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Speaker 1: From Futuro Media and PRX. It's led in a USA.

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Speaker 1: I'm Mariano Josa. Today, Bianca Grilo wants everyone to know

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Speaker 1: that Puerto Rico is a US colony. Bianca Grillo is

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Speaker 1: an independent journalist who's been using TikTok and YouTube to

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Speaker 1: tell you what's going on in Puerto Rico, whether you

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Speaker 1: live there or not. By explaining Puerto Rico's colonial relationship

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Speaker 1: with the United States in English to an audience outside

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Speaker 1: of the island, She's also gathered a huge following there

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Speaker 1: as well. Her own top video has eleven million views,

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Speaker 1: and that was before she teamed up with Bad Bunny

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Speaker 1: on a report about displacement in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: IFA has even Aflicius Ifire.

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Speaker 1: And sat Alana Casanova Burgess, host of the La Brega

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Speaker 1: podcast from Futuro Studios and WNYC Studios, recently went to

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Speaker 1: Puerto Rico to find out more about Gurolo's popularity and

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Speaker 1: also to chat one on one with the journalist. Here's

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Speaker 1: Lana with that story.

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Speaker 3: It was June and I figured there was one place

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Speaker 3: in Puerto Rico with a completely captive audience of TikTok users,

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Speaker 3: thousands of Bad Buddy. Fans were camping outside an arena

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Speaker 3: for literally days waiting to get tickets to his San

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Speaker 3: Juan concerts. I was there to ask about Bianca Grolo,

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Speaker 3: Gon Bianca Glo, la reporteraik.

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Speaker 4: Biana and nasty.

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Speaker 3: It didn't take me long to find some fans like Alina,

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Speaker 3: who is eighteen. She knows that Bianca used to be

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Speaker 3: a reporter in.

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Speaker 4: The States, and.

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Speaker 3: But she quit her job in order to cover Puerto

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Speaker 3: Rico to expose us to the world.

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Speaker 4: Yea, yea, this is your usial bre Perto, Rico Jaundo.

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Speaker 3: This is Jonathan. He likes that Bianca is letting people

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Speaker 3: know that Puerto Rico is not a paradise for everyone.

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Speaker 3: Valeria is twenty one. She connects with Bianca. It hurts

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Speaker 3: to see all the gentrification and displacement. It's hard to

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Speaker 3: feel like Puerto Rico is being taken away from Puerto.

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Speaker 2: Ricans, Srique Perto.

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Speaker 3: The first Bianca Garlo video I saw was the one

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Speaker 3: that went viral in the summer of twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 5: High Tech Talk Today has been a really hard day.

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Speaker 3: For days, this footage of Bianca crying was all over

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Speaker 3: my feed.

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Speaker 5: High tech talk high tech on.

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Speaker 3: Twitter and Instagram, getting shared over and over again. Hi

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Speaker 3: TikTok by friends in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: Today I found out that the land behind my house,

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Speaker 2: the one that you see in my videos all the time,

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Speaker 2: were the horses that I give water to live, the

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Speaker 2: land that gives me access to the beach. That land

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Speaker 2: is being sold to a company that develops luxury apartments.

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Speaker 3: I had never seen this land or those horses in

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Speaker 3: her video, but I knew what this was about. We

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Speaker 3: all did.

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Speaker 2: You might have heard that Puerto Ricans are worried that

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Speaker 2: our land is being bought up.

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Speaker 3: And although the land wasn't supposed to be developed, Bianca

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Speaker 3: was also flagging that the government couldn't be trusted to protect.

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Speaker 2: It, and everyone I talked to says, those laws are

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Speaker 2: not being respected and that land that was supposed to

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Speaker 2: be protected is getting developed. I felt so powerless, and

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Speaker 2: so many Perto Ricans feel that way with everything happening here.

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Speaker 2: As journalists were taught to not center ourselves in stories,

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Speaker 2: to not let our emotions come through. But that was

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Speaker 2: the day that I found out that an offer had

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Speaker 2: been made and that it was accepted by the seller

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Speaker 2: and that's when I broke down. At that moment, I

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Speaker 2: felt the urgency, and that's why I decided, you know what,

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Speaker 2: I'm just going to share this, and I'm going to

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Speaker 2: be transparent about the fact that this is an intersection

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Speaker 2: between my professional life and my personal life. And the

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Speaker 2: video you hear me say I've been investigating this for

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Speaker 2: a story that I'm doing. I happen to be doing

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Speaker 2: a story about this before it hits so close to home.

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Speaker 2: It's literally behind my house. And I don't say this

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Speaker 2: as a journalist. I say this as a Puerto Rican,

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Speaker 2: not as a reporter, but as a Puerto Rican who's

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Speaker 2: sad and scared, who's feeling the sadness of the possibility

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Speaker 2: of our natural resources being impacted. We're only the wealthy

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Speaker 2: have access to our most beautiful natural resources.

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Speaker 3: I visited Bianca in Kamui on the northwest coast of

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Speaker 3: the island. We scrambled under a barbed wire fence behind

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Speaker 3: her home and suddenly we were standing on that same

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Speaker 3: plot of land I had watched Bianca tell millions of

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Speaker 3: people about So the horses are.

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Speaker 2: Still here, yep, not the same horses. There used to

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Speaker 2: be like eight or ten horses and I don't know

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Speaker 2: what has happened to some of them.

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Speaker 3: Wow, Mia, whose bone is that?

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Speaker 1: I know?

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Speaker 5: Who knows?

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Speaker 2: If you go in there, there's like a ton of

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Speaker 2: bones and like there's another one there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, but still it's lovely. A path winds through

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Speaker 3: shrubs and trees. Birds are all around us. Little hermit crab, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: here's another one. So this land that we're on right

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Speaker 3: now is the what's the technical term for it?

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Speaker 2: So it's protected in the sense that there are limits

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Speaker 2: to what can happen on this land. It's still private

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Speaker 2: land by the government has designated.

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Speaker 3: What use can be applied, but the plot can only

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Speaker 3: be used for agriculture. And it was recently sold, Bianca says,

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Speaker 3: to someone from Kamui who paid the asking price of

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Speaker 3: around a million dollars.

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Speaker 2: Compared to the first scenario where it was going to

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Speaker 2: be sold to a company that specialized in developing luxury apartments,

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Speaker 2: it's a better case scenario. The whole concern was even

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Speaker 2: though the loss says something, we have seen this happen

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Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico before that. Then you see those rules

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Speaker 2: change for certain people or they just don't follow those

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Speaker 2: rules and they go do what they want and develop

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Speaker 2: where they shouldn't.

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Speaker 3: This is happening all the time in Puerto Rico, and

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Speaker 3: Bianca keeps her audience updated about a number of high

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Speaker 3: profile cases. This one happens to be in her backyard.

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Speaker 2: So it seems like in this scenario the risk of

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Speaker 2: that happening is lower. But it doesn't mean that we're

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Speaker 2: going to stop paying attention. We're still going to be

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Speaker 2: watching out for whatever happens here. So this is my

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Speaker 2: little spot over here. Okay, it depends on how far

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Speaker 2: down I want to go.

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Speaker 3: The trees part, and we're on a cliff, a ravine

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Speaker 3: leading down to a secluded beach.

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Speaker 2: I thought something know that.

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Speaker 5: I don't know if it was a turtle.

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Speaker 3: The waves are sparkling blue even though it's a cloudy day,

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Speaker 3: the air is salty, and the view is incredible.

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Speaker 2: I didn't really get to enjoy it growing up as

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Speaker 2: much as I'm enjoying it now.

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Speaker 3: This is kind of a cheesy question, but is that

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Speaker 3: true of all of Puerto Rico for you?

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Speaker 2: I think so. I was away for about ten years

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Speaker 2: and then I came back and I was like, wow,

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Speaker 2: I'm from tam Tam.

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Speaker 5: Wi is beautiful.

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Speaker 2: It's a treasure.

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Speaker 3: When you do your work and your reporting and you're

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Speaker 3: showing beautiful things, do you ever worry about who's watching.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I do, because people are discovering just how beautiful

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Speaker 2: these places are, but not to just admire them and

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Speaker 2: appreciate them for what they are, but to exploit them

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Speaker 2: for profit. So yes, I do worry about that, and

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Speaker 2: I show beautiful views in the context of my work.

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Speaker 2: But I'm also very careful not to romanticize our towns

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Speaker 2: because Puerto Rico is paradise, but it's not the same

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Speaker 2: kind of paradise for everyone. When you have to be

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Speaker 2: working long hours to just pay your electricity bill, to

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Speaker 2: put food on the table, you don't have the time

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Speaker 2: to just enjoy. So I never want to show these

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Speaker 2: views to give the false impression that everything here is

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Speaker 2: just paradise living, because it's nuanced. Both things exist. We

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Speaker 2: have a beautiful island with beautiful treasures at the same

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Speaker 2: time that life here can be really hard.

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Speaker 3: One of the strangest things about Puerto Rico now, five

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Speaker 3: years after Maria is that, despite the austerity crisis, despite

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Speaker 3: blackouts are both common and unpredictable. Despite the heartbreak of

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Speaker 3: so many Boriquas leaving to make a better life. Other

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Speaker 3: people are moving here. Most of them are coming from

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Speaker 3: the States, coming to take advantage.

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Speaker 5: Of tax incentives.

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Speaker 3: But then there are also Puerto Ricans who have come

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Speaker 3: back home despite the challenges, or perhaps because of them.

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Speaker 3: At first, Bianca returned to help take care of her father,

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Speaker 3: who had been seriously injured in a car crash.

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Speaker 2: But then the pandemic happened, so I kind of got

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Speaker 2: stuck here. So once I was stuck here, I was like,

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Speaker 2: why am I going back? So then I quit my

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Speaker 2: job and I.

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Speaker 3: Stayed because, I mean, there's a lot of journalism to

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Speaker 3: be done here.

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Speaker 2: So much, so much, And at that point I didn't

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Speaker 2: have it quite figured out, but I had a strong

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Speaker 2: sense that I could do it on my own without

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Speaker 2: working for a media company.

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Speaker 3: Bianca's early tiktoks about Puerto Rico are short explainers on

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Speaker 3: the basics. They're in English, and they're unpacking headlines for

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Speaker 3: people who don't know much about the island but they

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Speaker 3: want to.

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Speaker 2: In my video about Puerto Rico's colonial history, a lot

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Speaker 2: of you had questions about Puerto Rico's status. So do

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Speaker 2: Puerto Ricans want statehood. It's complicated. We have to tell

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Speaker 2: you about the hurricanes, earthquakes, government corruption. But even against

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Speaker 2: all those odds, there's some Puerto Ricans doing some amazing things.

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Speaker 2: This is one of my favorite beaches in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: As you can see now, the water hits the rocks directly,

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Speaker 2: and that's because sea level rises, swallowing Puerto Rico's beaches.

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Speaker 3: And then came the video about the land behind her home,

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Speaker 3: a video that tapped into the sense that the whole

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Speaker 3: island is for sale, that there's nothing anyone can do.

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Speaker 2: Puerto Ricans are worried that our land is being bought up.

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Speaker 3: Ever since then, Bianca's videos are constantly popping up in

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Speaker 3: my feed. Bianca is tapping into something and it's getting

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Speaker 3: a huge audience in Puerto Rico, even if it's not

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Speaker 3: necessarily made for them.

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Speaker 2: My most watched video on TikTok, I believe has eleven

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Speaker 2: million views.

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Speaker 5: It is about Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: And it is about the struggle to keep beaches public

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Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico. I just did a video talking about

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Speaker 2: Lahonda and it has seven hundred thousand views. That video

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Speaker 2: talked about Puerto Rico's colonial situation with an unelected board

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Speaker 2: that makes financial decisions for the people of Puerto Rico

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Speaker 2: every fourth of July. I see this comic Uncle Sam

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Speaker 2: is lowering a basket that says for me. So that's

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Speaker 2: the law that created Lahunda or the oversight board that

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Speaker 2: controls Puerto Rico's finances. Those views, most of them are

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Speaker 2: not coming from Puerto Rico. They're coming from people outside

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Speaker 2: of here.

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Speaker 3: Do you imagine yourself doing similar work if you worked

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Speaker 3: for a news.

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Speaker 2: Outlet, not on the way I'm doing it now. Maybe

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Speaker 2: there's an outlet out there that I don't know about

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Speaker 2: that would allow me to do the kind of work

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Speaker 2: I do in the way I do it, but not

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Speaker 2: in my experience.

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Speaker 5: In the eight plus years working for media.

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Speaker 3: Companies, say more about that, what's the difference?

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Speaker 2: But I was constantly having conversations about the stories that

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Speaker 2: I wanted to cover and how they always steered me

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Speaker 2: to cover something else or to cover that story in

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Speaker 2: a different way. I worked for local news stations where

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Speaker 2: they just insisted that I had to somehow talk about

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Speaker 2: how Hurricane Maria happening in Puerto Rico was going to

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Speaker 2: affect the pockets of people living in Saint Petersburg, Florida,

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Speaker 2: and that just made me go crazy. Why can't we

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Speaker 2: just talk about how people in Puerta de Ricar being

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Speaker 2: affected by this? And if you want any connection, then

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Speaker 2: let's talk about the bigger picture, what's really already there.

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Speaker 2: They'll make me twist and turn to find an angle

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Speaker 2: that's not there. In other newsrooms, it was focusing on

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Speaker 2: the tragedy and the appeal of the horrible images, but

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Speaker 2: shying away from the complex topics that I knew.

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Speaker 5: Could be simplified.

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Speaker 2: But they didn't really trust that, and they didn't trust

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Speaker 2: that people would care. This is why my work is

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Speaker 2: in English, because I am speaking to that audience who

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Speaker 2: has a vague sense of what Puerto Rico is and

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Speaker 2: what Puerto Ricans go through, but don't really understand it

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Speaker 2: in that colonial context. Now, some Puerto Ricans are having

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Speaker 2: to pack their bags and.

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Speaker 5: Move outsandocando.

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Speaker 2: Puerto Ricos in Puerto Ricans, and as more Puerto Ricans

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Speaker 2: are feeling displaced, tensions are rising. So yes, I try

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Speaker 2: to make it as simple and basic as possible while

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Speaker 2: also addressing very complex issues. So when people ask what

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Speaker 2: makes Puerto Rico colony? And you have to explain something

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Speaker 2: as complicated as an oversight management and financial board that

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Speaker 2: can get really boring really quickly. So I just try

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Speaker 2: to connect that to the real life examples that Puerto

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Speaker 2: Ricans are living. You know, when Puerto Ricans think about

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Speaker 2: La Junta, they think about the shutdowns R and I

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Speaker 2: try to make those connections because everyone can understand what

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Speaker 2: it would mean for their community to lose their local school.

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Speaker 2: Here's where colonialism comes in, because the order to make

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Speaker 2: cuts to education came from the board that was imposed

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Speaker 2: by the US and Puerto Rico. Years later, we find

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Speaker 2: out there were no savings as a result of the

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Speaker 2: closure of schools.

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Speaker 5: But the kids still suffered the consequences.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that people would have these questions or

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Speaker 3: this interest if not for Hurricane Maria.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I just think Hurricane Maria was this big national

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Speaker 2: story that everyone found out about. But you can look

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Speaker 2: at what happened in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and

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Speaker 2: you can react with bos Corporuto. Ricans can't catch or break.

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Speaker 2: That's just nature, Like, what are you going to do

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Speaker 2: about it? Right?

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Speaker 5: It's just that luck.

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Speaker 2: Or you can see how it wasn't just a natural disaster,

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Speaker 2: it was also everything that came after and how that

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Speaker 2: connects to colonialism and say, wow, there are people responsible here,

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Speaker 2: and there is a possibility of making this better. Why

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Speaker 2: aren't we So Hurricane Mario was that big story that

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Speaker 2: reaches people around the world, But we have things happen

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Speaker 2: every single day that I do believe are of interest

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Speaker 2: for people around the world, if only we know how

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Speaker 2: to put that information in a way that reaches people

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Speaker 2: that is easily digestible.

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Speaker 3: So if we imagine that those people are living in

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Speaker 3: the United States learning about the colonial existence of Puerto Rico,

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Speaker 3: I mean also for people who are listening to this

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Speaker 3: interview right now, what do you want them to feel?

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Speaker 2: As a journalist, I want them to know, Like that's

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Speaker 2: the simplest answer. I just want them to be aware.

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Speaker 2: The point is not to make anyone feel guilty, but

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Speaker 2: the government is held accountable by its people. There's plenty

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Speaker 2: of evidence that shows that Puerto Rico's colonial status has

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Speaker 2: a huge effect on Puerto Ricans every single day, and

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Speaker 2: I just think that information is important for everyone to know,

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Speaker 2: especially for the people whose federal government is responsible. I

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Speaker 2: felt like that's the conversation that we have locally a lot,

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Speaker 2: but it doesn't necessarily reach the people who can hold

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Speaker 2: that government accountable. So for me, it's important that the

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Speaker 2: people watching who don't live in Puerto Rico know the

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Speaker 2: responsibility the US government has with Puerto Rico. What they

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Speaker 2: do with that information is completely out of my hands,

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Speaker 2: but yes, to me, it is super important that they

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Speaker 2: just know about it. And I get so many questions

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Speaker 2: of what can I do, And I'm busy enough just

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Speaker 2: trying to get the information out there. There's no way

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Speaker 2: I can sit down and give you a guide of

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Speaker 2: what to do. But other people take it from there

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Speaker 2: for different things and whatever their viewpoint is. Because I'm

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Speaker 2: not advocating for one specific cause, I am giving you

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Speaker 2: the information, and then people can take it in so

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Speaker 2: many different ways.

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Speaker 3: When we cover corruption here, for example, on the island,

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Speaker 3: there's this fear that I have that people will see

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Speaker 3: that and think like, oh my god, this is such

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Speaker 3: a corrupt place.

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Speaker 2: I think about this all the time. So how do

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Speaker 2: you include all those layers while still keeping it simple?

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Speaker 2: In Puerto Rico, there is corruption. A lot of people

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Speaker 2: have face charges because of corruption. That doesn't mean that

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Speaker 2: everything that goes wrong in Puerto Rico is simply because

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Speaker 2: of corruption and of story. So how do you include

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Speaker 2: all those angles.

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Speaker 3: When you're doing like a minute and a half on

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Speaker 3: tiktook exactly?

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Speaker 2: So for me, if I only have a minute on TikTok,

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Speaker 2: people know that my content is about Puerto Rico in

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Speaker 2: the colonial context, and every now and then I do

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Speaker 2: have to talk like so and so who face charges

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Speaker 2: for corruption, But it's just not my focus because there's

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Speaker 2: plenty of coverage on that that people can find, but

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Speaker 2: I don't think there's enough coverage on the colonial context

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Speaker 2: of Puerto Rico, and that is.

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Speaker 5: What I cover.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes you share about your mental health and how you're

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Speaker 3: doing and how you're feeling. How are you doing, how

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Speaker 3: are you feeling?

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Speaker 2: In general?

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Speaker 5: I'm feeling good.

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Speaker 2: I just have my moments, you know. I do suffer

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Speaker 2: from anxiety and sometimes I have bouts of depression. And

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Speaker 2: I just think it's such a common experience that other

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Speaker 2: people have taught me the power and being vulnerable about it,

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Speaker 2: and that's the only reason I felt the courage to

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Speaker 2: share it. And it still felt weird, and I still

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Speaker 2: have this voice in my head that said, who cares?

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Speaker 2: You're supposed to only talk on social media to inform

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Speaker 2: people about the news at the same time that I

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Speaker 2: just wanted to connect with the people who follow and

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Speaker 2: support me. I want that community to know what's going

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Speaker 2: on because I know I'm going to have to go

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Speaker 2: quiet for a couple of weeks. I just want people

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Speaker 2: to know they're always going to be urgent stories to

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Speaker 2: get to and that I have to slow down, take

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Speaker 2: deep breaths, and take some days off if I want

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Speaker 2: to do this long term.

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Speaker 5: That's good to hear.

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Speaker 2: When I go out and report, I always hear that

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Speaker 2: mental health angle to all these stories, so I always

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Speaker 2: look for a way to sort of include that in there.

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Speaker 2: But it's such a deeply personal yet abstract story that

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Speaker 2: I have yet to really delve into it.

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Speaker 3: In your tiktoks, it used to be a lot about

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Speaker 3: your brother and his girlfriend, or growing basil or whatever.

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Speaker 5: Take a look at these planter boxes.

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Speaker 2: They're already using them to grow food.

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Speaker 3: And now it's significantly less of that and more explainers.

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Speaker 3: So I wonder what is happening there.

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Speaker 2: That's so funny, since I wonder if people have noticed

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Speaker 2: that transition. But you're totally right, and that has been

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Speaker 2: part of the conscious steps in order to protect myself

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Speaker 2: from all the emotions related to social media.

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Speaker 3: If like you're sharing less of yourself.

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Speaker 2: I'm sharing less of myself. But more importantly, I don't

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Speaker 2: see everything as content anymore. And I think in the

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Speaker 2: past it was this pressure that my mind was constantly

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Speaker 2: on because that was a potential piece of content that's

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Speaker 2: somehow tied into a bigger story in Puerto Rico that

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Speaker 2: I needed to be telling all the time. So if

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Speaker 2: I saw my brother and his girlfriend growing food, then

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Speaker 2: I was like, I could tell a story about this

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Speaker 2: because I'm put Torigo. We need to grow food, and

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Speaker 2: I need to be recording this now. It could just

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Speaker 2: be in the moment and be like, let's grow this basil.

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Speaker 2: So they didn't really know why I was recording them,

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Speaker 2: but I thought the world should know how cool they are.

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Speaker 3: As we get to the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, what

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Speaker 3: are your questions that are outstanding or are you even

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Speaker 3: thinking about the anniversary that much?

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Speaker 2: I'm thinking about the issues that remain unresolved and how

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Speaker 2: we still live them. How is it that some people

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Speaker 2: still don't have safe housing because they lost their housing

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Speaker 2: during Maria? How is it that we still don't have

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Speaker 2: renewable energy that is more reliable for Puerto Ricans. And

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Speaker 2: those are the issues that I think about all the

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Speaker 2: time and that I cover it.

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Speaker 3: But as as a person, are you feeling it any differently?

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Speaker 2: As a person, I'm worried about hurricane season. I'm thinking

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Speaker 2: about all the things that i have to prepare for,

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Speaker 2: and I'm thinking about how I'm going to manage if

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Speaker 2: i don't have electricity for a few months. So on

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Speaker 2: a personal level, I'm like, I'm scared. I know just

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Speaker 2: how much scarier it is, especially for people who did

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Speaker 2: go through Maria and who have those horrible memories and

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Speaker 2: are really scared that it could happen again. I think

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Speaker 2: gomogan osagulion. It just woke us up to so many realities,

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Speaker 2: and it absolutely has impacted my life. The fact that

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Speaker 2: I am learning to grow food is because it just

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Speaker 2: became so apparent to us that we can't just be

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Speaker 2: completely depending on imports, because people literally went hungry after

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Speaker 2: the hurricane. I mean, we saw it after the hurricane,

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Speaker 2: just so many people giving their time and money and

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Speaker 2: efforts to help people here. So that's very beautiful to

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Speaker 2: see just help people even when it's not a time of.

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Speaker 5: Crisis like the hurricane.

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Speaker 2: If you tell them about a story like I did

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Speaker 2: with the land, people immediately are asking how can we help.

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Speaker 2: And it's not just Puerto. Rican said that, the asports

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Speaker 2: people around the world who want to help somehow. Vianka,

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Speaker 2: thank you, thank you very much, thank you for coming

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Speaker 2: to Gamway, Beautiful.

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Speaker 3: Come away. Now I know how to get to that view.

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Speaker 3: We're not going to tell anybody about Yeah, just give

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Speaker 3: it a secret.

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Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Alana Casanova Virgs and Monica

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00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 1: Morales Garcia. It was edited by Julio Ricardo and mixed

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00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,440
Speaker 1: by Julia Caruso and Lea Shaw Damran. The Latino USA

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Speaker 1: team includes Andrea Lopez Grusado, Marta Martinez, Daisy Contreras, Mike Sargent,

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Speaker 1: Sulbaran and Julia Rocha, with help from Raul Vees. Our

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Speaker 1: editorial director is Fernanda Santos. Our director of engineering is

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Speaker 1: Stephanie Lebo. Our associate engineers are gabrielle A Bias and

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Speaker 1: music was composed by Sea Runos. Don't forget to subscribe

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Speaker 1: to Labrega from Futuro Studios and WNYC Studios, wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. I'm your host and executive producer Maria

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Speaker 1: jo Josa. Join us gain on our next episode and

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Speaker 1: in the meantime look for us on social media and

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Speaker 1: Acuerda de Notayas Joe.

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Speaker 3: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Anni E.

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