Drafting.- In the month of November of this year, the ordinance that limits the hours for the sale of alcohol in Puerto Rico should enter into force, after the mayor of San Juan, Miguel Romero, signed the document last weekend.
Although he stated that he was “morally convinced” that he was doing the right thing, the order was the subject of fierce debate, with businesses and residents accustomed to staying up late and lacking supervision deploring the new regulations, which do not apply to hotels and their clients.
Residents of Old San Juan, the historic neighborhood popular with locals and tourists alike, expressed cautious satisfaction.
“It gives the impression that in San Juan, anything goes,” said Reinaldo Segurola, 71. “It’s a mix between Disney and Las Vegas,” according to agencies such as AP.
Based on a tour made by that agency, it is described that thousands of people, with drink in hand, usually crowd the streets of the neighborhood, where the shops are open until 5 in the morning to attend to the late-nighters and the party moves to the coastal town of La Perla to receive the sunrise.
Similar scenes are experienced in other areas of San Juan, such as Calle Loiza and La Placita de Santurce, where businesses sell and music resounds until dawn.
Under the new code, businesses can only serve or sell alcohol from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday if Monday is a holiday.
“The mayor got out of hand,” said Carlos Álvarez, a 34-year-old San Juan resident who works at a cannabis store.
He often parties with his girlfriend in Old San Juan late into the night and said the new ordinance will force people to party earlier or seek out the speakeasies he expects to pop up when the ordinance goes into effect. vigor.
