American Tourist Sets Puerto Rican Businesses On Fire

Tourism in Puerto Rico has been displacing locals on the island for years, and it has now reached boiling point and caused a gentrification crisis due to Americans moving there for tax breaks and a rise in short-term rentals for tourists price gouging and displacing Puerto Ricans. On January 2, a Missouri woman visiting Puerto Rico allegedly set fire to several businesses on the Caribbean island, burning three businesses to the ground and partially causing damage to another. 

According to the Puerto Rico Police Department, the alleged suspect has been identified as Danielle Bertothy, a St. Louis woman who was vacationing on the island. The businesses that fully burned down are the restaurant Marinera, Bar Marea, and souvenir shop Artesanías Juavia, and the boutique hotel Luichy’s Seaside Hotel was also partially damaged with 50 guests on site at the time of the incident. The investigation is ongoing but no arrest has been made yet. 

According to a Facebook post made by Bar Marea, an intoxicated Bertothy allegedly came into the business near closing hours and began insulting patrons and workers, leading to police being called to escort her to the nearby Airbnb she was staying at. However, Bertothy allegedly returned a second time, and the police were again called and the bar was closed. She was not detained either time, and security footage from the establishment shows a person appearing to be Bertothy carrying a red gas can moments before the fire began. 

“This is our land and it is here where we are going to produce, create jobs, provide a service with love for our clients, to progress as good Puerto Ricans. We lost the material, but the dreams are still alive,” Bar Marea wrote in Spanish on Facebook. “The thing is that in this country you have to live in fear, letting these types of situations pass as if nothing had happened.”

According to a now-deleted LinkedIn account, Bertothy previously worked at a St. Louis digital-marketing agency called HLK Agency. Following the egregious incident in Puerto Rico, St. Louis Alderperson Daniela Velázquez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, posted a letter directed to HLK Agency to X, formerly known as Twitter, asking them to cooperate with the investigation and urging them to take the allegations seriously:

“The allegations involve acts of destruction that have devastated small business owners, harmed the local economy, and shaken the sense of safety in Cabo Rojo,” the letter read. “Her audacity to commit such a brazen act of violence during our island’s beloved holiday season has also shocked Puerto Ricans across the diaspora like me.”

In response to the letter, HLK Agency posted a now-deleted Instagram post stating that Bertothy was suspended immediately, expressing how they were shocked and outraged by her actions and willing to cooperate with the investigation if asked. However, it is unclear whether Bertothy’s suspension is temporary or permanent or paid or unpaid. Missouri police also provided an update, adding that they have been in contact with the Puerto Rican police about the incident.

On Tuesday, January 7, federal authorities executed a search warrant in St. Louis in connection with the investigation in Puerto Rico. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in St. Louis is helping authorities in the Caribbean island conduct an arson investigation. Authorities in Puerto Rico have recently said that they are close to charging a suspect in the incident thanks to the videos provided by Bar Marea, which have now become viral and sparked outrage from Puerto Ricans across the diaspora.

“I wish they could have arrested her yesterday,” Cabo Rojo Mayor Jorge Morales Wiscovitch told NBC News. “She needs to be returned immediately and face the country’s justice system. It wasn’t just businesses that were burned. There were rooms on the second floor where people were sleeping. People could have been burned and killed.”

Ángel Luis Marrero Negrón, the owner of Luichy’s Seaside Hotel, which rents space to Marinera Restaurant, Artesanías Juavia and Bar Marea, said that there is a total of $500,000 in damages to the building. As a result, the businesses will remain closed until further notice, and two GoFundMe campaigns — one for Luichy’s Seaside Hotel and another for both Bar Marea and Artesanías Juavia — have been launched to help owners rebuild. According to Marrero Negrón, he was celebrating the new year happily when he received a call informing him of the massive fire:

“You leave your establishment happy to have celebrated Dec. 31 happy, with a full hotel… you go to your house in San Juan feeling calm,” he told NBC News. “It’s been a roller coaster of emotions — not understanding why that woman did what she did to us; we are good people and we don’t harm anyone… It felt like a nightmare, but little by little I’ve been hit with the reality.”