Unnamed speaker testifies on Project Esencia
An unnamed speaker testifies about Project Esencia's threat to Cabo Rojo, citing scientific studies and the project's potential for ecocide. They criticize the governor's visit to Wall Street and call for passing the resolutions.
This is a historic hearing at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Arturo Schomburg fought for the independence of Puerto Rico, coined the term Afro-Borinqueno, and was born in my dad's birthplace of Santurce, Puerto Rico.
Thank you to Councilmember Aviles and all of our comrades in this City Council for putting Puerto Rico at the forefront with Resolutions 494, 27, 28.
From New York to El Moro, no a Proyecto Esencia.
Ojo en Cabo Rojo, esto es nuestra herencia.
Puerto Rico.
Is our home.
And Proyecto Esencia in Cabo Rojo is a detriment to our people.
Proyecto Esencia is being proposed to open the floodgates of displacement and get the developers closer to having a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans and no coquise.
They want the cage, not the birds, so they spray the trees.
The government of Puerto Rico expects the people to be okay with the fast tracking of permits for luxury projects before proper testing is complete to ensure the project will be safe for flora, fauna, and human life.
This basically translates to shoot first, ask questions later.
That is reckless and irresponsible.
By then, it will be too late and irreversible damage will already have taken place.
The scientific community of Puerto Rico volunteered their time to study, analyze, and break down Proyecto Esencia and why it is not a go and an all-the-way no.
44 professionals in Puerto Rico, including ecologists and other experts dedicated to the environment and the study of biodiversity, have determined that this project will have an irreversible negative impact on the ecosystem and will
result in an ecocide.
June 30th, 2026 marked 10 years after Promesa and La Junta de Control Fiscal were imposed on Puerto Rico.
And on August 25th, two months later, the governor of Puerto Rico decided to visit Wall Street.
Stock exchange to ring the opening bell and yell that Puerto Rico is open for business and for sale.
You cannot make up the irony because La Junta de Control Fiscal sided with the Wall Street vultures that preyed on Puerto Rico's debt, buying distressed bonds for pennies on the dot.
and positioning themselves to profit from an island and financial collapse.
Wall Street rushed with vulture funds aiming to take flight, swooping down on their prey with no oversight.
Crisis after crisis, the people are told to sacrifice, while outside investment and luxury development are invited in under the guise of bringing progress and prosperity.
With all these investors making deals for luxury developments, the people still suffer a significant high level of social and economic inequality.
39% of Puerto Ricans live below the poverty line, and according to Puerto Rico Family Data Center, more than 52% of children living in poverty conditions.
That's more than four times the U.S.
National child poverty average.
So who is this progress actually for?
While financial institutions talk about investment, capital, and economic opportunity, Puerto Ricans and Puerto Rico
have lived through austerity, an unreliable electric grid, water shortages, rising costs, displacement, and the privatization of essential services.
Luxury resorts are not needed.
What the people need is access to clean water, health care, education, affordable housing, and lower food costs.
New York City is the belly of the corporate beast, taking advantage of Puerto Rico.
Passing all three resolutions will demonstrate that Puerto Rico is not alone in this fight, and we will continue taking steps to end the oppression.
Abuse, once and for all.
No a Proyecto Esencia.