Waldemar Quiles, secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA), said on Sunday, October 18, that he opposes a proposal by three northern Puerto Rico mayors for managing the Río Camuy Caves National Park, calling it detrimental to the development of the recreational facilities and the conservation of natural areas. Quiles said the DRNA is ready to reopen the park before the end of this year, and that transferring ownership to the Tourism Company would delay those plans.
He argued that running a biological nature reserve requires technical knowledge unique to the DRNA within government. The mayors of Camuy (Gabriel Hernández), Hatillo (Carlos Román) and Lares (Fabián Arroyo) asked on Sunday for the park’s ownership to be transferred to the Tourism Company and for a public-private partnership (APP) to be started to rehabilitate and promote it as a tourist destination.
Their plan would split municipal license fees, municipal sales and use tax (IVU), ticket sales and jobs equally among the three towns. Quiles said he has received no communication from the mayors and did not rule out meeting them. He did not close the door to an APP, acknowledging private financing will be needed to rehabilitate all areas.
The park closed after hurricanes Irma and María in 2017, operated intermittently, and has been closed since 2023. Quiles said 12 employees have worked on it, down from 130 at its peak. He gave no reopening date but said talks are under way with the Education Department on student trips, and early visitors would access Clara cave, the Tres Pueblos sinkhole and a new trail called "la vereda del Veterano".