​Location: Aguada
Date Established: 1875
Date Ceased Operations: 2003
Annual Production Graph
Average Production (Annual Tons): 33,331
Best Production Year: 1961/73,554 Tons
Family Ownership: Vadi, Amell-Massó, Cabrera, Bianchi
Corporate Ownership: Sucrerie Central Coloso, Western Porto Rico Sugar Co.

It is chronicled that in the 18th Century there was a hacienda known as Caño de las Nasas at Barrio Guanábano of Aguada that produced some one hundred "bocoyes" or hogsheads of muscovado sugar with a blood driven mill.  Its original owner is unknown but it is known that its second owner was Luis de Medina.  It is reported that by 1834 Hacienda Caño de las Nasas had changed hands and its new owners were Corsican immigrant from Sisco, Angel Luis Santoni Damiani ( 1864) and his brother-in-law Eugenio Alers Despessville, son of French immigrants from Saint Domingue.  In 1850, Alers agreed to sell his part in the hacienda to Santoni who then brought in his son Carlos Sixto Santoni Alers as a partner.  In 1857 Santoni brought as overseer or manager also Corsican immigrant from Bastia Emilio Vadi Benelli (1837-1887).

In her book Haciendas Agricolas del Triangulo Noroeste de Puerto Rico, Haydée E. Reichard de Cardona states that in addition to crop financing, Santoni used the resources of the Aguadilla mercantile firm Schröder & Cia. to finance the acquisition of a steam powered mill, debt that at the time was reported to be 41,448 pesos.  Santoni decided to return to Corsica so on June 17, 1862 he sold Hacienda Caño de las Nasas to his son Carlos Sixto Santoni Alers and the hacienda's overseer/manager Emilio Vadi Benelli for the sum of 200,250 pesos. According to Reichard's book, it was then that Vadi said "voy a convertir este trapiche en un Coloso" (I am going to turn this hacienda into a colosus) and the name of the hacienda was changed. 

Emilio Vadi Benelli had a common-law relationship with Maria Rosario Santoni (1843-1907), the daughter of Angel Luis Santoni and a slave named Enriqueta.  Although they intended to legalize their relationship through marriage, social mores at the time did not allow them to fulfill their desire.  In his Last Will and Testament, Vadi recognized all eight children he had with Rosatio Santoni including Maria Rosario.

In 1867 Schröder & Cia. withdrew from doing business with Santoni and Vadi and the Aguadilla mercantile firm Kuster & Cia. assumed the financing of Hacienda Caño de las Nasas.  When Carlos Sixto Santoni Alers decided to return to Corsica, his 50% interest in Hacienda Coloso was acquired by Kuster & Cia.

In 1871 the installation new machinery acquired from Mirlees Tait & Watson in Glagow, Scotland allowed the processing of sugarcane from surrounding plantations that previously processed at their own small independent sugar factories.  This was the birth of the new Central Coloso which just four years later was producing 3,000 barrells of high quality raw sugar.  All this was possible with financing from several local firms like Koppisch & Cia. and Firpo & Cia.  In 1885 the Bremen, Germany firm L. G. Dyes & Co. consolidated all the different creditors and became the sole mortgagee of Coloso.

As an example of the above, according to a 1976 Historic American Engineering Record (HAER Report) available at the Library of Congress, Hacienda La Concepción was established during the first half of the 19th Century about 1 mile north of Central Coloso on the banks of the Culebrinas River by ancestors of Eulalia Quiñones.  In 1868, her husband José Nestor de Cardona, installed a steam engine and mill which was in operation until 1892 when all sugarcane processing was transferred to Central Coloso.  The hacienda consisted of approximately 200 acres of which 75 were used to grow sugarcane.

In 1897, still owned by the Vadi family and Kuster & Cia., Central Coloso shut down operations due to financial difficulties.  In 1897, it was acquired by José Amell Massó ( -1904), a Catalonian immigrant who in 1902 annexed the lands and facilities of his Central Monserrate, located about 2 km north of Coloso on the banks of the Culebrinas River.  He then renegotiated the debt with L. G. Dyes & Co. who continued to be his major creditor. 

Upon the death of Amell Massó, his widow Sofia Petrel decided to sell Coloso to the French firm Sucrerie Coloso de Porto Rico who acquired the sugar mill in 1904.  Sucrerie Coloso de Porto Rico was incorporated in France with a capital of $800,000.  It was headed by the New Credit Mobilier of Paris (not the original Credit Mobilier) who secured as Director M. Henri Dechuy, an engineer who had gained prominence in the sugar world for his work on losses by entrainment in evaporators.  Jorge de Servejean was its General Manager and his brother Pedro served as factory superintendent.

According to an article published in the El Mundo newspaper, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court decided a case involving the 1916 sale of Central Coloso by Sucrerie Central Coloso to Francisco Bianchi Rosafá and his brother-in-law Migue Esteve.  The case involved a claim by Charles Vere for commission earned and not paid regarding the purchase/sale transaction.  In synthesis, it involved the validity of an agreement entered on June 9, 1916 whereby  Jorge de Saverjean as principal shareholder and representative of Sucrerie Centrale Coloso of Paris commissioned Charles Vere, a merchant in San Juan to negotiate the sale of the company subject to approval of its corporate office in Paris.  The agreement called for a commission to be paid t o Vere, Cayetano Coll y Cuchi and Carlos Cabrera.  Terms of the sale called for buyers to pay in cash 1,887,000 FF which was the total paid-in capital of Sucrerie Central Coloso (6,500 shares at 100 FF each and 2,750 bonds of 450 FF each).  In addition buyers would agree to assume bank debt totaling 1,200,000 FF in a French bank to be disclosed later.

Shortly after signing the agreement, Servejean communicated to Bianchi through Vere that the agreement could not be consumated as drafted but that he could buy the sugar mill for $1,500,000.  Subsequently, Bianchi negotiating directly with Servejean and traveled to Paris in the Fall of 1916 where the purchase transaction was consumated for approximately $1,480,000.  The specifics of this sale as stated in the El Mundo article differ slightly from the statement of facts in the 1916 case wherein Mateo Fajardo Cardona, owner of Central Eureka, sued Sucrerie Coloso de Porto Rico in Federal Court.  

By filing a case in court, Fajardo Cardona's attempted to prevent the upcoming sale of the sugar mill to the firm Sucs. de Bianchi by claiming damages related to the sugar mill's sale in 1904.  Fajardo Cardona was unsuccesfull in his claim and the sugar mill was acquired in November 1916 for $1,400,000 by the firm Sucs. de Bianchi, composed of Francisco (1866-1945), Juan (1867-1937) and Rosario (1884- ) Bianchi Rosafa and Rosario's husband, Spanish immigrant from Mallorca Miguel Esteve Blanes (1874- ) and Juan's daughter Estrella Bianchi Green who was married to Guillermo Cabrera Cuesta (1887- ), the son of Carlos Cabrera Paz.  Both Esteve and Cabrera were involved in the management and daily operations of the sugar mill. 

By 1920 excessive debts related to new machinery and the acquisition of the New Corsica Centrale had created a dire financial situtation for the Bianchi family.  On January 20, 1921 the Western Porto Rico Sugar Co. which operated Central Coloso was in receivership due to $57,000 in unpaid debt to the Mercantile Bank of the Americas.  The Federal Court appointed Moses A. Walker, one of the major stockholders in Pasto Viejo Sugar Co. of Humacao and in 1926 instrumental in the creation of the United Porto Rican Sugar Co. and Rafael Martinez Dominguez administrator of Yabucoa Sugar Co. as general receivers.  The 1921-22 grinding seasons was carried out successfully under the management of Walker and Martinez. 

For the 1922-23 season a major corporate reorganization took place.  Rafael Fabián Fabián became the president of Western Porto Rico Sugar Co., acquired much of its land and assumed the debt of its major creditor, the Banco Territorial y Agricola de Puerto Rico of which he was part of.  Financial difficulties were eventually overcome and Coloso continued to operate as a major sugar mill.  Its ownership returned to the Sucs. de Bianchi group under the corporate name of Central Coloso, Inc.  

Based on average lifetime production, Central Coloso was the 5th largest sugar mill in Puerto Rico and the 2nd largest locally owned behind Central Mercedita.  This sugar mill's production graph is a typical pyramid shape; continuous increase until 1961 and continuous decline thereafter.  The government owned Puerto Rico Sugar Corporation leased Coloso in 1972 and the Puerto Rico Land Authority acquired it in 1976.  It was run by the government until 2002 when it was the last operating sugar mill in Puerto Rico to cease operations.  

As stated on the banner in the weigh station picture taken in 2014, the Aguada Municipal Government had plans to plant sugarcane and establish a modern sugar mill at this location.  The plan was to build a sugar factory to process sugarcane harvested nearby to produce molasses to use by Bacardi Corporation in the production of rum. As far as we know, those plans never materialized.