POLITICS
Puerto Rico Shows How Resistance Is Done
Even with governor’s resignation, protesters demand more systemic changes
BY PAUL SCHINDLER & MATT TRACY
A week after Puerto Rico
Governor Ricardo Rosselló
fi nally caved in
to days of protests, announcing
he would resign on August
2, the citizens of Puerto Rico
who turned out in unprecedented
numbers to protest revelations of
both corruption and shocking misogyny
and homophobia among
his inner circle are not yet resting
on their laurels.
Instead, they are keeping up
pressure on the current ruling
clique by demanding that Justice
Secretary Wanda Vázquez, currently
next in line to be governor,
not take offi ce on Friday.
“We’re still in the middle of the
fi ght,” said Pedro Julio Serrano, an
out gay senior advisor to San Juan
Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. “Right
now, Vázquez is poised to become
governor if there is no nomination
for secretary of state. But the
people have said she cannot be the
governor. She has not been following
up on investigations of corruption
in the current government.”
Under the Puerto Rico Constitution,
a vacancy in the governor’s
offi ce is fi lled by the secretary of
state, and if that post is vacant
the justice minister is next in line.
Luis G. Rivera Marín, who had
been secretary of state, was among
the fi rst casualties of the scandal
that eventually engulged Rosselló,
resigning his offi ce on July 13.
The current shakeup follows
demonstrations across the island
and in many US cities that
emerged after Puerto Rico’s Center
for Investigative Journalism leaked
details of homophobic and sexist
chats between the governor and
his top aides. In the chats, offi cials
called former New York City Council
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
a “whore,” said out gay celebrity
singer Ricky Martin “fucks men
because women don’t measure up,”
and threatened to “shoot up” San
Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.
The governor and other top government
offi cials were already under
fi re before the chats were revealed
Pedro Julio Serrano, a gay activist and senior advisor to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, celebrates
the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló, but says more comprehensive changes are needed in
Puerto Rico.
due to ongoing corruption
problems on the island stemming
from the handling of hurricane relief
and the fallout from a fi nancial
crisis that has plunged the island
into debt.
Rosselló announced his resignation
through a recorded video
posted on Facebook late in the evening
on July 24. Even as his critics
poured into the streets to celebrate,
they vowed to continue pressuring
the government until the ongoing
problems plaguing the island are
alleviated.
“We are joyful and happy, but we
are still fi ghting and there is still
more work to do,” Serrano, who
prior to serving as an advisor to
Cruz worked under Mark-Viverito
in the New York City Council, told
Gay City News last week. “There is
so much corruption and so much
discrimination. This is only the beginning.”
This week, Serrano elaborated
on ongoing risks that demonstrators
in San Juan worry about.
While Vázquez has signaled she
is unenthusiastic about becoming
governor, she has not taken herself
out of the running.
In a July 28 tweet, she wrote, “I
FACEBOOK/ PEDRO JULIO SERRANO
reiterate, I have no interest in occupying
the governor’s post. It is a
constitutional rule. I hope the governor
identifi es and submits a candidate
for the position of secretary
of state before Aug. 2, and I have
told him so.” The following day, her
spokesperson said she would take
the oath of offi ce on Friday absent
any change in the current line of
succession.
According to Serrano, protesters
worry that the power brokers surrounding
the current governor are
working behind the scenes either
to put a new secretary of state and
heir-apparent in place before Friday
or expect Vázquez to take offi
ce, name a new secretary of state
of that group’s choosing, and then
resign.
Either way, the name most often
discussed among Rosselló’s critics
— and others — is Senate President
Thomas Rivera Schatz, who
took over as head of the New Progressive
Party (NPP) when the governor
gave up the post in an early,
unsuccessful effort to stanch the
outcry overwhelming his administration.
“He is more homophobic and
more misogynistic than the current
governor,” Serrano said of
Rivera Schatz. “He is a mini-
Trump in some ways. He and the
current governor are from same
party. They have been allies in the
past.”
There is no direct correlation
between political parties in Puerto
Rico and on the mainland, and
some NPP members, like Rosselló,
are aligned with the US Democratic
Party, while others, like Rivera
Schatz, are affi liated with the Republicans.
Serrano described the current
mood in Puerto Rico as “a very
tense calm,” adding, “This is a constitutional
crisis, a political crisis,
and a social crisis.”
Having participated in a massive
protest Monday in San Juan, he
said another demonstration was
planned for Friday as a countdown
to Rosselló’s 5 p.m. departure from
offi ce. The demonstrators have not
put forward specifi c names of who
might be acceptable to take the
reins of government. People on the
street, Serrano said, are pressing
for “a consensus fi gure, not anyone
related to the current controversy
and someone with no history of homophobia,
misogyny, and abuse of
power.”
Demonstrators in New York’s
Union Square on July 18 agreed
with that outlook. Puerto Rico native
Samy Nemir-Olivares noted
that, among numerous changes
necessary for a prosperous Puerto
Rico, other corrupt government offi
cials need to step down even after
Rosselló exits.
Last week, Serrano told Gay City
News that the homophobic and
sexist language used in the texts
proved to be the most signifi cant
components that fueled the surge
in protests that swept the governor
aside. That was on display last
week when Martin was among
these seen waving a large Rainbow
Flag during protests.
Serrano’s boss, Mayor Cruz,
who identifi es with the mainland
Democratic Party, intends to seek
the nomination of her party, the
Popular Democratic Party, in next
year’s governor’s race.
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