[News] What is Esencia and what will happen to Puerto Rico if this is constructed?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

diasporapalantecollective.org
<https://diasporapalantecollective.org/what-is-esencia-and-what-will-happen-to-puerto-rico-if-this-is-constructed/>
What is Esencia and what will happen to Puerto Rico if this is constructed?
– Diaspora Pa'lante Collective
Maarch 23, 2025
------------------------------

Esencia is a massive $2 billion colonial development project aiming to
seize over 2,000 acres of land, spanning three miles of beaches in Punta
Melones, Cabo Rojo, by 2028. The United States has long justified its
imperial presence in Puerto Rico under the guise of “progress” and
“development.” With the complicity of a local government that prioritizes
U.S. interests, policies like Act 60—which grants foreign investors the
ability to evade local and federal taxes—serve Puerto Rico on a silver
platter to wealthy developers, speculators, and those eager to claim and
exploit a slice of “paradise.”

While Puerto Ricans face life-threatening austerity measures, the federal
and local governments turn Puerto Rico into a neoliberal playground for
foreigners. “Development” comes at the expense of Puerto Ricans’ lives, and
their access to land, coasts, and cultural patrimony; it impedes their
ability to work, thrive, and simply remain in the place they are from.
“Development,” moreover, disregards the natural environment and the
disruption of fragile ecosystems. For these projects, non-human life is
reduced to a resource to be extracted.

Esencia may hide behind Puerto Rican architects and “environmentalists,”
but it is led by the Reuben Brothers and Three Rules Capital, with the
later addition of Mandarin Oriental. These real estate and hospitality
magnates are the people who will benefit from the construction of over 900
“elite” residences, 5 hotels, 2 golf courses, a private airport, schools, a
trauma center, and more. Esencia will not benefit local residents in any
way: it seeks to create a private city within Cabo Rojo, built to segregate
its wealthy foreigners from Puerto Ricans and protect them from the reality
that Puerto Ricans face outside its walls: a crumbling infrastructure, food
insecurity, and frequent power outages.

The Esencia project has a clear goal: to create a “paradise” in the
Caribbean for foreigners while continuing to destroy the land and displace
the native population of Puerto Rico. This project is designed to benefit
the ultra rich and will control and limit the access of Puerto Ricans, who
currently freely enjoy the lands, using them as recreational areas,
coexisting respectfully alongside the plant and animal species that live
there.

The project would severely impact the delicate ecology of our land and
waters. The area for the proposed project is home to several plants,
including the endemic Eugenia woodburyana, cobana negra, and bariaco, that
serve as a habitat for many animals. Some animal species that would see
their habitats eradicated include: 1) The yellow shouldered blackbird and
the Puerto Rican nightjar, both endangered birds,  whose habitat and
breeding, nesting, and foraging areas would be affected by deforestation,
2) Antillean manatee, who can be found in the marine areas such as Caño
Boquerón, 3) Sea turtles, who can be kept from nesting on the beach by
artificial light and can become disoriented. These precious ecosystems sit
on Specially Protected-Ecological Rustic Soil, with over 100 identified
Taíno archaeological sites that have been preserved. Construction of this
luxury project would also demolish and appropriate these historic sites.

Esencia’s greenwashing efforts and supposed cultural respect and community
involvement cannot deceive Puerto Ricans, who know the results of many
other development projects that have taken over the coasts and lands.
Esencia’s developers claim that the project will protect environmental
conditions. One example of how these claims are unsubstantiated is that
Esencia includes 2 golf courses in its calculation of green areas. Golf
courses are not green areas and they are not ecosystems – they are leveled
and highly manicured areas that require large amounts of water. They do not
provide shelter, nesting grounds, or food for the local species. They are a
direct habitat disruption to countless fauna and flora.

Esencia also states that it will support archeological digs and build a
museum within the project’s borders. Cabo Rojo is the town with the highest
documented density of archeological deposits on the island. Esencia’s plan
to appropriate these historical materials is a rampant violation of Puerto
Ricans’ right to their ancestral patrimony. The lands, beaches, and Taíno
historical artifacts should be stewarded by the Puerto Rican people, not
owned by multimillionaires.

Esencia also claims that it will develop Cabo Rojo’s industries and create
employment. However, Esencia will benefit from tax exemption, an advantage
that  local industries do not have. Instead of supporting local workers and
businesses, this project will affect their livelihoods: for instance, many
fishermen in the area will lose their access to the ocean. If anything,
Esencia will foster precarious labor in the  service industry, thereby
deepening the dependency economy and furthering legacies of slavery and
colonialism.

Furthermore, Esencia, like other resorts in Puerto Rico, takes away basic
services from Puerto Ricans. When tourists and foreigners come to Puerto
Rico, water, electricity, and other resources are strained and directed to
these areas and away from the native population. A clear example of this
can be seen as the project intends to build a trauma center for the resort;
meanwhile, Puerto Rico is experiencing a health crisis, exacerbated by La
Junta, due to loss of funding for hospitals across the archipelago. This
has left many areas, like Vieques, without a single hospital.

Locals, who already endure the crushing weight of high costs of living
because of the colonial-capitalist system imposed on Puerto Rico, cannot
afford for this project to come to fruition. The only people who will
benefit from this project are the rich and powerful who profit from the
exploitation of our land and nation. The local Puerto Ricans will face
displacement and the destruction of their lands.

In solidarity with the many groups resisting Esencia and other similar
development projects across the archipelago, we demand that the Office of
Permit Management, the Department of Natural Resources, the Cultural
Institute of Puerto Rico, and the Autonomous Municipality of Cabo Rojo:

   1. *Revoke the permit and stop the permit granting process now. *
   2. *Ensure that the lands are not intervened upon in any way. *
   3. *Heed and study our amply documented claims and materials, which have
   already been submitted. *
   4. *Conduct a transparent investigation process where directly affected
   communities and specialists have prioritized participation. *

Puerto Ricans struggle against gentrification and displacement every single
day, and the construction of Esencia would only add to the millions of our
people uprooted and displaced from their homes. We must do everything in
our power to stop this project from happening. Otherwise, we will surely
see a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans.

Join a revolutionary Puerto Rican organization today and fight for our land
back!

Follow @comiteesencia on Instagram to stay updated and sign the petition
using the link in our bio.

*Sources: *

   - Kathakali Nandi, “Mandarin Oriental to open luxury resort, residences
   in Puerto Rico,” *Hotels*, January 24, 2025.
   <https://hotelsmag.com/news/mandarin-oriental-to-open-luxury-resort-residences-in-puerto-rico/>
   - Tatyana.trujillo, “POV los realtors . . . “ *Facebook*,  January 2025.
   <https://www.facebook.com/reel/2396693497351709>
   - Jaime Torres Torres, “La verdad sobre el Proyecto Esencia en Cabo
   Rojo.” Presa Sin Censura, *Youtube*, January 2025.
   <https://www.youtube.com/live/v6R1dWyqYeI?si=lWMAjQ7O23YdxQtR>
   - Plan de Contigencia, “Nota al Calce: No a Esencia.” *Youtube*,
   February 2025.  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SxfGTmt4us>
   - Beatriz Llenin Figueroa, La lucha contra “Esencia” es también
   feminista, anticapitalista, antirracista y LGBTIQ+” *Todas*, March 4,
   2025.
   <https://www.todaspr.com/esencia-cabo-rojo-feminista-anticapitalista-antirracista-lgbtiq/>
   - Bianca Graulau, “Will Puerto Ricans Lose Access to Their Own Beaches?”
   *Youtube*, February 2025.  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQiMZa7x76I>

Reniel Rodriguez Ramos, “ El Proyecto Esencia Amenaza Sitios Arqueológicos
en Cabo Rojo.” *Youtube*, March 2025.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Aw5aD_rf4>
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