Juan José Potous

[3][4][5] Upon the death of mayor Eduardo Armstrong, the governor of Puerto Rico named Juan José Potous, without waiting for the triplet recommendation from the Municipal Council.

To that effect, he published guidelines for issues as mundane as the painting of the exterior of homes and the construction and installation of yard fences.

[7] Ermelindo Salazar, Bartolo Mayol, and Francisco Maria Franceschi were the lead contributors to the new hospital wing.

[9] On 23 March 1896, Potous imposed a fine on the director of "La Libertad" newspaper for printing false claims regarding the war that Spain was waging in Cuba.

Given this state of affairs and with a preference of not having to deal with what he considered were unjust attacks on a public servant, Potous took advantage of an offer made to him to become director of the Mayagüez-Lares railroad, presented his resignation to the governor and left Ponce for his new job in western Puerto Rico.