“There were 5,000 who were left to die and we will never forget that,” says Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, globally known as Bad Bunny, in the song he released as a surprise on Wednesday night. A little candle, The Puerto Rican reggaeton singer makes clear his discontent with the political situation that Puerto Rico is going through seven years after the hurricane María devastated the island, leaving damage that continues to be felt today, including the constant blackouts that are also referred to in the song. “Obviously, the light is going to go out, God knows, and it will never come back,” Martínez Ocasio sings to the rhythm of typical Puerto Rican bomba drums.
“The people, the people, have to save themselves. Don’t send me anything from the Government, because those bastards are going to hide it. They’re going out on the street for photos only, for me they can all go to hell. There were five thousand that they let die and we will never forget that,” the song continues, referring to the deaths caused by María in 2017 (an estimated 4,000 to 8,000 people died due to the storm) and the economic aid that the people never had access to after the Category 4 cyclone. “The palm tree that they want to hang the country on is going to be knocked down one of these days,” adds Martínez Ocasio. The palm tree is the symbol of one of the two main political parties in Puerto Rico, the New Progressive Party, in power since 2016.
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This is not the first time that Martínez Ocasio has used his platform as an artist to talk about the crisis facing Puerto Rico. In addition to talking about it constantly on his social networks, the reggaeton singer who breaks all the rules charts Every time he releases a song —within an hour of releasing it A little candlethe song already had more than 275,000 views on YouTube— published in 2022 a documentary made by the journalist Bianca Graulau as the music video for The BlackoutIn it, Graulau addressed issues such as the gentrification and privatization of the island and the forced displacement of its residents, as well as the blackouts.
In addition, in recent weeks Martínez Ocasio has called on her fans on the island to register to vote in the elections that will take place on November 5. Although Puerto Rico is a US territory, residents of the island cannot vote in federal elections, meaning they cannot elect their president or vice president, but they can cast their votes for governors on the island and for a resident commissioner in the US House of Representatives (where they have a voice, but no vote).
“Take out the card [electoral]they have until September 21, there is still time,” the reggaeton singer recently said in a conversation with the podcaster Puerto Rican The Tony. In the same program, Martínez Ocasio urged the island’s youth to vote differently, not for the two traditional parties that have always governed the country. “If you see that you are voting for the same people for 20 years and you see that your surroundings are not as you would like them to be, get them out of here, brother“It’s time,” he said. “It’s unfair, Puerto Ricans don’t deserve this. We are the best place in the world, with the best people… We are so great and people deserve to live like this: in greatness, as much as possible, not just surviving.”
