Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rosselló and 11 top aides and Cabinet members exchanged profanity-laced, homophobic and misogynistic messages about fellow politicians, members of the media, celebrities and others in a scandal many are calling “RickyLeaks.” The messages were sent in December 2018 and January 2019.
Here are some targets of the offending exchanges:
Former New York City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
Rosselló apologized last week after the leak of a chat message in which he referred to Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Puerto Rico-born former speaker of the New York City Council, using the Spanish word for “whore.”
The governor wrote that he was upset Mark-Viverito had criticized Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee, for backing statehood for Puerto Rico.
“Our people should come out and defend Tom and beat up that whore,” Rosselló wrote.
Mark-Viverito traveled to the island to join protesters in their calls for the governor to resign.
“A person who uses that language against a woman, whether a public figure or not, should not govern Puerto Rico …this type of behavior is completely unacceptable,” she wrote on Twitter.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz is frequent critic of the governor.
In the chat, Christian Sobrino Vega — who was Puerto Rico’s chief fiscal officer at the time, and Roselló’s representative on the federal board responsible for managing Puerto Rico’s financial crisis — expressed frustration with Yulín Cruz.
“I am salivating to shoot her,” he wrote.
“You’d be doing me a grand favor,” the governor responded, according to the leaked chats.
At one point, the governor writes that Yulín Cruz must be “off her meds” by deciding to run against him.
“Either that, or she’s a tremendous HP,” he said, using the Spanish acronym for “son/daughter of a bitch.”
Yulín Cruz belongs to the opposition Popular Democratic Party and is running for governor.
Sobrino Vega and Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marin, who also participated in the chats, have both resigned.
Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin
In the chats, Sobrino Vega made vulgar references to Puerto Rican star Ricky Martin’s sexuality.
“Nothing says patriarchal oppression like Ricky Martin,” he wrote.
“Ricky Martin is such a male chauvinist that he f—- men because women don’t measure up. Pure patriarchy.”
Martin and other artists on the island took to social media to condemn Rossello’s government and call for his resignation.
Read more about Rossello’s leaked texts here.
Federal Judge Reggie Walton Condemned Trump’s Comments About Judge Juan Merchan On CNN