Cuevas Las Cabachuelas (Cabachuelas Caves) is a large cave system in Puerto Rico, located between the municipalities of
Morovis
Morovis (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central region of the island, north of Orocovis, south of Manatí, Vega Baja and Vega Alta; east of Ciales, and west of Corozal. Morovis is spread over 13 barrios and M ...
and
Ciales
Ciales (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of Florida and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Cial ...
in the Cabachuelas Natural Reserve, which was established in 2012.
It is of natural, cultural, archaeological, hydrological and geomorphological importance to Puerto Rico.
Guided tours are offered by the Diógenes Colón Gómez Cultural Center in Morovis.
History
The caves are located in Barahona barrio in Morovis and have been studied in depth by Roberto Martínez and Ovidio Dávila.
Martínez pushed for designating the cave system as a national park system.
There are 60 caves in the Cabachuelas zone which was declared a natural reserve on February 29, 2012, with the signing of law 129 by then governor,
Luis Fortuño
Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013.
Fortuño served as the first Secre ...
. Since then a process of identifying the land around the cave system-what needed to be purchased from private owners began, and it was decided that there were 16 privately owned properties which should become part of the reserve.
In February 2019 the park opened to the public. Guided tours for groups of up to 15 people are coordinated by CABACOOP, Proyecto Cabachuelas.
Future plans
Tourism managed by Discover Puerto Rico encouraged the marketing of the caves in Morovis.
Once the final 75 acres, which need to be purchased, are purchased by the
Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources
The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) () is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in P ...
(DRNA), then the park will be properly established as Parque Nacional Las Cabachuelas.
[ As of August, 2019 the purchase was still in the works.]
See also
*
Taíno
The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...
References
External links
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Caves of Puerto Rico
Morovis, Puerto Rico
Ciales, Puerto Rico
Tourist attractions in Puerto Rico
Protected areas of Puerto Rico
2012 establishments in Puerto Rico
Protected areas established in 2012