Borinquen Made2026-06-30 · Economy and politics
NotiCel: the DDEC ignored the 70/30 tourism rule and sheltered decrees behind Ley 60 confidentiality
On June 30, 2026, NotiCel publishes, in the voice of attorney Lisoannette González, that the Department of Economic Development and Commerce ignored the 70/30 tourism-and-residential rule of Ley 74-2010 when granting decrees. The outlet places the pattern in regulatory documents, public files, and cases already granted. It is not a recount by this magazine.
According to NotiCel, Ley 60-2019 guarantees confidentiality over the information an applicant submits to the DDEC, and the agency relies on that clause not to publish third-party decrees. The same text notes a suit by the Interamericana Clinic over 59 tourism decrees. At Esencia, NotiCel reproduces 498 million dollars in credits, 520 hotel units, and 1,132 residences, around 31% tourism. Those figures are the outlet's, not an inventory of this page.
NotiCel attributes to clients of Reichard y Escalera some 77 million dollars. Estanis Barrenechea Martínez, Roberto Ruiz Vargas of Three Rule Capital, and Omar Barroso Rosario appear as named spokespeople in that coverage. This note does not turn those voices into a criminal finding. The tax expenditure, the text says, is money that does not enter the schools: that equation is NotiCel's, not a school budget this page recounts.
On April 24, El Nuevo Día covered audits of Ley 60 decrees at another URL. On July 31, NotiCel covered the OGPe's approval of Esencia in another note. Those are distinct threads. Here June 30 leaves the ignored 70/30, the confidentiality, and the figures the outlet puts on the table. This is not original reporting.
Thomas Rivera Schatz cited the DDEC the same June 30 via Politank at another URL. That is another note. Here NotiCel uncovers the 70/30 pattern and the confidentiality. They are not fused. Anyone looking for the 59 decrees or the 498 million has to go to the named source.
Source: NotiCel. https://noticel.com/noticias/politica/20260630/escandalo-en-el-ddec-destapa-los-trucos-en-la-otorgacion-de-decretos/