Puerto Rico's Public Housing Administration head, Juan Rosario Hernández, denied a pattern of drug traffickers forcing elderly residents out of public housing to set up drug operations, despite two reported incidents at the Ernesto Ramos Antonini and Monte Hatillo public housing complexes in San Juan. He said such removals are isolated cases, occurring mostly in vacant apartments, across the island's 328 housing complexes.
Rosario said he was unaware of a Monte Hatillo incident last Thursday reported by Lt. David Díaz, director of FURA's (Fuerzas Unidas de Rápida Acción) Intelligence Division, in which agents intervened in two apartments and seized drugs and weapons, including an AK-47 rifle. He explained Public Housing has an interagency agreement with police and federal agencies to investigate criminal use of apartments, recovering about 44 apartments last year and 190 so far in 2026.
Cases surface through tips, sometimes from removed residents themselves. He confirmed only one case of an elderly woman, about 80, removed from Ernesto Ramos Antonini; she was contacted and relocated to a safe place. He said displaced residents don't lose housing rights or benefits but are relocated for safety, potentially even to the United States.