SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Jenniffer González Colón was sworn in Thursday as Puerto Rico’s new governor during a normally ebullient ceremony held amid widespread anger over a blackout that hit the U.S. territory days ago.
González, a Republican who backs President-elect Donald Trump and whose pro-statehood New Progressive Party secured a historic third consecutive term after she won the Nov. 5 election, has pledged to stabilize the Caribbean island’s crumbling power grid.
“There are many challenges facing our island,” she said in her first public address as governor as she acknowledged the blackout in a speech to a crowd gathered in front of the seaside Capitol. “That is precisely what moves me to address that first challenge with a sense of urgency.”
She pledged to improve Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, hospitals and schools, adding that she intends to boost bilingual education.
“I’m going to fulfill my promises to you,” she said. “I am not going to govern only for those who voted for me. I am going to be the governor of all Puerto Ricans.”
Before the start of a ceremony to celebrate her swearing in, González attended Mass surrounded by family and supporters.
“What better than to come first to thank God and to ask God to give me the wisdom, the fortitude and the tools to fulfill everything I promised the people of Puerto Rico,” she told reporters.
A protester with her face covered interrupted the Mass at Parroquia Santa Teresita in San Juan. She yelled, “Jenniffer, we came for you! Puerto is without power.”
Meanwhile, a small group of protesters gathered at the Capitol before González’s arrival. They were especially rankled that a well-known, outspoken activist elected to Puerto Rico’s Senate for the first time was not allowed inside the Capitol, with the elections commission noting he had not yet been officially certified.
Protesting the ceremony was Yara Humarán Martínez, an aquatic physical therapist whose 83-year-old mother remains without power.
“I don’t have any hope that she will change anything,” she said of the new governor.
González has promised to appoint an energy “czar” to review potential contractual breaches while another operator is found to possibly replace Luma Energy, a private company that oversees the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico.
However, no contract can be canceled without prior approval from Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau and a federal control board that oversees the island’s finances.
Outages were still being reported on Thursday as crews tried to stabilize the grid following the blackout that hit early Tuesday, leaving 1.3 million customers in the dark as Puerto Ricans prepared for New Year’s Eve.
While electricity had been restored to 99% of the utility’s 1.47 million total customers, more than 600,000 were temporarily left without power on New Year’s Day when part of the system collapsed again, according to Luma.
“The stability of the system is fragile,” Luma said late Wednesday as it warned of more outages on Thursday given an ongoing lack of generation. “We know and understand how frustrating it is for our clients to be without service for long periods of time.”
Backup generators were pu