Pop singer Ricky Martin said he and other entertainers have a responsibility to promote peace.
Speaking at a peace conference in his Caribbean homeland on Tuesday, Martin blamed the media for desensitizing people toward violence, which drew loud applause from the hundreds in the audience.
"On my recent visit to India . . . I internalized that we cannot distance ourselves from the dispossessed, which need voices like ours so that the whole world can know their reality via the mass media," said Martin, known for songs "Livin' la Vida Loca" and "She Bangs."
Entertainers "have a prime responsibility to rescue the highest human values and translate them into a positive message of well-being, happiness and peaceful coexistence."
Martin was speaking in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of a panel on how the media influences human behavior. It was part of a three-day conference that began in the U.S. territory on Monday.
Other conference speakers included 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias and Spanish investigative judge Baltasar Garzon, who tried to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998.