Puerto Rico Presidential Primary XI: Sancocho

Puerto Rican Sancocho

Puerto Rico Primary Splits Island’s Independentistas
It's a sign of Puerto Rico's zany political scene that a famous comedian sometimes doubles as a pundit. Silverio Pérez, known for hosting TV shows on Telemundo and Univisión, is also unusual for another reason: he's an independentista, one of the small percentage of Puerto Ricans who advocate for the island to become independent, ending its 110-year history as a U.S. possession.

Puerto Rico, Obama and the Politics of Race
What does all this racial politics portend for the territory’s upcoming primary? Obama has swept U.S. states with sizable African American populations like South Carolina. Puerto Rico however could be another story however as it is by no means clear that island residents self identify as black. On June 1st, we may see Latinos continue to vote en masse for a white candidate over a black one.

Latin artists support Obama in music video
More than 20 stars from the Latin music and film community released a Spanish-language video in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday, days before Puerto Rico's primary. The video, "Podemos con Obama," or "We can With Obama," features such Puerto Ricans as actor John Leguizamo and hip hop artist Don Omar, and international pop stars Alejandro Sanz and Paulina Rubio. Actors George Lopez and Jessica Alba also participated.

Puerto Rican primary presents confounding issues
This isn't to say that watching the candidates on television swigging Presidente beer or jigging to island music wasn't amusing. To this Puerto Rican, there's something mildly uplifting about seeing presidential wannabes making nice with Latinos on something other than immigration.

Curtain closes on long Democratic process, Hillary willing
This just in: Ricky Martin, the Latin singing sensation, has endorsed Hillary Clinton in advance of next week’s Democratic Presidential Primary in Puerto Rico. The entertainer has a good sense of timing – he’s doing his number right before the curtain comes down.