Ricky Martin joins Puerto Rico protests as governor faces mounting calls to resign

Pop star Ricky Martin has led a march of thousands of Puerto Ricans through the capital, demanding the resignation of the island’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, following corruption accusations and the leak of text chats in which he made sexist and homophobic remarks.

Yelling: “Ricky, resign!” they converged on the governor’s mansion on Wednesday, calling for him to step down.

Mr Rossello has endured a week of protests after the Puerto Rican Center for Investigative Journalism on Saturday released 889 pages of text chats on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, in which Mr Rossello and 12 other male administration members criticise officials, politicians and journalists.

Mr Rossello has also been under pressure after US federal agents arrested contractors and government officials - including former education secretary Julia Keleher - on corruption charges.

Demonstrators are equally angry over Mr Rossello's handling of the Hurricane Maria emergency in 2017, which left nearly 3,000 dead and the island in financial crisis. Some of the messages were sent during the immediate aftermath of the devastating hurricane.

Since the storm, hundreds of schools have been closed to save money, and a wide range of social services and pensions are being cut back, or are under threat.

The men shared memes, jokes and crude sexual insults, and in one exchange chief financial officer Christian Sobrino makes homophobic references to Livin’ La Vida Loca singer Martin, who was born in San Juan and is beloved on the island.

"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," said Martin on Twitter, when the insults were published.

"It's enough - this cannot be."

Ahead of the march, Martin explained that the demonstrators wanted a change of government.

"Not just me, but many Puerto Ricans will hit the streets to demonstrate for what is correct," he said.

The turnout filled several city blocks in colonial Old San Juan, but appeared to fall short of the many tens of thousands that some Rossello opponents had predicted.

Many older protesters went home before nightfall as chanting young people filled Old San Juan's Totem Plaza, and the first few blocks leading up to the 16th century fortress where the governor resides.

Protests earlier in the week turned violent, as police fired tear gas at the crowd on Monday after a fire broke out near the government headquarters. Five protesters were arrested.

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is a US territory and residents are American citizens, but it does not have the same representation in Congress as the states.

In New York, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda led about 200 people, many from Puerto Rico, at a rally in Manhattan's Union Square. They waved Puerto Rican flags and followed him to a drumbeat, chanting in Spanish, "Viva Puerto Rico libre" - "Long live free Puerto Rico."