It has been operating since approximately 1525, according to the Caborrojeño historian Don Salvador Brau. It was the first salt industry in the Antilles. Salt becomes a product of exchange due to lack of currency. Some of its administrators were; Ramón Baldorioty de Castro and the Colberg family. The name “Los Mata con Hacha” arises from the defense of the salt flats in the area. In this industry, the first strike movement on the island began, in favor of the best benefits for workers, giving rise to the word “WAGE”. Its large lagoons are Fraternidad and Candelaria, which have their own evaporation system and a salt processing plant. This area is ecologically important because thousands of birds make their last feeding stop in the northern hemisphere, here in the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats, before arriving in South America on their annual migration.