San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini wants to prove his city is safe by sleeping on the streets of various neighborhoods in a bus with his family. Santini is undertaking the publicity stunt to refute San Juan’s reputation as Murder Central in Puerto Rico.
According to Fox News Latino, Puerto Rico had a record number of homicides last year and the island has been struggling with rising crime for several years, largely as a result of the island’s role as a transshipment point for South American drugs bound for the U.S. mainland. Though random violence is relatively rare, polls in the territory consistently show crime as the leading concern and an anti-crime march planned for Aug. 12 is expected to draw tens of thousands of people.
Last week, Puerto Rico’s governor, Luis Fortuño, signed an update to the penal code that will boost sentences for murder, assault and other crimes. The new penal code establishes fixed sentences on a range of offenses that are substantially higher than those that have been in place since the last time the laws were updated in 2004 and, in some cases, more in line with the 1974 version, Fortuño said in the article.
Santini is known for his quirky stunts (especially in the midst of a re-election campaign). During the holidays, his family gained a lot of notoriety for their holiday card, shown above, that, in addition to the family, included a leopard biting an antelope.
