El dominio de Puerto Rico en el beisbol es más que conocido, pero hay quienes piensan que la pelota boricua ya vio sus mejores días. Y algunos responsabilizan de su declive a una decisión de Major League Baseball de 1990, cuando obligó a los peloteros boricuas a pasar por el sorteo de novatos para llegar a la pelota profesional. Pero, 35 años después, las razones son mucho más complejas. 

En este episodio, exploramos cómo el beisbol refleja realidades como la migración forzosa, la desigualdad y la falta de soberanía política, y descubrimos formas en que la pelota sigue aportando a Puerto Rico.

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Puerto Rico has been a baseball powerhouse. For decades, we operated as our own country, under the same rules as nations like the Dominican Republic. Players could be signed to professional teams as young as 16. Then in 1990, Major League Baseball changed the rules to include Puerto Rico in its first-year player draft. Initially, it was seen as protecting young players. But today, there’s a sense that Puerto Rican baseball has lost its shine, and fewer players make it to the major leagues. In this episode, we examine how baseball reflects inequality and the lack of political sovereignty.

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Por décadas, políticos y activistas boricuas han depuesto ante el Comité de Descolonización de la ONU durante su vista anual sobre Puerto Rico. La mayoría de los deponentes favorece la independencia, pero, recientemente, los pro estadidad se han organizado para aumentar su presencia ante un foro que, en 50 años, no ha conseguido cambiar nada. Porque Puerto Rico sigue siendo una colonia de Estados Unidos. 

El equipo de La Brega visitó la sede de la ONU durante el verano de 2025 para acompañar a los peticionarios que, año tras año, comparecen para defender sus visiones de futuro para Puerto Rico.

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For decades, Puerto Ricans from different political persuasions have gone to the United Nations in New York to speak about the decolonization of Puerto Rico. Most have advocated for independence. But recently, statehood supporters have also spoken before the UN. And for decades, their advocacy has made no difference: Puerto Rico continues to be a colony of the United States. In 2025, La Brega went to the United Nations to spend a day with the advocates who continue to make the annual pilgrimage, and ask whether the yearly ritual really advances their vision for Puerto Rico’s future.

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En Puerto Rico, los concursos de belleza son una obsesión nacional que entusiasma al público como cualquier competencia deportiva. Y, en 2024, ocurrió algo que expandió la huella boricua en estos certámenes: Míster Puerto Rico ganó por primera vez Míster Mundo. Danny Mejía nunca había participado en un certamen de belleza, pero viajó a Vietnam para representar a su país y regresó de allí con el triunfo, uno más para Puerto Rico. 

En este episodio, exploramos qué significa que Míster Mundo sea boricua y cómo estos concursos —de mujeres y de hombres— ayudan a desarrollar ideas sobre la nación.

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Puerto Rico has a reputation as a beauty queen mecca, the pageant scene is treated as seriously as any competitive sport in the archipelago. And in 2024, the scope of Puerto Rican dominance in the world of beauty pageants expanded even further: for the first time, Mister Puerto Rico became Mister World. Danny Mejía, who had never competed in any pageant before, went to Vietnam all by himself to represent Puerto Rico. In this episode, we learn what it means that Mister World is Boricua, and explore the history of these nation-building contests that are deeper than they seem at first glance. 

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En 1902, Isabel González llegó a Ellis Island sola, con 11 dólares en el bolsillo y embarazada. La detuvieron, como a tantos otros, por ser “extranjera” y porque consideraron que podría ser “una carga para el Estado”. Pero ella peleó por su derecho de quedarse en el país que había invadido su patria y llegó hasta el Tribunal Supremo para reclamar la ciudadanía estadounidense. 

En este episodio, exploramos junto a expertas las repercusiones históricas y legales del desafío sin precedentes de esta boricua de principios del siglo 20.

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In 1902, Isabel González arrived in Ellis Island, pregnant, alone and with only $11.00 in her pocket. She – like others before her – was detained for being an "alien" and at risk of becoming a "burden" on the state. But Isabel took her fight to the courts, defending her right to stay in the country that had invaded her homeland just four years earlier. She fought all the way to the Supreme Court where she argued for citizenship. In this episode we learn about Isabel’s ever-so-pertinent legacy, and how another recent challenger also fought for Puerto Rico at the US Supreme Court.

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En plena Guerra Fría, el presidente estadounidense Jimmy Carter llama al boicot de los Juegos Olímpicos Moscú 1980 y en Puerto Rico se debate qué significa eso para la participación de los deportistas locales. Pero un joven boxeador llamado Alberto Mercado no tiene dudas: no habrá boicot ni protesta que le impida representar a Puerto Rico en el más importante escenario deportivo. 

Esta es una historia sobre la visibilidad de Puerto Rico en la palestra internacional y de los triunfos y sinsabores que viven los atletas cuando la relación entre el deporte y la política se hace evidente.

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It was 1980, and the Olympics were to be held in Moscow against the backdrop of the Cold War. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter called for a boycott of the games, leaving Puerto Rican athletes uncertain of their participation. But Alberto Mercado and two other young Puerto Rican boxers were determined to represent Puerto Rico. This is a story about fighting for visibility on the global stage, and the heartbreak and triumph that athletes experience outside of the ring when politics and sports mix.

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