Las Marías (, ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

located north of Maricao; southeast of Añasco; south of

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

; east of Mayagüez; and west of

Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ) were Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome, guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an ama ...

. Las Marías is spread over 13 barrios and Las Marías Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city).

History

Las Marías was founded on July 1, 1871. Don Benito Recio y Moreno was the acting mayor during the founding of Las Marías. Puerto Rico was ceded by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the aftermath of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

under the terms of the

Treaty of Paris of 1898 The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898, was signed by Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States on December 10, 1898, and marked the end of the ...

and became a territory of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1899, the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, als ...

conducted a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Las Marías was 11,279. On September 20, 2017

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

struck the island of Puerto Rico. In Las Marías, multiple landslides left highways covered in mud, trees and debris. In some areas of Las Marías there were more than 25 landslides per square mile due to the significant amount of rainfall and wind.

Geography

Las Marías is located on the central western side of Puerto Rico. According to the 2010

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the municipality has a total area of , of which is land and 0.11 square mile (0.28 km²) is water. Río Grande de Añasco (also known as Río Guacio) is located in Las Marías.

Barrios

Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Las Marías is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located near the center of the municipality, in a small barrio referred to as . # Alto Sano #

Anones Anones is a barrio in the municipality of Naranjito, Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 4,976. Anones is located to the South of the urban center of the municipality. There are schools and shops here and it is the most mountainous area of th ...

# Bucarabones # Buena Vista # Cerrote # Chamorro # Espino # Furnias # Las Marías barrio-pueblo # Maravilla Este # Maravilla Norte # Maravilla Sur # Naranjales # Palma Escrita # Purísima Concepción # Río Cañas

Sectors

Barrios (which are like minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called (''sectors'' in English). The types of ''sectores'' may vary, from normally ''sector'' to ''urbanización'' to ''reparto'' to ''barriada'' to ''residencial'', among others.

Special Communities

(Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of

social exclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following 7 sectors were in Adjuntas: Sector La Josefa in Bucarabones, Sector Bryan in Cerróte, Sector Chamorro in Cerróte, Sector Palo Prieto in Palma Escrita, Sector Plato Indio in Río Cañas, Las Juanitas in Furnias, and Sector Santa Rosa in Furnias.

Demographics

Tourism

Paradise Camping Coffee Farm is a place for

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

and

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

in Las Marías.

Landmarks and places of interest

Places of interest in Las Marías include: * * * *

Economy

Agriculture

*Agriculture:

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, and

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

Industry

*Manufacturing: clothing.

Culture

Festivals and events

Las Marías celebrates its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

festival in December. The is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. Other festivals and events celebrated in Las Marías include: * January - Three King's Festival * March - Orange Festival (). At the 2019 festival, a big name band, El Gran Combo performed at the festival, and a group of

troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

s from

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

performed with local Puerto Rican troubadours. * March - Festival to commemorate the founding of Las Marías ()

Government

Like all municipalities in

, Las Marías is administered by a mayor. The current mayor is Edwin Soto Santiago, from the New Progressive Party (PNP). Soto Santiago was re-elected during the 2016 general election, having previously served office from 1997 to 2013. The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district IV, which is represented by two Senators. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Jeison Rosa and Karen Michelle Román Rodríguez were elected as District Senators, while Emilio Carlo was elected the District Representative.

Transportation

There are 13 bridges in Las Marías.

Symbols

The has an official flag and coat of arms.

Flag

The flag is divided by an imaginary diagonal line whose ends are the upper left angle of the flag and the opposite lower angle. The upper part is yellow and the lower half is green. The yellow portion represents the sun bathing the town and the green portion represents the nature and vegetation of the municipality.

Coat of arms

The shield is divided into six parts with three in silver and three in blue. A ''María tree'' ('' Calophylum brasiliense antillanum''), with a pair of coffee tree branches to the sides of its trunk, adorns each silver part. The monogram and crown of ''Nuestra Señora la Santísima Virgen de Plata'' is placed in the top center portion of the shield. The shield's border is red with a broken chain at the bottom. Above the shield resides three tower crown in gold.

References

External links

Welcome to Puerto Rico! Las Marías
{{Authority control Municipalities of Puerto Rico Populated places established in 1871 1871 establishments in Puerto Rico