Monday Apr 22, 2024

Vieques.com

April 22,

GOOD MORNING

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

By THE STAR STAFF

The Financial Oversight and Management Board has declared in violation the fiscal plan for the Municipal Revenue Collections Center (CRIM by its Spanish acronym), which is in charge of collecting property taxes, stressing the need to hike property taxes in order for municipalities to operate.

“As part of the long road to recovery post-bankruptcy, Puerto Rico needs to continue to modernize its tax system and, moreover, improve tax compliance and collections,” the oversight board said in a recent letter. “All 78 municipal governments need the financial flexibility to serve their communities today and invest in them for the future. Funding from local property taxes is the largest component of municipal budgets. CRIM plays a critical role on behalf of the municipalities to service the property tax base by maintaining a real-time digital cadaster with an up-to-date tax roll and to invoice and collect taxes owed promptly and accurately.”

Property taxes on residential properties in Puerto Rico are managed by the CRIM, with tax rates varying between municipalities, generally ranging from 8.03% to 11.83%. The rates are applied to the property’s value as it was hypothetically appraised back in 1957, although adjustments can be made to more accurately reflect the current fair market value (FMV), typically representing about 40%-50% of the property’s acquisition cost. Property taxes are due twice a year, at the end of June and again at the year’s end.

The oversight board called for updates in the Property Tax Registry.

“The constraints from inaccurate data and lack of resources have led to delays in all process steps, including invoicing and collecting revenue. These continued delays have led to repeated downward revisions to the amount and timing of achieving prior Fiscal Plan measures,” the board said. “However, it is imperative that the CRIM continues its efforts and reinstitutes a timeline for completion of measures in the Proposed Plan. These additions must include revised milestones, revised revenue forecasts, and a dedicated resource plan to eliminate the virtual validation backlog of 190k new properties and 510k home improvements missing from the property registry.”

While the oversight board said the CRIM’s proposed plan recognizes the challenges in the current environment to achieve structural reforms to modernize the tax system, the plan must provide for CRIM’s continued efforts to

conduct the prerequisite due diligence needed to better analyze the necessary structural reforms to real property and personal property taxes.

“Therefore, CRIM must include the timelines to complete the initiatives and analyses on transitioning to a market-informed tax system with appropriate statutory tax rates that effectively generate sufficient revenues for the municipalities, in spite of the challenges faced in the current environment,” the board said. “Completing these analyses will serve to understand the impact a change to the market-informed tax system would have and the legislation required, if any.”

Regarding the collection of delinquent property taxes, the proposed fiscal plan includes CRIM’s plan to analyze collectability of delinquent accounts receivable. CRIM describes hiring account analysts to complete the processes under revised regulations to charge-offs. The oversight board said CRIM must provide measurable milestones or deadlines to complete the analysis of the past due portfolio, and gave the CRIM until Tuesday to submit a revised plan.

Today’s Weather INDEX Fiscal board stresses need for property tax system overhaul to boost towns’ revenues

A villa named Rancho Soberano in Luquillo, March 11, 2016. Property taxes on residential properties in Puerto Rico are managed by the Municipal Revenue Collections Center, with tax rates varying between municipalities, generally ranging from 8.03% to 11.83%. The rates are applied to the property’s value as it was hypothetically appraised back in 1957, although adjustments can be made to more accurately reflect the current fair market value.

(Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/The New York Times)

Senate to pass bill creating natural reserve in Vieques

By THE STAR STAFF

The island Senate is slated to pass legislation today to create La Ceiba de Vieques Natural Reserve Park.

The measure, Senate Bill 1366, is authored by Carolina District Sen. Marissa “Marissita” Jiménez Santoni.

“La Ceiba Community Project and the La Ceiba Park in Vieques have become one of the most important and visited attractions in Vieques, contributing an important economic impact to that island municipality,” the senator said. “With this measure, we protect the environment, encourage the growth of marine species, and promote tourism, all in an ecosystem of support and conservation.”

The Parque de la Ceiba, a part of La Ceiba de Vieques Natural Reserve Park, offers open spaces dedicated to the enjoyment of residents, visitors, tourists and the general public. It creates a functional oasis in the area’s natural state in the offshore island municipality. The park is home to several unique features,

including beaches, seagrass meadows, coral reefs, wetlands, mangroves, and habitat and feeding grounds for various species, some of which are in danger of extinction.

Federal agencies such as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have recognized the area as an essential natural resource. The USFWS has included it on its high natural value conservation map.

“The Mayor of Vieques, José ‘Junito’ Corcino, with whom we are consulting all the details of this reserve, supports the initiative, which will be of great benefit to the municipality’s fishing activity since many marine species have suffered dramatic declines in their numbers due to unregulated fishing decades ago,” Jiménez Santoni said. “The Vieques fishermen are in favor of the initiative, and with them, we will continue the dialogue because when the areas of these species are recovered, we can resume fishing.”

The park also boasts archaeological sites, and its main attraction is the centenary Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra), whose

The Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra) in Vieques Natural Reserve Park is estimated to be between 375 and 400 years old.

age is estimated between 375 and 400 years. The specimen was included in the list of the most important and longest-lived Ceibas in Puerto Rico.

Earth Day reminder: Island lacks food security public policy

By THE STAR STAFF

At a time when many are coming together to commemorate

Planet Earth Day internationally today, Dr. Ada Álvarez

Conde, a well-known activist against gender violence and candidate for an at-large Senate seat for the Popular Democratic Party in the upcoming elections, on Sunday pointed to food insecurity and the neglect of the issue of climate change in Puerto Rico’s projects as a national emergency issue.

“We need a public policy that makes the environment a priority,” Álvarez Conde said. “It is imperative to review what we should have learned from Hurricane Maria, the earthquakes and a global pandemic. The reality is that when we think of security, we might think of criminality first, but there is something else

that is pressing. Among many other environmental issues that need to be addressed, we have to go to a very basic one: we need to eat to live. It’s a matter of economics and survival. I have come to bring a series of proposals for Puerto Rico to support the environment, farmers and above all to avoid empty shelves in the future with food security.”

The rise in food prices is attributed to serious climate change problems around the world, including earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, prolonged droughts and severe flooding in countries with extensive agricultural practices. Economic losses from natural disasters amount to $380 billion, 22% more than the average. Both the United Nations and the World Bank have noted that global food prices will continue to rise over the years.

Puerto Rico is highly vulnerable to a food crisis, due

to its high dependence on imports and low agricultural production.

Among the reasons that support an approach to policy that prioritizes food security, the candidate highlighted the following: First, Puerto Rico produces less than 15% of the food that is consumed locally. Second, the island depends on food imports from countries as far away as China (Puerto Rico’s second-largest food importer) Third, Puerto Rico has some 557,528 acres of underutilized agricultural land. Fourth, between 2002 and 2007, more than 100,000 acres of agricultural land were lost to urban sprawl. And fifth, but not least, while several nations have already designed action plans to address what is considered the worst global food crisis in 70 years, Puerto Rico lacks a public policy designed to do the same.

Cayey kicks off Earth Week events with youth poetry on Tuesday

By THE STAR STAFF

Activities for Earth Week, which begins today with World Mother Earth Day and continues through next Sunday, will get underway in Cayey on Tuesday with a poetry reading by young people.

“It is a very important date, set by the United Nations, to educate all populations about global warming, pollution and the importance of biodiversity conservation,” Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez said on Sunday.

On Tuesday, the Casa del Cuento y de la Historia Cayeyana Ramón “Moncho” Gómez in Cayey will hold the first municipal youth poetry contest, titled “My Commitment to the Environment,”

starting at 9 a.m.

Ortiz Velázquez generated the initiative to develop poetry and literature as a teen activity, while integrating environmental issues.

The evaluation committee is composed of Rosalina Alvarado Rodríguez, representing Cayey residents, Lyda M. Rivera Rivera, president of the municipal legislature, and Milagros Fernández Hernández, a retired Spanish teacher, poet and writer. Together, they work with students in grades nine through 12.

Meanwhile, the Benigno Fernández García Middle School’s beautification and decoration project was successfully completed. The students worked together with their teachers in the improvement of their school through painting and planting, in conjunction

with the municipality’s School Today program.

“We are continuing with the reforestation initiative that began about 15 years ago, through which we have managed to plant about 5,000 trees throughout the city,” the mayor added.

Cayey has a successful municipal nursery, where trees are constantly reproduced with seeds from the same trees that have already been planted and have reached maturity.

“There is an interesting issue, and that is that in a pod there are more than 1,000 seeds,” Ortiz Velázquez said. “And what is known as the native oak is a species that in addition to being embellished with its pink flowers, is visually very pleasing and is more resistant to hurricane winds than other species.”

Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez

Senate passes bill that would ban discrimination based on hairstyle

By THE STAR STAFF

The Senate passed a local version of “CROWN Act” legislation late last week banning discrimination on the basis of hair texture and styles such as braids, dreadlocks, twists and knots in the workplace and public schools.

The bill would declare public policy against racial discrimination based on the various protective hairstyles and hair textures that are associated with race and national origin identities. Likewise, the measure seeks to disavow discrimination based on hair styles and normalize diversity.

Puerto Rican Independence Party Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón said people often believe such discrimination does not exist. She said often people believe from a privileged

position that racism does not occur.

“The hearing on this bill was to me, a very eye-opening one,” she said.

She noted that a Senate employee complained that her two children were told not to show up in school “until they cut their afros.”

“Telling someone, I don’t want you here with that afro or those dreadlocks, is racism,” she said.

University student Alanis M. Ruiz Guevara, who pushed for the bill, said in hearings that discrimination against Afro hair and protective hairstyles -- which are hairstyles, often associated with Afro-textured hair, that are designed to minimize exposure of the hair to environmental elements -- is not a personal one, but a systematic one that has been silenced by a racist culture. In addition, she related an anecdote about an experience she had after arriving at an academic

institution with cornrow-style braids.

“These types of attacks are common within educational institutions, in which racism is encouraged under their regulations,” Ruiz Guevara

said. “Where even male children who wear their hair Afro-frosted are required to have it short, thus prohibiting African hairstyles.”

There are similar laws in the United States, such as the “Creating a Respectful And Open World for Natural Hair” (CROWN) law.

Department of Labor and Human Resources adviser Nahiomi Álamo Rivera said current laws already prohibit racial discrimination in the workplace and that the bill was not needed.

Natalia Alexa Colón Díaz, whose practice focuses on employer labor law, stressed that, from a legal perspective, employers have the prerogative to manage personnel according to their operational needs, but emphasized that they should not discriminate in employment.

Santiago Negrón said that as of now, there are anti-discrimination laws that do not cover hairstyles.

González Colón picks up endorsements in the island west

By THE STAR STAFF

New Progressive Party (NPP) Vice President Jenniffer González Colón received two new endorsements from NPP leaders in her bid for the governorship over the weekend as her “On the Street with Jenniffer” campaign toured the southwest of the island.

The most recent endorsement was that of the former Cabo Rojo mayor Perza Rodríguez Quiñones, who, accompanied by her family, received González Colón at her home along with Elmer Román, who is seeking the NPP nod for resident commissioner.

The former mayor said in a video that

Resident commissioner and New Progressive Party gubernatorial hopeful Jenniffer González Colón and the NPP candidate for mayor of Sabana Grande, Álex López (Comité Jenniffer González Colón)

González Colón, the current resident commissioner, is the best option for governor and that she has her full support.

“I want to notify the people of Puerto Rico and my people of Cabo Rojo that we are with who is and will be our next governor, Jenniffer González,” Rodríguez Quiñones said. “A woman of principles, of values, a great fighter and a person who has contributed a lot to our country. … We really appreciate the work that everyone has done, but we have to make the best selection, and the best selection is Jenniffer González.”

Rodríguez Quiñones also asked for a vote for Román for resident commissioner, noting that González Colón needs a full team and that

Román is “the ideal person to be able to lead the New Progressive Party to victory, but more than anything to do the work of government that we know he can do for the benefit of all Puerto Ricans.”

Meanwhile, during the resident commissioner’s tour of Sabana Grande, the NPP municipal president and candidate for mayor of that southwestern town, Álex López, expressed his unequivocal support for González Colón to become the next governor and for Román to be elected resident commissioner.

López praised González Colón’s work record and emphasized her career within the NPP and as a public official.

2 island companies to be honored during Puerto Rican Week in New York

By THE STAR STAFF

As part of the activities of Puerto Rican Week in New York, two companies from Puerto Rico head the list of recognitions and awards that will be given during the “Third Conversation on the Empowerment of Communities and the Opportunities for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses,” part of an organized effort to enable island businesses to market their products in New York State.

CAMPOFRESCO, producer of the iconic Lotus pineapple juice, and the Sesto Store in

Aguadilla -- a company with many years in the sale of handicrafts in Puerto Rico -- will be recognized for their contribution to the economy of Puerto Rico and their excellent track record with their products and services.

“Small and medium-sized merchants, along with companies in Puerto Rico, will have the opportunity to expose their sales potential of products and services to a select audience that is eager to learn about the possibilities for products made on the island to be marketed in stores and supermarkets in the State of New York,” said Wilson Nazario, coordinator of

the event. “This discussion will explore the opportunities manufacturers, merchants and owners of service companies have to expand their sales outside of Puerto Rico. All this will be part of the activities scheduled for Puerto Rican Week and the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York to be held between June 2 and 9, 2024, where participation is completely free. It is important to note that several heads of government of Puerto Rico have already confirmed that they will provide information on help available so that entrepreneurs can expand their sales and services in

the United States.”

The one-day event will feature an exhibition of products, services, conferences, and a recognition and award ceremony as part of the work of the island delegation that will participate in Puerto Rican Week 2024 and the 67th National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York. According to reports, senators, representatives, mayors, business leaders, businessmen and artisans have already confirmed their participation in the event that will take place at “La Casa de la Herencia Puertorriqueña” located in “El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109” in Manhattan.

Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón

House approves $95 billion aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

By CATIE EDMONDSON

The House voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., put his job on the line to advance the long-stalled aid package by marshaling support from mainstream Republicans and Democrats.

In four back-to-back votes, overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved fresh rounds of funding for the three U.S. allies, as well as another bill meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok.

The scene on the House floor reflected both the broad support in Congress for continuing to help the Ukrainian military beat back Russia, and the extraordinary political risk taken by Johnson to defy the anti-interventionist wing of his party, which had sought to thwart the measure. Minutes before the vote on assistance for Ukraine, Democrats began to wave small Ukrainian flags on the House floor, as hard-right Republicans jeered.

The legislation includes $60 billion for Ukraine; $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including the Gaza Strip; and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region. It would direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald Trump, who had pushed for any aid to Ukraine to be in the form of a loan. But it also would allow the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026.

It also contained a measure to help pave the way to selling off frozen Russian sovereign assets to help fund the Ukrainian war effort, and a new round of sanctions on Iran. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation as early as Tuesday and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk, capping its tortured journey through Congress.

“Our adversaries are working together to undermine our Western values and demean our democracy,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said Saturday as the House debated the measure. “We cannot be afraid at this moment. We have to do what’s right. Evil is on the march. History is calling and now is the time to act.”

The vote was 311-112 in favor of the aid to Ukraine, with a majority of Republicans — 112 — voting against it and one, Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, voting “present.” The House approved assistance to Israel 366-58, and to Taiwan 385-34 with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., voting “present.” The bill to impose sanctions on Iran and require the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or ban the app in the United States passed 360-58.

“Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage,” Biden said. “At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure.”

Minutes after the vote, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) talks to the press after the House passed a series of foreign aid bills, at the Capitol in Washington on Saturday April 20, 2024. After months of delay at the hands of a bloc of ultraconservative Republicans, the House voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. (Haiyun Jiang/ The New York Times)

of Ukraine thanked lawmakers, singling out Johnson by name “for the decision that keeps history on the right track.”

“Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it,” he wrote on social media. “The vital U.S. aid bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger.”

Outside the Capitol, a jubilant crowd waved Ukrainian flags and chanted, “Thank you USA” as exiting lawmakers gave them a thumbs-up and waved smaller flags of their own.

For months, it had been uncertain whether Congress would approve new funding for Ukraine, even as momentum shifted in Moscow’s favor. That prompted a wave of anxiety in Kyiv and in Europe that the United States, the single biggest provider of military aid to Ukraine, would turn its back on the young democracy.

And it raised questions about whether the political turmoil that has roiled the United States had effectively destroyed what has long been a strong bipartisan consensus in favor of projecting American values around the world. The last time Congress approved a major tranche of funding to Ukraine was in 2022, before Republicans took control of the House.

But after the Senate passed its own $95 billion emergency aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without any immigration measures, Johnson began — first privately, then loudly — telling allies that he would ensure the U.S. would send aid to Ukraine.

In the end, even in the face of an ouster threat from ultraconservative members, he circumvented the hard-line contingent of lawmakers that once was his political home and relied on Democrats to push the measure through. It was a remarkable turnabout for a right-wing lawmaker who voted repeatedly against aid to Ukraine as a rank-and-file

member, and as recently as a couple of months ago declared he would never allow the matter to come to a vote until his party’s border demands were met.

In the days leading up to the vote, Johnson began forcefully making the case that it was Congress’ role to help Ukraine fend off the advances of an authoritarian. Warning that Russian forces could march through the Baltics and Poland if Ukraine falls, Johnson said he had made the decision to advance aid to Kyiv because he “would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys.”

“I think this is an important moment and important opportunity to make that decision,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol after the votes. “I think we did our work here and I think history will judge it well.”

Johnson structured the measures, which were sent to the Senate as one bill, to capture different coalitions of support without allowing opposition to any one element to defeat the whole thing.

“I’m going to allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will,” he had said.

In a nod to right-wing demands, Johnson allowed a vote just before the foreign aid bills on a stringent border enforcement measure, but it was defeated after failing to reach the two-thirds majority needed for passage. And the speaker refused to link the immigration bill to the foreign aid package, knowing that would effectively kill the spending plan.

His decision to advance the package infuriated the ultraconservatives in his conference who accused Johnson of reneging on his promise not to allow a vote on foreign aid without first securing sweeping policy concessions on the southern border. It prompted two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona to join a bid by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust Johnson from the top job.

Greene claimed the Ukraine aid bill supported “a business model built on blood and murder and war in foreign countries.”

“We should be funding to build up our weapons and ammunition, not to send it over to foreign countries,” she said before her proposal to zero out the money for Ukraine failed by a vote of 351-71.

Much of the funding for Ukraine is earmarked to replenish U.S. stockpiles after shipping supplies to Kyiv.

The latest impeachment is history, but the political repercussions will live on

By CARL HULSE

Senate Republicans outraged at Democrats’ quick move to kill the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas without a trial warn that the precedent set could give rise to a nightmare scenario for Democrats in the future.

It would go something like this: Democrats in control of the House move to impeach and remove an out-of-control Republican president. Republicans who lead the Senate label the charges woefully flawed and well below the “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard established in the Constitution. They dispose of the counts without so much as a hint of a trial.

While names weren’t being named, it was lost on absolutely no one on Capitol Hill that the alignment of a Democratic House, a Republican Senate and a Republican president is at least conceivable next year, with the White House possibly occupied by the already twiceimpeached Donald Trump and both chambers potentially under new management. Republicans urged Democrats to pay heed.

Democrats’ decision to dismiss the impeachment charges without an airing of the case

“means the next time a president is impeached by the House, that a majority in the Senate of the same political party as the president could just refuse to try the case,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and one of two men seeking to be the party leader in the next Congress.

Democrats say it was Republicans who were abusing the once-rare and deadly serious process of impeachment by using it to try to remove an administration official over a policy disagreement on immigration and border security. The real mistake, they argue, would have been to treat the case Republicans brought against the homeland security secretary as legitimate, rather than a thinly veiled attempt to amplify border security as a political issue and create chaos in the Senate.

“If we start cheapening impeachment, which is what they’ve done by letting a policy issue become impeachment, there will be impeachment all the time,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said in an interview. “It will allow the House to tie up the Senate.”

While the Mayorkas case is now history, the ramifications will live on as the impeachment process continues to become increasingly politi-

cized and more frequent. The Senate functions on precedent — or what could also be called the standing Senate rule of what goes around comes around.

History has shown that once one party in the Senate does something that aggrieves the other, the other party eagerly returns the favor as soon as it gets the chance. When Democrats in 2013 ended the 60-vote filibuster threshold on most federal judges by establishing a new precedent, Republicans squawked — then lowered it for Supreme Court justices as well four years later when it suited their political aims, and they pushed the first of three justices onto the court.

“Everything is precedent around here, regardless of what the constitutional rules call for,” Cornyn noted. “Usually once we establish a bad precedent, we then amplify it subsequently.”

This being the Senate, some of those arguing loudest against dismissing the Mayorkas case were among the 45 Republicans who tried unsuccessfully to win dismissal of articles of impeachment brought against Trump in 2021 after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The Republicans who fought dismissal Wednesday contended that it was warranted in 2021 because Trump was no longer president and was no longer subject to the jurisdiction of a Senate trial.

At the time, five Republicans joined Democrats in beating back the dismissal effort. On Wednesday, those remaining in the Senate objected to Democrats doing exactly what they had opposed three years ago.

“I think Democrats are making a real mistake that establishes a terrible precedent,”

said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. She said at minimum, the Senate should have heard from both the House impeachment managers and counsel for Mayorkas.

“When it comes to something as serious as impeachment, precedent really counts,” she said. “Who knows who is going to be in charge next year as far as Congress is concerned — or the presidency, for that matter.”

Democrats said, however, that the case against the secretary was “bogus,” to use Schumer’s term, and that the truly dangerous precedent would be to reward far-right House members who pursued Mayorkas over policy disputes with a full-blown Senate trial.

“I’m not worried about the precedent of tabling the impeachment; I am more concerned about the precedent of a totally frivolous political stunt, exploiting impeachment as a weapon of destruction,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “I think the precedent here is misusing impeachment.”

As for Trump, Democrats noted that Senate Republicans had two previous opportunities to convict him on impeachment charges and passed up both, so they considered it highly unlikely that a Republican-controlled Senate would act differently in the event of a theoretical second Trump presidency.

“I feel very strongly that we’re doing exactly the right thing,” said Schumer, who kept Democrats united to rule that the two counts did not meet the constitutional threshold for an impeachment proceeding. “Conversely, if we didn’t do it, and we allowed this to happen, it would just totally demean the impeachment process.”

From left: House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland and House Clerk Kevin McCumber walk with impeachment managers carrying the articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a ceremonial procession across the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Anna Rose Layden/ The New York Times)

‘Crowded’ megacap trade in US stocks awaits earnings test

Next week’s earnings reports from some of the market’s biggest technology and growth companies could prove an important test for the U.S. stock rally, which has flagged as expectations for interest cuts fade.

Tesla, Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft - all set to report next week - are part of the group of companies that had been dubbed the Magnificent Seven as they led the S&P 500 to a 24% gain last year.

The companies are seen as important bellwethers due to dominant positions atop their industries, while heavy index weightings give their share price moves an outsize influence on benchmarks such as the S&P 500.

Though the market’s rally has broadened this year, megacap stocks remain a portfolio staple, with fund managers in the latest BofA Global Research survey once again naming them the market’s “most crowded” trade.

Many believe their results could be especially important to markets this time around. The S&P 500 has slid in recent weeks, roughly halving its year-to-date gain to 5% as stickier-than-expected inflation erodes the prospects for the Federal Reserve to cut rates this year.

Additionally, the monthslong rally in stocks has made the index expensive relative to history at a time when rising Treasury yields are pressuring equity valuations. Disappointing earnings from the market’s heavyweights could give investors less reason to hold stocks.

“Psychologically, the companies coming in at or above expectations is important,” said David Katz, chief investment officer with Matrix Asset Advisors. “There’s a lot of good news built into a lot of these companies.”

Investors will also focus on next Friday’s release of the monthly Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index, a crucial piece of inflation data before the Fed’s April 30-May 1 meeting. Fed funds futures late Thursday were pricing in less than 40 basis points in rate cuts this year, down from 150 bps expected at the start of 2024, according to LSEG data.

The performance of megacaps’ shares has diverged in 2024, after last year’s epic run. Tesla, which reports results on Tuesday, has seen its shares tumble about 40% in 2024 amid concerns about its electric vehicle business.

Of the other megacaps, Apple and Amazon are set to report the following week, while Nvidia, whose shares have soared 70% this year on optimism over its artificial intelligence chips, reports on May 22.

Six of the seven, excluding Tesla, are expected to post collective earnings growth of 42.1% in the first quarter, UBS strategists said on April 8.

“It appears that the expectations are that they’re

really going to deliver again,” said Patrick Kaser, portfolio manager at Brandywine Global. “And so the risk to me is skewed to the downside.”

Excluding the Magnificent 7, S&P 500 earnings have been negative on a year-over-year basis over the prior four quarters, according to JPMorgan analysts, underlining the group’s importance to the market.

Beyond the megacaps, over 300 S&P 500 companies expected to report over the coming two weeks. Earnings are expected to rise 9% for the full year, ac-

cording to LSEG data, with added pressure on the results to support overall valuations. The S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings ratio has moderated somewhat this month but is still at 20 times, well above its long-term average of 15.7, according to LSEG Datastream. “In an environment where there is a lot of uncertainty about Fed rate policy, there’s a lot of geopolitical tensions rising, if companies aren’t really pushing the pedal on giving positive outlooks for growth ... that could be the factor that weighs on stocks,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

Israel’s strike on Iran highlights its ability to evade Tehran’s air defenses

By FARNAZ FASSIHI, RONEN BERGMAN, ERIC SCHMITT and LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ

An Israeli airstrike on Iran late last week damaged an air defense system, according to Western and Iranian officials, in an attack calculated to deliver a message that Israel could bypass Iran’s defensive systems undetected and paralyze them.

The strike damaged a defensive battery near Natanz, a city in central Iran that is crucial to the country’s nuclear weapons program, according to two Western officials and two Iranian officials. The attack — and the revelation Saturday of its target — was in retaliation for Iran’s strike in Israel on April 14 after Israel bombed its embassy compound in Damascus, Syria. But it used a fraction of the firepower Tehran deployed in launching hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel.

The strike Friday was the latest salvo in a series of titfor-tat attacks between the two countries this month that have heightened fears of a broader regional conflict. But the relatively limited scope of Israel’s strike and the muted response from Iranian officials seem to have eased tensions.

Iran and Israel have conducted a yearslong shadow war, but the conflict intensified April 1, when Israeli warplanes killed seven Iranian officials, including three senior commanders, at the Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria, which Israel asserts was used as a military site. Iran responded last week by firing a barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel, almost all of which were shot down by Israel and its allies. But the strikes nevertheless rattled Israelis.

That attack was Iran’s first direct assault on Israeli soil, thrusting the countries’ clandestine warfare — long fought by land, air, sea and cyberspace — into open view. The Israeli government vowed to respond, even as world leaders and Western allies, including the United States, rushed to deescalate the situation, urging Israel not to respond in a way that could lead to a regional war.

Although Israel’s leaders came close to ordering a more extensive attack on Iran, the Friday attack appeared calibrated to send a warning about Israel’s military capabilities — but without further raising tensions as Israel continues to fight Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The two Iranian officials who discussed the Israeli attack said Israel had struck an S-300 anti-aircraft system at a military base in the province of Isfahan. The officials’ ac-

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Iranians at an anti-Israeli rally after Friday prayers in Tehran on Friday, April 19, 2024. An Israeli airstrike on Iran on Friday damaged an air defense system, according to Western and Iranian officials, in an attack calculated to deliver a message that Israel could bypass Iran’s defensive systems undetected and paralyze them. (Arash Khamooshi/ The New York Times)

count was supported by satellite imagery analyzed by The New York Times, which showed damage to the radar of an S-300 system at the Eighth Shekari Air Base in Isfahan.

It was unclear precisely what sort of weapon struck the S-300 system. Three Western and two Iranian officials confirmed Friday that Israel had deployed aerial drones and at least one missile fired from a warplane. Previously, Iranian officials had said the attack on the military base had been conducted by small drones, most likely launched from inside Iranian territory.

Two Western officials said that a missile was fired from a warplane far from Israeli or Iranian airspace, and that the weapon included technology that enabled it to evade Iran’s radar defenses. The two Iranian officials said the military had not detected anything entering the country’s airspace Friday, including drones, missiles or aircraft.

The efforts to ratchet down tensions between Israel and Iran played out as Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its sixth month, continued Saturday with reports of a deadly assault in southern Gaza.

Israeli airstrikes in Rafah on Saturday killed at least 10 civilians, including women and children, according to Palestinian state media, sending fear through an area where more than 1 million Palestinians have been displaced.

Palestinians have been bracing for weeks for an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza, where a majority of the strip’s 2.2 million residents have fled after being forced from their homes. Israel’s bombardments and ground invasion have killed more than 30,000 people, according to local officials.

The Israeli airstrikes Saturday hit two homes, and missiles and artillery struck other areas of Rafah and the surrounding area, according to the Wafa News Agency. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.

“It was like an earthquake,” Mohammad al-Masri, 31, said of the shaking from the strikes.

The first strike hit just past midnight, and the second one soon after, said al-Masri, an accountant who was sheltering with his family in a tent in a large encampment in Rafah.

“When we hear these strikes, we don’t know what to do,” he said. “Everyone is saying the same thing: ‘Where can we go?’”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military plans to invade Rafah to “complete the elimination of Hamas’ battalions” and destroy its tunnel networks. World leaders, including President Joe Biden, have urged Israel not to invade the city because of the risks of heavy civilian casualties.

About 500 miles away, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, traveled to Turkey on Saturday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has strongly condemned Israel and its leaders since the war began in October.

Turkey was once Israel’s closest friend in the Muslim world, but the relationship has grown increasingly turbulent since Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Erdogan has backed the Palestinian cause, which has widespread public support in Turkey, defended Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack and strongly condemned Israel and its leaders.

On Saturday, Erdogan’s office said the two leaders had discussed Israeli attacks against “Palestinian land, primarily against Gaza; what is needed to be done for the humanitarian aid to reach Gaza adequately and without interruption.”

After the meeting, Erdogan told reporters that he would use every opportunity to draw attention to the suffering in Gaza and that he hoped Israel would eventually be held accountable.

“Israel will certainly pay the price of the atrocities it has been inflicting on Palestinians one day,” Erdogan told reporters.

Earlier Saturday, one person was killed and eight were injured in an explosion at a military base in Babylon province, Iraq, that was used by an Iranian-backed armed group, Harakat al Nujaba, according to Iraq’s military command.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the strike.

In a carefully worded statement, Iraq’s military did not attribute the explosion to an air attack with a missile or a drone. Privately, however, military officials said it appeared that at least one projectile had hit inside the perimeter of the base. A video taken shortly after the blast and posted on social media showed damaged buildings and a large crater filled with rubble. A second video showed several parts of the base on fire.

The U.S. military, which has previously carried out strikes on Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq, said in a statement shortly after the attack that it had not participated in strikes on any locations in Iraq. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Russian attacks crush factories and way of life in Ukrainian villages

By ANDREW E. KRAMER and MARIA VARENIKOVA

Its towering smokestacks once puffed out clouds of steam. In gigantic machine rooms, turbines whirled around the clock. Furnaces burned trainloads of coal.

In the Soviet era, the Kurakhove Heating and Power Plant gave rise to the town around it in Ukraine’s east, driving the local economy and sustaining the community with wages and heating for homes.

“Our plant is the heart of our city,” said Halyna Liubchenko, a retiree whose husband worked his entire career in nearby coal mines that fed the facility.

That heart is barely beating now, partly destroyed by artillery. The plant is among the last still operating in Ukraine’s Donbas region, once the country’s center of heavy industry and now a focal point of Russian ground offensives that are ravaging towns and cities along the front line.

War in eastern Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, reduced cities to ruins and displaced millions of people. It has also all but destroyed the factories and plants that were for years an important driver of Ukraine’s economy.

With the destruction this year of a major factory producing coking coal, which is burned to mill iron ore into steel in blast furnaces, the Donbas region’s steel industry is now demolished. Other industries — like those producing chemicals, machinery and fertilizer — have been significantly degraded.

These plants once defined the region’s identity, and their decline in the post-Soviet period laid the groundwork for Russia to exploit economic discontent among eastern Ukraine’s miners and factory workers.

In 2013, the year before Russia’s military intervention in the east began, mines and factories in the Donbas region earned $28 billion, accounting for 15% of the country’s economic output.

But two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the factories Russia had promised to revive in the region are in ruins. Nine of the country’s 15 steel mills are destroyed or shuttered behind Russian lines, according to the Employers Federation of Ukraine, an industry group. “It is very painful for the country to lose it all,” said Dmytro Oliynyk, the group’s director.

The region’s coal mines, steel and chemical plants also played a strategic role in the war, prolonging urban battles for months as Ukrainian troops used them as fortresses; in three prominent instances, they served as the last fortifications of defense as cities were

A woman walks past a heavily damaged building in Kurakhove, Ukraine, on March 27, 2024. About 4,000 residents remain in Kurakhove, from a prewar population of about 21,000, according to the mayor. (Nicole Tung/The New York Times)

overrun by Russians.

In the southeastern city of Mariupol, at the beginning of the war, in 2022, Ukrainians made their last stand in the Azovstal steelworks and held it for more than two months. The standoff ended when Ukrainian soldiers, surrounded, ran out of ammunition; more than 2,500 soldiers surrendered.

Ukrainian troops similarly fought among the pipes and machinery in a giant ammonia factory in Sievierodonetsk before that city fell in the summer of 2022.

A breaking point for Donbas industry came this year with the destruction of the Avdiivka coking coal plant, the largest one in Europe. With warrens of tunnels, multiple bomb shelters and underground water and power supplies, the plant became a bastion for Ukrainian soldiers holding the last northern edge of the city until they finally withdrew in February.

Kurakhove, about 6 miles from a front line, is the latest one-factory town where the plant has become a principal target of Russian artillery. On a recent visit, there was no indication that Ukrainian troops had taken up positions in the factory, but Russian forces had attacked it in recent months, along with other electrical generating plants, as they seek to degrade Ukraine’s energy grid.

The plant has been targeted 48 times by artillery and rockets this year, according to the director, Anatoly Borychevsky. Workers scramble to weld burst pipes and put plywood over windows. But with the front line moving ever closer, repairs are starting to feel futile.

“As soon as smoke comes out of the

pipes, they hit us again,” Borychevsky said.

The Donbas — or Donetsk Basin — is named for the rich, subterranean basin of coal that spurred a 19th-century industrial boom that stretched into the Soviet period.

A Welsh investor, John Hughes, founded the regional center, now called Donetsk but originally named Hughes Town, or Yuzivka in Ukrainian.

In the towns that sprang up around mines and factories, migrant laborers from western Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere in Moscow’s empire turned to Russian as a lingua franca, while surrounding villages continued to speak Ukrainian. Russia justified its full-scale invasion two years ago in part by asserting without evidence that Ukraine was repressing Russian speakers in the eastern towns.

In the post-Soviet period, Russia used propaganda to stir resentment against Kyiv for factory closures and falling salaries in this rust-belt region, blaming Ukraine’s government for the economic woes. As Russia appealed to eastern Ukrainians to revolt and join Russia, it promised to revive the region’s industry — no matter that Russia’s own onefactory towns have suffered social and economic ills similar to those in Ukraine.

“Now, no matter who controls the territory, it’s impossible to imagine this industry restored,” said Pavlo Kazarin, author of a book about Russian meddling in Ukraine, “The Wild West of Eastern Europe.”

“There’s no reason to bring it back from the ashes,” he said. Of the factories, he added, “Before they were destroyed, they were obsolete.”

Avdiivka, like Kurakhove, was a onefactory town. A soaring, fluffy white cloud regularly rose over the city as a batch of coking coal cooled after refining, visible to anyone approaching over the rolling farm fields around it.

Tetiana Nikonova, 50, who had worked at the factory since 1993, carried mail between far-flung offices and shop floors. Crossing the plant grounds meant walking several miles each day, through the steam and coal dust, in a sign of the factory’s vast scale. As with other plants in the region, it was an example of the Soviet industrial design principle of gigantism.

In the battle for Avdiivka, the plant became a target of airdropped glide bombs, a new weapon in Russia’s arsenal. They severely damaged the machinery. The factory’s demise completed the obliteration of eastern Ukraine’s steel industry, after the destruction of the Mariupol steel mills two years ago. Ukraine’s still-operating six steel factories are outside the Donbas region.

For Ukraine’s overall economy, the loss is not an unalloyed disaster, economists have noted. Mines had been kept in operation with subsidies as a way to provide jobs. The Russian army, said Serhiy Fursa, deputy director of Dragon Capital, an investment firm in Kyiv, had “behaved like Margaret Thatcher in Britain 30 years ago” in shuttering a subsidized coal industry.

“Most of these plants were unprofitable,” he said. “Russia — sorry for the cynicism — helped Ukraine close them.”

Over the past decade, agriculture and information technology outsourcing had emerged as more prospective sectors for Ukraine.

The steel plants were turning a profit. The Azovstal mill, for example, had been a major exporter that generated about 4% of all Ukrainian foreign currency earnings before the war. The destruction worsened Ukraine’s trade deficit.

Yet it was an inefficient factory, whose added value to the production of iron ore and coking coal was slender, Fursa said.

In Kurakhove, the power plant still employs about 600 people, providing a rationale for the last remaining residents of the town to stay put even as Russian forces advance through villages just to the east. About 4,000 residents remain, from a prewar population of about 21,000, according to the mayor, Roman Padun. Since the invasion, artillery strikes have killed 63 civilians and wounded 268 others in the town and surrounding villages, he said.

At the plant, Russian artillery had whittled away at the machinery, power lines and tanks for cooling water and fuel. Water dripped from burst pipes. Downed electrical lines draped across roads. If Russian forces capture the factory, said Borychevsky, the director, it’s unlikely they will repair it.

Dmytro Pashenko, a foreman at the plant who has worked there for most of his career, said heavy industry had sustained the communities of eastern Ukraine for years.

Israel’s endless loop: War, timeout, war

By ROSS DOUTHAT, THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, CARLOS LOZADA and LYDIA POLGREEN

Over the past few weeks, Israel and Iran have engaged in a military standoff. Israel struck the Iranian Embassy in Syria, killing several top Iranian military officials. Then last weekend Iran sent hundreds of drones and missiles toward Israel. Early on Friday, Israel retaliated, striking a military base in Iran. For the podcast “Matter of Opinion,” four New York Times columnists discussed tensions in the Middle East. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Ross Douthat: People say, “No one wants a wider war.” But there are people who want a wider war, right?

Thomas L. Friedman: Definitely.

Douthat: Who are they right now, and what are they thinking?

Friedman: So, Ross, one is Yehia Sinwar, the Hamas leader who is hiding somewhere in the Gaza Strip. He needs a wider war, because he’s out to destroy Israel. The thing people need to remember about Sinwar is, Sinwar actually doesn’t know the Arabs very well, which is why I think he was surprised by some of them not joining in. But he knows Israelis really well. In fact, he learned his Israeli studies in prison. He learned all his Hebrew in prison. And he spent years observing Israel and all its weaknesses, and he put them all into play in this war. And he wants Israel wiped out. So he’s certainly one of them. I always go back and remember what Ayatollah Khomeini said when he came to Tehran from Paris in 1979 and took

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over, basically, Iran from the shah. He said: We didn’t make this revolution to lower the price of watermelons. This is a truly ideological movement with an agenda that it is ready to prioritize over advancing the well-being of Iranians.

And we’ve seen that now since 1979. And so you have to take these people very seriously. They want to destroy Israel out of conviction and ambition. Whether they think they can actually do it is a whole other question, but they’re not playing around.

Lydia Polgreen: So the Iranians — what are the Palestinians to them? Are they just an instrument trying to humiliate Israel? Because there’s not a natural alliance. How is Iran positioned vis-a-vis the Palestinians?

Friedman: So Iran is not popular among the West Bank. Remember a big part of the Palestinian community are Christians — not a majority, but they have a significant Christian minority. In the Palestinian Authority, Iran is not popular. Iran is extremely adept at cultivating underground networks. And so Palestinians are to them the same as Houthis are to them, the same as Hezbollah is to them, the same as Shiite militias in Iraq are to them. They’re instruments, and they are how Iran projects power.

And by enabling these militias with resources and money to either take over these countries or eat away at the systems there, you can’t get a majority against them. Lebanon hasn’t been able to elect a president now for a couple of years because Iran can’t, within the Lebanese system, get the man it wants, but it can make sure that no one else can get the person they want who would be hostile to Iran.

And Hamas, — one has to remember, Hamas launched this war because there was a big political struggle going on inside Hamas between more moderate forces led by Ismail Haniyeh and Sinwar and because Hamas was in a giant rivalry with Fatah in the West Bank and Fatah seemed to be lining up with Israel and Saudi Arabia to do a giant normalization deal. So take a step back from all the sort of Hamas ideology charter — this was also very much local politics at work.

Douthat: In your narrative of the Iranian desire for a wider war, it seems like what constrains Iranian leadership is fear. They would happily go to war with Israel tomorrow if they thought they could win it. So if you are in the Israeli Cabinet right now, are you thinking, “We must strike back to restore deterrence and maintain fear”? Or are you thinking, “Iran failed sufficiently that they will be deterred from trying this again”?

Friedman: I don’t know, Ross. I’ll just say what I’ve been thinking from Day 1 of the war: that Israel needs to ask itself what its worst enemies want it to do and do the opposite. And it’s rooted in a larger framework that I have, which is that I can write the history of this conflict for you long. I wrote a whole book, “From Beirut to Jerusalem,” about it. Or I can write history really short, and it fits on a business card: war, timeout, war, timeout, war, timeout, war, timeout, war, timeout, war, timeout, going back to 1929, if not earlier. And the difference between the two sides is what each did in

Holes in the roof and floor at the home of a 7-year-old girl who was injured by missile shrapnel outside Arad, Israel, on Sunday, April 14, 2024. (Sergey Ponomarev/ The New York Times)

the timeout. Israel built one of the strongest economies in the world. Hamas dug tunnels and nursed a grievance. And my view is that the No. 1 Israeli objective should always be to get to the timeout whenever they can, as much as they can.

Carlos Lozada: I wonder if you could talk about what the next timeout might look like if we’re able to get there. Back in January, which feels so long ago, you wrote a column saying that Oct. 7 had propelled a fundamental rethinking of the Middle East inside the Biden administration. You outlined what you thought was an emerging Biden doctrine for the region. Given how the conflict has evolved since then, how is the administration thinking about the region, broadly speaking, now?

Friedman: I would say the administration has a broad doctrine, which is Israel should find a way to finish the operation of dismantling Hamas in a way that spares as many innocent civilians in Gaza as possible. It should then work with the PA, with the support of countries like the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, when they are of sufficient capacity and strength. The PA plus allied countries — Jordan, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia — should then be the ones to govern Gaza, maybe even with some American logistical help.

And then Israel should provide some political horizon for the Palestinians, so Israel can then normalize with Saudi Arabia. And we then find ourselves with a broad inclusion network in the region, stretching from Egypt through Gaza, the Arabian Gulf countries, and we’re in a whole new Middle East.

San Juan hace inversión millonaria para mejorar la seguridad con nuevas patrullas, vehículos, equipo de seguridad y nueva academia de cadetes de la Policía Municipal

POR EL STAR STAFF

S AN JUAN – Con una inversión de $2,572,536.48, el alcalde de San Juan, Miguel A. Romero Lugo, anunció hoy el inicio de una Nueva Academia de Cadetes, así como la adquisición y entrega de patrullas, vehículos, equipos y canes para la Policía Municipal. La adquisición y entrega de herramientas para la Policía Municipal es parte del plan de seguridad de la administración de Romero Lugo para mejorar la seguridad en las comunidades y las costas de la ciudad capital.

La nueva academia de la Policía Municipal es la quinta que se inicia bajo la administración de Romero Lugo; la inversión realizada para llevar a cabo la misma es de $1,599,206.05. Una vez se gradúen los cadetes, la proyección es que junto a la academia que está en curso, el Municipio de San Juan cuente con 127 nuevos policías.

“Nuestra Policía Municipal de San Juan es una herramienta importante para todos los sanjuaneros, incluyendo, residentes, comerciantes, así como visitantes, y su labor tiene un impacto significativo en el desarrollo económico y social de la ciudad. En nuestra administración, el compromiso es con nuestra gente, con nuestra uniformada y con mejorar la calidad de vida de todos. Estoy agradecido de que estos valiosos hombres y mujeres hayan aceptado el reto de servir a todos los sanjuaneros. Estoy seguro de que esta oportunidad que se están dando de ser parte de la Policía Municipal de San Juan, les cambiará la vida. Las buenas noticias que anunciamos hoy son una muestra adicional del compromiso que tenemos de ostentar una ciudad segura y de orden. Continuamos promoviendo políticas públicas de beneficio para todos”, expresó el alcalde.

Nueva tecnología y más vehículos

En conferencia de prensa, el alcalde Romero Lugo, acompañado por el comisionado de la Policía Municipal, Juan Jackson, informó además la adquisición de una nueva flota de motoras, compuesta por 40 unidades, para reforzar la seguridad en el patrullaje de las calles. El ejecutivo municipal destacó que el patrullaje en motora se diseña para realizar un rápido desplazamiento y para tener una respuesta inmediata a cualquier incidente reportado. También se adquirieron dos patrullas Ford Explorer Police Interceptor del 2023, valoradas en $67,673.00 cada una. Estas patrullas son diseñadas con la más alta calidad, para un mejor servicio de los agentes en las calles. Según informó el alcalde esta flota de nuevas motoras es parte de plan trazado que conllevó

una inversión de $6.1 millones de dólares para renovar la flota policiaca mediante la adquisición de 141 vehículos entre patrullas, motoras, bicicletas eléctricas y vehículos para unidades especializadas de la Policía Municipal como la Unidad Canina.

Refuerzo para la Unidad Marítima y Canina

Entre la nueva tecnología adquirida para blindar al personal de la Unidad Marítima de la Policía Municipal, se encuentra un sistema de comunicación submarina marca Ocean Technology Systems, que con un costo de $45,547.55, permite la comunicación directa en todo momento con los buzos cuando están en misiones debajo del agua en alguna situación de emergencia.

A esta adquisición se suma la compra de dos vehículos submarinos conocido como Diver Propulsion Vehicle, Genesis 3.2 valorado en $13,318.44 cada uno, los cuales ayudarán a los buzos en las búsquedas de personas desaparecidas en los cuerpos de agua o evidencias utilizadas en delitos, multiplicando significativamente las distancias y el tiempo que un buzo puede estar normalmente debajo del agua.

Mientras tanto, para la Unidad Canina se adquirieron tres nuevos canes para la Unidad K9, de la raza Pastor Holandés. Dos de estos canes han sido adiestrados y disciplinados para detectar narcóticos, así como la detención y aprehensión de fugitivos. Un tercer can está disciplinado para identificar explosivos. Cada can tiene un costo de $10,000, y sustituyen tres que están próximos a jubilarse. Al presente la Unidad Canina de San Juan cuenta con 12 canes, disciplinados para narcóticos, explosivos, armas, así como para búsqueda y rescate.

Voluntarios sacan 12 toneladas de basura de Embalse Carraízo

POR CYBERNEWS

GURABO – Más de un centenar de voluntarios lograron remover el sábado 12 toneladas de basura y escombros de las aguas del Embalse Carraízo. La iniciativa, bajo el Club de Pesca de Gurabo, retiró de las aguas y orillas diversos artículos como neveras, gomas y piezas de vehículos, y gran cantidad de artículos de plástico.

Colaboraron en este esfuerzo voluntarios de edad variada representando a Veolia, GuraCoop, Cámara de Representantes, Autoridad de Acueductos, Departamento de Recursos Naturales, Obras Públicas Municipal de Gurabo, Legislatura Municipal, Protocolo, OMME, Policía Municipal, estudiantes, Club de Pesca Cidreño, Island Kayak Anglers, JD

Angler, Club de Pesca de Gurabo y ciudadanos de comunidades circundantes, quienes se movilizaron mediante botes, kayaks y a pie para llevar los escombros hasta la rampa.

El Gobierno Municipal de Gurabo dispuso de los desperdicios removidos.

Desde el 2007 y en conjunto con este evento, se han removido 330 toneladas de basura flotante en el cauce y riberas del Embalse Carraízo, el cual discurre principalmente a través de los municipios de Gurabo, Caguas y Trujillo Alto.

El Club de Pesca de Gurabo agradece profundamente la colaboración del equipo de voluntarios y colaboradores que apoyaron la gesta. Para conocer cómo puede colaborar para preservar el ambiente, puede comunicarse al 787-239-8085.

The San Juan Daily Star Monday, April 22, 2024

Archie Moore, Australian artist, wins top prize at Venice Biennale

By ALEX MARSHALL

Archie Moore, an Indigenous Australian artist who has created an installation including a monumental family tree, won the top prize at the Venice Biennale on Saturday.

Moore, 54, took the Golden Lion, the prize for the best national participation at the Biennale, the world’s oldest and most high-profile international art exhibition. He beat out artists representing 85 other countries to become the first Australian winner.

For his installation, “kith and kin,” Moore has drawn a family tree in chalk on the walls and ceiling of the Australia Pavilion. The web of names encompasses 3,484 people and Moore says it stretches back 65,000 years, although he has smudged some details so that they are hard to read. In the center of the room is a huge table covered with stacks of government documents relating to the deaths of Indigenous Australians in police custody.

Julia Bryan-Wilson, chair of this year’s Biennale jury and a professor of contemporary art at Columbia University, said during the prize

announcement that Moore’s installation was “a mournful archive” that “stands out for its strong aesthetic, its lyricism and its invocation of shared loss for occluded pasts.”

Before Saturday’s ceremony, which was streamed online, Moore’s pavilion had already been a critical hit. Julia Halperin, writing in The New York Times, said that the installation was one no Biennale visitor should miss. Moore’s hand-drawn family tree was so dense at points it was impossible to make out the names. “The implication is clear: expand the aperture wide enough and we are all related,” Halperin said. “It’s a concept that could feel trite if it weren’t rendered with such poetry, rigor and specificity.”

In his acceptance speech, Moore said every Biennale visitor had a shared “responsibility of care to all living things now and into the future.”

“We are all one,” he added.

Saturday’s other major award, the Golden Lion for best participant in the Biennale’s main exhibition, went to Mataaho Collective, a group of four Maori women from New Zealand, for an installation that evokes a traditional mat used du-

ring Maori ceremonies, including childbirth.

Announcing that prize, Bryan-Wilson said that collective had created a luminous “womblike cradle” that casts “a dazzling pattern of shadows” across the gallery floor.

The jury awarded the Silver Lion for the most promising young artist in the main exhibition to Karimah Ashadu, a British Nigerian based in Hamburg, Germany, for “Machine Boys,” which depicts illegal taxi drivers in Lagos, Nigeria.

This is the 60th edition of the Biennale, which was founded in 1895 as a global exhibition of contemporary art. It has long featured pavilions for individual countries to present their own shows, with Belgium’s completed first, in 1907.

Today, the Biennale sprawls over the city, and countries without a permanent building to showcase their work mount shows in office blocks, decrepit mansions and, in one case this year, a women’s prison.

Every Biennale also features a huge central exhibition, devised by a single curator. This year, Adriano Pedrosa, director of the Sao Paulo

Museum of Art in Brazil, devised a show called “Foreigners Everywhere” that features work by hundreds of artists, many of them migrants or from Indigenous communities.

The Biennale, which opened to the public Saturday after a week of previews, runs through Nov. 24.

The French Pavilion, where the art-world darling Julien Creuzet presented sinewy sculptures made of thread, beads and netting, at the Venice Biennale on April 18, 2024. (Casey Kelbaugh/The New York Times)

Where the wild things went during the pandemic

By EMILY ANTHES

In the early months of the COVID pandemic, when every bit of news seemed bleak, there was one heartwarming narrative that took hold: With humans stuck in their homes, the world was safe again for wild animals, which could now wander freely through cities, parking lots or fields that once might have been crowded with people.

But a new global study, which used wildlife cameras to track human and animal activity during the COVID lockdowns, suggests that the story was not that simple.

“We went in with a somewhat simplistic notion,” said Cole Burton, a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist at the University of British Columbia, who led the research. “You know, humans stop, animals are going to breathe a sigh of relief and move around more naturally. And what we saw was quite different.”

Although humans disappeared from some places during the lockdowns, they surged into others, including parks that remained open when little else was, researchers found. And there was enormous variability in how wild mammals responded to changes in human behavior. Carnivores and animals living in remote, rural places, for instance, were more active when people faded from the landscape, while the opposite was generally true for large herbivores and urban animals.

The study, which was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution last month, deepens and complicates scientists’ understanding of what has been called the “anthropause,” when pandemic lockdowns radically altered human behavior. It also highlights the nuanced ways in which humans affect the lives of wild animals, as well as the need for varied and multifaceted conservation efforts, the authors said.

“There’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to mitigating the impacts of human activity on wildlife,” said Kaitlyn Gaynor, a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist at the University of British Columbia. “Because we see that not all species are responding similarly to people.”

Camera traps, which automatically snap photos of wild animals when they detect motion and body heat, have become key research tools for wildlife biologists. The new study is based on data from 102 differ-

An undated image captured by a camera trap and provided by Snapshot USA of a Bison in Montana. A new global study, which used wildlife cameras to track human and animal activity during the COVID-19 lockdowns, suggests that the popular narrative about wildlife becoming more active as human activity slowed — called the anthropause — was not that simple. (Snapshot USA via The New York Times)

ent camera trapping projects in 21 countries. (Most were based in North America or Europe, but South America, Africa and Asia were also included.) The data allowed scientists to study the activity patterns of 163 different species of wild mammals — and to keep tabs on how often humans were showing up at the same locations.

“One of the core strengths of this paper is that you get information on both humans and animals,” said Marlee Tucker, an ecologist at Radboud University in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the new research.

During the pandemic lockdown period, human activity decreased at some project sites while increasing at others. At each study location, researchers compared how often wild animals were detected during a period of high human activity and a period of low human activity, regardless of whether the decreased activity came during the lockdown period.

Carnivores, such as wolves and bobcats, appeared to be highly sensitive to people, showing the largest drop-off in activity when human activity ramped up. “Carnivores, especially larger carnivores, have this long history of, you can say, antagonism with people,” Burton said. “The

consequences for a carnivore of bumping into people or getting too close to people often has meant death.”

On the flip side, the activity of large herbivores, such as deer and moose, increased when humans were out and about. That could be because the animals simply had to move more to avoid the throngs of people. But if people help keep the carnivores at bay, that could also make it safer for the herbivores to come out and play.

“Herbivores tend to be a little less fearful of people, and they may actually use them as a shield from carnivores,” said Tucker, who praised the study’s authors for being “able to disentangle all these different human impacts.”

Location mattered, too. In rural and undeveloped areas, where the landscape had not been heavily modified by humans, animals generally became less active as human activity increased. But in cities and other developed areas, wild mammals tended to become more active when humans did.

“That was a bit counterintuitive and surprising,” Gaynor said. “We took a closer look, and a lot of that activity was actually happening at night. Animals were becoming more nocturnal.”

The researchers suggest that several phenomena could support these trends. Perhaps the species and individuals that have persisted in these landscapes are the ones that are most tolerant of and habituated to humans. (Wolverines, for instance, were only present in places with a small human footprint.)

And the animals that have stuck around might be attracted to human resources, such as food and trash, and become more active when these resources are plentiful, but shift their foraging expeditions into the evening hours to reduce the odds of encountering people.

“That seems to be an adaptation by animals to coexist with people,” Burton said. “It’s animals working to do their part for coexistence.”

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LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO EX PARTE

HERMAN W. COLBERG PÉREZ; MARIA CELESTE GUERRA-MONDRAGÓN CASALDUC Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; RAMÓN MELLADO GONZÁLEZ; AMPARO VILLAREAL RINCÓN Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Civil Núm.: YB2023CV00237. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO - INMATRICULACIÓN DE FINCA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LAS SUCESIONES DE IVAN REICHARD Y ELIZABETH MCKENSIE Y A ÁNGEL LUIS ARROYO MORALES. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza en relación a una Petición de Expediente de Dominio con el propósito de inmatricular en el Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de Humacao, un predio del Barrio Camino Nuevo del término Municipal de Yabucoa conforme al Artículo 185 de la Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. 30 LPRA sec. 6291(3). Dicha parcela se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Camino Nuevo, Sector El Guano de Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, con una cabida aproximada de 3.78 cuerdas, que colinda con el NORTE con Marcelino Morales, hoy su Sucesión, por el SUR con el Mar Caribe, por el ESTE con terrenos del Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico y por el OESTE con el Cocal Country and Beach Club. Enclava casa mixta de madera y concreto, techo de panel y cartón. En el plazo improrrogable del término de viente (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, podrán comparecer al tribunal, a fin de alegar lo que en dere-

cho proceda.

ABOGADA DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA:

Lcdo. María Celeste Colberg Guerra

RUA NÚM.: 16,394

BERMUDEZ & DIAZ LLP

Attorneys at Law Suite 209

500 Calle de la Tanca San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel.: (787) 523-2670; (787) 565-9291

Fax: (787) 523-2664

mccolberg@bdprlaw.com

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy 26 de marzo de 2024. EVELYN FÉLIX VÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LISA M. FIGUEROA RUIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO

ELIEZER ORTIZ

SANTIAGO, SU ESPOSA AIDA VIOLETA BURGOS PERELES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS Y GLADYS MUÑIZ AYALA

Peticionarios EX- PARTE

Civil Núm.: LP2020CV00228.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. CITACIÓN POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR. A: SANTOS VELÁZQUEZ LEBRÓN, RUFINO MEDINA, JESÚS HERNÁNDEZ, JUAN DE JESÚS VELÁZQUEZ, CRISTINO PIÑERO

HERNÁNDEZ, SALVADOR VELÁZQUEZ Y MIGUEL CRUZ; SUS RESPECTIVOS HEREDEROS, CAUSAHABIENTES O CESIONARIOS, CON PARADEROS Y/O DIRECCIONES DESCONOCIDAS; SANTIAGO VELÁZQUEZ BÁEZ, CON ÚLTIMA DIRECCIÓN CONOCIDA EN 298 LANE SCHOOL ROAD, WEST VIRGINIA, 25976-000; WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY FSB, CON ÚLTIMAS DIRECCIONES CONOCIDAS EN 8023 EAST 63 RD. PLANE, SUITE 700, OK 74133 Y 3900 CAPITAL CITY

BLVD., LANSING, MI 48906 Y ALINEYRIS E. SEPÚLVEDA RAMOS, CON PARADERO Y DIRECCIÓN

DESCONOCIDOS, JANE DOE, RICHARD POE Y JAMES ROE, MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ANATALIO VELÁZQUEZ SANABRIA Y, ASIMISMO, A TODO EL QUE TENGA ALGÚN INTERÉS O DERECHO REAL SOBRE

EL INMUEBLE DESCRITO EN LA PETICIÓN DE DOMINIO DEL CASO DE EPÍGRAFE, A LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS, A QUIENES PUEDA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN, A LOS ANTERIORES DUEÑOS, O SUS HEREDEROS Y, EN GENERAL, A TODA PERSONA QUE DESEE OPONERSE.

POR LA PRESENTE: se les notifica que los Peticionarios de epígrafe han presentado una Petición para que se declare probado a favor de ellos, el dominio que tienen sobre la siguiente propiedad: “RÚSTICA: Parcela de terreno radicada en el barrio Montones de Las Piedras, compuesta de once cuerdas con veintisiete centavos de otra (11.27) que colinda por el Norte, con Rufino Medina antes, ahora Santos Velázquez Lebrón; por el Sur, con Rufino Medina; por el Este, con Juan De Jesús Velázquez y por el Oeste, con Jesús Hernández.” Sobre la misma enclava una vivienda.” Este Tribunal ordenó que se publique la pretensión por tres (3) veces durante el término de veinte (20) días en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que todas las personas arriba mencionadas y todas aquellas desconocidas a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción o deseen oponerse, puedan así hacerlo dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la última publicación del presente edicto. Por tanto firmo expido la presente en Humacao, Puerto Rico, a 09 de noviembre de 2023. IVELISSE

C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. MICHELLE GUEVARA DE LEÓN, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

BANCO POPULAR DE

PUERTO RICO

Demandante V.

IDSA IDALIA

OTERO VIERA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: DCD2015-1705.

Sala: 503. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMéRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, a la parte demandada y al público en general les notifico que, cumpliendo con un Mandamiento que se ha librado en el presente caso por el Secretario del Tribunal de epígrafe con fecha 28 de febrero de 2024 y para satisfacer la Sentencia dictada en el caso de autos fechada 29 de febrero de 2016, notificada el 7 de marzo de 2016, la cual fue extendida por el Tribunal mediante orden notificada en febrero de 2023, procederá a vender el día 2 DE MAYO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón en el cuarto piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad:

URBANA: Solar Número 1 del plano de inscripción del proyecto denominado Urbanización Brisas del Mar, radicada en el Barrio Yeguada del término municipal de Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Dicho solar tiene un área de 824.36 Metros Cuadrados.

Colinda: por el NORTE, en una distancia de 37.43 metros con el solar 2; por el SUR, en una distancia de 37.73 metros y un arco con radio de 5 metros con predio dedicado a uso público.

Inscrita al Sistema Karibe, finca 32,980 de Vega Baja, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico Sección Cuarta de Bayamón. Que con el importe de dicha venta se habrá de satisfacer a la parte demandante las cantidades adeudadas, según la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón. El remate comenzará por las sumas adeudadas declaradas en la Sentencia, y se llevará a cabo para con su producto, satisfacer dichas sumas. Las cuantías de la sentencia se describen de la siguiente manera: $140,776.46

de principal, más el 6.50% de intereses anuales desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2011 y hasta que sea satisfecha esta sentencia, las costas, más la cantidad de $15,400.00 por concepto de honorarios y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. Debido al incumplimiento de la parte demandada, con los términos de contrato habido entre las partes se declara con lugar la demanda y se ordena la ejecución de hipoteca y venta en pública subasta de la propiedad objeto de este pleito, declarando vencida la suma de $140,776.46 de principal, más el 6.50% de intereses anuales desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2011 y hasta que sea satisfecha esta sentencia, las costas, más la cantidad de $15,400.00 por concepto de honorarios y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. La subasta se llevará a cabo el día 2 DE MAYO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el cuarto piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subasta del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Bayamón. La venta de la propiedad será realizada para cubrir el importe adeudado a la demandante, el cual al momento de la Sentencia ascendía a la suma de $140,776.46 de principal, más el 6.50% de intereses anuales desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2011 y hasta que sea satisfecha esta sentencia, las costas, más la cantidad de $15,400.00 por concepto de honorarios y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. Se le advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el mismo acto de la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, efectivo, giro y/o cheque de gerente a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tenga (n) interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecutando, que los mismos serán eliminados del Registro de la Propiedad, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el termino de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo

siempre que haya comparecido al pleito. Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 14 de marzo de 2024. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE BAYAMÓN.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING LLC Demandante Vs. SUCESION WILFREDO ROSADO BATISTA COMPUESTA POR WILFREDO ROSADO BERRIOS, LUZ DINELY ROSADO BERRIOS, JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESION ANDREA BERRIOS RIVERA COMPUESTA POR WILFREDO ROSADO BERRIOS, LUZ DINELY ROSADO BERRIOS, JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CG2023CV00384.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LA PARTE

DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO

GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 29 DE ABRIL DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Solar cuarenta (40) del bloque “AA” de la Urbanización Boneville Heights situada en el Barrio Cañabón de Caguas, con un área de trescientos diez punto quinientos ochenta y siete (310.587) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en una distancia de 12.500 metros con la Calle 19 de la Urbanización; por el SUR, en una distancia de 12.500 metros con los solares 28 y 29 del bloque “AA” de la Urbanización; por el ESTE, en una distancia de 24.847 metros; con el solar 39 del bloque “AA” de la Urbanización; por el OESTE, en una distancia de 24.847 metros con el solar número 41 del bloque “AA”de la Urbanización. Enclava una casa de concreto reforzado con techo del mismo material consistente principalmente de sala, comedor, cocina, dos cuartos dormitorios, un baño, balcón y marquesina.” Finca número 18855, inscrita al folio 226 del tomo 575 de Caguas, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al Tomo Karibe, finca 18855 de Caguas, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, inscripción 4ª. Propiedad localizada en: URB.

BONNEVILLE HEIGHTS, 11 (40-AA) CALLE YABUCOA, CAGUAS, PR 00727. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de

ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $240,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 3 de marzo de 2095. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $240,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 6 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $160,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $120,000.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 13 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $121,733.77 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $28,818.06 en intereses acumulados al 22 de noviembre de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 2.71% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $7,006.03 en seguro hipotecario; $6,300.00 en cargos por servicio; $583.44 de contribuciones; $2,007.76 de seguro; $875.00 de tasaciones; $280.00 de inspecciones; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $24,000.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado. A tenor con la Regla 44.3 de Procedimiento Civil se condena a

The San Juan Daily Star 19

la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, efectivo, giro y/o cheque de gerente a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tenga (n) interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecutando, que los mismos serán eliminados del Registro de la Propiedad, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el termino de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo siempre que haya comparecido al pleito. Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 9 de abril de 2024. MARIANGELY ROSADO ROMÁN, ALGUACIL PLACA #953, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE CAGUAS.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC

Demandante V. EDGARDO

GARCIA RIVERA

Demandado(a)

Caso Núm.: GB2023CV00659

(Salón: 701). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - REGLA 60. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA

POR EDICTO. KEVIN SÁNCHEZ COMPANEROKEVIN.SANCHEZ@ORF-LAW.COM.

A: EDGARDO

GARCIA RIVERA.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 11 de abril de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 12 de abril de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 12 de abril de 2024.

LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARÍA COLLAZO FEBUS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE AGUADILLA SALA SUPERIOR DE AGUADILLA ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC

Demandante V. EDWIN GONZALEZ GARCIA

Demandado(a)

Caso Núm.: IS2023CV00151. (Salón: 601 CIVIL). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - REGLA 60. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. KEVIN SÁNCHEZ CAMPANEROKEVIN.SANCHEZ@ORF-LAW.COM.

A: EDWIN GONZALEZ GARCIA - DIRECCIÓN: URB. LAMELA 53 CALLE PERLA ISABELA, PR 00662-2362; PO BOX 136 ISABELA, PR 00662-0136. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 09 de abril de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia,

Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 12 de abril de 2024.

En Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, el 12 de abril de 2024. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA. ARLENE GUZMÁN PABÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CANÓVANAS

YOLANDA MERETTE

ACEVEDO

Demandante Vs DAVID LUGO SUÁREZ

Demandada Civil Núm.: CN2024RF00026. Sobre: DIVORCIO RUPTURA IRREPARABLE. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R.

A: DAVID LUGO SUÁREZ - DIRECCIÓN DESCONOCIDA.

Por la presente se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su contestación dentro de los 30 días de haber sido publicado este edicto, excluyendo el día de publicación. Usted deberá presentar su contestación a través del sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder en la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del tribunal, con copia a la parte demandante. Si usted deja de presentar su contestación dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Lcda. Geovanna I. Gómez Berríos

Abogada del demandante

TSPR RUA: 14747 PO Box 11671, San Juan, P.R. 00910 (787) 565-2153 geovannagomezyahoo.com

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, el 12 de abril de 2024. LCDA. KANELLY ZAYAS

ROBLES, SECRETARIA RE-

GIONAL. SADYMAR ORTIZ

MATOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE FAJARDO

LEGACY MORTGAGE

ASSET TRUST 2019-PR1

Demandante Vs.

SUCESION DE MARIA

DOLORES CARRILLO DE LEON T/C/C MARIA

DOLORES CARRILLO

T/C/C MARIA D.

CARRILLO DE LEÓN, COMPUESTA POR

ROGELIO LUIS ROBLES

CARRILLO; MARIA MILAGROS VARGAS

CARRILLO; LUIS FELIPE

CARGAS CARRILLO; SUCESIÓN DE JOSE

DOLORES ORTIZ

SANTANA COMPUESTA

POR: FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: FA2021CV00564.

Salón Núm.: 307. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LUIS FELIPE CARGAS

CARRILLO Y ROGELIO

LUIS ROBLES CARRILLO COMO MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE MARÍA

DOLORS CARRILLO DE LEÓN T/C/C MARÍA

DOLORES CARRILLO T/C/C MARÍA D. CARRILLO DE LEÓN.

POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el

Monday, April 22, 2024

original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Roberto C. Latimer Valentín, al PO BOX 9022512, San Juan, P.R. 00902-2512; Teléfono: (787) 724-0230. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca bajo el número mencionado en el epígrafe. Se alega en dicho procedimiento que la parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de Hipoteca, al no poder pagar las mensualidades vencidas correspondientes a los meses de marzo de 2021, hasta el presente, más los cargos por demora correspondientes. Además adeuda a la parte demandante las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en que incurra el tenedor del pagaré en este litigio. De acuerdo con dicho Contrato de Garantía Hipotecaria la parte Demandante declaró vencida la totalidad de la deuda ascendente a la suma principal de $20,609.97, más intereses a razón del 5.004% anual, desde el 1 de febrero de 2021, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y complete pago, más los cargos por demora que corresponden a los plazos atrasados desde la fecha anteriormente indicada a razón de la tasa pactada de 5% de cualquier pago que este en mora por más de quince (15 ) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, así como todos aquellos créditos y sumas que surjan de la faz de la obligación hipotecaria y de la hipoteca que la garantiza, incluyendo una suma equivalente al 20% de la suma principal ($11,535.99), por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado todo según pactado. La parte Demandante presentará para su inscripción en el Registro de la Propiedad correspondiente, un AVISO DE PLEITO PENDIENTE (“Lis Pendens”) sobre la propiedad objeto de esta acción cuya propiedad es la siguiente: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número 141-B, en el plano de parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Espanta Sueño del Barrio Florencio del término municipal de Fajardo, con una cabida superficial de 842.06 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con parcela número 142 de la Comunidad; por el SUR, con Calle de la Comunidad; por el ESTE, con parcela número 141-A de la Comunidad; y por el OESTE, con parcela número 141-C de la Comunidad. Consta inscrita al folio 275 del tomo 307 de Fajardo, finca número #13,263, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Fajardo. SE LE ORDENA a ustedes a que dentro del término legal de treinta (30) días, contados a partir de la fecha de notificación de la presente Orden, acepten o repudien la par-

ticipación que les corresponda en la herencia de la SUCESIÓN DE JOSE DOLORES ORTIZ SANTANA. De no hacerlo dentro de dicho término, se dará la herencia por aceptada. SE LES APERCIBE que de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en Fajardo, Puerto Rico. A 17 de abril de 2024. WANDA I. SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ANA CELÍS MÁRQUEZ APONTE, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO; POPULAR MORTGAGE, INC.

Demandante V. PLANET HOME LENDING, LLC.; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE, COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: BY2024CV01527. Salón: 504. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR

EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: JOHN DOE; RICHARD ROE, POSIBLES TENEDORES DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO DESCRITO MÁS ADELANTE. Por la presente se le notifica que se ha radicado una Demanda donde se solicita se cancele el siguiente pagaré, el cual está extraviado, así como la hipoteca que garantiza su pago: pagaré a favor de First Equity Mortgage Bankers, o a su orden, suscrito bajo el testimonio núm. 1592, por la suma principal de $426,300.00, con intereses al 3.250% anual, vencederos el 1ro de agosto de 2050, constituida mediante la escritura número 389, otorgada el 22 de julio de 2020 en San Juan, Puerto Rico ante el notario Omar Edgardo Figueroa Arriaga, según inscripción 9na. Dicho pagaré fue garantizado con una hipoteca que grava la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar #16-C de la Urbanización Paseo Los Corales I, radicado en el Barrio Pueblo e Higuillar de Dorado, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de 560.00 metros cuadrados. En linderos: NORTE, en distancia de 27.997 metros, con el Solar #15-C de la Urbanización; SUR, en distancia de 28.00 metros, con el Solar #17-C de la Urbani-

zación; ESTE, en distancia de 20.00 metros, con la Avenida Principal Sur de la Urbanización; OESTE, con distancias de 19.729 metros y 0.271 metros, con la Calle Mar Caribe de la Urbanización. En este solar enclava una casa para propósitos residenciales. En uno de sus linderos existe servidumbre de 1.50 metros a favor de Puerto Rico Telephone Company. Inscrita al Folio ochenta y dos (82) del Tomo doscientos sesenta y dos (262) de Dorado, Finca trece mil quinientas setenta y nueve (13,579) de Dorado, Sección IV de Bayamón del Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico.

POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que notifique a la Lcda. Maritza Guzmán

Matos, PMB 767, Avenida Luis Vigoreaux, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00966, teléfono (787) 7583276, abogada de la parte demandante, con copia de vuestra contestación a la demanda radicada en este caso contra ustedes, dentro de un término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// wwwpoderjudicial.pr/index.php/ tribunal-electronico/, salvo que el caso sea de un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante a esta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 17 de abril de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. VIVIAN J. SANABRIA, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

WILMINGTON SAVINGS

FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, AS INDENTURE TRUSTEE, FOR THE CSMC 2017-FHA 1 TRUST

MORTGAGE-BACKED NOTES, SERIES 2017-

Demandante Vs. GREAT ATLANTIC MORTGAGE CORPORATION AHORA COMISIONADO DE INSTITUCIONES FINANCIERAS DE PUERTO RICO; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: SJ2024CV02619. (903). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS.

POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, LCDA. MARJALIISA COLÓN VILLANUEVA a su dirección: PO. Box 7970 Ponce, PR. 00732. Tel: 787-843-4168. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cancelación de pagaré extraviado. Se alega en dicho procedimiento que se extravió un pagaré hipotecario a favor Great Atlantic Mortgage Corporation ahora Comisionado de Instituciones Financiera de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma de ochenta y tres mil trescientos trece dólares ($83,313.00), interés al ocho por ciento (8%), vencedero al primero (1ro) de noviembre de dos mil veintinueve (2029), según surge del testimonio número mil doscientos noventa y dos (1,292) de la escritura número doscientos treinta y uno (231), otorgada San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día catorce (14) de abril de mil novecientos noventa y nueve (1999), ante el notario Ignacio José Gorrín Maldonado, y cuya obligación hipotecaria se encuentra inscrita al tomo Móvil ochocientos ochenta y cuatro (884) de Sabana Llana, finca número nueve mil ciento catorce (9114), inscripción décima (10ma). Que la propiedad sobre la cual se constituyó dicha hipoteca es la siguiente: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número

veintitrés (23) de La Manzana “P” del plano preparado por la Corporación de Renovación

Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico para su proyecto de solares denominado Sabana Llana, radicado en el Barrio Sabana Llana del término municipal de San Juan, antes Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos uno punto veintidós (301.22) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la servidumbre de paso propuesta Avenida Ramal Este, en distancia de trece punto cero cero (13.00) metros; por el SUR, con la servidumbre de paso calle “A”, distancia de trece punto cero cero (13.00) metros; por el ESTE, con e Solar P guión veinticuatro (P-24), distancia de veintitrés punto dieciséis (23.16) metros; por el OESTE, con solar P guión veintidós (P-22), distancia de veintitrés punto quince (123.15) metros. Inscrita al folio doscientos treinta y tres (233) del tomo doscientos tres (203) de Sabana Llana, finca número nueve mil ciento catorce (9114). Registro de la Propiedad Sección de San Juan Sección Quinta (5ta). SE LES APERCIBE que, de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a día 26 de marzo de 2024. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. Gloriam Martínez Rivera, Secretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL

GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYNABO

ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE

Demandados

Civil Núm.: GB2024CV00059. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE HIPOTECA CON INSTRUMENTO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, como posible tenedor o persona que haya adquirido algún derecho sobre el pagaré o la hipoteca que se hace referencia más adelante en el presente edicto, que se publicará una sola vez. Se les notifica que en la Demanda radicada en el caso de

epígrafe se alega que el 30 de noviembre de 2015, se otorgó un pagaré a favor de Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, o a su orden, por la suma de $567,000.00 de principal, con intereses al 3.697% anual, y vencedero el 2 de mayo de 2084, ante el Mario E. Pérez Acosta mediante afidávit 3542. En garantía del pagaré antes descrito se otorgó la escritura número 102, el 30 de noviembre de 2015, ante el Notario Mario E. Pérez Acosta, inscrita al sistema Karibe de Guaynabo, finca 13445, inscripción 16a, Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. El inmueble gravado mediante la hipoteca antes descrita es la finca 13445 inscrita al folio 155 del tomo 203 de Guaynabo, Registro de la propiedad de Guaynabo. La obligación evidenciada por el pagaré antes descrito fue saldada en su totalidad. Dicho gravamen no ha podido ser cancelado por haberse extraviado el original del pagaré. El original del pagaré antes descrito no ha podido ser localizado, a pesar de las gestiones realizadas. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development es el acreedor que consta en el Registro de la Propiedad. Oriental Bank fue último tenedor conocido del pagaré antes descrito. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/ tribunal-electronico/, salvo que el caso sea de un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la mismas al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Además, se la apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2029, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubicación permanente de un (una) menos fuera de su hogar, el inicio de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquier otra medida en el mejor interés del (de

la) menor. (Artículo 33, incisos b y f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. Representa a la parte demandante el Lcdo. Javier Montalvo Cintrón, RUA #18,682, Delgado Fernández, LLC, PO Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750. Tel. [787] 274-1414, jmontalvo@ delgadofernandez.com. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 3 de abril de 2024. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sanchez, Secretaria. Sara Rosa Villegas, Secretaria Del Tribunal Confidencial I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO UDICAL DE GAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESION DE ANGEL LUIS ALVELO CARTAGENA

COMPUESTA POR

VIRGINIA SANCHEZ

SIERRA POR SI Y COMO VIUDA, ANGEL LUIS ALVELO RIVERA, VIRGINIA SÁNCHEZ

SIERRA Y “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ANGEL LUIS ALVELO CARTAGENA, CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandado

Civil Núm.: CG2024CV00606.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO

Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTE-

CA. EMPLAZAMIENTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS

UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: VIRGINIA SANCHEZ

SIERRA POR SÍ Y COMO PARTE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ANGEL LUIS ALVELO CARTAGENA.

De: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través de Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual quede acceder utilizando la siguiente direc-

ción electrónica: https://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/ tribunal-electronico, salvo que el caso sea de un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado a de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la seguridad, bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubicación permanente de un (una) menor fuera de su hogar, el inicio de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquier otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. (Artículo 33, incisos b y f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. POR LA PRESENTE, además, se le interpela judicialmente conforme al Art. 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico (31 L.P.R.A. §11021), para que en un término de treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento, acepte o renuncie mediante instrumento público o comparecencia judicial especial la herencia de los causantes, apercibiéndosele que, de no expresarse dentro de dicho término, se tendrá por aceptada la herencia. B.B.V.A. v. Latinoamericana, 164 D.P.R. 689 (2005). Los abogados de la parte demandante son:

ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE

DEMANDANTE:

Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández RUA NÚM.: 16,393

BERMÚDEZ & DÍAZ LLP

500 Calle De La Tanca, Suite 209 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel. (787) 523-2670 / Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdiaz@bdprlaw.com

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy, 5 de abril de 2024. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LIZ WHARTON ROSA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO UDICAL DE GAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESION DE ANGEL LUIS ALVELO CARTAGENA COMPUESTA POR VIRGINIA SANCHEZ SIERRA POR SI Y COMO VIUDA, ANGEL LUIS ALVELO RIVERA, VIRGINIA SÁNCHEZ SIERRA Y “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ANGEL LUIS ALVELO CARTAGENA, CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandado

Civil Núm.: CG2024CV00606. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ANGEL LUIS ALVELO RIVERA POR SÍ Y COMO PARTE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ANGEL LUIS ALVELO CARTAGENA. De: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través de Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual quede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/ tribunal-electronico, salvo que el caso sea de un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado a de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la seguridad, bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubica-

ción permanente de un (una) menor fuera de su hogar, el inicio de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquier otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. (Artículo 33, incisos b y f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. POR LA PRESENTE, además, se le interpela judicialmente conforme al Art. 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico (31 L.P.R.A. §11021), para que en un término de treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento, acepte o renuncie mediante instrumento público o comparecencia judicial especial la herencia de los causantes, apercibiéndosele que, de no expresarse dentro de dicho término, se tendrá por aceptada la herencia. B.B.V.A. v. Latinoamericana, 164 D.P.R. 689 (2005). Los abogados de la parte demandante son: ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE

DEMANDANTE:

Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández RUA NÚM.: 16,393 BERMÚDEZ & DÍAZ LLP 500 Calle De La Tanca, Suite 209 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel. (787) 523-2670 / Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdiaz@bdprlaw.com

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy, 5 de abril de 2024. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LIZ WHARTON ROSA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AGUADILLA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE SELINA ALMA ROSA COMPUESTA POR

SUS HIJOS ZULMA

FELICIANO ALMA, DÉBORA FELICIANO ALMA T/C/C DEBORAH

FELICIANO ALMA, ELVIN FELICIANO ALMA, SUS

NIETOS LUIS MIGUEL

FELICIANO ARCE, GABRIEL FELICIANO ARCE, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA REPRESENTADOS

POR EL SECRETARIO DE LA VIVIENDA Y DESARROLLO URBANO (HUD)

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: AG2023CV01950. (603). Sobre: COBRO DE

DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: ZULMA FELICIANO ALMA, DÉBORA

FELICIANO ALMA

T/C/C DEBORAH

FELICIANO ALMA, GABRIEL FELICIANO ARCE HEREDEROS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE SELINA ALMA ROSA

A LAS SIGUIENTES

DIRECCIONES: PASEOS

REALES, K2 CALLE 1, AGUADILLA, PR 00603, URB. PASEOS REALES, 372 CALLE ALARCÓN, SAN ANTONIO, PR 00690-1407, PO BOX 4427, AGUADILLA PR 00605-4427, 4766 ELON CRES, LAKELAND, FL 33810-3713, URB. VISTA

VERDE, 533 CALLE 16, AGUADILLA, PR 006036442, 585 MACOPIN RD., WEST MILFORD NJ 07480-3902 Y 407 W 2ND ST., LAKELAND FL 33805-4438. FULANO

Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS DE SELINA ALMA ROSA. Queda usted notificado que en este Tribunal se ha radicado demanda sobre ejecución de hipoteca por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega se adeuda las siguientes cantidades: $36,770.52 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.00% anual desde el 1 de mayo de 2023 hasta su completo pago, más $558.19 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $6,546.70 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo, incluyendo pero sin limitarse a gastos de mantenimiento, inspecciones y otros adelantos “corporate advances”. La propiedad que garantiza hipotecariamente el préstamo es la siguiente: URBANA: Parcela de terreno radicada en la Urbanización Paseos Reales, localizada en el Barrio Arenales del término municipal de Aguadilla, Puerto Rico y que se describe en el plano de inscripción con el número, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación: Número del solar: 2 del bloque K. Área del solar: 300.150 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en una alineación recta de 13.05

metros, con el solar #26 del mismo bloque; por el SUR, en una alineación recta de 13.05 metros, con la calle #1; por el ESTE, en una alineación recta de 23.00 metros, con el solar #3 del mismo bloque; por el OESTE, en una alineación recta de 23.00 metros, con el solar #1 del mismo bloque. Enclava una casa para fines residenciales. Afecta a servidumbre a favor de la Puerto Rico Telephone Company de 5’0” de ancho a todo lo largo de su colindancia Sur. Inscrita al folio 195 del tomo 625 de Aguadilla, Finca 33457. Registro de la Propiedad de Aguadilla. La hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 195 vuelto del tomo 625 de Aguadilla, Finca 33457. Registro de la Propiedad de Aguadilla. Inscripción segunda. La modificación de hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 71 del tomo 641 de Aguadilla, Finca 33457. Registro de la Propiedad de Aguadilla. Inscripción quinta. La demandante es la tenedora por endoso, por valor recibido y de buena fe del referido pagaré objeto de la presente acción. Se interpela a los demandados para que acepten o renuncien a la herencia de la causante dentro de los 30 días subsiguientes a la fecha que fuesen emplazados o requeridos que contesten, para darle cumplimiento el Artículo 1578 del nuevo Código Civil de Puerto Rico, 31 L.P.R.A. § 11021, entendiéndose que, si no se expresan dentro de dicho término, aceptan el caudal relicto; la renuncia se hará por instrumento público o por escrito judicial. La parte demandada deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda, radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la contestación a la abogada de la parte demandante, Lcda. Belma Alonso García, cuya dirección es: PO Box 3922, Guaynabo PR 00970-3922, Teléfonos: (787) 789-1826 y (787) 708-0566, correo electrónico: oficinabelmaalonso@gmail.com, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, hoy, 4 de abril de 2024 en Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. SARAHÍ REYES

PÉREZ, SECRETARIA. ARLENE GUZMÁN PABÓN, SUBSECRETARIA.

Sudoku

How to Play:

Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Answers on page 23

Wordsearch

Word Search Puzzle #S640ON

R S S K A O S S D R I B S G

E R I F N O B E F R I E N D

C I N Y C I O V E R T U R E

O C E L E G G I N G L I A V

U R T D P F G H Y S N S W A

P A T R O N E R T S L P T C

E M I A I F G N I D L A C S

D S M T N A D N I M E R L E

M S S S T C G T N P M W E K

T H H B E A E U D I S E R U

A H A R R D R O H C A E R B

K C R T S E I T T U N D A E

E O K E E A H S S A P Y B R

R U O T E D E Z A M A Q Z B

Amazed Asides

Barrel

Befriend Birds Bonfire Breach Bypass Caved Crams

Cynic Detour Error Facade Foams Grimmer Hated Herbs Knight Legging Nuttiest Overture Pointer Prism

Rebukes Recouped Remind Residue Rinsing Scalding Shark Slung Smell Smitten Soaks Spine Stingier Stout Taker Tarts Three Warns Weedy Wraps

Santurce is on the verge of its first women’s volleyball title

By THE STAR STAFF

The Cangrejeras of Santurce (3-0) won the third game of the 2024 final series of the Women’s Superior Volleyball League (LVSF) against the Atenienses of Manatí (0-3) on Saturday night to move one win away from the San Juan franchise’s first islandwide title.

Santurce held off a late challenge by the visiting team for a straight-sets victory with scores of 25-16, 25-22 and 25-21 in the match held at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Hato Rey.

With the third set tied at 21-21, Andrea Rangel attacked for the point to give Santurce a one-point lead. Czech Helena Havelkova then finished by breaking the Atenienses’ block to make the score 23-21. A shot by Manatí’s Karla Santos fell outside the lines to set up match point for the Cangrejeras, and Havelkova secured the 25th point and the victory for the capital city sextet.

For Santurce, Havelkova was the top scorer with 20 points, 17 in attacks, two in blocks, and one ace, with 13 digs and 16 assists; McKenzie Adams contributed 11 points, 10 in attacks and one block, with nine digs and 15 assists; Neira Ortiz had nine points,

three in attacks and six in blocks; and Rangel finished with eight points, seven in attacks, with one block and seven digs. Setter Carli Lloyd had 27 assists, 12 digs and four points, all on attacks. The libero and captain of Santurce, Deborah Seilhammer, had 26 digs and seven assists.

For Manatí, Zoe Weatherington scored 14 points, 13 in attacks, with one block and

13 digs; Santos had eight points, seven in attacks, with one block, 13 digs and 19 assists; and María Schlegel of Spain finished with eight points, six in attacks, one with block, one ace, 12 digs and 12 assists.

The final series will continue today at 8:30 p.m. with the fourth game at Juan Aubín Cruz Abreu Coliseum in Manatí.

Before the start of Saturday’s match, a

minute of silence was held for Diana Santiago-Sotomayor, the scoring director of the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation (FPV), who died suddenly last week.

At the conclusion of the match, the final whistle was heard by main referee Arnaldo Piñero, who officiated his last game after four decades on local and international volleyball courts. “Grandpa”, as everyone affectionately knows Piñero, was congratulated by his colleagues, players, coaches and other volleyball personalities present at Clemente.

The final series is being broadcast in its entirety on WIPR Channel 6, https://wipr.pr/ envivo/ and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wiprtv.

FINAL SERIES RESULTS/SCHEDULE:

Sunday, April 14: Manatí (1-3) Santurce

Wednesday, April 17: Santurce (3-2) Manatí

Saturday, April 20: Manatí (0-3) Santurce

Monday, April 22: Santurce at Manatí, 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 24: Manatí at Santurce, 8:30 p.m. (if necessary)

Friday, April 26: Santurce at Manatí, 8:30 p.m. (if necessary)

Sunday, April 28: Manatí at Santurce, 7:00 p.m. on a neutral court (if necessary)

At this hockey game, the biggest save might have kept a boy alive

By ORLANDO MAYORQUÍN

Asia Davis was up late thinking about the harrowing finish to the hockey game the night before, and she decided that she needed to find the man who might have saved her son’s life. So she went on TikTok.

“Out of nowhere this puck comes out of heaven straight toward my son’s head,” Davis said in a TikTok video posted early Saturday, April 13.

She had taken her son and a friend to watch the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League play the Laval Rocket the previous Thursday.

Near the end of the game, a rogue puck blasted off the ice, over the glass and into the stands where Nasir, 4, was sitting.

Just as suddenly, Davis said, a man in a backward baseball cap and gray sweater leaned over to swat it away.

Davis credits that man, Andrew Podolak, 28, with saving her son from a life-changing blow, or worse. The puck had come so close that her son had ice chips in his hair, she said.

“I held the puck and felt how heavy it was, and know-

ing how fast it was going, I kind of wanted to throw up,” Davis, 33, said in a phone interview Sunday night.

She thanked Podolak and snapped a picture of him with her son. Her son didn’t realize he had nearly been hit, she said, and he was “over the moon” when he got to keep the puck.

But the disquieting scenario kept running through her mind. She had trouble sleeping.

She needed to know the name of the quick-acting man.

So she turned to TikTok early Saturday for help, posting a video of the close encounter taken by her friend, along with a picture she had snapped of the man and her son.

Davis woke up at around 10 a.m. to more than 600,000 views and a flooded inbox, including one from Podolak.

“He had just said: ‘Everything happens for a reason. I’m glad little man is OK,’” Davis said.

The Monsters organization saw Davis’ TikTok video, which now has more than 4 million views, and invited her, Nasir and Podolak to drop the puck before the team played the Laval Rocket again at home on Saturday evening.

Podolak and Nasir met again, this time on the ice, and amid a swarm of television cameras and microphones.

“I had a couple other kids sitting behind me as well so I just tried jumping in front of it and it was able to deflect off my hand,” Podolak told reporters, referring to the stray puck.

It is rare for a hockey fan to be killed by a puck. In 2002, a 13-year-old girl died after she was struck in the head by a puck at a game in Columbus, Ohio, the only death of a fan in the history of the NHL. Protective netting at each end of NHL rinks was later mandated. The AHL, a feeder league for the NHL, followed suit.

At professional hockey games, announcements typically caution fans to look out for flying pucks. A similar warning is written on the backs of tickets or posted on scoreboards.

On Sunday, Davis said that moments after the flyingpuck incident, Podolak told her that he had just happened to sit next to Nasir even though he also had tickets for other seats.

“‘I was supposed to be here,’” Davis recalled him telling her.

“A couple of people were like, ‘Wow, that was a really close call, that was really lucky,’” Davis said. “But I don’t think it was luck. I think that was fate.”

A win tonight in Manatí would give the Cangrejeras of Santurce their first Women’s Superior Volleyball League championship.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21