Puerto Rican successor rejects job

AP OLITICAL crisis over leadership in the US Caribbean territor y of Puerto Rico took another turn on Sunday when the designated successor to embattled governor Ricardo Rossello said she didn’t want t he job.

Secretar y of State Wanda Vazquez, Rossello’s number t wo, was set under the constitution to ta ke over on August 2 as interim governor for the island which is gripped by a decade-long recession.

After t wo weeks of street protests triggered by comments that mocked gays, women and hurricane v ictims, Rossello confirmed in writing on Thursday that he would quit.

“I would like to underscore that I am not interested in t he post of Governor,” Vazquez said, in Spanish, on Twitter.

“I do hope t hat the Governor identifies and nominates a [new] candidate for the job of Secretar y of State before August 2. And I have made that clear to him,” she said.

While Puerto Ricans rejoiced at Rossello’s departure, many wanted completely new leadership for t he territor y, whose residents are US citizens.

They said t hose wit h close ties to Rossello are tainted, and a socia l media hashtag #WandaRenuncia ca lled for her to resign.

Painful last straw

Protest ra llies sta rted July 13, when t he Center for Investigative Journa lism released 889 pages of text chats on the encr y pted messaging app Telegram.

In t he texts, Rossello and 11 ot her male administration members made fun of women, gays, v ictims of Hurricane Maria in 2017, journa lists and ot her politicia ns.

Among those they made homophobic jokes about was San Juan native pop star Rick y Martin.

The messages were widely seen as the painf ul last straw for people fed up wit h years of economic stagnation, corruption, government mismanagement and a slow and sloppy recover y ef fort af ter Maria, which k illed nearly 3,000 people in September 2017.

Some went months without running water or elect ricit y af ter t he disaster.

Three days before t he release of those chats, prosecutors charged si x former government officia ls with embezzling $15 million in hurricane reconstruction money.

The island was already under bankruptcy protection and billions of dollars i n debt when the hurricane hit.

About 44 per cent of people in the former Spanish colony live in povert y.

As t he protests grew in strengt h, Rossello apologised and said he would not run for re-election next year but initia lly ref used to resig n.

But pressure against him mounted, and he received word from congress that he would be impeached. He finally gave in.