The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
in the Caribbean Sea, an unincorporated territory of the US, has not been
having a good time of it for over a decade now, thanks to a long-running
economic recession. And while the island territory may have gotten some new
added tourist arrivals in 2017 after seeing a beautiful music video for Puerto
Rican talents Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit song “Despacito,” it was
negated in September that same year by Hurricane Maria. The slow recovery
compounded by the recession has spurred local protests against the Commonwealth
government, which escalated after people caught unflattering descriptions of them
from text messages by Governor Ricardo Rossello.
And as CNN tells it, the Governor of Puerto Rico has decided that
discretion is the better part of valor and announced his resignation.
Specifically, Ricardo Rossello will be stepping down from office on August 2 in
the afternoon, according to a Facebook video he posted just this Wednesday,
July 24. “The demands have been overwhelming and I’ve received them with
highest degree of humility," says Rossello, referring to the protests
throughout the territory, especially in Old San Juan, that have been going on
for over a week by now.
Puerto Ricans were already upset
at the glacial recovery of their homes from the devastation of Hurricane Maria,
allegedly due to corruption of funds for rebuilding and such. When some of Gov.
Rossello’s allies were charged of corrupt practices, the Puerto Rico Center for
Investigative Journalism began picking up chat conversations between the
Governor and his associates, filled with homophobia and misogyny-laced insults against
political opponents and celebrities, plus black humor on the hurricane’s victims.
Citizens went out to the streets in force to calls of “Ricky Renuncia!” (Ricky
Resign!). When Rossello did announce his resignation, the cry jubilantly
changed to “Ricky Renuncio” (Ricky Resigned).
While Ricardo Rossello’s stepping
down might just spare him from impeachment procedures being prepared by
legislators. And while Justice Secretary Wanda Vasquez is expected to take his
place as Governor, she also faces an increasingly disillusioned citizenry that
has lost faith in her and Rosello’s New Progressive Party (advocating US
statehood) and the Popular Democrats (maintaining the Commonwealth status).
Meanwhile, other officials whom Rossello has communicated his “despicable”
texts have started resigning amid the fallout, with the outgoing Governor’s chief
of staff Ricardo Llerandi citing threats leveled against his family.
Rossello is the son of Pedro
Rossello, the seventh Governor of Puerto Rico, who is also cited as having put
the Commonwealth into debt by heavy infrastructure investment that led to a
bankruptcy filing, much as his son has done in recent times due to the
recession and Hurricane Maria.
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