Parity Pipeline

Genre

Synopsis

Cabachuelas follows a group of community leaders in the Central Carso region in Morovis, Puerto Rico, who have organized a community-based cooperative to transform and create change in the archipelago of Borinquen. Cuevas Las Cabachuelas (Cabachuelas Caves) is an extensive cave system in the Karstic region of Puerto Rico that consists of 60 caves located between Morovis and Ciales. The caves are in Barahona barrio in Morovis and have been studied in depth by Roberto Martínez and Ovidio Dávila. Roberto Martínez, an archeologist, pushed to designate the cave system as a national park system. On February 29, 2012, this important natural resource was declared a Natural Reserve. Las Cabachuelas will focus on the reserve and the community leaders and organizers who created the community-based Cabachuelas Cooperative to manage the Natural Reserve with the aim of transforming and creating sustainable tourism that respects the resource and preserves the ancestral history. Their objective is to integrate the community with a participatory co-management plan for the Nature Reserve and to help develop local economic activity. As part of their plan, they are helping to foster a network of cooperatives striving to create solidarity amongst them and help the local cultural and economic activity in Puerto Rico. In the Caribbean, the economy of most of the islands centers around extractive tourism. Many tourist enterprises are run by foreign companies, often not considering the communities or environmental needs. Las Cabachuleas cooperative aims to do the opposite: to become an example of sustainable ecotourism that integrates the local community. The goal is to create an ecotourism community where people develop alliances to achieve social and environmental justice. One of the founding members is Myriam Rivera, a biologist, a former schoolteacher, who was instrumental in helping to declare Las Cabachuelas a Natural Reserve. Ramón Aneudi Martinez Melendez is another founding member. A math teacher because of his love of the caves, has become an interpreter/guide for Las Cabachuelas. Within the Cabachuelas Natural Reserve lies an important archeological site called La Tembladera that has newfound evidence of the survival of the indigenous population, questioning the narrative that the indigenous population was completely decimated. This brings forth the idea that the contributions to our culture and ancestral practices of the indigenous people are more substantial than what has been acknowledged. The caves and the surrounding land are important because it is an area with substantial biodiversity and endangered species. Even though a process of identifying the land around the cave systems has established that 16 privately owned need to be purchased to maintain the reserve, unfortunately, this still has not happened. Once the final 75 acres, which need to be purchased, are purchased by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA), the park will be adequately established as Parque Nacional Las Cabachuelas. Las Cabachuelas is an example of community management and empowerment within the context of a colony in contrast to the usual dependence on the metropolis to get things done.