This archive report was first published on 22 July 2019.
On July 19, 2019, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló addressed the island's residents, vowing to stay in office despite mounting protests and calls for his resignation.
However, other high-profile members of his party, including Representative Jenniffer González-Colón, have already called for the governor to step down. In an open letter, Ms. González-Colón argued that a governor who had lost credibility could not remain in office while so much federal money for Medicaid and for the recovery from Hurricane Maria was at stake in Washington.
Ms. González-Colón wrote, “The events of the past two weeks have worsened, even more so over the last six days, paralyzing economic activity and government activity, portraying an anarchic Puerto Rico to the rest of the world. This is not sustainable.”
Several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have also said that Mr. Rosselló must go, joining the chorus of calls for his resignation from outside Puerto Rico. These include Representative Nydia M. Velázquez and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent and has become an icon for young progressives.
On the same day, the Puerto Rican Bar Association released a report outlining the legal grounds for lawmakers to pursue impeachment. El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper, published an editorial accusing legislative leaders of slow-walking impeachment and letting the political crisis continue.
