority), and the Department of Housing — described as attended only by party affiliates — potentially related to coordinating responses to the unfolding scandal. 16. The hosts tease additional information about a meeting where the $5,000 payment was arranged and who was present, promising to publish it on their Patreon (patreon.com/puestos) and on Sunday. 17. The broadcast is live from Volkswagen de la Kennedy as a Valentine's Day segment; Wallace Bravo, the dealership's parts and services director, appears as a guest to discuss the service department. 18. The episode closes with a brief discussion of Bad Bunny's concerts in Buenos Aires and Argentine reluctance to identify as Latino, referencing a Gustavo Cerati video and debating whether Soda Estéreo or Los Fabulosos Cadillacs is the greater Argentine band. 19. The episode is structured as live investigative journalism with real-time document review on screen for video viewers, interspersed with sponsor segments and listener comments. 20. Listeners following the Pérez Peña scandal or Puerto Rican government accountability journalism will find this essential; those seeking standalone context will need the prior day's episode as background.

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