January 6 – A magnitude 5.8Mw earthquake causes landslides, power outages, and the destruction of Punta Ventana, a natural stone arch along the southern coast. No casualties were reported.[1]
January 7 – A 6.4Mw2020 Guayanilla earthquake rocks southwest Puerto Rico. One man died and 8 were injured. Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced declares a state of emergency and activates the national guard.[2]
January 18 – Residents of Ponce broke into a warehouse and found bottled water, cots, baby food, and other unused emergency supplies stored since Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Governor Wanda Vázquez fired Carlos Acevedo, the director of the island's emergency management agency.[3]
January 19 – Glorimar Andújar and Fernando Gil-Enseñat, Secretaries of Family Services Housing respectively, are fired in the warehouse scandal. Nino Correa is appointed chief of operations for the Emergency Management Office.[4]
February 26 – José Irizarry, a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who worked in Cartagena, Colombia, and his wife, are extradited from Puerto Rico to Miami to face charges of money laundering and related crimes.[6]
March 4 – A referendum on possible statehood is approved for the November 3 election, although there is no money for publicity. The single question is, "Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted into the Union as a state?", with only two options: "yes" or "no".[7]
March 23 – Governor Wanda Vázquez announces a $787 million financial package to alleviate the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The package is bigger than any announced so far by U.S. states. It includes moratoriums on loans and bonuses for health service workers and police officers.[8]
March 25 – The island announces the first death of a resident due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico, a 48-year-old female teacher from Rincon. There have been 60 infected cases and two deaths in the territory, both to tourists.[9]
April 15
A federal judge rules that Puerto Rico cannot fund $300 million of pensions and health cost for municipal employees, but delays the ruling for three weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.[10]
Fifty-one deaths and 970 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Puerto Rico, which is less than the numbers in U.S. states such as Utah, which has 3.2 million people, 18 deaths and more than 2,300 confirmed cases. However, PR has tested only 9,200 people, whereas UT has tested 45,700. The Puerto Rican government touts its low numbers as a sign of success, but critics worry about limited data and the economic effects of the lockdown that began on March 15 and will extend to May 3.[11]
April 18 – The government's handling of coronavirus contingency is called into question as the island's youngest victim, a 29-year-old man who had twice been denied testing for the virus before he died in a hospital emergency room, and a refrigerated trailer with food for needy people was accidentally disconnected, resulting in the loss of chicken, vegetables, fruits, and other items.[12]
May 6 – Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) introduces legislation to assure that Latinos enrolled in Medicare Advantage in the United States and Puerto Rico do not lose coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.[16]
May 7 – A judge agrees to consider a lawsuit filed by a group of mothers and nonprofits who accuse the territory's government of not fulfilling its responsibility to feed public school children during the coronavirus lockdown. The hearing is set for May 15.[17]
July 11 – Dozens of protesters, some wearing traditional Taino clothing, march demand that the U.S. government remove statues of Spanish explorers including those of Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de León. An estimated 60,000 Tainos lived in Puerto Rico when the explorers landed on the island in 1493, but they were soon forced into labor and succumbed to infectious disease outbreaks.[18]
July 12 – In an interview in The New York Times, former secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke reports that President Trump's first reaction to Hurricane Maria in 2017 was to sell Puerto Rico.[19]
July 22 – As tourists ignore health safety precautions such as mask wearing and social distancing rules, Governor Vázquez pushed the date for reopening back to August 15. Bars, gyms, marinas, theaters, and casinos are closed down again until July 31.[20]
July 24 – During a hearing before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform, FEMA administrator Pete Gaynor told Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) said he could not explain why Vieques does not have a functioning hospital, nor why 20,000 people still live under blue tarps three years after Hurricane Maria. 27,000 families have applied for R3 money from HUD, but no homes have been rebuilt yet.[21]
August 3 – José Ortiz, CEO of the AEE, Puerto Rico's state-owned power utility, announces his resignation as thousands of customers remain without power after Tropical Storm Isaias.[22]
September 9 – The Pittsburgh Pirates take #21 out of retirement for a game against the Chicago White Sox at PNC Park on September 9, 2020, which is celebrated by Major League Baseball (MLB) as "Roberto Clemente Day". Clemente, a Puerto Rico native, died in a plane crash in December 1972 while en route to Nicaragua to deliver disaster relief to victims of an earthquake.[28]
September 14 – A bipartisan group of Congressmen led by Darren Soto (D-FL) introduce a bill to recognize the results of the November 3 referendum on statehood.[29]
December 10 – The Water and Sewer Authority and for Puerto Rico gets refinancing for $1.4 billion worth of bonds, which should result in a $13 million annual savings for the utility.[32]
