Breaking: Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello has resigned after more than a week of protests calling for him to step down
Puerto Rico’s besieged governor resigned late Wednesday, following more than 10 days of unrelenting public demands for him to step down, including a protest on Monday that was one of the largest in the island’s history.
“I was furious; I am furious,” said Gilda G. Garcia, 75, one of hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans to join in recent protests in San Juan. Many Puerto Ricans had awakened Wednesday expecting the governor to step down within hours, following multiple news reports that his resignation was imminent. For years, Puerto Ricans have simmered in disgust with previous corruption scandals, tensions in the island’s relationship with the mainland and a reeling economy, said Jorell A. Melendez-Badillo, an assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at Dartmouth College.The economy, which was already crippled by years of fiscal mismanagement, tanked in 2006 when the Internal Revenue Service eliminated tax incentives for U.S. companies on the island.
On July 10, two former members of his Cabinet were taken into custody, accused of directing some $15.5 million in contracts to businesses with political connections. Three days later, Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism published 889 pages of leaked group chat messages in which Rossello and his aides discussed ways to manipulate news coverage, denigrated women and made homophobic comments about Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin.
From the highway, some protesters marched to La Fortaleza, where they danced and chanted until 11 p.m., when police fired tear gas into the crowd in an attempt to clear the area.
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