Outside the JPMorganChase headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, the original Puerto Rican national anthem—created by Lola Rodríguez de Tío in 1868 to mobilize Puerto Ricans against Spanish colonization on the island—could be heard from the more than 150 demonstrators. Today, this song is not being sung to oppose past colonial subjugation, but to resist a modern-day colonial project funded by foreign corporations in New York City.
The Esencia mega-development is described as a “new residential and hospitality community set on the breathtaking western coast of Puerto Rico, spanning 2,000 tropical acres and 3 miles of pristine beachfront,” according to the Esencia website. The 2,000 tropical acres that the site refers to are located in Cabo Rojo, an area along the western coast of Puerto Rico that is home to protected dry forest ecosystems, public beaches, wildlife reserves, and a community that has recently contended with rising housing costs and fragile infrastructure.
The NY Contra Esencia coalition of environmental justice and Puerto Rican diaspora organizations mobilized to demand that JPMorganChase immediately rescind their financial support for the Esencia project on March 27. This demonstration was a part of a broader mobilization effort by more than 80 organizations from Defiende a Cabo Rojo Coalition (DaCR), consisting of Cabo Rojeño community members and other activists in Puerto Rico, and a growing movement spanning from the island to its diaspora in the United States.
Jason Cruz, president of Victory in Puerto Rico, began the demonstration by announcing “we are all Cabo Rojeño today,” as he asserted that Puerto Ricans in the greater diaspora must “amplify [the community of Cabo Rojo’s] voices from right here, where the money is coming from to do this project.” Davina Resto, a member of the Diaspora Pa’lante Collective, echoed the importance of organizing in New York, as she relayed that “the diaspora is everything to Puerto Rico and [we often think about how] we’re here in the belly of the beast.”
The Esencia project was initially proposed in 2024 by the Reuben Brothers and Three Rules Capital as a $2 billion plan along Boquerón Bay. In a statement by Defiende a Cabo Rojo Coalition, Jeremias Celdeño conveyed that “this private ultra luxury city would include 1,132 residences, priced between $2 million and $20 million, along with 520 hotel units, two golf courses, and multiple additional structures” in “an area of great archaeological, cultural, and historical importance to our indigenous people, and to the working class of Cabo Rojo.”
While the government-run Puerto Rico Tourism Company has approved almost $498 million in tax credits for the hotel component of the complex, these funds will not alleviate any of the water and electricity scarcity problems that are detrimental to the communities in Cabo Rojo, according to reporting from The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo. Celdeño and Defiende a Cabo Rojo maintain that the “project would also divert water from residents, business owners, farmers, and fishermen who are already affected by water shortages in the region, [while exposing] communities to harmful toxins [and increasing] their vulnerability to climate change.”
The NY Contra Esencia coalition contends that the development is projected to use up to 1.5 million gallons of fresh water every day.
In a press release from NY Contra Esencia, the coalition contends that the development is projected to use up to 1.5 million gallons of fresh water every day, thus sparking concern over the availability of resources for the surrounding community of Cabo Rojo. Resto indicated that Cabo Rojo’s can not handle this scale of development without having a detrimental effect on the existing community.
“A huge mega-project like this is going to come and destroy 2,000 acres and suck up the water and energy from that small town. It’s just gonna cause more havoc and displace more people and they don’t want that, so the communities definitely don’t support this,” Resto said.
This pattern of exploitation of resources and environmental degradation from foreign investors can be linked to various tourism projects in the Caribbean. One speaker, Pia, while reading from a statement by Climate Trace Puerto Rico, stated that the Esencia project is “not only extracting wealth, but they are extracting resources.”
As Cruz led the demonstration from speaker to speaker, he declared that “the [days] of corporations of the United States bullying Puerto Rico [are] over because Puerto Rico is rising up.” He then introduced Eric Ramos, a member of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, who grew up in Cabo Rojo. Ramos chose to address the crowd in Spanish, while he referred to the history of continual displacement and intrusion on Puerto Rico by foreign interests. He stressed that “the big interests are still there. And they are investors, they are lenders, and they are vultures.”
Foreign investment in the Esencia project is concentrated in New York, including JPMorganChase and The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Pia noted that NY Contra Esencia must be persistent in strengthening the coalition in New York City, in order to mobilize against the interests that are headquartered here. She indicated that the coalition will continue to align their action with “how things [are moving] forward on the island, because that is where more momentum is, just given their proximity.”
In regards to the coming months for the NY Contra Esencia coalition, Resto expressed that “it’s [going to] be really important to put a lot of pressure on political figures [in Puerto Rico] to stop the permits from going through,” while “showing up at places, like JPMorganChase, who are financing projects like this.” Though construction has not begun on the Esencia project yet, developers noted in their initial proposal for the site that they predict construction will be finished as soon as 2027.
The demonstration Friday represents a part of the Defiende a Cabo Rojo Coalition’s campaign for an “Pa’ la Calle Contra Esencia” march (out in the streets against Esencia). In Puerto Rico, Defiende a Cabo Rojo Coalition held their own national march in San Juan on Saturday, March 28.
As the Puerto Rican national anthem, La Borinqueña, echoed across the facade of the JPMorganChase building for a second time, the protesters raised their fists in solidarity with the community of Cabo Rojo against the Esencia project. The words of Lola Rodríguez de Tío could be heard emanating from the crowd in unison: “Awake from this dream, it is time to fight! / Despierta de ese sueño, que es hora de luchar.”
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