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Forbes’ 2013 Social Media Power Users Is Out: Where Are the Latinos?

April 17, 2013 by Julito Varela


Before I start, I was really happy to see so many familiar faces and people who made the Forbes’ list of 2013 Social Media Power Users. People like Ted Rubin, Chris Brogan, Ann Handley, Jessica Northey, Aaron Lee, Mari Smith, Calvin Lee, Jeff Bullis, Gary Vaynerchuk, etc. are all amazing people, and I am really happy to see them get listed.

However, the overall list sadly lacks in diversity, and it specifically ignores well-known and established Latino Power Users. Again. It is becoming a common and disturbing trend, one that needs to stop.

The author of the piece, Haydn Shaughnessy, could have clearly dug a little deeper when it comes to “influence.” Yes, he established his criteria through Peek Analytics, with the assumption that this is all about “reach.” (By the way, my Peek is 327.) That is only part of the full picture. Reach only takes you so far. It is the quality of your reach that matters. For example, my company Latino Rebels has become a go-to source for many members of the national media. Our community is highly loyal and highly engaged, and it serves a demographic (bilingual, bicultural young Latinos) that is the new “hot” demo. How do you measure that influence? By a Peek score? Or by people who come to your site and social media networks every day, who want to engage you and want to support you? The real Power User builds lasting relationships, and while many of the 2013 Forbes Power Users listed do follow that course, many others on the list do not. And that is why the list fails, in my opinion.

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So I ask again: where are the Latino Power Users? Does Shaughnessy not know about Latism or Hispanicize? Does he not know about Elianne Ramos (the Latism Reina) or Laura Gómez (the first Latina at Twitter)? These are just two very specific examples of Power Users who have earned the respect, love, and credibility of the Latino digital community. I could also give Shaughnessy about 20-30 names, but I wonder if he even read this opinion piece from the HuffPost that speaks to how Latinos just can no longer be ignored in the social space:

Latinos, who have been recorded as the group with the highest rate of early adopters are continuously embracing technology faster than any other demographic in the United States.

According to a report by Pew Internet and American Life Project, 18 percent of Latinos online are Twitter users, a greater percentage than their counterparts in every other category.

On Facebook, Latinos are also using the social media platform at a higher rate than their counterparts, with 54.2 percent of Latinos online regularly using Facebook, just above non-Latino blacks at 47.7 percent and non-Latino whites at 43 percent, according to marketing company Big Research.

Successful organizations such as United We Dream and Latism have been able to implement positive change within their communities because they not only understand Latinos, they also know how to successfully engage them. To give you an idea of their reach, United We Dream has 4,911 Twitter followers and over 13,000 “Likes” on Facebook, and Latism has over 23,000 Twitter followers and over 150,000 “Likes” on Facebook.

Or did he even read this 2012 report from Nielsen?

Social is another platform where Latinos are especially active and rising in numbers.  During February 2012, Hispanics increased their visits to Social Networks/Blogs by 14 percent compared to February 2011.  Not only are Latinos the fastest growing U.S. ethnic group on Facebook and WordPress.com from a year ago, but also Hispanic adults are 25 percent more likely to follow a brand and 18 percent more likely to follow a celebrity than the general online population.

Do you think that this happens by accident? No. It is because there is a very dynamic and influential group of Latino Power Users who are building real communities each and every day.

I know that many of those 2013 Forbes Power Users understand that the Latino social space is thriving. Last week at Hispanicize in Miami, for example, I ran into one 2013 Power User (and fellow Knick Fan) Ted Rubin, who was at that conference and making serious connections. Because Ted gets it, and he’s nice, too. Latinos are the future of social media, and I won’t accept Shaughnessy’s list for the very simple reason that it only gives you a narrow mainstream view of social media.

Forbes and Shaughnessy failed again by excluding several Latino Power Users on its list. You know why? Because they don’t have a clue about what is really happening in that space, and they have shown no desire to learn more about that space. So they follow the safe choice, because safe is not risky.

I sure hope that one day Shaughnessy actually starts engaging the Latino Power Users more and more. He might learn a thing or two.

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Felix Arroyo Makes History in Boston Mayoral Race and No One Can Kill My Buzz

April 10, 2013 by Julito Varela


There are so many feelings going through my head after news that Boston City Councilor Felix G. Arroyo announced his candidacy for mayor, making him the first Latino in the city’s history to run for this post.

The strongest feeling, of course, is one of pride and joy. Arroyo is a Boston boricua, the son-in-law of Hector Luis Acevedo, a former mayor of San Juan. Having lived and worked in my adopted home city since 1986, yesterday’s announcement marked another turning point that Boston is indeed a changing city, one that is changing for the better.

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I have rarely felt like this during my time in the self-proclaimed Hub of the Universe, since to me, Boston has always been a city of separate neighborhoods that rarely get connected. The city’s ugly racial past of the 1970s, based on a failed social experiment, lingered for a while—yes, even on the Harvard campus in the mid-1980s. There was this unspoken rule in Boston that the city’s neighborhoods should never mix. The city was segregated: Bostonians would converge in the city’s downtown center for work each day, but when it was time to go home, different groups of people when to their different neighborhoods. Don’t cause any problems. Just know your place.

That image of Boston, of course, has changed, especially with the city’s perceptions of Latinos. I have always credited this to the Red Sox. I have been going to Fenway Park since 1986, and as much as I have always loved it, I truly fell madly in love with it when Pedro Martínez started pitching for the team in the late 1990s. The atmosphere whenever Pedro pitched was magical, but it also brought out so many fans who would have never gone to a Red Sox game before Pedro pitched. Spanish conversations became more common in the stands, Dominican flags flew, and when I heard 440′s “Guavaberry” over the stadium’s speakers for the first time, I knew that a another real part of the city, one that was rarely seen inside one of the city’s most beloved gathering places, was starting to show up.

Then, David Ortiz became a legend in 2004, and all of a sudden it was cool to be Latino in Boston. The Big Papi Effect did more for Boston Latinos than almost anything else. We had arrived.

Arroyo’s news is just the latest example. Boston’s Latino population continues to grow rapidly, and it is part of the reason that Boston is now a “majority-minority city,” which means that “53 percent of residents are of a non-white race/ethnicity.” I do believe that Arroyo will attract new Latino voters, no doubt. But don’t take my word for it, I will let my good friend and fellow WGBH Radio contributor Marcela García explain. Last night, Marcela talked Arroyo on WGBH’s “Greater Boston” show.

Arroyo’s bid matters. Is it on the same level as when the city’s Irish population earned their political stripes at the turn of the century, culminating in the mayoral reign of James Michael Curley? I would argue yes. Granted, Arroyo might not win this year (it is going to be a tough race), but if Boston Latinos want to be part of the city’s political structure, they need to start somewhere. Arroyo could be that.

Yes, Marcela is right that Arroyo would be the first person to shun the “first Latino candidate” label, but he will still energize people. And the other guest who disagreed with her, Jarrett Berrios (coincidentally a Harvard classmate of mine), misses the point. The city now had its first Latino candidate for mayor and Latino voters should just worry about the issues and think beyond ethnicity politics? Sorry, Jarrett, that argument doesn’t work. You seriously don’t think that ethnicity politics no longer occurs in Boston? Do I need to bring you to a South Boston union hall to show you that it still does?

Sure, Arroyo still has to prove himself, but let’s put this all into perspective. This is history.

“I am a son of Boston. I love my city. I love Boston. I believe in ­Boston because I know that by working together we can and we will move Boston forward.”

Spoken like a true Bostonian. Who also happens to be Puerto Rican and Latino. To me, that is a winning combination, and no one can kill my buzz this morning.

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

HoustonPress Story on Puerto Rico’s Crime Culture Simplifies the Issue and Offers Nothing

March 25, 2013 by Julito Varela


I am tired.

I am tired of how the US mainland media continues to portray the island-territory of Puerto Rico with one broad brushstroke—that it is a new hotbed of violence and chaos. Recently, Fortune’s Cyrus Sanati told U.S. billionaires to “beware” of Puerto Rico, saying that the island “has a bevy of social and economic problems that appear to be getting worse by the day, making it an inhospitable place for a wealthy individual seeking safety and stability.” Sanati’s piece was criticized by many of the island, not because part of it was true, but because his conclusion was way too simplistic. Does Puerto Rico have problems? Yes? Is it a modern-day crime and murder war zone? Not even close. But if that is what the U.S. media wants you to believe, why not?

Sanati even admitted via Twitter that his knowledge of Puerto Rico is only cursory when he tweeted the following response to the Latino Rebels Twitter account:

Now a new story from HoustonPress called “Bloody Tide: How Puerto Rico Affects the U.S.” is painting too much of a similar picture that quite frankly does more harm to Puerto Rico’s perception. Written by Michael E. Miller and Casey Michel, the in-depth piece (it spans over seven digital pages) depicts Puerto Rico in such a negative light, you wonder why anyone would want to live there. As the piece states: “The “Isle of Enchantment” has become bewitched by violence. A crackdown on drugs coming across the Mexican border has only pushed contraband through the Caribbean, transforming the American commonwealth into the newest nexus for narcotraffickers.” (NOTE: Miami New Times also ran the piece.)

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Later on, the story continues:

Economic hardship begets drug-running, which begets violence, which begets a murder rate normally reserved for postcolonial power struggles.

Yet Americans who ignore the island do so at their own peril. As Puerto Rican politicians make an unprecedented push to become the 51st state, the commonwealth has become more central than ever to the United States’s drug and crime problems. [Police chief Hector Pesquera] estimates that 80 percent of the narcotics entering Puerto Rico end up in East Coast cities, particularly Miami and New York. Guns and money move in the opposite direction, and fugitives flow freely back and forth, frustrating officials. Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans are pouring into Florida, New York and Texas to escape the gunfire gripping their homeland.

The writers also want you to make sure that the violence in Puerto Rico was always Puerto Rico’s fault and never anyone else’s:

This isn’t the first time waves of violence have broken over Puerto Rico. Perched at the strategic entrance to the Caribbean, the Connecticut-size island has a long and bloody history. Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León slaughtered Taíno natives beginning in 1508. Over the centuries, slave uprisings and independence movements were put down with deadly force. By 1898, the colony had won a degree of autonomy, only for the Spanish-American War to transfer control to the United States.

When Puerto Rican politicians voted for independence in 1914, the United States responded by granting boricuas (anyone living on the island) U.S. citizenship — just in time to be drafted for World War I. Another 30 years passed before Puerto Ricans were allowed to elect their own governor.

Under U.S. rule, the island became a popular vacation spot. But by the 1980s, with Colombian cocaine flowing through Puerto Rico to south Florida, violence became endemic. Murders decreased in the 1990s as drug routes shifted to Central America and Mexico, but in 2006, newly elected Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared an assault on cartels. Two years later, the United States launched its own $1.6 billion Merida Initiative to combat gangs.

“That is why in the past three years, Puerto Rico has become increasingly visible in regard to drug scandals,” Bagley says. “This is an unintended consequence of the pressure being brought in Mexico and Central America.”

Today drugs from Haiti, Colombia, Vene­zuela and the Dominican Republic stream in on Jet Skis and go-fast boats. “Because Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, illegal contraband that makes it to the island is unlikely to be subjected to further U.S. Customs inspections,” U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, head of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said during a hearing last year.

Let’s step back for a minute: Are the writers actually connecting Puerto Rico’s current crime problems to Ponce de León, as if violence has always been embedded in Puerto Ricans? In addition, I am still trying to figure out what the connection is between 1508 to 1898 to 1914 to 2013.

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The real and only reason why Puerto Rico has a problem with murders and drugs is simple. The territory is part of the largest drug market in the world: the United States of America. Without demand for drugs from the mainland, the current activity on the island would be non-existent. Yet the Houston writers say nothing about that very simple fact. The colonizers need their pot and cocaine, and the colony is more than happy to deliver it to them, while shooting up people in the process.

The piece’s paternalistic tone continues, especially when it made reference to the recent boycott of La Comay, suggesting that the events surrounding the boycott “seemed to expose a newfound heartlessness, as if boricuas had become numb to the violence.” Instead of focusing on the positive that such an event produced, the Houston piece almost treated the boycott as an exception, while making sure to keep including words such as “bloody tide” and “carnage” central to its narrative. When you want to manufacture the perception of “chaos,” you need to give the readers what they want, right?

Nonetheless, the real issue about Puerto Rico is hidden deep in the piece, when the writers say the following:

Truth is, there’s little willpower in DC to spend heavily on an island of 3.6 million people whose ballots don’t count. Perhaps that’s why Puerto Ricans are debating louder than ever their identity as a U.S. commonwealth. Whenboricuas went to the polls last November, 54 percent rejected the status quo. But the vote was split among those who favored independence, statehood or remaining a commonwealth. [Luis] Fortuño — the governor who appointed Pesquera — was dumped out of office.

Yes, there is very “little willpower in DC” right now, and that is why many Puerto Ricans —both on the island and on the mainland— are working together to change that. There is no mention of that movement at all the Houston piece, because why try to present a full picture when your goal is to just promote fearful perceptions of Puerto Rico? Why would you want to include more information about the Comay boycott movement and what it did to connect boricuas even more? Why would you mention Parranda PR or new other organizations that are working hard to change the perception that the Houston story perpetuates? Because that would mean sharing more of the truth about what is positive about Puerto Rico and the truth sells less stories that the sensational ones.

I just visited the island last week, my third visit this year. Does Puerto Rico have serious problems? Yes. Is it a war zone riddled by “carnage” and a “bloody tide?” That is a bit too much, and it is unfortunate, since all the Houston story does is scare people away from the island and helps to promote a negative cycle of criticism that offers very little solution to the problem. If the writers of the Houston piece were truly sincere in helping to change the dialogue about Puerto Rico, they should be ready to follow up with stories that reflect that change. They had a great story to cover last week with what the Puerto Rican baseball team did during the World Baseball Classic, for example.

But I doubt that will happen because in the end, the colonizer needs to keep the colony in check, and it will use all possible means to accomplish that.

Posted in Puerto Rico | Tagged , , , , , , , | 48 Comments »

Why This Revolucionario Is Withdrawing His Nomination for the 2013 SXSWi Revolucionario Awards

March 1, 2013 by Julito Varela


I have gotten a couple of queries as to why my name is no longer listed as a nominee for the 2013 SXSWi Revolucionario Awards, to be held later this month in Austin. The reason is a simple one: I was nominated in The Mobilizer category, the same one as Latino Rebels, the media company I founded in 2011. Since the Rebels and their off-the-charts success have been a testament to the amazing group of individuals who make the brand one of the best and most dynamic ones in the Latino space today, I felt pretty strongly that the brand should be recognized in the final judging process and not me. This nomination is for all the Rebeldes, you know who you are. For those who have been there from the very beginning and for those who have joined us recently, you are an amazing familia. There is no other team I would want to be with. You are the best in the Latino space, hands down.

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Even though I am withdrawing my name for consideration, I will say that on a personal note, I am extremely grateful and thankful to all those in my own networks, the immediate networks of all the 30+ Rebeldes, our visitors to LatinoRebels.com, and ALL the brands’ social media channels (from Twitter to Facebook to Tumblr to YouTube to Instagram to Pinterest to G+ to Klout to EA) for helping me to amass close to 1,700 likes during the nomination process. Combine this with what the likes that the Rebels got and what my new friend-in-rebeldía Charle García received, and we were very proud to have gotten over 6,000 likes across the Revolucionario platforms (Facebook and their web site). We are also happy that we helped to increase awareness and recognition to the Revolucionario Award organizers. They are a great group of people who are really creating something special that has already become a SXSWi fixture.

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On behalf of all the Rebeldes, I want to thank you all for your amazing support. Now it’s time for the Comandantes to decide the winners. I will be rooting for the Rebeldes. Of course.

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Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Remembering Louis Pagan: The Person Who Sparked a Movement

February 6, 2013 by Julito Varela


This is what happens in life. People come in and out of it. Some of those people stay longer with you. And some of those people drift away, for whatever the reason. Yet you can never deny that some people who enter your life and then eventually leave it, still leave a lasting impact on you and make you a better person.

Such is the case of Louis Pagan. Louis was a friend. He died over the weekend at 41 years old. I am still in shock.

I got to know Louis in early 2009 via Twitter, when Twitter was cool. It was an exciting time for social media, especially for Latinos who were started to play in the space. From my interactions with him and with a small group of people who would eventually achieve great things, I saw a loving and giving person. Louis was the best. Louis was New York. Louis was an hermano.

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The first time I met Louis in real life (I had already known him for months online), it was over a cup of coffee on a sunny spring East Side day in a Manhattan Starbucks. He shared with me his idea of creating an organization called Latinos in Social Media and even asked me if he thought the name LATISM resonated. No brainer, I told Louis, where do I sign up?

What Louis and others accomplished that year was phenomenal. LATISM was special, and it still is. Although I missed the first LATISM conference in New York, I was honored when Louis asked me to come down from Boston and speak at a LISTA conference later that year. The conference will always be one of the best ones I have ever spoken at because it was at a time when social media was still trying to figure itself out. It felt like the future, and it just proved to me that Louis was a visionary. It was also the first time I got to meet dear friends like Ana Roca Castro, Lili Gil, and Claudia Goffman. I also met the fabuloso Eduardo Gonzalez Loumiet there as well (who passed on the pics in this post to me). All these people are like family to me, and that was all Louis who made that happen.

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That night I also got to meet Louis’ wife, and I could instantly see a very loving and beautiful couple that cared for each other and their family. It pains me to think how she is feeling now, and I have no doubt that the Latino social media community will do all it can to help Louis’ family. It is the least we can do, for all that Louis did for us.

Even though that was the last time I ever saw Louis in person because we chose different paths (we still connected online), I will never forget those times. They were simpler, less complicated, full of promise and potential. Louis had a sparkle in his eye, and a passion that few can ever match.

Yes, he sparked a movement. A real authentic movement that is bigger than all of us. Without Louis’ idea, LATISM would never be here. Imagine that. I can’t.

Peace to you, hermano.

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It’s funny, but Louis’ last tweet says, “Beat that!” He was never one to brag about what he did or how many lives he touched, but yeah, “Beat that!” is perfect. Don’t think I can ever “Beat that!”, but with Louis as an inspiration, I will try as hard as I can. ABRAZOS, Louis.

 

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments »

#LatinoLit: The Works of New Mexico’s Sabine Ulibarrí

January 15, 2013 by Julito Varela


As a young 22-year-old editor for Houghton Mifflin Company in 1991, I had the pleasure to work with many incredible authors who were overlooked by the mainstream.

New Mexico’s Sabine Ulibarrí was one of those authors. The first story I ever edited was a short story by Ulibarrí called “Yo me llamo Antonio,” a fictional piece about a young boy named Antonio. His teachers wanted to call him Anthony or Tony, but this very proud little boy insisted that his name was Antonio.

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We ran the story for Celebremos la literatura, our Spanish Reading series, and the story has always resonated with me. And so did Ulibarrí, who died ten years ago this month in 2003. The following video provides an excellent overview of his works.

Gracias, Don Sabine, for your grace and talent. I have never forgotten the day when I first read your works.

Posted in #LatinoLit | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Why La Comay Had to Go

January 14, 2013 by Julito Varela


Of all the emails and messages I have received regarding the cancellation of WAPA-TV’s “SuperXclusivo” show in Puerto Rico, the following note at the end of this post by my cousin Omar Pereira basically sums up for me why I always thought that the Boicot a La Comay movement was a “perfect social media storm” and why I felt that as a columnist/publisher/activist/journalist I needed to have the Latino Rebels cover this story.

Omar has provided a bilingual version of his initial Facebook post in Spanish, which went viral in Puerto Rico and was also quoted in El Nuevo Día. He wrote this note the same night that the news broke about La Comay’s demise. On a personal level, when I returned to the island two years ago to help Omar and the rest of my family during the tragic loss of my little cousin, I witnessed “SuperXclusivo’s” immoral and illegal ways in trying to “get” a story. It was like dealing with a stalker, and let’s just say this: we knew all the tricks in the book, and “SuperXclusivo” NEVER got the story, yet they caused so much pain and grief during those sad times (and they continued to harass my family even after the fact), that I could not believe that such a show would ever maintain its popularity. Eventually, something would happen.

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As I learned more about La Comay and how the puppet continued to blatantly lie about what it broadcasts, I always suspected that Kobbo Santarrosa would piss off someone for the last time, and social media would react swiftly. Think about this: it took 35 days during the holiday season for all this to happen. Can anyone remember another time when a #1-rated show went from hero to goat in just 6 weeks?

Now, those journalists who are defending La Comay (people, it’s a PUPPET) and saying that this is all about freedom of expression, I will disagree 1000%. Freedom of expression has its limits. Making money off of lies and innuendo is one of those limits. I really urge the Comay defenders to actually READ the FCC’s policy and stop misinforming the Puerto Rican public. Like I have said before, this entire boycott movement is the PERFECT EXAMPLE of true freedom of expression.

La Comay was a bully. Simple as that. People finally spoke out against the bully, and what the traditional dinosaur media in Puerto Rico fails to understand is that this is not just about 76,000 people. It is about millions, because those 76,000 people dedicated themselves to share news, make calls, educate sponsors and spread the word. THAT is what social media is all about: your message always has the opportunity to reach millions, just like La Comay did. La Comay used to be the only show in town. It is no longer.

As for co-host Héctor Travieso, who asked this week, “What did Kobbo Santarrosa ever do to deserve this?,” I have your answer. I was going to respond to his question myself, but when Omar wrote what he wrote, I didn’t have to. Omar’s words are my words as well. This one was for Juliancito.

If my crime is that I made this story personal, arrest me. It’s called doing it for family. It’s called doing it for love. It’s called doing it for a better Puerto Rico. The bochinche is for the old Puerto Rico. The new Puerto Rico is about inclusion, respect, and making sure ALL voices are heard, and not just the voices of a traditional mainstream media that have done nothing to advance the cause for my beloved island.

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Here is what Omar wrote:

Ahora sí me desahogo. Admito que vi el último programa (la primera vez que lo veo desde hace mucho mucho tiempo). Es una pena que no hayan mantenido a “La Comay Renovada” como decía la promoción del programa para el 2013. Kobbo no habló mal de nadie, se unió al llamado del Gobernador de dejarnos de politiquería y ponernos todos a trabajar juntos por el bien de PR, y hasta criticó de forma sumamente justificada a una persona por quejarse de que el gobierno le regaló un “trapo’e bola”. Me imagino que fue “too little, too late.”

La Comay tenía que irse por cualquiera de las siguientes razones – sólo una era necesaria, y la lista es aún mas larga que esta. Pero nuestra apatía como pueblo le otorgó el poder a la “trapo’e muñeca”. Una cosa es un programa de chismes, otra cosa fue La Comay. Hoy celebramos porque no habrá alguien enseñándole a nuestro pueblo como odiar, como burlarse de otros, como destruir reputaciones y familias, y cómo usar el dolor de los demás para lucrarse. Esta victoria es de:

  • La viuda, familiares y amigos de Agustín Areizaga Cordero (el que fue vilmente asesinado y decapitado en Moca, y La Comay tuvo la osadía de enseñar su cabeza decapitada en la TV)
  • La viuda, familiares y amigos de José Enrique Gómez Saladín (“el publicista” cuando insinuó que se mereció su muerte
  • Susan Soltero de la cual se burló en innumerables ocasiones por su peso
  • Choco Orta la cual humilló por ser gay
  • Itzamar Pena y Papulin por reclamar que su hijo no era legítimo
  • José Raúl Arriaga del cual mintió y destruyó su carrera (los federales descubrieron que fue una fabricación)
  • Magaly Febles de la cual se burló cuando le embargaron su casa
  • Yolandita Monge la cual humilló
  • Adolfo Krans al cual le destruiste su matrimonio con una mentira
  • Una amiga mía que no voy a mencionar la cual hizo pasar por un infierno con su hijo y su esposo al alegar infidelidad
  • Victor Santos, Rafael Cox Alomar, y otros de la raza negra por decirles monos
  • Belen Martinez la cual humilló al decirle ballena negra (por su peso y su raza)
  • Los familiares y amigos de Lorenzo González Cacho, por utilizar el caso del niño Lorenzo para tener ratings y hacer dinero, y entorpecer el trabajo de las autoridades divulgando información privilegiada, posiblemente haciéndole el trabajo muchísimo mas difícil a los fiscales e investigadores
  • Los amigos y conocidos de los supuestos sospechosos del caso de Lorenzo los cuales han estado siendo acosados por La Comay
  • Todos los que la veían y se dejaban de coger de zángano por La Comay creyéndole todo lo que decía, sin cuestionarle nada, y hasta creyéndose que lo que hacía era “periodismo investigativo”
  • Y finalmente, de mi esposa Cynthia Galinaltis, de mis hijos, de mis papás, de mi hermana, de mis sobrinas, de mi suegra, de mi cuñado, de toda mi familia extendida, y de todos mis amigos, por todas las mentiras que dijo de nosotros, por todo lo que nos hizo pasar cuando estábamos intentando mantener a nuestros hijos y a Cynthia fuera de su trapo’e programa, y por el via crucis que me hizo pasar para poder enterrar a nuestro querido Julián en paz.

Sobre 76,000 almas lograron esto, pero hubo una más desde allá arriba que ayudó, ¿verdad Julio Ricardo Varela?

Este fue nuestro #boricuawinter… Algo me dice que no será la última vez que nos unimos para hacer bien por Puerto Rico.

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Now I’m venting. I admit that I watched the last program (the first time I do so in a long, long time). It’s sad that they did not keep the “Renovated Comay” as the show’s promotion for 2013 stated. Kobbo did not insult anybody, he echoed the new Governor’s call for the people of Puerto Rico to stop politicking and for all of us to roll up our sleeves for the good of Puerto Rico, and even very justifiably criticized a person for complaining that the Government had given her daughter a “trapo’e bola” or “crappy sports ball” as a gift for the Governor’s Three Kings Day Celebration. I imagine that it ended up being “too little, too late.”

La Comay had to go for any of the following reasons – only one was necessary, and the list is even longer than this one. But our apathy as a people gave this “crappy doll” all of its power. One thing is to have a gossip program, but La Comay was something else. Today we celebrate because there will not be anyone teaching our people who to hate, how to humiliate, how to destroy reputations and families, and how to use someone else’s grief and suffering in order to enrich himself. This victory belongs to:

  • The widow, family and friends of Agustín Areizaga Cordero (who was assassinated in a gruesome way and decapitated in Moca, and La Comay dared to show his decapitated head on primetime TV)
  • The widow, family and friends of José Enrique Gómez Saladín (“the publicist” when La Comay insinuated that he deserved his horrible death).
  • Susan Soltero, whom La Comay constantly made fun of because of her weight
  • Choco Orta, who was humiliated by La Comay for being gay
  • Itzamar Peña y Papulín for La Comay falsely claiming that their son was illegitimate (they won a lawsuit against La Comay for this)
  • José Raúl Arriaga, whom La Comay lied about, destroying his career as a journalists (the feds eventually found that that this was a fabrication)
  • Magaly Febles , hom La Comay made fun of when her home was repossessed
  • Yolandita Monge, whom La Comay constantly humiliated
  • Adolfo Krans, whose marriage to Ex-Governor Sila María Calderón La Comay destroyed by lying about infidelity (and Krans eventually “won” in court, if there is such a thing, after losing everything else)
  • A friend of mine which I won’t mention which was put through hell together by La Comay, together with her son and her husband, after La Comay alleged an infidelity (and her son went through a long period of psychological treatment after this)
  • Víctor Santos, Rafael Cox Alomar, and other black Puerto Ricans for calling them “monkeys”
  • Belén Martínez, who was humiliated by La Comay when she called her “black whale” (because of her weight and skin color)
  • Family and friends of Lorenzo González Cacho, for using the case of his murder to obtain ratings and enrich the puppet, while disrupting the work of the authorities when the puppet continuously divulged seemingly privileged and confidential information, possibly making it much more difficult for the DA’s and the investigators to do their job
  • Friends and acquaintances of the supposed suspects of the Lorenzo case, who have been stalked by La Comay’s staff, even at their workplaces
  • Everyone who watched her and who fell for her lies, believing everything she said, without questioning anything, even believing that what she did was “investigative journalism”
  • And finally, this victory also belongs to my wife Cynthia Galinaltis, to my sons, to my parents, to my sister, to my nieces, to my mother-in-law, to my brother-in-law, to my whole extended family, for all the lies she told about us, for everything she made us go through during the most difficult moment of our lives, when we were trying to keep our other two sons and Cynthia away from his crappy program, and for the hell he made me go through so we could bury our dear Julián in peace.

Over 76,000 souls achieved this, but there was one more from up above that also helped, ¿right, Julio Ricardo Varela?

This was our #boricuawinter… Something tells me it will not be the last time that we will unite to do good things for Puerto Rico.

Posted in Puerto Rico | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments »

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