Global reggaeton star Bad Bunny almost never reveals his emotions outside of his lyrics. But the artist recently stunned fans and critics — he did exactly that during an interview in which he urged voters in his native Puerto Rico, who have become increasingly apathetic about the US territory’s upcoming election, not to downplay the election’s importance.
“I really care about Puerto Rico and I don’t know if it’s worth it … I want to cry and everything,” the singer said in Spanish as she tried to swallow back tears in an apparent attempt to stop herself from crying. “That’s good Take to the streets to protestTo let ourselves be heard as a people, but I think the biggest act of protest is to vote against the people who have led us to this mess on November 5.”
Bad Bunny made statements on his part An extensive interview Posted on Labor Day with Puerto Rican YouTuber El Tony.
Since then, clips of the interview have become the source of countless memes on social media, people posting what they’ll dress like on Election Day, fan-produced jingles that echo some people’s displeasure with the political party currently in power.
It also appears to have had an initial impact in empowering disenfranchised voters disenchanted with local party politics and motivating newly eligible young voters to register to vote before the Sept. 21 deadline.
“Voting is very important, especially if you are young. Deciding the future of the place where we live, where we grew up, don’t let others decide it,” Bad Bunny, 30, said in an interview Monday.
A day after the interview was posted online, University of Puerto Rico college students were organizing a voter registration event on the Rio Piedras campus when the entire school lost power, serving as a stark reminder of Puerto Rico’s new normal: a widespread power outage. is Only in recent years has become longer and more frequent Because permanent reconstruction of its storm-ravaged electrical grid has been pending since 2017.
Hundreds of students who could not attend the event Register to vote on Tuesday Following the outage, however, organizers urged people to return on Wednesday. About 300 students Newly registered voters became and dozens more updated their existing voter registration with their latest address.
Several voting rights and civic engagement organizations shared videos and photos on social media showing long lines of people at various college campuses at various voter registration events on Thursday.
Bad Bunny’s comments come days after Somos Mes, a Puerto Rico-based civic engagement nonprofit. Data disclosed Reveals that 75% of newly eligible voters under the age of 21 have not yet registered to vote.
According to the organization, the number is consistent with an overall decline in new voter registration and voter turnout since 2012, which experts attribute to growth in both. Lack of trust in Puerto Rican government institutions and population loss.
More than 700,000 working-age Puerto Ricans have been forced to migrate to the US mainland in the past 15 years. Due to the economic upheaval stemming from Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, which occurred The largest public debt restructuring in US historyand catastrophic natural disasters including 2017 Hurricane Maria And A Series of earthquakes in 2020.
Against this backdrop, Puerto Ricans have become increasingly critical of the partisan lines that have divided the local electorate for more than five decades, resulting in significantly lower turnout in the past two election cycles.
In 2016, Puerto Rico Voter turnout was as low as 55%An unusual milestone for an island known for its high voter turnout of 73% to 89%. The turnout was 55% 2020 election.
Traditionally, most people have supported either state New Progressive Party Or Popular Democratic Partywhich supports the current regional position. A small percentage supports “independence”. Puerto Rican Independence Partywhich advocated independence from the US
But the rise of independent candidates and newly formed political parties viz Citizens’ Victory Movementwhich is running on anti-colonial ideology, and Project Pridewhich favors Christian democracy, has emerged in recent years as a result of growing distrust of long-standing local government institutions by establishment parties.
This year, members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party and the Citizens Victory Movement joined together in an attempt to go against the establishment parties under a new coalition called the Alianza de Pace.
Desperate for change, young voters familiar with crisis-ridden Puerto Rico tend to be more open to and supportive of new, emerging candidates than older voters.
“Any changes won’t happen overnight, but at some point we have to start rebuilding Puerto Rico,” Bad Bunny urged the public. To register to vote.
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