Charo Henríquez

But they have not just marched and shouted slogans. They have also been applying pressure in a host of other ways, from singing and dancing to yoga and horseback riding. And activists and celebrities have used social media extensively, popularizing hashtags like #RickyRenuncia, #RickyTeBote, #TelegramGate, #RickyLeaks and #PuertoRicoMarcha to amplify their message and inspire more protests.

Here are some especially creative ways Puerto Ricans have made their feelings known.

For one group of divers, marching on dry land wasn’t enough of a statement, so they decided to take their message underwater, where they were documented in a video posted on Twitter.

On July 22, two protesters dangled from street signs above the Expreso Las Américas, one of San Juan’s main highways, and performed in silks as a large crowd marched below.

As they exited the cathedral in Old San Juan after their wedding ceremony, a newlywed couple carried a protest sign with a message for the governor, whose official residence is nearby: “Because of you I almost didn’t get married. Resign already!”

On July 21, a group organized by Ángel Jiménez set out from the Condado lagoon in kayaks and small boats and on water scooters, paddleboards and surfboards, and made their way to the stretch of San Juan Bay that the governor’s mansion overlooks.

A cabalgata, or cavalcade, is a mass procession on horseback — often staged to mark a ceremonial occasion, but sometimes as a form of protest. A group of mounted demonstrators rode from the Puerto Rico Convention Center to the Capitol of Puerto Rico, just outside of Old San Juan.

— They expressed themselves through music.

Well-known musicians like Ricky Martin, Residente and Bad Bunny combined their efforts to energize the protest movement. Ordinary Puerto Ricans also expressed themselves in ways as diverse as the island’s culture, with songs played on traditional instruments with rhythms like plena and bomba, as well as more contemporary musical genres like urbano and trap. Protesters have vogued in a square in Old San Juan, and there were calls for a big gathering in front of the governor’s mansion for perreo, a reggaeton dance style.

Crowds have broken out in spontaneous renditions of Puerto Rican standards from the 1940s and 1950s, like “En Mi Viejo San Juan” and “Preciosa,” considered unofficial anthems in the island.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/us/puerto-rico-governor-ricky-renuncia.html" id="3b356ca1-38ff-3cfb-afad-66dda2834e72">The New York Times</a>.

Cries of Protest From Acrobats, Singers, Dancers and Divers

The protests in Puerto Rico that have besieged the island’s embattled governor, Ricardo A. Rosselló, are unlike any San Juan has seen before. Hundreds of thousands of people from all corners of the island have jammed highways and surrounded the governor’s mansion.

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Charo Henríquez

Articles written by the author

Cries of Protest From Acrobats, Singers, Dancers and Divers