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A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 10 OcTOber 2017
Puerto Rico slum transformed by ‘Despacito’ seeks to revive

By DANICA COTO
Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
(AP) — Hope had come in
with a song for La Perla, a
seaside slum that had long
been notorious as a vio-
lent enclave that served as
Puerto Rico’s biggest distri-
bution point for heroin.
The sound of clicking cam-
eras and excited chat-
ter had begun to break
the morning silence. Tour-
ists rambled through the
narrow streets lined with
brightly painted homes.
Restaurants and other
shops were popping up,
catering to tourists drawn
by the setting for the vid-
eo of the worldwide hit
song “Despacito,” which
had been viewed billions
of times since its release in
January.
Then Hurricane Maria hit,
ripping away power lines,
water service, rooftops
and even the newly in-
stalled banners that direct-
ed tourists to spots shown in This Aug. 25, 2017 photo shows a couple swimming, framed by a concrete wall blanketed with graffiti, in the seaside slum La Perla,
the famed video. in San Juan, Puerto Rico. La Perla is suddenly a popular tourism spot thanks in part to this year’s hit song “Despacito,” whose video
became the most-watched in YouTube history.
With tourism to Puerto Rico
as a whole abruptly halted, of entrances to the place, nio Lopez, a 77-year-old La times point-blank in the bright yellow line painted
the only visitors to La Perla nor were they welcome. At Perla resident.The neigh- head. A self-described hit on one of its narrow streets
since the Sept. 20 storm one spot, a wooden sign borhood’s dark reputation man turned federal witness served as a boundary be-
have been people like the proclaimed: “Not open to was stoked by an old video said the bodies of many tween rival drug dealers,
U.S. National Park Service visitors. Do not enter.” showing a drug dealer run people killed in La Perla some of whom used poi-
workers who came to dis- “Before, people were very up to another during the were tossed into the sea so sonous frogs to protect
tribute bottles of water. afraid,” said Angel Anto- day and shoot him several sharks would eat them.A their drug stashes.q
“Right now we’re all mired
in a depression,” said Car-
men Perez, a 77-year-old
retiree who joined dozens
of other La Perla residents
with outstretched arms to
receive the donated wa-
ter.One of the businesses
that had boomed since
“Despacito,” the La Gar-
ita restaurant, lost all four
concrete walls to the hur-
ricane, leaving only the
kitchen standing.
“People didn’t use to fit in
here,” said owner Ibilson
Morales as he gestured
toward the largely vacant
spot where his restaurant
once stood. “This used to
be the most visited neigh-
borhood in Puerto Rico.”
La Perla is a sort of sce-
nic shantytown of about
350 people that emerged
more than a century ago
on a narrow strip of Atlan-
tic shoreline between the
crashing waves and the
towering walls of Old San
Juan. Few outsiders ven- In this Aug. 25, 2017 photo, tourists walk through one of the areas featured in the “Despacito” music video, in the seaside slum La
tured through the handful Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Associated Press