In a statement posted online late Wednesday, Rosselló, 40, said he would step down Aug. 2.
He said his successor for the moment would be the secretary of justice, Wanda Vázquez, a former district attorney who once headed the island’s office of women’s affairs. Vázquez was next in line under the commonwealth’s constitution because the secretary of state, who would have succeeded Rosselló as governor, resigned last week when he was caught up in the chat scandal that enveloped the administration.
But the governor appeared to leave open the possibility that a different successor could be in place by the time he steps down.
Rosselló’s ouster by popular demand meant more to Puerto Ricans than a rejection of his administration. It amounted to a repudiation of decades of mismanagement and decline that everyday people blamed on politicians in San Juan and Washington.
Hundreds of protesters outside La Fortaleza, the governor’s official residence, suddenly went silent Wednesday night when Rosselló statement began to air after hours of delay, with groups huddled around cellphones to listen. The crowd, shouting, grew restless as the 14-minute statement dragged on, but it burst into thunderous applause the moment he announced he would resign. Puerto Rican flags shot into the air and the drumbeats began, to chants of “¡Oé! ¡Oé ¡Oé!”
The governor’s announcement came only hours after the leader of the Puerto Rico House, Carlos Méndez Núñez, said lawmakers were planning to convene impeachment proceedings Thursday. He said there were sufficient votes to oust the governor.
Rosselló’s downfall followed more than a week of public protests demanding his exit.
The demonstrations were touched off by a leaked private group chat on the messaging app Telegram that revealed crude conversations among Rosselló and his closest advisers — and pointed to possible wrongdoing within their circle. Coupled with the recent arrests of six people, including two former top officials, on federal corruption charges, the hundreds of leaked pages ignited public outrage.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.