Ny Safidinao

A cohort of troll accounts spread pro-government hashtags and targeted opposition figures on Twitter while participants in a private  Telegram chat group , including Governor Ricardo Rosselló and several other Puerto Rican government officials, discussed similar campaigns, a DFRLab investigation has revealed. After an anonymous source leaked the chat logs, protesters began demanding the governor’s resignation. On July 24, Rosselló  announced  that he will leave his post effective August 2, 2019. The DFRLab cannot say with certainty that the chat participants directed the troll accounts; however, the timing and specificity with which the officials discussed the accounts’ actions within the chat suggest a degree of complicity. At worst, the chat logs show several Puerto Rican government officials organizing an information operation to boost pro-government messages and target opponents; at best, they show them actively endorsing such an operation. After analyzing almo...

The leak of a private group chat between Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló and several associates in his executive team has grown into a full-blown scandal on the U.S. territory, with calls across the political spectrum for the governor’s resignation after the full contents in the 889-page document were publicly disclosed Saturday morning through an anonymous source, following partial leaks earlier last week. The contents in the document reveal a stream of profanity-laced comments in a sexist, misogynistic and homophobic vein directed at opposition leaders, fellow party members and journalists, as well as concerted efforts to manipulate the public narrative and discredit naysayers of the Rosselló administration. ost of the participants in the controversial chat have stepped down from their respective public positions or canceled their government contracts. Among these is Christian Sobrino, the government’s chief financial officer, and Luis Gerardo Rivera Marín, ...

Thousands of Puerto Ricans have taken to the streets over the last week demanding Gov. Ricardo Rossello’s resignation after hundreds of offensive and vulgar private messages between the governor and his inner circle were leaked to local media. Washington Post’s Arelis Hernandez joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain. Hari Sreenivasan: For more on Puerto Rico, I'm joined now by Washington Post reporter Aleris Hernandez via Skype. So tell me a little bit about what was the tipping point? Why did these protests emerge this week? Aleris Hernandez: So Puerto Rico has been going through quite a bit of drama historically in the last several years not the least of which having to do two years ago with Hurricane Maria. So there's been a lot of suffering accumulated. But what really sort of tip the scales for folks was a series of leaked chats that came through the local investigative journalism mouth here in Puerto Rico in which several jokes were made between the governor Rica...

The  embattled governor of Puerto Rico  Ricardo Rossello has announced that he will not seek reelection in November 2020 but will not resign. Rossello will step down as the president of the New Progressive Party. He said he will serve out his term as governor and allow for his successor to be democratically elected. "Apologizing is not enough," Rossello said in the Facebook Live announcement, adding that he is prepared to take on the process that could lead to his impeachment “I announce that I will not seek reelection as governor next year. Additionally, I am resigning as president of the New Progressive Party. Finally, I should be respectful of the constitutional order and I welcome the process by the legislative assembly which I will confront with all the truth, strength and in a responsible manner,” Rossello said. "To every Puerto Rican: I have heard you, and I hear you today. I have committed errors and I have apologized. I am a good man that has a grand love ...