House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-NY) took the unusual step of presenting remarks before the markup of HR 8393, The Puerto Rico Status Act. “As a principle, America supports strongly across the world, self-determination. We support in almost every region of the world the opportunity of peoples who are in a region or… Read more »
In 1976, then-President Gerald Ford responded to recommendations made to him by an ad hoc advisory group on Puerto Rico with a statement favoring statehood. The advisory group had been put together jointly by the Federal government and Puerto Rico’s local government and had come up with a new idea for Puerto Rico’s status. Then… Read more »
51 Puerto Rico organizations banded together to send a letter to Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-AR) of the House Natural Resources Committee. The letter called for immediate action on the question of Puerto Rico’s political status. Puerto Rico is a territory belonging to the United States. Reps Darren Soto (D-FL)… Read more »
The work of American artist Jean Michel Basquiat is featured in an ad campaignl from iconic jeweler Tiffany, along with singer Beyonce and rapper Jay-Z. BeLatina bemoans the fact that Basquiat’s Puerto Rican heritage is not well recognized. Basquiat’s mother was Puerto Rican, his father was from Haiti, and he grew up in New York… Read more »
Puerto Rico has held six plebiscites. So what is a plebiscite? What is a plebiscite? A plebiscite is a direct vote by registered voters on an important legal or political question. The word comes from French and before that from the Latin words for “people” and “decree.” A plebiscite is thus a decree by the… Read more »
Joe Biden has been officially certified as the next president and will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. In an effort to keep Puerto Rico on his radar and that of Congress, a group of Puerto Rican organizations joined together to send a letter to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. A separate, identical… Read more »
2020 is the 50th anniversary of “Feliz Navidad,” a bilingual Christmas song written by Puerto Rican musician Jose Feliciano. It was the first Spanish language Christmas song to become popular in the United States, and is still one of the most popular holiday tunes, hitting the top 10 on Billboard this year. Jose Feliciano José… Read more »
Deborah González made history on December first when she prevailed in the election for Georgia District Attorney in a run-off against James Chafin by a vote of 53.1% to 46.9%. Gonzalez’s win creates several milestones. Gonzalez will be the first Puerto Rican woman to be elected district attorney in the United States. She will be… Read more »
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ),chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, has written to President-Elect Biden asking him to take action on the Biden-Harris Plan for Puerto Rico. After expressing congratulations on Biden and Harris’s victory, the letter begins, “The Committee on Natural Resources is the lead committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on… Read more »
Benito Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, is Spotify’s most-streamed artist for 2020 with 8.3 billion streams. His album YHLQMDLG is also Spotify’s most-streamed album of the year, with over 3.3 billion streams. This is the first time that an artist who doesn’t sing in English has ever achieved this honor. The album’s title stands… Read more »
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