VEGA BAJA: In the town square in Vega Baja, a small municipality near Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan, retired teacher Madeline Miranda was bubbling with excitement after watching Bad Bunny perform at the Super Bowl.
After all, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio was once one of her former students, and years away from becoming a global superstar.
“I danced, I screamed, I swore and I gave it my all,” said the 75-year-old Miranda, who joined about 100 other people to watch the performance by Vega Baja’s most famous native son.
People of all ages turned out, many of them bringing beach chairs — and drinks — to wait for the big moment.
Vega Baja is not exactly a place where American football is all that popular, and few of those present really paid attention to the game, which the Seattle Seahawks won over the New England Patriots.
Bad Bunny was the only show in town.
When he finally appeared on screen singing one of his biggest hits, “Titi Me Pregunto,” the crowd shrieked with joy. Some waved Puerto Rican flags and others clapped.
The party had begun.
“I feel so proud that someone from Vega Baja has reached such heights. This shows that our presence is growing stronger in the United States and around the world,” David Fontanez, a 66-year-old retiree, told AFP.
Other watch parties took place in Old San Juan.
’Great inspiration’
Bad Bunny’s performance celebrated Puerto Rico, a US island territory in the Caribbean — from the lyrics of his songs to his set design featuring sugar cane and his salmon-colored “La Casita” (little house). Fans cheered each reference.
He also made history as the first Super Bowl headliner to sing entirely in Spanish. A week ago, he became the first performer to win the Grammy for Album of the Year for a Spanish-language work.
For 14-year-old Pedro Melendez Barrio, the singer is a “great inspiration” for those who live in Vega Baja.
“He makes me feel very proud and also very happy. I think that if he has achieved all this, I can achieve this too. That really motivates me.”
Many said they were grateful to the 31-year-old Bad Bunny for championing his homeland.
Last year, he completed a wildly successful concert residency in San Juan, giving the island a major economic boost as fans flocked to see him.
“He brought to the Super Bowl the essence of what we, Puerto Ricans, are,” said Miranda, who remembers young Benito as a “very quiet and disciplined” child.
“He’s a great ambassador for this community.”
Some Puerto Ricans made mention of the conservative backlash that Bad Bunny faced after he was named as the halftime show headliner, largely due to the fact that he sings in Spanish.
Indeed, after the show, US President Donald Trump suggested that “nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”
But most said what was more important was Bad Bunny’s ability to amplify the voice of Puerto Ricans, who are US citizens but do not have the right to vote for president.
“He has reflected a lot of our culture (in his work), what’s happening in Puerto Rico, and the situation of immigrants,” Madeline Garcia, 31, said after the show.
“We ignore the controversy because, whether they like it or not, we’re also part of the United States. And even if our language is Spanish, most Puerto Ricans speak English.”
In Puerto Rico, fans thrilled with Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show
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In Puerto Rico, fans thrilled with Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show
- In the town square in Vega Baja, a small municipality near Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan, retired teacher Madeline Miranda was bubbling with excitement after watching Bad Bunny perform at the Super
Workplace equality exists nowhere: World Bank
- The bank insisted that reforms are needed because 1.2 billion young people — half of them women — will enter the workplace over the next decade
WASHINGTON: Full workplace equality does not exist anywhere in the world and only a tiny fraction of women live in countries with a labor market that comes close to it, the World Bank said Tuesday.
Even when workplace equality laws are passed by lawmakers they are truly enforced in only about half of all cases, the bank said in a report on women, business and the law.
“Even in economies that have modernized their laws, women still face constraints that shape the work they can do, the businesses they can start, and the safety they need to pursue opportunities,” said Indermit Gill, the lender’s chief economist.
The report assesses not only equality laws that have been passed but also public services created to help women in the workplace and ensure these laws are enforced.
The bank insisted that reforms are needed because 1.2 billion young people — half of them women — will enter the workplace over the next decade.
“Many will come of age in regions where women face the biggest barriers, and where the GDP boost that would result from their participation is most needed,” said Tea Trumbic, the report’s lead author.
And ensuring equal workplace access for women benefits not just them but society in general, the report argued.
Indeed, in countries where women have more opportunities, men’s rate of labor force participation is also higher, the report says.
Advanced-economy countries have conditions most closely resembling equality, with Spain at the top, this report says. Countries in the Middle East and Pacific lag far behind.
The most significant progress in reducing the workplace equality gap came in low-income and developing countries such as Egypt, Madagascar or Somalia.
In these nations efforts were made to ease restrictions on women entering certain fields, institute equal pay for equal work and allow parental leave.
Altogether nearly 70 countries approved around 100 reforms from 2023 to 2025 seeking to give women more access to the job market and business world.
