​Location: Vega Baja
Date Established: 1873
Date Ceased Operations: 1967
Annual Production Graph
Average Annual Production: 32,049 Tons
Best Production Year: 1952/71,280 Tons
Family Ownership: Igaravides, Gallart, Rubert
Corporate Ownership: Central San Vicente, Inc. Rubert Hnos., Inc.

According to Pedro San Miguel in his essay Tierra, Trabajadores y Propietarios: Las Haciendas en Vega Baja 1828-1865, in 1839, between the years 1828 and 1850 Jacinto López and his wife Maria Martinez purchased several land estates in Vaga Baja. San Miguel states that in 1862 López owned 13 caballerias 69 cuerdas (approximately 2,594 cuerdas) in Barrio Cabo Caribe. In 1864 when his estate was divided among his heirs, his estate was valued at 620,567 which included 251,332 pesos attributed to the value of haciendas San Vicente and Ceiba and 76,690 pesos to Hacienda San Antonio in Dorado.

His son Jacinto López Martinez was awarded 144,592 pesos which included Hacienda San Antonio . His daughter Teresa López Martinez was awarded 128,866 pesos including assets of haciendas San Vicente and Ceiba. His son Manuel López Martinez was awarded 71,890 pesos in assets of Hacienda San Vicente and Tomás Landrón on behalf of his deceased wife and daughter of Jacinto, Francisca López Martinez and their minor children, was awarded 65,878 mostly in assets of hacienda Ceiba. His other sons received Vicente López Martinez 70,630 pesos, Luisa López Martinez 66,878 and Josefa Guadalupe López Martinez 66,878 pesos. In 1864 Manuel acquired from his sisters Luisa and Josefa Guadalupe all their participations and from his sister Teresa part of her participation in Hacienda San Vicente, making him the largest shareholder of the Hacienda. In 1866 Teresa sold her remaining participation in hacienda San Vicente to Father Antonio Garcia, a priest who on October 15, 1866 sold it for 109,615 to Leonardo Igaravides Maldonado (1830-1888), the son of a Spanish immigrant and a "criolla" or Puerto Rican born mother, also known as the Marqués de Cabo Caribe due to a nobility title granted December 14, 1872.  

Manuel López Martinez died in 1865 leaving his estate to his widow Carmen Eustaquia Landrón Córdova (1841-1884) and their minor children. In November 1866 Leonardo, at the time a widower with one surviving son from his marriage to Avelina Santana, married Manuel Antonio's widow from which marriage six children were born.  At the time of Leonardo and Carmen Eustaquia’s marriage, the hacienda was subject to three mortgages in favor of Father Antonio Garcia, Luisa López Martinez and Josefa Guadalupe López Martinez securing Manuel's acquisition deferred payment and ownership in the hacienda was distributed Carmen Eustaquia as to 41%, her three sons from the marriage to Manuel Antonio as to 28% and Leonardo as to 31%.  

In all, land purchase transactions made Igaravides the owner of some 11,400 cuerdas in the Vaga Baja area. Some of the haciendas acquired by Igaravides that became part of San Vicente by outright purchase or by foreclosure for unpaid debt were:

• Hacienda Felicidad 50% acquired in 1871 and the rest in 1876 from Náter Hnos., the heirs of Francisco Náter and Felícita Marrero (Dolores Náter Marrero was married to Leonardo's brother Felipe Igaravidez Malodonado)

• Hacienda Santa Inés (the first Hacienda with a steam driven mill in Vega Baja) acquired from Ramon Soler

• Hacienda Rosario in 1875, owned by  Sucn. Dávila & Cia. the heirs of Antonio Dávila

• Hacienda Encarnación in 1877, acquired owned by Sucn. Prado, the heirs of Guatemala native Pedro Prado (Juan Prado Morales was married to Leonardo's sister Cándida Igaravidez Maldonado)

• Hacienda Fé in 1875, acquired from his brother in law Carlos Santana Rivera by assuming all outstanding debts 

In October 1869, Leonardo and Carmen mortgaged Hacienda San Vicente for US$100,000 in favor of Sturges & Co.  In 1873 Leonardo finished the installation of a 60 hp steam engine bought in France from Cail & Co., five Cornuaille boilers which produced power for the water pumps, distillery, Derosne triple effect evaporators, Hodeck condensers and Rohlfs-Seyrig centrifugals making it the first sugar mill or central sugar factory established in Puerto Rico.  At the beginning, Central San Vicente was a highly efficient and successful operation producing the highest grade raw sugar.  In its first harvest season, output reached 2,300 m.t. of sugar or 2.5% of the island's total output, which figure met the highest expectations for the new venture. But instead of adopting the concept of centralization which called for sugar mill owners to devote themselves exclusively to the industrial process of sugar fabrication and for landowners to devote themselves exclusively to the cultivation of sugarcane, Igaravidez attempted simultaneously to expand the mill's grinding capacity and the acreage he owned dedicated to cultivating sugarcane.  This eventually proved to be an error.

In 1875 Juan Forgas bought the mortgage from Sturges & Co.  That same year, José Rufino Goenaga by virtue of a Power of Attorney granted him by Leonardo & Carmen, affirmed the mortgage to Juan Forgas by virtue of his acquisition from Sturgess & Co.  In 1878 Igaravides still owed Cail & Co. some 120,000 pesos. Due to the increased cost of financing, the substantial investment in machinery and the high cost of planting the vastly superior amounts of land, in October 1879 Igaravidez officially defaulted on the payment of some of his obligations for the first time.  In late 1883, after four years of battling creditors in court, Igaravidez was forced into bankruptcy and sentenced to four years in prison for fraud and embezzlement. 

Out of jail in March 1887, Igaravidez continued to deal in the solution of San Vicente's financial problems based on an agreement reached with creditors and supervised by a referee commission called to intercede in favor of creditors in case of default on the payments of installment obligations.  Carmen's death preceded Leonardo's who died in March 1888.  In February 1889 Julián Eusebio Blanco Sosa (1830-1905) was appointed administrator, job he satisfactorily performed.  

José Gallart as representative of his uncle Juan Forgas initiated foreclosure proceedings in 1888.  It took the courts six years to finally decide the settlement of Igaravidez's estate.  During the proceedings, in 1890 the court returned part of the land of the Hacienda San Vicente to Igaravides stepsons Manuel, Armando and Rafael Lopez Landrón as their legitimate participation in the estate.  In 1895 the remainder of the estate's assets were assigned to José Gallart Forgas in satisfaction of the mortgage from his uncle Juan Forgas.  

The participation assigned to Gallart which included the sugar factory was sold by Gallart in 1896 to Central San Vicente, Inc., wholly owned by the Rubert brothers.  The Rubert brothers also had ownership interest in Central Mercedita in Yabucoa, Central Cortada and Central Constancia in Toa Baja together with the Rafael Fabián Fabián.  ​The Rubert brothers were Spanish immigrants from Palma de Mallorca that arrived in Puerto Rico between the 1860s and 1880s; Guillermo (1845-1926), Miguel (1846-1905), Juan (1848-1909), Luis (1856-1931), and Buenaventura (1861-1921) Rubert Catalá.  Before 1927, they operated  the partnership Rubert Hnos.  After the death of his four brothers, in April 27, 1927 Luis Rubert Catalá incorporated Rubert Hnos., Inc., who was the sole shareholder of Central San Vicente, Inc.  

By Joint Resolution of May 1, 1900, Congress provided that; "every corporation hereafter authorized to engage in agriculture in Puerto Rico shall by its charter be restricted to the ownership and control of not to exceed five hundred acres of land."  This limitation was carried over into the Organic Act of Puerto Rico enacted on March 2, 1917.  Since 1900 the provisions of these laws were never enforced but in 1935, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico enacted two laws to provide the means of enforcing the Congressional prohibition. 

• Act No. 33 conferred upon the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico exclusive original jurisdiction over quo warranto proceedings instituted for violations of the 500 acre law.

• Act No. 47 authorized the Attorney General of Puerto Rico or any district attorney to bring such quo warranto proceedings in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico against any corporation violating the Organic Act, and provided further that when any corporation is unlawfully holding * * * real estate in Puerto Rico, the People of Puerto Rico may, at its option, through the same proceedings, institute in its behalf the confiscation of such property, or the alienation thereof at public auction, within a term of not more than six months counting from the date on which final sentence is rendered."

 In 1937, a suit was filed by the Attorney General of Puerto Rico under these statutes against Rubert Hnos., Inc., who owned some 12,188 acres of land.  The complaint filed by the Attorney General of Puerto Rico alleged that Rubert Hnos., Inc. was organized under the laws of Puerto Rico for the purpose of acquiring and working sugar cane farms and plantations, that its articles of incorporation restricted it to the acquisition of no more than 500 acres and that it had nevertheless acquired and was working at the time of the filing of the complaint some 12,188 acres of land.

On July 30, 1938 the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico entered judgment for the Government.  It ordered "the forfeiture and cancellation' of the license and articles of incorporation of respondent, the immediate dissolution and winding up of the affairs of the corporation, and the payment of $3,000 in fine and costs".  On the same day, the Government moved that a receiver be appointed to handle the dissolution and disposition of the respondent's property.  The motion for the appointment of a receiver was held in abeyance pending an appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, whose decision reversed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.  

However, on March 25, 1940 the US Supreme Court decided the case PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO v. RUBERT HERMANOS, Inc. reversing the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals and reinstating that of the Supreme Court of the Island recognizing the power of the local Government to enforce the law.  According to the Supreme Court's decision, on August 28,1940 the Attorney General of Puerto Rico filed with the insular court a petition to have all the lands in the possession of Rubert Hnos, inc. sold at public auction. 

In all, eighteen suits were filed against: Fajardo Sugar Company; South Porto Rico Sugar Company; Central Cambalache; Central Alianza; Central Coloso; Central Plata and Pepino Associates; Compañía Azucarera del Toa; Eastern Sugar Associates; Aguirre Associates and Affiliates; Carmen Centrale and Ana María Sugar Co.among others.  These Lawsuits had a substantial negative effect on the sugar industry because of the sugar factories need to have access to over 500 acres of land to satisfy their production demands.  They were an important contributing factor to the demise of the sugar industry on the island.  As it turns out, San Vicente was the first sugar mill established on the island and the first one affected by the implementation of the 500 acre land law thirty some odd years after the law was enacted.

In 1962 Jorge Gonzalez Hernandez (1920-1968), the son of Manuel Gonzalez Martinez, was the principal stockholder and CEO of Central San Vicente Inc. and was also a "colono" cultivating sugar cane on lands owned in his name and in the names of Compañia Agricola Mendez, Inc. and Central Agricultural Co., Inc.  On August 1962, after the discovery of serious shortages of sugar at Central San Vicente's warehouses, Central San Vicente, Inc. was declared insolvent and placed in receivership by the Superior Court of Puerto Rico.  In September 1962 creditors filed a Chapter X Bankruptcy petition in Federal District Court and in November 1962, Orlando de Aragón, then the General Manager of Central Mercedita was appointed Trustee by the Court to oversee the asset liquidation process.  

On January 29, 1965 a reorganization plan was confirmed by the court wherein all the assets of Central San Vicente, Inc. would be transferred to a new corporate entity; The New Central San Vicente, Inc., whose owners were the Government Development Bank 51%, Chase Manhattan Bank 20% and the remaining 29% would be distributed among unsecured creditors. That year Central Aguirre Sugar Co. entered into an agreement to operate Central San Vicente.  

After its closure in 1967, Central San Vicente was dismantled and its machinery and equipment sold in Honduras together with the machinery of Central Juncos where they were installed at Central La Grecia in the town of Choluteca.