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Puerto Rican Governor to Resign Aug. 2

Associated Press

   SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said late
   Wednesday that he will resign Aug. 2 after nearly two weeks of furious
   protests and political upheaval touched off by a leak of crude and
   insulting chat messages between him and his top advisers.

   A crowd of demonstrators outside the governor's mansion in Old San Juan
   erupted into cheers and singing after his announcement on Facebook just
   before midnight.

   Addressing the protests, Rossello said, "The demands have been
   overwhelming and I've received them with highest degree of humility."

   The obscenity-laced online messages involving the governor and 11 other
   men infuriated Puerto Ricans already frustrated with corruption,
   mismanagement, economic crisis and the sluggish recovery from Hurricane
   Maria nearly two years ago.

   In reaction, tens of thousands took to the streets to demand Rossello's
   resignation in Puerto Rico's biggest demonstrations since the protests
   that put an end to U.S. Navy training on the island of Vieques more
   than 15 years ago.

   Rossello, a Democrat elected in 2016, is the first governor to resign
   in the modern history of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory of more than 3
   million American citizens.

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