Isabel la Negra
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Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer (born approx. 1910, murdered in 1974) was the legendary owner of the most famous brothel in Puerto Rico. Her name became part of Puerto Rico's lore during and after her life. She was born in Ponce. She is much better known as Isabel la Negra.
Although she has been mistakenly branded as a "criminal", her only "crime" was to own and operate a very notorious house of prostitution in Ponce, in the late 1930's to the mid 1960's, when she was murdered. At the time, like in many other places, prostitution was tolerated. Urban legends and rumors state that her house was visited by many distinguished politicians and businessmen, and even by members of the clergy. Of course, there is no documentation about these claims.
Apart from her business as a madam, well documented in many Puerto Rican newspapers such as El Dia and El Vocero, not much is known about her. Most information is based on urban legends and rumors.
The most widely accepted legend is that Isabel left her house as a young teenager to live with a wealthy man, only to find out that he was married. She then started to date another wealthy man, a much older, American man. While Isabel was happy with him for some time, he grew disrespectful of Isabel's Puerto Rican traditions. On Saints Day, a typical Latin American holiday, he blew out the candles she had lit to honor the saints.
After this episode, she left him and returned home, only to find out that her home was now being used as a brothel. Isabel, maybe being naive, at first did not know the women occupying her house were selling their bodies to men, as she thought they were giving out sex only because they liked it. However, soon she discovered they were selling themselves, and she began to do business in prostitution.
Isabel la Negra then declared herself Madame of her brothel, "Elizabeth's Dancing Club". According to legend also, Ponce's mayor was one of her prostitution clients, and the Puerto Ricans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces and the National Guard would use her brothel's services almost exclusively when they were in Ponce or in training in nearby Salinas and Fort Allen.
Before she was murdered, her nickname had become a household name all over Puerto Rico and she had become a legend, as many men lost their virginities at her brothel, tv and radio. Even after she died, her legend continued on growing. Some even consider her an example of the feminist movement in Puerto Rico.
In 1979, a movie named A Life of Sin was released, starring Miriam Colon as Isabel la Negra with Jose Ferrer, Raul Julia and Henry Darrow. The movie was directed by the famous actor and director Efraín López Neris.
Writer Mayra Santos Febres has announced that she is writing a novel based on Luberza Oppenheimer's life.
