2021 in Puerto Rico

Events in the year 2021 in Puerto Rico.

Incumbents

President: Donald Trump, Joe Biden Governor: Wanda Vázquez Garced, Pedro Pierluisi Resident Commissioner: Jenniffer González

Events

January to April

January 2 – Pedro Pierluisi, 61, is sworn in as the new governor.
January 5 – President Donald Trump announces $3.7 billion to rebuild water infrastructure. The grant covers 90% of the estimated costs of the water and wastewater improvement projects.
January 24 – Governor Pedro Pierluisi declares a state of emergency over gender violence. The island saw 62 cases of femicide in 2020 and violence against members of the LGBTQ community.
February 1 – President Joe Biden signs an order providing $6.2 billion to Puerto Rico for disaster mitigation.
February 2 – The Health Department announces that for the next 28 days the COVID-19 vaccine will be exclusively for adults 65 years of age and older.
February 23 – Governor Pedro Pierluisi rejects a proposed debt settlement because of concerns about the effect on the territory′s pension system.
February 24 – A box containing 31 doses of COVID-19 vaccine is found on a street in Morovis. The vaccines had spoiled. Puerto Rico has reported at least 91,834 cases and 2,007 deaths from the virus.
March 12 – San Juan′s San José Church prepares for reopening after being closed in 1996 for restoration and repairs. The second-oldest church on the island, which was built in 1532 near the ocean on top of a Taíno settlement at the highest point of Old San Juan, was originally a Dominican convent where Bartolomé de las Casas lived.
March 23 – The United States Department of Education releases $912 million in federal funds that had been held up by the Trump administration.
March – 27 schools reopen for in-person classes after being shut for year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
April 13 – Puerto Rican military veterans are onored on the first annual National Day of Borinqueneers.

Deaths

January 15 – Elizam Escobar, 72, art theorist, poet, and political activist, cancer.
February 16 – Ángel Mangual, 73, baseball player, World Series champion.
February 18 – Juan Pizarro, 84, baseball player,, cancer.
February 26 – Ferdinand Vega, 84, Olympic archer.
March 11 – Orlando Llenza, 90, military officer.
March 15 – Albert Rodriguez, 58, comedic actor.