A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Rep. Jenniffer González-Colon, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner in the House of Representatives, offered a novel suggestion this week on Twitter.
The Congresswoman suggested that cockfighting, a “centuries-old blood sport” taboo and banned for years in the continental United States, could have therapeutic benefits for veterans of foreign wars.
The anodyne language: “Discussing the therapeutic benefits of cockfighting for Vietnam and Iraq War veterans in #PuertoRico.” (On Thursday night, her tweet appeared to have been deleted.)
An interesting position for a federal official to take, given the imminent federal ban on cockfighting in federal territories.
The National Conference of State Legislatures noted the gradual evolution of laws on this front.
The Animal Fighting Prohibition Reinforcement Act (AFPRA) of 2007 increased the penalty for animal fighting violations to a felony, and it forbade anyone to “knowingly sell, buy, transport, or deliver in interstate or foreign commerce a knife, a gaff, or any other sharp instrument attached, or designed or intended to be attached, to the leg of a bird for use in an animal fighting venture.”
The 2008 Farm Bill established three to five years as the prison sentence for animal fighting, the NCSL adds.
The federal ban on cockfighting is a tough sell in Puerto Rico.
As NPR reported last year, Puerto Rico’s Governor lobbied against the bill, and the Congresswoman bemoaned it as colonialism.
“We are approving another federal regulation on the island without even consulting the people of Puerto Rico,” she said.
The ban takes effect this month.
The Congresswoman has a political profile in Florida.
Rep. González-Colon and Sen. Rick Scott have been politically aligned on many issues involving Puerto Rico, a logical outcome given her support of his successful 2018 campaign.
However, when it comes to cockfighting, neither Scott nor any other Florida Republican will rush to defend or contextualize the Congresswoman’s tweet.
