Puerto Ricoan Saying for Meeting Again

Puerto Ricans in Protests Say They've Had Enough

Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

• July 18, 2019

SAN JUAN, P.R. — In the crushing days afterwards Hurricane Maria, Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló declared in no uncertain terms, "Puerto Rico se levanta." Puerto Rico rises.

The call was meant as a rallying cry for recovery from the brutal hurricane that struck the island in 2017, a slogan of hope among calamity.

A yr and a half afterward, Puerto Rico is ascent in a different way — a pop uprising that has filled the cobblestone streets of colonial San Juan for nearly a week with tens of thousands of people and a unifying message: The governor must go.

Ostensibly, the demonstrators were protesting the arrogant and crass exchanges past the governor and his inner circumvolve in a leaked group chat and the corruption of meridian politicians unveiled past a series of high-profile arrests. But the forceful display amounted to a rejection of decades of scandals and mismanagement involving affluent and disconnected leaders who accept fourth dimension and over again benefited at the expense of suffering Puerto Ricans.

The outcry triggered by the chat, which included a string of contemptuous, sexist and homophobic conversations amid Mr. Rosselló and his close assembly, has brought the United States democracy to a crossroads, with far-reaching implications. For now, Mr. Rosselló is however governor. Only the persistent question about how Puerto Rico might be governed among and so many difficulties remains.

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Puerto Rico'due south Political Protests Explained in iii Numbers

Protesters take been filling the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, calling for Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló to resign. Here are the reasons fueling their acrimony.

[shouting] Puerto Rico is steeped in a political crisis. And there are three numbers at the core of the anarchy: And so what exercise they all mean? This number comes from this Harvard study. It'southward how many people may take died subsequently Hurricane Maria — the disaster decimated the island in 2017. The recovery process was slow, and the isle's governor, Ricardo Rosselló, came under scrutiny. President Trump repeatedly blamed and mocked his government for the situation. "And the governor — they got to spend the coin wisely. They don't know how to spend the money and they're not spending it wisely." And Rosselló's response was widely viewed equally meek. Information technology took Rosselló's government near a year to admit that thousands of people had died in Maria's aftermath. "I concord. And hindsight, again, is 20/20. This could have been done differently." And people are nonetheless incensed nearly it. But there are other reasons for their anger. Which leads us to the next number: fifteen.v 1000000. But before we get there, some background. Puerto Rico has been in a recession for more than a decade. Rosselló's government has been enforcing austerity measures to scrap abroad at Puerto Rico's billions of dollars in debt. But while high-ranking officials were closing hundreds of public schools, they were too funneling taxpayer money into private pockets. Rosselló'southward government has been bogged by corruption scandals. Merely final calendar week, the sometime education secretary and the sometime executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration were arrested. The charges: unlawfully steering $15.5 million in federal contracts to politically continued consultants. Investigators found that government officials and employees used personal email and encrypted chats on the messaging app Telegram to bear government concern. That leads us to our last number: 889 — it's the number of pages of private Telegram messages between Rosselló and some of his cabinet members and meridian aides that were recently leaked. In the letters, the governor and his colleagues mocked friends and foes, often using misogynist and crude language. For many Puerto Ricans, this was the concluding harbinger. Celebrities from the isle, such as the vocalist Ricky Martin and the rapper Bad Bunny, are also demanding political change. But Rosselló refuses to footstep down. After thousands of deaths, millions of dollars misused and hundreds of pages of letters, adding insult to injury, protesters are not backing down.

Protesters accept been filling the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, calling for Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló to resign. Hither are the reasons fueling their acrimony. Credit Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Some of Mr. Rosselló's ambitious goals, including the push for statehood, volition nearly certainly be shelved at present. And his rapidly diminishing power has handed political fuel to President Trump, who on Thursday again derided the isle's leaders as not competent enough to manage federal disaster relief funds.

"A lot of bad things are happening in Puerto Rico," Mr. Trump said in a pair of Twitter posts. "I know the people of Puerto Rico well, and they are great. Just much of their leadership is corrupt, & robbing the U.S. Regime bullheaded!"

Mr. Trump claims to be vindicated fifty-fifty though some of Puerto Rico's woes are not entirely of the island's own making. Big Wall Street investors benefited for years from the Puerto Rican government's willingness to continue taking on more debt. The island's bankruptcy restructuring has cost jobs and, at one signal, threatened public employees' pensions and traditional Christmas bonuses.

Silvia Álvarez Curbelo, a historian who retired last yr from the University of Puerto Rico, said the protests against the governor are unprecedented. Nobody took to the streets during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, when both the local and federal governments were widely blamed for a botched response, considering they were too decorated surviving, she said. Simply the accumulation of grievances has led to a spontaneous explosion of discontent.

"This has been a procedure of trauma," Ms. Álvarez Curbelo said. "And and then now, all of that trauma has come out, all of that pain."

Epitome

Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Since Puerto Rico'southward Center for Investigative Journalism published 889 pages of the leaked Telegram conversation on Sabbatum, Mr. Rosselló has found himself increasingly isolated in office. The snowballing scandal has, of a sudden and unexpectedly, united factions from across Puerto Rican gild, revealing deep dissatisfaction with how the isle is governed.

The conversation besides mocked an overweight human being, referred to a female politician as a "whore" and joked nigh the cadavers that had accumulated after Hurricane Maria in the understaffed morgue. Referring to Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan, who had signaled plans to run against Mr. Rosselló in 2020, the governor wrote, "She's off her meds."

Luis Fortuño, a former governor who, like Mr. Rosselló, is a fellow member of the New Progressive Party, said he did not see how Mr. Rosselló could continue in office. "The governor'southward moral authorisation and credibility to lead are completely gone," he said. "I only hope and pray that the governor will call up of the Puerto Rican people offset, and put them above his ain political interests." On Thursday, he called on Mr. Rosselló to resign.

A protestation Wednesday nighttime saw tens of thousands of demonstrators again crowding the streets from the Capitol to the cobblestone streets of San Juan. On a platform with loudspeakers, the rapper Residente offered a microphone to the artist Ricky Martin. The trap musician Bad Bunny waved a flag. The singer iLe looked over the impressive crowd and declared, "It was about damn time to wake upward."

Then the oversupply — the schoolteachers and the marriage leaders, the lifelong political activists and the showtime-timers, the students and their parents — set off on foot to the governor's mansion, where more than protesters awaited. As during Monday'south protests, the night concluded with chaotic confrontations with the law. Officers in riot gear used tear gas and rubber bullets. The young demonstrators left a Puerto Rican flag — symbolically painted in blackness, white and gray instead of ruby-red, white and blue — displayed on the basis facing the governor'southward mansion.

Epitome

Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Mr. Rosselló reiterated on Thursday that he would not pace down, despite being "fully aware" of the protests.

"I recognize the enormous challenge that I accept before me due to the contempo controversies," he said in a statement, "but I firmly believe that we tin restore trust and, after this painful and shameful process, achieve reconciliation."

Mr. Rosselló's tenure has been defined by the hurricane that striking less than nine months later his inauguration. Many people did not have electricity for months, and the storm is estimated to have left several thousand people dead — a grim reality that the governor's assistants was slow to acknowledge.

Immediately after the storm, Mr. Rosselló's administration caused outrage when information technology awarded a $300 one thousand thousand contract, to help restore power, to Whitefish Energy, a Montana visitor with no major disaster experience. After the public furor, the governor was forced to cancel the agreement. Mr. Rosselló and the electric company'due south leaders were criticized for not having standard mutual aid agreements ready, so that outside utilities could be on hand to help quickly. In the end, it took about a year to get power fully restored.

Mr. Rosselló has also overseen thousands of layoffs, cuts to public services, school closures and tuition hikes as a result of a 12-twelvemonth economical recession and Puerto Rico'south debt crisis. Not all of those measures were Mr. Rosselló's doing: The island's finances are managed past an unpopular and unelected oversight board created by Congress.

Listen to 'The Daily': The Political Crunch in Puerto Rico

A leaked group conversation involving the governor gear up off protests demanding his resignation. The outcry has brought the island to a crossroads.

transcript

transcript

Mind to 'The Daily': The Political Crunch in Puerto Rico

Hosted by Michael Barbaro; produced past Adizah Eghan and Theo Balcomb, with aid from Rachel Quester, Jazmín Aguilera and Jessica Cheung; and edited by Lisa Tobin

A leaked group chat involving the governor fix off protests enervating his resignation. The outcry has brought the isle to a crossroads.

michael barbaro

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is "The Daily."

Today: Hundreds of leaked text messages revealed the governor of Puerto Rico mocking his own citizens. For Puerto Ricans, it was the last harbinger.

It'south Friday, July nineteen.

[phone ringing]

michael barbaro

Howdy, Pati.

patricia mazzei

Hullo, Michael Barbaro.

michael barbaro

Howdy, hello. How are yous?

patricia mazzei

I've been meliorate. How are you?

michael barbaro

I'm O.K. Why have you lot been improve? What'southward the affair?

patricia mazzei

Well, I'm just tired. It'due south been really long nights. But that's O.K.

michael barbaro

Y'all've been staying up late covering the protests.

patricia mazzei

Yes, sir. There's a meme in Puerto Rico of people saying, O.K., I'm going to bed, and a friend telling them, but what if the governor resigns? And the person lying in bed with their optics broad open. They don't want to miss that moment, and so —

michael barbaro

Right, correct, right. The 1 moment you doze off is the moment information technology all happens.

patricia mazzei

That'south what nosotros alive in fear of.

michael barbaro

I reached Pati Mazzei, a national contributor for The Times, in San Juan. Pati, for about listeners, I suspect the story of Puerto Rico hits the suspension button in October of 2017. Hurricane Maria hits. The island is thrown into darkness and into anarchy. And President Trump's response is seen by many every bit insensitive and insufficient.

patricia mazzei

Yep. But the story came back in April of this twelvemonth when members of Congress were considering a disaster help bill.

archived recording

Nature'due south forces have battered the United States in the past half yr — storm winds, floodwaters, and mortiferous wildfire. To those natural disasters, now add together a homo-fabricated 1.

patricia mazzei

Not just for Puerto Rico, simply for a bunch of states on the mainland that had suffered various natural disasters.

archived recording

A dispute betwixt President Trump and Democrats over hurricane relief for Puerto Rico is threatening disaster relief funding for California'southward wildfire victims.

patricia mazzei

The president wanted to hold up the bill just because he did not desire to send money to Puerto Rico. And then these were billions of dollars that would have gone to Florida, Texas, states in the Midwest that were suddenly at this impasse because the president said, I'm not sending more to Puerto Rico.

archived recording

President Trump accused Puerto Rico's leaders of misspending money they had already received.

patricia mazzei

He said the government tin can't do anything correct, that the place is a mess, and zilch works there.

archived recording

Here's part of the tweet: The pols are grossly incompetent, spend the money heedlessly or corruptly, and only take from the UsA.

patricia mazzei

And therefore, he did not trust Puerto Rican leaders to manage new funds well.

archived recording

The all-time thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico, the tweet says, is President Donald J. Trump.

michael barbaro

And what'due south the response in Puerto Rico this time?

patricia mazzei

And so Puerto Ricans still don't like being called out past the president. They find that offensive. But that doesn't mean that some of them, at least, don't agree with some of the substance of his criticism, which is that the leaders on the isle haven't always been very practiced fiscal stewards of public funds. Puerto Rico has suffered financial troubles for years and has had abuse scandals for decades. Then people on the island were wary that once over again, some of this might come up with billions of dollars in recovery aid flowing into the island.

michael barbaro

So Puerto Ricans don't entirely disagree with the president that perhaps the isle tin can't be trusted with the money.

patricia mazzei

No. And that's what fabricated some of their response nuanced. You can exist mad that the president — the only time he talks virtually you lot is to say bad things and still think he'south got a point in that our leaders haven't ever done well past usa. In fact, Puerto Rico is finer bankrupt. They're in a 12-year recession, and they have a debt crisis. Their leaders borrowed until they couldn't anymore, and the island ran out of money.

michael barbaro

So Pati, what happens next?

archived recording

[SPEAKING Spanish]

patricia mazzei

So three weeks ago, Puerto Rico'south Treasury secretary says in an explosive radio interview that he has gone to federal authorities to report this institutional mafia, he calls it, within the regime that is trying to extort him. In a thing of hours, the governor asks the Treasury secretary for his resignation, saying he tin can't trust him because the secretarial assistant didn't go to the governor to tell him what he had found. He went straight to the feds.

archived recording

[SPEAKING Spanish]

michael barbaro

He'due south firing the Treasury secretary for reporting an declared extortion attempt to the U.s.a. regime.

patricia mazzei

As you can imagine, that doesn't sit well with some of the governor'southward critics, and also with some of the secretarial assistant's family members.

archived recording

[SPEAKING Spanish]

patricia mazzei

His son takes to social media to criticize the governor, then the son gets investigated by police. And this starts turning into a real drama.

archived recording

Six people, including 2 old Puerto Rican officials, were arrested for allegedly diverting millions in federal funds to unqualified, politically connected contractors yesterday.

patricia mazzei

In the middle of all this, concluding calendar week, the U.Southward. attorney's office in Puerto Rico announces six high-contour arrests, including of the old education secretarial assistant and of the sometime executive director of the island's health insurance administration bureau.

archived recording i

The alleged scam involves $15.5 million in federal funding allocated since 2017.

archived recording 2

The feds say they were defrauding the federal authorities.

archived recording 3

Here's what is really so disappointing. Julia Keleher, she was impressive. She was driven. She seemed similar someone who could exercise some good things. Information technology'southward such a slap in the face for an island that needs so much to see her go down if this is true.

archived recording 4

And what I was thinking, likewise, is that Puerto Rico, P.R., does not need any bad P.R.

patricia mazzei

And to superlative information technology all off, the governor is on holiday in Europe. He calls off his holiday, leaves his married woman and children on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, and flies back to get back to the island as quickly as possible. And then while he'south flying back, at that place's a new wrinkle.

Someone leaks bits and pieces of a grouping chat on the messaging app Telegram between the governor and eleven of his closest aides. And in this leak are offensive and profane comments that they brand near some of their political opponents. In that location is a snapshot that the governor posts of a tweet by the former speaker of the New York City Council, Melissa Marker-Viverito, who is originally from Puerto Rico, where she's criticizing Tom Perez, the president of the Democratic National Commission. And the governor's response is [SPEAKING Castilian], which, in English, means, our people demand to get out and defend Tom and go after this whore.

archived recording (ricardo rosselló)

And then, well, first of all, good afternoon. Give thanks yous all for beingness hither.

patricia mazzei

So by the time the governor lands in San Juan —

archived recording (ricardo rosselló)

Briefly, I wanted to talk to the press.

patricia mazzei

The entire press corps has assembled and is ready to pounce.

archived recording

What strategy are you using to continue the operations of government and the economy, for the economic system to continue?

archived recording (ricardo rosselló)

So good question.

archived recording

There's been some calls for your resignation from your political position. Do you accept a decision or an reply to that call?

archived recording (ricardo rosselló)

And so I'yard moving forward with all of my elected positions.

archived recording

You lot were the leader of this chat room that conspired to discredit people you didn't similar. Why would you practice that?

archived recording (ricardo rosselló)

Well, once more, I've already mentioned I am — I am not proud of what I did. Those were merely comments, but they were hurtful comments. It's why I apologize for what I've done.

michael barbaro

And how does that explanation go over?

patricia mazzei

Non particularly well. The people who were insulted in the chat say that this is unacceptable behavior by their leaders. And Puerto Ricans in full general, who take been seeing these bits and pieces come out, are sort of just waiting for the next 1 to drop. And then it's not that there's another fleck that drops.

archived recording

Governor Ricardo Rosselló has been under fire since virtually 900 pages of a individual grouping chat were leaked and published this weekend past the Eye for —

patricia mazzei

Information technology's 889 pages published on Sabbatum forenoon by Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Reporting detailing two months of this chat in full.

archived recording

The leaked conversation room conversations betwixt the governor and 11 others are laced with profane, homophobic and sexist comments.

michael barbaro

And what is in this second batch of messages?

patricia mazzei

The second batch of messages has more insults where non only are they targeting critics of the governor and his assistants, but also their allies — for example, a swain who is overweight who met with the governor. And in that location's a picture in the chat of the 2 shaking easily and the governor making a crack near [SPEAKING Castilian]. No, I'one thousand not thinner. It'southward an optical illusion. And then saying, [SPEAKING SPANISH]. He generates his own gravity field. I mean, things that are just really —

michael barbaro

Cruel.

patricia mazzei

Inappropriate. Yes. But in addition to that, in that location is the bigger picture, which is that there are people in this chat who are no longer members of the regime, including a lobbyist who has his own business interests. And he is getting fed inside data from his buddies with the governor being aware of it.

michael barbaro

And so weeks after President Trump calls the government of Puerto Rico decadent, there are all these indictments that basically say he's right. And so in that location are these leaks that bandage the Puerto Rican government as completely insensitive to everyday Puerto Ricans.

patricia mazzei

Yeah. If you lot idea, cynically, that these people were more concerned about how they look than what they practise, if yous idea that maybe they didn't actually respect people, even if they pretended outwardly that they did, and if y'all were concerned that there was — if not real corruption, then the perception of corruption, that information technology could exist happening, that people were actually cozy with their friends, with lobbyists and business concern leaders in their inner circle, then what the conversation did was confirm your worst fears and evidence that y'all were right. And so people started taking to the streets spontaneously. And they're very fed up. And so that's when I get on a plane and come, considering nosotros're starting to wonder if this is going to force the governor to resign. Is this going to be a moment that changes things?

michael barbaro

We'll be correct dorsum.

[music]

michael barbaro

And then Pati, walk me through the last few days in San Juan.

patricia mazzei

The streets of Sometime San Juan are narrow and colonial. They're cobblestone streets lined with shops that are painted in colorful red and pinkish and green and purple. And they have been deserted during the day and packed at night — not considering people are going to bars or there's a agglomeration of tourists here, but because the protesters come up downwards.

archived recording

[CHANTING]

patricia mazzei

They come up with flags in mitt, and they're wearing black and white T-shirts with political letters. And they are only standing for hours, sometimes starting in the heart of the 24-hour interval under the scorching sun, in front — or as close as they can go far front end — to the governor's mansion, La Fortaleza, which means the fortress. And —

archived recording

[CHANTING]

patricia mazzei

— they start chanting. And this is the Caribbean, then the percussion is great.

archived recording

[CHANTING]

patricia mazzei

They detect these great rhymes.

archived recording

[CHANTING]

patricia mazzei

With the governor's nickname, Ricky. And and so they just continue saying, ¡Ricky, renuncia!" Resign, resign.

archived recording

[CHANTING]

patricia mazzei

People were not just mad near these chats. Some of the signs were well-nigh that. Some of the chants were most that. But one of the things that was really stunning was the number of protest signs that just listed the number of people who have been estimated could have died under Hurricane Maria. Then some signs just said 4,645, the upper-end estimate. These people have suffered not just through hurricanes and a power outage that lasted a yr, merely also with major economic hardships, and layoffs, and schoolhouse closures, and people leaving the isle en masse to move to the mainland. And information technology all simply was pent upwardly, and it exploded all at once.

archived recording

[SPEAKING Spanish]

patricia mazzei

And then the celebrities joined the people.

archived recording

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

patricia mazzei

And on Wednesday nighttime, there is Ricky Martin and the rapper Residente, and the trap musician Bad Bunny, and the vocalizer iLe.

archived recording

[SINGING]

patricia mazzei

And they're standing on the platform of this truck as the sun is setting, and they're in forepart of the ocean, the Capitol behind them. And iLe looks out over this crowd between the Capitol and the palm copse and the bounding main, and she says, it was almost damn time to wake upward.

archived recording

[SINGING]

michael barbaro

And so it'due south clear that a lot of this frustration is landing at the doorstep of the governor. Merely my sense is that because of the complicated relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, that the governor is non all that powerful, right?

patricia mazzei

It's interesting that you mentioned that, Michael, considering one of the other chants that nosotros heard was ¡Ricky, renuncia, y llévate a la junta!

archived recording

[SPEAKING SPANISH]

patricia mazzei

Ricky, resign, and take the board with you. And that refers to this federal oversight board that Congress created to handle Puerto Rico'southward finances after it essentially went broke. And that is another large target of these protests, because the board's office is to tell Puerto Rico what information technology cannot spend. And that involves layoffs, and school closures, and university tuition hikes, and possibly targeting public pensions. And then the board, which is unelected and comes from Washington, has made Puerto Ricans experience powerless. To a lot of them, it'south just another example of how they have been colonized, get-go past Espana and so by the United states of america. And it reminds them that they can elect their governor, they tin elect some of their leaders, but they cannot elect the president. They are not a state. They are not a country. And a lot of this is out of their hands.

michael barbaro

So the mismanagement past Puerto Rico's ain leadership leads the federal regime, a government that Puerto Ricans don't think really sees them every bit equal to the mainland, to step in. And information technology'south sort of this fell bicycle where the worse Puerto Rico's leadership behaves, the more the federal government intervenes, and also has sort of proven correct in this argument that Puerto Rico doesn't deserve or can't quite properly handle this federal funding.

patricia mazzei

Right. And in the middle, the people of Puerto Rico keep suffering.

archived recording

[SHOUTING]

michael barbaro

Pati, what happens at present?

patricia mazzei

Well, the people on the streets want the governor to resign, but he says that he's not going to become. There is talk in the legislature that they might impeach him, but they have non decided if they're going to yet. Even if he goes, then there is a whole new gear up of questions. Can his replacement, in that example, govern? Many Puerto Ricans would like more autonomy to govern themselves, but who tin they trust when the federal government is not inclined to give them more autonomy? The island government has not proven to be all that effective. How can the side by side person lead an island under these circumstances, nether this sort of federal oversight, without whatever money, recovering from a hurricane? And basically, the biggest question is, is this isle governable? Is this place a identify that tin exist effectively run? And I don't know the answer to that.

archived recording

[CHANTING]

michael barbaro

Pati, thank you very much.

patricia mazzei

Give thanks yous, Michael.

archived recording

[CHANTING]

michael barbaro

We'll be correct back.

Here's what else yous need to know today. On Th, the U.Southward. Navy shot down an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz not far from where Iran shot down a U.S. drone several weeks ago. The Trump assistants said that before it was struck, the unmanned Iranian drone had ignored multiple warnings that it was straying shut to an American ship, the U.s.S. Boxer. The attack is expected to inflame tensions betwixt the 2 countries. And —

archived recording

When your supporters last nighttime were chanting "ship her dorsum," why didn't yous cease them? Why didn't you lot ask them to terminate saying that?

archived recording (donald trump)

Well, number one, I think I did. I started speaking very quickly.

michael barbaro

President Trump on Thursday tried to distance himself from supporters who chanted "ship her back" at a rally the nighttime before when he mentioned Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a reference to his own tweet about Omar and three of her Autonomous colleagues.

archived recording (donald trump)

I disagree with it, by the manner. Merely it was quite a chant. And I felt a little bit desperately most it.

michael barbaro

Only contrary to the president's claim that he tried to quickly end the chant, video shows he listened on for xiii seconds equally the oversupply repeatedly yelled.

archived recording

Send her back! Send her back! Send her dorsum! Send her back! Send her back!

michael barbaro

On Th afternoon, a large crowd greeted Congresswoman Omar as she returned to Minnesota.

archived recording

Welcome habitation, Ilhan! Welcome abode, Ilhan! Welcome home, Ilhan! Welcome dwelling house, Ilhan! Welcome habitation, Ilhan!

michael barbaro

"The Daily" is made past Theo Balcomb, Andy Mills, Lisa Tobin, Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Annie Brown, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Larissa Anderson, Wendy Dorr, Chris Forest, Jessica Cheung, Alexandra Leigh Young, Jonathan Wolfe, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, Adizah Eghan, Kelly Prime number, Julia Longoria, Sindhu Gnanasambandan and Jazmín Aguilera. Our theme music is past Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Mikayla Bouchard, Julia Simon, Stella Tan and William Rashbaum. That's it for "The Daily." I'm Michael Barbaro. Meet y'all on Monday.

Mr. Rosselló has tried at times to button back against "la junta," as the board is known, only his term has coincided with its oversight, and Puerto Ricans have fused their anger toward Mr. Rosselló with their anger toward the board. One of the most pop protest chants is, "¡Ricky, renuncia, y llévate a la junta!" — Ricky, resign, and have the board with you.

Mr. Rosselló and the 11 other men on the leaked conversation have been ordered to turn over their cellphones to Puerto Rico's Section of Justice. The governor has maintained that there was no illegal activity taking place in the chat.

The political crisis has prompted Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to consider imposing more than oversight restrictions on $12 billion in federal Medicaid funds for the island. Tens of millions more accept been set aside to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria.

To avoid the unrest, prowl ships have skipped docking in San Juan, worrying small business owners who depend on tourists to survive. On Wednesday, Erstwhile San Juan felt eerily silent, its storefronts covered by tempest shutters in advance of the angry crowds.

Business leaders take expressed concern about scaring off investors long term, specially if truckers make good on their threat to bring together the protest by slowing deliveries of gasoline and goods.

Image

Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

But Puerto Ricans of all stripes said they could no longer tolerate mocking, profanity and corruption, real or perceived, by the leaders who are supposed to be fighting on their behalf in Washington and San Juan. Half-dozen people with ties to the regime, including a quondam Chiffonier secretarial assistant and bureau managing director, were arrested in the federal corruption investigation concluding calendar week.

At Midweek night'due south protests, some said it was the devastation of the hurricane, and the government's poor response, that helped open up people's eyes.

"This is the upside of Maria," said Coralie Córdoba, 55. "This would non have happened, I don't think, if we wouldn't have had Maria. Information technology's been too many years of putting up and holding back."

Vanessa Ruiz, a 34-yr-onetime teacher, said she was attending her first protestation ever. Puerto Rico has had troubled governments "for as long equally I remember, since I was a fiddling girl," she said.

"I have never seen or heard of a transparent government," she said. "I oasis't lived under a authorities that hasn't been corrupt. This is why we came."

Image

Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Puerto Rico has a long history of embarrassing scandals. Mr. Rossello's father, Pedro J. Rosselló, who was governor from 1993 through 2000, saw some of his closest aides, including an executive banana and the former secretary of education, convicted of kickback schemes. The stain on the 2-time governor's legacy added to his defeat when he tried to return to the governor's seat in 2004.

He lost to Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, who was later indicted in connection with an elaborate scheme to pay dorsum campaign debt. A gauge dismissed many of the charges, and a jury acquitted him of the rest. In 2015, a federal indictment laid out a pattern of cronyism surrounding former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, whose brother was defendant of accepting gifts from a top Popular Party fund-raiser.

Mr. Acevedo said this week that members of his family joined this week's protests. His girl was tear gassed when law clashed with demonstrators. "I had never seen anything like this," he said.

Lawmakers have asked a panel of jurists to outcome a recommendation on possible impeachment. Members of the governor'southward New Progressive Party have spent much of the week on the phone, trying to figure out what comes side by side.

"There is deep dissatisfaction, and there is grading of positions: Some people want him to resign the party presidency, some people want him to resign re-election aspirations and some are asking that he resign the position he currently holds," said Kenneth McClintock, a former Puerto Rican secretary of state and senator.

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Credit... Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

Mayor Mayita Meléndez of Ponce, who is a fellow member of Mr. Rosselló'south party, left a meeting with the governor disgusted over his attempts to move on from the scandal.

"I expected to see a sensible man, a repentant man," she said. She has since called on him to resign.

When he began campaigning, Mr. Rosselló, who holds a doctorate in biomedical technology from the University of Michigan but had no prior political experience, was viewed as an extension of his male parent. This week, his male parent called legislators on the isle to plead his son's case to stay in role.

Carlos Romero Barceló, who served equally governor from 1977 to 1985 and was one of the founders of the governor'south party 50 years agone, said he supported Mr. Rosselló's candidacy just was surprised that once the governor took part, the governor's chief of staff never returned whatever of Mr. Romero Barceló'south telephone calls.

"What has happened is the product of the airs and lack of experience," Mr. Romero Barceló said.

Nonetheless, Mr. Romero Barceló said it was "premature" to inquire for the governor's resignation. Political party leaders were busy trying to find a skilful candidate to be secretarial assistant of country, so that someone could exist in place for a smooth transition should Mr. Rosselló resign. The governor technically has the right to fill up that position, but he needs the support of the head of the Puerto Rico Senate and Firm of Representatives to get a person approved.

With his political life hanging in the balance, Mr. Rosselló turned earlier this week to the most mundane of authorities agencies to try to defend the work being done by his administration: The Department of Motor Vehicles, he touted, would before long provide more than services online.

Effectually the aforementioned time, on the other side of San Juan, several women walked into the local D.G.Five. office and marched upwardly to the framed portrait of the governor, with his adolescent, matinee-idol skillful looks.

In an historic period-former act of disobedience against ability, they unceremoniously yanked Mr. Rosselló'due south moving picture off the wall.

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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/puerto-rico-rossello-governor-protests.html

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