Along with Playa, Bucana, Vayas and Canas, Capitanejo is also one of Ponce's five coastal barrios.

[4][5] Capitanejo is a rural, coastal barrio located in the southeastern section of the municipality, southeast of the city of Ponce.

The toponymy, or origin of the name, makes reference to the proper noun of a local junior or lieutenant commander below a cacique, or a local junior commander subject to a superior authority.

[6] The barrio formed from a community of tobacco plant growers dating back to the 1680s.

Capitanejo has the second shortest coastline of all of Ponce's five coastal barrios, after Bucaná.