Defying Protests, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló of Puerto Rico Refuses to Resign

Frances Robles and Patricia Mazzei

July 22, 2019 1:10 AM

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Facing an angry public uprising against his administration, Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico announced on Sunday evening that he would not seek reelection in 2020, and would step down as president of his political party.

But Rosselló did not resign the governorship, as tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans have demanded.

“I am aware of the dissatisfaction and discomfort you have,” Rosselló said in a brief address on Facebook Live. “I have heard you, and I hear you today. I have made mistakes, and I have apologized.”

“All of my time must be dedicated to the responsibilities that I took on as governor,” he added.

Far from quelling the furor that has led to more than a week of mass protests in San Juan, the governor’s announcement seemed to have the opposite effect: People quickly gathered on the street outside the governor’s official residence in the Old San Juan neighborhood and said they were even more determined than ever to oust him.

The demonstrators banged on drums, blew whistles and screamed through blaring loudspeakers. Drivers honked their car horns as people of all ages waved flags through the streets.

The announcement came the day before what is expected to be a major protest march Monday morning along a major highway in San Juan. The demonstration is expected to shut down not just the highway and a nearby shopping mall, but wide areas of the capital.

“He thinks this is going to calm the people, but what it will do instead is energize even more people to hit that march tomorrow,” said Meiling Villa, 57, who drove three hours from Mayagüez to be in San Juan for the march Monday.

Rosselló’s administration, bogged down by a debt crisis and the slow recovery from Hurricane Maria, has recently been plagued by a corruption scandal and by revelations of crude and offensive messages shared in a private group chat by the governor and his inner circle. Publication of those leaked messages last weekend touched off protests that have unified people of various political parties and those who normally ignore politics.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Frances Robles and Patricia Mazzei