The Facebook account of the late Cataño mayor Julio Alicea Vasallo, who died August 13 after a battle with myelofibrosis (bone marrow cancer), has reportedly been used in recent days to attack his widow, Bethzaida Rodríguez Torres, who is seeking to succeed him as mayor in a New Progressive Party (PNP) internal election set for Sunday. Posts on the account criticized Rodríguez Torres's proposal to raise public employees' salaries, with a fabricated message attributed to Alicea Vasallo saying "They didn't do it while they were there, they're even less likely to do it now."
Another post urged voters to "defeat them at the polls" and accused the current administration of "arrogance and mistreatment." Rodríguez Torres said in a written statement that the family lost control of the account in July, before her husband's death, after it was allegedly compromised; a complaint was filed with the Puerto Rico Police and the matter is under investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Investigations (CIC).
She said any posts on the account should not be attributed to her late husband or their family and that she would not speculate about who is behind it, out of respect for his memory and the ongoing investigation.