Tag: Puerto Rico

Reggaeton music artist Nicky Jam has rescinded his endorsement of Donald Trump as a result of the racist and degrading comments delivered by a comedian who performed at a recent Trump campaign event, particularly those targeting Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans.

Nicky Jam was one of the only Reggaeton artists to support Trump. He got a lot of heat from other musicians about it. He attended a Trump rally in Las Vegas in September, where Trump, having no idea who he was, introduced him as a female telling the audience "She's hot." Today, in rescinding his endorsement in this Instagram video in Spanish he said: (rough translation)

"The reason why I supported Donald Trump was because I thought it was the best thing for the economy in the United States, where many Latinos live ... I thought it was the best move. Never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian was going to come to criticize my country and talk bad about my country and therefore, I renounce any support to Donald Trump and That’s why I’m renouncing my support for Donald Trump and stepping away from any political conversation. Puerto Rico deserves respect.” he said.

Puerto Ricans can't vote in the U.S. Presidential election, but they have a lot of weight with relatives and friends who can vote. Nicky Jam has 43 million followers on Instagram. In 3 hours, the post had more than 85,000 likes.

Also today, Arnold Schwarzenegger broke with Republicans and said he's voting for Kamala Harris. [More...]

A two year investigation has resulted in the indictment of Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila on on 19 counts "including conspiracy to violate U.S. federal campaign laws and giving false testimony to the FBI."

Acevedo dismissed the indictment as nothing but politics and "a spectacle designed to damage me." ....The 55-page indictment alleges that Acevedo also personally helped a group of Philadelphia-area businessmen in their efforts to obtain Puerto Rican government contracts after they delivered illegal campaign contributions from their own staff and family members.

Acevedo is a superdelegate for Barack Obama. Big Tent Democrat has some thoughts on how Puerto Rico's voters will vote in their June 1 primary here.

Hillary Clinton today promised Puerto Ricans she would "would vigorously advance plans that would enable Puerto Rico to decide if it wants to remain a commonwealth or become a U.S. state or an independent nation."

Puerto Rico has been a commonwealth since 1952. Its residents are almost equally divided on whether it should change its status:

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for president, and their representation in Congress is restricted to a single nonvoting member. National party conventions provide islanders a rare chance to have a direct say in Washington.

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