Agriculture Dept., COR3 lead governor’s 6th round of appointments

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón made her sixth round of appointments Sunday, naming Josué Rivera as the new secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

The appointment completes the constitutional Cabinet that will support the governor during this four-year term. The other appointments include: Eduardo Soria, an attorney and certified public accountant, as the executive director of the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience, commonly known as COR3; Dr. Regino Colón as the administrator of the Medical Services Administration; Enid Ortiz Rodríguez as the executive director of the State Insurance Fund Corp.; Wilma Ortiz Rivera as the head of the Families and Children Administration under the Family Department; Judge María del Mar Mateu Meléndez as head of the Child Support Administration; and Amy Vega Ojeda, an attorney, as the administrator of the Administration for the Care and Comprehensive Development of Children.

Rivera, the governor’s pick to head the Agriculture Department, is a public servant and federal policy expert. He served as director of the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration starting at the end of January 2021. Previously, he served as the state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for Puerto Rico, from April 2018 to January 2021.