A major demonstration is expected Monday, perhaps even larger than those held during the past week. Scores of politicians have called for Rossello to step down.
Alexa Padilla stood near the Puerto Rico governor’s official residence, a historic 16th century structure known as La Fortaleza, on Saturday checking her phone for any word on whether Ricardo Rossello would resign.“It feels like torture,” said the 17-year-old, who traveled an hour from Arecibo with her father and friend to attend a rally in San Juan, the capital, to protest Rossello and corruption.
“We’re standing up together,” said Damaris Olivo, 48, who took a quick break from her job tidying the city’s streets to watch the protesters dancing. She was upset, too, by recent news that two of the island’s former top officials were arrested July 10 and stand accused of directing lucrative contracts worth about $15.5 million to politically connected businesses. It’s so hard for common people to get by on the island, she said, noting that she makes about $2,000 a month and her husband has a good job. Still they often live paycheck to paycheck.
Hurricane Maria wiped out huge chunks of the island’s power grid for months and escalated tensions between the commonwealth and the mainland. In those first desperate days, as morgues filled with bodies and hospitals without power turned away patients, many Puerto Ricans grew frustrated with the response time of the federal aid.
Not long after Rossello cut short his European vacation because of the arrests in the corruption scandal, Puerto Rico’s Center for“The chat was just the tip of the iceberg,” said Nicole Alvira, a lawyer, who attended Saturday’s protest with her two young children.
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