Just sit still, and listen!

One of the most exciting things I have ever done was to make a live stereo recording of the coquí songs at night, in the wild, up on the mountains of Naranjito. Actually it was almost an afterthought. I was leaving Puerto Rico in a few days and this time I was going to another country, Mexico, and I may never come back! So, on those final days on my farm in the middle of the island, I took the late hours of the day to ponder upon the unfathomable mysteries of what I would miss the most of my blessed, beatific island.

I suppose it was then that the coquies decided to make their harmonious entrance.

At first a few adventurous souls dared to break through the gloomy silence with their experimental half-songs. Here and there I heard them start about: "Coh...Coh...Coh..." but almost as if spontaneously realizing that there was no point in holding back, they would suddenly let lose with a proudly resounding: "Coh, Co-KEE-KEE-KEE!"

Then another and another, and suddenly, what seemed like a hundred-million of them filled the night with their amazing acoustic resonance. All around me, wave upon wave of fabulous coquí harmonies crashing upon every conceivable surface in a relentless, continuous mélange of polychromatic sounds; the sonorous equivalent of ocean waves, breaking upon the shore.

It was, as always, an overwhelming, enrapturing experience. I allowed myself to be lifted above my worries, and carried upon their songs to a wondrous place where all that was not right was simply drowned in acoustic splendor. And the waves washed over me, cleansing and soothing...fear was gone, so was doubt, only beauty remained.

Yes, this! This, I would miss the most!

The Zoom H2 "Handy" Recorder

I forced myself out of my enraptured contemplations, and hunted down my audio gear. Half an hour later I was trudging through the mountainside, in pitch darkness, and carrying about thirty pounds of battery-operated technology. That night I sat in the total darkness, in absolute stillness, and recorded about 90 minutes worth of awesome analog stereo treasure.

It was an exciting thing to do, but not as much as what came later. With the imminent birth of my daughter it became painfully clear to me that she would not know the coquí songs at night, every night, as I had known them. It was a peculiar miracle known only to those fortunate enough to have been born and lived their first few years in the island of Puerto Rico. Nowhere else was there a comparable experience. Indeed many are the outsiders who consider us acoustically damaged for thinking such "noise" to be pleasant or even beautiful. As an audiophile I can at least understand such thinking, but also as an audiophile I can appreciate the value of an acoustic identity that tied me to a certain land. I had the means to spare my daughter the horrid fate of not having that. I could play for her, every night, the recorded coquies of Naranjito, and someday, when she sees her father’s land, and hears the sound of it’s night, her heart will remember the warmth and love of her early years, the time to sleep, to rest, the time for peace, the night falls, the coquí sings, all is well, good night, daddy.

Did I say exciting? It was exhilarating! It took months of listening to every millisecond of that 90-minute plus recording and filter out every little flaw and imperfection, (This I was doing for my little girl!), until at last I had an acceptable, continuous, recording; as flawless as it was possible to make at the time and with the equipment on hand. I digitized and burned the first CD and played it for my daughter during the very first nights of her life.

Oh, man! What a rush!

Since then I have sold many copies of that CD to expatriated Puerto Ricans and their friends and loved ones literally all over the world, (Except Antarctica, hm...). Back then I was the first, and my recording was a novelty. Now I have a few imitators, but mine is the only “natural” recording of coquí songs, the only one that comes close to what it is really like to be in Puerto Rico. This is, after all, the reason I made that recording in the first place.

"Close," yes, but I have always felt it could be "Closer."

The thought was always in my mind: That I could do much better, much, much better. With the proper equipment and a carefully planned approach, I could make a recording of coquí songs that would place you acoustically right in their midst. Even if no one else cared for it, I wanted it! So I made my plans and bided my time, and then, on Saturday 31st, 2009, I carried about 30 pounds of lounge chairs and a hearty, home-made coffee supply, and about 8 ounces of battery-operated technology, (the tripod, extension cables and headphones all together weighed about three pounds.) And found an isolated spot in the middle of the forest, between the mountains of a remote region of Naranjito, (actually about a three minute walk from where I made the 1998 recording), and sat still in total darkness and listened, and let myself be intoxicated once more by the grandeur of it.

It was wonderful, but it was ruined. Somewhere in the distance, a party was going on, and the incessant rhythmic thumping was loud enough, even at this distance and even buffered by the surrounding forest, to be picked up by the sensitive microphones.

I am not too disappointed, though, eventually the horrid thumping stopped, and I was able to record almost an hour’s worth of the coquí songs I wanted. Not enough to make a new CD, but enough for me to make a sample to test my theory. Enough to know that it can be done! Two days later, I sat in front of my computer and plunged into the same spot I had acoustically occupied last Saturday.

It was wonderful!

I will go back, perhaps on a weekday, where the likelihood of ragaeton parties is minimal, and attempt to record the pure coquí songs I need. I will continue to do that until I succeed. Then anyone in the world can know what it is like, at least in one very special way, to be Puerto Rican.

...and other "tales from the crypt"...

Good bye, old friend!

Well, my friends, here we are once again, the votes have been cast, and counted, the people have spoken; the decision is made. Just as with our brothers up in the United States, the voice of the people has called out a resounding, ENOUGH!

Enough bending of our ears with pernicious lies that serve only to insult, rather than persuade us. Enough stealing of our hard-and-honorably-earned money to finance a life of kingly opulence through capricious and heartless taxation. Enough laughing at our perceived idiocy behind closed doors with the rest of your cronies. Enough spitting in the face of our beloved American brothers to earn PR points with lecherous villains like Chávez, or to weasel a few more votes from the morbidly gullible independentistas.



This election has proven that the people are still well in command of their destiny, the future leaders would do well to heed the lessons here implied. We are a thinking, well-informed body who are selecting you to be the instrument of our will. In essence, you are honored with the role of public servant. Operative word here: “servant”.

Do you get it now, Anibal? We can also laugh at idiocy, but we do it out in the open, dancing in the streets, and without urging any of our buddies to close the door.

But we are not through with you yet, buddy: you still have to show up before The People, once again, early next year, and answer to more than a score of criminal charges. We can hardly wait to hear what clever lies you will try to amuse us with, when that time comes.

But enough of Anibal and his lies! Let’s talk about the truth, and in this case, a very special truth that has been decades in the making, and which only now, based on the results of the last two elections, comes to light in full blossom.

Oh, yes, the truth, at last. How lovely, how grand!

After decades of basking in the glow of a falsely perceived intellectuality, we can now see clearly the true colors of the so-called independentistas. This is the second election in a row, where they have failed to attract enough of a following to even stay within the race. I’m sorry for you guys, but the truth is that, without those numbers, you can no longer claim to represent a legitimate aspiration of The People of Puerto Rico.

You should take a bow, you put up a good fight, but now it is time to face the music.

We The People of Puerto Rico, do not care enough for you and your leftist ideals to even give you the votes to keep your franchise. By any legal definition, you do not represent Us. This is your final, civilized call to leave the arena gracefully, and with dignity, and not try to "pull a Rosello". In other words, it was nice, but now it is over, good bye, go away.


Now, please, good bye, go away.

Speaking of falsehoods, here's another bejeweled "revelation" from the only-true poll of public opinion, (a.k.a. general elections): the "pendejín" vote.

In keeping with the patent, almost boundless contempt that the governor has for the people's intelligence he ordered the faithful horde of core-commonwealth-fanatics to voice themselves as faithful statehooders who will "demand that they be respected" by voting for Rosello as a write-in candidate.

I think that what was being sought here was that the pro-statehood population would be swayed by their perceived "colleagues" to undermine the legitimate Fortuño candidacy by casting their votes elsewhere (Rosello) and therefore actually increasing the chances that (dig this!) those who don't vote for Anibal, actually help elect him again!


In spite of what you may think, Anibal, these elections prove that you are wrong. Of almost one million people who lovingly believe in the principles of the American Constitution, only 20,700-odd were mentally deficient enough to actually believe your idiotic attempt at social engineering.

Accounting for the use of brain-cell-destroying toxins like aspartame, and the incidence of x-ray exposure during early pregnancy, having 20,700-odd mentaly deficient individuals out of every one million is disturbing, from a health-care point of view, but understandable and even insignificant from a political point of view.

These elections have made it clear to everyone, in Puerto Rico, and abroad, who are the sane, and who are the "pendejines".

Oh yeah, just one last thing, Anibal: Numbers do not lie. Election results like these have not been seen in Puerto Rican politics since the fifties. I can't help but point out that this defeat is not only devastating, not only crushing, it is humiliating. It truly reflects the people's displeasure at your contempt, incompetence and pathological lying.

Yes, I know it shows, and I admit it: I have waited a very long time to watch you go down in flames, and I am shamelessly enjoying every minute of it. Burn Suckah!

From the bottom of my heart: Thank you, People of Puerto Rico!

Hurray!

OUR president has signed the Economic Stimulus Package.

This much-needed boost to our economy is long overdue. It does the only thing that can really help a capitalistic economy, and that is to put the money in the hands of the consumers. We all know that one dollar in a consumer’s hands can do much more than ten dollars in the governments’ hands. Not only do we not have the awesome operational overhead that swallows up much of what we have to spend, but also we can use better judgment, since our spending decisions are not bogged-down by the bureaucratic process. (I know, I know! “In theory”-yada yada ya... But that is another long-winded discussion and my point today is along another line of thought. So please bear with me.)

So, it seems all is well and done. But wait! That may be true of all fifty states and some dependencies and territories, except for one, single, solitary exception: Yep, you guessed it! Once again it’s Puerto Rico!

If it were not for the political tug-of-war that perpetually mires Puerto Rico into absolute immobility, (on absolutely everything), we too would have nothing to do but sit back and wait for the check to arrive, (sometime in May or June), just like the rest of our fellow citizens of the Union.

But no.

Puerto Rico has requested that it be treated differently. A special delegation, including the governor himself, (I wonder what he was wearing?), was rushed off to Washington in the very last minute to beg the Congress to please, Please, PRETTY PLEASE, WITH A CHERRY ON TOP! Don’t send the checks directly to the Puerto Rican people as they had planned to do, (naturally), but to give the money to the local government instead, who would then print out and send the checks to the people themselves, (of course, “expeditiously!”)



Well, ok. I suppose, but the Congress of the United States is not composed of lobotomized fools and idiots as is our own legislature here on the island. Although they agreed in principle that the moneys for Puerto Rico be distributed by the Puerto Rican Government, they have placed a very cool condition upon said agreement: The Puerto Rican Government must first present them with a detailed procedure that outlines EXACTLY how the moneys will be processed, including time-frames, to guarantee that the people of Puerto Rico will not be unfairly delayed in receiving this much needed economic stimulus.

The Puerto Rican Government has yet to comply with this condition.
Now, anyone who knows what the real relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is knows that our economies are so intertwined that any economic stimulation package would have its intended result undermined if Puerto Rico is not included. Not only are we a part of the United States’ consumer base, we are a very important part of it indeed! Any economist would be hard-pressed to find just three other four-million-strong fanatically-consumeristic populations anywhere else in the country.

Which means that by receiving this money from the United States Government and spending it as we see fit, (which is, after all, exactly what the United States Government hopes that we will do with it), we will be doing our part as citizens of this great nation to help it get back on its feet in this time of crisis.

Yeah, you guys!

And that brings me to my dear independentistas.

All along they have voiced a most fearsome and violent rejection of the United States and all things “United-Statish.” They want all the military bases on the island closed down and the lands returned to the people of Puerto Rico, (Yeah, I’m not going there either...), they want all ties to the United States severed so that “the people of Puerto Rico” can be free to chose who and how they do business with at their own, (ahem), “pleasure.”

Furthermore, they never spare a moment to decry how Puerto Rico's every single woe is due to our economic "dependence" on the United States, that our pride is being systematically squashed by the continuous handouts in dollars that we would not need had we the freedom to seek associations with other countries as we saw fit.

Well then!

If the independentistas are truly sincere in their sentiments, and not just camera-whoring like their latest icon, (Yeah, I’m talking about that “kayak” idiot!), then they are also against helping the United States to recover from their, (as they see it), self-inflicted disease of decadence; the inevitable outcome of rampant Capitalism. (Actually they are right about that, only that the cause is not Capitalism, but “consumerism”, which is indeed a diseased aberration, but that is not where I’m going with this either...)

If we were to take their long-standing arguments as sincere, then they would be viscerally repelled at the prospect of getting yet another "demeaning" handout from the United States Government, especially one that, (to their way of thinking), amounts to nothing more than a public-relations bribe.

In other words, all TRUE independentistas would want to have absolutely nothing to do with helping the United States to recover from its own “decadence”, or be further insulted with yet another "token" handout and hence would not accept the Economic Stimulus check that they will soon receive.

Independentistas should return the money!
It's really easy, guys. Just three simple steps:

1. Take the check.
2. Write on it “NO, GRACIAS!”, (Preferably in bold red letters.)
3. Mail it back to the United States Government.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT send it to the Departamento de Haciendas)

If you are an independentista—a true, honest and sincere independentista—then that is what you will do. If you do so, then your opinion continues to be valid, within reason, and I will listen and evaluate, before I accept or reject it.

Otherwise, you are a hypocrite. Accept it and shut-up!

After this summer, when I am among you, that is how I will know who is a hypocrite and who is an independentista. First tell me if you sent back the check or if you spent it. Then I will know what I am speaking to and can defer to you appropriately.

It is no accident that the flags of the United States and Puerto Rico have similar colors and configurations. It is Destiny!

Just the other day an acquaintance of mine, (obviously after reading the articles on this site), said to me: "Steve, Jeezus, man! Why do you TRASH Puerto Rico?" As a person who knew me well enough to know the profound love I had for the island, it was quite evident that my articles had caused him some confusion and a bit more distress.

It is a wonder to me that after almost one hundred years of freedom and democracy I still get asked this question. I suppose that having these things does not guarantee that the people will understand the great responsibility that freedom represents. It is not the question that I object to so much as I object to the implied accusation contained in its inflection. The accusation that I have acted improperly and owe the questioner an explanation. This seems to me to be the general understanding among Puerto Ricans of what freedom of speech means: That you are free to say whatever you want as long as you speak only good things of Puerto Rico. In other words: You have an absolute right to freedom of speech, so long as you don't choose to exercise it.

It has become almost a general neurosis among Puerto Ricans that whenever Puerto Rico or anything Puerto Rican is referred to, it must be done in a positive, almost reverent way. I am the first person to rhapsodize poetically when it comes to the virtues of life in Puerto Rico, for it is truly a gloriously beautiful island--if not paradise, then the closest thing to it on the Earth.

Not only in the majesty with which the morning sun gently parts the veil of the morning mist to reveal the wonders of yet another perfect day, nor the way the chorus of coquíes sing their magical lullaby while I lay down for a well-earned rest at the end of each day, nor the awesome charge I get whenever one of our delicious girls favors me with her smile, but also the great passion tempered with humility for which it's people are known, its music, its colors, its food! Puerto Rico is a land of wonders and splendors beyond the power of mere words to express. Truly, it must be experienced. There just isn't any other way to understand it's mystical beauty.

Still, I am not blinded by all of this. Just because I am aware and enjoy the bountiful beauty of "Mi Madre Patria" does not mean that I am bound to ignore those things that are in sad need of attention. I do not believe, as so many of my compatriots do, that the resolution of our political identity is our most pressing concern. Compared to so many other aspects of life in the island that are in need of attention: The wanton squandering of our limited natural resources; The irresponsible destruction of our ecosystem by unscrupulous commercial interests; The unchecked almost meteoric rise in criminal activities (especially crimes of violence), the general almost pathetic ignorance of the masses concerning their rights and powers to take charge and DO SOMETHING about it, really, our political identity can wait.

I do not trash Puerto Rico! I adore Puerto Rico. It is because I am so much in love with Puerto Rico that I bring out into the glaring light of public awareness all of the nasty, retched, shameful things that Puerto Ricans are, (because of their ignorant, political zealousness), doing to their beautiful island, which they claim to love so dearly.

Puerto Rico is dying of neglect, while her children rally against the sale of the Telephone Company, and pass laws that make it a crime to display the flag anywhere but in official government activities. The water is undrinkable, the unique and irreplaceable flora and fauna of the island is meticulously being decimated, the general dissatisfaction that is not admitted to but nevertheless perhaps subconsciously noted rages inside the breast of the less fortunate, spawning hatred and resentment among the classes, suspicion, fear, violence, crime...

It is not the "Yanki Imperialists", (as the independence advocates are fond of calling them) who are responsible for all of Puerto Rico's woes. Our United States brothers are not the ones who dump their old refrigerators, (and other less mentionable refuse), into the river that passes through my farm in Naranjito. It is not the "Americanos" who I see EVERY DAY carelessly tossing beer cans, used diapers, and all sorts of other garbage from their moving cars. In fact it is the American tourists and other outsiders that I do see carefully carrying their garbage along with them until they find a proper trash receptacle to dispose of it. Foreigners have more love and respect for the beauty of Puerto Rico than do the very people of Puerto Rico.

Indeed! It is the very people of Puerto Rico, who TRASH Puerto Rico! So get this straight: I trash Puerto Ricans.

Not so long ago I had a group of these very same independence advocates visit my farm. They were very impressed with how I had kept the pristine beauty of the place while making it accessible and useful for human habitation and enjoyment. They spouted a constant verbal stream of adoration and reverence for the beauty of Puerto Rico, all the time tossing their empty plastic wine cups and beer cans all over my property. A week later I was still picking up the garbage left behind by these so-called Defenders of Borinquen.

When our government decided that the El Yunque National Forest was ripe for harvesting in order to create a lumber industry (gee-ez!) it was the United States of America that told them they were out of their minds and that no such action will be tolerated. It is The Environmental Protection Agency (A whole bunch of Americanos!) who is doggedly on the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority's case to get them to comply with environmental standards that had been contemptuously ignored for decades. To this very day PREPA is still non-compliant, much to the detriment of the respiratory health of children living near PREPA's installations. (Must I mention Levittown?)

And just look at what happens to properties that had been held by American concerns once they are returned to Puerto Rican hands: Military bases and such. While they were managed by Americans they were among the most beautiful pieces of real estate on the island, now they are ruins and deserts or illegal garbage dumps.

Yah, we Puerto Ricans really do deserve to be praised for how we love our island!

I believe that had it not been for American intervention, and the imposition of American quality and conservation standards, Puerto Rico would be a desolate wasteland today. And thanks to the freedom granted me by the rule of American law, I have every right to speak my mind about these issues.

I choose to shame my Puerto Rican brothers for their irresponsible and reprehensible apathy towards their own home. I have had enough of this hypocrisy that is so prevalent among Puerto Ricans, this irrational belief that simply saying a thing means it is so. Actions speak louder than words. Actions are what I judge in people, and from the actions I have seen from Puerto Ricans as compared to those of others, I take sides with the others. They have much more respect and genuine love for what Puerto Rico is than do Puerto Rico's own.

Does this make me a bad Puerto Rican? NO! It makes me the best possible kind of Puerto Rican, one who is not afraid to go face to face with that which is wrong and ugly and dirty in order to change it, to make it something right, beautiful and clean; one who doesn't just say that he loves Puerto Rico, one who actually does! Really, honestly and profoundly. Enough to take on the fury of all his contemporaries and brave their irrational rejection, and even be completely ostracized, if need be, so long as the Puerto Rico that I love is saved from their idiocy.

I have no shame when it comes to what I do here on these pages, because I know that I am doing the best that I can within this medium to strike a blow against all of the things that soil the face of this beautiful maiden I call my island, "mi patria", my home, my Puerto Rico. Shame is for those who do not act to change the things that are wrong, who do not take responsibility for their part in the slow torture and death of this island paradise.

I sincerely hope that those Puerto Ricans who do bother to read my pages, (for, sadly, reading is now generally considered a tedious, time-consuming and even wasteful activity by most Puerto Ricans), are profoundly enraged by what they read here. For they will be finally putting their rage where it belongs, in real issues that have a real impact on the island's future prosperity and health, and not against their fellow countrymen just because they do not embrace the same political ideals. I want to shame Puerto Rico's Puerto Ricans into action. If the horrible things I say in these pages about the island and the people of Puerto Rico are undone or otherwise repaired, I will remove the relevant articles at once. I will be the first to loudly proclaim the praise that these activities merit, and give credit where credit is due.

So don't waste your time, (and mine), by lecturing me about how much I am harming the image of Puerto Rico. I am merely reporting what my eyes see and my ears hear. I am speaking the truth! If you don't like what I am doing, or the positions I take, I urge you to call my bluff: Call or, (better yet), write to your senator, your representative, your town mayor, and tell them that you are genuinely concerned about the health and future viability of the island. Better yet, ask how you can help to change things. You, the people, elected them, they are there to serve YOU. The reason they are so clueless is because so many of us leave them to decide for themselves how they should amuse themselves with their petty little power games while they remain in office. Let's give them something constructive to do instead. If enough of us actually do this, we will not be ignored.

THAT, my "compatriotas", is what a DEMOCRACY is! Look it up!

I want more than anything to have only pages that sing about the beauty of Puerto Rico. Pages that proudly boast my adoration of the awesome paradise I was fortunate enough to be born in. None of this can happen if Puerto Rico is paved over with concrete and air-conditioned shopping malls, if its people are reduced to savagery by the irrational demands of natural needs, resulting from a squandered ecology, if all that is Puerto Rico is allowed to die because its people were too entranced by a foolish reverence for its glorious past beauty to see that it, like all things worth preserving, needs diligent and constant attention.

Puerto Rico is not just a political entity, it is not just a geographic region, it is not just an island-economy to be managed. It is a beautiful and delicate maiden that generously gives her love to all who would embrace her. I am sworn to honor and protect her, to preserve her beauty and purity for all times. This is how I achieve this sworn duty, by shaming all of those who would use her carelessly like a wanton tramp, and toss her out with the rest of the garbage like a used rag. You know who you are. Shame on you!

You do not deserve to be called Puerto Ricans

Zoning Regulation for Puerto Rico
P.R. Planning Board Regulation No. 4, Topic 7
Section 70.02(1)(e)


Parking areas with more than 12 parking spaces must have an ornamental tree planted, (such as "roble, ucar, caoba (mahogany), maga" or others) for every six parking spaces. The tree must have a minimum height of 1.5 meters at the time of planting and its trunk space must have a radius of 1.25 meters wide to allow for water and air.

How the rise and fall of the culture of Easter Island compares to the ongoing industrialization and resulting environmental degradation of the island of Puerto Rico

The Easter Island Moai

Ever since I first heard of Easter Island I have been very fascinated by it. I was very young then, just a little hotel brat of eight or nine running around the grounds of the El San Juan Hotel. The pool area of the El San Juan Hotel was then decorated with large wooden carvings of strangely shaped heads. These were not shaped like the Moai of Easter Island, but they came close enough for me to identify them as being of the same "spiritual" origin as those I later saw in the pictures of Easter Island.

The idea that those strange wooden heads actually existed for real somewhere else in the world, that they were made of solid rock and had meaning to their makers other than being a decorator's idea of what a tourist would find amusing filled me with awe. Little did I suspect then that from those innocent emotions would be born a fascination that would so dominate my views of the world at large, at least from an ecological point of view, and serve as THE example of mankind's apparent indifference towards the fragility of our environment.

In the year of 1722, on Easter Sunday to be precise, Captain Roggeveen discovered and named "Easter Island". The thing that most impressed him was how barren the island seemed. On any of its peaks, you could see the entire island without obstruction. Not a single tree existed on the whole fifty square miles of land. And the only thing standing were the hundreds of Moai, which dotted the landscape as silent witnesses of what will probably someday be recognized as the world's most tragic example of total environmental collapse.

Easter Island as seen from space

Rapa Nui: A Brief Conjectural History

The story of Rapa Nui, (the native name of Easter Island), has been a source of mystery and wonder ever since it's discovery in 1722. Many archeological attempts to extract the secrets of this enigmatic island have borne as many questions, if not more, than they have answers.

Rapa Nui was discovered by a group of seafaring people some 1,600 years ago. An Island Paradise of about 50 square miles, rich in lush vegetation and blessed with mild and pleasing weather. Here the far-ranging people who searched the ocean for a new home came to settle, finding in the island's bountiful benevolence a seemingly unlimited source of food and comfort.

Rapa Nui, however, was just a tiny little island lost in the vastness of a huge ocean; the most remote inhabited location in the entire Earth. It is no wonder that the Rapa Nuians soon forgot that they came from elsewhere, and began to believe that they were the only inhabitants of the Earth.

Archeological studies seem to indicate that the Rapa Nuians settled into two main groups or tribes; one was dedicated mostly to the industry of agriculture, making the food of the land available to the general population, while the other pursued the harvest of the ocean as a source of food. At first the Rapa Nuians enjoyed a life of leisure and luxury. Their numbers being relatively small, they had more food and space than they needed. Naturally, as is the case with all of nature's creatures whenever such bountiful conditions exist, their numbers increased. It was perhaps out of gratitude for the obvious favor of their gods that the Rapa Nuians first began to carve the large stone images known as "Moai" to honor their benevolent deities.

With the increase in population came an increased demand for food and space. At first, Rapa Nui provided easily for this increased demand, but as time went by it became increasingly difficult for the farming and fishing communities to provide enough food for their growing numbers. The giant palm trees that once covered the entire island were cut down in ever increasing quantities to be carved into fishing vessels to supplement the fleet, as well as to clear more land for agriculture and to expand the villages.

Of course, as is the case with all people that suddenly face difficult times, the Rapa Nuians turned to their gods, believing themselves as beign punished for some tresspass they were too mundane to fathom, they sought to please their gods and regain their lost favor--by building greater Moai.

The bigger and more massive Moai required more of the large palm trees, (the same palm trees needed to make seaworthy fishing vessels), to be cut down and used as rollers to transport them from their stone quarries to their assigned locations. Ropes to hold and pull the huge Moai were woven from several species of local plants, and many food products, such as the local variety of sweet potatoes, provided the lubrication for the massive log rollers.

Used as they were to their land of plenty, it never occured to the Rapa Nuians that the resources they were consuming to erect their massive god-worshipping industry were limited, and required replenishing even as they were used. Perhaps they believed that if they pleased the gods these would correct whatever damage they have caused in some future rapture of benevolence.

Of course, the accelerated ravishment of their environment did little to improve matters. But the Rapa Nuians had already invested too much of their effort and resources. Apparently the idea that they could have been wrong in this policy was too shameful to consider; the Rapa Nuians HAD to believe that their efforts were not impressive enough to gain the favor of their gods. They did not dare consider the alternative; that they had been seduced by a false policy, that they were stupid and perhaps even insane to pursue it. It was much more acceptable for them to believe that what was needed was for them to somehow show even greater commitment and sacrifice. They had to build bigger Moai.

Perhaps a dispute between the two tribes, probably originating from one faction's disbelief over the other faction's excuse for not producing enough food, eventually degenerated into a derogatory exchange over who had the most impressive statues. It is not hard to imagine, cornered by a clever argument from an antagonist, how one islander may have tried to divert attention from his own low yield, by blaming the other faction for not building Moai large enough to properly please the gods. We can only speculate how profoundly offensive such a remark could have been to a culture that was long lost and forgotten by the time we found them. But it is apparent that the Rapa Nuians felt deeply enough about the stone statues, for whatever reason, to indulge in a policy that would certainly cause their own destruction.

The Rapa Nuians, increasingly desperate from hunger and need, and not daring to believe that their god-pleasing policies could have been wrong, became so obsessed with regaining the favor of the gods, that even their food became more important as lubrication, than as sustenance. Plants, trees and fruits were of more value to them as ropes, rollers and lubrticants, to support their runaway Moai-producing industry.

As a people, the Rapa Nuians were quite literally driven insane by their own industry.

The Rapa Nuians had lost all rational conception of what they were doing to their island and to themselves. Even as their population starved, they refused to recognize the real cause of their missery, and did not dare abandon their thoughtless policies, which had already cost them so much, and admit that they were wrong.

An ugly sin, is it not, this arrogant Pride?
Eventually of course, all the trees were gone. The existing fishing ships deteriorated from over-use and under-maintenance and could not be replaced. With most of the population involved in the erection of the gigantic Moai, very few were left who knew how to farm the land, and very little was left that could be farmed. Already insane from their obsession with their gods, it wasn't long before their hunger drove them to the lowest form of human decadence...

...the Rapa Nuians turned to each other for food.

And so it was, that from a population of a few thousand, the people of Rapa Nui achieved the heights of perhaps tens of thousands only to degenerate and decompose under the burden of their own unchecked progress, driven mad by the demands of their own industry, into a scattered band of savages only a few hundred in number, and barely even coherent as a culture. Nothing but an empty shell of the wondrous and beautiful people they once were.

This poignant tale of what happened in Rapa Nui is one that haunts me with diabolical persistence. Not only because the events that transpired over a thousand years of history in that little island lost in the remote reaches of the south pacific are horrifying in themselves, but because I can recognize parallels in the current history and development of events in the world at large, and more to the point, in Puerto Rico specifically.

Puerto Rico, like Rapa Nui, is a small island of limited resources. Like Rapa Nui, Puerto Rico is bountiful and benevolent to it's people and blesses them with the most excellent foods, both from land and sea, and pleasant weather all year-round.

Like Rapa Nui, Puerto Rico's natural benevolence has provided it's people with all that they needed and more. Naturally, as is the case with all of nature's creatures whenever such bountiful conditions exist, their numbers increased. The greater population required more space and more food, as is natural. Now cities and urbanization sprawl across hundreds of square miles of Puerto Rico's precious land, land that was once used for agriculture and food production. Most of Puerto Rico's food is now imported from abroad, and the argument could be made that Puerto Rican's haven't been self-sufficient, as far as food production is concerned, for quite some time.

To be fair, Puerto Rico has undergone a dramatic change as far as industrialization is concerned, and from that point of view it can be argued that Puerto Rico is indeed self-sufficient still, by virtue of the economics of the national products it exports in exchange for the food it receives. But every day the dwindling agricultural community grows smaller, and a time may not be too long in coming when Puerto Rico becomes completely dependent on imported food for it's sustenance.

In order to keep the great gods of industrial financing happy, Puerto Rico invests much of it's resources in the development of greater and greater displays of it's business prowess. The construction of vast industrial complexes and sky-scrapping office buildings is an ongoing prerogative that strains the ageing infrastructure and supersedes all other considerations, including environmental concerns.

The general policy that is practiced if not admitted is that any promise can be made to comply with the regulations for environmental protection in order to acquire the necessary permits to begin any industrial project. Once these permits are obtained, all promises made regarding the environment are conveniently forgotten. Cost of development and keeping with scheduled completion dates takes precedence. I cite as example the recent authorization granted to the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewer Authority by the Environmental Protection Agency to use the waters of the river Mameyes in the El Yunque Rain Forest, a national preserve and I might add, the only Tropical Rain Forest in the United States National Parks System. The permit was granted only after The Aqueducts and Sewer Authority promised to extract only a certain amount of water and no more. Not even six months have passed since, and already, as I understand from the local news, the EPA has cited the ASA for violating that promise and extracting as much water as they please from the river Mameyes.

A short while after that, I understand that the ASA is dumping untreated sewage into the river Mameyes. Something that is only permited during a state of emergency, which the governor has conveniently declared and which continues to be in effect, indefinitely.

The River Mameyes was the only remaining untapped and untainted river left in the entire island of Puerto Rico.
Ever since hurricane Hugo, it has been considered wise by all Puerto Ricans to use bottled water for their own consumption, and it is common practice in households where bottled water cannot be afforded to boil the water provided by ASA before using it for drinking.

Puerto Ricans no longer trust the quality of their drinking water.
The recent occurrences of prolonged periods of drought may be just the whim of an angry god, or it could be that the unchecked deforestation of the island, caused by it's runaway industrialization and urbanization projects has rendered the island incapable of retaining as much moisture as it used to extract from the prevailing winds of the Atlantic Ocean. Naturally, crops are affected, and food production is decreased.

Puerto Rico is currently constructing a huge "super-aqueduct" that will alleviate the water supply problems to it's mayor metropolitan centers. The construction of this aqueduct requires that miles of the special and uniquely porous rock which covers much of the northern part of the island and which is part of the natural water table filtration and replenishment system be destroyed.

It is a pretty good guess that if the water table is adversely affected by this project, the dwindling agricultural sector will suffer even greater loses. This sort of damage to the environment, by it's nature, cannot be reversed. The porous rock understructure of the northern coast is a unique and valuable natural resource to the island of Puerto Rico, it is responsible for the creation of the greatest underground river and cavern complex in this hemisphere. Some of it was already destroyed to build the great highways that connect the mayor towns of the north coast, and it may be argued that this too has contributed to the island's recent aridity.

I am not saying that the super-aqueduct should not be built, but surely Puerto Ricans should be willing to spare the expense required to do it right. Building in such a way as to cause minimal or no damage to our natural resources is an option, albeit a time-consuming and expensive one. I suggest that this is better than sealing our fate with cheap, quick fixes that cannot be undone, only to prove to our great financial gods that we are "up to the challenge", and "worthy of their favor."

The Rapa Nuians could have survived their industry if only they had replanted the resources they consumed and advanced at a more sedate pace, taking care not to consume more of their resources than what they were able to replace.

Even as I write this, the general Puerto Rican population is indifferent to the very real signs of environmental collapse that surrounds them. It is almost as if we believed that by pleasing the great financial gods with our ever greater "Moai" of industry, whatever damage we have caused in the process will be corrected by some future rapture of financial and technological benevolence.

To illustrate this point, I bring to your attention the declining populations of several tree frog species known locally as the Coquí. This little creature is so dear and special to the heart and soul of every Puerto Rican that they are almost reduced to swooning, crooning adoration when they speak of it. It's image is used to represent Puerto Rico and all things Puerto Rican, its songs are featured in many local melodies, plays and poems. It is ubiquitous in Puerto Rican culture and identity. Yet not one but three of the sixteen local species have vanished completely due to destruction of their habitat by rampant urbanization. In spite of persistent attempts by environmentalists and student groups to locate a single living specimen, they haven't been seen or heard in years and it is quite possible they are already extinct.

Yet Puerto Ricans by and large are happily ignorant of this very disturbing fact.
Everywhere you go Puerto Ricans arrogantly boast their proud kinship with the Coquí, even as the little creatures are squashed under the steel-tipped boots of industrial development.

Three other species of Coquí are becoming very rare as we breathe! The other ten species of Puerto Rican Coquí are in danger of suffering the same fate.

A day doesn't go by that while driving through the streets and highways of Puerto Rico I don't see someone throwing garbage, drive-through fast-food dispensers and packaging, used diapers, beer bottles and soft drink cans from their car windows.

Who among us has not witnessed this?
It is obvious by this behavior that the Puerto Ricans, much like the Rapa Nuians have lost all conception of what they are doing to their island and to themselves.

Our mindless and irresponsible industrialization effort is no different than the Rapa Nuian's obsession with building greater Moai at any cost. Our indifference to the environment is no different than the kind of insanity that made food and life more important as a source of raw materials than as a basic requirement for survival.

No god, of industry or otherwise, will come to the rescue once we have passed the environmental point of no return. The great gods of financing will take their profits and leave us to our fate. And we will bare the shame of our disgrace to our ultimate destruction.

And even the Coquí will not be around to sing one final tribute to Puerto Rico.
If we as Puerto Ricans do not become more rational and responsible in our development policies, and do the right thing to preserve and maintain the wonderful paradise that The Powers of Providence have blessed us with, we will murder the island of Puerto Rico just like the Rapa Nuians murdered Rapa Nui.

We ourselves will perish as a culture and as a race, in the greatest example of collective disgrace experienced by humanity since the fall of the people of Rapa Nui.

In the Island of Puerto Rico, there is a unique species of tree frogs known as the COQUI (pronounced CO-KEE). These tiny frogs are named such due to their distinctive song. As daylight dims into dusk they fill the night air with their joyous chorus. The experience of the Coquí songs is quite unique and found nowhere else in the planet.

Although some Coquies have been successfully exported to other countries, they never sing once removed from Puerto Rican soil. Puerto Rico, (The Island of Enchantment), is the only place in all of Earth where the Coquí feels at home. This distinction has done much to endear this tiny little creature to the native Puerto Rican. It can be said that Puerto Ricans everywhere long for the song of the Coquí. Many Puerto Ricans have felt strangely uneasy while travelling abroad, only to feel an intense sensation of relief once they return to their native land and hear once more the nightly lullaby of the Coquí.

So great is the love of the Coquí, that images of the tiny creature are liberally painted in almost every sort of souvenir offered by the island's tourist traders. There are Coquí t-shirts, Coquí glasses, Coquí ashtrays, Coquí banners and Coquí key chains in all of their mindboggling variety. Its calls are featured prominently as background harmony in many songs of local artists, and many of these songs pay their personal tribute by mentioning the Coquí, by name. It is featured in every sort of commercial product manufactured by the island industries, and even appears on the license plates of road vehicles.

Truly, if there ever was a symbol of what Puerto Rico is, it has to be the Coquí.
Yet, sadly, most Puerto Ricans are abysmally ignorant of the facts regarding the very creature they claim to adore so effusively. One such fact is that there are, all told, sixteen species of Coquí in Puerto Rico. Each one with it's own song. Another such fact is the one that inspired this article; there are only fourteen species (perhaps less) of Coquí left, and soon there may be only ten.

The Coquíes are dying!

That in itself is a sad and terrible fact, but the shame that Puerto Rico collectively shares is all the greater because it is not commonly known, or even suspected by the people of this island. How many of us know that we may have already lost not one, but three species of our beloved national emblem; the very symbol of Puerto Rican pride?

So it is that I begin my crusade to save our little night-serenading friends by posting the sad list of names of our dearly departed, in hopes that I can in this way awaken the consciousness of my fellow islanders as well as that of other people abroad who might want to join me in my efforts to save the Puerto Rican Coquí.

Although they appear listed in the Department of Natural Resources as "Threatened or Vulnerable Species" the following species of Coquí have very probably already become extinct. Their songs will never again comfort the hearts of Puerto Ricans, or anyone else, forever.

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Eleutherodactylus Eneida or "Coquí de Eneida"
Hasn't been heard or seen in several years.

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Eleutherodactylus Karlschmidti or "Coquí Palmeado""
It hasn't been heard or seen since 1974.
Used to live by the shores of the rivers of "El Yunque" which happens to be the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Parks System.

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Eleutherodactylus Jasperi or "Coquí Dorado de Cayey"
Has not been heard or seen since 1981.
It was the only ovoviviparous species of Coquí in the world.

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The Golden Coquí of Cayey also appears listed in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as a "Threatened or Vulnerable Species". Regardless of this distinction, it is already the most likely Coquí species to have become extinct by now.

In spite of the federal and local agencies awareness of the plight of these species of Coquí which is implied by their official classification as "Threatened or Vulnerable Species," none of these species have had their habitat declared "Critical".

Both state and federal agencies have failed to upgrade their status to that of "Species in Danger of Extinction." This, apparently because not enough of us have brought it to their attention. If we don't care what happens to our Coquíes, why should they? Upgrading their status to that of "Species in Danger of Extinction" would establish their habitats as "Critical" and thus provide real protection. But this is not likely to happen unless WE THE PEOPLE take action first and let the appropriate agencies know that we do care.

Other Coquí species that have become very rare, although some are still seen and heard in remote locations of the island are:

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Eleutherodactylus Cooki or "Coquí Guajón"
Eleutherodactylus Locustus or "Coquí Martillito"
Eleutherodactylus Richmondi or "Coquí Caoba"

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These three Coquíes are not listed in any state or federal agencies as "Threatened," or as anything at all, and they should be.

What can be done about it?

Write to the Department of Natural Resources and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and tell them you want them to revise the status of these endangered creatures as well as have their habitats declared "Critical" so that they can get real protection.

I will even make it easy for you; prepared form letters regarding this matter are available for you to print, sign and mail or fax right here. Just click on the link provided below and print the resulting web page with your browser, or cut-and-paste it onto your own stationary, sign and mail it to the address provided in the heading. The fax number is also provided.

Letter for the US Fish and Wildlife Service
Post Mail Version of the letter
(Print, sign & Send or Fax)

Please, I urge you to do so, the Coquíes cannot
beg you for your help, so I beg for them.
There are now three Coquíes whose songs may never again be heard. Puerto Rico has probably lost those already, three more may be lost to us soon, forever! Others will surely follow. I cannot accept that--if you consider yourself a responsible and conscientious member of the human race, and especially if you call yourself a Puerto Rican, NEITHER SHOULD YOU!

I sincerely thank you for your time and your help.
1997, Naranjito, Puerto Rico, Earth

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Other Coquí species of Puerto Rico

[ E. coqui ] [ E. antillensis ] [ E. gryllus ] [ E. brittoni ] [ E. cochranae ] [ E. unicolor ] [ E. hedricki ] [ E. weightmanae ] [ E. monensis ] [ E. portorricensis ] [ E. juanariveroi ]