Venezuelan migrants, fleeing violence and political instability at home, had been trickling into the island nation for several years. That trickle became a wave in 2018 as inflation soared and food shortages became acute.

“Our own people don’t have dignity. There’s no security. There are thousands of malnourished kids. How can we offer to be a safe country if it isn’t even safe for our own citizens?”

“The emphasis of the activists on the ground,” Rolando López said, “is that the governor resigning is not the last step. This really is about a more general critique of the economy of Puerto Rico.”

The bishops said in a statement on July 19: “You, Mr. Governor, bribed and attacked people and groups that participate in our democratic coexistence and therefore cannot continue to exercise your role.”

For more than three decades, Juscelina Silva Batista's life has followed the rise and fall of the Amazon River.

"People used to live there," said Joana Gomes da Silva, pointing to the cluster of skeletal trunks and branches. "It was a very pretty house. It's underwater now."