Puerto Rico is a part of the US territory. Anyone born there has US citizenship and owns a US passport. Sadly, this territory has recently been run by an unfit governor, and the country has realized so. Puerto Rico is actually billions of dollars deep in debt. When Ricardo Rosselló was elected as governor, he promised to push for Puerto Rico to become a state. But he made lots of promises that have not been kept.

The political turmoil that is currently taking place came at an already awful time for the governor. His lack of efforts and use of resources to repair damages after Hurricane Maria was largely criticized.

The recent protests are rooted in the outrage following leaked text messages between Rosselló and his team. These text messages include sexist comments towards New York City Councilor Melissa Mark-Viverito. Puerto Rico’s former chief fiscal officer Christian Sobrino Vega let his frustration with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz run wild and eventually said he wished to shoot her. In response to this, Rosselló actually said “You’d be doing me a favor.” Aside from sexist comments, the chat also had homophobic comments regarding Puerto Rican artist Ricky Martin and his sexuality. Lastly, participants in these conversations even went as far to ridicule Hurricane Maria victims. Hurricane Maria took nearly 3000 lives, yet the government found some way to make a joke out of this. The country has noticed what is wrong, and has taken to the streets to speak out. They are demanding his immediate resignation.

One of the largest demonstrations that many citizens can remember took place on Monday, July 22. The text messages that were leaked are seen as a “tipping point” for Puerto Rican citizens. The general public was already angry at the way Rosselló was governing, and many protests had already taken place. But the messages unmasked the real governor, and Puerto Rico had enough.

The protests have received plenty media coverage. There are even two hashtags on Twitter that are now trending. These are #ParoNacional , which translates to ‘National Strike’, and #RickyRenuncia , which is ‘Ricky resign’. Singer Ricky Martin (the same one ridiculed in the messages) has stood with his country, calling for others to join the protests. Bad Bunny, another well-known artist, has gone as far to cancel his European tour to join the protests in his country.

Ricardo Rosselló has responded saying that he will not stand for re-election, but he refuses to resign. He has said he knows he made mistakes and has apologized. But it is evident that this is far from satisfactory for the people of Puerto Rico.

There is no denying that the power is in the streets.

UPDATE: Ricardo Rosselló has resigned from his position as governor, effective Friday, August 2nd.

Sources:

Rousseau, Morgan. “These Are the Ricardo Rossello Texts at the Center of Puerto Rico’s Outrage.” Metro US, Metrous, 22 July 2019, http://www.metro.us/news/the-big-stories/ricardo-rossello-leaked-texts.

Ortiz, Luis Valentin. “Top Puerto Rico Officials Resign in Group Chat Scandal That…” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 14 July 2019, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-puertorico/top-puerto-rico-officials-resign-in-group-chat-scandal-that-ensnares-governor-idUSKCN1U9010.

Sanchez, Ray. “Why the Protests in Puerto Rico Have Been a Long Time Coming.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 July 2019, edition.cnn.com/2019/07/23/us/puerto-rico-rossello-protests-why-its-different/index.html?no-st=1563901417.