Puerto Ricans danced among the brightly colored houses of San Juan after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló capitulated to 12 days of protests and announced his resignation, but many in the crowd warned they would reject the person in line to succeed him, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, a former Puerto Rico representative to the U.S. Congress appeared as a possible successor who might be more acceptable to protesters, according to people familiar with the talks to replace the island’s governor. The first term governor told the island that he would resign effective Aug. 2, stepping down in the face of public anger over a corruption scandal and the release of profane chat messages. The protests have drawn as many as 500,000 people onto the island capital’s streets, and protesters were not enthused over Secretary of Justice Wanda Vázquez being next in line to succeed Rosselló, based on current Cabinet vacancies. One waved a sign reading “Wanda, we don’t want you either!” while another shouted, “Wanda, you’re next!” Leaders of Rosselló’s pro-statehood party were scrambling to negotiate another successor. During Rosselló’s term as governor, Puerto Rico endured back-to-back 2017 hurricanes that killed about 3,000 people just months after the U.S. territory filed for bankruptcy to restructure $120 billion of debt and pension obligations.
