This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Support for Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, continued to plunge on Friday, as influential members of Congress followed senior figures in his New Progressive party in calling for his resignation and thousands of demonstrators returned to the streets of San Juan.

Puerto Rico police clash with protesters in wake of governor's sexist texts Read more

Protests outside the governor’s mansion carried on into Friday night as thousands of demonstrators, some cantering on horseback, made their way from the island’s capitol building. On Wednesday, police used teargas and rubber bullets against thousands after a huge rally in the capital. Friday's protests ended peacefully.

Rosselló’s press secretary, Dennise Pérez, announced her resignation in a public letter in which she said she “drew the line” after being called “corrupt” in front of her young son.

“I pray for Puerto Rican reconciliation,” the letter said.

Protesters issued Rosselló with a Sunday evening deadline to resign but the governor has shown no sign he plans to leave despite leaks of hundreds of chat messages that contain homophobic and misogynistic remarks, as well as jokes about those killed in Hurricane Maria, shared between Rosselló and 11 members of his inner circle.

The messages are the latest scandal to hit an administration reeling from criticism over its response to Maria, which pummelled the island in September 2017. The official death toll, revised by Rosselló’s administration last year, was found to be 2,975. A study by Harvard University indicated the number could be more than 4,600.

On Friday morning, Julián Castro, the former Obama administration housing secretary, became the first high-polling Democratic presidential candidate to call for Rosselló to go.

“I stand with the Puerto Ricans in the streets protesting for his resignation,” Castro tweeted. “Excessive force against them is not acceptable.”

Castro was joined on Friday evening by others, including the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and the the Florida senator Rick Scott, a Republican, who also called on the governor to resign.

On Friday Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner, Jenniffer González, told local press she believed the governor should stand down.

González, a non-voting member of the US House of Representatives elected by Puerto Ricans, said Rosselló’s “lack of credibility has closed the space to fulfill the functions as the people of Puerto Rico deserve”.

US Democrats had initially been reluctant to call for the governor’s resignation given Puerto Rico’s status as an unincorporated territory. But, as the Trump administration has sought to gain political capital from the scandal, more entered the fray on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the US representative Nydia Velázquez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, added to the resignation demands.

“I have profound respect for the institutions of democracy and for the sovereignty of the Island’s people,” Velázquez said in a statement, adding: “Today, I believe that the scandals emanating from the Governor’s Administration imperil future federal assistance, meaning the people of Puerto Rico, who have done nothing wrong, could pay the price for the corruption of the few.”

The governor’s office has issued a number of press releases throughout the day noting minor policy announcements and appointments as the administration attempts to portray an image of continued business.

But Rosselló is already facing significant backlash from senior members of his own party.

On Thursday, former governor Luis Fortuño, a member of the New Progressive party, posted an open letter calling for Rosselló’s resignation.

“I call upon the governor,” he wrote. “The future of PR is at stake and his figure makes it impossible to move on to the new chapter of our history.”

Fortuño said Rosselló’s presence in office “makes this process more difficult for everyone. For you, your family, our ideal and PR, let someone else finish your term.”

On the same day another senior party official, the Bayamón mayor, Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz, called on the governor to resign in order to avoid the lengthy impeachment process lawmakers are currently considering.

“I have no doubt that in your heart you want to achieve the best for Puerto Rico but in these circumstances it is almost impossible,” Rivera Cruz said. “On the other hand, exposing oneself to an impeachment process would add even more to this paralysis, because of the time it takes, producing greater anguish.”

The Trump administration has not taken a formal stance on the matter but on Thursday the president laid into the administration and criticised the San Juan mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, a vocal critic of the president over Maria and its aftermath.

“A lot of bad things are happening in Puerto Rico,” Trump tweeted. “The governor is under siege, the mayor of San Juan is a despicable and incompetent person who I wouldn’t trust under any circumstance, and the United States Congress foolishly gave 92 Billion Dollars for hurricane relief, much of which was squandered away or wasted, never to be seen again.”

The president’s claim that the island has received $92bn is false. Congress has apportioned $42.5bn in federal disaster funds for Puerto Rico, according to data, but the island had received less than $14bn by May.