Puerto Rico protest against leader may be island record.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Ricans filled the streets in a massive planned protest, paralyzing a major highway here in an islandwide demonstration to demand that their governor must go.
Their embattled leader has refused to resign after more than a week of growing protests in the U.S. territory’s capital city. Ricardo Rosselló, 40, a Democrat and member of the island’s statehood party, said Sunday that he would not seek reelection in 2020 and would step down from his role as head of the party.
But the announcement did nothing to soothe Puerto Ricans incensed by leaked group chat messages in which Rosselló and his closest collaborators denigrated their opponents, insulted women and gays, made light of Hurricane Maria’s dead and revealed potentially criminal behavior by his administration.
Monday’s demonstration could represent the largest mobilization in the history of Puerto Rico, a colony the United States acquired during the SpanishAmerican War of 1898. The island has been a self-governing territory since 1952, following the adoption of its constitution a few years after residents elected their first native-born governor.
The masses assembled in San Juan early Monday, with tens of thousands flooding the streets ahead of a planned 9 a.m. start time, while photos and videos of the march inundated social media.
Music blasted as protesters expressed themselves through song, with some dancing in the roads that had surrendered to the wave of demonstrators.
Veronica Caro sat inside the grounds of Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which has hosted Major League Baseball games, waiting for the march to begin. She sat clutching a large Puerto Rico flag and was incredulous that the island’s leader had disrespected the people so deeply.
“We voted for him because he promised to bring a new face to Puerto Rican politics and change things,” said Caro, 31. “But he turned out to be more of the same.”
A slogan calling for the governor’s resignation, “Ricky Renuncia,” was everywhere: in hashtags and on hats, on signs and sidewalks, and on the lips of protesters who hoped their show of force would succeed in driving him from power.
Leaders of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives are exploring the possibility of impeachment, but it is not clear when or whether proceedings will take place. Rosselló said he respects the process and welcomes the inquiry. The secretary of state is next in line to lead the government, but Rosselló has yet to fill the vacancy left by Luis Rivera Marín, who resigned this month because of his connection with the content leaked from the Telegram messaging app.
In an interview with CNN, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz declared that “it is impeachment time” for Rosselló.
The mayor had been a target in the chat group, and she did not hold back in her criticism of the governor.
“The crimes committed by the governor are so horrendous that it cannot wait,” she said.