Puerto Rico’s worst political crisis in decades is intensifying after the commonwealth’s governor-in-waiting Wanda Vazquez, said that she doesn’t want to take power, leaving the bankrupt island facing an unprecedented succession impasse, Bloomberg News reported. Vazquez, the secretary of justice, said in a Twitter post on Sunday that she hoped Governor Ricardo Rosselló would nominate a different successor before he steps down Aug. 2. Vazquez, an ally of the outgoing governor and a member of his New Progressive Party, is next in line because the secretary of state position is vacant. Her announcement raises pressure on Rosselló, who has less than a week to nominate a new secretary of state, adding to Puerto Rico’s dysfunction and political chaos. That person would need confirmation from a majority in both houses of the island’s legislature. The official next in succession after Vazquez is Francisco Pares, the treasury secretary, who, at 31, is not old enough to be governor. The minimum age is 35. Next in line appears to be Education Secretary Eligio Hernandez, who told a local radio station yesterday that he was focused on his current role.
