News
Massive Protests Shut Down Highway in Puerto Rico After Governor Refuses to Step Down
Published
3 years agoon
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Puerto Rico to demand the resignation of the island’s embattled governor, Ricardo Rosselló.
It comes a day after Mr Rosselló said he would not step down over a leaked online chat in which he and top aides exchanged obscenity-laced messages.
The texts included homophobic slurs as well as insults about victims of the deadly Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Monday’s protest is forecast to be the largest in the US territory’s history.
Footage early on Monday morning showed crowded trains headed to the capital, and long lines of protesters preparing to march in the sweltering Caribbean heat.
Wow. Puerto Rico.
You don’t get this perspective from the ground.
They are Loud.
Determined.
United. pic.twitter.com/3JMmbc8NY2— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 22, 2019
La multitud de personas que llegaron al expreso Las Américas para pedirle la renuncia a @ricardorossello parece no tener fin. #PuertoRicoMarcha #paronacional 📸 Tonito Zayas pic.twitter.com/WM2YLwR91U
— El Nuevo Día (@ElNuevoDia) July 22, 2019
Some protesters were seen blocking highways while chanting “Ricky resign”. The hashtags #RickyRenuncia (“Ricky resign”) and #ParoNacional (national strike) both trended on Twitter on Monday.
Experts predict the crowd size will eclipse the the largest protest in the island’s history 15 years ago, when Puerto Ricans successfully petitioned the US military to end training missions on the island of Vieques.
What are the secret messages?
The chat, which contained 880 pages between the governor and 11 all-male allies, was leaked on 13 July and has led to days of protests outside the governor’s mansion in San Juan.
Several of the texts mock victim’s of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in 2017, and may have lead to more than 4,000 deaths.
In one instance, Mr Rosselló cricitised the former speaker of the New York City Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito, saying people should “beat up that whore”.
When the nation’s chief fiscal office wrote that he was “salivating to shoot” the mayor of San Juan, Mr Rosselló replied: “You’d be doing me a grand favour.”
What has the governor said?
On Sunday, the 40-year-old governor refused to resign but said he would step down as leader of the New Progressive Party, a Puerto Rican political party which advocates for US statehood.
In an attempt to appease protesters, he said he would not seek re-election.
“I hear you,” Mr Rosselló said in a Facebook video. “I have made mistakes and I have apologised.”
Read More: Ricardo Rossello Will Stay as Puerto Rico Governor But Won’t Seek Re-Election
“I know that apologising is not enough,” he said.
“A significant sector of the population has been protesting for days. I’m aware of the dissatisfaction and discomfort they feel. Only my work will help restore the trust of these sectors.”
What has reaction been?
The island’s largest newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, called on the governor to resign in it’s Monday editorial.
“Puerto Rico has spoken up, not only as a strong, broad and united voice but as the right voice,” the editorial said. “With a gesture of nobility and humility, Governor, it is time to listen to the people. You have to resign.”
Right now in San Juan Puerto Rico.
The crowd is growing.
I’d estimate 400,000 people pic.twitter.com/AoEwfPxJRL— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 22, 2019
Boommmm #ParoNacional pic.twitter.com/RC92yDwzgh
— Taller Grafico PR (@tallergraficopr) July 22, 2019
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said in a Twitter message on Monday: “They can’t deny it: The power is in the street.”
READ MORE: ‘Only Survivor’ Reveals Truth of Fatal Accident in 1994 Linked to Ricardo Rossello
Singer Ricky Martin, who was targeted in the secret messages, was among those calling for he governor to resign, as well as Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and reggaeton star Bad Bunny.
“They mocked our dead, they mocked women, they mocked the LGBT community, they made fun of people with physical and mental disabilities, they made fun of obesity. It’s enough. This cannot be,” Martin said in a video on Twitter.
Entrepreneur, contributor, writer, and editor of Sostre News. With a powerful new bi-lingual speaking generation by his side, Sostre News is becoming the preferred site for the latest in Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Culture, Tech, Breaking and World News.

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Three Disney World Employees Among 17 Arrested in Florida Child Sex Sting
Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.
Published
10 months agoon
August 4, 2021
Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.
In the operation, dubbed “Operation Child Protector,” undercover officers posed as 13- and 14-year-old children on social media and online dating apps between July 27 and Aug. 1.
The undercovers made contact with each of the suspects before proposing they meet at a location in Polk County, where they were busted.
In total, the arrests led to 49 felony and two misdemeanor charges. Those arrested were aged 26 to 47. All were from Central Florida except for one 33-year-old man from California.
“What you see on this board … are deviants. Incredible deviants,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference on Tuesday, motioning to photos of the alleged pervs. “They travel from as far away as Clewiston, Florida. One even came from Los Angeles.”
“Much to their chagrin, instead of meeting with young children, they were met by law enforcement officers who were online undercover posing as children.”
Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, a lifeguard at Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World, was arrested while still wearing his Disney polo shirt and swimsuit, according to the sheriff’s office.
Aquino engaged in an online conversation on social media with an officer, posing as a 13-year-old girl, authorities said. He then asked the “girl” to send photos, and sent her an explicit video of himself, police said.
Aquino told officers he is a Navy veteran and has a pregnant girlfriend.
Jonathan McGrew, a 34-year-old custodian at Disney World, was nabbed by an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.
McGrew allegedly told the “girl” that he wanted her to come over and have sex with him and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Savannah Lawrence, who also works as a custodian at tourist mecca.
McGrew sent her explicit videos of him and Lawrence performing sexual acts on each other, authorities said.
A rep for Disney World didn’t immediately return a message.
News
China Reports First Human Death from Monkey B Virus
China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.
Published
10 months agoon
July 19, 2021
China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.
He began experiencing nausea, vomiting, fever and neurological issues, and died in May.
Blood and saliva samples were tested and researchers in April found evidence of the Monkey B virus, also known as the herpes B virus.
Researchers said a male doctor and female nurse who were in close contact with the victim tested negative for the virus.
The Monkey B virus is prevalent among macaque monkeys but infection among humans is extremely rare. Since the virus was identified in 1932, just 50 cases have been reported, with the majority of those in North America. Untreated B virus infections in humans are serious, however, with a fatality rate of about 80 percent.
Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, and progress to more serious complications such as swelling of the brain and spinal cord.
Laboratory workers and veterinarians in close contact with the animals are most at risk as people typically get infected with the virus if they are bitten or scratched by an infected macaque, or have contact with the monkey’s eyes, nose or mouth.
But the virus is unlikely to mutate in a way that poses a problem to the general population. Just one case of human-to-human transmission of the virus has ever been documented.
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U.S. Remembers 9/11 Terrorist Attacks as The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions
Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.
Published
2 years agoon
September 11, 2020
Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.
In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances Friday, one at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner. The Pentagon’s observance will be so restricted that not even victims’ families can attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day.
Trump and Biden are both headed — at different times — to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Trump is speaking at the morning ceremony, the White House said. Biden plans to pay respects there in the afternoon after attending the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is also due at ground zero — and then at the alternate ceremony a few blocks away.
In short, the anniversary of 9/11 is a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the U.S. grapples with a health crisis, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.
Still, 9/11 families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001, shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.
“I know that the heart of America beats on 9/11 and, of course, thinks about that tragic day. I don’t think that people forget,” says Anthoula Katsimatides, who lost her brother John and is now on the board of the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum.
Friday will mark Trump’s second time observing the 9/11 anniversary at the Flight 93 memorial, where he made remarks in 2018. Biden spoke at the memorial’s dedication in 2011, when he was vice president.
The ground zero ceremony in New York has a longstanding custom of not allowing politicians to speak, though they can attend. Biden did so as vice president in 2010, and Trump as a candidate in 2016.
Though the candidates will be focused on the commemorations, the political significance of their focus on Shanksville is hard to ignore: Pennsylvania is a must-win state for both. Trump won it by less than a percentage point in 2016.
Around the country, some communities have canceled 9/11 commemorations because of the pandemic, while others are going ahead, sometimes with modifications.
The New York memorial is changing one of its ceremony’s central traditions: having relatives read the names of the dead, often adding poignant tributes.
Thousands of family members are still invited. But they’ll hear a recording of the names from speakers spread around the vast plaza, a plan that memorial leaders felt would avoid close contact at a stage but still allow families to remember their loved ones at the place where they died.
But some victims’ relatives felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact. A different 9/11-related group, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up its own, simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying there’s no reason that people can’t recite names while keeping a safe distance.
The two organizations also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center and evoke its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus-safety concerns for the installation crew. After the Tunnel to Towers Foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chairman, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.
Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization is encouraging people this year to make donations or take other actions that can be accomplished at home.
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