In Puerto Rico, residents are angry at luxury hotel projects on the coast

Riddled with potholes and crisscrossed by countless crevasses, the rocky path leading to Los Pozos Beach, on the edge of Boqueron Bay, Puerto Rico, seems impassable. But Sandra Pagan Gallardo doesn't care.

This energetic environmental activist, a member of the Brigada solidaria del Oeste ("Western Solidarity Brigade") association, is used to driving her old pickup truck along the ripped-up roads that crisscross this remote area of Cabo Rojo, a municipality on the island's southwest tip. Lazy iguanas, disturbed from their sunbathing, only move aside at the last second.

The vegetation is dense. Cacti, acacias, and xerophilous shrubs nevertheless attest to the pronounced dryness of the climate in this part of the Greater Antilles island. This idyllic place has been the scene of a controversy that has been swelling for more than a year, in this territory of 3.2 million inhabitants under US sovereignty: a luxury real estate complex, called "Esencia," is expected to see the light of day before the end of the decade. "This whole area will be part of Esencia," says Sandra Pagan Gallardo, pointing to hills near the bay.

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