Puerto Rican protest against corruption and the governor
Jul 22, 2019 2:40:57 GMT -7
pieter likes this
Post by Jaga on Jul 22, 2019 2:40:57 GMT -7
The protests and the unrest last for several days now, since the situation after the hurricane two years ago was not improved and the governor found himself in the corruption and information email scandal:
www.washingtonpost.com/national/puerto-rico-has-turned-on-its-governor-as-deep-unrest-reaches-the-surface/2019/07/21/c4e14b4c-ab4e-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html?utm_term=.c81c6c0cb452
Puerto Rico has turned on its governor as deep unrest reaches the surface
VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico has reached a turning point, with hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding that a generation of corruption, graft and class warfare here come to an end. Their target: Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who is facing the threat of impeachment as the streets fill with anger, frustration and impatience.
Puerto Ricans have come together as a singing, chanting, pot-banging union of voices in Old San Juan and far-flung pueblo plazas. They are arriving en masse by car, kayak, boat and horse day after day. Night after night, their numbers — volume, length, diversity and spontaneity — grow without any clear leader guiding the masses in their call for Rosselló to step down.
[Puerto Rico is in chaos, and some worry continued instability is a major threat]
On Monday, organizers say they expect more than 1 million residents — about a third of the U.S. territory’s population — to join an unprecedented national march, part of an ongoing demonstration against the governor and Puerto Rico’s entire political system. They plan to shut down San Juan’s main avenue, where businesses are planning to close for the day, and many downtown offices are giving their employees the day off.
The immediate unrest stems from the disclosure of an infamous 889 pages of leaked chat messages, in which Rosselló and his inner circle of administration officials, lobbyists and friends targeted opponents, journalists and female politicians with vulgar taunts, and, perhaps most egregiously, appeared to poke fun at those who suffered in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island two years ago.
#RickyRenuncia: Protests against Puerto Rico's governor rage on
Tensions mounted in Puerto Rico mid-July, as protesters called for embattled Gov. Ricardo Rosselló (D) to resign. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)
But the chat messages were just at the surface: The embarrassing exchanges unmasked a political class detached and indifferent to the suffering of the largely working-class and poverty-stricken population still rebuilding their lives after the hurricane. Parents lost jobs. Families were broken. Communities fractured. Homes were destroyed. Schools were shuttered. And thousands died. All while the elite allegedly squandered aid money and got in the way of recovery — actions that cut across the political spectrum and have left many saying that the current government no longer serves the people.
“What we are seeing now is trauma spilling into the streets,” said Marisol LeBrón, a University of Texas at Austin professor who has studied Puerto Rican activism.
The scandals in the governor’s mansion triggered an explosion of repressed rage not seen here since 1999, when errant bombs killed a man in Vieques — an island community to the east of Puerto Rico’s main territory. That incident led to an uprising that expelled the U.S. Navy from the island after six decades. As it was then, the fuse for the current upheaval was ignited long before the governor joked boorishly with his buddies.
“We are not here because of a chat,” said 26-year-old Lenulisy Rosado Estrada, a public health professional protesting outside the governor’s mansion in recent days. “If we succeed in deposing a governor, it would be the first time in our history. If that is possible, everything is possible.”
On Sunday evening, Rosselló announced on Facebook Live that he will not seek reelection in 2020 but will stay in office to do the work he was elected to do. He also has stepped down as leader of his party. He said he respects and welcomes the process the legislature began in exploring impeachment.
“The priority should be the people of Puerto Rico,” he said.
The local legislature is exploring impeachment. The government has lost legitimacy with voters, federal lawmakers and businesses, a loss of faith that could slow down investment and aid. An unelected federal oversight board is in a position to ask Congress for more power over the U.S. territory, a move that experts say could bring more unrest.
Rosselló’s office posted photos on social media of the governor meeting with members of his Cabinet over the weekend, as if business were back to normal. He also met with the heads of Puerto Rico’s agencies on Sunday, a meeting a spokeswoman said had previously been on his calendar.
Puerto Rico finds itself in another historic tempest — a reckoning of the island’s colonial-era struggle for self-determination and contempt for the government that protesters believe contributed to the horrors of the hurricane.
“It is the after-Maria effect. The reservoir of patience has been exhausted,” said Héctor Cordero-Guzmán, a professor at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. “People had to fend for themselves and were empowered. Organized social disdain and anger is something no government can resist for long.”
www.washingtonpost.com/national/puerto-rico-has-turned-on-its-governor-as-deep-unrest-reaches-the-surface/2019/07/21/c4e14b4c-ab4e-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html?utm_term=.c81c6c0cb452
Puerto Rico has turned on its governor as deep unrest reaches the surface
VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico has reached a turning point, with hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding that a generation of corruption, graft and class warfare here come to an end. Their target: Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who is facing the threat of impeachment as the streets fill with anger, frustration and impatience.
Puerto Ricans have come together as a singing, chanting, pot-banging union of voices in Old San Juan and far-flung pueblo plazas. They are arriving en masse by car, kayak, boat and horse day after day. Night after night, their numbers — volume, length, diversity and spontaneity — grow without any clear leader guiding the masses in their call for Rosselló to step down.
[Puerto Rico is in chaos, and some worry continued instability is a major threat]
On Monday, organizers say they expect more than 1 million residents — about a third of the U.S. territory’s population — to join an unprecedented national march, part of an ongoing demonstration against the governor and Puerto Rico’s entire political system. They plan to shut down San Juan’s main avenue, where businesses are planning to close for the day, and many downtown offices are giving their employees the day off.
The immediate unrest stems from the disclosure of an infamous 889 pages of leaked chat messages, in which Rosselló and his inner circle of administration officials, lobbyists and friends targeted opponents, journalists and female politicians with vulgar taunts, and, perhaps most egregiously, appeared to poke fun at those who suffered in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island two years ago.
#RickyRenuncia: Protests against Puerto Rico's governor rage on
Tensions mounted in Puerto Rico mid-July, as protesters called for embattled Gov. Ricardo Rosselló (D) to resign. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)
But the chat messages were just at the surface: The embarrassing exchanges unmasked a political class detached and indifferent to the suffering of the largely working-class and poverty-stricken population still rebuilding their lives after the hurricane. Parents lost jobs. Families were broken. Communities fractured. Homes were destroyed. Schools were shuttered. And thousands died. All while the elite allegedly squandered aid money and got in the way of recovery — actions that cut across the political spectrum and have left many saying that the current government no longer serves the people.
“What we are seeing now is trauma spilling into the streets,” said Marisol LeBrón, a University of Texas at Austin professor who has studied Puerto Rican activism.
The scandals in the governor’s mansion triggered an explosion of repressed rage not seen here since 1999, when errant bombs killed a man in Vieques — an island community to the east of Puerto Rico’s main territory. That incident led to an uprising that expelled the U.S. Navy from the island after six decades. As it was then, the fuse for the current upheaval was ignited long before the governor joked boorishly with his buddies.
“We are not here because of a chat,” said 26-year-old Lenulisy Rosado Estrada, a public health professional protesting outside the governor’s mansion in recent days. “If we succeed in deposing a governor, it would be the first time in our history. If that is possible, everything is possible.”
On Sunday evening, Rosselló announced on Facebook Live that he will not seek reelection in 2020 but will stay in office to do the work he was elected to do. He also has stepped down as leader of his party. He said he respects and welcomes the process the legislature began in exploring impeachment.
“The priority should be the people of Puerto Rico,” he said.
The local legislature is exploring impeachment. The government has lost legitimacy with voters, federal lawmakers and businesses, a loss of faith that could slow down investment and aid. An unelected federal oversight board is in a position to ask Congress for more power over the U.S. territory, a move that experts say could bring more unrest.
Rosselló’s office posted photos on social media of the governor meeting with members of his Cabinet over the weekend, as if business were back to normal. He also met with the heads of Puerto Rico’s agencies on Sunday, a meeting a spokeswoman said had previously been on his calendar.
Puerto Rico finds itself in another historic tempest — a reckoning of the island’s colonial-era struggle for self-determination and contempt for the government that protesters believe contributed to the horrors of the hurricane.
“It is the after-Maria effect. The reservoir of patience has been exhausted,” said Héctor Cordero-Guzmán, a professor at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. “People had to fend for themselves and were empowered. Organized social disdain and anger is something no government can resist for long.”
