Jarabel Arroyo testifies on Project Esencia
Jarabel Arroyo, a Puerto Rican in the diaspora, testifies about Project Esencia's threat to Cabo Rojo's environment and communities. She asks the council to pass Resolution 494 to stop the project.
Thank you.
Buenas tardes.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the City Council.
My name is Yariola Arroyo, and I was born
born and raised in Puerto Rico, and I am now part of the diaspora.
But my heart and hope remains rooted in the island and in the dream of one day returning home.
For us, the question is no longer, will we be able to come home?
It is, what will be left for us to come back to?
Project Essencia transforms over 2,000 acres
of land in Cabo Rojo into a massive luxury tourism and residential complex near environmentally sensitive areas.
It raises serious concerns about wetlands and wildlife, water and infrastructure, archaeological sites, public beaches, access, and increased pressure on housing and land.
And that's not a little thing.
And my concern goes beyond Cabo Rojo.
If developments of this scale become normalized, if sacrificing our coastline and natural resources for exclusive luxury communities becomes the price of development, where does it stop?
It's Cabo Rojo today and I'll be another town tomorrow.
Those of us in the diaspora also have the responsibility to use our voice.
We cannot wave the Puerto Rican flag proudly in New York while remaining silent about the decisions affecting the future of our island.
Resolution 494 would put this council on record standing with Puerto Ricans calling for Project Essencia to be stopped.
I support the resolution and ask this council to pass it.
Because it's
It is bigger than this development.
It is whether Puerto Rico will continue to be a place where Puerto Ricans themselves can live, return, and belong.
Puerto Rico is our home, and I refuse to accept a future where our people can only afford to remember it as a future.
Can only remember it from afar.
Despierta, boricua, que no robar lo nuestro.
Esencia no va.