Monday, July 22, 2019

Hundreds Of Thousands Of Puerto Ricans Continue Protests Against Gov. Rosselló

The protests against Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo A. Rosselló have now last more than a week with an estimated 500,000 residents of the U.S. territory coming together to demand Rosselló's resignation.
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith interviews Gov. Ricardo Rosselló

The protests against Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo A. Rosselló have now lasted for more than a week with an estimated 500,000 residents of the U.S. territory coming together to demand Rosselló's resignation.

From the New York Times:

Hundreds of thousands of people swept through the capital of Puerto Rico on Monday, shutting down a major highway and paralyzing much of the city in the latest in a series of furious protests over the island’s embattled governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló.

The protest was one of the largest ever seen on the island, as Puerto Ricans streamed into the capital on buses — and some on planes from the mainland — in a spontaneous eruption of fury over the years of recession, mismanagement, natural disaster and corruption that have fueled a recent exodus.

Ignoring sporadic deluges, demonstrators launched impromptu line dances, paraded on horseback, banged pots and carried banners along several miles of highway, many shouting: “Ricky, renuncia, el pueblo te repudia!” — Ricky, resign, the people reject you.

Mr. Rosselló said on Sunday that he would step down from the leadership of his party and pledged not to run for re-election in 2020. But the governor, a 40-year-old former biomedical scientist and businessman, is growing increasingly isolated as a series of influential political leaders, some from his own party, have called on him to accede to public demands for an immediate resignation.

After years of mounting frustrations due to austerity measures and a slow moving recovery after Hurricane Maria, news of hundreds of mocking homophobic/sexist text messages between Rosselló and his advisors, appearing as a kind of 'bro' culture, appears to have been the tipping point.

International pop star Ricky Martin, who was a target of homophobic and sexist comments in the leaked text messages, has been helping to lead the protests for days now.



Fox News anchor Shepard Smith spoke with the governor today and asked him who in Puerto Rico still supports him. The governor was pretty much at a loss to come up with a name.

This is brutal.








Posted by Randy Slovacek at 5:26 PM
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