“Seguimos Aquí”: Puerto Rico’s Fight for Identity and Voice

Growing up, I had trouble sleeping. I still do. I am afraid of the dark, uneasy with silence, unsure of what waits for me in the shadows — but when I lived in Puerto Rico, I knew what lived there.

At random hours of the night, music would drift through my window, blasting from trucks with huge speakers strapped to their sides. During Christmas time, those same trucks would play songs that played on my grandfather’s record player, filling the air with the music he yearned for. When the trucks weren’t playing music, the coquíes were. In the shadows was my home — the trucks, the music, my family, the coquíes — eventually, I would fall asleep and wake up on my beautiful island. I wish I had known how much it would mean to me then.

Yo pensaba que él encantó iba vivir para siempre.

When I finally travelled back to Puerto Rico after years away at school, it didn’t feel the same. As my dad drove me across the island, I saw that so much of what I remembered was gone. The mom-and-pop shops had disappeared, the lush, green trees I grew up with were now just land flattened and replaced by Baskin Robbins and other American chains. That night, as I laid down to sleep, there was only silence; something was wrong.

Puerto Rico is owned by the United States. It is not a state, but a territory. While many Puerto Ricans dream of independence, the reality is that we live in a system where our voices are limited by our own political leaders. Statehood seems unlikely. Independence even less likely. For now, we Puerto Ricans exist under taxation without representation. Recently, however, more Americans have started to listen to the native voices of the island through what made the shadows of my island my home: music. One of the loudest native voices belongs to Bad Bunny.

On Jan. 3, 2025, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, best known as Bad Bunny, released a short film titled “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.” The short film’s story follows an elderly man, played by beloved Puerto Rican filmmaker Jacobo Morales, as he reflects on his life through old photographs of his island as it once was. Alongside him is his friend, Concho, a coquí voiced by Kenneth Canales. The coquí, Puerto Rico’ tiny singing tree frog, has sadly become endangered, as its habitat is disappearing due to tourism and over development. The reason why Bad Bunny’s film stands out is because it captures not only the fading beauty of Puerto Rico, but also the resilience of its people.

In one striking scene, the elderly man visits a bakery but is unable to pay because the shop no longer accepts cash. Defeated and disillusioned, he turns to leave until a younger Puerto Rican steps in line and pays for him. While doing so, he says to the elderly man, “Seguimos aquí,” which means, “We are still here.” The old man thanks him but the younger one thanks him in return. This simple exchange resonated deeply with Puerto Ricans everywhere.

When I saw that Bad Bunny would perform at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, I felt something in me shift. From a boy who once bagged groceries in an Econo, to now stands before the world, not just as an artist but as a voice for an island too often forgotten or regarded as a floating pile of garbage. Watching him reminds me of the coquíes and the music that once filled my nights in Puerto Rico, proof that even when the world changes around us, our sound remains. It was like the song that played in my mind began to play again. I know that in that moment, seeing him on that stage, I will feel what those words mean — seguimos aquí — more than before.

“Seguimos aquí” has since become a rallying cry for Puerto Ricans. Bad Bunny has made Puerto Rican culture impossible to ignore, using his film and music to highlight both the heart of the island and the heartbreaking injustices its people face. Songs like “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAIi” and “El Apagón” blend this love and anger, this joy and protest. “El Apagón” especially drew attention for calling out YouTuber Logan Paul and other wealthy outsiders for buying up Puerto Rican land, turning its public beaches into private property, and benefiting from Act 60.

Act 60 is a tax incentive program that allows corporations, investors and, frankly, wealthy Americans to pay almost no taxes just by moving to Puerto Rico. Corporations pay only 4% tax, and individuals pay 0% tax on capital gains and dividends after they become a resident of Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, locals face the ever-rising costs of living, gentrification and displacement. Their livelihood is cramped for the sake of stakeholders, and it is not easy to speak up. Whenever Act 60 is challenged, most of these wealthy outsiders claim they are “improving” the island by creating more jobs for people. Those jobs often amount to cleaning up after tourists.

Bad Bunny has refused to stay silent. He spent over $300,000 on ads encouraging young Puerto Ricans to vote against Governor Jenniffer González-Colón, whose administration allowed precious land to sell to wealthy investors in exchange for political donations. Though he endorsed Juan Dalmau of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), who ultimately lost, Bad Bunny’s political influence remains. Instead of leaving Puerto Rico for his next tour, he announced a concert residency on the island, a symbolic stand against the gentrification of true Puerto Ricans and the erasure of their culture for the tourist’s commodity.

Through his music, Bad Bunny has and will continue to show that being Puerto Rican is not just cool, but powerful. He has connected our struggles with those of other colonized peoples, like Hawaiians, and beat the drum for conversations about forgotten or ignored histories, such as the Jones Act of 1U17, forced sterilizations, the Ponce Massacre of 1U37, U.S. military exploitation, the debt crisis, Hurricane Maria and PROMESA.

He has reminded Puerto Ricans of their voice. A voice that says we are still here. The trucks are still here. The music is still here. The Puerto Rican family is still here. The coquíes are still here. And we all deserve to be free. If the United States could fight for its independence from Britain, then Puerto Rico can fight for independence from the United States.

Porque un quesito sin queso es Puerto Rico sin puertorriqueños.