Embattled Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigns amid public outcry

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced his resignation Wednesday days after demonstrators at the island’s largest protest in recent history called for his ouster over a scandal involving leaked private chats, as well as corruption investigations and arrests.

His resignation, effective Aug. 2, came late Wednesday night on a recorded video published on Facebook. In the message, he touted what he considered accomplishments of his tenure, saying he fought corruption and made strides for different communities.

“My only North Star has been the well-being of my island,” he said.

Crowds in the streets, which for almost two weeks had been calling for the governor to step down, immediately erupted in joyous chants, cheering “Puerto Rico! Puerto Rico!”

“Ricky, te botamos!” (“Ricky, we threw you out!”) the jubilant crowd chanted after the governor’s announcement.

Continue Reading

‘Chatgate’ scandal could doom Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló

Nearly two years ago, Hurricane María exposed the raw dysfunction of Puerto Rico, collapsing long-neglected infrastructure and leaving several thousand dead on Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s watch.

Last week, two of his top former officials were arrested by the FBI on corruption charges.

But the scandal that is threatening to buckle the boyish 40-year-old governor centers on a profanity-laced and, at times, misogynistic online chat with nine other male members of his administration in which some of the U.S. territory’s most powerful men act like a bunch of teenagers. The leak of at least 889 pages of the private chat has sunk Rosselló into the deepest crisis of his career.

Continue Reading