Roberto Ruiz Vargas, one of the developers behind the Esencia project planned for Cabo Rojo’s Boquerón neighborhood, sits to the side of the Hearing Room in the Municipal Assembly inside City Hall. Beside him, dressed in black and wearing headphones, sit the other two proponents, Will Bennett and Harish Venkatesh, as two interpreters simultaneously translate the public hearing presentations into English.
The three foreign investors, arms crossed and leaning forward on the cushioned blue seats, listen intently as the Office of Management and Permits (OGPe, in Spanish) weighs the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) submitted by Cabo Rojo Land Acquisition LLC.
The company plans to develop 530 hotel units, 1,132 tourist residences, a private school with 500 dormitories, golf courses, and areas for recreation, healthcare, agriculture, commerce, and entertainment.
Photo by Brandon Cruz González | Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
According to the proponents, Esencia will have four public vehicular accesses to the beach, which are currently under dispute. Citizens argue that accessing the beach through these paths would require crossing privatized areas since vehicle entry will be controlled.
Outside City Hall, citizens protest the project, which is backed by the British investment firm Reuben Brothers and developer Three Rules Capital. Protesters wave handmade signs and chant to the beat of music, voicing their opposition to Esencia.
The hall is too small to fit everyone who wants to listen and participate. With nearly every seat filled, many are forced to wait outside under a white tent, watching the hearing on a screen set up by one of the opposing organizations.
To enter City Hall, four municipal police officers ask attendees to sign a registration sheet, inspect them with a metal detector, and check their bags.
The public hearings took place from morning until afternoon in the Hearing Room of the Cabo Rojo Municipal Assembly. Photo by Brandon Cruz González | Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
During the two days of public hearings, citizens from different social classes, ideologies, and professions testify: fishermen, farmers, engineers, planners, biologists, ecologists, lawyers, and cyclists.
Day One
The streets of downtown Cabo Rojo, a southwest coastal town, are filled with red and black posters rejecting the construction of the project with slogans like “No to Esencia!”
The first day of public hearings begins as project developers arrive under escort. A black vehicle pulls up directly in front of City Hall, bypassing the security barriers established by the Municipal Police.
The developers’ arrival at the town hall draws attention and spreads like wildfire on social media.
The hearing room is packed with residents from Cabo Rojo, neighboring municipalities, and the rest of Puerto Rico.
Daniel “Danny” Hernández, former press officer for the ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives Jaime Perelló, calls me by name and greets me upon entering the room. I find it curious because I don’t recall us having spoken before.
Esencia’s public relations team includes Hernández and Misael Vargas, press officer for the Municipality of Hormigueros and several legislators, all affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party (PPD, in Spanish). They enter and exit the hall’s technical control room, where the sound consoles and screens projecting the presentations are located. The Municipality also broadcasts the public hearings via its Facebook page, as do citizen journalists from Observadorxs Press Comunitario and El León Fiscalizador. Other attendees also broadcast the presentations on their networks or via video calls for family, friends, or fellow activists.
Architect Natasha Jordán from the architectural firm Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón presents the design of Esencia.
Alongside the architect are Celio Cruz and Vionette Benítez, lawyers from the firm Muñoz Benítez Brugueras & Cruz representing Esencia. In the back row are experts from VAG Transportation Engineering Consultants, PSC, and Estudios Técnicos Inc., awaiting their turn. These firms, among others, worked on the preparation of the EIS submitted by Cabo Rojo Land Acquisition LLC.
The public hearing is moderated by OGPe examining officials Viviana Pereira and Miguel Mijalhevich.
The examining official reminds the architect, “We are not here to judge the project’s beauty but its environmental impact on natural resources.”
On multiple occasions, Pereira and Mijalevich engaged with the public, who demanded that the hearings be extended to honor the turn of those who will not be able to express themselves due to lack of time and that a larger hall be sought to accommodate more people.
— “We have to listen to each other,” repeats Pereira amid the audience’s shouts.
— “We ask for respect for the speakers,” insists Mijalevich.
The examining officials scold the audience for applauding speakers they agreed with and booing those they didn’t.
Photo by Brandon Cruz González | Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
A few days before the public hearings, the project proponents begin paying for ads in local media like La Voz Digital (The Digital Voice) to improve the project’s perception among Cabo Rojo residents. Anonymous social media accounts and websites like “Conoce la verdad” (Know the Truth) have also emerged to promote Esencia.
The public hearing is a sequence of gazes and gestures. The most expressive of the investors is Ruiz Vargas. During the depositions of former Planning Board members Luis García Pelatti and Pedro Cardona Roig, the investor smiles. Among other observations, the planners mention that the EIS lacks a hydrological study and does not specify the environmental impacts of the proposal on public infrastructure and adjacent natural systems. The developer raises his eyebrows in surprise and occasionally glances at Bennett or Venkatesh. Occasionally, the investors also joke among themselves during the presentations.
Alongside the three project developers sit politicians and officials from the New Progressive Party (PNP, in Spanish), such as the mayor of San Germán, Virgilio Olivera, and the former director of the Office of Government Ethics and now political commentator, Zulma Rosario.
The mayor of San Germán is booed by the public while expressing support for the project: “Acts 20 and 22 are the new 936 for Puerto Rico,” he asserted during his presentation. Section 936 of the United States Internal Revenue Code was a tax incentive applied in Puerto Rico to attract investments from foreign corporations. It was eliminated in 1995. Acts 20 and 22 (now under the Incentives Code, or Act 60), approved during the administration of former Governor Luis Fortuño (2009-2013), aim to attract foreign investors in exchange for tax exemptions.
Olivera says the project would generate well-paying jobs for area residents and would be an economic engine for the western region.
Day Two
Half an hour before the second day of public hearings begins people are already in line to secure a front-row seat.
I hear an elderly man, wearing a shirt alluding to Puerto Rico, shouting at another man in shorts and a red shirt:
— “You’re on fire!” —
“I’m a popular [a member of the PPD] at heart!” responds the man in red, the party’s color.
— “We must defend the beaches, what is ours, from the abuse they have,” adds the man as he walks away from the line and repeats the slogan as a battle cry.
The mayor of Cabo Rojo, Jorge Morales Wiscovitch, finally appears in the hall. It’s Friday afternoon, and he sits quietly next to the political analyst and project spokesperson, René “Chile” Comas, affiliated with the PPD. The PNP mayor has been harshly criticized by residents and environmental organizations for conditionally supporting the project, provided that the water for maintaining green areas, golf courses, and cleaning communal areas comes from the treatment and recirculation of used water due to the limitations of the municipality’s stormwater infrastructure, among other conditions.
Once at the table in front of the examining officials, he remains silent while attendees boo and shout at him.
— “Nobody wants you here!” exclaims a woman. “Give up your turn!” she insists.
The atmosphere is tense. The mayor does not turn his gaze at any moment.
Morales Wiscovitch says that Esencia would generate jobs for the people of Cabo Rojo, especially during its construction. That the homes built as part of the project would pay property taxes and duties, which would generate millions in revenue for the town. That it has been a divisive and polarizing project for the town.
The Puerto Rico Tourism Company, in addition to granting nearly $498 million in tax credits for coastal development, granted several tax exemptions, such as a 90% savings on taxes from the Municipal Revenue Collection Center.
After praising the Esencia project, the mayor warns: “We don’t want a good economy at the expense of environmental harm.” He assures that he will request that government agencies enforcing environmental laws address the concerns of the speakers.
Developer Roberto Cacho Pérez has been present at times during the public hearings. He is not seen with the other project proponents. The frequent donor to the PNP, who has mainly favored ex-governor Pedro Pierluisi and San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero, has been pushing projects like Esencia for several years and was involved in the purchase of part of the project’s land.
Photo by Brandon Cruz González | Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
In other parts of the hall are former PPD representative for District 20, Joel Sánchez Ayala; independent Senator Eliezer Molina; and Senator for the Puerto Rican Independence Party, Adrián González Costa.
The room is cold. An immense painting of the Caborrojeño hero known as “the Father of the Nation” Ramón Emeterio Betances stands out, with the Lares flag on his arm while a Cabo Rojo flag waves over a cathedral. Betances is accompanied by a family of freed slaves, and in the background, there is a map of the Greater Antilles.
A woman with curly black hair stands beneath the painting, tears welling in her eyes, as engineer and developer Ángel Cabán González testifies against the project. His words move her.
— “I have a dream that the people of Cabo Rojo will buy those lands and turn them into a great natural reserve,” proclaimed the man.
Across the hall, in front of Betances’ portrait, Ruiz Vargas smirks as he listens to the engineer. He exchanges a skeptical glance with the person beside him, then lowers his gaze as the room erupts in applause. Meanwhile, the examining officials schedule a third public hearing for Thursday, March 13, again at City Hall.
Luis Joel Méndez González is a member of Report for America.
This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and thoroughly reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.
