Mud Thrown at Puerto Rican in Democratic Race for Vice Chair

A desperate effort is being made to stop former Puerto Rico Secretary of the Governorship Alvaro Cifuentes from being elected as a vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). National Democratic Party leaders have been sent a copy of a Puerto Rico newspaper article about a controversial territorial government contract with the baseless suggestion that Cifuentes is linked to the contract. The same tactic was used on Cifuentes when he was elected Chair of the DNC’s Hispanic Caucus four years ago. Nothing ever came of the suggestion. Leaders of Puerto Rico’s "commonwealth" party do not want Cifuentes to be elected because he favors statehood for the territory, although he has not promoted that status as Hispanic Caucus Chair and he has included Puerto Rico commonwealthers in Caucus activities. Additionally, Cifuentes has been disengaged from Puerto Rican politics, focusing instead on the national Democratic Party for sometime. He moved to the Washington area almost a decade ago. [more]