LATINOS AND  NEW YORK POLITICS

I love my people but some of our leadership can be so gullible. Here we have an article on what Gov. Hochul can do for the people of the island of Puerto Rico. Convenient assertions days before the election and indications some of her Puerto Rican support is hemorrhaging. The question is not what she will do for Puerto Rico, though relevant, the question is what has she ever done for Puerto Ricans anywhere?

Hochul had an opportunity to make major New York State Puerto Rican appointments to her administration but instead ‘nada” except for Sec. of State Robert Rodriguez. After undercutting the efforts to elect one of two Latinas (non-boricua Archila and Reyna though with strong support from the Rican community) as Lt. Governor.

In that sense, she is the flip side of Mayor Eric Adams. They may have other strengths, but both have treated Puerto Ricans with institutional negligence or outright near contempt. Some of our progressive friends were silent during the Cuomo administration because they too realized that Hochul had done little for the Puerto Rican community and did not want to make disgraced former Gov.

Andrew Cuomo looks good. Some even had the audacity to try to sell us, Cynthia Nixon, during her gubernatorial race as a champion of the Puerto Rican people. We have not heard from her since.  Sanganos.

How many Puerto Ricans have been appointed at managerial levels in the Hochul administration?  In a community that resided in New York for over 124 years? Are we to assume that because she was not Governor at the time, but Lt. Governor during the Cuomo administration, she gets a free pass for all those years she was wallowing in institutional neglect of the million Puerto Ricans in her state?

Most likely Hochul will be elected and the slew of Puerto Rican apologists in our community will seek to explain to us how we have indeed been “truly blessed.” Or they will remind us it could have been worse with Lee Zeldin?  But as the old refrain says “mas saber el diablo viejo, por viejo que por diablo.” (“An old devil knows more from being old than from being the Devil”) Some of us who have been around the block a few times understand the difference between “pandering” and authentic leadership committed to a noble people. In Gov. Hochul, we have the pandering politician. Can she change, doubt it, but time will tell. As lawmakers prepare for Somos, how is Hochul’s relationship with Puerto Rico? — (As lawmakers prepare for Somos, how is Hochul’s relationship with Puerto Rico? — City & State New York (cityandstateny.com)

[https://www.gothamgazette.com/…/11644-latinos-hochul…](https://www.gothamgazette.com/130-opinion/11644-latinos-hochul-2022-election-new-york-governor?fbclid=IwAR211Cd35qD97W2fawkpsISa8LoymaYXLo7V3njxtrkY