Puerto Rico's environmental movement stops some development

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, Jul. 27, 2008
Puerto Rico's environmental movement stops some development
By FRANCES ROBLES

Protesters outside Puerto Rico's historic San Geronimo Fort are lying in hammocks, cooking on grills and sleeping in tents while the buzz of construction continues around them.
Developers are building the $300 million Paseo Caribe residential, entertainment and tourist complex -- right beside the tiny fort where Puerto Rico fended off a British attack in 1797 -- despite the dozen tents pitched outside where protesters have remained 24-7 for the past year.

The fight over the Paseo Caribe project is among several across Puerto Rico pitting developers against environmentalists, who say development projects threaten the island's natural resources.

''We are ready to stay here two years or more if necessary,'' said protester Agustín Centeno, an engineer who said he has slept in a tent at the construction site outside San Juan's Condado district for 11 months now. ``We demand these buildings be demolished.''

As developers scramble to build along Puerto Rico's remaining coastline, they are encountering an increasingly sophisticated group of activists who block, or stall, their projects by hiring environmental scientists, by lobbying, by organizing community opposition, or by staging acts of civil disobedience.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/620132.html