The defense of Spanish has become a political issue in the United States. Especially in Puerto Rico, after US President Donald Trump lashed out at Bad Bunny, the most international of Puerto Ricans, for his performance at the last Super Bowl. In addition to calling his show “absolutely terrible” and considering it “an affront to American values,” Trump added: “Nobody understands a word this guy says.”
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For the first time, the guest artist at the American football final, the biggest television show in the US, sang exclusively in Spanish. Also for the first time, an album entirely in Spanish by Bad Bunny won the Grammy Award for best of the year in 2026.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, cited the Puerto Rican rapper and the Spanish Rosalía as symbols of the global rise of Spanish in the conference he gave this Monday at the Interamerican University of San Juan (Puerto Rico). Although he was careful to avoid any friction with the White House —Puerto Rico is an associated state of the US, whose foreign policy is directed from Washington— he promised to support “political agents who advocate for the recognition of Spanish as one of the original languages of the United States” and to “strengthen public and cultural diplomacy actions that present Hispanic culture as one of the fundamental constituent elements of American identity since the very birth of the country.” The minister recalled that 68 million Hispanics live in the United States, making up 20% of the total population, and that it is the second country in the world, after Mexico, with the largest number of Spanish speakers.
Trump has not been too receptive to recognizing the language of Cervantes. On the contrary, one of his first decisions after returning to the White House was to eliminate the Spanish version of his website, and in 2025 he signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the country. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States, but the deterioration of relations between the two governments, exacerbated by Spain’s refusal to support the attack by Trump and Netanyahu against Iran, has led to the postponement of the Kings’ visit that was considered for this anniversary. Asked about Spain’s role in the commemoration of independence –the first city founded in the current territory of the US was St. Augustine, Florida, by the Spanish Crown–, Albares merely stressed that the Spanish Embassy has made itself available to the State Department, but it is up to the US authorities to decide the program of events.
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In Puerto Rico, Albares did not hear the criticisms Trump lavishes on Pedro Sánchez’s government, but rather praise from the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Julio Fontanet, who, in his presentation of the minister to students, held up the Spanish government as an “example of courage” for its stance on the Palestinian genocide. Albares thanked him for his words, but diplomatically preferred not to elaborate and merely stressed that Spanish is a language of peace and understanding in times of conflict and turbulence. He did praise Puerto Rico’s resistance in defending Spanish against the hegemony of English —recognized in 1991 with the Cervantes Prize—, recalled that Spanish is spoken in 95% of its homes, and that the Puerto Rican community is the second largest Latino community in the US after the Mexican one. Spain’s relationship with Puerto Rico, he emphasized, “offers a privileged link with the United States.”
Albares met with the island’s governor, Jenniffer González Colón, and with the resident commissioner, Pablo José Hernández, who represents her in the US Congress, with voice but without vote. In their conversations, they addressed, among other issues, Puerto Rico’s participation as a “main partner country” in next year’s Fitur edition, as well as the increase in its air connections with Spain and the promotion of investments. Before flying to the Dominican Republic, the second stage of a tour that concludes on Wednesday in Mexico, the head of Spanish diplomacy inaugurated a business forum in San Juan.