San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN)Erica Diaz’s 6-year-old daughter convinced her to join the burgeoning protest movement against Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. The 40-year-old stay-at-home mom had never attended a protest.
“She said, ‘Mami, you taught me to respect all people. We shouldn’t make fun of people. Why aren’t we out there with the people?'” Diaz said. Her daughter, Valerie, had just finished first grade. “She’s the reason I’m here,” Diaz said.
Valerie held a sign with a hand-drawn Puerto Rican flag and the message, “Don’t close our schools” — one in a litany of complaints against the governor. They stood in the shade on the side of a highway in the capital of San Juan as hundreds of thousands of marchers shut down traffic Monday in a series of island-wide protests.
