Puerto Rico’s ousted governor, Ricardo Rosselló, announced his intended successor on Wednesday morning, two days before the disgraced leader of the US territory is due to resign. He named Pedro Pierluisi as the next head of the island’s government.
Pierluisi served as Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner in Washington between 2009 and 2017, and before that was the US territory’s justice secretary. The position of resident commissioner holds a non-voting seat in the US House of Representatives. He is a member of Rosselló’s pro-statehood New Progressive party (PNP) and served as justice secretary under the administration of Pedro Rosselló, the current governor’s father.
“After much analysis and taking into account the best interests of our people, I selected the lawyer Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia to fill the vacancy of secretary of state,” Rosselló said in a statement. “I have pondered many options for this position and the huge responsibility involved. This historical moment requires a person capable of restoring relations with all sectors at local and national levels.”
Rosselló will convene a special session of Puerto Rico’s legislative assembly on Thursday to seek confirmation of the appointment. The statement indicated Pierluisi would see out the remainder of this term but would not contest next year’s gubernatorial election.
The governor announced his resignation last week, following two weeks of continuous mass demonstration on the island in the wake of a leaked text message scandal involving Rosselló and 11 members of his inner circle. The messages contained a slew of homophobic and misogynistic language directed at political rivals and cultural figures. They also contained a joke about dead bodies after Hurricane Maria, which tore through the island in September 2017 leading to a revised official death toll of 2,982.
Pierluisi’s confirmation by the PNP-controlled assembly remains far from certain as other factions of the party jostle for prominence in the wake of Rosselló’s departure.
The president of Puerto Rico’s senate and acting chair of the PNP, Thomas Rivera Schatz, has indicated he does not support Pierluisi’s nomination, suggesting the nominee is conflicted due to his work as an attorney with a law firm working for the unelected fiscal oversight board. The panel was appointed to oversee the territory’s financial affairs in Washington amid a multibillion-dollar debt crisis. It was created under the Obama administration at the height of the island’s financial collapse.
During his resignation speech last Wednesday, Rosselló initially named his justice secretary, Wanda Vázquez, as successor to the governorship. But over the weekend, as protesters continued to take to the streets over the announcement, Vázquez said she was no longer interested in the job.
The Rosselló administration has been plagued with corruption and mismanagement scandals since Maria hit the island. Shortly before the text message scandal erupted six former government officials and contractors, including the former education secretary Julia Keleher, were arrested by the FBI over allegations involving the misappropriation of millions of dollars in federal funds.
Rosselló’s resignation is due to take effect at 5pm local time on Friday.
