Ricardo Rosselló but also the government, as an institution, have lost their trust.
The magnitude of the reaction to the blow that the chat caused on different sectors is not surprising due to the profane and offensive comments coming from those who are morally, politically and humanly unauthorized to make them.
However, these protests from a community that has put differences aside to unite in indignation have a deeper root than the painful chat itself. It also catalyzed a long, mass feeling of exhaustion and frustration. The Puerto Rican people have spoken out about indifference, neglect, and corruption that deprive them of services and quality of life, and that condemn their children to migrate.
The chat further aggravated the open wound of an island that continues to suffer the devastation triggered by Hurricane María, the terrible local and federal government response and the slow recovery work that still keeps 20,000 homes roofless. By denouncing the chat, our people mourn the nearly 3,000 deaths associated with inefficient emergency management. And they condemn the denial of such a high death toll.
The chat confronts our people with unemployment, the lack of opportunities and hopes for a change that pushes them to migration with also adverse circumstances. It confirms that our government is still being held hostage by particracy.
Puerto Ricans are expressing themselves firmly with the immediate goal to demand the governor´s resignation and also to demand lawmakers for a solution to the institutional crisis.
However, solving immediate governance is only a part of the challenge. The biggest challenge is to put Puerto Rico above particular and partisan agendas to bring together the will to address serious problems.
Our people know about the multiple ramifications of institutional and social violence. They also know about poverty, inequality, male chauvinism, homophobia, and mockery. The chat reminds them of all that.
Puerto Ricans want to feel safe in their homes and streets. Women and children ask for help in the face of the different forms of aggression that cost them equity, security, and lives. 60 percent of the population lives in the injustice of poverty. They feel insulted to find out that while they ask for quality health care and education, people close to the administration may have diverted $ 15.5 million, according to the latest corruption charges.
People demonstrate against the insensitivity of those who insist on putting self-benefit and electoral calculations first. For social peace and collective welfare, those who govern have the constitutional and moral duty to immediately solve this current crisis. Prolonging instability in the government deepens the wound of our people. It affects services and the generalmood and it affects productivity.
The different business sectors warn that prolonging the problem has a very negative potential for the island. Families and businesses incomes and the image of stability necessary for investment have been impacted. Meanwhile, economists warn that there is still time to recover economic losses, provided that the crisis is swiftly resolved.
The political class must listen to its constituents’ demand for a government that is transparent, sound and sensitive to their needs.
They are also called to put an end to the institutional crisis that is jeopardizing the stability of Puerto Rico. Swift action will create the conditions to address the agenda that our people demand.
