Puerto Ricans’ anger with governor erupts
Congress-created board controls island’s economy
Infuriated by years of recession, corruption and living under a bankrupt government, tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans protested in Old San Juan, demanding the ouster of Gov. Ricardo Rossello after leaked text messages showed him and his aides to be vindictive, sexist and profane.
Whether he stays or goes may matter little to the forces that will help determine the island’s economic fate.
After all, power over the U.S. territory isn’t wielded in the governor’s Fortaleza mansion alone. A significant portion resides five miles away in the offices of a Congress-created financial oversight board handed sweeping authority — and with a bankruptcy judge. The turmoil in the streets may only prolong the twoyear legal case that has left residents feeling powerless and that has stoked simmering resentment about quasi-colonial rule.
“Principally, we are here to protest Ricky,” said 21-year-old Carlos Crespo from the suburb of Bayamon, who turned out with thousands of others Wednesday night to demand change. “He doesn’t respect women, he made jokes about the people who died in Hurricane Maria. But we have been suffering for a long time.”
Since Sunday, protesters have raged against a government whose power has traditionally been wielded by small, well-connected factions. Many younger demonstrators have said they are fed up with the island’s two main political parties, which are split on the question of statehood but united in failure to improve a hurricane-ravaged commonwealth with a 45% poverty rate.
Tens of thousands took to the streets Wednesday night. The protests, largely peaceful at the outset, degenerated into a tear gassuffused melee, with small bands of masked protesters and police playing cat-andmouse through Old San Juan streets.
“We are tired of struggling with every single thing, our cuts in services, education being cut, our taxes being raised,” said Josarie Molina. “We think he’s a puppet.”
Police said at least five people were arrested during the protests, the latter part of which saw demonstrators setting fires and police firing tear gas that wafted into many homes.
Rossello on Thursday pledged to stay in office and restore Puerto Ricans’ faith in him. While most demonstrations were peaceful, any violence used by protesters will be address accordingly, the governor said.
“I recognize the challenge before me for recent controversies, but I firmly believe that it is possible to restore confidence and that we can, after this painful and sad process, achieve reconciliation,” Rossello said Thursday.
However, the decisions most central to Puerto Rico’s future are being made in law offices, decorous courtrooms and in Washington as creditors tangle with the oversight board over the massive public debt.
Congress created the board — known in Spanish as the Junta Fiscal — to supervise Puerto Rico’s budgets, multiyear fiscal plans and address its debt crisis. It manages the commonwealth’s bankruptcy process and negotiates with bond holders.
Puerto Rico is seeking to restructure about $27 billion of obligations tied to the central government and its main utility, the Electric Power Authority, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017.