SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico’s streets have remained so quiet since Gov. Wanda Vázquez took over as governor following weeks of turmoil that one can again hear the island’s famous coquí frog singing at night.
The protests that led to the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló just a week ago and continued on a smaller scale until the Supreme Court removed his chosen successor have dissipated. Also gone are the sounds of cow bells and whistles, as well as most of the angry graffiti that covered streets in the colonial district of Puerto Rico’s capital that was ground zero for the demonstrations.
People who took to the streets to express disgust with government mismanagement and corruption were united in focusing their anger on Rosselló, but now he is gone and there isn’t a common thread on how to proceed. Some Puerto Ricans are urging more protests. Others say people should take a step back and analyze what they want from officials. Yet others wish for stability and say Vázquez should be given a chance. Some worry about who might replace her.
“Many people rose up, and after they accomplished what they did, they’re asking, ‘Now what?'” said Mario Negrón Portillo, retired head of the school of public administration at the University of Puerto Rico. “In the next few weeks, we’ll really see if that sense of consciousness that was generated … is sustained and how it will be sustained.”
Only a handful of people showed up for a planned protest early Friday evening in front of the governor’s mansion, though Vázquez has said she would not live there, preferring to stay in her own house. Such conciliatory statements – and her earlier insistence that she was not interested in becoming governor – have led many Puerto Ricans to go into wait-and-see mode, activists say.