Bad Bunny turns his latest video clip into a criticism of injustice and privatization in Puerto Rico

The singer Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny, has premiered this Friday the video clip of El Apagón, which includes a report made by the Puerto Rican journalist Bianca Graulau in which, under the title People live here, criticizes how the sale of public property by the Government of Puerto Rico and criticizes the tax benefits for US investors, since the island continues to be administered by the United States.

El Apagón is included among the 23 songs that the Puerto Rican artist recorded on his album A summer without you, published last May. With this latest video, Bad Bunny takes up criticism of the situation in Puerto Rico. In 2019, the singer canceled the recording of his album to join the protests on the island to demand the resignation of the then governor, Ricky Roselló, for participating in homophobic and sexist chat.

In the video, the journalist points out Law 22, the Law to Incentivize the Transfer of Individual Investors to Puerto Rico, as the main problem with the US incentive, which, according to Gaurau, “allows foreigners not to pay certain taxes” when they move to the island. The Puerto Rican also assures that people who move to the country “do not pay taxes on the profits from their investments in stocks, cryptocurrencies and real estate.” The report shows how the presence of these negotiators has affected different state resources such as public housing, beaches or electricity (belonging to Puerto Rico until 2021).

Before the end of the last minute of the video clip, Graulau explains one of the island’s problems: power outages. The journalist recounts the explosion of a power plant that left the entire island without lighting last August. This is the Costa Sur plant in Guayanilla, which cut off the power supply to 1.4 million people. The video cut, prior to the start of the report, indicates the purchase of the electrical control of Puerto Rico by the private company Luma Energy.

The company signed a 15-year contract at a time of recovery after Hurricane María, which destroyed almost the entire power line network in 2017. This year, the company has been in the news due to the constant blackouts and the excessive increase in electricity bills light, which has sparked protests on the island.

The report collects the testimonies of several Puerto Ricans who have been affected by the purchase of real estate by foreign investors benefited by Law 22. The Puerto Rican points to one of the investors, Chaim M. Hazan, who has acquired 15 properties Puerta de Tierra, one of the neighborhoods of San Juan that, according to Graulau, was intended for slaves after obtaining their freedom.

The journalist interviews the president of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, Rafael Tatito Hernández, who, according to Graulau, has received donations from the beneficiaries of Law 22, with a value of 18,300 dollars for his political campaign. Tatito does not hesitate to affirm that the journalist is right when he assures that the inhabitants of neighborhoods such as Puerta de Tierra “see that the Government is taking away resources to put them on a silver platter for people who have many resources.”

The singer during the protests in Puerto Rico, in July 2019.

The singer during the protests in Puerto Rico, in July 2019.

One of those affected by the increase in prices after the change of owner of her building, Maricusa Hernández, shows the eviction notice that reads “30-day notice to vacate.” Hernández, a Dominican woman who has been renting the same apartment in Santurce (San Juan, Puerto Rico) for almost 26 years, says that on the island “they are displacing the Puerto Rican to get rich through the native people here.”

The melody of El Apagón accompanies the report, which does not lose its meaning with the song. In a few seconds of the 22 minutes that make up the video clip and the report, a part of the lyrics sounds, which narrates: “I don’t want to leave here, let them go. This is my beach, this is my sun, this is my land, this is me”.

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