Барселонета, Пуэрто-Рико: История и современность города

Town and municipality in Puerto Rico
the town in Puerto Rico

Barceloneta (baɾseloˈneta, baɭseloˈneta) is a town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the north region, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, north of Florida (city and municipality in Puerto Rico), east of Arecibo, and west of Manatí. Barceloneta is spread over 3 barrios and Barceloneta Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan Caguas Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The name of Barceloneta ("Little Barcelona") is derived from the Spanish city, from where the town's founder originated. Barceloneta is also the name of a beach and neighborhood of Barcelona. an immigrant from Barcelona, Spain. Barceloneta was one of the last municipalities created by the Spanish Government in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became a territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States conducted its first census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Barceloneta was 9,357. About a decade after its foundation, the town had a significant economic development led by agriculture and industry. By 1894, there were three sugarcane estates, 93 sugar mills, and the production of other fruits. Because of its location next to the Río Grande de Manatí, Barceloneta was known for many years as a site of important port activity, for shipment of sugar and salt, as well as passengers to New York City and Barcelona. Bonocio's son was the owner of a sail ship that made those routes. After Central Plazuela, a large sugar cane mill, closed in 1963, Barceloneta started reinforcing its agricultural economy with pineapples and other minor fruits. Efforts to revive the economy were not too successful, until pharmaceutical industries established themselves in the town during the 1970s. Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 causing large scale damage and destruction to infrastructure. In Barceloneta, some homes and establishments along the coast were flooded with up to 15 feet of water, and nearly all wooden homes were destroyed.

The Municipality of Barceloneta sits on the Northern Karst region of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by the municipalities of Arecibo, Florida, and Manatí. In terms of physical features, the municipality occupies a roughly rectangular area in the northern coast of the island. It has a surface area of 36.4 square miles (94.24 km2). Barceloneta's terrain is predominantly plain. Since it is located in the karst region, it features hills, ponors, and caves. Near the coast, the terrain is occupied by the Caño Tiburones wetlands. Updated flood zone maps (as of 2019) show that Barceloneta is extremely vulnerable to flooding, along with Humacao, Rincón, Toa Baja, and Corozal. For its many wetlands, Barceloneta ends up being extremely vulnerable when hit by a major hurricane.

The Río Grande de Manatí travels across the municipalities of Manatí and Barceloneta and drains into the Atlantic Ocean. Barceloneta also features the Caño Tiburones, a natural reserve.

Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Barceloneta is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a small barrio referred to as "el pueblo", near the center of the municipality. Barceloneta barrio pueblo and subbarrios, are further subdivided into smaller areas called sectores (sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.

Comunidades Especiales de Puerto Rico (Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Barceloneta: Abra del Pimiento, Abra los Caballos, Cité Sector in Garrochales, Palenque, and Seboruco.

Barceloneta celebrates its patron saint festival in mid July, generally from Wednesday to Sunday. The Fiestas Patronales de la Virgen del Carmen is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment.

Barceloneta has the biggest pharmaceutical complex in the world (14 industries). These companies have chosen Barceloneta to establish their facilities for its underground water reservoirs. The water in Barceloneta requires very little treatment for use in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products.

Barceloneta is known for its political stability. Mayor Sol Luis Fontanes held the mayor's seat for the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) from 1986 until 2012. He assumed the role after the sudden death of elected mayor Héctor Ruíz Martínez, also of the PPD. After that, Fontánes was elected by only a narrow margin (49.2% vs. 48.6%), but he gained popularity with time. At the 2008 general elections, Fontánes received more than 70% of the votes and his margin of victory was one of the biggest of that election. However, on 2012, Fontánes was arrested on charges of extortion, after 24 years as mayor. He resigned on March 1, 2012 while in prison. In 2012, Wanda Soler was elected as Fontánes replacement. The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district III, which is represented by two senators. In 2008, José Emilio González and Angel Martínez were elected as district senators.

The municipio has an official flag and coat of arms.

The flag of Barceloneta is a variation of the flag of Barcelona in Spain, from where the town borrows its name. It features four fields, two of them bearing the cross of Saint George (in Catalan, Sant Jordi), with five red and yellow bars in vertical direction to the right of each cross. These are all symbols pertaining to the city of Barcelona, and the community of Catalonia, where it is located, since the town was founded by a Catalan immigrant. The remaining two fields in the flag are blue, representing the Atlantic Ocean, which lies to the north of Barceloneta.

Barceloneta's coat of arms is similar to the flag, since it features the same Catalan symbols. However, it features three sugarcane flowers (guajanas) on top of the blue fields. The sugarcane flowers symbolize the source of life of the old agricultural economy of Barceloneta. The blue symbolizes the beaches and marine ports that contributed to the industry and commerce of the town. Like many coat of arms, it features a crown with three towers. Other names are "Ciudad de los Indios" (City of the Indians) and "Pueblo de Sixto Escobar" (Town of Sixto Escobar) for being the birthplace of the Puerto Rican boxer.

Barceloneta has recently added the use of trolley cars, free of charge, for local transport within the town itself. For travel outside Barceloneta, there is a station for carros publicos (public car transportation), which is a type of taxi. There are 9 bridges in Barceloneta.