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Half a Million Puerto Ricans Take Over San Juan Streets to Call for Gov. Rosselló to Resign

HeadlineJul 23, 2019

Half a million people poured onto the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monday, shutting down traffic and major sections of the city in the largest demonstration yet since the text message scandal involving Governor Ricardo Rosselló broke just over a week and a half ago. A massive leak of messages showed Governor Rosselló exchanging sexist, homophobic and violent text messages with government officials, calling former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito a “whore,” mocking victims of Hurricane Maria and joking about shooting San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. Rosselló said Sunday he will not seek re-election next year and was resigning as head of the ruling New Progressive Party, but he is refusing to step down as governor. This is a protester speaking from Puerto Rico yesterday.

Ernesto Marin: “I decided to come to be with the people, because we are tired. It has been disrespectful to the people. The government and his Cabinet has made fun of the gay community, women, handicapped people. The corruption, we are sick of the corruption. The people are tired. It has been years and years, and the people have awoken.”

We’ll have the latest from Puerto Rico after headlines with Carla Minet, executive director of Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism, which published the 900 pages of Rosselló’s text messages, triggering the popular uprising.

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