Isla de Cabras is the current location of: Due to its strategic location at the entrance of San Juan Bay, Isla de Cabras provided a strategic point for an effective crossfire with Fort San Felipe del Morro to prevent incoming ships from entering.

On December 17, 1876, the governor of Puerto Rico, Segundo de la Portilla, set the first stone of the official building to house lepers, which was completed in 1883.

[citation needed] In 1926, a leper asylum was built on the main island (Trujillo Alto) next to a church, and the residents of the colony were moved there.

In the 1940s, the United States built Fort Amezquita (named for Juan de Amézqueta), a few hundred feet from El Cañuelo.

[citation needed] In recent years, the grounds that belonged to Fort Amezquita were converted into a shooting range and training area by the P.R.P.D.