Riot-gear police formed a line to block demonstrators from reaching the Caribe Hilton in Condado on Saturday night, as several grassroots and political organizations rallied outside Gov. Jenniffer González’s second campaign fundraiser in eight days.
The protest was called for 6 p.m. outside the hotel, where González held a $250-a-head event to mark her 50th birthday and raise reelection funds. Video posted to social media showed officers in protective gear forming a line near the Dos Hermanos bridge, the route leading into the Ciudadela and El Escambrón area, holding demonstrators back from the hotel entrance. As of Saturday night, no arrests or injuries had been reported.
Five organizations called the demonstration: the Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras, the Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana, its youth wing, and the group Jornada Se Acabaron Las Promesas. Organizers said the protest was meant to confront guests over a governor raising over a million dollars from donors while residents go without reliable water and electricity.
Second Fundraiser in Eight Days
Saturday’s demonstration was the second aimed at a González fundraiser this month. The first came Aug. 15, when dozens of protesters gathered outside the Fairmont El San Juan in Isla Verde during a $2,500-a-person VIP dinner — the first of two events her campaign scheduled to mark her birthday. Her campaign treasurer told local media the two events were expected to raise more than $1.5 million combined.
At the Isla Verde protest, demonstrators carried signs referencing the water and power crises and the proposed Esencia tourism-and-residential project in Cabo Rojo, and confronted arriving guests as police escorted them inside.
Water and Power Crises Fuel the Anger
Both protests have drawn directly on frustration with island-wide utility failures. Condado, Ocean Park and Miramar residents have spent much of August cycling through a rotating AAA rationing schedule tied to the Carraízo reservoir drought, and organizers again raised water access alongside chronic power outages as reasons for Saturday’s demonstration.
Neither the governor’s office nor González’s campaign issued an immediate public response to Saturday’s protest.
Related coverage: San Juan’s Water Rationing and the Extreme Drought Behind It
Sources: El Nuevo Día
