Hacienda Belvedere was a one thousand seven hundred cuerdas (±1,649 acre) plantation in Barrio Miradero of Cabo Rojo on the west coast of Puerto Rico overlooking the Caribbean Sea.  It was located  between Puerto Real and Joyuda reaching all the way to the coast in the Punta Ostiones area.  In the 1890s it was the largest plantation in Cabo Rojo followed by the one thousand three hundred cuerdas Hacienda Boquerón.

La Gaceta de Puerto Rico edition of August 28, 1888 in a notice of sale at public auction of seventy acres of land adjacent to Hacienda Belvedere states that Hacienda Belvedere was owned by the firm Hijos de Lloreda. The firm Hijos de LLoreda refers to the sons of Magdalena Cabassa Tassara (1841-1933) and Miguel Lloreda Gonzalez (1835-1903) named Claudio Lloreda Cabassa (1875- ) and Fernando Lloreda Cabassa (1862- ). Not much information is available on the court case Magadalena Cabassa v. Hijos de Lloreda but as a result of it Hijos de Lloreda was declared insolvent in 1891 and Magdalena Cabassa retained title to the Belvedere Estate. According to the inscriptions in the Property Registry of San Germán, in 1892 Spanish immigrant from Villanova y Geltrú, Catalonia Magín Vidal Aviño (1821-1899) acquired the one thousand four hundred eighty acre Hacienda Belvedere from Magdalena Cabassa for $14,000 pesos.

Magín Vidal Aviño married San Juan born Ynés Martinez de León (1837-1907) in 1857 from which marriage were born eleven children but at the time of his death only five survived him: Ynés Rita Vidal Martinez (1859-1907), Regina Vidal Martinez, Magín Antonio Vidal Martinez (1866-1907), Federico Vidal Martinez (1872-1918) and Ramiro Vidal Martinez (1862-1907). The inscriptions in the Property Registry also show that in 1892 Magín sold a ½ interest in the Belvedere Estate to his daughter Ynés Rita and her husband Spanish immigrant from Tarragona, Catalonia Antonio Olivella Soler (1854-1905). In 1904 Ynés Rita and her husband become sole owners and in 1905, most likely after Antonio’s death on August 26, 1905 she leased the hacienda to brothers José Arturo and Juan A. Monagas Cedó and her brother Ramiro Vidal Martinez for a ten year period under the newly established partnership Monagas & Vidal. On March 15, 1907 the Monagas brothers and Ramiro Vidal purchase ⅛ interest each in the Belvedere Estate from the estate[3] of Ynés Vidal Martinez who had died on March 6, 1907, and leased the remaining ⅝ interest. On March 3, 1909 Monagas & Vidal purchased the leased ⅝ interest for $6,500 pesos in a transaction financed by Fritz, Lundt & Co.

Ferreras Pagán states in his book that Hacienda Vervedere (sic) consisted of one thousand two hundred cuerdas of which some two hundred were used to grow sugarcane producing approximately five hundred hogsheads of raw sugar.   He states that it was located in Barrio Miradero 2 km from the town of Cabo Rojo and was established by the Cabassa brothers[1] who installed its machinery and a steam powered mill.  He also sates that in 1902 it was owned by the Sucn. Vidal and was administered by the Vidal brothers. The Sucn. Vidal mentioned by Ferreras Pagán was the estate of Magín Vidal Aviño and the Vidal brothers were Magín’s sons Magín Antonio, Federico and Ramiro Vidal Martinez.

The above information is supported by the facts stated in the court case Monagas v. Vidal which was a legal action brought by Neftali Vidal Garrastazú (1916-1979) against Juan A. Monagas and others for liquidation of a partnership and the partition of its properties. The case was an appeal decided by the United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit on January 17, 1949. A brief summary as stated in the case states in part,

In 1905 Juan A. Monagas, Ramiro Vidal and Jose Arturo Monagas organized an agricultural partnership called Monagas Vidal to last for a term of then years which term they later (April 1907) extended to June 30, 1924. The purpose of the partnership was stated to be the cultivation of a farm of 1,470 cuerdas located in the municipality of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, known known as the Belvedere Estate, which the partners owned individually in equal shares and which they conveyed to the partnership.  The partners stipulated in their agreement that they were to share equally in the profits and benefits of the partnership and that in the event of the death of any of them the partnership would continue between surviving partners and the heirs of any deceased partner until the expiration of its term.

Partner Jose Arturo Monagas Cedó (1874-1915) died in April 1915 and his wife died about a month and a half later leaving five minor children as their heirs. Partner Juan A. Monagas Cedó (1875-1948) became the guardian of the minor children and represented them in the partnership acting therein as the substitute for their father. Ramiro Vidal Martinez (1866-1921) died in August 1921 leaving his wife Juana Garrastazú Rivera and their minor son Neftalí Vidal Garrastazú as his only heirs. In September 1918 a civil action for collection of debt was instituted by José Mora against Ramiro Vidal which resulted in judgment in favor of Mora for $900. In 1923 a gentleman with last name Beauchamp acquired Mora’s rights in the judgment against Vidal and was successful[2] in substituting the deceased Vidal for his widow and minor son as defendants. Beauchamp then executed the judgment and acquired the ⅓ interest in the Belvedere Estate at public auction for $900, the amount of the judgment. On the next day Juan A. Monagas purchased from Beauchamp the undivided interest for $1,602 and proceeded to record the ⅓ interest in the Belvedere Estate in his name. In March 1924 Juan A. Monagas and the heirs of Jose Arturo Monagas brought civil action against the heirs of the deceased Ramiro Vidal to liquidate the partnership. The Mayaguez District Court rendered judgment for Monagas declaring the partnership dissolved and liquidated and awarded ⅔ of the Belvedere Estate to Juan Monagas and ⅓ to the heirs of Jose Arturo Monagas and nothing to the heirs of Vidal. Upon achieving majority of age, Ramiro Vidal’s son Neftali Vidal Garrastazú brought legal action contesting the validity of the execution of the judgment by Beauchamp and therefore his valid ownership in ⅓ of the Belvedere Estate. This action was ruled in his favor by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court and affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals.

According to an article by Wilfredo Santiago Valiente, during the WWI years his grandfather Manuel de Santiago leased Hacienda Borinquen in Cabo Rojo from Mateo Fajardo Cardona, but with the sugar price crisis of 1921 the hacienda went bankrupt.  This failure notwithstanding, in 1922 he entered into a twenty five year lease of Hacienda Belvedere who according to Santiago was founded in the early 19th Century by the Monagas family which statement is incorrect, and was later owned by the Vidal family.  At the expiration of the lease de Santiago could not afford to buy or lease the estate so he moved to the San Juan area.

Title to part of the ⅓ interest in the Belvedere Estate recovered by Neftalí Vidal in 1949 was transferred to Atty. Juan Alemañy Sosa in payment of his attorney’s fees for his successful defense in the case Neftalí Brough against Monagas that resulted in the annulment of the judgment execution by Beauchamp and later acquisition of Monagas. After recovering the land, Neftalí then resumed growing sugarcane up and until his death in 1979 which probably was processed at Central Eureka. Ca. 1970 part of the land that once comprised Hacienda Belvedere was expropriated by the government and part still belongs to the heirs of Neftali Vidal and Juan Monagas.

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[1] It appears this is incorrect, being the correct name the Lloreda Cabassa brothers under the partnership Hijos de Lloreda.

[2] As was later determined by the PR Supreme Court and affirmed by the US Court of Appeals, the judgment in the case involving Beauchamp execution of Mora’s judgment was void, in the first place, because Vidal's widow and son were not served with notice of their substitution as parties defendant, and therefore the court did not acquire jurisdiction over them. But even if the execution were not void, it was academic. What was sold, the interest of the heirs of Vidal in the Belvedere Estate, did not exist. The Belvedere Estate did not belong to Vidal, or his heirs, in whole or in part, it wholly belonged to the partnership Monagas Vidal. Hence, the execution sale, even if it were not void, could not and did not grant to Monagas, or take from Vidal's heirs, any right.

[3] Estate comprised of her children Maria Olivella Vidal (1881-1958), Concepcion Olivella Vidal (1883-1963), Enrique Olivella Vidal (1888-1931), Arturo Olivella Vidal (1889-1967), Teresa Olivella Vidal (1890- ), Inés Olivella Vidal (1895-1948) and Altagracia Olivella Vidal (1897- ).