Dupont Plaza Hotel

The Dupont Plaza Hotel San Juan was a hotel located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was famous for various things: It had an olympic sized pool, it could be seen from inside the airplanes that landed at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, it was the hotel where many entertainers and sports stars (particularly boxing fighters) stayed at when visiting Puerto Rico, and it hosted one of the most famous New Year's Eve parties in Puerto Rico each year.

On the night of December 31st of 1986, the Dupont Plaza became famous for something else: some bombs were placed around the casino area, where the New Year's party always took place, causing a blast that killed 97 persons and injured hundreds of others. FACT: No bombs were place at the hotel, it was caused by flamable liquid placed in a storage room on the ground floor of the hotel. Networks from many countries had suspended their normal programming to show live coverage of the event. Most networks that covered the fire live, did it with the CNN and Headline News[?] coverage they were receiving thru satellite.

News coverage of this event went all the way to the next morning in Puerto Rico, and television cameras showed firemen using their firetruck's ladders to bring the tourists who were staying on those floors above the casino down. Time Magazine had the Dupont Plaza Hotel and photos of the blaze on their cover the next week.

During 1986, tourism industry workers in Puerto Rico had been in dispute with the government about their salaries. Police investigation in the Dupont Plaza Hotel case led to three Dupont Plaza workers. These three individuals later admitted that they wanted to terrorize foreign tourists away from coming to Puerto Rico, as a pay back to the Government. They had used very flammable materials to make the bombs that they placed around the casino area. They were convicted in connection with the bombing and jailed.

Fact: They used flammable materials, but they don't made any bombs.