Wanda Vázquez Garced

Wanda Emilia Vázquez Garced (born July 9, 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as governor of Puerto Rico from 2019 to 2021. Vázquez Garced previously served as the 19th Secretary of Justice from 2017 to 2019. A member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) and Republican Party of Puerto Rico, she is the second female governor to serve, after Sila María Calderón.

Vázquez Garced was constitutionally appointed to the governorship following the resignation of Ricardo Roselló, and the judicial annulation of the assumption of the office by Pedro Pierluisi after the Telegramgate Scandal. She failed to secure the PNP gubernatorial nomination for the 2020 general elections, losing to Pedro Pierluisi, who was elected governor.

The ascension to the governorship by Vázquez Garced was at the epicenter of a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in the case of Senado de Puerto Rico v. Hon. Pedro R. Pierluisi. The highest court in Puerto Rico derogated a clause added by Puerto Rico Law #7 of 2005 (Law No. 7-2005) to the Constitution of Puerto Rico. This annulled Pedro Pierluisi's assumption of the office, and reinforced the 1952 Constitution's provisions for succession of government.

On August 4, 2022, Vázquez Garced was arrested by the FBI, on charges of corruption, over a bribery case connected to her 2020 gubernatorial campaign; she had allegedly offered to appoint a financial regulator of a banker's choosing in exchange for campaign donations. On August 27, 2025, Vázquez Garced pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation, becoming the first former Governor of Puerto Rico in history to plead guilty to a crime. She was expected to be sentenced on October 15, 2025. In 2026, alongside co-conspirators Vázquez Garced was pardoned by President Donald Trump after a relative of the conspirators had made a $2.5 million dollar donation to a political action committee devoted to Trump.