By John McPhaul
New Progressive Party Rep. José Aponte Hernández on Monday asked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for a statement of repudiation for the offensive and denigrating comments against the U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during a Trump campaign event held in Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday.
“The disagreeable and totally offensive words spoken by Mr. Hinchcliffe against the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico during a partisan event of the campaign of Donald Trump must be repudiated by all, including the ex-President,” the former speaker of the island House of Representatives said. “This is an appropriate moment for Donald Trump to express himself, censuring hate speech against not only the 3.2 million U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico but also against the 6 million who reside in the states of the union.”
Aponte, a longtime champion of statehood for Puerto Rico, added that “[w]e have heard words of repudiation from people like Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) among many others. Also the State Republican Party censured the comments.”
“The bar has to be equal for all,” Aponte said. “We publicly condemn this type of attack against Puerto Rico without consideration for party or affiliation.”
During Sunday’s campaign-closing rally, Hinchcliffe, a stand-up comic and podcast host, mocked Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” (see related stories on pages 5 and 6).
The Trump campaign in Puerto Rico promptly expressed its rejection of the statements, which it said “does not reflect in any way the feelings that the president of the Republican Party has toward the island and its people.”
The local campaign went on to express its total repudiation of Hinchcliffe.
“His statements cannot be described in any other way than disgusting and racist and are in no way a reflection of what the Republican Party is,” said attorney Alfredo Ocasio, the Trump-Vance campaign director in Puerto Rico. “This party embraces racial diversity, respects all cultures and rejects racism. Mr. Hinchcliffe has no place in the Republican Party and we have requested that he not be hired again for any Republican Party activity.”
The local Republican Party, meanwhile, repudiated Hinchcliffe’s words through its Hispanic representative, Jaime Flores.
“An unknown alleged comic who was contracted to provide entertainment at an activity of Donald J. Trump referred to Puerto Rico as an island of garbage in his standup in Madison Square Garden in New York,” Flores said.
Sen. Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, the Citizen Victory Movement-Alliance candidate for resident commissioner, said, “To call our island ‘garbage’ demonstrates an ignorance and disrespect toward our people, our history and our rich cultural heritage.”
Dignity Project President Javier Jiménez Pérez, who is that party’s candidate for governor, also rejected the comic’s words as disrespectful toward the Puerto Rican people.
“As president of the Dignity Project and in the name of all our members, we categorically reject these comments,” he said. “Puerto Rico is a land of culture, history and dignity, and its people have contributed enormously in all areas.”
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The Trump Maga Party ideology is a Nationalist one, a racist one a fascist one. They believe America is for Americans of European Ancestry only. They spew hateful rhetoric and lies about immigrants and Latino Americans. They don't want Puerto Rico to be a state. Puerto Rican Republicans please wake up! Numerous MAGA -republicans have said so. They don't care that the Puerto Rican people are US citizens, or that we have served in the arm forces since the Spanish American war and World War one. Where over 20,000 Puerto Ricans gave their lives fighting for the United States. I am a state-side born Puerto Rican and I was appalled by the hate displayed at the trump rally at Madi…
What was said, and not immediately repudiated by former president Trump at the rally, was an outrageous slander. The ramifications should be clear after November 5th.
Rep. José Aponte Hernández, and every Puerto Rican in the country and the mainland, should feel offended by Mr. Hinchcliffe's words denigrating PR and the Puerto Rican people. As its stated in the Centro (Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College/CUNY) response to Mr. Hinchcliffe's open attack on our "puertorriqueñidad," this isn't an isolated case, nor shall we blame it on the comedian exclusively. The roots of these comments (not jokes) on our identity and dignity are the product of a long and violent strategy to submit the Puerto Rican people; "speaks to the willful ignorance of the conditions facing Puerto Rico this very moment and for the last 126 years under US colonial rule. This comment raises deep…