Here she said this is a young gal she was under 25 years old she says we are now claiming something for ourselves she said to many of my parents generation my grandparents generation she told me that just accepted. What she claimed was a corruption on the asylum what she claimed was the. Elites as she said it was early orders running this island she said no and thats why you saw so many young people and guess is this is a complicated place its an island of all only 3000000 people but if youre 6000000 puerto rican americans live in the mainland its states its a complicated place but they have a local government and need these Text Messages from this governor that just now announced hes resigning record of us to go these Text Messages everyone said just confirmed what everyone believes tear or 2 decades im being told that that people do not fit this is their leaders do not respect the people and these Text Messages actually when he was talking about potential allegations you know in effect which is well so listen i mean this is basically people saying its everything so now you know what theyre saying this is the 1st step and this is the 1st time ever on this island that people have rose enough and basically said weve had enough and that people have taken to the streets over consecutive days and forced a top leader here to simply resign its historic its never happened before and thats why youre seeing these images that youre looking at right now ok again for the moment stay close thanks very much will come back so im sure in the next few minutes or so or indeed in the next hour lets stay with these latest live pictures lets bring in Kenneth Mclean talk hes formally Lieutenant Governor of puerto rico and currently a senior Public Policy advisor at polytechnic he joins us on the phone from san juan Kenneth Mcclintock welcome to aljazeera can you just share with us your thoughts at this momentous time. You know i think that this is one of the most Historic Events that the 3000000 american citizens a living for equal kind of have lived through throughout their lifetime and its a moment that we have to remember for many decades to come it is in part a result of the reaction of our people last monday we had 8100000. At the march the largest in the history of perico wasnt 500000 we have to stick to the facts of this but it was 100000 and it was definitely the largest political event or or people event in the history of puerto rico and now we have to look forward to having a new governor our 2nd female governor will be governor one the basket is currently the attorney general in puerto rico and we have team night behind her then an agenda of healing and in agenda of not 4 knowing the Economic Growth that we find here having after 13 years to continue to expand. We weve had chronically difficult economic situations for over a decade and things have been improving recently and we have to make sure that that theres a lot of steps back and in that process and have people also know that record still beautiful are every bit. And that we need are your tourist dollars here and for equal in the future ok well come on to the economic wish list in a 2nd if we may but if we can just back up a little bit as we watch these live pictures from the capital city san juan how did this place get to the stage where the top 14 positions in government. I do not have an incumbent how did we get to a stage where the governor it would appear was choosing not to resign when it was clear he should have resigned because there was nobody to fill his position albeit even on a temporary basis i take on board of course what youre saying about one device is she will succeed him presumably as i say on a temporary basis but those 14 top jobs. And the governor couldnt go because there was nobody to fill in ohio i dont know what youre talking about about 14 top job. You know what the 3rd top job is the attorney general and she is a wonder is going to succeed and we have several others before job which is the treasury secretary the only reason he wont wont be available to succeed is because he 32 years old and you have to be 35 to to succeed to the governorship but but you know we have some bacon to use but most of the top jobs and put in in the government of puerto rico are covered you know that after the governor and the executive branch you have a new secretary of state who resigned last week and the attorney general whos a 3rd one in line patients taking over and demonstrate that but ricos system works the constitutional system works you also have our member of congress and sheen in place of the president serve it even plays you have the speaker of the house hes in place well i dont know where this idea that the 14 top jobs are vacant most of the jobs are not taken ok and each person will be doing the job that corresponds to them and i just want to interrupt you sir because were worried we might lose the line because Everyone Wants to talk to everyone else in puerto rico just now so in case we do lose the long 11 last point you were talking there about the economy you were talking there about puerto rico wanting to his dollars can i suggest. To you with respect youre setting the bar not low enough because if the protesters are right youve got another issue to deal with it is in demick systemic corruption thats what the protesters are saying this theyre saying were tired of it weve had a generation of this weve had this since the 1970 s. The 1980 s. How do you carry through on root and Branch Reform to get rid of not just corrupt politicians but also the people involved in that process of corruption. Well because we are stronger and very grown up for the laws now and because we grabbed the attention of the federal government after maria really reminded them that we do exist here the caribbean on that we are under the American Flag theres a lot more going on in terms of investigating corruption in terms of arresting people for corruption and that will continue and in fact just the night before this happened we had a plane for those of federal agents that arrived in puerto rico presumably to do their strengthening investigations or to carry out. Corruption arrests in the next few days and i think that is very good the more people that are arrested doesnt mean that there are more corruption it means that corruption is now being investigated and prosecuted as never before so that will be a positive step to help fix things up ok mr mcclintock great to talk to you thank you for your insight we do appreciate the time this just sum up for you if youre just joining us here on aljazeera with those latest live pictures politics and puts a rico moving very fast when we came on air what 20 minutes ago we had a governor who said he was going to resign he tended his resignation in effect that would kick in officially on august the 2nd his name is ricardo reseller hes offered his resignation that will kick in and a little over one week from now we now know and it was being confirmed by Kenneth Mcclintock former Lieutenant Governor of puerto rico he will be replaced we assume on a temporary basis by the secretary of justice one basket as you can see them mass protests of celebration on the streets of san juan at the news that the governor has finally listened to 2 weeks of mass protests and decided to resign more on that for us and as we can also of course on the web site al jazeera dot com. Now we move on north korea has conducted its 1st missile test since the us President Donald Trump met kim jong un nearly a month ago south korea and japan say 2 projectiles were fired into the sea off the coast of warm sun earlier this month north korea warned that military drills in south korea could derail a resumption of Nuclear Talks with washington rob mcbride following that story for us out of seoul so rob it feels very symbolic. Thats right a there has been a guarded response here in south korea typically the government here doesnt want to jeopardize all of the good work thats been done in building bridges restoring later relations across the d. M. Z. So there has been a guarded response but the Defense Ministry spokesperson has called this a military threat rather than a provocation as also said though that it doesnt help ease tensions on the peninsula which is something of an understatement theres been a slightly harder response a more robust response from japan japans defense minister saying that these are 2 missiles could have been but listed missiles which in turn would have been in violation of u. N. Resolutions which could possibly have further consequences judging by the trajectory the distance they travel just over 400 kilometers these missiles were reaching an altitude of 50 kilometers theyre very similar to 2 missiles that were fired during may which in turn was the most serious missile testing since 2017 so this does seem to be a Serious Development and it does seem to be north koreas way of saying its not happy with forthcoming military exercises that are due to be held between south korean and u. S. Forces in august these exercises have been scaled down from exercises that have taken place previously nonetheless north korea is not happy about those and possibly this also does send a message in the direction of the United States peter rob will leave it there many thanks lets go back to san juan rolling events coming to us out of the puerto rican capital our correspondent Gabriel Elizondo is there for us tracking events events moving very fast just in the past 30 minutes or so what else do we know we understand that we are now getting a new not the new secretary justice but the secretary of justice will fill in for mr rosello. Yeah thats right it does. Appear that secretary of justice will be the new governor normally under local law i would be the secretary of state it becomes a governor if the governor resigns however the problem is the secretary of state resigned last week because he was involved in the scandal too he was one of the 14 cabinet ministers to resign were just about 2 blocks away from the Governors Mansion as you might be able to see behind me people are starting to they are ecstatic and this is been a movement led by young people as i said you a few minutes ago and i want to bring one of them in to meet you right now what is your name im heidi i right how old are you im mighty youre 19 years old youve been out here protesting for this governor to leave why we have been what we needed to get him out hes been hes been a dictator to us basically he didnt care about our debts he didnt care about the money when he does make conscious for him and his friend and we just need him out and we finally have them out we have a rush of emotions right now were feeling youre for it were going to run to streets now you know the 1st generation to get him out what did you feel when you heard him say a few half an hour ago that he was going to resign what was going through your mind i was i was euphoric i couldnt believe it i the 1st generation do you know how how proud you feel you know the 1st you know racing to get bought for 9 out of the aisle just because we set so we went to this week so we took power of it and this wont be our last time you know were going to say that one back and were going to get them out ok youre 19 years old 5 what prompted you to go out to the streets for the last 2 weeks as such a young person and what was it about it im studying sociology at the university so im not really on what are you learning about it and its something that has been taught to me you know if you dont like something if youve been a prize fight for your rights and we were where wed be in the present we needed to fight for us so it was all background and i want to study law so i know what it has what we have. Or to take your friends came out to protest or yeah. Listen it was about the Text Messages originally but it didnt go beyond that though when really beyond that the Text Messages i would say were like. The take it was the tip of the iceberg so it is best that these rights of emotions these movements uses to get him out hes abuse and of his power hes taken contacts out of for all his friends millions upon millions of money had been given to us by the Us Government i just feel my hair so we needed to get him out. There no you or your we feel. And him and today for his right here it is a day for history thank you for talking to us when i retire thank you so much well you heard it there shes 19 years old and she really fits the profile of what weve seen here for the last 2 weeks its been really a protest movement by all Puerto Ricans of all walks of life but primarily the young people that came out and you saw her just say just there its a historic evening here in puerto rico this is an island that has seen nothing like this it was the worst political crisis puerto rico has ever seen and the people took to the streets for 2 weeks and the governor Just Announced that hes stepping down and theres not going to be a change once the jubilation begins to subside however gave they did issue a search warrants not so very long ago and i guess its important to separate out the level of assumption that people have there understandable perhaps when it comes to government Corruption National government corruption local government corruption from what we may find out if this goes to i guess a criminal case because if the authorities are involved if the police are involved somebody is going to have to be charged with something at some point. Perhaps and the Congress Year actually set up a panel. That just today on wednesday actually said that there were 6 Text Messages from the governor there were criminal of those 6 for potentially serious crimes i want to preface that by saying serious the governor has not been charged with any crime on this island theres a lot of suspicion theres a lot of. Playing fast and loose with the rules theres a perception here is you heard from our law our last guest but the governors as of right now is not been charged with the crime but clearly this is going to go up the chain of command here and he is being investigated his cell phone was confiscated by investigators on wednesday among several other of his aides as well and also its important to point out that what started this all more than 2 weeks ago even before his Text Messages were leaked for 2 of his cabinet ministers that were arrested by the f. B. I. Of the mainland of the United States arrested for allegations of corruption so thats why a lot of people here are saying to cabinet ministers arrested by the f. B. I. Somethings going on here and they want it investigated and this was the 1st step was to get him out of office is there a cost list of new the younger politicians gave kind of waiting in the wings if you will who are on taint seeds by these allegations of corruption. Thats an answer for about 20 years from now the young woman that we just interviewed right here that you did search she might be the next governor 2030 years from now to answer your question though it is going to be interesting to see when and 30 years from now the people that took part in this protest that youre seeing behind me what their future will be are there is is there a Younger Generation yes there are there are 6000000 puerto rican americans that live in the mainland of the United States thousands of them have come back to puerto rico to take part in this protest over the last 2 weeks and many of them have said we are now going to potentially stay to be part of whats the future of this island so. Yes listen is this an island its mostly governed by wealthy well connected elites yes the Current Governor that just stepped down his father was a governor he comes from a very wealthy family but theres this is certainly sparked a movement where i think youre going to see a lot more younger people start to assume some sort of leadership theyve already started to do it just here in the streets but in the immediate term its going to be the minister of justice they will take over the governorship as far as those young people who are protesting a russian jew right now agape do they already have Political Representation within the Parliament Within the political system or has that yet to kind of evolve and develop itself perhaps from their own ranks when people like 19 year old sociology student you were talking to. Me when the political aspirations coalesce around something in the years to come. They are not represented right now in the Puerto Rican Congress thats just a fact the Puerto Rican Congress is controlled by 2 major parties one of which is a party of the Current Governor that just stepped down so what youre seeing. Here is people on the streets this woman we just young woman we just spoke to theyre basically saying were not represented so were not going to wait were going to the streets and thats what weve seen over the last 2 weeks youre right though youre leading into a very important point here that theres celebration right here on the streets right now but whats going to happen tomorrow whats going to happen next week whats going to happen next month the next year those are going to be the major changes. Because in some ways its been a struggle to get this governor out of office as these protests are have seen but the harder thing is to get elected and so what i think youre really seeing now and what weve seen last couple weeks is younger people like i said earlier that are saying we now realize the importance of our vote on this island and youre seeing engaged young people 25 and younger that are saying we can m