Reggaeton Star Bimbo Gets Tough On Fuel Prices

Latino hip-hop star Bimbo is stirring up controversy in America by taking to the streets to protest sky-rocketing gasoline prices in his native Puerto Rico.

The superstar leader of new musical genre reggaeton, who has worked with Alicia Keys and Carlos Santana among others, took his fight to New York City, where he joined protesters at gas stations on Wednesday (24AUG05).

Bimbo, real name JESUS OTERO, also plans to hit gas stations in Washington, DC later today (26AUG05) to continue his protest.

And he isn't stopping there - in his provocative new video FULETEAME EL TANQUE (FILL UP MY GAS TANK), he stuffs money into the garters of strippers wearing PRESIDENT George W Bush, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden face masks - suggesting he has to pay them off for the high price of petrol.

The track has already become an anthem in Bimbo's native Puerto Rico, where it is being used by news networks covering an ongoing gasoline crisis, which has brought the country to a near standstill.

Bimbo says, "When I was back in Puerto Rico getting ready to shoot the video for my new single, there was a major gasoline crisis that completely paralysed my homeland for weeks and weeks. Every gas station on the island was closed so no one could do anything. The government had to call a state of emergency.

"I'm staging these protests in New York and Washington, DC to bring the warning of my country here to the US - if the price of gasoline continues to soar higher and higher with no sign of stopping, it won't be just motorists that are affected."