page_title: Telegramgate
hierarchical_section_title: Telegramgate
caption_attribution_description: English: Protesters on July 25, 2019, celebrate in Puerto Rico following the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló, marching from Milla de Oro in Hato Rey to the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.
context_page_description: Telegramgate, also known as Chatgate, or RickyLeaks was a political scandal involving Ricardo Rosselló, then Governor of Puerto Rico, which began on July 8, 2019, with the leak of hundreds of pages of a group chat on the messaging application Telegram between Rosselló and members of his staff from his term. The messages were considered vulgar, racist, and homophobic toward several individuals and groups, and discussed how they would use the media to target potential political opponents. The leak came in the midst of allegations by former Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico, Raúl Maldonado Gautier, that his department boasted an "institutional mafia" that Rosselló was involved in. The leaks also came a year after a previous scandal, dubbed WhatsApp Gate, involving other members of Rosselló's cabinet.
  Mass protests arose, reaching up to 1,000,000 people at a single event on July 17. On July 22, up to a million protesters shut down the Expreso Las Américas, an 11-lane highway.
context_section_description: Telegramgate, also known as Chatgate, or RickyLeaks was a political scandal involving Ricardo Rosselló, then Governor of Puerto Rico, which began on July 8, 2019, with the leak of hundreds of pages of a group chat on the messaging application Telegram between Rosselló and members of his staff from his term. The messages were considered vulgar, racist, and homophobic toward several individuals and groups, and discussed how they would use the media to target potential political opponents. The leak came in the midst of allegations by former Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico, Raúl Maldonado Gautier, that his department boasted an "institutional mafia" that Rosselló was involved in. The leaks also came a year after a previous scandal, dubbed WhatsApp Gate, involving other members of Rosselló's cabinet.
  Mass protests arose, reaching up to 1,000,000 people at a single event on July 17. On July 22, up to a million protesters shut down the Expreso Las Américas, an 11-lane highway. While several of his staff have resigned in the wake, Rosselló initially refused to resign as governor and simply resigned as president of the governing pro-statehood New Progressive Party on July 21 and said he would not seek re-election in the 2020 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election. By July 22, there had been eleven consecutive days of protests, near La Fortaleza, the Governor's residence in San Juan. On July 24, Rosselló announced that he would resign as governor on August 2. On August 2, Pedro Pierluisi, former Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico was sworn in immediately after Rosselló left office, but was later ordered by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico to abandon, since his swearing-in was not constitutional. Ultimately, the Secretary of the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez Garced, who was initially reluctant to take office, was sworn in as Governor of Puerto Rico. She became the second woman to assume the office and the first person to take over the position as per hierarchy and not by a democratic election.
caption: Protesters in San Juan, marching from Milla de Oro in Hato Rey to the Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Residente, Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin (center, L–R) were among many public figures that demanded Rosselló's resignation.
exif: {}