At 244 icy Grand Street in Williamsburg, nothing appeared to have modified final Wednesday. At three within the afternoon, María Antonia Cay opened her bar as she all the time does: with pots of rice, beans and a few stew. The meals is free, you solely need to pay for the drink: three {dollars} for a beer. As regular, Cay took a seat on one of many stools whereas counting payments on the bar along with his arms filled with the large and colourful rings that already characterize him. For a second, it appeared like some other day. But it wasn’t. Less than 72 hours earlier than, Cay, higher generally known as Doña Toñita, the top of the Caribbean Social Club, was on a very powerful stage within the United States as a visitor at Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl intermission present.
It was a present historic. Puerto Rican Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio dazzled with a presentation nearly completely in Spanish — except for about three phrases in English — for the primary time within the historical past of the American Football League remaining. In an occasion watched by 128.2 million viewers within the United States alone, the famous person paid tribute to his homeland, launching a message of unity and like to a rustic divided by the insurance policies of the tenant of the White House. From reggaeton to salsa, Bad Bunny celebrated his tradition, Latin American and Latino, and launched a protection of a united America, from the southern tip of the continent to North America.
That message resonated with the 68 million Latinos dwelling within the United States, a lot of whom, within the final yr, have suffered first-hand an unprecedented offensive towards immigration, launched by a president whose aim is to hold out the “largest deportation in history.” It has been 13 months of terror: irregular migrants and Latino residents alike, caught within the streets or in court docket due to their pores and skin shade or accent; households torn aside by expulsions; overcrowded detention facilities; individuals who have been within the nation legally for years, stripped of their permits to stay within the nation…
Faced with this actuality, Bad Bunny took the stage of the most important sporting occasion within the United States, one of many nation’s deepest traditions, that of Sunday soccerand mentioned: “We are still here,” whereas behind him an enormous signal learn: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
For many Latinos consulted by EL PAÍS, it was a second they wanted after a yr filled with anguish. “It was important for the Government to realize that they are making mistakes, that they are violating people’s rights. That we recognize and put a stop to the injustices committed by ICE,” mentioned Damaris, evoking the dreaded English acronym of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, the executing arm of Trump’s immigration coverage.
Damaris arrived at Toñita’s bar on Wednesday after seeing her on the Super Bowl, like many different individuals who have come to the enterprise this week to take pictures with the proprietor. At 73 years previous, he has been in New York since he was two, when his household emigrated from Puerto Rico. Despite being Toñita’s compatriot and from the identical technology, I had by no means heard of Caribbean Social Club till Bad Bunny’s present. He went down from the Bronx for an hour on the subway to Brooklyn to fulfill the girl who gave Martínez Ocasio a shot of rum whereas he was singing NUEVAYoLthrough which he says: “A shot of cañita at Toñita’s house, oh / PR feels close”.
“What is Benito like?” was one of many first questions Damaris requested Toñita. She, with a smile, responded: “It’s love.” For Cay, Bad Bunny is a humble, “simple,” “affectionate” boy, and he or she feels proud to have been in a position to take part in one thing “so important,” that put her island within the highlight of the whole world. Toñita emigrated from Puerto Rico greater than six many years in the past and though she is taken into account the matriarch of the Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York, she doesn’t let go of her love for the land the place she was born. “It is a pride for me to see my countrymen have that joy of knowing that we were representing them.”
Among these countrymen (each in Puerto Rico and within the Big Apple) is Democratic Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, who this Friday instructed EL PAÍS how she lived these “13 minutes” through which “Benito encapsulated 500 years of history” of the island. “It opened with the cane fields, and as the daughter of a cane cutter from Yabucoa, that touched my soul,” defined the lady who made historical past by turning into the primary consultant with Puerto Rican roots within the Capitol. “He showed the world our struggles, our joy, our weddings, our blackouts, and he did it all in Spanish, unapologetically. At a time when this administration is trying to narrow down who counts as an American, Bad Bunny expanded that definition to 128 million people. The president may call it horrible, but love is always stronger than hate, and the world heard Puerto Rico on Sunday.”
Not solely Puerto Ricans felt recognized with Bad Bunny’s efficiency. “I loved it because he said something that all Latin Americans would love to be able to say: that America is not just the United States. It is something that must be emphasized at this moment, in which they are belittling us, as if we do not belong. The economy of this country is driven by many Latin Americans,” mentioned Valeria, a Nicaraguan migrant who has solely been within the United States for 2 years. The 33-year-old works as a cashier in a small Venezuelan empanada restaurant a number of blocks from Toñita’s bar. In the enterprise, there are three flags: the Venezuelan, the American and the Puerto Rican, and among the many a number of stickers on the large extractor above the fryer, there’s one in all Martínez Ocasio.
The music, no; the message, sure
Valeria doesn’t contemplate herself a fan of Bad Bunny nor does she like a lot of his lyrics. Neither does Tony. In reality, when requested if he appreciated the Super Bowl spectacle, the Colombian’s response is fast: “No.” But, he clarifies, he did admire the message that the singer conveyed.
In the Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens, one of the crucial various enclaves on the planet, you may hear reggaeton even from contained in the mailman’s truck. But on the rooster restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue the place Tony works, you may hear salsa. The 35-year-old Colombian, who has been within the United States for a decade, sang to the rhythm whereas ready tables final Wednesday. Although he criticized the singer for his “obscenities,” he admitted: “The vast majority of Latinos support the show because we feel represented by an artist who moves many masses of people and who used his voice for us. Whether you agree or not with his music, the reality is that we feel supported by him.”
Criticism of the presentation was first launched by Trump, who declined to attend the occasion although it was final yr. The White House had mentioned that the president wouldn’t see the Puerto Rican present and that as an alternative he would observe the present different organized by the MAGA universe. However, as quickly because the live performance ended, the president outlined it as “terrible”, “one of the worst in history” and criticized that “not a word” of “that guy” was understood.
Some Republican Latinos—who voted for Trump in file numbers within the 2024 elections—echoed the president’s complaints on social media. As did the Cuban-American consultant for Florida María Elvira Salazar, who wrote in X that the Super Bowl “should not be a multicultural fair.” Although the congresswoman is likely one of the Republicans who’ve criticized Trump’s immigration coverage, she mentioned that “having a halftime show completely in Spanish, without subtitles, is not inclusive. It is exclusive.” “Unfortunately, today, instead of talking about the great contributions that Hispanics make to our country – both legal and undocumented – we are debating how badly this event missed the mark,” he added.
For Valeria, nonetheless, it is not that Trump did not perceive Bad Bunny as a result of he sang in Spanish. “He didn’t want to understand, which is something else. He preferred to omit what he saw, but even a fool understood his message, especially when he brought out all the continent’s flags,” mentioned the Nicaraguan. “Bad Bunny has no obligation to change the immigration issue, nor will he be able to. But he represented us.”
The house that Bad Bunny created on the Super Bowl resembles the one which Toñita has cultivated on the Caribbean Social Club for greater than half a century. One the place Latinos and migrants can discover refuge and really feel at dwelling. “The important thing is that when there is someone in need, they can be sheltered. Give them food, their refresquito. Whatever it is, they help,” Cay mentioned. “We are all here—Latinos, Americans, Hispanics—as a family.”
With data from Iker Seisdedos from Washington.
https://elpais.com/us/entretenimiento/2026-02-15/el-impacto-de-la-superbowl-de-bad-bunny-entre-los-latinos-es-un-orgullo-ver-a-mis-paisanos-tener-esa-contentura.html