(9 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
La Perla San Juan, Puerto Rico – 9 July 2025
1. Children chanting “La Perla”
2. Muralist Karena Taveras painting
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Karena Taveras, muralist:
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“The project is about bringing beauty and life to the community, encouraging more people to come here and share their experiences with the community, and help them to directly lose some of the fear and reputation the community has here. That’s the project itself. We want to invite everyone to come down to La Perla and spend money and get a little more involved with the community.”
4. Various of muralists painting buildings
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE – La Perla San Juan, Puerto Rico – October 2017
5. Aerial shot of La Perla ++MUTE++
STORYLINE:
An iconic seaside shantytown nestled along Puerto Rico’s historic district is getting a makeover.
La Perla, a community that police once avoided because it was considered too dangerous, is a scenic shantytown of about 350 people that emerged more than a century ago.
It sits on a narrow strip of Atlantic shoreline between the crashing waves and the towering walls of Old San Juan.
Few outsiders ventured through the handful of entrances to the place, nor were they welcome.
It was transformed in 2017, becoming a tourist attraction thanks to the hit song “Despacito,” released that same year.
But since then, parts of La Perla have declined once again after Hurricane Maria struck, ripping away power lines, water service, rooftops, and even the newly installed banners that directed tourists to spots shown in the famed video.
“This is an initiative being carried out to recover what has been lost because, over time, the houses have deteriorated, and we want to reclaim our spaces’ said Yashira Gómez, president of the Community Impact Association of La Perla
Social organizations and the La Perla community are collaborating to revitalize the area through façade painting and artistic interventions that celebrate its identity, resilience, and the preservation of its historical memory.
Muralist Karena Taveras explained that the project is more than just applying a coat of paint to the houses.
"The project is about bringing beauty and life to the community, encouraging more people to come here and share their experiences with the community,” she said.
AP Video shot by Alejandro Granadillo
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