Susanne Ramirez de Arellano

At the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, the Caribbean nation of Barbados bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, becoming the world’s youngest republic. Though largely symbolic, the act will resonate throughout the Caribbean, especially in its oldest colony, Puerto Rico. 

History has a way of repeating itself, and in many ways Batista’s Cuba is echoed in today’s Puerto Rico.

It is painful when you see two of your own lying shot execution-style on the floor, the Puerto Rican flag fluttering in the background as a terrible requiem to the American Dream.

With his sights locked on the governor’s mansion in 2024, Juan Dalmau understands the importance of timing in Puerto Rico.

Love them or hate them, they are not going away.

Puerto Rico, in order to progress as a people and a society, must choose leadership that understands the times we are living and works to divest police brutality, corruption and racism in our culture and advance the island towards its better self.

Silencing of the press is concerning at any point in the life of a nation, but it is alarming in the middle of a pandemic and with an administration that puts its political and economic life over the safety of its own people, and in an election year.

The #MeToo movement arrived in Puerto Rico in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic like a sonic boom that has uncovered the dark side of the island’s machismo culture.

The whitewashing of the summer of 2019 began just as soon as Ricky resigned.

After an exceptional summer, during which massive civil protests ousted pro-statehood Governor Ricardo Rosselló, the Ancien Regime, like Rasputin, refuses to die. Instead, it spins the truth and mutates—right back into itself.

Trump’s odiousness towards Puerto Rico could prove to be the mallet that will crack open the party and the gift that keeps on giving for the San Juan mayor.

The colony’s most difficult hour might very well turn out to be its finest.

“Same shit,” a Puerto Rican lawyer told Latino Rebels.

“Our letter to AMPAS is just part of the struggle of Puerto Ricans trying to keep our culture alive, because culture and language defines us as a nation,” Juan Esteban Suárez told Latino Rebels.

“I will continue to use every available platform to ensure that we are treated fairly and with respect,” she said in an interview with Latino Rebels.