Puerto Rico Governor resigns
[Headlines from DRJ]
Governor resignation sparks power struggle in Puerto Rico:
The resignation of Puerto Rico’s governor after mass protests has sparked a succession battle, and the winner could be a Washington corporate lawyer not directly linked to his administration, which has been dogged by corruption scandals.
Governor Ricardo Rosselló said on Wednesday he would step down on Aug. 2 in the face of public anger over the release of profane chat messages and embezzlement charges against two former administration officials.
In line with the U.S. territory’s constitution, Secretary of Justice Wanda Vázquez is next in line to succeed Rosselló, based on current Cabinet vacancies.
But Vasquez faces opposition because of her political ties to the Governor. A DC lawyer who is the former Puerto Rico representative in the U.S. Congress may be the Party’s choice for Rosselló’s successor.
H/T: narciso and other commenters on the Breaking News & Off Topic Links post.
ALSO — AOC supports the ‘decolonization process’ of Puerto Rico following governor’s resignation:
In an Instagram livestream on Thursday night, Ocasio-Cortez took questions from her followers. The first asked how she felt about what’s happening in Puerto Rico. “First of all, I am so incredibly proud of everyone in Puerto Rico right now demanding accountability from their government,” Ocasio-Cortez began. “They were so relentlessly creative in their protest that they were able to get the governor to finally resign as well as some of his cabinet members.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, then suggested the island’s independence from the United States. “I’m really proud of everyone that’s out there, but of course there’s a lot of work to be done,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “This is just the beginning of a decolonization process, a process of self-determination where the people of Puerto Rico begin to start taking their own self-governance into their own hands.”
Rosselló was the Puerto Rican co-director of Hillary’s 2008 campaign.
— DRJ
I support the decolonization of Puerto Rico with all my heart, and all my mind, and all my soul. Cut it loose! Yesterday!
nk (dbc370) — 7/26/2019 @ 7:54 am^^ +1 ^^
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:09 amYep, PR should be its own country. Should have been cut loose in 1946.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:13 amBlockhead Jerry Ford wanted PR to be a state. Every time I think of a Grade A moron – Jerry Ford pops into my mind.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:14 amHey, there, wait a minute, rcocean! Ford did not do too bad a job for somebody that nobody voted for.
nk (dbc370) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:18 amI figured he was a Dem since the articles never mentioned it. His party is called the Progressive something.
And yes to decolonization! I especially want to see PR make it on its own without all our oppressive financial support.
https://puertoriconewcomer.wordpress.com/2018/10/10/welfare-in-puerto-rico-snap-food-stamps-fraud/
Patricia (3363ec) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:32 amThey would starve otherwise, the pnp is the moderate party, except in their looting skill.
Narciso (f848af) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:52 amHey, there, wait a minute, rcocean! Ford did not do too bad a job for somebody that nobody voted for.
Not so. A little over 500 people voted for him the first time, and the second time he nearly beat Carter.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 7/26/2019 @ 9:05 amWhat is needed is a federal Central-American/Hispanic-Caribbean union. But the history of Spanish colonialism is unlikely to lead to that. Tiny Balkanized countries are much easier for the top families to control. Puerto Rico is probably the least dysfunctional of the lot.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 7/26/2019 @ 9:10 amI’m always surprised how the Europeans and Latin Americans just do not see the genius of real federalism. I guess it interferes too much with established power and money.
Patricia (3363ec) — 7/26/2019 @ 9:14 amPuerto Rico looks like a east L.A
mg (8cbc69) — 7/26/2019 @ 9:15 amIt was an Archie Bunker line, Kevin.
nk (dbc370) — 7/26/2019 @ 9:21 am10… Bingo!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/26/2019 @ 9:48 am“And yes to decolonization! I especially want to see PR make it on its own without all our oppressive financial support.“
I worked a year in PR around 2005 and I remember the radio editorials insisting that the island be granted complete independence……with US funding being increased of course.
harkin (58d012) — 7/26/2019 @ 10:44 am‘I like to be in America; OK by me in America; Everything free in America; for a small fee in America.” – ‘West Side Story’ 1961
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/26/2019 @ 10:45 am@4. Ronald Reagan: ‘amiable dunce.’ Or worse: “Hollywood actor.”
‘Nuff said.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/26/2019 @ 10:56 am6. Patricia (3363ec) — 7/26/2019 @ 8:32 am
He is aDemocrat, but members of his party can be affiliated with either party national. Historically, his party was more associated with the Republicans but is now much more Democrat. The otehr part is much more tied to the Democrats. (the party’s origin is that it was a splinter in 1967 from the Puerto Rican Republican Party, that distinguished itself by not being affilaited with eiter main United states party, if I understand this oorrectly)
One of the problems with Puerto Rican political parties is that they are organzied along the dead issue of status, with the New Progressive Party being pro-statehood, and the Popular Democratic Party being for enhanced commonwealth status (it would be more like Hong Kong in China with separate trade deals and immigration policy and other changes) and the Puerto Rican Independence Party being for independence. They are not organized according to local issues.
The New Progressive Party has a two thrds majority in the legiskalature, the Governor and Sureme Court, while the Popular Democratic Party has more mayors and Puerto Rican Indendence pary hasn’;t got much of anything because everbody understands it would make possible adicatirship like that in Cuba or much corruption without any hope of rescue from Washington, and also cut foff future migration to the United States.
Wikipedia here gives a rough history of the New Progressive Party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Progressive_Party_(Puerto_Rico)
Sammy Finkelman (27cd2c) — 7/26/2019 @ 11:08 amIf Ricardo throws lefty and is mediocre he has a job in the Majors.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/26/2019 @ 12:20 pm16) that was clark Clifford’s line, when the investigators for bcci came calling,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/26/2019 @ 12:34 pmI heard on the radio yesterday morning that the governor was going to resign Augst 2. The New York Times did not have a fully updated story – it should have had since this happened before they went to press. But the New York Post, the New York Daily News and the Wall street Journal did. You need all of them and more to piece this thing together. Today, maybe to make up for it, Friday the New York Times had several stories.
The Governor made his announcement on Facebook at nearly midnight Wednesday. And followed up with a resignation letter on Thursday.
Now either Wanda Vasquez, the Justice Secretary will at least twmporarily become governor, or the governor will nominate a new secretary of state and that person get confired by the time his resignation takes effect or maybe Wanda Vasquez can nominate her replacement..
They seem to agree the new Governor should be a caretaker and not run in 2020. So it won’ be the delegate to Congress, perhas the most acceptable current officeholder..
There’s not enough time to go through this now – what they woud have impeached him, fo. By the way the cellphones were not subpoeaned – search warrants were issue
There is something (hacked and) leaked from Wanda Vasquez.
Sammy Finkelman (27cd2c) — 7/26/2019 @ 4:06 pmHarkin,
how funny!
Patricia (3363ec) — 7/26/2019 @ 4:54 pmHa. Yeah, he was the only Republican VP that was selected by the Democrats. In 1973, Carl Albert and the D Senate Majority leader told Nixon they couldn’t guarantee any R VP nominee would get through, except Jerry Ford. So Nixon skipped over Connolly, Reagan, and Rockefeller and chose Ford.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/26/2019 @ 5:27 pm“Not so. A little over 500 people voted for him the first time, and the second time he nearly beat Carter.”
He lost because he “liberated” Eastern Europe during the Presidential Debate. He refused to step back from this moronic position for over week, telling his aides “If people can’t understand what I was trying to say, that’s there problem” – I’m not making that up! Eventually, Rumfield and Cheney convinced him to backtrack and say he didn’t mean that Poland was NOT dominated by the USSR, blah blah.
When he lost, Ford said “oh my God, I’ve lost to a Peanut farmer”. Later, he would blame Reagan for the loss. If only that “Hollywood actor” had helped him more. I kid you not.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/26/2019 @ 5:32 pmHe also wanted the US to change over to the metric system and put KM on the highway signs. What a Maroon!
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/26/2019 @ 5:33 pmPatricia, PR is a trip.
When I was working in San Juan, I got stuck in a traffic jam one evening trying to get back to my rental from old San Juan.
There was only a two-lane bridge over one of the back estuaries and I could see ahead that there all sorts of official vehicles stopped there so I thought it was an accident.
When I finally got to the bridge, I was amazed to see one lane was closed off and there was a long table set up with tablecloths and full place settings and people dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns eating a meal while guarded by police w machine guns.
I still haven’t figured that one out but if it was just the local elites attempting to exhibit their clout it worked for me.
harkin (58d012) — 7/26/2019 @ 5:39 pm