From Cabo Rojo to San Juan, Puerto Ricans are fighting land grabs, water shortages, a failing power grid and an oversight board no one on the island elected. Here’s what’s at stake, and how the diaspora can help.
Featured campaign · ¡Defiende a Cabo Rojo!
Esencia no va.Stop the land grab.
Development firms Reuben Brothers and Three Rules Capital plan to build Esencia, a $2 billion community for the ultra-wealthy around Boquerón Bay in Cabo Rojo, with hotels run by Aman, Mandarin Oriental and Rosewood. Land already acquired has been closed off, and people approaching the beaches are run off by private security.
Organizers warn the project would need as much water as the entire municipality of Cabo Rojo, and it has proposed drawing water from neighboring La Parguera, home to bioluminescent bays and manatees. The Coalición ¡Defiende a Cabo Rojo! and the Esencia No Va movement are leading the fight to stop it.
The developers’ own conceptual plan for Esencia: golf courses, hotels and hundreds of homes along the coast of Boquerón, next to the Boquerón Wildlife Refuge.
~2,000acres of largely undeveloped land on Cabo Rojo’s southwest coast
3 milesof beaches inside the project’s footprint
$2Bprivate community for the ultra-wealthy
1,000+luxury residences, plus five hotels and two golf courses
1.25M+gallons of water a day, critics warn
100+Taíno archaeological sites in the area
“The fundamental question is: where will the water come from for this mega project?”
Gabo Ramos, Esencia No Va / Defiende a Cabo Rojo Coalition
What we stand to lose
The area is home to endemic plants and to wildlife whose habitats would be destroyed.
Esencia is one example of a bigger pattern. These are the issues Puerto Ricans on the island and in the diaspora are organizing around.
Water
Water is life, and it’s running out
Puerto Rico has long struggled with water access. In 2026, a severe drought and a ruptured pipeline forced water rationing in San Juan and six other municipalities, and the National Guard was called in to deliver water by truck. Meanwhile, water and other resources are diverted to resorts and luxury projects, away from the people who live here.
1.25M+ gallons a day: how much water critics warn Esencia could use while many Puerto Ricans already face outages.
Since 2021, the private consortium LUMA Energy has run Puerto Rico’s power transmission and distribution. Families still live with frequent outages, including an island-wide blackout on New Year’s Eve 2024. Puerto Ricans deserve a grid that works for the people, not for private profit.
Congress passed PROMESA in 2016, creating the Financial Oversight and Management Board, known as la Junta. Its members are appointed in Washington, not elected by Puerto Ricans, yet it controls the island’s budget and debt deals. Advocates in New York are calling for an end to the Junta.
Puerto Rico’s beaches belong to the people. But resorts and private developments are fencing off coastline, and residents are being run off land and beaches they have always used.
78% of voters in Puerto Rico and 74% in the diaspora strongly support public access to beaches. (IZQ Strategies poll, March 2024)
Act 22 / Act 60
Tax breaks for the few
Act 22, now Act 60, gives wealthy newcomers generous tax incentives while local families face a crushing cost of living and displacement from their own neighborhoods.
More than half of voters in Puerto Rico and the diaspora oppose these tax incentives for the wealthy. (IZQ Strategies poll, March 2024)
Self-determination
Decolonize Puerto Rico
Many of these fights trace back to Puerto Rico’s colonial status. Residents of the island can’t vote for the U.S. president and have no voting member of Congress, yet decisions made in Washington shape their daily lives.
45% of voters in Puerto Rico and 36% in the diaspora strongly support a binding plebiscite on the island’s status. (IZQ Strategies poll, March 2024)
Two communities, one agenda
The diaspora is with la Isla
From Cabo Rojo to Manhattan, Puerto Ricans are standing together. Our poll of voters in Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican voters in the U.S. found strong alignment on the issues shaping the island, from public beaches to tax breaks for the wealthy.
