As Trump Insults San Juan Mayor Cruz & Puerto Rico's US Citizens, Germans Work On Power & Elon Musk, Too
/Amid Trump's demeaning comments to Mayor Cruz -- surely fueled by her being a woman -- we assume that he has little knowledge of her background. The Independent UK writes:
Cruz has, in some ways, been a lifelong politician: Class president in eighth grade; student council president in high school.
Like many Puerto Ricans, she left the island to pursue opportunities on the US mainland, earning a bachelor's in political science at Boston University and a master's in public management and policy at Carnegie Mellon.
Apparently Mayor Cruz held key positions not only at Scotiabank but also the US Treasury Department. After returning to Puerto Rico, Cruz became an adviser to Sila Maria Calderon, then the mayor of San Juan who later became Puerto Rico's first and only female governor.
The Carnegie Mellon grad strung together a people-centric coalition including including the LGBT community, students, Dominican immigrants and taxi drivers. Fueled by people power, Cruz defeated a three-time incumbent Jorge Santini.
“Politics is a rough game, and sometimes as females we are taught that you have to play nice,” she said in a 2014 in an interview. “Sometimes you can't play nice.”