Mayor of Caguas William Miranda Torres has announced that the municipality is poised to begin restoration of “La Casita Verde” [The Little Green House], where writer Abelardo Díaz Alfaro was born and raised.

Former municipal legislator Roberto Carrasquillo Ríos, one of the founders of this initiative, expressed his approval, adding that “The restoration of the birthplace of our famous writer helps promote the values that have elevated our sense of identity and criollo pride in Caguas, which is recognized in the entire country.” The idea of acquiring and restoring “La Casita Verde” was proposed by a community group with Carrasquillo Ríos and was then endorsed by the late Mayor William Miranda Marín. 

Carrasquillo Ríos underlined his satisfaction with the restoration plans and indicated that this project was conceived as part of the idea to make Caguas a center for the defense of Puerto Rico’s national heritage: “Today, more than ever, in Caguas we must be like the Josco [the main character in in the short story “El Josco,” a bull representing Puerto Rican identity] and defend our native self-esteem as Don Abelardo Díaz Alfaro taught us in his costumbrista literature.”

For more on and the short story “El Josco,” see http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/26/books/abelardo-diaz-alfaro-81-author-of-puerto-rican-stories.html  

For full article (in Spanish), see http://www.elnuevodia.com/remozarancasanataldeabelardodiazalfaro-946811.html