Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello on Wednesday said he would resign after almost two weeks of protests calling for him to step down over a scandal involving offensive chat messages and government corruption that rocked the bankrupt island. 

Rossello said in a televised speech he would stay in his position until August 2 when Puerto Rico Secretary of Justice Wanda Vazquez would take over as governor. 

The first-term governor announced his resignation three days after he failed on Sunday to soothe critics' concerns by vowing of his political party. 

"I feel that to continue in this position would make it difficult for the success that I have achieved to endure," Rossello said. 

His term as governor has seen the island hit with back-to-back 2017 hurricanes that killed about 3,000 people and wreaked widespread destruction just months after the U.S. territory filed for bankruptcy. 

At-times violent protests have rocked San Juan and its historic colonial capital district since the July 13 release of leaked text messages between Rossello and his closest allies, with an estimated 500,000 people attending the largest demonstration on Monday. 

(Cover: Puerto Rico's Governor Ricardo Rossello during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 10, 2018. /VCG Photo)