El Nuevo Día: 205 figures sign "Declarado: ¡Esencia no va!" and point to the dry forest's water

On August 16, 2026, El Nuevo Día reports that groups from scientific, cultural, and business life joined in a proclamation against Esencia. Keila López Alicea bylines the note, at 2:38 p.m. The headline is "Figuras del arte, las ciencias y redes sociales plasman su rechazo al proyecto Esencia".

According to the paper, the declaration "Declarado: ¡Esencia no va!" had already been signed by 205 figures from the performing arts, networks, gastronomy, and music, said economist Alejandra Castrodad Rodríguez. Castrodad, El Nuevo Día reproduces, started the list at a March demonstration. The same page says the project, in dry forest, "is a death sentence for threatened habitats and for the water resource" and does not take the climate crisis into account. That phrase is the outlet's via the initiative, not a hydrologist of this magazine.

El Nuevo Día puts more than 108,000 signatures on Change.org by Sunday afternoon and calls a march for August 23 in Cabo Rojo. It names, among others, Idalia Pérez Garay, Denise Quiñones, Jacobo Morales, Ana Lydia Vega, and Mayra Santos Febres. On August 16, Claridad covered the same act at Teatro Shorty Castro. This note uses El Nuevo Día.

Ey Boricua headlined "Declarado: Esencia no va" with more than 200 figures. When opened, the server responded 403. That body is not pasted. Nor is the OGPe endorsement rewritten. What remains is August 16: 205 signatures and the dry forest's water. This is not original reporting.

On August 1, Metro Puerto Rico covered the 800 letters. On August 8, this paper covered the ultra-luxury flags. Those are other dates. Here the proclamation. A reader who wants the 205 names the outlet trims has the URL at the foot.

Source: El Nuevo Día (Keila López Alicea), 16 Aug 2026. https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/notas/figuras-del-arte-las-ciencias-y-redes-sociales-plasman-su-rechazo-al-proyecto-esencia/. Ey Boricua (same act): 403 when opened.