I’m not gonna pretend I currently live in Puerto Rico, but i still care about where I was born.
This is Viejo San Juan (which means old san juan)
It was founded in 1521 by the spanish but has over time been reclaimed by Puerto Ricans and has become a cultural icon.
It is older than literally every city in the usa and has had a vibrant community for centuries.
It’s the home of one of the island’s most important cultural symbols called El Morro which is a fortress overlooking the waters and was also built by the spanish.
if you know anything about the Puerto Rico you know how badly it’s being treated by the USA.
And now once again the USA being the USA wants to build a big stupid ass hotel and casino in the heart of the city Kuzco style.
The problems this would create include:
Blocking the community’s view of El Morro which would strip its designation as a UNESCO world heritage site, taking away it’s protections and allowing corporations to do whatever they want to it.
Tarnishing the historical significance of Puerto Rico’s capital city which as i said earlier, is over 500 years old.
Leeching off of Puerto Rico’s weak and struggling electrical grid which has frequent black outs as is.
Constructing new water infrastructure in a vulnerable area that already has faulty pipes and bad water service (due to the aforementioned electrical problems) and of course funneling the water from working class homes into the tourist trap.
Risking structural instability in the area since it would be built on land that was artificially filled in by the spanish hundreds of years ago, which could cause sinking among other things due to the lack of a bedrock foundation and the weight of the hotel.
Also risking the safety of the guests inside by building the damn thing in a flood zone.
Making driving a living hell in the already full city by causing an influx of people driving to get in and out of the hotel, making traffic jams and accidents more common.
Overwhelming the city with an abundance of waste and garbage created by the whole thing.
Ruining the peace of the city’s people even more due to all the light and noise and smoke and disrespect coming from overtourism.
Displacing the community of the Capital City of Puerto Rico even more by gentrifying it to hell and back making even more people not be able to afford and/or not be able to stand living in where they once called home.
Killing the economy of el Viejo San Juan by discouraging tourists from actually visiting any small businesses and instead staying in the very american Hard Rock Hotel.
Being yet another step towards turning the whole island of Puerto Rico into nothing but a gentrified tourist shop for rich white americans to satisfy their dreams of visiting their fetishized view of a caribbean vacation paradise while disrespecting the very real history and community of the beautiful island.
And many more i may have forgotten
the corporation already started building and will be done in 5 years according to them,
asking the poor city to pay 27 million dollars not even to permanently stop the construction of this parasite of a location but just to pause it which is horrible.
please spread the word about this, i want more people to be pissed about this disrespectful, irresponsible parasite being built in Puerto Rico.
source 1 (this one is just in Spanish and is where i learned the news)
source 2 (this one is also in Spanish but has English subtitles)
not a source but listen to LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii by bad bunny cause i can’t stop thinking about it.
si cualquier puertorriqueño quiere añadir más o corregirme por favor siéntanse libres de hacerlo, yo no vivo allí así que pueden haber cosas que yo halla dicho incorrectas.
have a nice day, and keep fighting.
