Puerto Rico governor resigns

Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Wednesday he would resign, effective Aug. 2. Protesters gathered around the governor’s mansion earlier in the day to call for his ouster. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans marched earlier this week in one of the island’s largest protests ever. Publication of 900 pages of sometimes obscene online messages between Rosselló and 11 top aides triggered the crisis, but concern about misuse of Hurricane Maria recovery funds is an underlying cause.

So this is not just about words? It’s also about money: The FBI this month arrested two former Rosselló officials on corruption charges. Mismanagement had sparked a debt crisis, pension cuts, and school closings. More than a dozen Rosselló associates have resigned since the messages became public earlier this month. Instead of respecting critics, whom he called “crows,” Rosselló joked about dead bodies piling up at the morgue following Maria and asked, “Don’t we have some cadavers to feed our crows?”