Puerto Rico protests were about more than leadership
The sound of banging pots and pans could be heard all over the streets of Old San Juan the night of July 24. Just before midnight and after an intense two-week period of protests and civil unrest, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló released a message announcing his resignation as governor of Puerto Rico.
With much fanfare the people of Puerto Rico celebrated the resignation of Gov. Rosselló. It seemed the collective outrage of the allegations of corruption and the leaked chat conversations of juvenile mockery of political opponents, the media and the people of Puerto Rico had taken their toll and paved the way for a new chapter in the history of Puerto Rico.
For the casual observer of Puerto Rican issues, these demonstrations and the eventual resignation demonstrated the power of the collective and pointed to the corruption and governmental ineptitude in dealing with Puerto Rico’s ongoing financial crisis and the response to Hurricane Maria.
For Puerto Ricans, it meant more. For years there was always the suspicion that an untouchable elite and powerful political class was benefiting at the expense of the people of Puerto Rico. The conversations in the leaked chat transcripts provided vivid evidence of it. It was a spit in the face for the generation of Puerto Ricans that in the past decade or so have lived through tough austerity measures resulting in economic and social turmoil, and massive movement of people away from the island. These revelations, alongside the media commentary of an institutional mafia by the secretary of the treasury, and the arrests of the education secretary and the executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration on corruption charges, were the tipping point.
Health, education and disaster recovery — issues that affected all Puerto Ricans — solidified the movement that led to the ousting of the governor. It seemed a new chapter had begun in Puerto Rico and that there was new hope for systematic change. The hopes continue to be shortlived.
On Aug. 2, Puerto Ricans were anxiously waiting to see if Gov. Rosselló was going to step down by 5 p.m. More important, they wanted to know who would become the next governor. The week leading up to it was mired with uncertainty. After all, this was the first time since the constitution of Puerto Rico was put into place in 1952 that Puerto Rico went through this process. The constitution states that in case of resignation, the secretary of state would become the governor. In this case, the secretary of state had resigned as a result of his involvement and commentary in the leaked group chat documents, thus putting the secretary of justice next in line for the job.
The secretary earlier in the week decided she did not want the job, leading Gov. Rosselló to nominate former Resident Commissioner and Secretary of Justice Pedro Pierluisi as secretary of state. Under a cloud of uncertainty, a highly political context, and at the 11th hour, Pierluisi was sworn in as governor of Puerto Rico. The saga continues as Puerto Ricans just heard about the unconstitutionality of the appointment of the new governor, and Wanda Vázquez was sworn in on Wednesday.
After all the demonstrations, protest, celebration and inspiration, it seems the process is only dealing to resignation. Resignation to the idea that the political class was going to listen to its people and wasn’t going to fall on deaf ears. Whether the demands of the people of Puerto Rico will be heard remains to be seen, but rest assured that the banging of pots and pans will continue if they are not.
The author, a sociology professor at UCF, is the director of the university’s Puerto Rico Research Hub.