Puerto Rico deserves better than Rossello
For all his flaws, Ricardo Rossello will stand out for one amazing accomplishment. Puerto Rico’s governor has gotten Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to see eye-to-eye on something.
They agree that he’s irredeemable.
Judging by the protests in Puerto Rico, just about everybody on the island feels the same way.
Hundreds of thousands of people shut down a major highway Monday demanding Rossello resign. Cruise ships steered clear of the island, not wanting any part of the domestic drama.
The island’s largest newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, published a front-page editorial Monday that read, “Governor, it’s time to listen to the people. You must resign.”
Everybody seems to get the message except Rossello, who is either hopelessly deluded or stalling. A Sundaynight pledge to resign as head of the New Progressive Party and not seek re-election in 2020 may have been a diversion, but for Puerto Ricans, that half-measure served to only add gasoline to the dumpster fire.
It’s impossible to see how Rossello can remain in office. If he had any dignity, he would have resigned before the first protester hit the streets.
Of course, if he had any dignity he wouldn’t have led a long-running group chat that trafficked in vulgarity, homophobia, sexism and ridicule of victims of Hurricane Maria.
“Don’t we have some cadavers to feed to our crows?” one official wrote, with crows referring to critics of the administration.
Almost 890 pages of chats were leaked last week. The week before, the FBI arrested two former Cabinet officials for allegedly directing $15.5 million in federal contracts to political cronies.
Puerto Ricans are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore, and who could blame them?
The island has been demoralized by governmental corruption, an intractable debt crisis and the lingering effects of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
It took a year for electricity to be restored to some parts of the island. Thousands of homes are still in disrepair. Government services have been slashed due to budget bankruptcy.
The roots of Puerto Rico’s nightmare predate Rossello’s election in 2016. He has been good at pointing fingers, most notably at the Trump Administration for its lax response to the hurricane.
Rossello’s not wrong about that, but Trump wasn’t wrong when he tweeted last week that Rossello is an “incompetent person who I wouldn’t trust under any circumstance.”
Not to be out-tweeted, Ocasio-Cortez retweeted a video Sunday of scuba divers in Puerto Rico holding anti-Rossello signs in an underwater protest.
They had plenty of fresh ammo. According to a report last week in the online news site Noticel, the Rossello administration is rife with influence-peddling and there has been a widespread “pillage of public funds.”
Rossello says he has not done anything illegal. That may be true, but he has undoubtedly lost all credibility and the ability to govern.
Legislative leaders asked a panel to consider impeachment proceedings. Removing Rossello from office would be a drawn-out process, and the situation has gotten too volatile for that.
Police had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to control protesters last week. But Puerto Rico is not China. The government can’t roll out tanks, disconnect the internet and crush dissent, though Rossello would probably like to.
Most demonstrations have been peaceful, though that might change if Rossello tries to cling to power. If the governor leaves office, he or she is supposed to be replaced by the secretary of state.
That office is currently vacant, so the justice secretary, Wanda Vazquez, would assume the governor’s role until the next election.
At this point, just about anybody would be an improvement. If nothing else, Vazquez’s elevation would dial down the pressure that’s building in the streets.
Rossello’s resignation will hardly solve Puerto Rico’s problems. They are massive and complex and will take years to solve.
They will also require honest, efficient leadership and a governor interested in putting the needs of the people above himself or herself.
Rossello has proved manifestly unqualified for the job. The fact he doesn’t realize that proves how unqualified he truly is.
This editorial first appeared in the Orlando Sentinel.