The protesters’ immediate demand is for governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign, but the mobilizations have also highlighted the widespread rejection of Puerto Rico’s status as a colony of the US
July 17, 2019
The people of Puerto Rico have had enough. Over the past couple of days, the Boriquen people on the island and across the diaspora have been mobilizing en masse to demand the resignation of governor Ricardo Rosselló, and strengthening calls for the decolonization of the island. Today, in San Juan, organizations have called for a massive march from the Capitol building to Fortaleza, the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico, where mobilizations have been taking place for the past several nights in spite of brutal police repression.
The mobilizations came in response to the arrests of 6 people, including two former officials in Rosselló’s administration, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on corruption charges, as well as the leak of a group chat with Rosselló and his political confidants by the Puerto Rican-based Center for Investigative Journalism.
Nearly 100,000 in Puerto Rico Protest Demanding Gov. Rosselló Resign over Lewd Texts & Corruption
July 18, 2019
Close to 100,000 Puerto Ricans took to the streets Wednesday chanting “Ricky Renuncia!” as they called for the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló, following the leak by Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism of hundreds of misogynistic, homophobic and violent text messages between Rosselló and members of his Cabinet. On Monday, Denis Márquez of the Puerto Rican Independence Party introduced formal complaints against the governor and called for his impeachment. All of this comes as former Education Secretary Julia Keleher and five others have been arrested on charges of steering federal money to unqualified, politically connected contractors. We speak with Melissa Mark-Viverito, interim president of the Latino Victory Project, and, from San Juan, journalist Juan Carlos Dávila, Democracy Now!’s correspondent in Puerto Rico.
