In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Guayabota barrio was 904.

The area is prone to landslides and its infrastructure and bridges have often been destroyed by hurricanes, and even by heavy rainfall.

The mayor of Yabucoa, Rafael Surillo, stated on June 12, 2018 (nine months after the hurricane) that large swaths of Yabucoa municipality barrios Guayabota, Tejas, Juan Martín, Calabazas, Limones y Aguacate, and 100% of barrio Jácanas were still without electrical power.

[16] In 2018, the people of Guayabota hoped to develop emergency plans and sustainable community plans to help them be prepared in the case of a future emergency, such as happened with Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.

[17] Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions)[18] in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (sectors in English).