La Perla del Sur: Esencia insists on 40% SREP and 50% rustic, without AAA water

On July 17, 2026, La Perla del Sur publishes "Sin agua y en suelo protegido: megaproyecto insiste en abrirse paso". Omar Alfonso bylines the note. A neighbor of Los Pozos, he writes, found at dawn on July 16 the OGPe notice — application 2026-693109-CUB-013470 — on lands that the Plan de Uso de Terrenos does not make urbanizable.

According to Alfonso, Cabo Rojo Land Acquisition alleges 2,000 million with Reuben Brothers and Three Rules Capital; Turismo granted 497.6 million in credits on August 20, 2024. The sign names the project "Estratégico" and Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón as proponent. Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz, La Perla del Sur adds, was a co-host of fundraisers for Jenniffer González Colón when she was resident commissioner. That phrase is the outlet's. Forty percent of the lands, it says, is in Suelo Rústico Especialmente Protegido and another 50% in Suelo Rústico: it is not urbanized except by a public-policy change via consultation.

Francisco Vargas Alcántara, spokesman for Defiende a Cabo Rojo, says the AAA "denied in writing" the connection and that the AEE warned that irrigation of the Valle de Lajas is not enough. No one, he holds, has presented data that the aquifer is enough or on saline intrusion. Beatriz Llenín Figueroa, also a spokeswoman, calls Ley 82 "an absolutely dictatorial measure, proper to a dictatorial government", designed for privileges such as Esencia. Those voices are La Perla del Sur's.

On July 20, NotiCel covered the 40% and the 50% at another URL. It is not reused as a source. On August 3, the same paper covered the fast track. Here July 17 remains the sign, the land, and the water. This is not original reporting.

Alfonso has asked the proponents for an interview since March 7, 2025; at close, they had not replied. This page does not invent a docket. A reader who wants the 40%, the 50%, and Llenín's phrase has the URL at the foot.

Source: La Perla del Sur (Omar Alfonso), 17 Jul 2026. https://www.periodicolaperla.com/actualidad/sin-agua-y-en-suelo-protegido-megaproyecto-insiste-en-abrirse-paso/