a comic Before you call Puerto Rico trash Crowded Donald Trump rally in New York It was the latest humiliation for a long-abused island territory, residents said Monday in expressions of anger that could affect the presidential election.
Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections even though they are US citizens, but they can have a lot of influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones on the island of 3.2 million people rang within minutes of speakerphone mocked US territory Sunday night, and Monday they were still buzzing.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris He is competing with Trump benefit the communities of Puerto Rico Pennsylvania and other swing states. Not long after, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said: “I don’t know if you know this, but there is literally floating garbage island in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.’ Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny He announced that he was backing Harris.
Hinchcliffe’s set also included lewd and racist comments against Latinos, Jews and blacks, all key constituencies in the election.
Influential voters
Milagros Serrano, 81, has a son who lives in the swing state of Pennsylvania and said the whole family was outraged by the comedian’s comments.
“He can’t talk about Puerto Rico like that,” she said when she went to a doctor’s appointment. “He’s a piece of trash.”
The United States acquired Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. The US government granted American citizenship to the island’s residents in 1917. After World War II, the first major migrations began to alleviate labor shortages in the US mainland. Today there are more Puerto Ricans in the US than on the island.
Those left behind say they often feel like second-class citizens, unable to vote in presidential elections and receiving limited federal funding compared to US states.
That resentment flared when Trump visited Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria In 2017 it hit the island as a powerful Category 4 storm. He threw paper towels into the crowd and denied the storm’s official death toll, which experts believe nearly 3,000 people died in its devastating effects.
After Sunday’s appearance, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, Danielle Alvarez, said in a statement that Hinchcliffe’s joke “did not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”
José Acevedo, a 48-year-old health worker from San Juan, shook his head as he recalled the feelings he went through when he saw the rally.
“What humiliation, what discrimination!” he said he was waiting to take the public bus to work on Monday morning.
Acevedo said he immediately wrote to relatives in New York, including an uncle who is a Republican and planned to vote for Trump.
“He told me he would have to think about his decision,” Acevedo said, adding that his family members were shocked. “They couldn’t believe it.”
Angry reaction at home
The comments dominated local news sites overnight and Jenniffer González, Puerto Rico’s congressional representative of the pro-state New Progressive Party and a Trump supporter, called them “despicable, wrong and disgusting.”
“They don’t represent the values of the GOP,” he said.
Politics in Puerto Rico is defined by the political status of the island, so it is common for Democrats and Republicans to belong to the same local party.
Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Pedro Pierluisi wrote on Facebook: “What came out of Tony Hinchcliffe’s mouth is garbage, and everyone who applauded him should be ashamed of his disrespect for Puerto Rico.”
Gonzalez, who beat Pierluis in the primaries of their partyhe is leading in the polls as the November 5th election is eyed.
Sonia Pérez, a 58-year-old parking attendant, said she hasn’t voted for a governor in years but is so outraged by the comedian’s comments and González’s support for Trump that she plans to reject González and the other candidate representing both. Major parties that have long dominated Puerto Rico.
“It’s shocking that there is so much anti-Latino racism in the 21st century when we’ve contributed so much to the country and it’s not being recognized,” he said.
Disbelief and anger
Hinchcliffe’s comments also drew backlash from Puerto Rican stars including Ricky Martin, who previously endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He posted a video of the crude joke and wrote: “This is what they think of us.”
Angry Puerto Ricans posted photos of their island and its sparkling turquoise water on social media with captions including: “I live where you are on vacation” and “Proud to be from Junk Island.”
Michael Meléndez Ortiz, a 33-year-old unemployed janitor, said he and a friend thought the video was fake at first because they were so shocked by what the comedian had to say.
“They have to respect us,” he said. “We are good and honest people.”
