Puerto Rico mayor challenged to take drug test by local rap duo

A new song by the popular Puerto Rican rap duo Calle 13 has prompted calls for the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico to take a drug test.

On Tuesday, the duo, known for taking political stances against certain Latin America leaders, released its newest album Entren los que quieran (or, Come in those who want to). On the CD is a track titled Digo lo que pienso (or, I say what I think). Although he does not identify anyone by name, lead singer René Pérez challenges a mayor to take a drug test.

Last year, opposition politicians in the US territory demanded that the Caribbean island's Justice Department look into the alleged interference by San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini in a police operation at a bar known as a place where drugs are sold. Santini was at the location with some friends when the police converged.

In his song, Pérez, better known as El residente , sings: "A mayor with a stupid face, corrupt, who is a drug addict. You know who you are. I don't suck my thumb. You have the scary face of a drug trafficker. With the royalties I receive from this song, I promise to take you to Cuba and pay for your rehabilitation."

On Monday, Santini publicly asked Calle 13 to pick on someone else to boost their ratings. "I am not going to waste my time with these things," he said, adding that he periodically underwent drug testing and it is only the press that is interested in the controversy. "While he is writing songs, I am creating parks, setting up rail networks, and building museums."

The Grammy-winning San Juan-born Pérez and Santini have been on unfriendly terms since the mayor canceled a Calle 13 concert last year after Pérez used an appearance on the MTV Latin American Music Awards to label Luis Fortuño, the governor of Puerto Rico, "a son-of-a-bitch" for laying off 17,000 state employees. On that same show, Pérez wore a t-shirt that suggested that then-Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was connected to the paramilitary forces in his country. At the time, Santini explained that the Calle 13 show had to be canceled because there was no formal contract. But after the event, Pérez publicly called on Santini to take a blood test.

Members of Santini's own pro-statehood New Progressive Party came out in his defense, with one fellow mayor suggesting that he take the test and sit down with Pérez to put an end to these public attacks. "We have a mayor who is dynamic and ardent but I have never known him to use controlled substances," said Aníbal Vega Borges, the mayor of the town of Toa Baja.

One island lawmaker, Albita Rivera, also of Santini's party, recommended that Calle 13 get busy recording because they are going to have to pay a hefty sum after a lawsuit is filed.