text: In June 2011, the Drug Enforcement Agency with other agencies targeted 50 properties in La Perla and indicted 114 people from La Perla for drug trafficking. The area has a reputation for being dangerous, but the popular 2017  music video filmed there made it a curiosity amongst tourists, with some wanting to venture in to see where the video was filmed.
  In 2016, students of architecture at universities in Puerto Rico asked children for their ideas on how to improve their favorite areas of La Perla.  is a colorful, bowl-shaped cemented area in La Perla, used for skateboarding on weekdays, and then filled with water on weekends, to serve as a pool.
  On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and La Perla "looked like it was hit by a bomb". "Despacito" (the song title that translates to "slowly") was also used to highlight and criticize the slow United States response to the destruction at La Perla caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, where the video was filmed.  The National Park Service assisted the few residents of La Perla with tarps soon afterwards.
  Census
  In terms of the United States 2000 Census, La Perla is composed of Census blocks 3001 through 3010 (Block group 3, Census tract 4, San Juan, Puerto Rico). A population of 338 was reported, 198 housing units (29 unoccupied), and 169 households, on an area of 80,028 square yards (16.53 acres; 66,914 m²).