Puerto Rico’s justice secretary says she doesn’t want to be governor

Puerto Rico’s justice secretary says she doesn’t want to be governor

Secretary of Justice Wanda Vazquez is next in line for governor but has announced that she is not interested in the job.

Wanda Vazquez has turned down the opportunity to become Puerto Rico’s next governor. (Reuters pic)
SAN JUAN:
The woman in line to be the governor of Puerto Rico after Ricardo Rossello steps down next week said on Sunday she does not want the job running the US territory.

Rossello said last week he will step down on Aug 2 in the face of mass street protests and public outrage over the release of profane chat messages and embezzlement charges against two former administration officials.

Secretary of Justice Wanda Vazquez is next in line to succeed Rossello as governor because Puerto Rico currently has no secretary of state, who would have precedence. But on Sunday she said she had no interest in taking the reins.

“I hope the governor identifies and submits a candidate for secretary of state before Aug 2 and I have told him as much,” Vazquez wrote on Twitter.

Protesters who forced Rossello from office had opposed Vazquez, saying she is too close to the disgraced governor.

Puerto Rico’s previous secretary of state, Luis Rivera Marin, resigned in the wake of the chat scandal.

Three people now look to be in the strongest positions to succeed Rossello: Pedro Pierluisi, a former Puerto Rico representative in the US Congress and now an attorney with Washington law firm O’Neill & Borges; Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz; and Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s current delegate to the US Congress.

Puerto Ricans want a leader to steer them out of crisis and economic recession after back-to-back 2017 hurricanes that killed around 3,000 people just months after the US territory filed for bankruptcy.

Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram

Subscribe to our newsletter and get news delivered to your mailbox.