Barriada Esperanza

Decades after toxic chemicals were discovered in the Esperanza neighborhood, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the contamination no longer poses a threat on land and launched an investigation into its reach into the bay. Amid cleanup and rebuilding after the 2020 earthquakes, residents of Guánica are organizing.

Residents of the Esperanza neighborhood in Guánica have been waiting for nine months for emergency decontamination coordinated by the EPA to kick off and for the broadening of an investigation to identify the extent of the contamination.