Puerto Rico mayor camps out to prove streets safe

[August 03, 2012]  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- The mayor of Puerto Rico's capital says he will sleep aboard a bus on the streets of San Juan to prove they are safe.

Jorge Santini said Thursday that he and his family will spend several nights on a bus parked in different neighborhoods. He also plans to cook a typical rice-and-beans dish for residents of those communities as part of his re-election campaign.

Santini said he wants to prove that crime has not taken over San Juan, though many of the island's 1,117 homicides last year occurred in the metropolitan area.

Santini spokesman Ramon Alejandro Pabon did not respond to requests for more details.

Santini is known for occasional quirky acts. He recently sent out a holiday postcard that featured his family along with a taxidermied leopard sinking its teeth into an antelope.

Santini said his wife and three children also will participate in the sleepover.

Santini has been mayor since January 2001 and faces a challenge from local Rep. Carmen Yulin Cruz in the November elections.

[Associated Press]

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