After a week and a half of constant popular mobilizations, this Wednesday, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo “Ricky” Roselló, announced his resignation by means of a video message broadcast by Facebook.

The news triggered a massive celebration in the streets with people shouting: "Ricky we send you away."

The Governor's decision came after constant and growing social mobilizations, which last Monday reached their highest point, wirh a general strike across the island and a demonstration of 500,000 people in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico.

The scandal caused by the revelation of almost 900 pages of informal conversations between the Governor and numerous members of his Cabinet, in an Instagram chat, exposed by the Center for Investigative Journalism, caused a chain of resignations in the Government of Roselló: 14 of its members to be precise, resigned.

At the same time the FBI arrested two of his closest collaborators, former Secretary of Education and the former Health Insurance Officer of the Island, accused of corruption and appropriation of funds.
As announced by Roselló, his resignation will be effective on 2 August and the current Secretary of Justice, Wanda Vázquez, would replace him in office. Although it is not clear how long the replacement would last, given that the position of Governor is given out by popular election.

The resignation of Ricardo Roselló, a strong supporter of the annexation of Puerto Rico to the US as a state of the Union, culminates a stage of economic mismanagement, which led to the official declaration of bankruptcy of the island in 2017, and of a trail of chaos and corruption when, at the end of that same year, Hurricane Maria swept the territory officially causing 3,057 deaths, leaving in its wake a general collapse in public services, social assistance to the victims, and large infrastructure destruction and housing.