Top Puerto Rican officials fired over group chat
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced Saturday that his chief financial officer and secretary of state will step down following their participation in a private chat that used profanities to describe a former New York City government official and a federal control board overseeing the island’s finances.
The U.S. territory’s CFO, Christian Sobrino, who is also the governor’s representative to the federal control board, announced he was stepping down via Twitter on Saturday. Secretary of State Luis G. Rivera Marín also offered his resignation.
Rosselló later released a statement saying he would let go members of his administration who participated in the chat on a messaging system used by government officials. The release of the chat’s contents in local media had led to calls for the governor’s resignation.
Rosselló apologized for the comments late Thursday, saying he had been working 18-hour days and releasing tensions when he called former New York City Council speaker Melissa Mark-viverito the Spanish word for “whore” and in English told the oversight board to “go f—- yourself,” followed by a string of emojis with the middle finger raised.
Rosselló said that he would ask Ricardo Llerandi, who participated in the chat, to remain as Puerto Rico’s secretary of the interior and Anthony Maceira to stay as secretary of public affairs.
Many Puerto Ricans said they were ashamed of his language and of how this might affect the reputation of the U.S. territory, days after the arrests of former government officials, including the island’s education secretary.
Rosselló said late Thursday that he had not yet spoken to Mark-viverito, who posted a lengthy statement on Twitter that read in part, “A person who uses that language against a woman, whether a public figure or not, should not govern Puerto Rico.”
In the chat, Rosselló wrote that he was upset that Mark-viverito had criticized Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee, for supporting statehood for Puerto Rico. #