Alex Cora has always been outspoken in providing support for Puerto Rico any way he can, but the Boston Red Sox manager is not proud of everything that is going on with the government in his home country.
Two Puerto Rican government officials resigned over the weekend following the release of some disturbing text messages from a group chat. Governor Ricardo Rossello was part of the 12-person chat, in which Puerto Rican officials used homophobic and misogynistic language and exchanged inappropriate memes, among other embarrassing content. In addition to that, several other top officials were recently arrested on corruption charges.
On Sunday, Cora took to Instagram to share some of his thoughts on the situation. The post was written in Spanish, but ESPN’s Marly Rivera provided a full translation:
“My platform is unique; I‘ve used it many times to tell the world where I come from. I am Puerto Rican, and I am very proud of my roots. During this journey, I have been transparent, and more so when it comes to OUR Puerto Rico, that’s why I’m writing this today. If it was hard to watch Maria hit from afar, knowing the only one in control was God, it’s even worse for me today as I see, read, and watch everything going on back home, knowing that throughout all of this, those that had or have control were elected by our people. I am disillusioned, angry, and worried about everything going on at home. I start thinking about what will happen to my people in the future if things go on this way. At the same time, I am anxious to see what tomorrow will bring, if we do the right thing. We should be, and I know we can be better; we have more than enough talent to do so. The only thing left to do, and we have done it before, is to play for the same team, stay on the same page, fight on, battle on, and never give up. We all have to pull for the same side and show not only the whole world, but also those who have put us in this situation, that #YoNoMeQuito (I won’t give up) and ‘Yes, we can.'”
Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Enrique Hernandez, who is also from Puerto Rico, shared similar thoughts.
“Our country is going through a difficult and unfortunate situation. Like Alex said on his post, these things involve persons that were elected by the Puerto Rican people,” Hernandez said Sunday before his team’s series finale against the Red Sox, per Rivera. “I understand that we all have a private life, but as the governor, when you are someone who is in charge and who has so much power, these types of things shouldn’t happen. That’s all I’ll say. Now I’ll just shut up and swing the bat.”
Cora, if you remember, decided to skip the Red Sox’s visit to the White House recently because of Donald Trump and the way he handled Hurricane Maria relief in Puerto Rico. He takes great pride in his home country, but his remarks from Sunday prove he is not blind to the leadership problems going on in Puerto Rico.
