Bad Bunny and Residente’s friendship continues to take unexpected turns. In the middle of the night on Friday, the two Puerto Rican rappers paid Ricardo Rosselló a surprise visit at La Fortaleza, the official residence of the Governor. Bad Bunny documented the entire experience via a live video on Residente’s Instagram account, capturing their attempts to gain access to the mansion through multiple different entrances. The two rappers tried to convince several different guards to let them into the residence, though initially, officials said Rosselló was sleeping and would be unable to meet with them. Eventually they gained entry to the mansion and chatted with the governor around 2:30 a.m.
Residente posted a snapshot from the meeting on Instagram, revealing that the conversation lasted until the early morning. “Without any sleep we managed to get inside the house of the governor of Puerto Rico to talk about options for how to solve crime on the island, education, the Financial Oversight and Management Board [and] auditing the debt,” wrote the former Calle 13 frontman in the caption of the post. Bad Bunny also posted a photo from the meeting on Instagram. “The sun rose, but we had the chat that we wanted,” he wrote.
The meeting happened in the midst of growing concerns about violence and crime in Puerto Rico. On Wednesday, a top FBI official declared that Puerto Rico was in the midst of a “crisis of violence,” with several homicides and crimes taking place across the island over the last month. Farruko, Don Omar, and many other Puerto Rican artists have called on their fellow rappers and reggaetoneros to stop glorifying violence in their lyrics as a result of the wave of crime. On Thursday, the crisis directly hit the urbano movement; openly gay Latin trap artist Kevin Fret was shot and killed in Santurce.
Many have praised Residente and Bad Bunny for using their platform to address these issues, but the governor has faced criticism from activists. The Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, who have been actively protesting violence against women in Puerto Rico and staged a demonstration outside the governor’s mansion in November, posted a statement denouncing Rosselló on Facebook, characterizing the meeting as a publicity stunt. “Ricardo Rosselló welcomed Residente and Bad Bunny to speak about the violence in the country, but he DIDN’T welcome us when we were camped out in front of La Fortaleza for three days demanding he declare a state of emergency about gender-based violence. Perhaps the governor only meets with men, or is he only here for the faranduleo?? Keep disrespecting the women of this country; machista violence is also the responsibility of the state.”
Check out the rappers’ Instagram posts and Live video below: