The Women Leading The Puerto Rico Protests

Puerto Ricans have been in the streets for seven consecutive nights now, chanting “viva Puerto Rico libre” and demanding the resignation of the island’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló.

What initially set these protests off was the publication of nearly 900 pages of leaked text messages between Rosselló and some of his closest associates, including a ton of crass homophobic and misogynistic messages.

In those messages, now dubbed “Rickyleaks,” one of Rosselló’s advisers joked about feeding dead bodies, which were overwhelming the morgues in the wake of Hurricane Maria, to crows.

But Puerto Ricans have been suffering for a long time: Between austerity measures imposed to alleviate a ballooning debt crisis and Maria, which left an estimated 4,645 people dead, there’s a feeling that the texts were simply the final straw for Puerto Rican citizens.

“It’s the corruption in the midst of so much suffering and so much vulnerability at an island-wide level,” said Laura Rexach, a radio show host, who’s been out in the streets every day for the last week. “Everyone was suffering day to day.”

Protests began earlier in the week with violent clashes with police, who fired tear gas into the crowds outside the governor’s mansion. By the end of the week, they took on the feel of a street party. Old men reclined in beach chairs and watched as young protesters blasted music and did dances from Fortnite.

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