SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico • After weeks of flag-waving, cowbell-clanging protests in the streets, Puerto Ricans on Thursday celebrated the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, even as they debated where the movement should go from here and how to root out the corruption and other chronic problems that fueled the unrest.

Some protesters immediately set their sights next on driving out Rosselló’s designated successor as governor, Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez.

The governor’s unprecedented resignation, which came at nearly midnight on Wednesday after a series of huge demonstrations, was a big victory for the tens of thousands who took to the streets. To some, it seemed to open an endless array of possibilities on this U.S. island territory of 3.2 million people.

“It’s a new world,” said political expert Mario Negrón Portillo.

“This can bring about change that we’ve never seen before.”

Rosselló was driven from office after a leak of vulgar and offensive chat messages between him and his close aides infuriated Puerto Ricans tired of deep-seated corruption and mismanagement that have sent the island into a 13-year recession, a $70 billion debt crisis and the equivalent of bankruptcy.

People march in San Juan to cheer the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Thursday.

the associated press