Friday to Sunday Apr 28-30, 2023

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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.

JCF: PRASA fiscal plan falls short on sustainability measures

By THE STAR STAFF

The Financial Oversight and Management Board (JCF by its Spanish initials) said this week that the fiscal plan submitted by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) in March violates the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, commonly known as PROMESA, because it fails to list measures to be taken for long-term sustainability.

The oversight board praised PRASA’s efforts since 2018 to stabilize its fiscal condition by implementing gradual rate increases across all customer segments from fiscal year (FY) 2018 to FY 2022, improving collections from government accounts, reprofiling PRASA’s federal debt in 2019, and negotiating refunding agreements for the outstanding senior and senior subordinated debt in 2020 and 2021.

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rate adjustments essential to balancing current and future budgets, but they are also critical to ensuring PRASA has enough liquidity to fund its large and ambitious CIP.”

In the proposed plan, PRASA reaffirms its commitment to reduce water loss levels. However, to date, PRASA has only been able to effectively implement the master meters initiative, which accurately measures water production. PRASA must allocate further resources to its leak detection program and other activities directed toward assessing the identified pressure zones.

“While the elimination of the structural fiscal deficit is critical, PRASA must also prioritize its longstanding operational shortcomings, including high levels of nonrevenue water, which drive high operating costs and put water resource availability at risk; inaccurate metering, which limits billing capabilities; and the need for accelerating capital investments to modernize the system and increase its resiliency against severe climate conditions,” the oversight board said in a letter to the water utility this week. “If these issues remain unaddressed, they will preclude PRASA from achieving long-term operational sustainability, which is essential for Puerto Rico.”

The board gave PRASA until May 12 to incorporate the changes and present a new fiscal plan, which is the blueprint for its future operations.

The measures included in the plan focus on rate adjustments, meter replacements, electricity expense savings, physical water loss reduction and the use of federal funds to invest in PRASA’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP), but only 23% of the projected net benefits (FY 2023-FY 2028) from the measures in the proposed plan are related to operational efficiency measures. In contrast, 77% of projected benefits are derived from the remaining fiscal measures, such as rate adjustments and the maximization of federal funds.

“Assuming PRASA effectively implements all measures except the rate adjustments, which project 2% annual rate adjustments across all customer segments, PRASA would incur a deficit of approximately $320 million over the fiscal plan period (FY2024-FY2028). Therefore, it is imperative that PRASA’s revenue projections continue to incorporate a minimum of 2% and up to a maximum of 5% in rate adjustments with a cumulative rate increase cap of 30%,” the oversight board said. “Not only are these

The plan also fails to include measures to ensure PRASA makes a transition to drawing energy from renewable sources. Since PRASA entered the photovoltaic power purchase agreements (PPOAs) back in 2011 and 2012, it has had the benefit of electricity costs at $0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and an annual renewable energy consumption of around 10 million kWh (2% of its total annual energy consumption).

However, the oversight board said PRASA did not provide details regarding the second generation of photovoltaic projects and deferred to the 10-year master plan for any new energy project. “The Oversight Board has repeatedly recognized that PRASA is highly sensitive to fluctuations in electricity rates,” the board said. “As such, PRASA must pursue a more accelerated approach to stabilize and subsequently reduce its second largest operating cost: electricity.”

To mitigate the risks from the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB)-approved electricity rates and its reliance on the LUMA Energy/Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority/Genera PR grid, PRASA must commit to identifying feasible renewable energy projects in the 10-year master plan, and to initiating the procurement process to implement feasible renewable energy generation projects and other cost-reduction initiatives, the oversight board said.

The Financial Oversight and Management Board gave the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority until May 12 to revise and present a new fiscal plan, which is the blueprint for its future operations.

NPP lawmaker seeks probe into alleged political harassment stemming from PDP presidential race

By THE STAR STAFF

The New Progressive Party (NPP) alternate minority leader in the island House of Representatives, Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló, filed a resolution this week to investigate allegations by former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla regarding cases of political persecution in the municipalities.

García Padilla said Popular Democratic Party (PDP) municipal employees are being politically harassed as part of the primary contest for the PDP presidency.

Three candidates are running for PDP president: Morovis Mayor Carmen Maldonado González, Villalba Mayor Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, and Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González.

House Resolution 980 introduced by Rodríguez Aguiló orders the House Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Committee to investigate “the possible commission of crimes or ethical violations related to behaviors of threats, discrimination, and political persecution, and any other act of corruption following the accusations made by former Governor Alejandro García Padilla about what could be considered political persecution within the Municipalities whose Mayors belong to the Popular Democratic Party.”

Rodríguez Aguiló said “political persecution or

reprisals for association have no place in our justice system.”

“Our Constitution is clear and forceful,” he said. “With this resolution, we want the committee to investigate in depth the assertions of ex-governor García Padilla that point to the commission of crimes against the labor rights of various municipal public employees with the same diligence with which the legislative majority sent

down a resolution to investigate the possible commission of crimes or ethical violations in a political event.”

Similarly, he urged public officials to step forward in denouncing acts of persecution or reprisals based on association.

“Public employees must be sure that their rights are watched over and protected,” the NPP lawmaker said. “Any irregularity or illegal action has to come to light and have consequences, wherever it comes from.”

Meanwhile, NPP Vice President Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, along with Reps. José Aponte Hernández and Víctor Parés Alicea, invited Maldonado González to reveal the alleged “skeletons in the closet” of her two opponents in the May 7 special election.

During a debate between Maldonado González, Ortiz González and Hernández Ortiz, the Morovis mayor said “a leader like me does not have skeletons in the closet to monitor other political parties.”

“Yesterday [Wednesday] the mayor of Morovis said her rival candidates for the presidency of the Popular Party have ‘skeletons in the closet’ around the issue of corruption,” Méndez Nuñez said. “She basically said that Ortiz and Hernández cannot lead that party because they have corruption issues. That is a strong assertion that deserves an explanation regarding what issues are behind these candidacies.”

Bill filed to beef up police forces in towns with ’auxiliary’ officers

By THE STAR STAFF

Speaker of the House of Representatives Rafael Hernández Montañez on Thursday filed House Bill 1715, which seeks to transfer to the island’s municipalities the responsibility of providing security, protection and investigation services, through collaborative agreements, to unify the police force and guarantee the corresponding

financing.

In addition, the measure, which was co-authored by the chairmen of the House Public Safety and Municipal Autonomy committees, Luis Ortiz Lugo and Juan José Santiago Nieves, respectively, creates the figure of the “auxiliary policeman,” who will be a professional with greater training, authority and responsibility in law compared to security guards, and who will assist the police when a violation of a criminal law arises by arresting the suspect.

“The only permanent solution is to continue with the economic recovery to prioritize security, strengthen this workforce, including its specialized units, and unify the police force to expand the number of troops in each region,” Hernández Montañez said at a press conference in Dorado.

House Bill 1715 has two fundamental purposes: 1) to transfer security, protection and investigative services to municipal governments, and 2) to authorize municipal governments to establish collaborative agreements with security agencies and create the rank of “auxiliary police.”

The House speaker stressed that the next budget will include an item to strengthen technological resources to combat crime, such as specialized drones, the Shotspotter system, body cameras, facial recognition technology, artificial intelligence and GPS tracking systems, among other things.

House Speaker Rafael Hernández Montañez

Former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla

Energy Bureau launches probe into slow-paced Tranche 1 green energy tender

By THE STAR STAFF

The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB), the regulator of the island’s energy sector and the entity in charge of implementing renewable energy policy, on Thursday announced it will investigate the processes related to the Tranche 1 tender to determine if it is in line with the island’s renewable goals and to hold accountable the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) officials who work directly with power purchase agreements.

The Tranche 1 tender, launched in February 2021, consisted of the procurement of 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable

energy capacity and 500 MW of battery storage. The PREB this week extended to May 31 the deadline for the closing of nine of the 23 renewable and battery storage contracts for Tranche 1 slated to expire this week. The rest of the contracts will expire in mid-June. The process to close the contracts was delayed because the service providers sought amendments to contract terms in order to accommodate inflation and pricing changes. PREPA officials also blamed LUMA Energy for the delay as it failed to provide information on interconnection costs.

Despite the problems, PREPA closed seven of the nine contracts slated to expire April 26. One of the contractors, which has two contracts, decided to use the extension to negotiate certain interconnection matters with LUMA Energy, but it expects to close by the new May 31 deadline, the STAR learned. Four of the proponents dropped out of the process.

“In view of the fact that the delays associated with Tranche 1 of renewable energy and storage projects could affect the legal goals in the short, medium and long term, known as the Renewable Energy Portfolio, and being the entity in charge of supervising and ensuring the compliance with the Renewable Energy Portfolio, the Energy Bureau rules that it is necessary to carry out a comprehensive investigation of all the processes

related to Tranche 1, including the officials of the Electric Power Authority and any other electric service company that in some way or another participated and/or made decisions regarding Section 1,” the PREB resolution reads.

PREB Chairman Edison Avilés Deliz said the bureau, through the integrated resource plan, an adjudicative process and with citizen participation, followed the path to achieving the goals of the Renewable Energy Portfolio that Puerto Rico’s public energy policy requires. He said the contracts for the Tranche 1 projects should have closed already.

“The action plan to obtain the necessary renewable energy is based on a competitive process for the acquisition of energy divided into six tranches within a period of three years,” he said. “The first section began on February 22, 2021 and has not yet finished,” he said.

The PREB, in accordance with the provisions of Article 6.11 of Law 57-2014 and Section 15.01 of Regulation 8543, put Gerardo A. Flores, a lawyer, in charge of the probe. He will have the power to administer oaths and take depositions, issue subpoenas, receive and evaluate documents, preside over the hearings, hold conferences to simplify procedures, and use the mechanisms provided by the law to investigate.

Labor Dept. opens process to apply for wage incentives

By THE STAR STAFF

The Department of Labor and Human Resources on Thursday announced the opening of the application period for wage incentives under the Fund for the Promotion of Job Opportunities created under Law 52 of Aug. 9, 1991, as amended.

Among the fund’s purposes is to promote the creation of job opportunities, maintain existing jobs and modify compensation in situations that may lead to the possible loss of jobs, Labor and Human Resources Secretary Gabriel Maldonado González said.

“For the administration of Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, it is essential to continue encouraging our small and medium-sized enterprises, as the backbone of the economy, so that they continue to create jobs and reach their full potential,” Maldonado González said. “Although we know the great challenges that employers in all industries currently have in

hiring and retaining talent, these funds under Law 52 will allow many companies to have a more robust workforce, maintaining or creating additional and better-paying jobs. We invite employers from the private and public sector to participate in the orientation course so that they know the details of the program and how to apply and benefit from it.”

Any entity wishing to submit proposals must take the compulsory workshop that will be offered virtually and in person. In the virtual modality, the workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2 through the Microsoft Teams platform. The face-to-face workshops will be offered next Wednesday through Friday, May 3, 4 and 5, in the Santiago Iglesias Pantín Room located in the central building of the Department of Labor and Human Resources in Hato Rey. All training sessions will be from 9 a.m. to noon.

Those intending to participate in the course must register on or before Monday, May 1 by accessing the following link: http://qrs.ly/2jer9ox. It is important to note that managers

will not be allowed to take the orientation workshop. For more information, contact via email: ley52@trabajo.pr.gov.

power bills

By THE STAR STAFF

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia, along with acting Family Secretary Ciení Rodríguez Troche and Alberto Fradera Vàzquez, who heads the Family Socioeconomic Development Administration, announced the beginning of the application process for the federal program that will provide economic assistance to citizens and families under the pover-

ty level established by the guidelines of the federal government, who have arrears in the payment of their electricity bills, and have received notice of suspension or disconnection.

The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) allocated some $27 million to Puerto Rico this year.

“Today we are announcing the start of the application process for the economic assistance program for

low-income individuals and families for the payment of electric service,” the governor said at a press conference. He said the program could provide up to $900 in assistance to eligible families.

Rodríguez Troche added that the priority is to help low-income families facing multiple challenges, while Fradera Vázquez pointed out that the program is an essential form of aid to alleviate the economic burden of overdue electricity bills and avoid power outages.

Families may qualify for up to $900 in federal help to pay

NEPR Chairman Edison Avilés Deliz

Labor and Human Resources Secretary Gabriel Maldonado González

Ceiba’s elderly show off items made with recycled materials

By THE STAR STAFF

Citizens at the Municipality of Ceiba’s Center for the Elderly on Thursday displayed women’s dresses, fans, flip-flops, vases, lamps and a quilt they had made with recycled materials.

“Surprised by my elders; they always make a great effort in every event in which they participate,” Ceiba Mayor Samuel Rivera Báez said in a written statement. “Today, they showed us, once again, the potential they have and continue to contribute to society. They fill me with energy, they infect me with their joy and it is always an honor that they allow me to be part of their activities.”

The dressmakers made their creations

to their own size and had the opportunity to model them in the town’s public square.

All the items created by center participants were also exhibited on several tables.

The items were made with the aim of carrying a message, a call for environmental protection, as part of the celebration of Planet Earth and Recycling Month.

Participants used newspapers, cardboard, plastic, thread and pieces of cloth, among other things.

The eastern town’s senior center has 55 active participants who receive day services Monday through Friday, and another 45 participants who receive services in their homes. The center has spaces available to add members ages 60 and older. Those interested can contact 787-885-2180 ext. 202.

Over 200 groups join Sen. Gillibrand in urging PR’s inclusion in SNAP

By THE STAR STAFF

More than 200 groups, including the Puerto Rico Food Security Coalition and the Hispanic Federation, on Thursday joined U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in demanding that Puerto Rico be included in the SNAP food program.

“For more than 40 years, Puerto Rico has been unfairly excluded from SNAP, resulting in billions of dollars in lost aid and reduced nutritional benefits for more than one million Puerto Ricans,” said Gillibrand, who is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and seeks to include the legislation in this year’s Farm Bill, at a press conference. More than 200 organizations signed a joint statement calling on Congress to approve Puerto Rico’s transition to

the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2023. The legislation would be included in the 2023 Farm Bill, providing island residents with equity in nutritional benefits offered in the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Currently, Puerto Rico receives a limited federal grant through the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN by its Spanish acronym), hindering its ability to respond to needed changes. The PAN has no equivalent to Disaster-SNAP, so disasters or emergencies require new appropriations from Congress.

Lillian Rodriguez López, lead organizer for the Puerto Rico Food Security Coalition, said Congress is negotiating the Farm Bill and “should take this opportunity to end discrimination against U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico by granting them full participation in SNAP.”

US House panel endorses amendments to study Coast Guard’s San Juan Sector needs

By THE STAR STAFF

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives approved two proposals on Thursday that were introduced by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, who is a member of the committee, to study the needs in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for maritime surveillance capabilities, and to confront illicit activity and improve the reporting of drug and migrant interdiction statistics.

The commissioner introduced the proposals as amendments to the replacement bill for the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2023, which had its final consideration hearing, or markup, on Thursday. The measure authorizes funding for the U.S. Coast Guard for the next two fiscal years (2024 and 2025).

“The operations executed by the Coast Guard are of

vital importance to us in Puerto Rico, given the increase in illegal drugs and migratory activity in the Caribbean,” González Colón said. “That’s why I want to thank the committee for including my two amendments that address these critical security issues. The Coast Guard plays a leading role in combating the threats we face from transnational criminal organizations and smugglers operating in the Caribbean. Therefore, it is essential that we ensure that they have the necessary resources to effectively address the increase in illicit maritime activity in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”

The Coast Guard Sector Maritime Domain Awareness for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands amendment would require the Coast Guard to submit a report to the U.S. Congress based on a comprehensive study of the area of responsibility of the Coast Guard sector covering Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, known as San Juan Sector.

The dressmakers made their creations sized to fit themselves and had the opportunity to model them in the Ceiba public square.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón

Biden faces first big choice on debt limit

By JIM TANKERSLEY

This week’s vote by House Republicans to couple deep spending cuts with an agreement to raise the debt limit for one year has put President Joe Biden on the defensive, forcing him to confront a series of potentially painful choices at a perilous economic moment.

Biden has long maintained that he would not negotiate spending cuts or other efforts to reduce the federal debt as part of discussions over raising the nation’s debt limit, which must be raised in order for the United States to keep borrowing money to pay its bills.

But business groups, fiscal hawks and some congressional Democrats are calling on Biden to begin negotiating in earnest toward a deal that would avoid a default on the debt, which could come as soon as June or July.

Biden and his aides now must choose how quickly to engage with Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California — along with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader; Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader; and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader — and on what terms.

The president faces a cascading set of decisions as the nation, which has already bumped up against its $31.4 trillion debt limit, barrels toward default. He will need to find what, if any, common ground on spending cuts he has with Republicans, who do not share his preference for reducing the nation’s debt path largely by raising taxes on corporations and the rich. He will need to determine if he is prepared to sign any debt limit increase that is attached to conditions demanded by House conservatives.

Ultimately, he may need to decide how aggressively to intervene in the delicate politics of House leadership. A potential debt-limit agreement could spur revolt by McCarthy’s most restless members, who laid the groundwork for the current brinkmanship when they held out against McCarthy’s ascension to the speaker’s gavel and retain the power to try to push him out.

As administration officials describe it, they are all complicated choices. Biden and his aides do not want to encourage Republicans to habitually threaten economic collapse under Democratic presidents — and only under Democratic presidents — by allowing them to extract concessions to raise the limit now. They also recognize that a recession set off by default would hammer American families just as Biden is ramping up his reelection campaign, a dangerous scenario for an unpopular incumbent no matter which party voters blame for the default.

Some of Biden’s next steps are clear. To the chagrin of some House conservatives, there was no scenario in which the president would sign the bill that barely cleared the chamber Wednesday. Along with raising the limit, it included spending cuts, new supports for oil and gas drilling and the near-total reversal of Biden’s signature law

meant to fight climate change.

“The president has made clear this bill has no chance of becoming law,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday after the vote. “In our history, we have never defaulted on our debt or failed to pay our bills. Congressional Republicans must act immediately and without conditions to avoid default.”

But that does not mean that Biden will be able to maintain his current posture toward McCarthy indefinitely. .

Administration officials have pushed business groups to pressure Republicans to pass a no-strings debt limit increase. But Wednesday, leading business lobby groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, lauded the House passage of the bill and called on Biden to engage.

“Failing to raise the debt limit would trigger a strong market reaction with severe economic consequences, likely including widespread job losses, decimated retirement savings and serious hardship for millions of American families,” said Joshua Bolten, president and CEO of the Business Roundtable. The group, he said, “is hopeful that today’s vote in the House will jump-start negotiations between Congress and the Biden administration on a bipartisan deal that takes default off the table and begins the hard work of dealing with our deficits and debt.”

White House officials concede that Biden will have to convene negotiations with congressional leaders over taxes, spending and debt before the government runs out

of money to pay its bills. In recent days, the president has suggested an openness to talk fiscal issues with Republicans, with the wink-nod stipulation that they have nothing to do with the borrowing limit.

“I’m happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “That’s not negotiable.” Biden still sees his position in any fiscal talks, and the public debate around them, as a political winner. In the early months of this year, he demonized Republican plans that included cuts to safety-net programs and forced McCarthy to make Social Security and Medicare — the two largest drivers of federal spending growth in the years to come — untouchable in the Republican bill.

More recently, officials across the administration have blasted the Republican bill for potentially cutting spending on popular programs for veterans, students and more. They are able to do that because the bill does not specify where the bulk of its spending reductions would come from, leaving the task to future congressional appropriators.

In a White House memo obtained this week by The New York Times, officials sketch out what they believe that Republicans would have to cut in order to satisfy the spending caps in their legislation, while keeping military spending intact. Over a decade, the reductions would include $500 billion for veterans’ health care, $300 billion from scientific and other research and $100 billion from the early childhood education program Head Start.

Some administration officials privately suggest that a more modest version of spending caps, lasting for a few years at most, could plausibly form the centerpiece of an agreement to continue funding the government and raise the borrowing limit. Some business groups agree, although they would also like to see lawmakers add in a bipartisan effort to streamline government permitting for fossil fuels, clean energy and other projects, which they say would enhance economic growth.

But many House Republicans appear in no mood to move from the bill that passed with only one vote to spare Wednesday, raising the possibility that a deal with smaller spending cuts would need a combination of Republican and Democratic votes to pass the House — and potentially set off an effort by conservatives to depose McCarthy as speaker.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the Freedom Caucus, emerged from a closed-door briefing on the legislation before the vote Wednesday demanding that Republicans refuse to take anything less than their opening offer.

“I wanted double what was in there,” Norman said. “I agreed to vote for it because that starts the ball and gets us in the arena to solve the debt problem. Now I’m not interested in anything coming back, anything but what we voted on.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to reporters after the House passed the debt limit bill at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. After Republicans passed a bill that pairs spending cuts and fossil fuel support with raising the nation’s borrowing cap, the president must decide when and how to negotiate.

In searing detail, Trump’s accuser tells her story

By BENJAMIN WEISER, LOLA FADULU, KATE CHRISTOBEK and KAREN ZRAICK

Writer E. Jean Carroll earlier this week told a Manhattan jury a harrowing story of being raped in the mid-1990s by Donald Trump in a department store dressing room — describing a brutal attack that she tried to fight off by stamping on his foot and that has left her traumatized for decades.

Just before she began testifying in federal court, the former president infuriated the judge overseeing the case by railing against the proceeding on social media. Trump, who has so far avoided the trial, was not there as Carroll related a tale she said she had waited decades to tell.

“Being able to get my day in court, finally, is everything to me,” she said, her shaky voice rising. “I’m happy. I’m glad that I got to tell my story.”

Carroll spoke of an encounter that haunted her and ended her romantic life for good.

“I was ashamed. I thought it was my fault,” she said, describing how she had initially been laughing and joking with Trump after she ran into him at Bergdorf Goodman in Manhattan. “It was high comedy. It was funny, and then to have it turn into the …” Her voice then trailed off.

Carroll, 79, testified on Day 2 of the

civil trial stemming from the lawsuit she filed against Trump last year under a New York law that granted adult sexual assault victims a one-year window to seek redress for long-ago events. Her suit, heard in federal court because she and Trump live in different states, added to a litany of legal action against him.

She is seeking damages for battery in connection with the rape allegations and also for defamation for the attacks he made on her on his Truth Social platform last October, when he called her case a “Hoax and a lie.”

Trump, 76, who has denied Carroll’s allegations, has not said whether he will testify in his own defense and has not appeared in court so far. Seeking to regain the presidency, he was scheduled to make a campaign appearance in New Hampshire on Thursday. But from outside the courtroom, he attacked the proceedings within.

On Wednesday morning, Trump used Truth Social to call Carroll’s case a “made up SCAM” and a “fraudulent & false story,” which led the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of U.S. District Court, to suggest that the former president was trying to influence the jury.

Speaking without the jury present, Kaplan told Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina that Trump’s statements seemed “entirely inappropriate.”

“Your client is basically endeavoring certainly to speak to his ‘public,’” Kaplan

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The U.S. District Courthouse on the first day of E. Jean Carroll’s civil trial against former President Donald Trump in New York, April 25, 2023.

said, “but, more troublesome, to the jury in this case about stuff that has no business being spoken about.”

The judge implied the statements could lead to a contempt sanction by the court.

Tacopina said he would talk with his client, but attacks continued, with Trump’s son, Eric, posting later in the day on Twitter that a prominent backer of Carroll’s case had been motivated by “pure hatred, spite or fear of a formidable candidate.”

The Truth Social and Twitter posts were brought to the judge’s attention by Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan. Tacopina said that he had not seen or been aware of them.

Nonetheless, after Eric Trump’s attack, the judge implied that stronger action might be required.

“Remedies that might be available from this court may not be the only relevant remedies,” he told Tacopina. “If I were in your shoes, I’d be having a conversation with the client.”

Tacopina and Carroll’s lawyer, Kaplan, had no comment after court.

While the former president has so far shunned the courtroom where Carroll’s case is being heard, his accuser relished her chance to speak in an official forum. On the witness stand, she was questioned by one of her lawyers, Michael Ferrara.

“Why are you here today?” Ferrara asked.

“I am here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” Carroll said. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I am here to try to get my life back.”

The courtroom was silent when Carroll testified in excruciating detail about the events that she said took place nearly 30 years ago.

Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, told the jury how she had bumped into Trump as she was leaving Bergdorf’s after work one evening.

“He came through the door and he said, ‘Hey, you are that advice lady,’” she testified, adding that she replied, “Hey, you’re that real estate tycoon.”

She said she was delighted when he asked for her help selecting a gift for a woman. “I love to give advice, and here was Donald Trump asking me for advice about buying a present,” Carroll testified. “It was a wonderful prospect for me.”

They made their way to the lingerie section, where Trump found a bodysuit, directing her to “go put this on.” She declined and said he should put it on instead. She recalled how he motioned her over to a dressing room; she said did not see anybody else in the area.

Once they were inside, Trump immediately shut the door, and the sexual assault began, she said.

“I was extremely confused and suddenly realizing that what I thought was happening was not happening,” Carroll said. She said she didn’t want to anger Trump, explaining, “I didn’t want to make a scene.”

She said she pushed him back and he again shoved her against the wall, banging her head. She described how Trump used his weight to hold her against the wall, then pulled down her tights. Carroll grew emotional as she testified. “I was pushing him back,” she said. “I was almost too frightened to think if I was afraid or not,” she added later.

“His fingers went into my vagina, which was extremely painful,” Carroll testified. Then, she said, he inserted his penis. She testified that she had not had sex since.

Carroll said “visions” of the incident filled her mind repeatedly over the years. “I’ve had them ever since the attack. They were more frequent right after the attack, and they stayed,” Carroll said.

She said that the experience had robbed her of an essential sense of possibility.

“I am a happy person, basically, but I’m aware that I have lost out on one of the glorious experiences of any human being,” Carroll said. “Being in love with somebody else, making dinner with them, walking the dog together.

“I don’t have that,” she said.

Man vs. mouse: Ron DeSantis finds taking on Disney is a dicey business

By CHARLES HOMANS

When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida went to war against The Walt Disney Co. over what he labels its “woke” corporate sensibility and its criticism of state policies, Tim Wildmon was cheering from the sidelines.

Wildmon, the president of the American Family Association, a right-wing religious organization, has more experience in this area than most: In 1995, his organization, which is known for its opposition to LGBTQ rights, rallied a broad coalition of evangelical groups to boycott Disney after it extended family benefits to gay employees.

But since then, Wildmon has learned to temper his expectations. After an early wave of international media attention, the boycott receded from the headlines, and by the time Wildmon officially pulled the plug on it a decade later, it had had little discernible impact on Disney’s policies or revenues.

“It was very difficult to sustain for more than three or four years,” he said. “People move on. They lose interest. Things change.”

And some things stay the same. Almost 20 years later, DeSantis is trying to turn Americans against Disney, one of the most formidable superpowers of American popular culture and commerce. He has also joined the pile-on of another corporate-cultural behemoth, Anheuser-Busch InBev, which incurred a wave of outrage on the right this month over a Bud Light marketing campaign promoting a transgender influencer.

“I’d rather be governed by we the people rather than woke companies, so I believe pushback is in order across the board,” the governor said in a recent interview with Benny Johnson, a right-wing media personality.

Coming as he prepares to run for president, DeSantis’ moves are testing whether changes in Republican politics and in boardrooms have rewritten the rules for anti-corporate campaigns. U.S. businesses are increasingly engaging in social debates, responding to consumer and employee demand. In the Republican Party, meanwhile, the party’s Trump-era populist rhetorical turn and hardening position on gender politics have combined to make corporate America an appealing battlefield for culture warriors.

But taking on Mickey Mouse remains a tricky business. As Wildmon and others can attest, brands of the scale and cultural footprint of Disney have emerged from past boycotts without much of a scratch. And corporations that might have been leery of such fights a generation ago are now more likely to see them as inevitable — and in some cases even a source of market advantage.

In Florida, Disney has proved a wily political foil for DeSantis. After the company criticized a Republican bill in the state Legislature limiting schools’ instruction on gender and sexuality last year, DeSantis tried to strip Disney of the unusual self-governance arrangement it has enjoyed for decades in the state. But his administration appeared to be outmaneuvered when Disney’s representatives found

a workaround.

This month, the governor escalated the dispute by threatening a list of possible punishments. On Wednesday, after a board voted to void agreements that give the company control over expansion at its resort complex, Disney sued in federal court, claiming “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.”

Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, has described the company’s moves as “an attempt to subvert the will of the people of Florida.” Disney, one of the largest employers in the state, has repeatedly described its actions as compliant with state law. Its CEO, Robert Iger, has criticized DeSantis’ actions as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.”

Polls suggest DeSantis’ political success in the debate may hinge on whether he’s viewed as a populist reining in big business or a culture warrior. A Harvard-Harris poll this month found a majority of registered voters nationwide — and a vast majority of Republicans — siding with DeSantis in the showdown. The survey described DeSantis as attempting “to limit Disney’s autonomy” and remove “special tax status.”

But another poll, this one conducted this week by Reuters/Ipsos, found less than half of Republicans had a more favorable view of the governor because of his fight with Disney. And majorities of Democrats and Republicans said they were less likely to support a candidate who supported laws intended to punish companies for their positions on cultural issues.

The episode has been viewed as a weakness by his prospective rivals in the 2024 presidential primary field, in which polls show DeSantis has slipped. On his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump mocked DeSantis for being “absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

In the campaign against Anheuser-Busch, a more conventional boycott without the political complications of government intervention, the backlash has had a clearer impact. In recent days, amid reports of tumbling sales, the company announced that the marketing executives responsible for the promotional partnership with the influencer, Dylan Mulvaney, were on leave.

Other companies that have incurred the anger of consumers on the right and left, however, have generally found the ire to be short-lived. Nike was vilified by Trump and others over its 2018 promotional campaign featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who had faced outrage on the right for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police shootings of unarmed Black people. Nike’s stock fell 3% after the company released its first Kaepernick ad, but within weeks, it had rebounded to a record high.

Nike’s campaign was a signal moment in the shifting politics of corporate America, which has long made common cause with the Republican Party on issues like taxes and regulation but has been drawn into increasingly regular conflict with the party over social issues.

In part, this is because corporations have become more socially liberal in their own policies, reflecting broader trends in public opinion on many issues. When the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent LGBTQ-rights organization, published its first Corporate Equality Index in 2002, only 13 companies received the top score for LGBTQ-friendliness. In 2022, 842 companies did.

“I think it’s something that’s important to their employees, to their customers and to their investors,” said Eric Bloem, the organization’s senior director for programs and corporate advocacy. “It’s all interrelated.”

The Magic Kingdom Cinderella Castle at Disney World in Bay Lake, Fla. on June 4, 2022. The Walt Disney Company is one of the most formidable superpowers of American culture and commerce.

Carbon capture, a technology some doubt, is in for a boost

By BRAD PLUMER

The Biden administration’s plan to limit, for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants could hinge on the ability of plant operators to capture carbon dioxide before it is pumped into the atmosphere.

Yet none of the nation’s 3,400 coal- and gas-fired power plants are currently using carbon capture technology in a significant way, raising questions about the viability of that approach.

In the coming weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose strict new limits on emissions from coal- and natural gas-burning power plants, which are responsible for about 25% of the country’s greenhouse gases. Those emissions are dangerously heating the planet.

While electric utilities could pursue other strategies to reduce pollution, such as switching to wind or solar power, experts say capturing carbon dioxide and burying it underground might be one of the few options for some large coal and gas plants to keep operating while complying with the new rules.

Carbon capture technology has been around for decades, but electric utilities have struggled with its high cost and complexity. And while some insist that it is an essential tool for solving climate change, major hurdles remain.

Carbon capture today

Carbon capture is already used by a num-

ber of industrial facilities, such as ethanol and natural gas processing plants. There are also three coal plants in Maryland, Oklahoma and California that use chemical solvents to trap a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide coming out of their smokestacks, which they sell to companies that make carbonated beverages, among other customers.

But electric utilities have found it difficult to capture large amounts of the carbon dioxide spewing out of coal- and gas-fired power plants. While the technology is fairly well understood, the price tag can be steep, not least because power plants often need to divert a hefty fraction of their electricity to run the capture devices.

In the 2010s, several early projects partly

funded by the federal government were abandoned because of high costs. Only one coal plant in the United States ended up using carbon capture on a large scale: The $1 billion Petra Nova facility in Texas, completed in 2017. It sold the captured carbon dioxide to oil drillers that injected the gas into oil fields to extract more crude. That facility shut down in 2020 when oil prices plummeted, although its owners plan to restart it this year. (There is also one coal plant in Canada that uses carbon capture.)

The biggest hurdle, experts say, is that it’s almost always cheaper to let carbon dioxide waft into the atmosphere than to capture it. Without government limits on pollution or subsidies, utilities are unlikely to go through the trouble.

But last year, that calculus began shifting. Under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress increased existing tax credits that are now worth up to $85 for every ton of carbon dioxide that polluters capture and bury underground, up from a maximum of $50 previously.

That has led to growing interest. The owners of at least six coal plants and 14 large gas plants are conducting detailed engineering studies to gauge the economic feasibility of carbon capture and storage. Calpine Corp., one of the country’s largest generators of electricity from natural gas, is exploring plans to install the technology at four large gas plants in Texas and California.

Future projections

The EPA can’t require that electric utilities use any specific technology to cut emissions. But, in theory, the agency could set limits on greenhouse gases that are so stringent that some coal or gas plants might have to install carbon capture to meet them — or else shut down altogether.

Yet many utilities might still shy away from carbon capture. One recent study by Rhodium Group, an energy research firm, tried to model the potential effects of strict power plant rules and new tax credits. The researchers estimated that only about 20 gigawatts’ worth of coal and gas plants would likely install carbon capture by 2035 — a small fraction of the 700 gigawatts of coal and gas that exists today.

Some utilities might simply find it cheaper

to shutter their large coal and gas plants and get more electricity from wind, solar and batteries, which were also heavily subsidized in the new climate law. In other cases, it might prove easier to modify existing gas plants so that they can run entirely on clean hydrogen fuel that doesn’t produce emissions.

“We just don’t see a lot of carbon capture being deployed in the power sector,” said John Larsen, a partner at Rhodium Group. “It’s not because there are big technical barriers, but because there’s so much competition from other sources.”

Other big hurdles

Even if new regulations and federal subsidies spur renewed interest in carbon capture, the technology faces other obstacles.

Some critics worry that complicated new carbon capture projects are vulnerable to cost overruns that could cause electricity prices for consumers to spike. The cost of one proposed carbon capture project at a large coal plant in North Dakota, for instance, has jumped to $1.45 billion, up from $1 billion five years ago.

Some environmental groups also oppose carbon capture, arguing that it doesn’t do enough to reduce conventional air pollution from power plants and would do little to address leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from natural gas wells and pipelines. Critics have also raised questions about whether the technology actually reduces emissions by as much as advertised, noting that Chevron’s carbon capture facility in Australia has fallen far short of expectations.

“The track record has not been good at all, and that’s being charitable,” said David Schlissel, an analyst for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis who has criticized carbon capture projects.

Some power companies question whether the technology is ready for prime time. Southern Co., an electric utility that has been testing carbon capture for natural gas plants at a facility in Alabama, told the EPA last year that the technology needed further improvements to bring down cost and improve reliability.

Others are optimistic.

“Back in the 1970s, when the EPA set rules for sulfur pollution, there were only three plants in the country with sulfur scrubbers,” said Jay Duffy, litigation director at Clean Air Task Force, an environmental advocacy group. “And by the end of the decade they were widespread. You see this dynamic every time a new pollution regulation comes along.”

Opposition to a carbon pipeline in Hartford, S.D., Dec. 21, 2022. The technology has struggled to gain traction, but strict new emissions limits for gas and coal stations could encourage broader adoption.

Wall St rallies as Meta earnings offset economy worries

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led a Wall Street rally on Thursday as a strong update from Meta Platforms outweighed concerns over slowing U.S. economic growth.

Meta shares soared 14.4% to touch a more than oneyear high after the Facebook owner forecast quarterly revenue above estimate, and as CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI was increasing traffic to Facebook and Instagram and boosting ad sales.

The S&P 500 communication services index rallied 5.2% to lead sectoral gains, and was set for its biggest singleday percentage gain in two months.

Shares of other megacap companies Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc, which reported upbeat results earlier this week, rose while Amazon.com Inc jumped 3.8% ahead of its results after market close.

“When you look at Microsoft and Meta, they really show that the rumors of the Nasdaq’s demise have been greatly exaggerated,” said David Russell, vice president of market intelligence at TradeStation.

“A lot of people wanted to bury technology and say that it was dead forever ... now there’s a good chance that growth trade will come back.”

Expectations for first-quarter earnings have drastically improved, with analysts projecting a 2.4% year-over-year drop for profits at S&P 500 companies versus the 5.1% decline forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Eli Lilly and Co advanced 2.4% on raising its full-year profit forecast, while Comcast Corp rose 7.8% as it beat estimates for quarterly profit, thanks to sustained demand for its broadband services and higher theme park attendance.

Investors appeared to look past data that showed U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter as an acceleration in consumer spending was offset by businesses cutting back on inventory investment.

“If we’re looking to the future, data does seem to be continuing to weaken. The good news is we do think a recession could be mild,” said Brian Klimke, investment director at Cetera Investment Management.

Despite slower growth, which mostly reflected a drag from weak inventory investment, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points next week.

Treasury yields moved higher across the board as investors weighed a showdown over the U.S. debt ceiling with economic data suggesting inflation could remain sticky despite a slowing economy. [US/]

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill to raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling that includes sweeping spending cuts over the next decade. The bill is expected to get stalled in the Senate.

At 11:32 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248.12 points, or 0.75%, at 33,549.99, the S&P 500 was

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up 45.69 points, or 1.13%, at 4,101.68, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 199.09 points, or 1.68%, at 12,053.44. EBay Inc climbed 4.6% after the e-commerce company forecast current-quarter revenue above projections.

IVETTE R. GARCÍA CRUZ ABOGADA

A symbol of loss in almost every Ukrainian kitchen

By MARC SANTORA

“Salt gave us work and salt gave us life,” said Ruslan, a salt miner turned soldier.

Ruslan, 45, was working 1,000 feet below the earth in one of Europe’s largest salt mines when the Russians launched their full-scale invasion. Almost a year later, he was fighting near the ruined city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine when the Russians took control of his nearby hometown, and the mine with it.

“I can’t even describe that feeling now,” he said when asked to recall how he felt when the town, Soledar, was lost. “Everything dear to me, everything I loved, worked for, and dreamed about was shattered in an instant.”

Soledar — which means gift of salt — fell in January, allowing the Russians to step up their assault on Bakhmut, about 40 miles to the south. The small town, with only 10,000 residents before the attack, also held a special place in Ukraine’s economy and history.

The mine provided more than 90% of the country’s salt, and its operator, the state-owned company Artemsil, exported salt to more than 20 countries. Now Ukraine is relying on imported salt for the first time in its modern history.

But the country’s connection to its salt runs deeper than economics: It is a matter of national pride. Nearly every home had a package of salt from Soledar. Salt was among the first resources that made the eastern Donbas region famous for its mineral wealth.

The remnants of more than a century of mining were spectacular, too — excavations more than 1,000 feet deep, linked by more than 200 miles of tunnels, and caverns with cathedral-like roofs big enough to host orchestral concerts, a soccer match and even a hot-air balloon. The Soledar mine had become a tourist attraction, complete with a sanitarium built around the unproven health benefits of breathing saltinfused air.

Soon after the Russians launched their invasion, Soledar came under withering bombardment. Ruslan, whose job was to ensure fresh air in the mines, recalled how they raced to get enough salt from the earth to replenish the national strategic stockpile before shelling forced the company to suspend operations in late April last year.

The salt disappeared from store shelves last summer, but

20 tons of stock that the government and the company managed to recover is now being sold within Ukraine to raise money for the war effort. Its packaging is based on a widely shared illustration by designer Artem Gusev that turned Artemsil’s salt-crystal emblem into a Ukrainian trident and replaced the word “salt” (“sil”) with “strength” (“mits”).

When Artemsil became aware of the illustration, it saw the chance to “add a little bit of strength to every Ukrainian,” said its head of communications, Volodymyr Nizienko. According to the government platform handling the sales, United24, the campaign has raised more than $1.5 million.

The money cannot replace the more than 2,500 jobs lost, or rebuild what the bombardment destroyed, but it will buy drones for the Ukrainian military to attempt to win the town back.

The destruction of Soledar was part of Russia’s broader targeting of Ukraine’s economy. The occupation of Enerhodar — a town whose name means gift of energy, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant — helped the Kremlin turn Ukraine from an energy exporter into a country struggling to meet its own power needs.

Russian occupation of lands used to produce wheat, corn and sunflower oil — normally Ukraine’s top exports — has devastated the agricultural sector. The wreckage of Azovstal, the Mariupol plant where Ukrainian soldiers held out for months, is a testament to Russia’s decimation of the nation’s steel industry. And port blockades throttle what remains.

Before Soledar fell, the town’s annihilation was mostly complete.

“Everything has been completely destroyed; there is almost no life left,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in early January. “The whole land near Soledar is covered with corpses of occupiers and scars from

strikes. This is what madness looks like.”

Ruslan, who now goes by the call sign Miner, learned of the Ukrainian forces’ withdrawal from Soledar from friends as he was fighting in the forest belt north of Bakhmut, near the village of Pidhorodne.

He had a hard time putting into words the brutality of the Russian onslaught there, calling it “a nightmare.”

“Wagner group fighters were attacking us constantly; we didn’t have enough ammunition,” he said, speaking by telephone from a position in a different part of the country. His full name is being withheld for security reasons since he is still on active duty. “Not all of us survived, but we accomplished all the tasks and defended the place.”

He paused. “To be honest, it was hell,” he said.

It was the head of the mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who released a video on Jan. 12 trumpeting the fall of Soledar — the most significant Russian territorial gain in months. He claimed he was filming his victory speech in the salt caverns.

The symbolism was potent, and contested by the Ukrainians: Officials and workers from Artemsil said the backdrop looked like a nearby gypsum mine.

Prigozhin also sought to attribute military significance to the mines, which were rumored to hold an arsenal dating to Soviet times, saying he hoped to make use of both stored weapons and the tunnel network.

The British military intelligence agency said Ukrainian and Russian officials were likely to be concerned about how the other side could use the vast network of tunnels to their advantage.

“Both sides are likely concerned that they could be used for infiltration behind their lines,” it said in a statement.

Ukrainian officials declined to comment on any potential weapons cache. But Viktoria Skrypnyk, chief geologist for Artemsil, said when Soledar fell that the use of the mines for military purposes was unlikely: The shafts are too deep and narrow to easily move military equipment in and out.

Ruslan — who once guided tours through the caverns — said that he had not communicated with anyone in Soledar since the Russians arrived, because there was no one left.

The handful of civilians who remained, he said, were either too old to move or had looked forward to the Russian arrival because they supported Moscow. Any others, he said, had probably been killed.

Ruslan’s wife, son and daughter were evacuated from Soledar before the Russians came, and the family does not know when it will return. Some of his friends have given up on the thought of going home, building new lives in new towns.

“I cannot let it go,” Ruslan said. “I know that we will win it back, we’ll come back there after the victory, we’ll restore everything and will live on.”

In the meantime, he said, his family holds onto a single bag of salt from Soledar, saving it for holidays and the day they can go home again.

Smoke rises from shelling in Soledar, Ukraine on Aug. 26, 2022. The destruction of Soledar was part of Russia’s broader targeting of Ukraine’s economy.

Looting, roadblocks: Paramilitary is a scary neighbor in Sudan’s capital

By LYNSEY CHUTEL and ABDI LATIF DAHIR

In the 12 days since war broke out in Sudan, the residents in the capital of Khartoum have learned to survive, living side by side with armed fighters.

Civilians negotiate with a feared paramilitary faction at roadblocks for safe passage, grudgingly share food and water with them, and sometimes receive warnings about an upcoming battle — giving residents time to either bolt or run back inside and lock their doors.

The fighters have moved into homes and taken over stores and hospitals, alternatively terrifying and wooing civilians. In one neighborhood, a resident said, they handed out milk. In another, they invited community members to share in the spoils of their looting. In another, they turned vigilantes, punishing petty criminals.

Many residents try to avoid the faction as much as possible.

“Apparently they don’t have anyone that gives them orders so they’re just doing their thing,” said Dania Atabani, who lives in Khartoum. “Very dangerous and chaotic.”

The paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, was part of a military-led government as recently as this month, but is now combating the regular army for power in Sudan, a northeast African country of 45 million people surrounded by seven nations.

It has been hard to tell which side is winning in the battle between Sudan’s rival generals and the forces they lead, with the army on Thursday calling the situation in the capital “a bit complicated.”

But as a tenuous cease-fire has held in parts of Khartoum in recent days and the most intense fighting has subsided, a picture has emerged. The U.S.-brokered truce is scheduled to end Thursday night, although there have been calls to extend it for another 72 hours.

Speaking by phone and text message, residents from across the capital said RSF troops appeared to control much of the city center and surrounding districts, along with parts of Khartoum’s twin city, Omdurman, penetrating deep into residential areas. The regular military is positioned farther out, where it controls entry and exit, and can still use its warplanes to carry out strikes on RSF targets.

“The RSF remains hyper-focused on winning Khartoum,” said Alan Boswell, the Horn of Africa project director at the International Crisis Group. “This is the ultimate showdown.”

In the first few days of the conflict, the RSF engaged in fierce fighting in Khartoum neighborhoods like Amarat and Khartoum 2,

close to the city’s international airport, occupying streets where there are many embassies and wealthy residents. They also set up checkpoints in upscale neighborhoods like al-Riyadh, where they placed antiaircraft guns in front of homes to target the circling army planes.

The RSF fighters are usually in groups of five to 20 at checkpoints, residents said, though in the Kafouri neighborhood north of the capital, more than 50 gathered at one point. They usually carry bazookas, Kalashnikov rifles and machine guns, and arrive in Toyota pickup trucks. Some residents said they sometimes even had antiaircraft guns.

“Since the first day, they are spreading through the neighborhoods and they are taking the people as shields,” said Gasim Amin Oshi, an engineer turned activist and community organizer.

The RSF quickly moved into Oshi’s Baitalmaal neighborhood in Omdurman, set up checkpoints on the bridge, then headed straight for the police headquarters, taking it after a short gunbattle. Next, they went for the national radio and television station, then the hospital, a technical school and several buildings. They ransacked the supermarket and looted bakeries. As people evacuated, the fighters began to occupy homes in the neighborhood.

“I can’t move freely, I can’t get my stuff freely. We have a small window to move around in,” Oshi said. In the afternoons, when fighting slows, he risks going out in search of food and medical supplies, but tries not to at-

tract attention since community members said they had been robbed by some fighters.

Oshi belongs to one of the “resistance committees” that make up a grassroots, prodemocracy movement that protested military rule before the current fighting. They have become a lifeline for some residents in Khartoum, distributing food, medicine and cellphone credit. To do this, they have had to learn to play both sides, especially the RSF.

When a source within the RSF warns of a strike to come, or someone within the military or secret services cautions that escalated fighting can be expected, the committee issues a social media alert, Oshi said.

In a largely residential neighborhood in Khartoum, RSF fighters moved into four apartment buildings in one area, turning the streets into a war zone, said a member of the area’s resistance committee, who asked not to be named out of concern for her safety.

She said the committee has had to negotiate with RSF fighters to allow some families to leave, begging their way through checkpoints, where fighters have not asked for money but have asked for water or food. Most residents oblige, trying to survive, the member said.

Others simply hide, living in fear of a force with a terrifying past.

The RSF originated from the notorious Janjaweed militias, which in the early 2000s helped former dictator Omar al-Bashir brutally quash a rebellion in the western region of Darfur. Analysts and Western officials estimate that the unit has 70,000 to 100,000 fighters, and that they are better trained and equipped than the army.

The RSF leader, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, was a commander with the Janjaweed who rose through the ranks to become one of the closest backers of al-Bashir, before turning on him. After al-Bashir was deposed in 2019, Hamdan grew in power and stature, becoming the second-ranking figure behind the army commander, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, now his enemy.

Jihad Mashamoun, a Sudanese researcher and political analyst, said that in the capital, the RSF had been using “hit-and-run tactics to

attack and capture the positions held by the Sudanese armed forces.”

The army, he said, has responded by using its key advantages, which include helicopters, tanks and heavy machinery, to recapture some of those positions.

In some neighborhoods south of Khartoum, the army has the upper hand. The suburb of Abu Adam is close to a military base. Musab Abdullah, 24, a resident there, said he usually saw soldiers in uniform or driving armored vehicles. When he ventures beyond his neighborhood though, RSF checkpoints await.

They are usually searching for weapons or interrogating people to find out if they are linked to the military, Abdullah said. Despite the relative safety of living close to an army barracks, the paramilitary’s reputation terrifies him.

“At any time they could break into my house, kill me or use me as a human shield for them,” he said via text message.

Members of Khartoum’s medical community have felt particularly vulnerable. Rumors abound that the RSF is abducting doctors and nurses, forcing them at gunpoint to treat their wounded fighters. So some doctors have treated people in their homes, but the fear of the RSF has driven many of them out of Khartoum.

The fighters have moved into homes and taken over stores and hospitals, alternatively terrifying and wooing civilians. In one neighborhood, a resident said, they handed out milk.

Effects of climate change intensify in parched East Africa, study finds

By RAYMOND ZHONG

Two and a half years of meager rain have shriveled crops, killed livestock and brought the Horn of Africa, one of the world’s poorest regions, to famine’s brink. Millions of people have faced food and water shortages. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes, seeking relief. A below-normal forecast for the current rainy season means the suffering could continue.

Human-caused climate change has made droughts of such severity at least 100 times as likely in this part of Africa as they were in the preindustrial era, an international team of scientists said in a study released Thursday. The findings starkly illustrate the misery that the burning of fossil fuels, mostly by wealthy countries, inflicts on societies that emit almost nothing by comparison.

In parts of the nations hit hardest by the drought — Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia — climate hazards have piled on top of political and economic vulnerabilities. The region’s string of weak rainy seasons is now the longest in around 70 years of reliable rainfall records. But according to the study, what has made this drought exceptional isn’t just the poor rain, but the high temperatures that have parched the land.

The study estimated that periods as hot and dry as the recent one now have a roughly 5% chance of developing each year in the region — a figure that is poised to rise as the planet continues to warm, said Joyce Kimutai, principal meteorologist at the Kenya Meteorological Department and the study’s lead author. “We’re likely to see the combined effect of low precipitation with temperatures causing really exceptional droughts in this part of the world.”

Climate groups have for years pointed to

the calamity in East Africa as evidence of the immense harm inflicted on poor regions by global warming from emissions of heat-trapping gases. The new analysis could give more ammunition to those urging polluter nations to pay for the economic damage attributable to their emissions.

“This vital study shows that climate change is not just something our children need to worry about — it’s already here,” said Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a think tank in Nairobi, Kenya. “People on the front lines of the climate crisis need, and deserve, financial help to recover and rebuild their lives.”

At United Nations climate talks last year in Egypt, diplomats from nearly 200 countries agreed to establish a fund to help vulnerable nations cope with climate disasters.

“Now we must ensure that the fund is made fit for purpose,” said Harjeet Singh, head of political strategy for Climate Action Network International. “This means rich nations and big polluters paying their share to bring the fund to life and to ensure that adequate money reaches those affected on the ground before it is too late.”

In Somalia in particular, the dryness has compounded the instability caused by years of armed conflict. There, the drought may have

caused 43,000 excess deaths last year, according to estimates issued last month. Nearly half of these were among children younger than 5.

The new analysis was conducted by Kimutai and 18 other researchers as part of World Weather Attribution, a scientific collaboration that tries to untangle the influence of human-induced climate change on specific heat waves, floods and other episodes of extreme weather. The study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, although it relies on methods that are widely used and accepted by researchers.

Scientists know that global warming is increasing the average likelihood and severity of certain kinds of wild weather in many regions. But to understand how it has affected a particular one-off event, they need to dig deeper. It’s like smoking and cancer: The two are undeniably linked, but not all smokers develop cancer, and not all cancer patients were smokers. Each person is slightly different, and so is every weather event.

To determine the effects of global warming on individual weather episodes, climate researchers use computer simulations to compare the global climate as it really is — with billions of tons of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by humans over decades — and a hypothetical climate without any of those emissions.

The authors of the new study examined the drought in East Africa by looking at data on average rainfall over 24 months and during both of the region’s wet seasons, one between March and May and the other between October and December. Their mathematical models showed that climate change had made springtime rains as weak as the recent ones about twice as likely. The models also showed that climate change was having the opposite effect on the fall rainy seasons, making them

wetter. And they indicated no effect on combined rainfall over two-year periods.

A different picture emerged, however, when the researchers looked at both rainfall and evapotranspiration, or how much water leaves the soil because of warm temperatures. Their models showed that global warming had made combinations of high evapotranspiration and poor rainfall as severe as the recent spell at least 100 times as likely as they were before the Industrial Revolution.

Scientists are getting a much better grasp on the atmospheric conditions that lead the rains to fail above the Horn of Africa, and on how global warming might be affecting them.

In recent decades, when the Pacific Ocean has experienced La Niña conditions, the trade winds strengthen and push warm water from the ocean’s eastern end toward its western one. Heat builds up in the western equatorial Pacific around Indonesia, causing moist air to rise from the sea surface and form thunderstorms. This in turn affects the circulation of air above the Indian Ocean, which draws more moisture from the western end of that ocean toward the eastern end, and leaves less to fall as rain above the Horn of Africa.

Climate change has been steadily heating up the surface of the western Pacific, which amplifies this sequence of events and increases the odds of poor rains in East Africa during La Niña periods.

Improved scientific understanding has helped forecasters predict the recent weak rainfall in East Africa months in advance, said Chris Funk, a climate scientist and director of the Climate Hazards Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“That’s light-years ahead of where we were in 2010 or 2016,” he said, referring to years that preceded past droughts in the region.

Families displaced by drought at a camp in Baidoa, Somalia, Nov. 4, 2022.

The dramatic, comic, tragic, true-life story behind the death of DVD.com

By PAMELA PAUL

Netflix, which has been struggling recently, announced last week that on Sept. 29 it will cease its 25-year-old DVD-by-mail delivery business to focus on its streaming service. Whereas most functioning members of 21st century culture greeted the news with indifference or puzzlement — “People still use DVDs?” — the announcement hit me with a jolt of dread and dismay.

In the face of pity from viewers of all ages, I’ve boasted for years, perhaps with a touch of hyperbole, of being the last paying subscriber of DVD.com, the spinoff division Netflix created in 2011. I was the kind of fullthrottle loyalist who actively urged others to switch back to the vestigial anomaly that was DVD.com — the OG Netflix, to those of us who lived and breathed during the previous century. I also refused to upgrade. A colleague once went so far as to set up an HBO Max trial account for me and shove it into my inbox. “You’ll be converted,” he said with the assurance of someone who understands accepted behavioral norms.

But I had been happy bucking the norm! My devotion to DVD.com is not about Luddite resistance or stubborn nostalgia. It’s a choice and it’s about better choices. Choice in all senses of the word — about simultaneously expanding and narrowing my options, about active decisions over passive ones, about human curation as

opposed to the algorithm.

Let me explain. Netflix pays for streaming rights to films and programs it does not own the rights to, which means that films come and go on the service according to the terms of those contracts. But DVD.com offered all its movies and TV shows at all times. Last week, for example, I watched two movies not currently available on Netflix: 1979’s “The China Syndrome” and 1980’s “Altered States,” both period paranoia fare and reflective of the sort of niche moods and obsessions that populate my maxed-out 500-disc-long queue. If I want to go deep into Albert Finney, I can line up nearly every film of his, from “Tom Jones” to “The Gathering Storm.” I can toggle movies upward if I grow impatient to see something I added three years earlier.

Or I can allow for serendipity — movies appear in my mailbox that I barely remember adding in the first place. I can play a kind of guessing game around what precipitated a particular whim. Was it Jeanne Moreau’s obituary? A retrospective at MoMA? The site’s regularly maintained “forthcoming release” page, which I checked religiously? During the service’s glory days, you could easily sort movies by country of origin and display them in chronological order. The Criterion Collection was in there, sure, but so was “Alien³” You could add notyet-available movies to a special “saved” section when you’d missed the theatrical release or before an old film existed on DVD.

video store with a desperate “Everything must go!” sign in its window, the service starts to decline as employees are laid off. On DVD.com, the “coming soon” feature disappeared a few years ago and the responses to my forlorn emails to customer service essentially said, “Yeah, sorry.” Like a half-empty shelf in aisle 4, the new “user interface” eliminated the drop-down menu of foreign movies by language; the once assiduously updated “new releases” became a vague “new and popular.”

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The choices were broader but my options were narrower, because on my subscription plan, I would have only four movies available to me at any given time. When I visited homes that subscribed to every streaming service from Amazon Prime to Disney Plus, I felt paralyzed by the surfeit of possibilities, like Robin Williams floored in the coffee aisle in “Moscow on the Hudson” (available, yes, on DVD.com). As psychologist Barry Schwartz documented in his seminal book “The Paradox of Choice,” more is, in fact, often less — having too many options can send us into a tailspin.

I started on Netflix’s DVDs 20 years ago, while I was dating the man who became my husband, an early customer of what was then known simply as Netflix. This was well before streaming led the company to spin off DVD.com like a discarded training bra, a source of shame to what had become an entertainment behemoth. He allowed me into his account the way a boyfriend offers a spare dresser drawer. Tentatively at first, I added movies I wanted to watch to his queue. Soon I was working the list, pushing my choices ahead of his.

“Did you delete my Buster Keaton?” he’d ask while I pretended to clean out the refrigerator. As happens with any long-married couple, we eventually worked it out in that I essentially took over the account and he moved on to more advanced technologies.

There is a cost to clinging to products and services as they shuffle off into obsolescence. Like a mom-and-pop

When the portable DVD player that I perched on the elliptical machine in my basement petered out after 12 workhorse years last winter, I excitedly ordered a new one. “Surely it will be better than the old jalopy!” I told myself. But companies have few incentives to upgrade dying technology. My replacement DVD player offered fewer amenities than its predecessor. It mutters out movie dialogue reluctantly, barely exceeding the swooshing sounds of the elliptical treads.

Here I must make a confession: I am not, in fact, impervious to the lure of streaming. My secret affair started during lockdown with an Apple TV+ account I rationalized as “part of the computer.” I soon added a press account or two for streaming services because I “needed them for work.” When I watch films or series on these services I tell myself it is purely part of covering the culture and not actively participating in it. The truth is, I have started enjoying these services. Delete this paragraph after reading.

So yes, I have been slightly cheating on DVD.com. But I’m still not ready for the relationship to end. My alternative partners look as unappealing as photo-less profiles on an astrology-based dating app: I do not want to watch movies on an iPad, where all kinds of notifications may interrupt. Streaming movies don’t include fun DVD extras like deleted scenes, director commentaries and original trailers. Surely, I would never actually buy DVDs for movies I want to watch just once. I pity anyone who has missed out on the pleasures of DVD.com, just as I pity the kids who never knew the joys of Le Video or the original Kim’s Video or even an especially well-stocked Blockbuster. You still have five months left.

Dr. Ricardo Angulo Publisher

POR CYBERNEWS

SAN JUAN – El gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi

Urrutia anticipó el jueves que si el Senado no reconsidera la colgada al nombramiento de la directora ejecutiva de la Oficina de Innovación y Servicios de Tecnología (PRITS), Nannette Martínez Ortiz, la va a mantener como funcionaria del gobierno.

“No me voy a adelantar a los eventos, pero yo no voy a perder a ese recurso, si ella quisiera continuar la laborando en el gobierno. Pero otra vez, no me quiero adelantar porque entiendo que tiene los votos”, dijo el gobernador a preguntas de la prensa.

“Este asunto se debe reconsiderar a principios de la otra semana, porque llora ante los ojos de dios que una persona capacitada como Nannette Martínez, la segunda que se le presenta al Senado caiga en este Vía Crucis. Esta fuera de lugar estar votando a base de Regla de Caucus. ¿Qué es lo que pasa, que no se atreven permitir que voten de acuerdo a su conciencia los miembros de su delegación? Esas no son formar de tratar a los seres humanos decentes que quieren servirle al pueblo de Puerto Rico”, añadió.

Según el gobernador, si reconsideran la votación, Martínez Ortiz debería tener 15 votos.

Con 12 votos a favor y doce en contra (porque faltaron tres senadores del Partido Nuevo Progresista), el Senado votó sobre el informe negativo de la Comisión de Nombramientos. Al ser un empate, el presidente del Senado, José Luis Dalmau Santiago determinó que el nombramiento quedaba colgado. El Senado recesó los trabajos hasta el martes dos de mayo.

Martínez Ortiz, nominada por el gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia en marzo de 2022, iba a sustituir a Enrique Völckers Nin, cuya nominación fue presentada y retirada varias veces por el gobernador hasta ser rechazada por el Senado el 3 de enero de 2022.

Dalmau Santiago dijo en comunicación escrita: “El informe de la Comisión de Nombramientos negativo… fue rendido ante este Senado en Secretaría hace tres sesiones atrás”, en respuesta al senador del Partido Nuevo Progresista, Carmelo Ríos.

El informe señala la falta de información “clara y precisa” sobre el manejo de la dependencia pública y la distribución de recursos públicos para la prestación de servicios contratados, lo que impide aprobar la confirmación de Martínez Ortiz, a juicio del presidente senatorial.

Además, subraya la importancia de que las entidades públicas mantengan información actualizada para ga-

rantizar transparencia y rendición de cuentas. El informe concluye la recomendación de rechazar la designación de Martínez Ortiz como Directora Ejecutiva de PRITS. El nombramiento de Hiram Torres Montalvo como secretario del Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor se discutirá en una sesión posterior, mientras que el Senado recesa.

UPR enfrenta déficit de 27 millones de dólares para el año fiscal 2023-2024 pese a recortes

POR CYBERNEWS

E L CAPITOLIO – El presidente de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR), doctor Luis Ferrao Delgado, informó el jueves que la institución enfrenta un déficit de 27 millones de dólares para el año fiscal 20232024, pese a reducciones en gastos y nóminas.

“Aun con las reducciones en gastos de nóminas y otros ahorros, el presupuesto del Fondo General de la Institución es insuficiente”, señaló Ferrao Delgado en una vista pública de la Comisión cameral de Hacienda que estudia el presupuesto para el próximo

año fiscal. La UPR confía en cubrir el déficit mediante fondos de autogestión en sus unidades universitarias.

El déficit afecta principalmente a la UPR de Río Piedras, el Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez, el Servicio de Extensión Agrícola, el Recinto de Ciencias Médicas y las unidades de Utuado, Carolina, Arecibo y Ponce. Para el año fiscal 2023-2024, la UPR ha solicitado un presupuesto de más de 793 millones de dólares.

Ferrao Delgado criticó la interpretación de la Junta de Control Fiscal (JCF) sobre la aportación base de 500 millones de dólares acordada por la Asamblea

Legislativa y el gobierno en el plan de ajuste de la deuda (Ley 53 del 2021). Según el presidente de la UPR, la interpretación de la Junta interfiere con la intención legislativa y considera insuficiente la cifra de 441 millones de dólares aprobada para el año fiscal 2022-2023.

La vista pública también contó con la participación de directivos de la Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño y el Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, quienes denunciaron que las partidas presupuestarias recomendadas por la JCF son inferiores a los fondos solicitados para operar de manera óptima.

Gobierno lanza Portal de Rastreo de “safe kits” renovado

POR CYBERNEWS

S AN JUAN – El gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi

Urrutia anunció el jueves, el lanzamiento de un Portal de Rastreo de Equipo de Recolección Forense en casos de violencia sexual, permitiendo a las personas sobrevivientes conocer el estatus de los “safe kits”.

“Este portal permite a las víctimas tener acceso a servicios de apoyo socioemocional e intercesoría legal, y garantiza el movimiento de su ‘safe kit’ dentro

de un marco de tiempo determinado”, dijo Pierluisi Urrutia en declaraciones escritas.

El secretario de Salud, doctor Carlos Mellado López, expresó que la plataforma “brinda información segura, centralizada y precisa a las víctimas sobrevivientes”.

Se informó que el portal, administrado por el Instituto de Ciencias Forenses (ICF), ofrece herramientas de información y guías para la persona sobreviviente, y protege la identidad de la víctima. La actualización

de la plataforma tuvo un costo aproximado de 800 mil dólares, con un presupuesto recurrente de unos 500 mil dólares.

Se espera que para el último trimestre del año se complete el 100 por ciento de los casos en atrasos en laboratorios externos del ICF. En los próximos meses, se lanzará una aplicación para teléfonos celulares que permitirá a personas tener conversaciones en tiempo real con consejeras del Centro de Ayuda de Víctimas de Violación (CAVV).

Gobernador mantendrá colgada a la directora de PRITS aun si el Senado no reconsidera votación

Work, love, dignity and play: 10 key Harry Belafonte songs

By JON PARELES

Music was the springboard for Harry Belafonte’s lifework: a career that leveraged cultural recognition toward political goals, and that recognized artistic achievements as both pleasures in themselves and symbols to wield.

Belafonte, who died Tuesday at 96, began his career during the 1950s folk revival, a complicated and earnest moment when traditional songs — American and international — were finding new respect, while the pop mainstream was realizing that the old songs had survived because they were as memorable as any hits. The movement was filled with attempts to sanitize, sweeten and orchestrate traditional material, and many have not aged well, coming across now as pretentious or kitschy.

But Belafonte arrived with a voice that could be a tender pop croon or a bluesy near-shout. He had a genuine connection to Caribbean music after spending childhood years in Jamaica with his Jamaican mother; it’s no wonder that he was the one to turn calypso standards into American crossover hits.

Like many folk revivalists, Belafonte dug into the folk song archives at the Library of Congress, and he chose songs with full awareness of their historical implications and heritage. He was pointed in his selections, insisting on the dignity of the African diaspora. He sang work songs, love songs, spirituals, blues, calypsos and, as early as the 1960s, African music. He was also determinedly eclectic; at Carnegie Hall concerts in 1959 that were recorded for a live album, he sang “Danny Boy,” “Hava Nageela” and the Mexican song “Cucurucucú Paloma.”

Belafonte had his commercial peak and his most prolific recording years in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the crest of the folk revival. But he continued to record — trying contemporary pop songwriters, touching back down in folk and world music — while he pursued his many other artistic and political interests. Here are 10 songs from his remarkable career.

“Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” (1955): The clarion intro, with its drumroll and its accelerating “me say day-o,” has been parodied countless times. And the perfectly consonant harmonies from the chorus are probably a far cry from the call-and-response of the folk original. But Belafonte was making a statement by opening an album with a work song about backbreaking drudgery. And the way he shoehorns the foursyllable “tarantula” into a three-note phrase is a triumph of enunciation.

“Jamaica Farewell” (1955): Although this song was from “Calypso,” the 1955 Belafonte album that was a blockbuster in its day, its lilting beat is a Jamaican mento, distilled down to skeletal guitar and bass. Irving Burgie’s lyrics have just enough touristic detail — “Ladies cry out while on their heads they bear/Ackee, rice, salt fish are nice” — to localize a sailor’s wistful goodbye.

“Water Boy” (1956): A very old prison work song, “Water Boy” is stark, long-suffering and proud: “There ain’t no

hammer that’s on this mountain/That ring like mine.” Belafonte sings the first half nearly a cappella with his voice leaping like a field holler, punctuated by choked guitar chords like sledgehammer strokes. Then he eases back, closer to a spiritual and rising toward falsetto, almost otherworldly in his toil and endurance.

“Mary Ann” (1958): On the album “Belafonte Sings the Blues,” the backup group features top jazz musicians and the singing gets loose, frisky and playful. “Mary Ann” is a flirtatious rumba-blues that gives Belafonte room to slide, whoop and break notes — still completely in control, but rambunctiously.

“Cotton Fields (Live)” (1959): Onstage at Carnegie Hall, Belafonte jazzed up a Lead Belly song about farm work and an encounter with the law in this version of “Cotton Fields,” a song that would later get a Creedence Clearwater Revival version. A walking bass line, and then a swinging jazz trio, give Belafonte a backdrop for brash, syncopated, trumpet-like phrasing. He’s reminiscing about childhood until about halfway through when, suddenly, things get tense: “I was over in Arkansas/When the sheriff asks me, what did you come here for?”

“Jump in the Line” (1961): A calypso with an irresistible upbeat groove, “Jump in the Line” claims a lot of different authors in various versions, but seems to have come from Lord Kitchener via Lord Flea. With grainy exuberance over peppy horns and percussion, Belafonte praises the more-or-less Latin dance moves — “cha-cha, tango, waltz or de rumba” — of his girl named “See-NOR-a”; if she was a “Señora,” with a tilde,

she’d be married. On a frenzied dance floor, perhaps no one cares. When Pitbull did an update in 2011, “Shake Senora,” he pronounced the tilde.

“My Angel (Malaika)” with Miriam Makeba (1965): Miriam Makeba discovered and popularized “Malaika,” a wistful love song from East Africa, in Swahili, that she turned into an international hit. This version is from “An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba,” a split studio album of songs in African languages; it’s one of the LP’s two duets. Both singers tiptoe through the melody with the gentlest shared respect.

“Turn the World Around” (1977): Belafonte’s voice had grown huskier when he released “Turn the World Around,” a song he wrote with Robert Freedman, but his energy was undiminished. The lyrics are based on Guinean folklore and reflect on water, fire and mountains. Brisk and intricate, it has a leaping 5/4 beat, assorted global percussion and interlocking, celebratory groups of voices.

“We Are the World” (1985): Belafonte was the littleknown impetus behind “We Are the World,” the all-star 1985 benefit single for African famine relief. To line up a younger generation of performers, he enlisted the music manager Ken Kragen, who got Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to write the song and gathered dozens of other 1980s hitmakers. Modestly, Belafonte didn’t claim one of the lead vocal spots; he just joined the backup chorus. He can be spotted in the video at 4:20 and 5:55, eagerly singing along.

“Paradise in Gazankulu” (1988): There’s mockery and disdain behind the jaunty beat and the major-key, Shangaanstyle accordion chords of “Paradise in Gazankulu,” the title song of Belafonte’s last studio album; he recorded part of it in Johannesburg. Under apartheid — which Belafonte determinedly worked to end — Gazankulu was a so-called “homeland” created to segregate Black South Africans. “I’m just dealin’, trying not to rule you,” he sings, answered by the women: “Oh yeah ha ha ha.” In live performances, outside the restrictions of South Africa, he added, “Free Mandela!” Belafonte’s convictions never wavered.

Harry Belafonte had his commercial peak and his most prolific recording years in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but wove music throughout his remarkable career.

The San Juan Daily Star

From bullets to ‘bird residue,’ the many trials of telescopes

By DENNIS OVERBYE

Few things in science appear to be as delicate or precarious as the giant mirrors at the hearts of modern telescopes. These mirrors — doughnuts of glass meters in diameter, weighing tons and costing millions of dollars — are polished within a fraction of a wavelength of visible light into the precise concavity required to gather and focus starlight from the other end of the universe.

When not at work, they are sheltered in lofty domes that protect them from the distortions of humidity, wind and changes in temperature. But this cannot shield them from all the vicissitudes of nature and humanity, as I was reminded on a recent visit to the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

As my hosts showed off one of their prized telescope mirrors — 20 feet of shiny, immaculately curved aluminum-coated glass — I couldn’t help noticing a small, suspicious smudge. It looked like the kind of smear you might find on your windshield in the morning, especially if you had parked under a tree.

“Birds,” one astronomer grumbled when asked what it was.

It happens all the time, other astronomers say. Michael Bolte, now an emeritus professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, recalled giving the governor of Wyoming a tour of the Wyoming Infrared Observatory, outside Laramie, in 1981. “We went up on the service platform and looked down, and there were bird droppings all over the mirror,” he said. “It looked awful.”

It’s not only birds that can deface a mirror. Mike Brotherton, the current director of the Wyoming observatory, posted a picture on Facebook of frost that had accumulated on his mirror while the dome was open for observation. “It’s hard to keep a mirror pristine,” he said. “It’s a balance between opening to take data and protecting the mirror.”

Bird residue has a special place in astrophysical lore. In the early 1960s, radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert

Wilson, both then at Bell Labs, were trying to calibrate an old horn antenna to study galaxies. In an effort to get rid of a persistent background hum, they shoveled vast amounts of pigeon guano out of their telescope, only to eventually learn that the hum was cosmic: It was the hissing remains of radiation from the Big Bang, and it firmly settled the question of whether the universe had a distinct beginning.

Luckily, such biodegradable insults to the mirrors are temporary and don’t block much light. Observatories periodically wash their mirrors, strip off the old aluminum coatings and apply a fresh layer, which involves removing the mirror from the telescope.

That can be a ticklish operation. Last fall, the 8-meterdiameter primary mirror of the Gemini North telescope, on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, was nicked on its outer edge while being moved for cleaning and recoating. The damage was not to the part of the mirror that collects light, but the telescope’s managers opted to repair it anyway. On March 31, Jen Lotz, the observatory director, reported that the repairs were complete and that the telescope, she hoped, would be back in operation sometime in May.

Some things are less easy to fix. On Feb. 5, 1970, a new employee at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas took a gun to work and opened fire, first at his boss and then several times point-blank at the primary mirror of the observatory’s new 2.7-meter reflecting telescope. Then he went at it with a hammer.

Preliminary reports indicated that the mirror had been destroyed; when the sheriff had arrived, he had noted that it had a big hole in it.

In fact the mirror, of a common type called Cassegrain, was designed and built with central holes to permit light to pass through to instruments behind it.

Nobody was hurt during the assault. And aside from seven small bullet holes, which affected only about 1% of the mirror’s surface area, the telescope was virtually unscathed.

“The telescope resumed its observing program the following night,” the observatory’s director, Harlan Smith of the University of Texas, reported to the International Astronomical Union soon after, “producing some of the best photographs (of quasar fields) so far obtained with this instrument in its first year of use.”

Which is to say, telescope glass is tougher than you think. When I first visited the 200inch Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain in California — a rite of passage for a young science writer — I was startled to discover, looking down the barrel of what was then the world’s largest and most famous telescope, a dinner-plate-size gash left by a tool that a worker had dropped years earlier.

Bolte described a close call at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. He and a colleague were up in the dome, working on a camera in the telescope, when they noticed that the covers that normally protected the mirror were open. They managed to radio down to the floor and get the covers closed.

“We did whatever we were going to do, and were getting ready to come down,” Bolte wrote in a Facebook conversation. “You counted all the tools you took to the prime focus cage and made sure the count on the way up matched the count on the way down. Just as I was saying to Bob, ‘I think we are one tool short,’ a big crescent wrench fell out of the cage and made an incredible racket, smacking the mirror cover.”

The most famous example of what can go wrong with a mirror occurred in 1990, when the Hubble Space Telescope was launched with a misshapen mirror that could not focus.

Astronauts were able to fix it, and Hubble is still going strong. But the episode led NASA to be extra cautious with Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduling extensive tests that vastly increased the telescope’s cost and construction time.

The Webb was launched spectacularly and successfully on Dec. 25, 2021, but space is a shooting gallery, too. The telescope had barely set up shop when it was pelted by a larger-than-expected micrometeorite, which left a tiny crater in one of the telescope’s mirror segments. NASA has since modified its protocols to minimize the amount of time that the telescope is aimed into meteor streams.

And so it goes. The cosmos has a way of guarding its secrets.

Before an observatory can plumb the secrets of the cosmos, it must navigate more humbling challenges.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

DEUTSCHE BANK

NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, FKA

BANKERS TRUST COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATE HOLDERS OF THE VENDEE MORTGAGE TRUST 1996-3, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, GUARANTEED REMIC PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES

Demandante Vs. LA SUCESION DE MARGARET ROSARIO TORRENS COMPUESTA POR SOE Y MONICA, AMBOS DE APELLIDOS RIVERA ROSARIO COMO POSIBLES

HEREDEROS; OSVALDO

RIVERA MELÉNDEZ Y LA CAUSANTE MARGARET ROSARIO TORRENS POR SI Y LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA Y CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm. FCD2015-0137. (406). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. 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 Carolina, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque gerente, giro postal, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América al nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en

mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, el 24 DE MAYO DE 2023 A LAS 10:15 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 número 2 del bloque WR” en la Urbanización Villa Fontana localizada en el Barrio Sabana Abajo en la municipalidad de Carolina, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de 289.28 metros cuadrados, colindando por el Norte, con el solar número 1 distancia de 21.75 metros; por el Sur, con el solar número 3 distancia de 21.75 metros; por el Este, con la calle número 34 distancia de 13.30 metros: y por el Oeste, con los solares número 20 y 21 distancia de 13.30 metros. Enclava una casa de concreto. Consta inscrita al folio 96 del tomo 219 de Carolina, finca número 8201, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Carolina. Propiedad localizada en: Villa Fontana WR2 VIA Donatela, Carolina, PR 00983. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución no está gravada por cargas anteriores o posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante. 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 mínimo de subasta la suma de $36,100.00, 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 Carolina, el 1RO DE JUNIO DE 2023 A LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $24,066.67, 2/3 partes del tipo mínimo establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $18,050.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, el 8 DE JUNIO DE 2023 A LAS

10:15 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 $24,269.04 de principal, intereses al tipo del 12.50000% anual según ajustado desde el día 1ro. de febrero de 2005 hasta el pago de la deuda en su totalidad, más la suma de $3,610.00 por concepto de honorarios de abogado y costas autorizadas por el Tribunal, más las cantidades que se adeudan mensualmente por concepto de seguro hipotecario, cargos por demora, y otros adeudados que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy día 04 de abril de 2023. Gretchen

M. Perez Seda, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA, SALA SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE CAGUAS

LUNA

RESIDENTIAL III, LLC

Parte Demandante Vs.

TOÑITA QUIÑONES

GARCIA Y SU ESPOSO

FERNANDO SANCHEZ

TORRES Y LA SOCIEDAD

LEGAL DE BIENES

GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: CG2019CV04345.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPO-

TECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINEROANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Caguas, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que venderá en pública subasta en la Oficina de Alguaciles, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $82,493.50 de balance principal, más un principal diferido por la suma de $3,552.40, más los intereses adeudados sobre la suma de $82,493.50 al 6.37500% anual, desde el primero de diciembre de 2015 hasta su completo pago; el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad de principal e interés por la suma de $586.04 por concepto de cargos por demora desde el día primero de enero de 2016; más la suma de $9,233.59 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado pactada en la escritura de hipoteca y cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: RÚSTICA: Finca localizada en el Proyecto Jardines de Santa Cecilia, en el barrio Sumidero de Aguas Buenas, antes solares números veintitrés y veinticuatro (23 y 24) de dicho proyecto, compuesto de cero punto ciento ochenta y dos (0.182) cuerdas, equivalentes a setecientos once punto ochenta y ocho (711.88) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en veintiocho punto cero doscientos treinta y uno (28.0231) metros, con la calle A del proyecto, antes en catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros cada uno de los solares antes referidos con la calle A del proyecto; SUR, en veintiocho punto cinco mil ciento cincuenta y uno (28.5151) metros, con los solares trece, catorce y quince (13, 14 y 15) del proyecto, antes en catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros cada uno de los solares antes referidos con los solares trece, catorce y quince (13,14 y 15) respectivamente;

ESTE, en veintiséis punto cero doscientos treinta (26.0230) con el solar número veinticinco (25) del proyecto; por el OESTE, en veinticuatro punto cuatro mil cuatrocientos sesenta y tres (24.4463) metros, con el solar

número veintidós (22) del proyecto antes en veinticuatro punto ochocientos quince (24.815) con el solar veintidós (22). Inscrita al folio ciento treinta (130) del tomo doscientos cuarenta y cuatro (244), finca numero once mil cincuenta y tres (11,053). Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección II. Dirección Física: #23 A Street, Jardines de Santa Cecilia, Aguas Buenas, PR 00703. Dicha propiedad se encuentra afecta a Hipoteca en garantía de pagaré suscrito a favor de La Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito de la Universidad de Pueto Rico, por la suma de $48,100.00, según consta de la escritura numero 7, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 18 de junio de 2009, ante el Notario Raúl Norberto Carrero Crespo. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 18 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $92,335.89 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 25 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $61,557.26. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 5 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $46,167.95. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los

cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 210-2015). Expedido el presente en Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 18 de abril de 2023. ALEJANDRO URBINA ROQUE, AGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #997, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE CAGUAS. ***

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SABANA GRANDE ISLAND PORTFOLIO

DEMANDADO

CIVIL NÚM. GY2022CV00178

SALÓN: 1 SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA. EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: JUAN C SEDA RIVERA. URB BDA GUAYDIA, 136 CALLE B FRANCESCHINI, GUAYANILLA PR 00656-1224.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado 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: https: //unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. 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.

JOSÉ AGUILAR VÉLEZ

R.U.A. 20,607

PO Box 71418, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518

Teléfono (787) 993-3731

Email: jose.aguilar@orf-law.com

Extendido bajo mi firma y Sello del Tribunal en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 29 de marzo de 2023. Carmen G. Tirú Quiñones, Secretaria del Tribunal. Daisy Quiñones Vázquez, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMON ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC. COMO

AGENTE GESTOR DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC.

DEMANDANTE VS. JOSEFINA LAUREANO RIVERA

DEMANDADO

CIVIL NÚM.: TB2022CV00370

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO.

EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA. EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS

A: JOSEFINA LAUREANO RIVERABO. CAMPANILLA, 527 CALLE TULIPÁN, TOA BAJA,

PR 00949-3839. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la 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. 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 sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, la Lcda. Natalie Bonaparte cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección natalie.bonaparte@ orf-law.com, edwin.serrano@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EX-

TENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 28 de marzo de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Lureimy Alicea González, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE MOROVIS

ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC

COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC

PARTE DEMANDANTE vs. MARY A.

TRINIDAD RIVERA

PARTE DEMANDADA CIVIL NÚM.: MV2022CV00131

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: MARY A.

TRINIDAD RIVERAPARC BARAHONA, 388 CALLE PADRE NUNO

BESAL, MOROVIS PR 00687-2140. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de

INTERES EN EL ASUNTO OBJETO DE ESTE PLEITO.

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

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 13 de abril de 2023, 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 de 21 de abril de 2023. En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el 21 de abril de 2023. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. WANDA I. BRACERO CINTRÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

VICTOR

ROBLES TORRES

Demandante Vs. SUSANA PRADO RIVERA POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SUCESIÓN FÉLIX AYALA; HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN FÉLIX AYALA; MUNICIPIO AUTÓNOMO DE LUQUILLO

Demandados

CIVIL NÚM.: LU2023CV00068

Sala 302 SOBRE: ACCIÓN CONFESORIA DE SERVIDUMBRE DE PASO; DAÑOS Y PERJUICIOS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADO UNIDOS DE AMERICA.

EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ES-

TADOS UNIDOS. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO

RICO. SS.

A: SUSANA PRADO

RIVERA POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SUCESIÓN FÉLIX

AYALA; HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN FÉLIX

AYALA. Quede emplazada

y notificada que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre Ejecución de Hipoteca y Cobro de Dinero.

POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted debe de 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://unired. ramaiudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. 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.

EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA

Y SELLO DEL TRIBUNAL. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy, 20 de abril de 2023. Wanda l. Segui Reyes, Secretaria General. Katherine Robles Torres, Secretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIASALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESION DE ROSA MARIA MARCHANY

SANTA COMPUESTA POR

SUS MIEMBROS FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, MENGANO DE TAL Y MENGANA DE TAL

Demandados

Civil Núm.: NSCI2017-189.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO

Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA

POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA.

A: LOS CODEMANDADOS DE EPIGRAFE Y AL

PÚBLICO EN GENERAL:

El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de una Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe el 18 de septiembre de 2018, notificada el 21 de septiembre de 2018; y de un Mandamiento de Ejecución emitido el día 12 de abril de 2023, que le ha sido dirigido por la Secretaria del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Fajardo, procederá a vender en 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, dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o

cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, o letra bancaria, con similar garantía de todo título, derecho o interés de los demandados de epígrafe sobre el inmueble que adelante se describe. Se anuncia por la presente que la primera subasta habrá de celebrarse el día 6 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, sobre el inmueble que se describe a continuación: RUSTICA: Parcela marcada con el #208-A en el plano de parcelación de la comunidad rural Ramos del barrio Pitahaya del término municipal de Luquillo, con una cabida superficial de cero cuerdas con cuatro mil cincuentinueve diezmilésimas de otra, equivalentes a 1,595.26 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con calle #5 de la comunidad; SUR, con la calle #6 de la comunidad; ESTE, con la parcela #207 de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con parcela #208 de la comunidad. FINCA: Número 6660, inscrita al folio 265 del tomo 118 de Luquillo (Sección de Fajardo). Dirección física: 208-A Community Ramos, Bo. Pitahaya, Luquillo PR 00773. El siguiente pagaré consta inscrito en la propiedad antes mencionada y es el que se pretende ejecutar: HIPOTECA: Por $80,000.00, con intereses al 6.375% anual, en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Popular Mortgage, Inc., o a su orden, vencedero el 1 de octubre de 2041. Según escritura #209, otorgada en San Juan, el 29 de septiembre de 2011, ante Ciro

C. Carrillo Rodríguez, inscrita al folio 7 del tomo 276 de Luquillo, inscripción 6ta. La referida hipoteca grava el bien inmueble antes descrito. La subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al demandante, total o parcialmente según sea el caso, de la referida sentencia que fue dictada por las siguientes sumas: $74,779.88 por concepto de principal, más recargos por atraso, más intereses al 6.375% anual a partir del 1 de noviembre de 2016 hasta su completo pago, más 5% de todo pago en atraso, más $8,000.00 como cantidad estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato de préstamo. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LAS PARTES INTERESADAS y del público en general, se advierte que los autos de este caso y demás instancias están disponibles para ser inspeccionadas en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de Fajardo, durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad del inmueble y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, incluyendo el gra-

vamen por las contribuciones sobre la propiedad inmueble adeudadas, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda responsable de los mismos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate.

La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá Libre de Cargas y Gravámenes posteriores. Los tipos mínimos a utilizarse para la subasta son los siguientes: El inmueble antes descrito ha sido tasado en la suma de OCHENTA MIL DÓLARES ($80,000.00) para que dicha suma sirva de tipo mínimo en la primera subasta a celebrarse. De no producirse remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del antedicho inmueble, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes mencionado, el día 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, sirviendo como tipo mínimo para dicha segunda subasta, una suma equivalente a las dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de CINCUENTA Y TRES MIL TRESCIENTOS TREINTA Y TRES DÓLARES CON TREINTA Y TRES CENTAVOS ($53,333.33) para la finca antes descrita. De no producirse remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta del antedicho inmueble, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes mencionado, el día 20 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, sirviendo como tipo mínimo para dicha tercera subasta, una suma equivalente a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo fijado para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de CUARENTA MIL DÓLARES ($40,000.00) para la finca antes descrita. En testimonio de lo cual, expido el presente aviso, el cual firmo y sello, hoy 19 de abril de 2023, en Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

JORGE A. ORTIZ ESTRADA, ALGUACIL REGIONAL INTERINO #622. MILDRED I. TORO COLÓN, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #197, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE FAJARDO.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

FIRSTBANK

PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs. FRANCHESKA

CORTÉS GUADALUPE

Demandada

CIVIL Núm.: BY2023CV01446. Salón Núm.: 701. 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: FRANCHESKA CORTÉS GUADALUPE.

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, 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 junio de 2022, 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 $265,441.45, más intereses a razón del 3.25% anual desde el 1 de mayo de 2022 y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más los cargos por demora que corresponden a los plazos atrasados desde la fecha anteriormente indicada a razón de la tasa pactada de 4% de cualquier pago que éste en mora por más de quince (15) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, más adelantos para el pago de seguros y contribuciones, entre otros; más una suma equivalente a $26,993.29, 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: URBANA: Urbanización

Treasure Point de Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Solar: 51. Cabida: 561.3514 Metros Cuadrados.

Linderos: NORTE, con la Calle Jasper, en distancia de 16.031 metros. SUR, con Ralph J. Ayala y Mary A. Ayala, Louis Lord y Olga Lord, Roberto A. Ayala y Conchita Porrata, en distancia

de 16.046 metros. ESTE, con el lote número 50, en distancia de 35.000 metros. OESTE, con el Banco Popular, en distancia de 35.000 metros. Enclava una estructura de concreto reforzado y bloques de hormigón para fines residenciales. Consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Vega Alta, Finca Número #20,285, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección III de Bayamón. SE LE APERCIBE que de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictara sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

A 21 de abril de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

MARÍA E. COLLAZO FEBUS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

FIRSTBANK

PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESION DE LEO

ANIBAL HIRALDO LUGO Y OTROS

Demandado(a)

Civil: CA2022CV02152. Sala: 404. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DE LEO ANIBAL HIRALDO LUGO Y DE LA SUCESION DE FRANCISCA SOSA SOSA. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de abril de 2023, 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. Co-

pia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 24 de abril de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 24 de abril de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AIBONITO FINANCE OF AMERICA

REVERSE LLC

Demandante V. SUCESION ADRIAN ORTIZ ROSADO

T/C/C ADRIAN ORTIZ

ROSADO COMPUESTA

POR ADRIALIZ ORTIZ

RIVERA, MARILYN ORTIZ

RIVERA, JOHN DOE

Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS, ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandado(a)

Civil: AI2022CV00207. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE , JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION ADRIAN ORTIZ ROSADO T/C/C ADRIAN ORTIZ ROSADO. P/C LCDA FRANCES

L. ASENCIO CORREO ELECTRÓNICO.

FRANCES.ASENCIO@ GMLAW.COM.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de abril de 2023, 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 edic-

to. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 24 de abril de 2023. En Aibonito, Puerto Rico, el 24 de abril de 2023. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA. MARIBEL AVILÉS RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR. LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING LLC Demandante V.

SUCESION BENJAMIN LARACUENTE BATISTA T/C/C Y OTROS Demandado(a) Civil: CA2022CV02950. Sala: 409. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: ALEXANDRA LARACUENTE SANCHEZ, BENJAMIN ALBERTO LARACUENTE SANCHEZ, GUIDETTE LARACUENTE SANCHEZ; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION BENJAMIN LARACUENTE BATISTA

T/C/C BENJAMIN LARACUENTE; JOHN DOE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DE REBECA SANCHEZ OQUENDO

T/C/C REBECA SANCHEZ

T/C/C REBECA SANCHEZ DE LARACUENTE T/C/C REBECA LARACUENTE. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de abril de 2023, 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 de 24 de abril

de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 24 de abril de 2023.

LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO TRIBUNAL SUPREMO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DE MANUEL ANTONIO LUGO FRANCISCO COMPUESTA

POR: VANESSA NINETTE

LUGO OBJIO, OSMANY ANTONIO LUGO OBJIO, MANUEL ANTONIO

LUGO OBJIO, PHEDRA MARÍA LUGO OBJIO, MANUEL ANTONIO LUGO

MELÉNDEZ, MIGUEL

ANTONIO LUGO ROSA, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS, CELENIA AURORA

OBJIO LARA POR

SÍ Y EN CUANTO A LA COUTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA

Demandado(a)

Civil: PO2022CV00985. 406.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: LA SUCESIÓN DE MANUEL ANTONIO LUGO FRANCISCO COMPUESTA

POR VANESSA NINETTE LUGO OBJIO, OSMANY ANTONIO LUGO OBJIO, MANUEL ANTONIO LUGO OBJIO, PHEDRA MARÍA LUGO OBJIO, MANUEL ANTONIO LUGO MELÉNDEZ, MIGUEL ANTONIO LUGO ROSA, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION. 3092 AVE.

EMILIO FAGOT, PONCE, PUERTO RICO 00716.

P/C LCDO. JOSÉ

ANTONIO LAMAS

BURGOS. PO BOX 194089

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 00919.

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

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 16 de abril de 2023, 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 de 25 de abril de 2023. PONCE, Puerto Rico, el 25 de abril de 2023. Carmen G. Tiru Quiñones, Secretaria. Mariely Félix Rivera, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO

MARÍA MARGARITA

CARRILLO GONZÁLEZ

Demandante V.

ILDEFONSO CABELLO

ROSARIO, IRAIDA

CABELLO ROSARIO, HILDA MARÍA CABELLO

ROSARIO, IDA LUZ

CABELLO ROSARIO, IVETTE CABELLO

ROSARIO, ISMAEL

CABELLO ROSARIO, IRIS BELLA CABELLO

ROSARIO, IDELICIA

CABELLO ROSARIO, IVÁN CABELLO

ROSARIO, ISAAC

CABELLO ROSARIO Y LUISA ROSARIO REYES

Demandado(a)

Civil: GB2022CV00805. Sala:

202. Sobre: ACCIÓN CIVIL SOBRE OTORGAMIENTO DE ESCRITURAS, DIVISIÓN DE COMUNIDAD. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: HILDA MARÍA

CABELLO ROSARIO, 2890 SURF DR.,

DELTONA, FLORIDA

32738 Y CUALQUIERA

PERSONA IGNORADA

QUE PUEDA TENER INTERÉS EN ESTE CASO.

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

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de abril de 2023, 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 de 20 de abril de 2023. En Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, el 20 de abril de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional Ii. Sara Rosa Villegas, Secretaria Del Tribunal Confidencial I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO UBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE BAYAMÓN

CARMEN AWILDA SILVA

GONZÁLEZ, HIRAM

ALBERTO SILVA ORTIZ, ASHYADEE SILVA ORTIZ, MANUEL RAFAEL SILVA

VEGA, DAVID LEIGHTON

SILVA, EDWIN ERASTO

SILVA CARRIÓN, MARÍA AURELIA SILVA

CARRIÓN, SMYRNA

MYRA MORÁN MOLINA

T/C/C SMYRNA M.

SUTHERLAND, LINDA

PATRICIA MORÁN

MOLINA T/C/C LYNDA

MORÁN, ASHYADEE

MORÁN MOLINA T/C/C

ASHYADEE DEAUTRIELL

SILVIA SILVA MONTALVO, SAMUEL SILVA

MONTALVO DALILA

SILVA MONTALVO, MYRTA SILVA MONTALVO

E HIRAM E, SILVA MONTALVO

Demandantes V. LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE MARÍA AUREA SILVA

OUVERAS TAMBIÉN

CONOCIDA COMO

AUREA MARÍA SILVA

OLIVERAS COMPUESTA

POR: RUTH ELVA

ÁLVAREZ SILVA, AUREA

MILAGROS ÁLVAREZ

SILVA, A, B Y C; LA

SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE PILAR SILVA MONTALVO

QUE PROVIENE DE LA SUCESION DE

HIRAM ALBERTO SILVA

OLIVERAS COMPUESTA

POR LOU SILVA, D, E Y F; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE LORNA ESTHER SILVA MONTALVO TAMBIÉN

CONOCIDA COMO

LORNA ESTRELLA

SILVA MONTALVO

Y COMO LORNA

ESTRELLA COURTNEY

QUE PROVIENE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE HIRAM ALBERTO SILVA OLIVERAS COMPUESTA

POR WILLLAM

COURTNEY (HIJO), WILLIAM COURTNEY (PADRE), G, H E I; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE SILVIO ARMANDO SILVA OLIVERAS COMPUESTA

POR: LINDA NYDIA

SILVA DI SANTO, LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE PATRICIA SILVA DI SANTO, J, K Y L; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE AUREA SILVA BATISTA COMPUESTA POR LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE BENIGNO PÉREZ TORRES, M, N Y O; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE JOSÉ ÁNGEL SILVA GONZÁLEZ QUE PROVIENE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE MANUEL RAFAEL SILVA OLIVERAS COMPUESTA POR: FERNANDO JAVIER SILVA DE JESÚS, CARLOS JAVIER SILVA DE JESÚS Y LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE LEONARDO JAVIER SILVA DE JESÚS COMPUESTA POR ADLIN CORAL SILVA MAYSONET, LEONELA NICOLE SILVA MAYSONET Y P, Q Y R. Demandados

Civil Núm.: BY2023CV01219.

Sobre: división de comunidad. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADO UBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EUA.

A: AZLIN CORAL SILVA MAYSONET; LEONELA NICOLE SILVA MAYSONET; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE MARÍA AUREA SILVA OLIVERAS COMPUESTA

Friday, April 28, 2023

POR A, B Y C.; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE PILAR SILVA MONTALVO COMPUESTA

POR D, E Y F; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE LORNA ESTHER SILVA MONTALVO, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO LORNA ESTRELLA SILVA MONTA!VO Y COMO LORNA ESTRELLA COURTNEY COMPUESTA

POR G, H E I.; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA Y DESCONOCIDA DE PATRICIA SILVA DI SANTO COMPUESTA

POR J, K Y L.; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE AUREA SILVA BATISTA COMPUESTA

POR M, N Y O; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE BENIGNO PÉREZ TORRES COMPUESTA

POR S, R Y T.; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE JOSÉ ANGEL SILVA GONZÁLEZ COMPUESTA

POR U, V Y W.; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE MANUEL RAFAEL SILVA OLIVERAS COMPUESTA

POR X, Y Y Z; LA SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA

Y DESCONOCIDA DE LEONARDO JAVIER SHVA DE JESÚS COMPUESTA

POR P, Q Y R; AUREA

MILAGROS ÁLVAREZ

SILVA 44 FARDHAM

LANE, WESTFIELD MASS 01085; LUIS SILVA 9233 52nd AVENUE

EAST, PALMETTO, FLORIDA 34221; WILLIAM COURTNEY (HIJO) 1445 ROBINSON PLACE, YARDLEY, PA 19067; WILLIAM COURTNEY (PADRE) 728 UNION

AVE, MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA 26505; LINDA NYDIA SILVA DI SANTO 1024 SAW CREEK ESTATES, BUSHKILL PA. 18324; FERNANDO JAVIER SILVA DE JESÚS 1043 SAHAFFER TRI OVIEDO FL 32765; CARLOS JAVIER SILVA DE JESÚS 7720 GLEN MEADWOS DR SAN ANTONIO TX 78239 Y CUALQUIERA PERSONA

IGNORADA QUE PUEDA TENER INTERÉS EN ESTE CASO.

Por la presente se !es notifica a ustedes, que se ha presentado en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, la demanda de epígrafe, en la que, en síntesis, se alega que son ustedes parte indispensable en la demanda para la división y liquidación de una participación hereditaria sobre un inmueble sito en la urbanización Sardinera Beach de Dorado, Puerto Rico, del que los demandantes son coherederos. Es abogado de la parte demandante el Jaime Rodríguez Rivera, quien tiene bufete abierto en el #30 de la Calle Reparto Piñero, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00969~5650, Teléfono 787-720-9553 y se notifica a ustedes que de no comparecer a contestar esta demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes después de haberse publicado el edicto, la parte demandante podrá solicitar la anotación de rebeldía y lograr que se dicte sentencia, concediéndosela el remedio solicitado sin más sin más citarles ni oírles. 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://unired.ramajudiclal,pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. 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. Extendido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 24 de abril de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MIRCIENID

GONZÁLEZ TORRES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA

SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA JORGE

BRIGNONI NIEVES

Demandante V.

MABEL RODRIGUEZ

LOPEZ Y OTROS

Demandado(a)

Civil: CA2023CV00331. Sala: 406. Sobre: DESAHUCIO POR FALTA DE PAGO Y COBRO DE DINERO DESAHUCIO POR INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: EDUARDO L. TOSADO RODRIGUEZ. (Nombre de las partes a las que se

le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 25 de abril de 2023, 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 de 25 de abril de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 25 de abril de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR. *

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL / SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ASOCIACIÓN

DE RESIDENTES JARDINES DE MEDITERRÁNEO, INC.

Demandante V. ORLANDO RIVERA URBINA

Demandado

Civil Núm.: BY2023CV00305. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (R. 60). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL PUEBLO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ORLANDO RIVERA URBINA.

Por la presente se le notifica que la parte demandante ha presentado ante este Tribunal Demanda contra usted(es), solicitando la concesión del siguiente remedio: Demanda de COBRO DE DINERO, por concepto de cuotas de mantenimientos vencidas y no pagadas por la suma de $7,855.50 al 30 de diciembre de 2022. Representa a la parte demandante el abogado cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato:

LCDO. MELVYN E. FONTAN LOZADA Colegiado Núm. 15768, RUA: 14519 PO Box 124, Bayamón, PR 00960-0124

Tel. 787-340-6604 Fax 787-261-9168

e-mail: melfonloza@live.com, melvynfontan@gmail.com

Se le apercibe que si no com-

pareciera usted a contestar dicha demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, 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://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deje 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, sí el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 18 de abril de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. KATHERINE SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE UTUADO SALA SUPERIOR

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. JOSÉ JULIÁN

RODRÍGUEZ NEGRÓN; YAHAIRA GONZÁLEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA Demandados Civil Núm.: UT2023CV00037. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S. S. A: YAHAIRA GONZÁLEZ POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA CON JOSÉ JULIÁN RODRÍGUEZ NEGRÓN, POR ELLA MISMA Y POR CONDUCTO DE JOSÉ JULIÁN RODRÍGUEZ NEGRÓN.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del

la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de abril de 2023. HÉCTOR

PEÑA RODRÍGUEZ, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DE ROBERTO LEBRÓN

LEBRÓN COMPUESTA

POR FULANO DE TAL Y

MENGANO DE TAL, LOS

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y

MARÍA JOAQUINA DÍAZ

ROBLES T/C/C MARÍA J.

DÍAZ ROBLES POR SÍ Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL

USUFRUCTUARIA; EDNA

MILAGROS OLIVERAS

DÍAZ, LUIS CINTRÓN RODRÍGUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA

POR AMBOS; DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA Y DEPARTAMENTO DE JUSTICIA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CI2022CV00351.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO

Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA

POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: MARÍA JOAQUINA

DÍAZ ROBLES T/C/C

MARÍA J. DÍAZ ROBLES, POR SÍ Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; EDNA MILAGROS OLIVERAS

DÍAZ, LUIS CINTRÓN

RODRÍGUEZ Y LA

SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente 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://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 apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 009366603. Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 19 de abril de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. JANETTE GONZÁLEZ VARGAS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE ERIC JAVIER DEL VALLE

ARROYO; BETSY

DAMARIS DELGADO TAMOS T/C/C BETSY

D. DELGADO, COMO

HEREDERA DEL CAUSANTE ERIC JAVIER DEL VALLE ARROYO Y COMO DUEÑA

REGISTRAL; “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ERIC JAVIER DEL VALLE ARROYO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (C.R.I.M.)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01090.

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: BETSY DAMARIS

DELGADO TAMOS T/C/C

BETSY D. DELGADO, COMO HEREDERA DEL CAUSANTE ERIC JAVIER

DEL VALLE ARROYO Y COMO DUEÑA REGISTRAL. 202C PASEO

EL VERDE, CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO 00725, Y APT. 3-202 COND. PASEO

EL VERDE, CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO 00725.

De: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda incoada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días. 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://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Si usted deja de presentar y notificar 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. 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 del causante, 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).

ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE

DEMANDANTE:

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

BERMUDEZ & DIAZ, LLP

Attorneys at Law

Edificio Ochoa, 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 el Sello del Tribunal, hoy 20 de abril de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. LILI RODRÍGUEZ, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE ERIC JAVIER DEL VALLE ARROYO; BETSY DAMARIS DELGADO TAMOS T/C/C BETSY D. DELGADO, COMO HEREDERA DEL CAUSANTE ERIC JAVIER DEL VALLE ARROYO Y COMO DUEÑA REGISTRAL; “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ERIC JAVIER DEL VALLE ARROYO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (C.R.I.M.)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01090.

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: CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM). CARRETERA ESTATAL 1, KM.2, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 00926.

De: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda incoada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días. 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://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Si usted deja de presentar y notificar 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. 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 del causante, 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).

ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE

DEMANDANTE:

Lcdo. Reggie Diaz Hernández RUA NÚM.: 16,393 BERMUDEZ & DIAZ, LLP

Attorneys at Law

Edificio Ochoa, 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 el Sello del Tribunal, hoy 20 de abril de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. LILI RODRÍGUEZ, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN ARMANDO ENRIQUE

FIGUEROA ROJAS

Demandante V. ORIENTAL BANK; JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE

Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV02850. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, personas desconocidas que se designan con estos nombres ficticios, que puedan ser tenedor o tenedores, o puedan tener algún interés en el pagaré hipotecario a 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 20 de agosto de 1993, se otorgó un pagaré a favor de RG Mortgage

Corp., o a su orden, por la suma de $50,000.00 con intereses al 7 3/8% anual, con vencimiento el 1 de septiembre de 2023 ante el Notario Francisco M. Vázquez Santoni. En garantía del pagaré antes descrito se otorgó la escritura de hipoteca número 876, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 20 de agosto de 1993, ante el Notario Francisco M. Vázquez Santoni, inscrita al folio 213 vuelto del tomo 218 de Río Piedras Sur, finca número 1885, inscripción 12a, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección IV. El inmueble gravado mediante la hipoteca antes descrita es la finca número 1884 inscrita al folio 22 del tomo 49 de Río Piedras Sur, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección IV. 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. RG Mortgage Corp es el acreedor que consta en el Registro de la Propiedad. RG Mortgage Corp 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 diligenciado 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: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. 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.

LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRÓN

RUA NÚM. 17682

DELGADO & FERNÁNDEZ, LLC

PO Box 11750, Fernández Juncos

Station

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 / Fax (787) 764-8241

E-mail: jmontalvo@ delgadofernandez.com

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 21 de abril de 2023. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria. Michelle Rivera Ríos, Sub-Secretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE

BAYAMÓN FRANKLIN CREDIT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION COMO

AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS CERTIFICATE

TRUSTEE OF BOSCO CREDIT II TRUST SERIES 20 17-1

Demandante V. JOEL OMAR RAMOS MORALES, POR SÍ Y IVELISSE VARGAS ORTEGA, POR SI Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2021CV02523. Sala:

505. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOEL OMAR RAMOS MORALES, POR SÍ Y IVELISSE VARGAS ORTEGA, POR SI Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de abril de 2023, 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 de 21 de abril de 2023. En BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico, el 21 de abril de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria. Militza Mercado Rivera, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE PONCE.

ESTRELLA HOMES III LLC

Parte Demandante Vs. MARTHA ALBA

RODRIGUEZ NAZARIO

Parte Demandada

CIVIL NUM. PO2019V015000.

SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Ponce, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que venderá en pública subasta en la Oficina de Alguaciles, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $82,528.99 de balance principal, el cual se compone de $81,280.83 de primer principal y la suma de $1,248.15 de balance diferido, más los intereses adeudados sobre la suma de $81,280.83 al 6.875% anual, desde el primero de febrero de 2018, hasta su completo pago; el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad de principal e interés por la suma de $624.08 por concepto de cargas por demora desde el día primero de marzo de 2018, a razón de $31.20 mensuales hasta su total pago; y cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar número Nueve (9) del Bloque “N” del plano de la Urbanización Starlight, radicada en el Barrio San Antón de Ponce, Puerto Rico, compuesto por de CIENTO OCHENTA Y NUEVE (189.00) METROS CUADRADOS. En lindes por el NORTE, en nueve (9.00) metros con el solar número N raya seis (N-6); por el SUR, en nueve (9.00) metros con la calle “M” de la urbanización; por el ESTE, en veintiún (21.00) metros con el solar N raya ocho (N-8); y por el OESTE, en veintiún (21.00) metros con el solar N raya diez (N-10). Enclava en este solar una unidad residencial de concreto, de una planta y para una familia. Inscrita al folio 36 del tomo 1658 de Ponce I, finca numero Finca 50,845, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Primera. Dirección Física: 3536 Messier St Starlight Dev, Ponce, PR 00717-1472. La primera subasta se llevará a cabo el día 16 de mayo de 2023, a las 10:30 de la mañana, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $95,000.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la

primera subasta, se celebrará una segunda subasta el día 23 de mayo de 2023, a las 10:30 de la mañana, y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $63,333.33. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una tercera subasta el día 30 de mayo de 2023, a las 10:30 de la mañana, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $47,500.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un

periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 210-2015). Expedido el presente en Ponce, Puerto Rico, a 26 de marzo de 2023 Miguel A. Torres Ayala, Alguacil Del Tribunal De Primera Instancia Sala De Ponce.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CARO-

LINA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V.

CARMEN IVETE

LóPEZ RODRíGUEZ

T/C/C CARMEN LóPEZ RODRíGUEZ

Demandado

Civil Núm.: LO2023CV00017.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO

Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA

POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

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

A: CARMEN IVETE

LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ

T/C/C CARMEN LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente 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://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 apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 009366603. Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 19 de abril

de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. KEILA GARCÍA SOLÍS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE EDNA ABIGAÍL VEGA

GONZÁLEZ, COMPUESTA

POR SUS HEREDEROS

CONOCIDOS: MELVIN

DÍAZ VEGA Y ORLANDO

DÍAZ VEGA; “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE EDNA ABIGAÍL VEGA

GONZÁLEZ; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (C.R.I.M.)

Parte Demandada

Caso Núm.: BY2023CV00451.

Sala: 501. COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO

POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

DIRIGIDOS A: MELVIN

DÍAZ VEGA, ORLANDO

DÍAZ VEGA, Y ALEXIS DÍAZ VEGA

COMO HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE EDNA ABIGAÍL VEGA

GONZÁLEZ; Y “JOHN

DOE Y RICHARD ROE”

COMO HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE EDNA ABIGAÍL VEGA

GONZÁLEZ. 5 DB

LAGO MATRULLAS ST.

LEVITTOWN TOA BAJA, PR 00949; DIRECCIÓN

ESPECÍFICA DE MELVIN

DÍAZ VEGA: 824 FLOWER

FIELD LN ORLANDO, FL 32824;

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda incoada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Además, en cuanto a la interpelación de los herederos de la causante, a que dentro del término legal de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la fecha de la notificación de la presente Orden, acepten o repudien la participación que les

corresponda en la herencia de la causante conforme dispone el Artículo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. §2787. De no expresarse dentro de ese término de treinta (30) días en torno a su aceptación o repudiación de herencia, se tendrá por aceptada. También se le APERCIBE a los herederos antes mencionados que luego del transcurso del término de treinta (30) días antes señalado contados a partir de la fecha de la notificación de la presente Orden, se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia del causante y, por consiguiente, responden por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme dispone el Artículo 957 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. §2785. 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://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Si usted deja de presentar y notificar 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. Los abogados de la parte demandante son:

Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández RUA Núm.: 16,393 BERMÚDEZ & DÍAZ, LLP

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

Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, hoy 20 de abril de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Nereida Quiles Santana, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE COAMO ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. JUAN BERDECIA PERDOMO H/N/C/ BOULEVARD BAKERY

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CO2023CV00063. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: JUAN BERDECIA PERDOMO H/N/C/ BOULEVARD BAKERY. FÍSICA CARRETERA 14

KM. 31.6 BOULEVARD PIEL CANELA, COAMO, PUERTO RICO 00769; BO.

PASTOR SECTOR SANTA ANA CARR. 5556 KM. 2.2 COAMO, PUERTO RICO 00769; POSTAL: PO BOX 2685 COAMO, PUERTO RICO 00769. Por la presente se le notifica a usted que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría la demanda de epígrafe. Se le emplaza y requiere para que notifique al licenciado: Alberto De Diego Collar, DE DIEGO LAW OFFICES, PSC, PO BOX 79552, Carolina, PR 00984-9552, Teléfono: (787)622-3939, abogado de la parte demandante, con copia de la contestación a la Demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general. 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://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Se le apercibe que si no contesta la demanda dentro del término antes indicado, radicando el original de la contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente, y notificando con copia a la parte demandante, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado a favor de la parte demandante sin mas citarle ni oírle. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, en Coamo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 20 de abril de 2023. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE GUAYNABO SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO JOSÉ B. ESCOBAR, también conocido como JOSE BÁEZ ESCOBAR

Demandante v. ORIENTAL BANK, como custodio de los expedientes de R&G

PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO JOHN DOE y RICHARD DOE

Demandados

CIVIL NÚM. GB2023CV00281

SOBRE: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA. EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. S.S.

A; JOHN DOE/ RICHARD DOE

Quedan notificados que la demandante de epígrafe ha radicado en este Tribunal una Demanda contra ustedes como

co-demandados en la que se solicita la cancelación vía judicial de un Pagaré Hipotecario extraviado a favor de RG Premier Bank of Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de CINCUENTA Y TRES MIL NOVECIENTOS DÓLARES ($53,900.00) e intereses ocho y tres cuartos por ciento (8 3/4%) anual y vencimiento el día primero (1ro) de mayo de dos mil veinticinco (2025), mediante la Escritura Número Trescientos Diecisiete (317), otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico ante el notario público J. Martínez Vilella. El descrito Pagaré hipotecario grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación:

URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORI-

ZONTAL: Condominio Los Pisos de Caparra de Guaynabo.

Apartamento: TRES GUION “F” (3-F). Cabida: ochenta y nueve punto doscientos dieciséis metros cuadrados (89.216 me)

Consta de una (1) sala, un (1) comedor, una (1) cocina, un (1) dormitorio con su closet, dos (2) baños y un (1) balcón. La puerta principal está localizada en la parte Sur del inmueble lo cual lo comunica con el corredor, el vestíbulo del elevador y la calle. Colinda por el NORTE, en treinta y ocho pies con seis pulgadas (38’6”), once metros con setenta y tres centímetros (11.60 m) con elementos exteriores del edificio; por el SUR, en treinta y ocho pies con seis pulgadas (38’6”), once metros con setenta y tres centímetros (11.73 m) con elementos comunes del edificio; por el ESTE, en veinticinco pies y dos pulgadas (26’2”), siete metros con sesenta y siete centímetros (7.67 m) con el Apartamento tres guion “G” (3-G) y en un pie nueve pulgadas (1’9”), cincuenta y tres centímetros (0.53 m) con elementos comunes del edificio; y por el OESTE, en veintiún pies con seis pulgadas (21’6”), seis metros con cincuenta y cinco centímetros (6.55 m) con el Apartamento “E” guion tres (E-3) y un pie con nueve pulgada (1’9”), cincuenta y tres centímetros (0.53 m) con elementos comunes del edificio. Le corresponde a este tipo de apartamiento en los elementos comunes del inmueble una participación de punto siete nueve ocho por ciento (.798%). Contiene, además, divisiones, alfombras y estufa. Le corresponde el parking número ciento tres (103). Inscrita al folio ciento cuarenta (140) del tomo quinientos treinta y nueve (539) de Guaynabo, finca número veintidós mil doscientos cincuenta y cuatro (22,254), Registro de la Propiedad Puerto Rico, Sección de Guaynabo. Se les advierte que el presente Edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y se le requiere para que contesten la Demanda de epígrafe dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publi-

cación del edicto, radicando el original de su contestación en el Tribunal correspondiente y notificando con copia de la misma a la parte demandante a la siguiente dirección:

BUFETE APONTE & CORTES

LCDA. ERIKA MORALES MARENGO

PO Box 195337

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919

Tel. (787) 302-0014 / (787) 239-5661 / Email: emarengo@ apontecortes.com. 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://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio. Se le apercibe que de no hacerlo, el tribunal podrá dictar Sentencia en rebeldía concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy día, 19 de abril de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Diamar T. González Barreto, Secretaria del Tribunal Confidencial II.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDO

ENRIQUE LOPEZ GUZMÁN

Demandante V. MARIA

PIMENTEL CARMONA

Demandado(a)

Civil Núm.: RG2022RF00119. Sobre: DIVORCIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: MARIA

PIMENTEL CARMONA, BO. CIENAGA ALTA, CARR. 959 KM 6.2, RIO GRANDE, PR 00745. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de abril de 2023, 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 de 20 de abril de 2023. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, el 20 de abril de 2023. Wanda I. Seguí Reyes, Secretaria. Gloraida Rodríguez Rivera, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior Municipal de San Juan.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante VS. KIMBERLY TRICIA BREWSTER ROQUE, SU ESPOSO ENRIQUE MARTIN VAZQUEZ MARQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado (a)

Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV00128. Sala: 508. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: KIMBERLY TRICIA BREWSTER ROQUE, SU ESPOSO ENRIQUE MARTIN VAZQUEZ MARQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

EL SECRETARIO (A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 21 de abril de 2023, 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 diez (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 de 21 de abril de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 21 de abril de 2023. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. F/ MARTHA ALMODOVAR CABRERA, Secretaria Auxiliar.

On his first day as a Jet, Rodgers says the team can win it all

ers hope that his arrival — even toward the end of his career — will end that streak.

“I’m an old guy, so I want to be part of a team that can win it all, and I believe that this is a place where we get that done,” the 39-year-old Rodgers said.

The Jets and Packers officially agreed to trade terms Wednesday after news of the deal broke Monday. The Jets sent the No. 13 overall pick in this year’s draft, as well as two later-round picks and a conditional second-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft, in exchange for Rodgers, the No. 15 pick and a later-round pick in this year’s draft. The first round began Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri.

coordinator in January, for three seasons in Green Bay, and he said their strong bond was another selling point for joining the Jets.

The Jets’ roster also includes last season’s offensive rookie of the year, receiver Garrett Wilson, and the defensive rookie of the year, cornerback Sauce Gardner — two players who had openly recruited Rodgers. Gardner and other players changed their social media profile pictures to a photo of Rodgers in college, and Gardner also videotaped himself burning a Packers cheesehead hat in Rodgers’ honor.

By EMMANUEL MORGAN

Aaron Rodgers walked into the New York Jets’ facility in Florham Park, New Jersey earlier this week for his introductory news conference to applause from staffers after they watched a montage of his highlights from his 18-year tenure with the Green Bay Packers.

Rodgers, the quarterback for whom the Jets traded this week after a lengthy negotiation process, had landed in New Jersey the night before. On Wednesday morning, he attended meetings with Jets officials

while barefoot, coach Robert Saleh said. Rodgers also walked past a case holding the team’s only Super Bowl trophy, which the Jets won in the 1968 season, and said he noticed it was “getting lonely.”

Rodgers appeared relaxed and at home during his first official day as a Jet, bringing optimism that one of the greatest quarterbacks of the modern era can restore success to a franchise in the NFL’s largest market. The Jets have not made the playoffs since 2010, owning the longest postseason drought in major North American men’s professional sports, but the team and Rodg-

Rodgers won a Super Bowl, appeared in four other NFC championship games and won the MVP award four times while with the Packers. But he grew disgruntled with the franchise over the past two seasons because of a perceived lack of input over personnel decisions, among other grievances. Rodgers alluded to his strained relationship with the Packers on Wednesday when he blamed poor cellphone reception at his home as a reason he had not communicated with Green Bay officials this offseason.

After the Packers finished 8-9 last season and missed the playoffs, Rodgers contemplated retiring. A cadre of Jets executives in March — including Saleh, team owner Woody Johnson and general manager Joe Douglas — visited Rodgers in Malibu, California, and that conversation helped sway Rodgers to join the Jets, he said.

“At that point, I felt like this is where I was supposed to be,” Rodgers said. “I really try and listen to the signs and synchronicities that the universe puts in our face every day, and this was basically the direction that everything was pointing.”

Later in March, Rodgers appeared on former NFL punter Pat McAfee’s show and said he intended to play for the Jets. In the weeks after, Douglas and Brian Gutekunst, the Packers’ general manager, publicly said they wanted to finalize a deal, but negotiations stretched over six weeks as the teams’ front offices stalemated over compensation. Rodgers, though, said he was confident the trade would get done.

“I believed it was going to happen the entire time. It was just a matter of, I think, waiting each other out,” Rodgers said. He added: “I believe there was some major synchronization to make this happen, but I’m excited about the opportunity here.”

Rodgers played under Nathaniel Hackett, who was hired as the Jets’ offensive

The Jets’ 2022 season started promisingly at 6-3, behind a stout running game and one of the league’s best defenses. But inefficient play from quarterback Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, caused Saleh to bench him with seven games left in the season. With that instability under center and significant injuries, most notably to rookie running back Breece Hall, the Jets finished 7-10 and missed the playoffs.

Rodgers said he hopes to be a mentor to Zach Wilson, with whom he had a previous friendship, and to be a leader in the locker room. Saleh said that Rodgers should be a stabilizing presence and that his choice of the Jets was validation that the franchise is successfully rebuilding itself.

“Obviously you can argue that our arrow’s pointing up,” Saleh said.

Rodgers said he envisioned being with the Jets past this season but said he did not want to focus on the future. His agent, David Dunn, attended the news conference, and Rodgers said he and the Jets would restructure his contract. But for however long Rodgers stays a Jet, Johnson said he would be content.

“With whatever he wants to do, we’re good,” Johnson said. “We’re so happy he’s here. This is transformative.”

Aaron Rodgers joins a team that had the offensive and defensive rookies of the year last season.

Rodgers said a conversation in Malibu, Calif., with team owner Woody Johnson, left, Coach Robert Saleh and General Manager Joe Douglas helped sway him to join the team.

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Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook evoke their early promise, just not together

By KRIS RHIM

Russell Westbrook sprinted to steal the ball from Kevin Durant, sending Durant flying to the floor on his backside.

Durant winced in pain for a few moments before heading to the free-throw line at Phoenix’s Footprint Center as thousands of Suns fans in orange T-shirts held their breath. Westbrook quickly walked away from the scene, seemingly unconcerned, and waited for Durant to begin shooting.

The sequence played out like two ardent foes battling in an elimination game — which, technically, it was. Westbrook’s Los Angeles Clippers were on their last chance to stay alive in the first-round playoff series. But it was also a matchup between two men who had spent nearly a decade together as teammates, making the NBA finals in 2012 with Oklahoma City as fledgling 23-year-olds tasked with carrying a new franchise in a small city.

“You know Russ is a fierce competitor, so when he sees K, it’s always about trying to play super hard,” said Suns guard Cameron Payne, who played with Westbrook and Durant on the Thunder.

Payne added: “Maybe in the regular season, he’ll go help him up, but you never know with Russ. Like playing with him in OKC, he was big on how it’s 15 guys on a team, and I’m with my 15 guys, so that’s just that competing stuff I was talking about.”

It was another puzzling moment in a jagged relationship.

Durant’s Suns won the decisive Game 5 on Tuesday, 136-130, holding off a late comeback attempt from the Clippers and

advancing to the second round. Phoenix will play the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals beginning Saturday. Suns guard Devin Booker led all scorers with 47 points; Durant added 31, and Westbrook had 14.

Eleven years ago, Durant and Westbrook led Oklahoma City past playoff teams fronted by the future Hall of Famers Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan and headed into an NBA Finals matchup with LeBron James and the Miami Heat. The Heat beat the Thunder easily in five games, with Miami’s experience and star power proving too much for the upstart Thunder.

As swift as the loss was, it seemed to indicate that Durant and Westbrook would be back and would win championships together; they appeared too talented not to.

But they didn’t. Durant and Westbrook picked up individual accolades: Each has won an MVP award and many All-NBA honors, but they never got to another Finals together. Durant left for Golden State in 2016 after the Thunder blew a threegames-to-one lead in the Western Conference finals against the Warriors.

In their second matchup against each other after Durant’s departure, Westbrook yelled at his teammates and instructed them not to talk to Durant. They avoided questions about each other. Even former teammates like James Harden, who played with them in Oklahoma City, said they were “grown men” who had to “figure it out themselves.”

Since then, each has been on several teams. Durant won two championships with Golden State and then headed to the Brooklyn Nets and now Phoenix. Westbrook has played on several teams that were supposed to have been title contenders — Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers — but none has panned out. As Durant thrived, Westbrook began to be viewed as past his prime, no longer the player who could will teams to wins and average triple-doubles, and he has become the butt of jokes from fans when he struggles.

But in this playoff series against the Suns, Westbrook proved he could still be a difference maker. Westbrook signed with the Clippers in February as a free agent after the Lakers had traded him to Utah, where he was released to, at best, be the third option for the Clippers behind the stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. But injuries to George and Leonard made Westbrook the first scoring option against the Suns, and he often served as the team’s best rebounder and defender.

He finished the series averaging 23.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, looking like a version of his old self, and he had the game-sealing block on Booker in the Clippers’ Game 1 win.

“When he’s retired, people are going to really tell the truth about how they feel about his game,” Durant said after Game 4, when Westbrook had 37 points. “Right now, the fun thing to do is to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he’s been playing

since he got with the Clippers is showing everybody who he really is.”

After Game 5, Westbrook reflected on Durant’s comments, with an introspective answer that sounded as if it could also serve as a pitch to teams to sign him this summer.

“I just think that I am a player that makes mistakes like anybody else,” Westbrook said. “I miss shots like anybody else. I turn the ball over like anybody else. But I also do a lot of things that a lot of people can’t do, and I’ve done a lot of things people haven’t done in this league.”

For Durant, this series, and these playoffs, have a different meaning in some basketball fans’ eyes: proving that he can win a title without Golden State’s Stephen Curry and as a team’s best player. Durant, however, has said that he doesn’t feel that pressure because he has “nothing to prove.”

The Boston Celtics embarrassed Durant and the Nets last season in the first round of the playoffs, sweeping them without much trouble. Boston’s star forward Jayson Tatum outplayed Durant, scoring a lot while also defending Durant.

And then, in the NBA Finals, Curry and the Warriors beat that Boston team that had easily conquered Durant’s earlier in the postseason.

In Tuesday’s win, Durant disappeared for much of the fourth quarter, going scoreless for nearly 10 minutes as Booker dominated the ball and the Clippers inched closer. As the postseason continues, how the Suns win — with Durant leading the way or with Booker, or someone else — will add fodder to the discussion about Durant’s place as one of the best players ever.

That was clear on Tuesday, as Suns coach Monty Williams made sure to acknowledge in his postgame news conference. But Williams also said that he was at fault for Durant’s lack of touches at the end of the game.

“I’ve got to figure out ways to get him in space so he can catch the ball freely and be able to go,” Williams said.

As the game ended, Westbrook had many long embraces with Suns players and coaches on the court, but he never made it to Durant. Instead, Westbrook left the floor alone, with one hand raised to fans as he exited, while Durant did a television interview on the other end of the court.

Kevin Durant, left, and Russell Westbrook, center, have proved themselves in their own ways since they split as teammates in 2016.

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

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Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

Let your inner child out to play, Ram! As the Leo quarter moon illuminates your fifth house of fun today, you need to make time to enjoy life. Have you been too busy at work to spend quality time with bae? This amorous starmap calls for an epic date night. If you’re single, do NOT head straight home from the office tonight. Pop into a bar or some other social scene and mingle for at least an hour. You could vibe with a new admirer.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

When the solar eclipse hit last week, you learned something about setting limits. Now, with the moon reaching its waxing quarter phase in your domestic court, your attention shifts to home and family. If you’ve been putting other people’s needs first, it may have reached the point where the dominant members of your close crew are walking all over you. Put a stop to it! Once you establish firmer boundaries, you’ll start to notice that all of you are better off for it.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

The Aries solar eclipse on April 20 began a healing process that starts to show real progress today, thanks to the quarter moon in your communication zone (also known as the Gemini house). Maybe you’ve been considering your options, like making an appointment with a psychotherapist or a life coach. Take some action today to get things moving. It may feel a little scary, but YOU have to make a move if you want the needle to move.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

As the quarter moon activates your second house of resources, you might be puzzling over group dynamics at your job. The solar eclipse in Aries on April 20 may have introduced some new faces to your usual team, and now you’re questioning whether people are contributing in equal measure—you included, Crab. Spend some quiet time examining how you can help this endeavor to gel.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Your script for conquering the world needs to include the part where you tend to your own needs, Lion. Last week’s solar eclipse in your expansive ninth house set your vision ablaze with Big Plans. But today’s quarter moon in your sign could reveal that you’re not firing on all cylinders now. Even if it just seems like a matter of low energy, if you’re lagging, so is your leadership. Look at this as a chance to offset all that go, go, go with rest, rest, rest.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

You’ve been on a deep dive in a research rabbit hole since last week’s solar eclipse in your investigatory eighth house, and today’s quarter moon in your mystical twelfth gives you permission to crawl out of it and sift through your findings. Kick back in the privacy of your own space and just zone out or drift off to sleep, giving your subconscious a chance to play its part. Your dreams (sleeping or waking) could carry a valuable message. You might even hit on a solution to a problem that’s been bothering you.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

Did the Aries solar eclipse on April 20 produce a surprise partnership? Today’s quarter moon in your communal eleventh house could inspire you to keep the camaraderie going. Maybe you’ll opt to join forces in a group endeavor or contribute your valuable time to a humanitarian cause you care about. Working shoulder to shoulder with others toward a shared ideal feels particularly gratifying today. And your cooperative nature ensures that anyone you collaborate with will enjoy working with you.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

Today’s quarter moon in your ambitious tenth house calls for you to draw up a sound game plan to reach your longterm goals. You may find yourself asking big questions about your future path, and one work alliance in particular could grab your attention now. Is it fostering your growth or limiting it? Look for a way to shift the situation so your needs will be met going forward. When you do that, your trajectory could seem a lot more hopeful.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

Are you spinning your wheels, Sagittarius? If your April calendar has been jam-packed, then today’s quarter moon in your exploratory ninth house will give you a whiff of freedom. If you can swing a spontaneous getaway, go for it! But if travel is out of the question, find a way to broaden your horizons mentally. Stimulate your mind with an author reading, an industry workshop or a panel discussion about a cause that’s near and dear to your heart. When you can’t spread your wings, train your brain!

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

When a quarter moon lands in your seduction sector today, get ready to unleash your earthy sensuality, Capricorn… the object of your lust won’t know what hit ‘em! In other types of connections, you won’t have any patience for chitchat. You don’t need to be a tyrant about it, but if people want your time and attention now, they better be prepared to keep it real. You can encourage them to “go there” by showing them how it’s done. You first!

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

You’ve been thinking about how you communicate your message and connect with others lately, and today’s quarter moon in your interpersonal court continues that theme. Now you’re putting important connections under the microscope, and you might notice that you’ve inadvertently allowed one you value highly to fall through the cracks. You didn’t mean to shortchange this person who means so much to you, so nip any fallout in the bud by reaching out to them today.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

Walk your talk, Pisces. Last week’s solar eclipse in your value sector pushed you to shuffle your priorities. And now, as today’s quarter moon powers up your productive sixth house, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Your work ethic is impressive when you care about what you’re doing. If you put your nose to a grindstone that matters to you now, you’ll get major results. Being of service to others is bound to boost your motivation, so try factoring helpfulness into the equation today.

Speed Bump