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Speaker 1: All ash chespeace. Listener comst us, I'm coming to your

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Speaker 1: feet to bring you something special. Futura Studios or Podcast

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Speaker 1: Division has been working on season three of our heat podcast,

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Speaker 1: lave Rega. It's a new season that I love and

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Speaker 1: I think you are going.

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Speaker 2: To love it too.

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Speaker 1: Now, for those of you that are new to the show,

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Speaker 1: La Brega tells the stories of the Puerto Rican experience

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Speaker 1: and these stories have resonated with listeners around the world.

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Speaker 1: This season, we go into the cultural battlefields to talk

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Speaker 1: about campiones of Puerto Rico. So what do we learn

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Speaker 1: about Puerto Ricans by spending time with these champions. We

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Speaker 1: are going to play episode one who represents Us? And

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Speaker 1: in it, Leaverega takes us back four years ago when

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Speaker 1: Puerto Ricans woke up one morning to a top ller

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Speaker 1: statue of a colonizer in Diegos and Juan and it

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Speaker 1: forced the question of who that serves to be up

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Speaker 1: on a pedestal. And by the way, you can binge

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Speaker 1: all episodes at free when you joined Fududoplas, so easy

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Speaker 1: to do it. You just sign up to support us

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Speaker 1: as the Futudo Plas member at Futuo Media Group. Dot

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Speaker 1: org slash joined plus Alana Casanova Burgess, the host of

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Speaker 1: La Brea is going to take us from here. And

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Speaker 1: yet there is some explicit language. You have been warned, Futuro.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't just any Monday morning in Puerto Rico. It

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Speaker 2: was January twenty fourth, twenty twenty two, and there was

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Speaker 2: a lot of anticipation.

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Speaker 3: Oh it is supponequetla simhaolando del comn soo de classes

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Speaker 3: sign for one thing.

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Speaker 2: Kids in Puerto Rico were going back to in person classes,

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Speaker 2: even though the pandemic was still in full swing. Some

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Speaker 2: students hadn't been in a classroom for two years because

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Speaker 2: of the earthquakes in the south. And also on this Monday,

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Speaker 2: the King was coming. El Rey Felipe six, the actual

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Speaker 2: King of Spain, Felipe or King Felippe the sixth, was

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Speaker 2: coming to celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the founding

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Speaker 2: of San Juan. His visit had been postponed from the

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Speaker 2: year before, and the press was poised to cover three

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Speaker 2: carefully choreographed days of meetings. They had the official schedule

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Speaker 2: and they were ready to tell us about its.

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Speaker 4: Actos proto Colaris proto Colaris protolares, transmission simult.

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Speaker 2: Those actos proto colares. All of that pomp and circumstance

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Speaker 2: were in service of a bigger goal, according to TV analysts. Now,

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Speaker 2: as a US colony, Puerto Rico can't go around making

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Speaker 2: trade deals with other countries. But the king was coming

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Speaker 2: with Spain's Minister of Commerce. So talking heads on TV

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Speaker 2: like a former governor kept saying the visit could spell

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Speaker 2: investment for Puerto Rico. You know, deals, deals, deals in

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Speaker 2: mondanteros isac So the steaks were high when we woke

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Speaker 2: up that Monday morning, logged onto Twitter or Facebook or

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Speaker 2: Instagram and saw photos nobody was expecting. According to police,

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Speaker 2: the statue of the Spanish conquistello Juan Bonzeleleon in Old

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Speaker 2: San Juan had been vandalized sometime around four thirty am.

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Speaker 2: Although vandalized seemed like an understatement. In photos, we could

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Speaker 2: see this green bearded sculpture lying on the ground, face

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Speaker 2: up next to his white pedestal. He was broken in

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Speaker 2: two Bones's legs had come off from his body just

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Speaker 2: below his midib puffy shorts. Part of his bass had

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Speaker 2: come off too, so he was surrounded by chunks of

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Speaker 2: rubble the real Bonz Deeleon had been appointed by Spain

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Speaker 2: as the first governor of Puerto Rico in fifteen oh nine.

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Speaker 2: His statue had been pointing south, perhaps towards the original

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Speaker 2: capital city, Gabarra, with his other hand on his hip,

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Speaker 2: but on the ground it looked like the statue was

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Speaker 2: holding his finger up in the air, as if he

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Speaker 2: wanted to say just one more thing before everyone stopped listening.

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Speaker 3: He looked small Cepaso geniso Eto borgue.

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Speaker 2: For many media commentators, like talk radio show host Ruben

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Speaker 2: Sanchez on WKAQ, the big reaction was horror, shock, dismay.

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Speaker 2: The statue, he told Mayor Miguel Romero, had been there

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Speaker 2: since he was a little boy, but actually it had

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Speaker 2: been up in that place since the eighteen nineties, right

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Speaker 2: off the famous Cay San Sebastian, next to the Church

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Speaker 2: of San Jose, the same church that King Philippe was

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Speaker 2: scheduled to visit the very next day. The mayor had

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Speaker 2: the royal planes arrival time at his fingertips Antose agira

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Speaker 2: Ute Pa Felippe.

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Speaker 5: Basala scinco Quarenta sinkoua ai perto Rico.

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Speaker 2: Sometime between five forty five and five point fifty that

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Speaker 2: very afternoon. Perhaps the mayor said, the monarch doesn't even

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Speaker 2: notice these kinds of things. Maybe the protest wasn't even

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Speaker 2: about the royal visit, but it absolutely was. Even before

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Speaker 2: seven am, a group called the fortsas libertariesle Borricin had

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Speaker 2: taken responsibility for pulling the statue down. They hadn't been

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Speaker 2: heard of before, and they haven't been heard of sense.

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Speaker 2: But the message was no kings and no gringo invaders.

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Speaker 2: They were linking Ponce de Leon, a symbol of Spanish colonialism,

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Speaker 2: to people from the United States moving to Puerto Rico

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Speaker 2: for tax incentives, displacing Puerto Ricans. Whoever was behind the group,

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Speaker 2: they had gotten everyone's attention. Coming up after the break

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Speaker 2: an empty pedestal. This is Labrega. Season three of La

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Speaker 2: Brega was made possible by the Melon Foundation, which seeks

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Speaker 2: to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by

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Speaker 2: critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

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Speaker 3: I immediately call the friend and we came here like

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Speaker 3: really really early, just sort of to see it. I

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Speaker 3: needed to see this statue on the ground.

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Speaker 2: Rafael Capo Garcia Leeds Memorial de Coloniell a group that

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Speaker 2: gives counter narrative history tours.

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Speaker 3: It was me and probably three other people interested in

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Speaker 3: what had happened, and then you had the press, You

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Speaker 3: had municipal employees outraged with how you could deface this monument.

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Speaker 2: Rafael already knew the statue really well. He used to

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Speaker 2: be a high school history teacher and he'd bring his

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Speaker 2: students to Old San Juan for field trips, teaching them

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Speaker 2: to question whether violent colonizers were really heroes and champions

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Speaker 2: who deserved to be on a pedestal. So when he

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Speaker 2: saw Monteleeleone lying on the ground, he felt hopeful.

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Speaker 3: I was I was hopeful. I was excited that we

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Speaker 3: were going to finally have these conversations, much needed conversations.

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Speaker 2: But that conversation about who really represents Puerto Ricans and

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Speaker 2: Puerto Rican neess, it didn't seem like there was going

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Speaker 2: to be time for it to happen, because by eight

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Speaker 2: thirty am, Mayor Romero had already made a promise. In interviews,

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Speaker 2: he sounded confident, even breezy, standing next to the empty pedestal,

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Speaker 2: speaking with a reporter from Minuelo Lea.

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Speaker 5: In Quete.

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Speaker 2: He expected the statue to be back up that very

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Speaker 2: same day.

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Speaker 3: So the municipal government had to run, had to hustle

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Speaker 3: to get this statue up because in their minds, they

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Speaker 3: couldn't allow the King of Spain to visit San Juan

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Speaker 3: and see this symbol of Spanish heritage on the ground.

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Speaker 2: Did you think that they would be able to do it?

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Speaker 3: So it's pretty ridiculous. I didn't think they would be

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Speaker 3: able to do it because the statue was broken in half.

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Speaker 3: Imagine like it takes them forever to fix a pothole.

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Speaker 2: Right, It was actually Mayor Rometo who acknowledged the pothole

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Speaker 2: problem that morning. The city would have to spend public

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Speaker 2: funds on fixing the statue, he lamented, instead of on

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Speaker 2: fixing a pothole. There are some potholes in Puerto Rico

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Speaker 2: that are old enough to have birthday parties, but the

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Speaker 2: city was going to go ahead and try to repair

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Speaker 2: Juam in less than a day. It felt ridiculous. Online,

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Speaker 2: people were coping with the absurdity the usual way with memes.

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Speaker 6: I saw it like at ten am, eleven am, and

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Speaker 6: I just started brainstorming.

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Speaker 2: Wampablo Diez, who goes by Jumpy is a political satirist

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Speaker 2: and actor. He wanted to get something out about the

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Speaker 2: statue really quickly.

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Speaker 6: I thought, well, I can do a parody of a

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Speaker 6: song because the music is already there. I just had

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Speaker 6: to change the words. Is the King of Spain? What

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Speaker 6: is a good a good recognizable song? The statue is

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Speaker 6: broke Partio corrassan partio Alejandro sans Let's go.

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Speaker 3: Party a.

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Speaker 2: La Lumpy also rigged a bit moji to look like

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Speaker 2: a green bearded singing along to the song Colon. There's

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Speaker 2: a particular line he wrote. The statue sings, you all

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Speaker 2: know that nothing will be the same without me. How

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Speaker 2: will you remember colonialism? Like gooza. It's a punch because

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Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico, nobody needs a statue to remember colonialism.

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Speaker 2: It's not in the past. And so far, around five

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Speaker 2: hundred years of Puerto Rico's colonial past and present were

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Speaker 2: being crammed into one single day. More and more layers

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Speaker 2: were revealing themselves as the hours ticked by potholes, earthquakes,

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Speaker 2: tax incentives, the literal King of Spain.

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Speaker 6: I think Puerto Ricans laugh to get less pissed off.

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Speaker 2: And actually the more Humpy remembered the day with me.

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Speaker 2: The more pissed off he got, he remembered that the

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Speaker 2: coverage was taking the vandalism of the statue so seriously

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Speaker 2: as though it was a national catastrophe.

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Speaker 3: Desatre.

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Speaker 2: For example, here's a comparison to the attack on the

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Speaker 2: Twin Towers on nine to eleven. And there was a

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Speaker 2: disconnect between the way the government and the press were

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Speaker 2: handling the story and the anger and mockery that we

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Speaker 2: were seeing online. There were Valentine's Day cards like you

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Speaker 2: Knock me over like, and jokes about the statue being

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Speaker 2: too high to get up off the Florida Party asking

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Speaker 2: someone to get him a sandwich. People were playing with

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Speaker 2: the idea of honoring other more deserving figures instead photo

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Speaker 2: shopping Briquez like IDEs Chacohon and bad Bunny up on

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Speaker 2: Pon's old spot. Because the thing is in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: There's no shortage of people who deserve to be honored

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Speaker 2: on a pedestal. If you ask around old San Juan,

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Speaker 2: or even in that same square Plasa San Jose, you'll

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Speaker 2: hear so many better options than Juan any other person honestly,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, I just won't like to see him, baseball players, musicians, poets, boxers,

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Speaker 2: independence activists, Ricky Martin or me. And those are just

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Speaker 2: the persons that pop up. I heard creative responses ideas

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Speaker 2: for things that aren't even human, like a tree or

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Speaker 2: a goddess. I heard enthusiasm to the point of yelling a.

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Speaker 7: Poor fa.

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Speaker 2: And I heard the names of tons of talented and

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Speaker 2: distinguished Briquas icons who inspire so much devotion. Wow. Growing up,

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Speaker 2: my mother and I'm sure probably your mother too, would

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Speaker 2: point out Puerto Ricans everywhere. She still does. Hi, I

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Speaker 2: just wanted to tell you that I saw the Jimmy

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Speaker 2: Fallon show and I heard the planaros de la Crista.

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Speaker 2: Did you know they're from Cialis. I can't remember my

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Speaker 2: English father ever leaning over to celebrate someone's Englishness, But

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Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico and its diaspora, we have a thing

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Speaker 2: for people representing the archipelago, competing for it or championing

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Speaker 2: it in some way. That's why this season on La Brega,

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Speaker 2: we're bringing you stories of Puerto Rican champions. We're going

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Speaker 2: to meet fighters who have represented us in courtrooms and

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Speaker 2: in boxing rings, and icons who have worn Puerto Rico

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Speaker 2: on their sashes and on their jerseys. We're going to

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Speaker 2: go to the cultural battlefields where Puerto Rico is a country,

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Speaker 2: and carrying the flag takes on even more meaning. What

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Speaker 2: does it mean and what does it take to champion

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Speaker 2: Puerto Rico as a nation unflinchingly and with boundless pride.

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Speaker 2: And perhaps this is why the events of January twenty fourth,

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two felt and feel so absurd, because there

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Speaker 2: was an empty pedestal just sitting there, and a pantheon

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Speaker 2: of heroes to fill it, and yet the government insisted

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Speaker 2: it should be up there, and that they could resurrect

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Speaker 2: his statue in just a day, and the hours were

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Speaker 2: ticking by, so coming up after the break, remember five

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Speaker 2: hours to go until the king arrives. This is Love DGA.

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Speaker 2: By one pm, a city crew had removed the statue

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Speaker 2: of or the two pieces of it from the plaza.

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Speaker 2: No one knew the whereabouts of the shattered colonizer, but

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Speaker 2: with five hours left until the King's arrival, we got

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Speaker 2: a glimpse someone It seemed likely that it was a

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Speaker 2: municipal employee had recorded an eight second video that I

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Speaker 2: can only describe as art. The opening frame shows one

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Speaker 2: of those blue quilted blankets people used to protect precious cargo.

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Speaker 2: A left hand pulls the fabric back and reveals, I'd

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Speaker 2: say not Cleon's face and gives him a short, swift slap.

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Speaker 2: It's hard to keep a straight face even just remembering

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Speaker 2: the video. It has derailed our editorial meetings and makes

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Speaker 2: it hard to even record these lines. The comedic timing

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Speaker 2: is impeccable, but it's also deep in life. Pon Ce

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Speaker 2: DeLeon was a violent conquistallo. As a statue, he was

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Speaker 2: glorified on an adorned pedestal, but now he was broken

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Speaker 2: in two and casually slapped. That's not to say everyone agreed.

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Speaker 2: It's typical when a controversial monument is vandalized for some

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Speaker 2: people to see it as an affront to heritage and

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Speaker 2: an effort to rewrite history. And there were people who

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Speaker 2: certainly felt that way and were offended. Online there were

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Speaker 2: arguments and comment sections and on Facebook posts about what

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Speaker 2: the statue really represented. The director of the Museum of

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Speaker 2: San Juan was giving voice to that reaction in Interviewstrimonio

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Speaker 2: Altitoto Rico. And that's because Juanlon isn't only a person

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Speaker 2: who existed and who enslaved and killed indigenous people and Africans.

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Speaker 2: He's also a symbol of Spanish and part of a

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Speaker 2: conversation about what it means to be Puerto Rican and

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Speaker 2: who represents our origins. And the statue of him isn't

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Speaker 2: just any monument. It says a lot and I mean

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Speaker 2: that literally.

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Speaker 5: Jo Juan pong ce DeLeon, Colonia primego Bernador la de

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Speaker 5: Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: There's a short film from nineteen fifty seven that was

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Speaker 2: made by the Puerto Rican government and narrated by the statue.

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Speaker 2: It tells the story of the Spanish conquest.

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Speaker 8: Quel.

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Speaker 2: It's a real rewriting of history with only scant acknowledgment

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Speaker 2: of any violence. The last line makes a big claim

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Speaker 2: the people of Puerto Rico are a tree and he

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Speaker 2: puon Celeon is the root buev.

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Speaker 5: La Puerto Ricane horble delo Juan bong Se DeLeon.

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Speaker 2: If the actual statue could really talk, it would tell

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Speaker 2: a much more complicated story about Puerto Rican identity. Rafael

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Speaker 2: Capo has written about it extensively.

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Speaker 3: The earliest mention that I found was in eighteen seventy seven,

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Speaker 3: a journalist in the Conservative newspaper Boleti Mercantile mentioned how

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rico needed to honor its conquistador right, and he

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Speaker 3: mentioned that just like in Mexico, ernand Cortes was the

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Speaker 3: Mexican Moses Right who was venerated by all ponzileon should

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Speaker 3: receive the same treatment in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 2: Four years later, there's another newspaper report about the statue.

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Speaker 2: It has been made in New York and is arriving

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Speaker 2: in San Juan, and the material is notable. It's made

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Speaker 2: from two bronze cannons that had been used to defend

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Speaker 2: Puerto Rico from a failed invasion by the British in

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Speaker 2: seventeen ninety seven. This is one of the defining moments

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Speaker 2: in Puerto Rican history, when Sir Ralph Abercrombie attacks Sun

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Speaker 2: Juan with a massive fla and thousands of soldiers.

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Speaker 3: The people that defend Puerto Rico are not just Spanish soldiers.

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Speaker 2: Black Puerto Ricans, Creoles, whites, men, women, Everyone came together

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Speaker 2: to fight off the British, and many historians say that

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Speaker 2: this is the moment that the Puerto Rican nation was created.

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Speaker 2: So when the statue was put up in eighteen eighty two,

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Speaker 2: those who had pushed for it were celebrating a connection

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Speaker 2: to Spain with this other element baked in.

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Speaker 3: For me, the statue and Hispanic heritage has always been

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Speaker 3: really interesting because of how it sort of has become

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Speaker 3: not so much now, but definitely during the twentieth century

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Speaker 3: when the US was trying to Americanize Puerto Ricans, a

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Speaker 3: lot of them sought refuge in Hispanicity.

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Speaker 2: It was a way of saying we aren't Americans, we.

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Speaker 3: Are something else, and rooting themselves in European and Hispanic

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Speaker 3: Spanish heritage was sort of a defensive mechanism.

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Speaker 2: Being Spanish was special different. For example, there's a debate

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Speaker 2: that comes up in nineteen oh eight for the four

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Speaker 2: hundredth anniversary of Ponzeleon arriving in Puerto Rico.

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Speaker 3: The official historian of Puerto Rico Calos, is adamant that

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Speaker 3: Juan Ponzeleon has his own national holiday. He's a hero

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Speaker 3: in Puerto Rico, and he specifically mentions and I love

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Speaker 3: this quote. He says, hopefully all conquistadors of the Indies

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Speaker 3: would have been as benevolent as Juan Ponzeleon was with

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Speaker 3: the indigenous peoples of Puerto Rico. This is simply not true,

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Speaker 3: because it's it's always that Puerto Rico is an exception, right,

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Speaker 3: that we are somehow devoid of racism, because in our

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Speaker 3: historical origins, thanks to Spanish civilization, we were conceived through

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Speaker 3: mixture and tolerance from the beginning. And this narrative is

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Speaker 3: always constructed by positing that there is another that is

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Speaker 3: racist and refuses to mix, and those are the British,

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Speaker 3: and that is the United States.

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Speaker 2: So at some point, though, you get up on the pedestal.

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Speaker 3: So getting up on the pedestal was not the plan.

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Speaker 2: It was around two PM, a little less than four

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Speaker 2: hours before the King of Spain was slated to arrive

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Speaker 2: in Puerto Rico. On this fateful day. Municipal workers had

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Speaker 2: been readying the base to receive the repaired statue. One

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Speaker 2: of them had left a ladder.

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Speaker 3: He put a ladder there and he left and I

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Speaker 3: looked at my friend. I was like, well, fugget.

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Speaker 2: And when Rafaele got up there, he did the ponceleon

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Speaker 2: pose a finger in the air and a hand on

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Speaker 2: the hiptagi. Were you trolling them a little bit?

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Speaker 3: It was definitely trolling. I had no intention of staying

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Speaker 3: the entire day, And yeah, I stayed there maybe for

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Speaker 3: an hour.

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Speaker 2: It was long enough to make some news that a

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Speaker 2: protester had delayed the installation of the statue. They took

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Speaker 2: it very seriously, oh Man in video. After I suppose

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Speaker 2: some other protesters started arriving. It was getting close to

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Speaker 2: the deadline. I didn't know how it was going to end.

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Speaker 2: Lauda Beres is a journalist based in San Juan and

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Speaker 2: an editor for Labrega. She had been reporting for a

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Speaker 2: wire service that day and had been in the plaza

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Speaker 2: for nearly five hours.

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Speaker 7: At some point I realized that there were policemen walking

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Speaker 7: into the plaza. They were wearing riot gear and they

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Speaker 7: were well intimidating.

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Speaker 2: It was four forty five, an hour ago.

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Speaker 7: People actually started screaming at them, and what they were

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Speaker 7: saying is something I've heard before in these kind of circumstances.

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Speaker 7: How come you don't answer the call when when my

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Speaker 7: safety is at risk? But how come is it that

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Speaker 7: you're here now when I'm protesting?

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Speaker 2: The riot police marched forward, forcing people out of their

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Speaker 2: way and forming a line around the pedestal, creating space

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Speaker 2: for the municipal workers who had just arrived. With the

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Speaker 2: repaired statue.

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Speaker 7: When they started trying to get juampozelon out of the pickup,

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Speaker 7: that's when I realized, oh, this is heavy and this

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Speaker 7: is not an easy task.

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Speaker 2: Municipal workers brought a couple of cherry pickers with them.

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Speaker 2: They're like a small crane with a basket on the end.

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Speaker 2: They had wrapped yellow straps around the now intact statue,

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Speaker 2: so it looked like Bonce was wearing a ziplining harness.

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Speaker 2: He was hanging from a crane while workers in the

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Speaker 2: baskets and on the ground tried to position him on

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Speaker 2: the pedestal. There was a live stream so we could

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Speaker 2: all watch their splayed fingers.

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Speaker 7: All of a sudden, the step was like flying in

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Speaker 7: the middle of the square and he's just flying, but

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Speaker 7: like he's crooked, not like a superhero that knows how

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Speaker 7: to fly.

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Speaker 2: He was at an angle as though he was really ziplining,

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Speaker 2: and they couldn't quite place him as he swung around.

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Speaker 7: And I'm not sure that they know what they're doing.

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Speaker 2: An hour went by, it seemed that they.

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Speaker 7: Were just improvised and they were just trying to make

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Speaker 7: it work with whatever materials and tools they have for

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Speaker 7: whatever it is that they do for a living, which

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Speaker 7: is not putting status back up on a pedestal.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure about that, because the top part of the

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Speaker 2: pedestal had also crashed down that morning. The base was

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Speaker 2: now shorter, and there didn't seem to be an easy

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Speaker 2: way to install the statue, and.

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Speaker 7: They had to put it back down. And then Bonzeleon

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Speaker 7: was again lying on the floor of a square. Where

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Speaker 7: did they started?

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Speaker 2: And meanwhile, in the live feed from the airport.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, tabajando l ray felipes exto, Oh, it's the King's

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Speaker 4: plane had landed a few minutes early, at five thirty five.

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Speaker 2: Ailo bemos perto Rico. It was an unforgettable spectacle, a

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Speaker 2: split screen, with the King on one side getting a

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Speaker 2: red carpet welcome and the conquistellar statue on the other

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Speaker 2: swinging from yellow nylon straps. The audience was Puerto Rico,

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Speaker 2: even though it seemed like the show had been put

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Speaker 2: on for someone else.

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Speaker 7: We're always thinking about what others think of us, but

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Speaker 7: not what we think of ourselves.

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Speaker 2: That's Puerto Rico. It was just before seven pm when

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Speaker 2: the bronze statue of Juampone Deleone was finally reinstalled, with

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Speaker 2: his legs attached to his body and his finger pointing

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Speaker 2: to the south. The king had yet to drive past

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Speaker 2: the site, but something was wrong. The statue leaned to

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Speaker 2: the left like a lot.

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Speaker 8: I couldn't in good faith stand back and look up

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Speaker 8: at that pedestal and say, one pont of is standing tall.

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Speaker 8: I'm proud and straight, you know.

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Speaker 2: Adrian Florid, though, is a reporter and pr who covers

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Speaker 2: race and identity in the US. And when I told

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Speaker 2: him I was starting this season with this story, he

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Speaker 2: remembered a recording he had made for his side project,

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Speaker 2: documenting Puerto Rico in sound.

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Speaker 8: A lot of times when you're recording and documenting, you

395
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 8: don't know what it means yet. And I think that's

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Speaker 8: true of what happened with the points of their own statue.

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Speaker 2: Adrian had followed the movement to remove statues of Confederate

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Speaker 2: generals and other figures, and this moment of reflection that

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00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 2: a lot of communities around the world had had about

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Speaker 2: their monuments.

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Speaker 8: Who are heroes?

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Speaker 5: You know?

403
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Speaker 8: Like, who are we honoring? Let's put the statue in

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00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 8: a warehouse for a while till we decide what to

405
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Speaker 8: do with it. A lot of places said, no, we're

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Speaker 8: not putting that back up. It doesn't represent our values anymore.

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Speaker 8: Other places have left the pedestals just blank and empty,

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00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 8: you know, which forces a conversation about what used to

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00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 8: be there and what isn't there now and maybe what

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00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,960
Speaker 8: should be there And maybe they're like, aren't answers to

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00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 8: that question necessarily, but it forces people at the very

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Speaker 8: least to reflect on it that.

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Speaker 2: Clearly wasn't happening here. There just wasn't going to be

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Speaker 2: time to discuss what this particular statue says about Puerto

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Speaker 2: Ricans or Puerto Rico. Adrian got there just after it

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00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 2: had been reinstalled and there were protesters heckling and pointing

417
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 2: out that, yes, the statue was most definitely crooked, and

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Speaker 2: he spoke with the director of Public Works for San

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Speaker 2: Juan raoul Garcia.

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Speaker 8: Raoul Garcia, I asked him, is that did you put

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Speaker 8: it up the way it was before? Like this looks

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Speaker 8: people are saying it looks a little crooked.

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Speaker 9: Luba, I mean, is the word that Puerto Ricans used

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Speaker 9: twekod with Mexicans.

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Speaker 8: He said, we put it back up exactly the way

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Speaker 8: that it should be.

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Speaker 2: He says the pedestal is missing, but that they'd be

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Speaker 2: fixing it soon.

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Speaker 8: I was curious to know whether he'd had the conversation

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Speaker 8: with anybody about whether that was the right decision to make,

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Speaker 8: given what was happening in other places where these sorts

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Speaker 8: of statues had been topp of corresponding, this is a

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Speaker 8: statue that has been here since the nineteenth century. Of

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Speaker 8: course we were going to put it back up.

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Speaker 2: It's not a political situation. It's just simply that the

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Speaker 2: administration decided to put it back up. About this.

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Speaker 8: With hesitation like, of course not.

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Speaker 2: We asked the municipal government for an interview and for comment,

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00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,280
Speaker 2: and they did not respond. The King did make a

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00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 2: visit to the church next to the statue during his visit,

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00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 2: but he didn't walk past it. It seems unlikely that

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00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 2: he saw it at all, given how far away his

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00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,880
Speaker 2: driver parked. We'll never know if the King of Spain

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00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 2: noticed the tiny, crooked colonizer, but frankly, I don't think

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00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 2: most people care if he saw it or not. Four

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00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,479
Speaker 2: years later, Pontleon is still slanted. The city never did

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00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 2: fix the pedestal, so the effect is that the statue

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00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 2: is leaning to the left and is also lower to

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00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,200
Speaker 2: the ground knock down a peg. Literally, it's telling a

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00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 2: different story than it used to. I've heard a lot

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00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 2: of fantasies about what could happen next. What if Bonzo

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00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,720
Speaker 2: de Leon keeps leaning and just crashes to the ground again?

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00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 2: And then what if the bronze from the cannons of

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00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,320
Speaker 2: the statue is made out of is so important to

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00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 2: a story about Puerto Rican identity? What if it were

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00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 2: melted down and forged into a new monument. Who would

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00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 2: we replace him with? What story would that tell? Or

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00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 2: what if the pedestal were left empty to invite us

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00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 2: to reflect on who actually represents us? What would we

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00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 2: learn about Puerto Rican nous if we really had that

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00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 2: conversation about who has championed Puerto Rico and who our

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00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 2: heroes are. So we're going to do just that. Oh

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00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 2: from Futuro Studios. I'm Alana Casanova Burgess and this is

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00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:57,239
Speaker 2: La Brega in this season Puerto Rican Champions.

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00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,680
Speaker 7: To Puerto Rico, Dorrico.

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00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:03,920
Speaker 3: You don't get that anywhere else.

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00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:04,800
Speaker 7: It's awesome.

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00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 2: People would often say are the young Lords coming? And

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00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,480
Speaker 2: I would say, the young words are here.

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00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 1: That would be me.

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00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 7: Significio. Imagine that your quadron is bleeding for me, the

472
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 7: quadras everything.

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00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 2: America has told her, who do you think you are

474
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 2: coming to this country? You don't belong here? She's like, no,

475
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 2: who do you think you are to treat me that way?

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00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 2: On the next epiod, Soda La Rega, we honor a

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00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 2: cambaione We all loved to hear El Cuatro. This episode

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00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 2: was reported and written by me Alana Casanova Burgess. It

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00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:15,800
Speaker 2: was produced by Isaquiel Rodriguez Sandino and edited by Maria

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00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,360
Speaker 2: Garcia and Laura Perez. Additional editorial support from our senior

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00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 2: producer Nicole Rothwell. Original art for this episode is by

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00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 2: Dania Gonzalez. Special thanks this week to Mark Pagan, Yarimar

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00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:35,000
Speaker 2: Bo Rilla, Adrian Florido, Tito Roman, Olga Casanova Burgess, Eliot Burgess,

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00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:39,280
Speaker 2: and Alex Owen. The La Brega team includes Nicole Rothwell,

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00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:45,280
Speaker 2: Isaquila Prodrigua Sandino, Laura Perez, Lilliana Ruis, Roxana Aguire, Maria

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00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:49,000
Speaker 2: Garcia and Marlon Bishop. Fact checking this season is by

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00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 2: Laura Morcoso and Tatiana Dias Ramos. Sound designed by Jacob

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00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 2: Rozzarti Mixing by Stephanie Lebou, Julia Carrusso and j. J. Carubin.

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00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 2: Scoring and musical curate by Jacob Brazzatti and Stephanie Lebau.

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00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,720
Speaker 2: Our theme song is by Ife. Original music is by Balloon.

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00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Marlon Bishop and Maria Garcia and

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00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 2: me Ala Na Casanova Burgess. Legal review by Neil Rossini

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00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 2: and pro Jorn. Futura Media was founded by Maria Inojosa.

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00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 2: Labrega is a production of Fututo Studios. This season of

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00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,239
Speaker 2: Labrega was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Check out

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00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 2: our website Labrega Podcast dot org for transcripts and more

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00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,800
Speaker 2: information about this episode and if you want access to

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00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,400
Speaker 2: the entire season right now. Add free sign up to

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00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 2: support us as a Futluto Plus member at futuomdiagroup dot

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00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:43,799
Speaker 2: org slash join plus. Talk to you soon, bye,