2 GOOD MORNING
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LUMA: Number of customers lacking electricity below 55,000
Lawmakers demand faster response; at least 3 mayors take power restoration work into their own hands
By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul1@gmail.com
Amid a flurry of complaints from a number of island towns still partially blacked out following the passage of Tropical Storm Ernesto six days ago, LUMA Energy, the private operator of electric power transmission and distribution, reported Sunday morning that the number of customers without electricity had been reduced to 54,826.
The Caguas region reported 14,650 customers without service, Mayagüez with 13,436 and Carolina with 13,063 as of 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Arecibo also reported 4,102 affected customers, while Ponce and San Juan had 6,223 and 2,411 customers without electricity, respectively. Bayamón had 941 customers without service.
“Our crews have worked hard, often under difficult conditions, to reach our global ETR ahead of schedule,”
LUMA President & CEO Juan Saca said in a written statement. “Although we reached this goal, our crews remain focused on restoring power to customers who remain without service in the regions of Caguas, Carolina, Mayagüez and Ponce. These regions were the most affected by Tropical Storm Ernesto. We will work day and night and will not rest until all of our customers have service. In this restoration phase, we want to thank our local, federal and municipal partners. We also thank our customers for their support and commitment to Puerto Rico.”
The company is urging customers to call if they experience service interruptions while line personnel work to restore power to the remaining 10%.
Saca noted that the restoration work has been affected by the lack of access to certain areas, such as line 36,800 from Carolina to Canóvanas, where a broken cable left 70,000 customers without service. Crews were working to make that line ready for service late last week.
In response to complaints from mayors who said the re-energization process is overly bureaucratic, Alejandro González Laboy, LUMA’s director of operations, reiterated how the process of energizing the sectors works and how it is controlled.
“Look at the air traffic controller as an example; when the planes fly there is an air traffic control tower,” he said. “Everything that happens in the air has to be communicated with the control tower, because if not it puts the security of
the system, stability, continuity and plans at risk. We operate the same way, we have a control center and the procedure for communicating is through that [center located in Monacillos, San Juan]. Agility is tied to demand. Obviously it is not the same to have 10 cases than to have 100. It may be a little slower, but it is part of our process. Is there an opportunity to improve? Always, but that is the procedure and we have to remain firm in managing communication through that control.”
“Well, after an event like this, there is always a discussion about what happened during the event and then we start making adjustments as we have done every year, each time getting better,” the official added. “There could be information that the mayor has, that someone called him, I don’t know how he got it, but he got it and maybe there is an individual case, we discuss it, we evaluate it and we see how we are improving in the restoration process. But beyond that, when we finish the process, we see how we can be more effective next time.”
Saca responded on Friday, when more than 200,000 LUMA subscribers were still without electricity, to the question of how he rated his performance in restoring electricity service following the passage of Ernesto.
“The LUMA team has done an excellent job in recovering more than 50,000 clients in the last 36 hours and we continue to make constant progress,” he said at a press conference. “We can certainly improve. But the recovery
LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca, at right; LUMA Director of Operations Alejandro González Laboy is on the left.
say, whether it is a B-minus, a B-plus, a C or whatever, the person who does not have electricity in their house and has spent 48 hours without electricity, is suffering and does not care about the B, or the C, or the D,” Saca added. “So our job here is to recover as many clients as possible as soon as possible and return their electricity and improve their quality of life.”
Meanwhile, the mayors of San Lorenzo (Jaime Alverio Ramos) and Isabela (Miguel “Ricky” Méndez Pérez) have formally announced that they will begin energizing structures in their municipalities, as permitted by a recently approved law. Saca insisted that such work be coordinated with the grid operator to avoid an accident.
“Mayors advocate for their people and they do it very well,” Saca said. “We are in constant communication with them and we listen to them. I have discussed this issue with several mayors lately, in the last 24 hours, and it will be taken into account to review it, but it is very important that we all understand that our number one priority is safety and we cannot be energizing something until we are 100 percent sure that we are not going to have a fatality on the other side. But the feedback has been taken seriously and we take the mayors seriously and we are going to review it.”
On Sunday, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, the New Progressive Party minority leader in the island House of Representatives, demanded that Saca “stop lying” to the people and start to work to reestablish electrical service.
“Vieques and Culebra are half-lit thanks to local generators. Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba and Río Grande barely have a
little light. The rest of Puerto Rico is basically the same,” the lawmaker said. “It’s for this reason that I don’t understand how he can say that he is ‘doing well.’ I don’t understand this unless he doesn’t know what is happening on the island. You can’t lie to the people. Things aren’t well. We have had three years with LUMA and two since the passage of Hurricane Fiona [in September 2022] and the system is worse today as far as recovery goes.”
“LUMA’s figures do not coincide with reality,” Méndez Nuñez said.
Lawmakers representing 11 towns demand full restoration of electrical service
Popular Democratic Party Reps. Gretchen Hau Irizarry (District 29, Cidra and Cayey), Estrella Martínez Soto (District 27, Aibonito, Coamo, Juana Díaz, Santa Isabel and Salinas) and Jesús “Chui” Hernández Arroyo (District 26, Villalba, Barranquitas, Orocovis and Coamo), demanded on Sunday that the management of LUMA Energy fulfill its commitment to the total energization of Puerto Rico, providing electric power to the municipalities that require it, with the necessary materials to serve the large mountainous areas without electricity, as well as the so-called pockets in communities that, even though registered as energized, have streets or sectors still in the dark.
LUMA, meanwhile, in a press release issued soon after the legislators made their demands known, expressed alarm that the town of Orocovis was carrying out its own electricity
restoration.
“For LUMA, security is the greatest priority. For this, our trained personnel are the only ones responsible for the repair and restoration of the electricity grid after Tropical Storm Ernesto,” read the press release. “We are very concerned about the images that we have seen published by the mayor of Orocovis in social media of people working on electrical lines in his municipality without authorization and without the adequate security equipment, which represents an immediate danger for Orocovis residents and for our employees.
Also on Sunday, LUMA sent a letter to Orocovis Mayor Jesús Colón Berlingeri informing him of the unauthorized use of personnel to work on the electrical system against that established by law and of the company’s concerns for the safety of energy customers and workers in the field.
“If we share the desire to restore the electrical service as soon as possible, the restoration of the system must be carried out in the correct and secure way to protect the public and our clients,” read the letter. “We are committed to work together with municipalities to accelerate the efforts of restoration that we have undertaken in daily regional meetings with all the mayors since Tuesday to keep them informed of our progress. What we cannot stop emphasizing is that the work on the transmission and distribution system is and must be completed by trained and capable personnel. [...] All standards of the industry and applicable laws must be followed.”
Canóvanas mayor ramps up help for residents without electricity, drinking water service
By THE STAR STAFF
While 40% of homes in Canóvanas remain in darkness, with some areas lit only by moonlight and many streets still without power, Mayor Lornna Soto Villanueva has stepped up actions to support the community during the prolonged emergency brought about by Tropical Storm Ernesto’s passage last week.
In addition to electrical problems, several areas lack drinking water and telecommunications remain weak, further complicating the situation for residents, the mayor said.
“We cannot allow our people to suffer in silence as they face this crisis. There is a lot of tension and this can escalate,” Soto said. “That is why we have mobilized small local food vendors, located in the most affected areas, to provide hot meals to those who are still without electricity and water.”
The measure, Soto Villanueva said, “not only guarantees
that citizens receive nutritious food, but also supports the local economy by keeping small businesses active during these difficult times.”
In addition to the food effort, the municipality deployed 200 employees over the weekend to distribute drinking water, groceries and essential supplies.
“LUMA and PRASA know that I don’t follow up, I prosecute,” Soto Villanueva said, referring to the private operator of the island’s electric power grid and the water authority, respectively. “We will not stop until I see my town restored.”
“I know what my town is going through, but we ask for your cooperation, patience and to give space to the LUMA and PRASA employees who are on the streets and have been working for you and yours for many hours,” the mayor added. “Likewise, it is important to stay informed through the municipality’s official channels to find out the latest details about the aid distribution points.”
The municipal administration of Canóvanas has been making hot meals available for those residing in sections of the town where electricity and, in some cases, drinking water service has yet to be restored. Mayor Lornna Soto Villanueva said the initiative “not only guarantees that citizens receive nutritious food, but also supports the local economy by keeping small businesses active during these difficult times.”
Isabela Mayor Miguel “Ricky” Méndez Pérez
From left, Reps. Gretchen Hau Irizarry, Estrella Martínez Soto and Jesús Hernández Arroyo
LUMA called on to attend public hearing in House on Wednesday
By THE STAR STAFF
Reps. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, Jesús “Chui” Hernández Arroyo and Deborah Soto Arroyo, along with mayors Luis
Javier Hernández Ortiz of Villalba, William Miranda Torres of Caguas and José A. “Josian” Santiago Rivera of Comerío, demanded Sunday that LUMA Energy attend a public hearing of the Economic Development, Planning, Tele-
Popular Democratic Party lawmakers and mayors called on LUMA Energy officials to appear at a public hearing in the island House of Representatives this week. “... We realize that [LUMA] is not only incapacitated, but it is also unable to continue working and operating our electrical system,” said District 26 Rep. Jesús Hernández Arroyo, at center.
communications, Public-Private Partnerships and Energy Committee in the island House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“LUMA, in the face of the emergency caused by the storm Ernesto, has shown a neglect and lack of sense of urgency that borders on negligence and for which they must respond before the House of Representatives,” Ortiz González, who is the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governor said in a written statement. “Today, Sunday, there are still thousands of subscribers without electrical service and that is not acceptable.”
Hernández Arroyo, who chairs the aforementioned House committee, said LUMA has demonstrated its inability to operate the system.
“Since LUMA began to mismanage matters in Santa Isabel and Coamo, it has demonstrated its inability,” the District 26 (Villalba, Barranquitas, Orocovis and Coamo) lawmaker said. “After the events of the past few days, we realize that it is not only incapacitated, but it is also unable to continue working and operating our electrical system.”
Hernández Ortiz, president of Puerto
Rico Mayors Association, which groups PDP municipal executives, said “it is a shame that our people are suffering with the inconsistencies and incapacities of LUMA, but it is more worrying that the company has not had direct communication with the mayors during this emergency.”
“We are the first ones that citizens call when they have problems, and it is the duty of this company to maintain a direct line of communication with all of us,” he said.
“LUMA’s inaction in this emergency is additional evidence of its failure to comply with its contractual responsibility,” Hernández Ortiz added. “This investigation will help us document it.”
Ortiz González asserted that “LUMA’s failure is a product of the current administration’s hasty privatization policy, which is why my delegation and I have voted in favor of canceling that contract on several occasions.”
“Puerto Rico does not deserve electrical service like the one it has,” the PDP president said. “We must aspire to more and LUMA has definitely shown that it cannot be part of that equation.”
PDP candidate for mayor of San Juan presents education proposal
By THE STAR STAFF
Terestella González Denton, the Popular Democratic Party candidate for mayor of San Juan, presented her proposal for education in the capital city on Sunday.
“Few citizens of San Juan know that there is a consolidated budget for education of $46.3 million, as presented in the budget for fiscal year 2024-2025,” González Denton said in a written statement. “San Juan’s education budget is larger than the total budget of just over 90 percent of the municipalities in Puerto Rico. Are the results being achieved? No. Can more, much more, be done? Yes, I’m coming to that.”
The candidate said that currently, the Municipality of San Juan impacts a tiny number of children and youth in San Juan, only 900 kindergarten students and 1,200 older students in three schools, and 450 students in San Juan University College, for a total of 2,500 students with a budget of $46 million.
“That translates to $18,040 per student. Let’s compare that: only six jurisdictions in the [mainland U.S.] invest more: New York, District of Columbia, New Jersey, Connecti-
cut, Massachusetts, Maryland and Vermont. However, academic achievement could be much better,” González Denton said. “Why? Because the curriculum is inadequate and outdated. It does not positively challenge the capabilities and skills of our students.”
In her presentation to the media, González Denton proposed an approach known as Municipal High-Performance Transformative System (SMART by the Spanish-derived acronym), where schools are more connected to the realities of communities, to students with functional diversity, and above all, to the educational and technological challenges of the current 21st century.
Among the proposals, she outlined the creation of the “Municipal Administration for Education” program, which aims to guarantee equitable and quality education for all students. Partnerships would be established with the 59 private schools and resources would be optimized in 31 municipal schools, including the implementation of extended hours. In addition, 101 public schools would be transformed into specialized high schools in areas such as STEM, technology, languages and arts. Vocational schools would receive
support with innovative programs in leadership, technology and entrepreneurship.
The “Family at the Center” program would encourage community participation in decision-making, and an education based on community values would be implemented.
The San Juan University College would become a first-class university center with new
programs and resources, and the Education Mile, an educational corridor that would connect the educational institutions of San Juan would be created, improving infrastructure and promoting collaboration and academic enrichment.
“Today, San Juan does not have an effective measurement, a reliable compilation of educational services in the capital” the candidate noted. “We are going to implement measurement strategies that offer true transparency in all processes, with performance rates, school dropout data, grades and scores, and student, parent and teacher participation.”
“There is no doubt that education is the cornerstone of sustained and dignified social and human development,” González Denton said. “This is why we are proposing this series of initiatives that I just mentioned, which we have called the SMART Municipal Education Plan. … It is a pillar project aimed at improving the quality of education at the municipal level and focusing on the implementation of innovative and personalized strategies that promote the comprehensive development of students.”
Terestella González Denton, the Popular Democratic Party candidate for mayor of San Juan
Harris puts four Sun Belt states back in play, Times/Siena polls find
By SHANE GOLDMACHER and RUTH IGIELNIK
Vice President Kamala Harris has stormed into contention in the fast-growing and diverse states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, not long after Donald Trump had seemed on the verge of running away with those states when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic nominee.
The new polls from The New York Times and Siena College show how quickly Harris has reshaped the terrain of 2024 and thrust the Sun Belt back to the center of the battleground-state map.
Harris is now leading Trump among likely voters in Arizona, 50% to 45%, and has even edged ahead of Trump in North Carolina — a state Trump won four years ago — while narrowing his lead significantly in Georgia and Nevada.
Trump and Harris are tied at 48% across an average of the four Sun Belt states in surveys conducted Aug. 8 to 15.
That marks a significant improvement for Democrats compared with May, when Trump led Biden 50% to 41% across Arizona, Georgia and Nevada in the previous set of Times/Siena Sun Belt polls, which did not include North Carolina.
The new polls provide more evidence that Harris is successfully consolidating parts of the Democratic base that had been waffling over supporting Biden for months, particularly younger, nonwhite and female voters.
A week ago, Times/Siena polling showed that Harris had pulled ahead of Trump by a narrow margin in the three northern battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Those states are generally considered the linchpin of any Democratic path to the White House. The Sun Belt represents an essential set of states for Trump while offering a potential second route for Harris to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.
In the new surveys, Trump is ahead in Georgia 50% to 46%, and, in Nevada, he has 48% compared with 47% for Harris. She has 49% of likely voters to Trump’s 47% in North Carolina, the only one of the seven core battleground states that he carried in 2020.
The polls show some risk for Harris as she rallies Democrats to her cause, including that more registered voters view her as too liberal (43%) than those who say Trump is too conservative (33%). For now, she is edging ahead of him among critical independent voters.
The polls show that Democratic voters are newly excited about the 2024 race now that Harris is the nominee, with 85% of her voters saying they are at least somewhat enthusiastic about voting this fall, roughly matching voters’ level of enthusiasm for Trump. And large majorities of Democratic and Republican registered voters are now satisfied with their choice of candidates. That is a marked change from May, when Republicans were much more satisfied than Democrats.
Alina Szmant, 78, a Democrat and a retired scientist in Wilmington, North Carolina, was excited about the possibility of voting for the first woman president.
“Kamala is extremely well prepared to be an excellent president,” she said. As for Biden? She would have voted for him mostly because of her disgust for Trump. “He was not my first choice,” she said of Biden. “He wasn’t even my second or third or fourth choice.”
The race is increasingly polarized along racial lines.
Harris, who would be the first Black woman to serve as president, had the support of 84% of Black voters in the polls, which is higher than Biden’s support before his exit. Her backing among Latino voters was at 54%. She also opened up a significant gender gap, taking a 14-percentage point lead over Trump among women in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada; that
group had been evenly split between Biden and Trump in those three states in May.
Overall, Harris leads nonwhite voters in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada by 29 percentage points; Biden had led those voters in the same states by 17 percentage points in May.
Trump, in turn, is maximizing his support among white voters without a college degree, winning 66% support from them across the four Sun Belt states.
One of the bigger questions for Harris is how long what the Trump team has called her “honeymoon” period will last. She has sparked memes, become a social-media phenomenon and drawn larger crowds on her first trip across the swing states this month than Biden ever drew.
One indicator of her online traction came from largely younger voters who said they used TikTok. Harris held a 13-point advantage among TikTok users in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, compared with Biden’s 3-point edge among the same group in those states in May.
Voters overall gave Harris a 48% favorable rating, the same as her unfavorable rating. No previous Times/Siena survey in these states tested her favorability, but an even rating is a huge leap. In one national survey in February, voters viewed her more unfavorably by a 19-percentage point margin.
Trump scored an identical 48% favorable rating, largely unchanged since May.
Trump continues to hold the political advantage on two issues — the economy and immigration — that voters ranked as among the most important facing the nation. But Harris and Trump are close to tied on the key question of which candidate would better handle whatever issue voters see as the most important to them.
One reason is that while Trump is still favored on the economy over Harris across the Sun Belt states, his advantage is smaller on that topic than it was over Biden in May. At the same time, Harris has widened the Democratic edge over Trump on abortion.
On the issue of immigration, Trump is more trusted by 53% of voters, compared with 43% for Harris. Still, for an issue that has been a defining part of Trump’s image since 2015, that advantage represents a relatively small edge.
The state of the race in the four Sun Belt states was unchanged when third-party candidates were included. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. won just 4% of likely voters, the largest of any third-party candidate in the polls, but it is half the level of support he received in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia just three months ago.
The brightening of the landscape for Democrats also applies lower down the ballot, where Senate races were polling stronger for the party than in May.
In Arizona, Ruben Gallego, the Democratic congressman, leads Kari Lake, the firebrand pro-Trump Republican and former television anchor, 51% percent to 42%, among likely voters in the state’s open Senate race. In Nevada, Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, is ahead of her Republican challenger Sam Brown 49% to 40%. And in North Carolina, the state’s Democratic attorney general, Josh Stein, leads Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican, 49% to 39%, in the year’s marquee governor’s race.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, arrives at a rally in Las Vegas, on Aug. 10, 2024. Gains among Black, Hispanic and young voters have lifted Harris into a tie across four swing states, per New York Times/Siena College polls. (Bridget Bennett/The New York Times)
As the convention nears, Chicagoans wonder:
By JULIE BOSMAN
Workers rushed around in the shadow of the hulking United Center on Chicago’s Near West Side last week, planting flowers, spreading mulch, erecting tents and hoisting metal barricades.
Mattie Teague was watching it all with a frown from across the street. Standing in the hydrangea-lined courtyard of the halfway house where she works as a case manager, she said that a leaflet left at the facility had just delivered news: The block where she leaves her car would soon be cordoned off for security.
“It’s good that they brought the convention to Chicago,” she said. “But they could have done a little better with our parking.”
Will it be a nuisance or a party?
The Democratic National Convention will descend on Chicago today, ready to meet the gripes, excitement and reservations of locals. No city has hosted more national political conventions, and Chicago is used to putting on giant events like the Lollapalooza music festival, a NASCAR race and St. Patrick’s Day parades. But the city is bracing for an influx of some 50,000 visitors — and worldwide media scrutiny — when the four-day convention begins Monday. Chicagoans have many questions.
The United Center in Chicago, the main site of the upcoming Democratic National Convention, on Aug. 12, 2024. About 50,000 people are expected in the nation’s third-largest city for the Democrats’ convention, leaving some Chicagoans thrilled but others fleeing town. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times)
sents a lakefront ward on the North Side, pointing out that safety planning from city officials and law enforcement has been underway for more than a year.
Something else has changed in recent days, he said.
Could traffic go from bad to worse? Might the city’s famed but inconsistent L trains actually start running on time? Will downtown be a tangle of angry protests?
Will the convention be a nuisance, or a party?
“I’m so excited because I think the city’s prepared,” said Timmy Knudsen, a City Council member who repre-
While many residents of this Democratic-dominated city were loudly grumbling about the convention when President Joe Biden was still in the race, some of them say the mood has changed since Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee.
“The story has shifted from, ‘Can Chicago handle this?’ to ‘This is Kamala Harris’ convention,’” Knudsen said.
Last-minute preparations for the convention are visible downtown, in the West Loop and the Near West Side, where the evening speeches will be held.
In the Loop, pillars on the platform at an L stop on Lake Street were freshly painted white last week. Cracked sidewalks downtown have been patched. Lampposts on State Street have been festooned with vertical banners cheerily welcoming visitors to the convention.
John Roberson, the city’s chief operating officer, said that the Blue Line L station at Chicago O’Hare International Airport — an entry point for visitors — has been spruced up, including a fresh coat of paint.
“It even smells great now,” he said.
On the Near West Side, where thousands will journey each evening for convention speeches at the United Center, the neighborhood is busy making final touches.
Just days ago, a new L stop opened on the Green Line, a modern, soaring station of glass and metal with lime green accents a few blocks from the United Center.
“Looks like it was rush, rush to get that done,” said Eulas Arrington, 35, a West Side resident, as he walked
nearby.
Arrington, who grew up in a nowdemolished housing project that faced the United Center, said he hopes that visitors come away with an opinion of Chicago that reflects reality, not what they might see in the media.
“They only look at the gang violence,” he said. “But that’s not Chicago. It’s just a peaceful place with nice people and good food.”
Bernadine Davis, 67, a retired state employee, said she was anticipating some headaches near her home, only a few blocks from the convention arena.
She planned to bike or walk during the convention week instead of trying to navigate traffic in her car. In the evenings, she said, she hoped to be joining the convention from her living room, watching speeches on television.
“I’ll be tuning in and watching Kamala,” Davis said. “It’s all about the strength of a woman, happening here in Chicago, and that’s a beautiful thing.”
Many Chicagoans say they plan to stay away from wherever the convention-goers will be.
Employees at several companies with offices downtown and in the West Loop have been told they can work from home next week to avoid potential headaches with traffic or crowds.
Some families are decamping for Wisconsin or Michigan for the week, trading the convention fuss for a last few days of vacation before children go back to school.
Chicago Public Schools pushed its first day of school to Aug. 26, though most teachers and other staff members will be working in school buildings beginning Monday. While the media have regularly invoked comparisons to the 1968 Democratic convention, when Chicago police officers clashed with demonstrators in parks, business owners were thinking more of 1996, the last time that Chicago hosted a political convention.
That one was a huge boon for the city’s economy, recalled Pete Berghoff, whose family has owned the historic Berghoff restaurant in Chicago’s Loop since 1898. Berghoff said he has had plenty of bookings for next week, including requests for parties that he couldn’t accommodate because they were larger than the restaurant’s capacity.
But he was concerned by reports that restaurant business was lackluster in Milwaukee last month, when the Republicans held their convention.
“The worst-case scenario is that the DNC comes in, has their convention, lives within that six-block radius or around their hotels, and doesn’t really get around downtown,” Berghoff said. “I hope they’re out and about downtown, and we’re going to prepare as if they are.”
US unveils price limits for 10 costly or common medications
By NOAH WEILAND and REBECCA ROBBINS
The Biden administration late last week unveiled the results of landmark drug price negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical companies, allowing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to cast themselves as confronting the drug industry on behalf of older Americans at a critical moment in the presidential campaign.
The negotiated prices, which take effect in 2026, are expected to save billions of dollars for Medicare, which is funded by taxpayers. But they will lead to direct out-ofpocket savings for only a subset of the millions of older Americans who take the drugs subject to negotiations.
Other provisions of the law that created the drug negotiation program, such as capping patients’ expenses for insulin and their yearly out-of-pocket drug costs, will do more to save older Americans money at the pharmacy counter.
The 10 drugs subject to negotiations include widely used blood thinners and arthritis medications. Had the new prices been in effect last year, administration officials said, Medicare would have saved $6 billion, which would have reduced its spending on those drugs 22%, administration officials said.
“This is a fight all of us have been fighting for a long time: taking on Big Pharma,” Biden said at an event in Maryland celebrating the announcement, where he and Harris had their first joint public appearance since she took over the Democratic presidential ticket.
The negotiations, a longtime aspiration of Democrats, are the first that the federal government has directly conducted with drugmakers on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. Biden on Thursday recalled working on legislation as a senator in the 1970s that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate prices directly.
The pharmaceutical industry, which has fiercely opposed the negotiation program, quickly criticized the new prices Thursday, saying they would not help patients. Bristol Myers Squibb, the maker of the blood thinner Eliquis, one of the drugs subject to negotiations, said the drug’s new price “does not reflect the substantial clinical and economic value of this essential medicine.”
It is impossible to tell how much the new prices will save Medicare for each individual drug. The federal government does not disclose the net prices it pays for medications, which take into account the billions of dollars in discounts that reduce Medicare’s spending.
But estimates from health economists who have analyzed Medicare’s actual spending indicate that the new prices are lower than what the government has paid in recent years, with some drugs more discounted than others.
“These are impressive results,” said Jack Hoadley, a Medicare expert and research professor emeritus at Georgetown University.
Wall Street analysts, however, told investors they thought the drug companies made out relatively unscathed, with discounts not much greater than what they already concede. “Sigh of relief,” analysts at the investment bank Leerink Partners wrote to investors. None of the big companies whose drugs were subject to negotiation had major swings in their stock prices Thursday.
Medicare’s Part D program covers most of the costs of prescription drugs that seniors take at home. About 9 million Part D beneficiaries took at least one of the first 10
medications subject to negotiations in 2023.
The new prices were made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, a climate, health and tax bill Biden signed in 2022 that authorized the health and human services secretary to negotiate on behalf of Medicare.
The legislation delivered more immediate benefits to Medicare beneficiaries, including a $35 monthly cap on out-of-pocket costs for insulin, and a $2,000 annual cap on patient costs for drugs taken at home. The $2,000 limit will go into effect next year.
The seniors who may see direct savings from the negotiation provision of the law are those whose insurance requires them to pay a percentage, often 25%, of a drug’s cost before discounts. When Medicare’s price is lowered in 2026, their outof-pocket costs may be lowered too, by as much as hundreds of dollars — though that will make little difference for some who will already be benefiting from the $2,000 limit on yearly costs.
The prices released Thursday represent the maximum that Medicare Part D plans and the patient will pay for a one-month supply. Medicare shoulders most of the cost and the patient typically covers a portion.
The selected drugs account for high Medicare spending, have been on the mar-
ket for years and do not face competition.
The number of drugs negotiated by the federal government is set to increase in the coming years. Biden has called for Medicare to negotiate the prices of 500 drugs over the next decade.
Harris has focused some of her early presidential campaign on the Biden administration’s drug pricing reforms, including the cap on monthly insulin costs for Medicare recipients. At a series of campaign events last week, Harris said that efforts to “take on Big Pharma” would be among her first priorities as president.
Harris cast the tiebreaking vote for the legislation that delivered the drug price negotiation program, something she and Biden highlighted at the Maryland event.
Medicare’s Part D program covers most of the costs of prescription drugs that seniors take at home. It relies on hundreds of plans run by private insurers that administer the program. Part D plans hire middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, to negotiate with manufacturers to secure lower prices for the government, by extracting discounts off an initial sticker price.
The result is that Medicare, like employers in the private market, already pays less than the sticker prices for the medications subject to negotiation.
But the new negotiation program goes further in creating more leverage for Medicare by empowering the government to negotiate prices directly with manufacturers on behalf of all beneficiaries.
The negotiations have faced a legal onslaught from the drugmakers, who have argued that the program is unconstitutional and will stifle innovation and harm patients by discouraging the development of new drugs.
The lawsuits, most of which are still moving through the courts, have had little success so far.
Medicare’s new influence on drug prices could be weakened or reversed if former President Donald Trump wins the White House in November, particularly with full Republican control of Congress. The authors of Project 2025, a Heritage Foundationsponsored playbook for a future Republican administration written in part by former Trump administration officials, argued that the drug price negotiation program should be repealed.
The San Juan Daily Star
A patient with a self-administered injection of Enbrel, in Athens, Ga., Jan. 25, 2018. The Biden administration has announced the results of landmark price negotiations between Medicare and the pharmaceutical companies over the prices of Enbrel and nine other costly or common medications taken by millions of older Americans. (Audra Melton/The New York Times)
Yields slip back as markets digest upbeat economic data
U.S. Treasury yields eased on Friday, partly reversing the previous day’s big gains as investors digested data showing a resilient U.S. consumer and inflation trending lower, leaving the Federal Reserve ample scope for a small interest rate cut next month.
Treasuries ended lightly mixed after such an up-and-down week, and volatility subsided almost as dramatically as it spiked two weeks ago. The rise in volatility came after an unemployment rate reading sparked near-panic that the economy was heading for a recession rather than a soft landing.
That briefly sent yields tumbling to levels not seen in more than a year as investors moved into the safety of Treasuries and jettisoned stocks.
But this week healthy retail sales data and a smaller than expected rise in weekly unemployment claims on the heels of benign inflation readings earlier in the week restored confidence in the economic picture. That launched two-year and 10-year yields into their biggest rises in weeks as investors reversed course. Yields on bonds fall when their prices rise.
“Yields are a little bit lower, so Treasuries are still looking pretty good. Bouncing back,” said Kim Rupert, managing director of fixed income at Action Economics in San Francisco.
“It’s been super-volatile, so we are seeing some calming in the market. I think with a rate cut pretty much settled now for September, the markets are cheering that.”
Rupert also said there was an uptick of safe-haven demand for Treasuries on Friday, mainly due to geopolitical risk factors such as the Middle East situation and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Interest rate futures traders scaled back bets that the Fed would need to cut 50 basis points when it next meets in September.
Based on the fed funds futures term structure, they now see
MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS
a 74% chance of a 25 bps ease in the policy rate, which has been in a 5.25%-5.5% target range since the Fed stopped hiking rates in July 2023.
Since there is no Federal Open Market Committee meeting in August, the market seeks a strong signal from Fed Chair Jerome Powell next Friday when he speaks at the U.S. Central Bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
“Today is just a little bit of a pullback of yesterday’s oversized move. We kind of showed that you’re seeing cracks in unemployment, but the underlying trend hasn’t really collapsed,” said Jan Nevruzi, U.S. rates strategist at TD Securities in New York.
“I think it will be harder for Powell to make the case that we need an outsized cut at next week’s Jackson Hole speech,” he said.
Weak July housing starts and building permits data kept pressure on yields before they ticked a bit higher following the release of a stronger-than-expected preliminary August Univer-
sity of Michigan consumer sentiment survey reading of 67.8, up from July’s 66.4.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President on Friday told National Public Radio that the U.S. economy is not showing signs of overheating, so central bank officials should be wary of keeping restrictive policy in place longer than necessary.
“You don’t want to tighten any longer than you have to,” Goolsbee said. “And the reason you’d want to tighten is if you’re afraid the economy is overheating, and this is not what an overheating economy looks like to me.”
The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year note fell 3.6 bps from late Thursday to 3.89%, paring Thursday’s gain that was the biggest in a week. For the week it lost 5.2 bps.
The two-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations and reached its highest since Aug. 2 on Thursday, was last down 3.7 bps at 4.0644%. Its 15.9 bps rise the previous session was the biggest since April 10. For the week it was less than 1 bp higher.
The
San Juan Daily Star Monday, August 19, 2024 9
Venezuelans mourn loved ones killed in protests, and last shreds of democracy
By JULIE TURKEWITZ
Jeison Gabriel España left home July 28 to vote for the first — and last — time in his brief life.
A day after casting his ballot in a presidential election that had united millions of Venezuelans in a call for change, España, 18, was shot and killed in the streets.
The country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, had claimed victory, despite overwhelming evidence that the opposition candidate had won. Then he sent security forces to crush dissent.
“Why did they kill my child?” España’s aunt, who raised him, cried at his funeral.
Now, Venezuela is in mourning, not just for the roughly 24 people dead amid violent demonstrations but also for the last shreds of a long-tattered democracy. Whatever small spaces still existed for resistance in the country are vanishing by the day, if not the hour, as an angry Maduro pummels an electorate that tried to vote him out.
For years, many Venezuelan families splintered by migration believed that they would eventually unite in an improved, if perhaps not wholly democratic, Venezuela. After the election, many are burying that dream.
“I will never return to Venezuela,” said one young woman, a data scientist living in Chile, asking that her name not be published because her mother and other relatives remain in her home country. “Venezuela has become my worst nightmare.”
In Caracas, the capital, police are setting up checkpoints to search phones for any signs of dissent. Black X marks are appearing on the homes of supposed opposition voters. Security forces are rounding up everyday citizens over the smallest indications of protest.
Once it was mostly activists who risked arrest. But more than 1,400 people have been detained in recent weeks, according to a watchdog group, Penal Forum. Many are everyday citizens, and more than 100 are under 18. Authorities are canceling passports of human rights activists and others, trapping them in the country. Journalists are fleeing amid tips that the intelligence police are after them.
On Saturday, members of the national
said at a recent news conference, asserting that the government would find and detain people who had “faked” their deaths.
España, the 18-year-old, knew no government other than that of the socialist movement that took power in 1999.
His parents died when he was a boy, and his aunt took him in. They lived in a poor part of Caracas and lacked much. But he did not want to migrate, as millions of other Venezuelans had done. He wanted to vote.
A day after casting his ballot, España went with neighbors to protest for the first time in his life, his aunt said. But Maduro had already sent security forces and allied gangs, called colectivos, into the streets. That evening, España’s aunt received a call: Her boy was dead.
A single gunshot to the chest, reads his death certificate. It is unclear who killed him.
guard dragged away a priest in the state of Zulia as his congregation watched.
“Christ, prince of peace,” they sang, falling to their knees as he disappeared from sight.
In the past, the government generally avoided arresting church figures.
The country’s opposition leaders, Edmundo González and María Corina Machado, have tried to maintain a message of optimism. While their public appearances have been rare since the vote, they have not been arrested.
On Saturday, as part of a global rally meant to support their movement, hundreds gathered in Caracas, despite the government’s deployment of thousands of security forces throughout the city.
“We are not afraid!” opposition supporters shouted, many waving photocopies of the “actas,” or tally sheets, printed at voting machines July 28.
Machado was there, delivering a speech from the roof of a truck. But González did not make an appearance. Attending such rallies carries a high risk of detention — for leaders and supporters — and it’s unclear how long these events can last.
For the most part, censorship reigns.
“Freedom!” two people dared to shout at the funeral procession for Olinger Mon-
taño, a 24-year-old barber who died the same day as España.
Other mourners quickly hushed them. At the cemetery in Caracas, where Montaño’s mother sobbed over his coffin, no one called for justice or ventured to raise the tricolor national flag.
“Today it was him,” one friend said, “and now it could be us.”
The New York Times attended the funerals and reviewed the death certificates of five young men killed in protests in the days after the election, and interviewed the families of several others. For their protection, the Times is withholding the names of many people who spoke for this article.
Maduro has publicly doubted the veracity of these deaths. Tarek William Saab, the chief prosecutor and a political ally of the president, has said that the dead are not victims, but actors.
“They fall on the floor; they pour ketchup on the person,” he
The state is unlikely to hold anyone accountable for those killed during demonstrations; similar crimes in past protests have gone unpunished.
Dorián Rondón, 22, from Caracas, left his home to protest July 29 with two cousins and his younger brother. Around 10 p.m., amid tear gas and gunshots, the group lost sight of Rondón. His brother searched for him much of the night.
Finally, at noon the next day, a photo of Rondón’s body lying in some bushes, clinging to his backpack, began to circulate in his community’s text messages.
Rondón’s death certificate said he died from a gunshot that pierced his lung.
At his funeral, his mother said she was so angry she could barely cry. Her hope now, she said, is to escape Venezuela with her younger son.
Anti-government protesters the day after an election with disputed official results in favor of Nicolás Maduro, the incumbent authoritarian president, in Caracas, Venezuela, July 28, 2024. Venezuela is in mourning, not just for the roughly 24 people dead amid violent demonstrations but also for the last shreds of a long-tattered democracy.
(The New York Times)
Tropical Storm Ernesto brings dangerous beach conditions
By JUDSON JONES and DON BURGESS
Tropical Storm Ernesto was expected to regain hurricane status as it continued to move offshore Sunday along the East Coast, where there was a significant risk of dangerous conditions at beaches.
Life-threatening surf and rip currents are possible in the Bahamas, Bermuda and on the Atlantic’s western shores for the next few days, forecasters said.
Here are key things to know about the storm.
— The storm made landfall in Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. It weakened into a tropical storm as it moved away from Bermuda on Saturday night, after making landfall in the morning and bringing significant rain. No major damage was reported.
— Ernesto was not expected to approach the mainland United States, but because of the risk it posed on the coast, several beaches were closed in New York City on Sunday. Two men drowned hours apart off the shore of Hilton Head Island in South Carolina on Friday, officials said.
— President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration in Puerto Rico, where hundreds of thousands of customers served by the island’s utility were left without power when Ernesto moved through last week.
Bermuda began returning to normal Sunday, a day after Hurricane Ernesto battered the island with fierce winds and heavy rain. The storm’s eye lingered directly over Bermuda for
more than two hours, subjecting residents to an extended period of eerie calm followed by renewed turbulence.
After the storm, residents joined government workers in clearing trees and debris from roads.
The Causeway, the only road from the main island to the airport, reopened for traffic at 9 a.m. The L.F. Wade International Airport had also reopened after closing Friday night, and most major thoroughfares were passable.
There were no reports of major damage or injuries as of Sunday afternoon, officials said, though many households found themselves in the dark.
BELCO, Bermuda’s sole electricity provider, said power failures affected more than 11,500 customers.
Bermuda is used to dealing with hurricaneforce winds, which begin at 74 mph. The last storm to make landfall on Bermuda was Paulette on Sept. 14, 2020, which caused minimal property damage.
The most memorable Bermuda hurricane of the 21st century didn’t make landfall.
Hurricane Fabian instead passed just to the west of the territory on Sept. 5, 2003, killing four sailors and forcing a quarter of Bermuda’s hotels and guesthouses to close for repairs.
Ernesto was not expected to approach the mainland United States, but forecasters warned that swells and rip currents were likely to affect the East Coast.
The New York City office of the weather service warned swimmers to stay out of the water. Beaches in Queens and Brooklyn were closed Saturday and Sunday to swimming because of dangerous rip currents, the mayor’s office said.
On Friday, two men, ages 65 and 73, drowned hours apart off the shore of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
Lifeguards recovered both men, who were believed to have been caught in riptides, though authorities said they could not confirm whether the deaths were tied to Ernesto.
“We do have rip currents at different times throughout the year,” Master Sgt. Daniel Allen said in an email.
In North Carolina, crashing waves spawned by Ernesto contributed to the collapse of an unoccupied house into the ocean, officials said.
Last week, Ernesto brought up to 10 inches of rain to parts of Puerto Rico, the weather service said.
The storm knocked out power to more than 600,000 customers. Luma Energy, which distributes electricity in the territory, said Sunday morning that more than 62,000 customers were still without power.
This hurricane season is expected to be busy.
Forecasters have warned that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be much more active than usual.
This month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continued its forecast of 17 to 24 named storms this year, an “above-normal” number and a prediction in line with more than a dozen forecasts earlier in the year from experts at universities, private companies and government agencies.
Hurricane seasons produce 14 named storms on average from June 1 through Nov. 30.
The seasonal hurricane outlooks were notably aggressive, because forecasters looking at the start of the season saw a combination of circumstances that didn’t exist in records dating back to the mid-1800s: record warm water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and the potential formation of the weather pattern known as La Nina.
La Nina occurs in the Pacific because of changing ocean temperatures, and it affects weather patterns globally.
When it is strong, it typically provides a calm environment in the Atlantic. This allows storms to develop more easily and to strengthen without interference from wind patterns that might otherwise keep them from organizing.
The red-shaded area denotes the potential path of the center of Tropical Storm Ernesto as it heads away from Bermuda into the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Trump has opened the pathway to reform
By JAMELLE BOUIE
Apart from Donald Trump, the basic problem of the Republican Party’s so-called fever — the extent to which it has been captured by nihilists and ideological extremists — is that the party is untethered from any electoral dynamic that might force it to moderate its behavior.
For example, despite the much-discussed willingness of some Black and Hispanic men to support the occasional Republican candidate (mostly Trump), the Republican coalition is still overwhelmingly white and conservative and spread throughout the nation’s rural and exurban counties. In theory, there are tensions within the Republican coalition — the party’s commitment to the interests of the superrich is an uneasy fit, to say the least, with the most downscale elements of its blue-collar constituency; in practice, those tensions are subsumed by commitments to a shared cultural (and often religious) identity.
Democrats must navigate a large and fractious alliance of interests, some of which are at odds or cross-purposes with each other. Republicans, by contrast, can sail the relatively calm waters of demographic homogeneity. But what this also means is that there is no force internal to the Republican Party’s electoral coalition that might force its representatives onto a different path.
In the absence of an alternative demographic or ideological base from which to build influence, the ambitious Republican politician has one option if he or she hopes to advance within the party: rigid commitment to ideological purity. The only way to get ahead is to outconservative — or now, out-MAGA — your rivals.
There is no incentive for anything else. If you want to win a primary, if you want to ascend to leadership, if you want to avoid the ire of conservative media, if you want to be on a national ticket, then you cannot have enemies to your right. There is no room, in the national Republican Party, for the moderate Republican governor of a Democratic state — the Larry Hogans and Charlie Bakers of American politics. There is not even room, it turns out, for the pragmatic conservatives of the party — the Nikki Haleys and Mitt Romneys.
Ostensibly, the pressure to win a general election should work to curb and curtail this dynamic. But the demographic homogeneity of the Republican coalition confers a distinct advantage on the party: It gives it a high floor from which to engage the biennial contest for control of the national government. When enough states in the union are low density and low population, the party that dominates the nation’s rural areas already controls nearly half the seats in the Senate and has a significant advantage in the House of Representatives as well.
What’s more, the efficient distribution of Republican and Republican-leaning voters — rural
and exurban America extends through every state — means that, as we’ve seen in two of the last six presidential elections, a Republican presidential candidate does not need to win the most votes nationwide to win the Electoral College and therefore the White House.
The ability to win power without winning votes is a powerful disincentive to change. As we see with Trump’s struggle to break out of his MAGA echo chamber, it stunts a politician’s — and a party’s — ability to reach beyond the faithful. It has also stimulated, among the Republican rank-and-file, a real disdain for what Republican Sen. Mike Lee called “rank democracy,” exemplified in the assertion that the United States is a “republic, not a democracy.” It makes sense: If more democracy would make it harder for Republicans to win, then more democracy can’t be good.
The United States will always have a conservative party, but American democracy needs that party to be committed to the maintenance of our democratic institutions. The only way to plot a path from here to there is to forcibly change the incentives within the Republican Party, which is to say, the only way to break the fever is to change the rules of the game. A more democratic American democracy — where majorities elect and majorities rule — would force the Republican Party to try, once again, to compete for national majorities.
The reforms are straightforward. End the Electoral College and move to a national popular vote, possibly by embracing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. End partisan gerrymandering and experiment with forms of voting that might enable more party competition, like fusion, which would let two or more parties nominate the same candidate for office. End the filibuster and pass a new, more robust Voting Rights Act. Grant Washington, D.C., statehood in accordance with the wishes of a majority of its residents. And pursue reform of the entire federal judiciary, so that the Supreme Court, which has been too happy to help Republicans entrench minority rule in the states, cannot take an ax to this agenda.
If the aim of both the Democratic Party and its allies is to protect and defend American democracy, then it cannot avoid a confrontation with those aspects of the American system that enabled the Republican spiral into nihilism. If
People walk the floor of the Republican National Convention, in Milwaukee, on July 18, 2024. Apart from Donald Trump, the basic problem of the Republican Party’s so-called fever — the extent to which it has been captured by nihilists and ideological extremists — is that the party is untethered from any electoral dynamic that might force it to moderate its behavior, Jamelle Bouie writes. (Jamie Lee Taete/The New York Times)
Democrats win control of Washington in November, they should make reforming our democracy a priority, since even without Trump, the sickness in the Republican Party will remain. It will take strong medicine to save the patient. Democrats must be prepared to administer the cure.
Dr. Ricardo Angulo Founder
Manuel
María de L. Márquez
Doña Lucy gana el torneo de Pesca Aguja Azul
POR CYBERNEWS
SAN JUAN – Con tres agujas azules devueltas al mar, la lancha Doña Lucy volvió a ganar el Torneo Internacional de Pesca Aguja Azul del Club Náutico de San Juan, seguida por las embarcaciones locales Hook Up y Salty Mood, todas con tres pejes.
“Estamos súper contentos por un torneo que cumplió las expectativas. Hubo momentos de pesca buenos y otros difíciles, pero la pelea estuvo reñida hasta el último momento y de eso se trata, de salir y disfrutar para dar el máximo en el deporte que tanto disfrutamos”, comentó el director del torneo Richard Christiansen, en declaraciones escritas.
Se soltaron 34 agujas, equivalentes a 16, 10 y ocho, respectivamente, en cada uno de los tres días de pesca.
Con otras dos soltadas en la vara (500 puntos), Lo-
renzo Ferrer ganó como mejor pescador “overall”, la fase local y que su nombre se inserte en dos trofeos perpetuos (tarjas) que se conocen como el ¨Murray Products Ralph Christiansen, Jr.¨ al mejor pescador ¨overall¨ y el ¨Trofeo Perpetuo Gustavo X. Ferrer¨ al mejor pescador local.
Le siguió el experimentado pescador, José ¨Joche¨ Valdés, que se colocó como segundo mejor pescador con dos agujas devueltas (500 puntos), seguido por Miguel Hernández con 250 puntos.
En el renglón de equipos se fue al frente Club Náutico de San Juan 4 con 750 tantos en las varas del ganador Ferrer, Tom Downey y María Rivera, seguidos por Chiflados con 500 puntos del joven Alberto Regis, Pedro Luis Benetti y José Gabriel Laporte y en tercer lugar el equipo Guaguaguá con Ricardo Quiñones de Doña Lucy, Juan Carlos Puig y Godfrey Franco (500 puntos).
Compitieron 45 lanchas con 200 pescadores inscritos de cinco países en competencia: Guatemala, Sudáfrica, República Dominicana, Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. Las tres lanchas ganadoras soltaron tres agujas cada una, otras siete soltaron dos y 11 embarcaciones tuvieron un peje para un total de 21 embarcaciones con acción deportiva.
Representantes quieren saber quien y como se pagará por las ayudas a los agricultores
POR CYBERNEWS
SAN JUAN – Luego del paso de la tormenta Ernesto por Puerto Rico el sector agrícola de la isla se encuentra desprovisto y sin ningún tipo de apoyo por parte del Departamento de Agricultura para ayudar a mitigar el impacto de las pérdidas en las cosechas, denunciaron el sábado los representante Jorge Alfredo Rivera Segarra y Juan José Santiago Nieves.
El reclamo principal de los agricultores afectados es conocer quién pagará por los daños registrados en sus cosechas o qué alternativas tienen para mitigar sus daños.
“Llevamos varios días desde el paso de la tormenta Ernesto por la isla y todavía los agricultores están en espera de conocer el plan de acción por parte del secretario de Agricultura, Ramón González Beiró, para atender la pérdida de sus cosechas. Mientras, la incertidumbre mantiene en jaque al sector que es uno de los principales en la isla”, señaló Rivera Segarra, quien preside la Comisión de Agricultura de la Cámara de Representantes.
Por su parte, Santiago Nieves se unió al reclamo de Rivera Segarra y manifestó que “los agricultores y el país
necesitan conocer con carácter de urgencia cuál es el plan por parte de la agencia que tiene la responsabilidad de velar y ofrecer mejores oportunidades a la industria agrícola del país. Ese plan debe contener datos precisos, concretos y que dejen fuera la improvisación y la falta de información”.
El secretario del Departamento de Agricultura, Ramón González Beiró explicó que, los daños reportados se concentran en la zona este de Puerto Rico donde hay
Muere motorista que hacía ‘wheelie’ en PR-177 en Guaynabo
GUAYNABO – Un hombre que realizaba un caballito (wheelie) en una motocicleta en la tarde del viernes en la carretera PR-177 en Guaynabo murió en la madrugada del sábado, informó la Policía.
varias fincas inundadas en los municipios de Yabucoa, Maunabo, Naguabo y Juncos. También, se ha informado sobre daños en fincas de plátanos en el municipio de Maunabo.
“En el área sur de Puerto Rico tenemos pérdidas en las hortalizas como la calabaza, el melón, entre otras cosechas a causa de las lluvias. Respecto al sector cafetalero, aquellos que ya estaban en el proceso de recogido sufrieron los estragos de la tormenta, todavía no tenemos un escenario de cuántos caficultores se vieron afectados y en la zona de la montaña hay daños en plátanos y guineo dado que se han caído. De igual forma, los pueblos de la montaña como Adjuntas, Jayuya, Orocovis y Barranquitas y estoy seguro de muchos otros”, mencionó González Beiró en declaraciones escritas.
El personal del Departamento y los agrónomos de campo comenzaron las visitas por los pueblos donde se registraron fuertes vientos y lluvias. Los afectados deberán hacer sus reclamaciones a través de las oficinas regionales, mientras que, los agricultores asegurados pueden solicitar las reclamaciones de pérdidas con la CSA al (787) 722-2748, al (787) 722- 2965 o al (787) 829 – 2900.
Según la información provista por la Policía, Enqueri Velázquez Millán de 28 años conducía una motora Honda RX 450 color roja del año 2018, por el carril central de esta vía de rodaje, en una sola rueda. Como consecuencia, perdió el control y domino del manubrio, e impactó una guagua Ford
Transit color blanco del año 2017. Velázquez Millán fue trasladado por paramédicos hasta el Centro Médico de Río Piedras donde falleció.
El agente Juan Sánchez, adscrito a la División de Patrullas de Carreteras de Bayamón investigó el accidente y el fiscal Roberto Hernández Ramos ordenó la ocupación de los vehículos involucrados para propósitos de investigación.
Maurice Williams, whose ‘Stay’
By ALEX WILLIAMS
Maurice Williams, the singer and songwriter whose 1960 single “Stay,” recorded with his doo-wop group the Zodiacs, shot to No. 1 and became a cover-song staple for a long line of musical acts, including the Four Seasons, the Hollies and Jackson Browne, died Aug. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 86.
His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by Ron Henderson, a former member of the Zodiacs.
Williams owed a considerable career debt to a girl he dated when he was 15. She provided the inspiration for his two biggest hits: “Little Darlin’,” recorded when his group was called the Gladiolas, which hit No. 41 on the Billboard pop chart in 1957; and “Stay,” which briefly topped the chart in 1960.
Williams recalled the origins of “Stay,” his only chart-topping single, in a 2018 video interview. “This young lady I was going with, she was over to my house, and this particular night, her brother was supposed to pick her up at 10,” he said. “So he came, and I said, ‘Well, you can stay a little longer.’ And she said, ‘No, I gotta go.’”
The next morning he woke up and wove that and other snippets from their conversation — “Now, your daddy don’t mind/And your mommy don’t mind” — into song form, building to its indelible signature line, which, seven years later, the Zodiacs’ Henry Gaston would render in a celestial falsetto: “Oh, won’t you stay, just a little bit longer.”
Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs’ recording of the song stood out not only for its infectious hooks but also for its eye-blink length — slightly over 90 seconds.
“We wanted to make it short so it would get more airplay,” Williams said. And, he added, “It worked.”
On Nov. 21, 1960, “Stay” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “I thought the Top 10 was big,” Williams said in a 2015 interview with The Charlotte Observer. “But when we hit No. 1, oh man, we were superstars.”
Although Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” knocked the song off its perch the next week, “Stay” lived on for decades as perhaps pop music’s most glorious example of recycling.
The British band the Hollies, featuring Graham Nash, hit No. 16 on the British charts with their uptempo, Merseybeatstyle take in 1963. The next year, the Four Seasons released their highly syncopated version, which shaved another few seconds off the original’s length and rose to No. 16 on the Hot 100.
The song still had plenty of life in it. Browne created a mini-medley by tacking his own interpretation onto his song “The Load Out” as the final track on his platinum-selling 1977 album, “Running on Empty.” The song became a live staple for Browne, with its ringing falsetto from his guitar-wizard si-
dekick David Lindley and its tweaked lyrics, directed at an audience and not a girl:
People, stay just a little bit longer
We wanna play just a little bit longer
Now the promoter don’t mind
And the union don’t mind ...
The next year, Rufus and Chaka Khan released a soaring R&B version that worked its way into the Top 40. In 2003, Cyndi Lauper provided another notable take on the song with her Caribbean-inflected spin.
“We had so many covers of ‘Stay,’” Williams told the Observer, “it’s hard to keep up with.”
Williams was born April 26, 1938, in Lancaster, South Carolina. He was already showing off his vocal chops in his church choir as a young child. He and his friend Earl Gainey formed a group called the Royal Charms at the suggestion of the director of his high school glee club, and soon he was coming up with his own material.
“We would hear WLAC radio from Nashville every night,” he said in a 2011 interview published on the music website Riveting Riffs, “and when I started writing, I said, ‘My songs sound just as good as what I am listening to on the
radio.’”
When he was 16, Williams and the other members of his sweet-harmonizing group — its original incarnation included Gainey, William Massey, Willie Jones and Norman Wade — headed to Nashville, Tennessee, for an audition and secured a contract with Excello Records, whose flowerloving owner suggested they rechristen themselves the Gladiolas. (Gaston joined the group in 1960.)
“Little Darlin’” became the group’s first hit, although its version was largely supplanted in doowop lore by a hit cover released just two weeks later by a white Canadian group called the Diamonds. Its take, which featured richer production and a more ambitious arrangement, was later heard in the landmark 1973 film “American Graffiti.”
Regardless, Williams, at 17, reaped a windfall from the songwriting rights, and, with the success of his group, turned down a music scholarship to Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. By 1960, the group had signed with Herald Records, a New York label, and changed its name, inspired by the Ford Zodiac, a British model they saw in a showroom. In need of new material, Williams dug up his old song “Stay,” which Al Silver, the label’s owner, loved — although he insisted that they change the line about having “another smoke” to “another dance,” to make it more radiofriendly.
The group notched other minor hits with “I Remember” (1961) and “Come Along” (1961). The Zodiacs’ 1965 single “May I” sold well but failed to chart.
Williams’ survivors include his wife of 63 years, Emily Williams.
Williams’ career continued after the doo-wop era ended. He performed for decades with various Zodiac lineups.
Fans showed a lasting appetite for “Stay,” his most famous song, which hit home with a new generation when it was included in the enduring 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”
Over the years, Williams praised many of the song’s cover versions. In the 2018 interview, he singled out Lauper’s cover as “fantastic.” He also praised the Four Seasons: “I liked their version more than anybody’s — except mine.”
Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs’ recording of the song stood out not only for its infectious hooks but also for its eye-blink length — slightly over 90 seconds. Williams is in the center of the front row. (Wikipedia)
Monday, August 19, 2024 14
Wild, beautiful and overlooked: Southern Sardinia is ready to share its essence
By LAURA RYSMAN
Buzz has been in short supply in southern Sardinia for some time now — some would say ever since the decline of the region’s Bronze Age Nuragic civilization. Yet on Italy’s second largest island, where sheep vastly outnumber people, there’s unmistakable new energy in Cagliari, its small Mediterranean capital, and the surrounding countryside.
“We used to think of ourselves as rustic, as isolated in this island backwater,” a local lay historian, Venturino Vargiu, told me, as we watched the city’s annual folk costume extravaganza of Sant’Efisio. “But Sardinians are starting to understand that our culture has real value for us and for outsiders.”
In Cagliari, there’s a surge in pride, along with a wave of new development, mostly aimed at increasing the already growing numbers of tourists. In the rapidly transforming Marina neighborhood, a onetime fishermen’s enclave that is today a lively mix of immigrants and longtime residents, a promenade designed by the architect Stefano Boeri will create a lush parkland along the waterfront. A light-rail line will connect the Marina with Cagliari’s hinterlands, and a new port, projected for 2026, is being constructed to move cruise ships farther away, allowing the yacht set to dock (and spend money) in Cagliari’s center.
For Cagliari and the south — which stretches out along a white-sand and cyan-sea coastline of stunning beaches — a tide of tourism could either prove destructive or be a boon to a region short on opportunity. Decades back, the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia’s north became a resort playground for the rich — a Milan-by-the-Mediterranean that symbolized how tourists can colonize a territory.
But can a more harmonious form of travel be created in the south? With overtourism now the curse of many an Italian outpost, I visited the area and asked locals what might shape a better future.
A city that belongs to its residents
“This city is gentrifying for tourists,” said Samuele Muscas, one of the founders of Sabores, a sceney restaurant and natural wine bar in a couple of old Marina storefronts. It has a Parisian
feel but a local menu and crowd — and it’s one of many urbane Cagliari bars and restaurants that rival those in Italy’s larger cities. Muscas, who started off at Sapori di Sardegna, a nearby food shop that spawned Sabores and its close neighbor, Pipette, served me a plate of wild asparagus and a Deperu Holler white wine from Sardinia’s north, and pointed out that I was the only non-Sardinian in the dining room. “We created this place for our community,” he said. “We welcome tourists, but we want them to be immersed in our culture, in a place for us.”
“Politics are changing in Cagliari,” Nicola Marongiu told me the following evening at Pipette, a much-loved wood-paneled wine bar, also in Marina. The new president of the Sardinia region, Alessandra Todde, and the return of the former mayor of Cagliari, Massimo Zedda, who won the June election, have inspired optimism in many.
“There’s a feeling of community taking shape,” Marongiu said enthusiastically.
Like others I talked to, he hoped the current political shift would make it easier to open small businesses, especially for young people and immigrants, and that it would regulate vaca-
A visitor peers into one of the towers at Su Nuraxi di Barumini, an ancient site of the region’s Bronze Age Nuragic civilization, in Barumini, north of the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, July 2, 2024. (Teal Thomsen/The New York Times)
Miles-long Poetto Beach, near the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, June 30, 2024. As travelers discover the Mediterranean charms of this island region, with its idyllic beaches and buzzing capital, locals are hoping to avoid the crowds suffocating so many other Italian destinations. (Teal Thomsen/The New York Times)
The Piazza Gaetano Orru, which attracts locals who come for the aperitivo and dinner, in the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, June 28, 2024. (Teal Thomsen/The New York Times)
tion rentals and increase cultural offerings, which would attract tourists beyond the summer months.
Compared with other Italian cities, Cagliari’s cultural sites can seem a bit thin, although the Archaeological Museum has a fantastic collection of Sardinia’s ancient Nuragic, Phoenician, Roman and other artifacts, including stone-carved Nuragic archers, known as the Giants of Mont’e Prama. Elsewhere, there are sites like the Giardino Sonoro, an outdoor installation of music-making stone sculptures by the locally raised artist Pinuccio Sciola, and the Baroque Duomo with its arched crypt covered in tiles that depict almost 200 saints.
It’s a city best enjoyed by strolling. The miles-long Poetto Beach is Cagliari’s warm-weather hangout, with beach clubs and classic seafood restaurants like Ristorante Calamosca at the water’s edge. Pink flamingos, the city’s most cherished denizens, gather nearby on the Molentargius salt flats. Tourists and locals alike flock to the St. Remy Bastion, the best lookout point in this steep hillside city. And in the early evening, Piazza Gaetano Orrù fills with young people congregating around the Vineria Villanova wine bar and heading to dinner at classics like the Trattoria Lillicu, dating to 1938, or one of the new generation of gastronomic restaurants like Retrobanco and Sabores. There are as yet few hotel options, but a couple of somewhat upscale and rather quirky accommodations — the bou-
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tique hotel Casa Clàt and the Accor group’s Palazzo Tirso — recently opened.
For now, Cagliari still feels like a city that belongs to its residents, unlike Florence, Venice or other tourist-swarmed towns. “But we want visitors here,” said Giuseppe De Martini, the head manager at Retrobanco. “Cagliari,” he said, “should become the capital of the Mediterranean.”
Cheese-making, wild horses and fields of flowers
Certain not to be the next capital of the Mediterranean is Gergei, a tiny town an hour’s drive north of Cagliari that’s famous for absolutely nothing. Still, it would prove to be the most inspiring stay of my trip, thanks to Samuel Lai, who independently conceived a cultural tourism industry for his hometown. He showed me around Domu Antiga, an old property he restored using artisanal construction methods and materials to create a cluster of stone guesthouses surrounding a rose garden, where rooms have antique farmhouse furnishings and traditional ceilings of tied cane.
“If you make an Airbnb that doesn’t relate to local culture and history, then you’re going to get tourists that have no interest in local culture and history,” he said, making me rethink booking that next blandly Ikea-furnished vacation rental.
Lai’s cheese is reason enough to visit the area. At Sinnos, his small workshop, he follows a long Sardinian tradition of making natural cheeses with fresh milk from his family’s sheep. “Food crafted in a mindful way becomes a means for conveying culture,” he said, as we were up to our elbows in hot milk, breaking up curds in a fire-heated copper pot. Guests can visit the shop for tastings of his exquisite aged cheeses or, as I did, try their hand at making them.
Italy’s villages are losing population, but Lai found a way to make a living in his own village, and to make that way of life the experience for tourists, with historical accommodations, a homestyle restaurant run by his family, visits to artisans and more: “Tourism that shares our rural life in Sardinia with visitors.”
Serving in the Italian army, he realized abroad the value of his own culture, and returned to Gergei to become a oneman civic committee. Today most of his family is involved; his sister and other townspeople have opened their own accommodations, and several foreigners have bought houses. Domu Antiga, Sinnos cheese and the many activities on offer are, Lai said, all about “evolving tradition to keep the roots alive” — “sardità,” or Sardinian essence, “that you share with the world.”
Later that day as I trekked in the nearby Parco della Giara, I watched herds of some of Europe’s last wild horses
grazing on buttercup blooms, and walked highland paths through cork tree forests. A short distance away in Barumini, Su Nuraxi, among Sardinia’s best preserved prehistoric sites, dates to 1600 B.C. At S’Acqua Salida, one of innumerable other Nuragic locations in the area, there were ancient stone stairways, caverns and water wells, and a grand view of inland Sardinia’s wilderness stretching in every direction: fields of fuchsia sulla flowers where sheep grazed, thickets of fennel, and bee-eater birds as bright as fireworks flitting between the ruins and the woods.
Ancient culture, modern design
In the neighboring Sulcis region, I encountered another interpretation of sardità, in which traditional craft is combined with unabashedly contemporary design. Pretziada is the creative studio of Kyre Chenven and Ivano Atzori, transplants from California and Milan, who design and produce furnishings with local arti-
sans. This spring, the pair opened Luxi Bia, a cluster of stone guesthouses set amid olive groves and fields. They reconstructed the dwellings in the area’s traditional style and filled them with Pretziada’s striking carved wood-frame beds, sculptural cork side tables and other artisan-made contemporary pieces.
“In art and design, Modernism has always been about rejecting the past, but we believe in incorporating the past instead,” Chenven said. She pointed to a grapevine canopy shading the room. From the past, she said, we can resurrect “the sustainable practices that were integral to countryside life.”
“A lot of people are looking to get back to Sardinian roots now,” said Atzori, whose family hails from a village near Luxi Bia. There’s growing interest in a culture that’s remained distinct from the Italian mainland, he explained. “Any worthwhile project here needs to be oriented toward Sardinian identity.”
Later, I took an electric bike to reach the Tombe dei Giganti, a Nuragic site with hiking paths overlooking forested hills. Porto Pino, Su Portu de Su Trigu and Is Solinas — dream beaches of the Mediterranean — are just a short drive away, as is the history-rich fishing community of Sant’Antioco island, connected to the main island by a thin land bridge.
Grapes hang from the pergola in the garden of Domu Antiga, a restored guesthouse in Gergei, a tiny town an hour’s drive north of the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, July 2, 2024. (Teal Thomsen/The New York Times)
Deeper in Sulcis, a region known for its former mining operations, and along the southwestern coast, Le Dune Piscinas opened in May as a glamorous hotel in a onetime mining storehouse — an ambitious attempt to transform a territory now emptied of industry into a nature-themed destination. The encircling park has become part of the Santa Barbara hiking trail, following paths that miners once walked to work. But the real draw is the spectacular remoteness of the hotel and its sunset-facing beach, dramatically backed by some of the tallest sand dunes in Europe — “perhaps the most secluded part of the Sardinian coast,” said the owner, Marcella Tettoni, who spent 10 years renovating Le Dune. “What better way to revive it than with visitors and this labor of love?”
Samuel Lai, with the natural cheeses he makes with fresh milk from his family’s sheep, at Sinnos, his store and workshop in Gergei, July 2, 2024s. (Teal Thomsen/The New York Times)
August 19, 2024
The key to great grilled salmon? Do less.
By ALI SLAGLE
Salmon likes to glom onto grill grates, and scraping the fish off can fracture it into flakes that fall into the fire. The experience is much like trying to get a piece of gum out of your hair. It’s sticky. You’ll lose some strands while prying it out.
But with these two savvy and simple techniques, you’ll be treated to fillets that release easily, flake under your fork, smell of smoke and possibly even have crispy skin.
Salmon can be tricky to cook for the same reason that it’s wonderful to eat: It’s moist and delicate, more so than steak or chicken. When any meat hits a hot surface, its proteins unravel and can fuse to a pan or a grill’s nooks and crannies. (Any bits of last night’s dinner may cause the proteins to cling, too, so be sure to clean the hot grates well with a wire brush before cooking.) Salmon’s loosely knit proteins are more prone to adhere to the cooking surface than to one another.
Only once the salmon hits a certain temperature does that bond break. Browning is a good visual clue that it is safe to move around, but a push from a spatula can cause the fish to separate into flakes that are hard to salvage. And by the time the salmon is browned, it also may be chalky and dry.
For silkier results, try one of the following methods, both of which create a protective layer between the fish and the grates, and skip the scary flip.
The new classic Salmon skin provides insulation against the heat of the grill, but to keep the fish from sticking, swipe the skin with a thin veil of mayonnaise, which also gives it a chiplike crackle.
As New York Times columnist J. Kenji López-Alt has said about grilling chicken, mayonnaise helps seal in juiciness, promote browning and prevent sticking and burning. It works well on lean or temperamental proteins including chicken breasts, shrimp, turkey burgers and fish. Because the mayonnaise greases the salmon, there’s then no need to separately oil the grates, which can cause flare-ups.
Cooking the fish over moderate heat and exclusively on its skin side requires little attention. Place the mayo-slicked skin on the grates, cover the grill and leave it be. The heat will gently rise for tender results, and the skin will have plenty of time to crisp and brown, which is the key to ensuring the salmon releases. This bottom-up style of cooking also works for other fish fillets.
The time-tested technique
Coastal First Nations throughout the Pacific Northwest have been cooking on wood planks for centuries — especially salmon, considered a sacred food, and especially cedar, considered the tree of life by the Kwakwaka’wakw tribes that live and cook in present-day British Columbia.
Chef Freddie Bitsoie explains in his cookbook, “New Native Kitchen” (Abrams Books, 2021), that the steam and smoke rising from the planks delicately cook the fish, which, in turn, won’t fall through the grates and will taste like the wood that cooked it.
You can buy food-grade planks from a grocery or hardware store. Soak the planks in water so they don’t flare and
heat them on the grill until smoldering before adding the fish. Place the salmon skin side down on the planks without coating it with oil or mayonnaise. In fact, greasing the fish keeps the smoke from snaking into the flesh. Cover the grill and let the cedar and fire do the work. Wood conducts heat more slowly than metal, resulting in tender, flaky fish that you can serve right from the plank.
Whichever method you choose, the combination of live fire and sweet salmon will lead to a speedy, succulent meal. Especially now that whole fillets will land on plates.
Grilled salmon
For grilled salmon with crisp skin, tender flesh and nothing stuck to the grates, coat the skin with mayonnaise, an insulator that mitigates sticking, then cook the fish skin-side down the whole time. Skipping the flip allows the heat to rise up and gently cook the delicate fish, and as a bonus, creates really crispy skin. This method also works for other firm fish fillets such as red snapper, halibut or sea bass; just be sure to adjust the cook time so that the internal temperature hits 130 degrees (the minimum internal temperature for the salmon is 120 degrees).
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
4 (6- to 8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
Salt
Mayonnaise
Preparation:
1. Heat a grill to medium. Pat the salmon dry and sprinkle all over with salt. Arrange the salmon skin-side up on a plate. Coat the skin with a thin layer of mayonnaise — less than 1 teaspoon per fillet. You should still be able to see the skin through the mayonnaise.
2. Clean the grates with a grill brush. (No need to grease the grates.) Place the salmon skin-side down on the grill. Cover the grill and cook until the skin is crisp and the fish is opaque, 6 to 8 minutes. (An internal thermometer should read at least 120 degrees; thinner fillets will take less time than thicker ones.) Use a fish spatula to carefully transfer the salmon to plates, skin-side up.
Cedar plank salmon
In the Pacific Northwest, Native Americans smoked salmon on cedar, embodying the belief that what grows together goes together. On backyard grills, planks insulate the salmon from the flames, so the fish stays tender, and they prevent it from sticking to the grates. Purchase food-grade planks from a grocery or hardware store, then soak the planks in water so they don’t flare. Heat the plank on the grill until smoldering, then add the fish. The steam and smoke rising from the cedar gently cook the fish and infuse it with woodsy flavor. Salmon kissed by cedar is such a special combination that additional seasonings are not needed.
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: About 2 hours
Ingredients:
4 (4- to 6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets
Salt and pepper
Preparation:
1. Soak a food-grade cedar plank in water for at least 1 hour. To keep the plank from floating, top it with a bowl filled with water. When you’re ready to cook, heat the grill to high, which is between 450 and 550 degrees. You should be able to hold your hand 4 to 5 inches above the grates for 2 to 3 seconds. Season the salmon with salt and pepper.
2. Place the plank on the grill, close the grill and let the plank cure until the bottom side is charred, lightly smoking and maybe even making a popping sound, 5 to 10 minutes. If any part of the plank catches on fire, sprinkle it with a little water.
3. Reduce the heat to low, between 250 and 350 degrees. Flip the plank and arrange the salmon fillets skin side down on the plank, ideally at least 1 inch apart and 1 inch distant from the edges of the plank. (If you removed the plank from the grill to arrange the fish, leave the grill open so that the temperature drops more quickly.)
4. Close the grill and cook until cooked through, 10 to 16 minutes, depending on the size of the fillets. (The fish is done when the fish flakes easily or when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reaches 125 degrees for medium-rare.)
5. To serve, slide a spatula between the flesh and its skin at the thick end. The fish will easily peel away from the skin. If your fish has white albumin, no big deal — just scrape it away with the spatula before serving. Discard the plank and skin (or, if you have a charcoal grill, scrape off the skin and put the plank on top of your next fire to infuse it with cedar).
Grilled salmon. Salmon can be tricky to cook for the same reason that it’s wonderful to eat: It’s moist and delicate. Food styled by Greg Lofts. (Bryan Gardner/The New York Times)
The San Juan Daily Star
LEGAL NOTICE
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO. BAUTISTA CAYMAN ASSET COMPANY
Plaintiff v. CENTRO CARDIOVASCULAR DE MANATÍ III, C.S.P.; JOSÉ RAMÓN MARTÍNEZ BARROSO; VIRGEN MILAGROS RIVERA COLÓN; AND THE CONJUGAL LEGAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THEM; THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Defendants Civil No. 16-cv-3129 (CCC). COLLECTION OF MONIES AND FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE. NOTICE OF SALES.
TO: DEFENDANTS AND GENERAL PUBLIC
On April 12, 2024, this Court issued an Opinion and Order over the mortgages in controversy where it granted, among other matters, the Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, against Defendants, Centro Cardiovascular de Manatí III CSP; José Ramón Martínez Barroso; Virgen Milagros Rivera Colón, and the Conjugal Legal Partnership Between Them.
As of November 30, 2017, Defendants owed the amount of $933,324.74, composed of the sum of $803,313.96 in principal amount; interests in the amount of $122,605.28 which continues to accrue until full payment of the debt at the default annual rate of 11.00% and $245.46 per diem; accrued late charges in the amount of $7,406.50; and any other advance, charge, fee or disbursements made by Bautista, on behalf of Defendants, in accordance with the Loan Agreement, plus costs and agreed attorney’s fees in the amount of $87,000. Pursuant to the Judgment, the Order of Execution of Judgment, and the Writ of Execution of Judgment, the undersigned appointed Special Master was ordered to sell, at public auctions for U.S. currency in cash or certified check, without appraisement or right to redemption, to the highest bidder, at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150 - Federal Building, Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, or at any other place designated by said Clerk, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the Plaintiff,
the following properties: a. Property A (7,284): “URBAN: Lot number G-9 in the inscription plat of the 0143 Project located in the Coto and Sabana Seca awards of the municipality of Manatí, Puerto Rico, with a superficial area of 284.62 square meters. Its boundaries are: by the NORTH with Marginal Street South, at a distance of 13.00 meters; by the SOUTH, with lots numbers 8 and 21 of the G block, at a distance of 10.20 meters; by the EAST with lot number 10 of the G block at a distance of 19.78 meters; and by the WEST with lands owned by widower Teresa Fernandez, Eusebio Carbajal and Anselmo Rosario at a distance of 24,25 meters.” It appears registered on page 149 of volume 175 of Manati, Lot 7,284. Physical Address: Lot #G-9, 1 Marginal Street State Road #2, Corner of Fernández Vangas Street, San Salvador Dev., Manatí, Puerto Rico 00674. Property is subject to the following liens: By its origin: Affected with easements in favor of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, Puerto Rico Railway, Light and Power Authority, and Municipality of Manati. By itself: MORTGAGE: guaranteeing a note payable to the order of Banco Santander de Puerto Rico in the principal amount of $220,000.00 with an annual interest rate of 8.5% and due on demand, as per deed number 119 executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on November 20, 1998, before Notary Public María de Lourdes González Rivas, recorded at page 1 of volume 456 of Manatí, 7th inscription. MODIFIED its due date, now October 18, 2024 as per deed number 55, executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 18, 2013 before Notary Public Joseorlando Mercado Gely, recorded at page 25 of volume 584 of Manatí, 7th inscription (marginal note). ANNOTATION OF DEMAND: The subject of this annotation is the Mortgage in favor of Banco Santander de Puerto Rico, for the amount of $220,000.00 arising from registration #7. Plaintiff: Bautista Cayman Asset Company; Defendant: Centro Cardiovascular De Manatí III, C.S.P., José Ramón Martínez Barroso, Virgen Milagros Rivera Colón, And The Partnership Between Them, The United States Of America, Amount Owed $862,509.00, for principal plus interest, according to the complaint filed by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in Civil Case number 16-CV3129, on December 12, 2016,
Monday, August 19, 2024 17
bana Seca Ward of Manatí, dated June 13, 2016, submitted on March 3, 2017, to the Karibe Embargo system and recorded on March 6, 2017. The Properties are described in the Spanish language as follows: a. Propiedad A (7,284): URBANA: Solar marcado con el #9 del bloque G del plano de inscripción del Proyecto 0143 radicado en los Barrios Coto y Sabana Seca del término municipal de Manatí, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 284.62 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la calle Marginal Sur, distancia de 13.0metros; por el SUR, con los solares #8 y 21 del bloque G, distancia de 10.20 metros; ESTE, con el sola#10 del bloque G, distancia de 19.78 metros y por el OESTE, con terrenos propiedad de Teresa viuda de Fernández y Eusebio Carbajal, Anselmo Rosario, distancia de 24.25 metros.” Consta inscrita al folio 149 del tomo 175 de Manatí, finca número 7,284, Registro de la Propiedad de Manatí. Dirección Física: Solar G-9, 1 Calle Marginal Carretera Estatal #2, Esquina Calle Fernández Vangas, Urb. San Salvador, Manatí, Puerto Rico 00674. b. Propiedad B (3,485): URBANA: Solar marcado con el #1 del bloque E de la Urbanización San Salvador en el Barrio Cotto del municipio de Manatí, Puerto Rico, compuesto de 386.10 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en 29.83 metros, con la calle marginal de la urbanización; por el SUR, en 29.82 metros, con el solar #2; ESTE, en 11.14 metros, con el Caserío Córdova Dávila y por el OESTE, en 14.75 metros, con la calle #4. Enclava una casa de concreto reforzado y bloques de concreto de una sola planta para una sola familia antes, hoy edificio comercial de dos niveles de concreto y bloques de concreto.” Consta inscrita al folio 40 del tomo 91 de Manatí, finca número 3,485, Registro de la Propiedad de Manatí. Dirección Física: Solar E-1, 1 Calle Marginal Carretera Estatal #2, Esquina Calle Fernández Vangas, Urb. San Salvador, Manatí, Puerto Rico 00674 c. Propiedad C (3,587): URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización San Salvador, situado en el Barrio Cotto de Manatí, con un área de 376.64 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar #1, distancia de 29.82 metros; por el SUR, con el solar #3, distancia de 29.53 metros; ESTE, con el Caserío Córdova Dávila, distancia de 12.69 metros y por el OESTE, con la calle #4, distancia de The San Juan Daily Star
and Recorded in volume Karibe de Manatí, Annotation C dated June 27, 2018. FEDERAL TAX LIEN against José R. Martínez Barroso and “Servicios Ambulancia de Manatí, Inc.”, in the principal amount of $7,104.10. File number: 208199905 on April 28, 2005, at page 31 of volume 4 of the Federal Tax Liens inscription book. STATE
ATTACHMENTS: Against José Ramón Martínez Barroso for $752,150.48, followed by the Department of the Treasury, refers to a 248.42 square meters lot on Marginal Sur Street in the Coto and Sabana Seca Ward of Manatí, dated June 13, 2016, submitted on March 3, 2017, to the Karibe Embargo system and recorded on March 6, 2017. b. Property B (3,485): URBAN: Lot number 1 of the E block of the San Salvador Development located in the Cotto ward of the municipality of Manatí, Puerto Rico, with a superficial area of 386.10 square meters. Its boundaries are: by the NORTH at a distance of 29.83 meters with marginal street of the Development; by the SOUTH at a distance of 29.82 meters with lot number 2; by the EAST at a distance of 11.14 meters with the Public Housing project known as Cordova Davila; and by the WEST at a distance of 14.75 meters with street number 4. It contains an one level and single family reinforced concrete and concrete blocks house; today a two level concrete and concrete blocks commercial building. It appears registered on page 40 of volume 91 of Manati, Lot 3,485. Physical Address: Lot #E-1, 1 Marginal Street State Road #2, Corner of Fernández Vangas Street, San Salvador Dev., Manatí, Puerto Rico 00674. Property is subject to the following liens: By its origin: Affected with an easement in favor of the Puerto Rico Railway, Light and Power Authority and Restrictive Covenants. By itself: MORTGAGE: guaranteeing a note payable to the order of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in the principal amount of $650,000.00 (Mortgage Responsibility: $535,000.00) with an annual interest rate of 8.5% and due on demand, as per deed number 185, executed in Manatí on December 16, 1999 before Notary Public Francisco J. Arraiza Donate, recorded at mobile volume 445 of Manatí, 19th inscription. MODIFICA-
TION OF MORTGAGE: The subject of this modification is the Mortgage for $650,000.00, which arises from the 19th registration, as per deed #54
granted in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 18, 2013, before Notary Públic Joséorlando Mercado Gely, registered in volume Karibe de Manatí, property #3485, Marginal Note 19.1.
ANNOTATION OF CLAIM: The subject of this annotation is the Mortgage in favor of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, for the amount of $650,000.00, arising from registration #19. Plaintiff: Bautista Cayman Asset Company; Defendant: Centro Cardiovascular De Manatí III, C.S.P., Jose Ramón Martinez Barroso, Virgen Milagros Rivera Colón, And The Partnership Between Them, The United States Of America, Amount Owed $862,509.00, for principal plus interest, according to the complaint filed by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in Civil Case number 16-CV-3129, on December 12, 2016, and registered in volume Karibe, Annotation A dated June 27, 2018. FEDERAL TAX LIEN against José R. Martínez Barroso and “Servicios Ambulancia de Manatí Inc.”, in the principal amount of $7,104.10. File number: 208199905 on April 28, 2005, at page 31 of volume 4 of the Federal Tax Liens inscription book. STATE ATTACHMENTS: Against José Ramón Martínez Barroso for $752,150.48, followed by the Department of the Treasury, refers to a 248.42 square meters lot on Marginal Sur Street in the Coto and Sabana Seca Ward of Manatí, dated June 13, 2016, submitted on March 3, 2017, to the Karibe Embargo system, recorded on March 6, 2017. c. Property C (3,587): URBAN: Lot located in the San Salvador Development located in the Cotto ward of the municipality of Manati, with a superficial area of 376.647 square meters. Its boundaries are: by the NORTH, with lot number 1 at a distance of 29.82 meters; by the SOUTH, with lot number 3 at a distance of 29.53 meters; by the EAST with the Public Housing Project known as Cordova Davila, at a distance of 12.69 meters; and by the WEST, with street number 4 at a distance of 12.69 meters.” It appears registered on mobile volume 445 of Manatí, Lot 3,587. Physical Address: Lot #E-2, 1 Marginal Street State Road #2, Corner of Fernández Vangas Street, San Salvador Dev., Manatí, Puerto Rico 00674. Property is subject to the following liens: By its origin: Affected with an easement in favor of the Puerto Rico Railway, Light and Power Authority and Restrictive Covenants. By
itself: MORTGAGE: guaranteeing a note payable to the order of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in the principal amount of $650,000.00 (Mortgage Responsibility: $115,000.00) with an annual interest rate of 8.5% and due on demand, as per deed number 185, executed in Manatí, Puerto Rico, on December 16, 1999, before Notary Public Francisco J. Arraiza Donate, recorded at mobile volume 445 of Manatí, 9th inscription. MORTGAGE: guaranteeing a note payable to the order of Doral Bank in the principal amount of $650,000.00 with an annual interest rate of 6.5% and due on demand, as per deed number 23 of Mortgage, executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 12, 2004, before Notary Public Tomás Correa Acevedo, recorded at Karibe, volume of Manatí, Property #3587, 10th inscription abbreviated. MODIFICATION OF MORTGAGE: The subject of this modification is the Mortgage for $650,000.00, which arises from the 9th registration, as per deed #54, granted in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 18, 2013, before Notary Public Joséorlando Mercado Gely, recorded at Karibe, volume of Manatí property #3587, 10th inscription abbreviated. ANNOTATION OF CLAIM: The subject of this annotation is the Mortgage in favor of Doral Bank, for the amount of $39,000.00 arising from registration #10. Plaintiff: Bautista Cayman Asset Company; Defendant: Centro Cardiovascular de Manatí III, C.S.P., José Ramón Martínez Barroso, Virgen Milagros Rivera Colón, And The Conjugal legal Partnership Between Them, The United States Of America., Amount Owed $862,509.00, for principal plus interest, according to the claim filed by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, in Civil Case number 16-CV3129, on December 12, 2016, and Recorded in the Karibe de Manatí volume, Annotation A, dated June 27, 2016. FEDERAL TAX LIEN against José R. Martínez Barroso and “Servicios Ambulancia de Manatí, Inc.”, in the principal amount of $7,104.10. File number: 208199905 on April 28, 2005, at page 31 of volume 4 of the Federal Tax Liens inscription book. STATE ATTACHMENTS: Against José Ramón Martínez Barroso for $752,150.48, followed by the Department of the Treasury, refers to a 248.42 square meters lot on Marginal Sur Street in the Coto and Sa-
12.69 metros.” Consta inscrita al tomo 445 de Manatí, finca número 3,587, Registro de la Propiedad de Manatí. Dirección Física: Solar E-2, 1 Calle Marginal Carretera Estatal #2, Esquina Calle Fernández Vangas, Urb. San Salvador, Manatí, Puerto Rico 00674. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax, liens, (express, tacit, implied or legal), shall continue in effect. It being understood further that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancellation. The liens executed are over the properties, and for the purpose of the first judicial sales the minimum bids amounts are as follows: a. Property A (7,284). The amount of $220,000.00, as set forth in the mortgage deed, shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the first public sale. Should the first public sale fail to produce an award or adjudication, two-thirds of the aforementioned amount or $146,666.67 shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the second public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the second public sale, the minimum bidding amount for the third public sale shall be $110,000.00. b. Property B (3,485). The amount of $535,000.00, as set forth in the mortgage deed, shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the first public sale. Should the first public sale fail to produce an award or adjudication, two-thirds of the aforementioned amount or $356,666.67 shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the second public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the second public sale, the minimum bidding amount for the third public sale shall be $267,500.00. c. Property C (3,587). The amount of $115,000.00, as set forth in the mortgage deed, shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the first public sale. Should the first public sale fail to produce an award or adjudication, two-thirds of the aforementioned amount or $76,666.67 shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the second public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the second public sale, the minimum bidding amount for the third pu-
blic sale shall be $57,500.00. Said sales to be conducted by the appointed Special Master are subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and possession to the properties may be executed and delivered after the judicial sales. Upon confirmation of the sales, an order shall be issued canceling all junior liens. THEREFORE, public notice is hereby given that the appointed Special Master –pursuant to the provisions of the Judgment, the Order of Execution of Judgment, and the Writ of Execution of Judgment, on the 4th day of October, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. for Property Number 7,284; at 10:45 a.m. for Property Number 3,485; at 11:00 a.m. for Property Number 3,587, in the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150 - Federal Building, Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, will sell at public auction to the highest bidder the properties described herein, the proceeds of said sales to be applied in the manner and form provided by the Court’s Judgment. Should the first judicial sales set hereinabove be unsuccessful, the second judicial sales of the properties described in this Notice will be held on 11th day of October, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. for Property Number 7,284; at 10:45 a.m. for Property Number 3,485; at 11:00 a.m. for Property Number 3,587, in the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150 - Federal Building, Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Should the second judicial sales set hereinabove be unsuccessful, the third judicial sales of the properties described in this Notice will be held on 21th day of October, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. for Property Number 7,284; at 10:45 a.m. for Property Number 3,485; at 11:00 a.m. for Property Number 3,587, in the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150 - Federal Building, Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. The records of the captioned case and of these proceedings may be examined by the parties at the Clerk’s Office of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150, Federal Building, 150 Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 19th day of July, 2024. AGUEDO DE LA TORRES, APPOINTED
SPECIAL MASTER. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
RAMÓN
MARIERA RODRÍGUEZ
Peticionario EX PARTE
Civil Núm.: GR2024CV00122. Sala: 602. Sobre: PETICIÓN DE DOMINIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: MARIA L. MARIERA CRUZ, Y/O COLINDANTES DESCONOCIDOS.
El demandante ha radicado en este Tribunal una Solicitud para que se declare a favor de Ramón Mariera Rodríguez el dominio de la siguiente finca:
RÚSTICA: Solar localizado en el Barrio Jaguar del término municipal de Gurabo, carretera Ciento Ochenta y Uno (181) Km. Cuarenta y Uno punto Nueve (41.9), con cabida de Ochocientos Setenta y Cuatro metros cuadrados con Nueve Mil Quinientas Setenta y Cinco diezmilésimas de otro (974.9575 m.c.). En linderos por el Norte, en Veinticinco punto Novecientos Cincuenta y Siete metros (25.957 m) con finca matriz por el Sur, en Veintiséis punto Seiscientos Setenta y Un metros (26.71 m) con finca matriz; por el Este, en Treinta y Tres punto Quinientos Noventa metros (33.590 m) en cinco alineamientos, con carretera Ciento Ochenta y Uno (181); y por el Oeste, en Treinta y Dos punto Trescientos Ochenta y Nueve metros (32.389 m) con finca matriz. Representa al peticionario, la abogada cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono es el siguiente: Lcda. Ivette Rossana García Cruz PO BOX 373151 Cayey, PR 00737-3151
E-mail: garciacruzlaw@gmail.com
Habiéndose dictado Orden por el Honorable Tribunal para que la solicitud del peticionario sea publicada por tres (3) veces en el término de veinte (20) días en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, para que colindante María L. Mariera Cruz y/o colindantes desconocidos que puedan ser perjudicados por lo solicitado o que tengan cualquier interés o derecho real sobre la finca, comparezcan a alegar sus derechos dentro de los veinte (20) días de la última publicación del edicto. Se le apercibe que, si no compareciere a contestar dicha petición dentro del término establecido, se dictará sentencia conce-
diendo el remedio solicitado. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 22 de julio de 2024. IRASEMIS DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. CORALYS TORRES RIVERA, SUB-SECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS CARLOS JAVIER VELÁZQUEZ RAMOS, DANA LEE GARCÍA GUZMÁN Peticionarios EX PARTE Civil Núm.: AB2024CV00124. Sala: 701. Sobre: INSCRIPCIÓN TARDÍA DE MATRIMONIO. AVISO DE PETICIÓN DE INSCRIPCIÓN TARDÍA DE MATRIMONIO ANTE EL REGISTRO DEMOGRÁFICO DE PUERTO RICO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. El 22 de julio de 2000, CARLOS JAVIER VELÁZQUEZ RAMOS y DANA LEE GARCÍA GUZMÁN contrajeron matrimonio. La ceremonia se llevó a cabo en la Parroquia Los Tres Santos Reyes de Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico. Fungió como celebrante del matrimonio el Padre Ángel López. El Padre Ángel López realizó la celebración del matrimonio con todas las formalidades para su validez y tuvo ante sí las pruebas de laboratorios, que le entregaron los contrayentes como parte de la Solicitud de Licencia Para Contraer Matrimonio. Al momento de celebrar el matrimonio ambos novios eran mayores de edad, solteros, y con capacidad para consentir. El Padre Ángel López escuchó los votos matrimoniales, hubo intercambio de anillos, los declaró marido y mujer y estos firmaron la licencia de matrimonio junto a los testigos y/o padrinos: el Sr. Ángel Hernández Cruz y la Sra. Sheila López Galloza. El Padre Ángel López se llevó los documentos firmados para la correspondiente inscripción. No obstante, al solicitar los contrayentes copia del Certificado de Matrimonio en el Registro Demográfico no consta en los registros dicho certificado. Por tal razón y de conformidad a la Ley Núm. 24 de 22 abril de 1931, 24 LPRA sec. 1041 et seq, creó el Registro Demográfico de Puerto Rico establecido en el Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico teniendo a su cargo el registro, colección, custodia, preservación, enmiendas y certificación de récords vitales; la colección de otros informes requeridos por
esta parte; actividades relacionadas a ella. La precitada Ley 24 dispone un procedimiento especial con relación a la inscripción tardía de matrimonios: (g) Ausencia de registro de matrimonio. Si en cualquier tiempo después de haberse celebrado un matrimonio se necesitaré una copia certificada del récord del mismo para cualquier fin, y después de examinados los archivos por el Secretario de Salud o por sus representantes apareciere que dicho matrimonio no había sido registrado de acuerdo con las disposiciones de esta parte, la parte interesada recurrirá a la Sala del Tribunal de Primera Instancia donde se hubiere celebrado el matrimonio, en solicitud de una orden para que el encargado del Registro Demográfico proceda a inscribir el mismo. Para obtener dicha orden deberá presentar el interesado una solicitud al tribunal, exponiendo bajo juramento su pretensión, acompañada de la prueba documental pertinente en apoyo de su solicitud. Radicada la solicitud el tribunal ordenará que se publique un aviso de la misma para conocimiento público en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico durante el término de quince (15) días y una vez por semana cuando menos. El peticionario, simultáneamente con la radicación, remitirá copia de la solicitud y de toda la prueba documental al Ministerio Fiscal. Cualquier persona que tenga interés en el asunto podrá intervenir en el procedimiento. Ausencia de registro de matrimonio. Transcurridos diez (10) días desde la publicación del aviso en un periódico de publicación general y de la notificación y remisión de toda la prueba al Ministerio Fiscal sin que éste o cualquier persona con interés en el asunto haya formulado objeción alguna, el tribunal entenderá y resolverá los méritos de la petición sin necesidad de celebrar vista, o discrecionalmente podrá celebrar vista de estimarlo procedente y dictará el auto que proceda. Cualquier persona con interés en este asunto podrá intervenir y presentar su objeción a la abogada de los Contrayentes cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono es el siguiente:
LCDA. WENDOLYN TORRES RIVERA
RUA NUM: 21585 Po Box 9721, Cidra, Puerto Rico, 00739
Tel. (939) 640-1117
lcda.wentorres@gmail.com
Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal el 6 de agosto de 2024. IRASEMIS DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. JESSENIA PEDRAZA ANDINO, SECRETARIA. ***
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO
DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR LEGACY MORTGAGE
TRUST 2019-PR1
Parte Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE WILLIAM ECHEVARRÍA RODRÍGUEZ
COMPUESTA POR WILLIAM ECHEVARRÍA, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESIÓN DE BIENVENIDA RODRÍGUEZ
COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS, ADMINISTRACIÓN PARA EL SUSTENTO DE MENORES Y CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Parte Demandada Caso Civil Núm.: PO2023CV01268. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA 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 $47,982.65 de balance principal, los intereses adeudados sobre dicho principal y computados al 12.0972% anual desde el 4 de junio de 2021 hasta su total pago y completo pago más la suma por concepto de cargos por demora devengados, más la suma estipulada para 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: URBANA: Parcela marcada con el número seis (6) en el plano de parcelación de la Comunidad Rural La Cotorra del Barrio Canas del término municipal de Ponce, con una cabida superficial de seiscientos cuarenta y nueve punto quince (649.15) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, con carretera
municipal La Cotorra; por el Sur, con Sucesión de William Almodóvar León; por el Este, con parcela, número cinco (5) de la comunidad; y por el Oeste, con parcela número 7 de la comunidad. Inscrita al folio doscientos noventa y nueve (299) del Tomo mil cuarenta y tres (1043) de Ponce, finca número veintitrés mil novecientos cincuenta (23,950) Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Il. Dirección Física: 4 BARRIO LA COTORRA #4415 CALLE BARAMAYA, PONCE, PR 00731. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 19 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $50,130.26 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 26 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 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 $33,420.17. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 3 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024
A LAS 10:00 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 $25,065.13. 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 16 de julio de 2024 PEDRO RODRÍGUEZ LUGO, ALGUACIL PLACA #369, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE PONCE.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CIALES ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. ERNESTO
MELENDEZ RIVERA
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CI2024CV00103. 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: ERNESTO MELENDEZ RIVERA - BO PESAS
SECT PEÑONALES CARR
149 K 22 H7, CIALES PR 00638; HC 1 BOX 5589, CIALES, PR 00638-9617. 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:///www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico, 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 al abogado de la parte demandante, Osvaldo L. Rodríguez Fernández cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law. com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en CIALES, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de junio de 2024. VIVIAN FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. SANDRA I. MALDONADO VEGA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. EDGARD D RODRIGUEZ CONCEPCION
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: TB2024CV00085. 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: EDGARD D RODRIGUEZ CONCEPCION - BO CANDELARIA R865 PARC 114 SEC VILLA DAVILA, TOA BAJA PR 00949; HC 1 BOX 10221, TOA BAJA, PR 00949-9795.
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:///www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico, 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 al abogado de la parte demandante, Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kevin.sanchez@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de junio de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARILYN COLÓN CARRASQUILLO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ
SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. Demandantes V. JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, COMO TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DE UN PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO Demandados Civil Núm.: CB2024CV00491. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. 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: Se emplaza y notifica que se ha presentado una demanda en este caso en la cual en síntesis la PARTE DEMANDANTE alega que el 19 de enero de 2018 se suscribió un pagaré hipotecario a favor de SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC., por la suma principal de $115,764.00, con
intereses al 4.00% por ciento anual y vencedero el 1º de febrero de 2048, bajo el testimonio número 11,338 ante el Notario Rafael Maldonado Pérez, y según se hizo constar en la escritura de Primera Hipoteca número 10, otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 19 de enero de 2018, ante el Notario Rafael Maldonado Pérez. Esta hipoteca consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Cabo Rojo, finca número 35,930, inscripción 4ª y última del Registro de la Propiedad de San Germán. La obligación garantizada por dicha hipoteca fue pagada en su totalidad y está vencida, quedando solamente por cancelar el pagaré que la garantizaba. La PARTE DEMANDANTE manifestó que nunca recibió el pagaré original para su cancelación y desconoce su paradero, por lo que concluyó que el pagaré estaba extraviado. Pueden examinar la demanda en su totalidad en los autos de este Tribunal. El abogado de la parte demandante es:
Lcdo. Joseorlando Mercado Gely; RUA 12257 P.O. Box 270386 San Juan, PR 00927 Tel. 765-3027 Fax: 765-3043 jmercado@comasrevuelta.com
Deberán notificar su contestación dentro de los próximos treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto. Deberán presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se les apercibe que, de no hacerlo, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda. La PARTE DEMANDADA deberá radicar el original de la contestación de la demanda en este Tribunal, con copia a la PARTE DEMANDANTE. DADO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal y por orden del mismo, hoy 8 de agosto de 2024. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. YAHAIRA TORRES MATÍAS, SUB-SECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SABANA GRANDE RUBEN
CENTENO FELCIIANO
Demandante Vs. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHOS DE POPULAR MORTGAGE INC; JOHN DOE Y
RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES CON INTERÉS
Demandados Civil Núm.: SB2024CV00101. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE (PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS).
En este caso la parte demandante ha radicado Demanda para que se decrete judicialmente el saldo de un pagaré a favor de Popular Mortgage Inc., o a su orden, por $78,800.00, con intereses al 5.875% anual, vence el 1 de agosto de 2042, según consta de la escritura #108, otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el día 24 de julio de 2012, ante el Notario Público Maria Del Rosario Pujols Thompson, testimonio número 2980 inscrito al folio #97 del tomo #244 de Guayanilla, finca #2089, inscripción 5ta, y está garantizado por hipoteca sobre la propiedad que se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar marcado con el #3 del Bloque D, del plano de Urbanización Santa Elena, radicado en los Barrios Jagua y Pueblo, este último lugar conocido como “Los Sitios”, del municipio de Guayanilla, compuesto de 340.56 metros cuadrados, colindando por el NORTE, en 26.87 metros cuadrados, con el solar 2 del Bloque D; por el SUR, en 27.01, con el solar #4 del Bloque D; por el ESTE, en 13.30 metros cuadrados, con la Calle #5 de la Urbanización; y por el OESTE, en 12.00, con los solares #8 y #9 del Bloque D. Enclava una casa de hormigón reforzado y bloques de una sola planta dedicada a vivienda. Inscrita al Sistema de Karibe de Guayanilla, finca #2089, Registro de la Propiedad Sección Segunda de Ponce. La parte demandante alega que dicho Pagaré se ha extraviado, según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en la Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de unas obligaciones hipotecarias, y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se les emplaza por este Edicto que se publicará en un (1) periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez y que si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda radicando el original de la misma a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual pueden acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se representen por
derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberán presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Sabana Grande, con copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Jorge García Rondón, a PMB 538, 267 Sierra Morena, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00926 dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del Edicto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarles ni oírles. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto por Orden del Tribunal, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en San Germán, Puerto Rico, hoy 5 de agosto de 2024. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA
IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA REGIONAL II. CAROLINE HERNÁNDEZ VALENTÍN, SUBSECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE QUEBRADILLAS MMG PRCI I, LLC Demandante V. CARTONERA
QUEBRADILLANA, INC. CENTRAL CARTON, CORP., JOSE CANDELARIA SANTANA, SANDRA BUSHBERG GONZALEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; Demandado (s) ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA P/C DE LA SRA. ROSA EMILIA RODRIGUEZ, FISCAOL FEDERAL PARA EL DISTRITO DE LA CORTE DE ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
Parte con Interés Civil Núm.: CICD2011-0035.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. A: CARTONERA
QUEBRADILLANA INC., CENTRAL CARTON, CORP., JOSE CANDELARIA SANTANA, SANDRA BUSHBERG
GONZALEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA Y, AL PUBLICO EN GENERAL:
El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia,
Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de Camuy, Hatillo, Puerto Rico, hago saber a la parte demandada, y al PUBLICO EN GENERAL: y a todos 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 surjan 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 a saber. Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 2 de julio de 2024, por la Secretaria del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor las propiedades que ubican y se describen a continuación: Dirección de la Propiedad: PR-2 KM 99 Interior Quebradillas, PR 00678: PROPIEDAD A: RÚSTICA: Parcela de terreno localizada en el Barrio Cacao del termino municipal de Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de 0.0832 cuerdas. En lindes por el NORTE, en dos alineaciones con carretera municipal y terrenos pertenecientes a Hector Candelaria; por el SUR, en dos alineaciones con terrenos pertenecientes a Lorenzo R. Rodríguez Medina y Ramon Candelaria; por el ESTE, en dos alineaciones continuas, con terrenos pertenecientes a Hector Candelaria y Lorenzo R. Rodriguez por el OESTE, en dos alineaciones discontinuas con terrenos pertenecientes a Ramon Candelaria. Inscrita al folio 63 del tomo 117 de Quebradillas, finca numero 6,089; Registro de la Propiedad Sección Segunda de Arecibo. La finca antes descrita afecta a gravámenes posteriores que se describe a continuación: BANCO BILBAO VIZCAYA.: A cuyo favor aparece inscrito una hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré por la suma de $50,000.00, intereses “primer rate” y a vencer a la presentación según conta de la escritura #62, otorgada en San Juan, el 6 de diciembre de 2002 ante el Notario Rafael Zapata Jordan, inscrito al folio 64 del tomo 117 de Quebradillas, finca # 6,089, inscripción 4ta, según modificada. PORTADOR.: A cuyo favor aparece inscrito una hipoteca en garan-
tía de un pagaré por la suma de $300,000.00, intereses al 8% anual y a vencer en 31 años, según consta de la escritura #856 otorgada en Quebradillas. El 4 de enero de 2004, ante el Notario Jose A. Amador Lopez, inscrito al tomo Karibe de Quebradillas, finca #6,089 inscripción 5ta. EMBARGO ESTATAL:
A favor del Fondo de Seguro del Estado por la suma de $44,797.26,por concepto de Seguro Obrero contra Cartonera Quebradillana, Inc., según certificación de fecha 5 de junio de 2007, anotado al tomo Karibe, finca #6,089 de Quebradillas el 7 de noviembre de 2016, inscripción 8va. EMBARGO:
Embargo Estatal bajo la Ley #12 del 2010 contra Cartonera Quebradillana, Inc. por $24,519.25 según certificación expedida por el Departamento de Hacienda el 22 de febrero de 2011, anotado al folio 46 del tomo 1 de Ley #12 del 28 de febrero del 2011. EMBARGO:
Embargo Estatal bajo la Ley #12 del 2010 contra Cartonera Quebradilla, Inc. por $31,828.43, según certificación expedida por el Departamento de Hacienda el 11 de febrero del 2011, anotado al folio 47 del tomo 1 de la Ley #12 del 8 de marzo de 2011. EMBARGO:
Embargo Estatal bajo la Ley # 12 del 2010 contra Cartonera Quebradillana Inc, por $163,161.65, según certificación expedida por el Departamento de Hacienda el 11 de febrero de 2011, anotado al folio 47 del tomo 1 de Ley #12 del 8 de marzo de 2011. Dirección de la Propiedad: PR -8861 Toa Alta Industrial Park, Toa Alta, PR 00678: PROPIEDAD B: URBANA: Parcela de terreno de la Urbanización Industrial del Barrio Contorno del término municipal de Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, en lindes por el NORTE, con la calle #1 de la Urbanización; por el SUR, con terrenos propiedad de Federico Lopez; por el ESTE, con parcela #6 y por el OESTE, con terrenos propiedad del Doctor Morales Otero y terrenos propiedad de Knitco of Puerto Rico, Inc. Tiene una cabida superficial de 185.05 metros cuadrados, equivalentes a 81 áreas 85 centiáreas y 5 centésimas, 2.0825 cuerdas. Enclava una edificación con valor de $270,000.00 según consta de la escritura # 30, otorgada en San Juan, el 5 de febrero de 1974, ante el notario Carlos M. Franco inscrita al folio 219 vuelto del tomo 36 de Toa Alta, finca # 1,655 inscripción cuarta. Consta inscrita al folio 288 del tomo 93 de Toa Alta, finca 1,655, al Registro de la Propiedad, Sección III de Bayamón. La finca antes descrita afecta a gravámenes posteriores que se describen a continuación: HI-
POTECA: En garantía de un pagare a favor de Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $200,000.00 intereses al “Primer Rate” con vencimiento a la presentación, según consta de la escritura número 446, otorgada en Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, el 4 de diciembre de 2001, ante el notario Agustín F. Soto Hernandez, inscrito al folio del tomo Karibe de Toa Alta, finca 1655, inscripción 6ta. MODIFICACION: Los dos pagares hipotecarios antes relacionados han sido objeto de modificación según consta de la escritura 858, otorgada en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el 4 de agosto de 2004 ante el notario Jose A. Amador Lopez, para hacer constar que (1) se extiende el termino de Caducidad hasta el 4 de agosto de 2035; y (2) En lo sucesivo devengara intereses a razón del 8% anual, inscrito al folio 64 del tomo 556 de Toa Alta, finca 1655, inscripción 8va. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer el balance de la sentencia dictada, el cual asciende: A) bajo el Préstamo número 258130207 antes BPPR No. 110-9002509008-902 ; $1,787,858.93 de principal $776,865.68 por concepto de intereses hasta el 3 de mayo de 2016, más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el saldo de la deuda a un per diem de $358.77; $37,372.89 de cargos por de mora; $10,424.88 por concepto de cuenta plica (“escrow account”) y la suma de $230,000 por concepto de gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado pactados; B) bajo el Préstamo No. 258130207 antes BPPR No. 110-900-2509008-8801; $44,000.74 de principal y $16,717.26 por concepto de intereses hasta el 3 de mayo de 2016, más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el saldo de la deuda a un per diem de $9.04., disponiendose que si quedare algun remanente luego de pagarse las sumas antes mencionadas del mismo debera ser depositado en la Secretaria del Tribunal para ser entregado a los demandados previa solicitud y orden del Tribunal. La venta de las referidas propiedades se verificará libre de toda carga o gravámenes que afecten las mencionadas fincas. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 10 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, la finca 6,089 y A LAS 10:15 DE LA
MAÑANA, la finca 1,655 en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Camuy, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA será por la suma de $300,000.00 correspondientes a la propiedad A; y la suma de $1,450,000.00, correspondientes a la propiedad B. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, la finca 6,089 y A LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA, la finca 1,655 en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de por la suma de $200,000.00 correspondientes a la propiedad A, y la suma de $966,666.67 correspondientes a la propiedad B; equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 24 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, la finca 6,089 y A LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA, la finca 1,655 en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de por la suma de $150,000.00 correspondientes a la propiedad A, y la suma de $725,000.00 correspondientes a la propiedad B; equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarasen desiertas las terceras subastas, se adjudicarán las fincas número 6,089 y 1,655 a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. Las propiedades a ser ejecutadas se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravámenes que afecten las mencionadas fincas según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física de los inmuebles de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecu-
tando, 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 Camuy, Puerto Rico, hoy día 22 de julio de 2024. WILFREDO OLMO SALAZAR, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. LUIS E. ROMÁN CARREO, ALGUACIL, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE HATILLO.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA ORIENTAL BANK Demandante Vs. ROSA MARIA CARDONA ORTIZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ROSA MARIA CARDONA Demandada Civil Núm.: TA2024CV00140. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. AL: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL. A: ROSA MARIA CARDONA ORTIZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ROSA MARIA CARDONA. Yo, EDUARDO RODRÍGUEZ RIVERA, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 11 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Supe-
rior de Toa Alta, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Toa Alta durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día 18 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el 25 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar número Once (11) del Bloque “D” de URBANIZACIÓN MARTORELL en el Municipio de Dorado, con una cabida de TRESCIENTOS CINCUENTA Y UNO PUNTO CUARENTA Y CUATRO (351.44) METROS CUADRADOS. En linderos: NORTE y SUR, en dieciséis punto cero cero (16.00) metros, por cada lado, respectivamente, con la Calle Luis Muñoz Rivera y con el Municipio de Dorado; ESTE, en veintiuno punto noventa y uno (21.91) metros, con callejón que separa del solar número Doce (12) de dicho bloque; OESTE, en veintidós punto cero dos (22.02) metros, con el solar número Diez (10) de dicho bloque. En este solar enclava una casa de concreto reforzado. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 14 del tomo 257 de Dorado, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Cuarta, finca número 1,569, inscripción octava. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Urbanización Martorell, Calle Luis M. Rivera, D-11, Dorado, Puerto Rico. La Subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $28,565.47 más intereses sobre dicha suma al 5.875% anual, desde el 1ro. de septiembre de 2023, hasta su completo pago, más recargos acumulados, más la cantidad de $4,900.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, así como cualquier otra suma estipulada en el contrato de préstamo, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de
$49,000.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $32,666.67 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $24,500.00. De declararse desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, 8 de agosto de 2024. EDUARDO RODRÍGUEZ RIVERA, ALGUACIL DE LA DIVISIÓN DE EJECUCIÓN DE SENTENCIAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN GERMÁN FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. HECTOR S. SOTO VELEZ
Demandados Civil Núm.: SG2024CV00415. Sobre: INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO; 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: HECTOR S. SOTO VELEZ - CUESTA BLANCA CALLE GIRASOL, ESQUINA ORQUIDEA, LAJAS PR 00667; PO BOX 1088, LAJAS PR 00667. De: FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO. Se le emplaza y requiere 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), 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. Este caso trata sobre Incumplimiento de Contrato y Cobro de Dinero en que la parte demandante solicita que se condene al demandado a pagar la cantidad de $15,746.99 de principal; más intereses acumulados hasta el pago total de la deuda; más los cargos por mora que se acumulen hasta el pago total de la deuda, más la suma equivalente al 10% del total adeudado por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Se le apercibe que, si dejare de hacerlo, se dictará contra usted sentencia en rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle.
Lcdo. José Antonio Lamas Burgos, Número del Tribunal Supremo 16,882 Po Box 0194089, San Juan PR 00919 Teléfono: (787) 296-9500, Correo Electrónico: jlamas@lvprlaw.com
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy 30 de julio de 2024. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. MILITZA LORENZO VEGA, SUB-SECRETARIA. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN RUBEN RODRIGUEZ
COLLAZO, HERMINIA GONZALEZ IRIZARRY
Peticionaria
EX PARTE
Civil Núm.: BY2023CV04418.
Salón: 705. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO, BAJO EL ART. 13 DE LA LEY 118, PROCEDIMIENTO EXPEDITO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. A: RAMONA VALENTÍN SANTOS INMEDIATOS ANTERIORES DUEÑOS Y/O SUS HEREDEROS DENOMINADOS FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL.
POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los treinta (30) días contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición 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 en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Solar con residencia en concreto de dos pisos en la calle estatal PR-867 en el sector El 26 en el barrio de Sabana Seca del término municipal de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 1125.5679 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, en una alineación de 13.559 metros con la carretera estatal PR-867; por el Sur en una alineación de 14.196 metros con United States Department of Education; por el Este en varias alineaciones de 4.153 metros, 40.855 metros, 10.302 metros y 24.131 metros con Luis Brignoni Vera y por el Oeste en varias alineaciones de 26.199 metros, 3.018 metros, 24.360 metros, 18.270 metros y 6.768 metros con Brenda Rodríguez González. El abogado de la parte peticionaria es la Lcdo. Ernesto Rovira Gándara, PMB 767, 1353 Ave. Luis Vigoreaux, Guaynabo, PR 00966; Tel. (787)-758-3277; Email: erovira@partnerslegalservicespr. com. Se le informa, además, que el Tribunal ha señalado vista en este caso para el **
de **** de 20**, a las ****, mediante videoconferencia, a la cual usted puede comparecer asistido por abogado y presentar oposición a la petición. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo, se identificará en letra tamaño 10 puntos y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de treinta (30) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle. En BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico, a 22 de julio de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LUISA I. ANDINO AYALA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN RUBEN RODRIGUEZ COLLAZO, HERMINIA GONZALEZ IRIZARRY
Peticionaria
EX PARTE
Civil Núm.: BY2023CV04418. Salón: 705. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO, BAJO EL ART. 13 DE LA LEY 118, PROCEDIMIENTO EXPEDITO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. A: LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS Y DESCONOCIDAS A QUIENES PUDIERA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN DEL DOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA EN EL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE DESCRIBIRÁ Y A TODA PERSONA EN GENERAL QUE CON DERECHO PARA ELLO DESEE OPONERSE A ESTE EXPEDIENTE. POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los treinta (30) días contados a partir de la última publica-
ción de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición 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 en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Solar con residencia en concreto de dos pisos en la calle estatal PR-867 en el sector El 26 en el barrio de Sabana Seca del término municipal de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 1125.5679 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, en una alineación de 13.559 metros con la carretera estatal PR-867; por el Sur en una alineación de 14.196 metros con United States Department of Education; por el Este en varias alineaciones de 4.153 metros, 40.855 metros, 10.302 metros y 24.131 metros con Luis Brignoni Vera y por el Oeste en varias alineaciones de 26.199 metros, 3.018 metros, 24.360 metros, 18.270 metros y 6.768 metros con Brenda Rodríguez González. El abogado de la parte peticionaria es la Lcdo. Ernesto Rovira Gándara, PMB 767, 1353 Ave. Luis Vigoreaux, Guaynabo, PR 00966; Tel. (787)-758-3277; Email: erovira@partnerslegalservicespr. com. Se le informa, además, que el Tribunal ha señalado vista en este caso para el ** de **** de 20**, a las ****, mediante videoconferencia, a la cual usted puede comparecer asistido por abogado y presentar oposición a la petición. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo, se identificará en letra tamaño 10 puntos y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de
treinta (30) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle. En BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico, a 22 de julio de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LUISA I. ANDINO AYALA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE AGUADILLA ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. ROLANDO
ABREU MASSANET
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: IS2024CV00030. 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: ROLANDO ABREU MASSANETURB VILLA PESQUERA B24 CALLE ANTONIO PEREZ, ISABELA PR 00662.
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:///www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico, 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 al abogado de la parte demandante, Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kevin.sanchez@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Agua-
dilla, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de junio de 2024. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA. ZUHEILY GONZÁLEZ AVILÉS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. VERONICA MELENDEZ SANTOS
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: TB2024CV00078.
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: VERONICA MELENDEZ SANTOS - URB PARC MAMEYAL 97 CALLE
19 DORADO PR 006462404; 10523 AKERS DR S JACKSONVILLE FL 32225-8357.
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:///www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico, 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 al abogado de la parte demandante, Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kevin.sanchez@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de junio de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARILYN COLÓN CARRASQUILLO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
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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Mbappé to Madrid: Bond stretches back years
By DERMOT CORRIGAN / THE ATHLETIC
It’s not uncommon for soccer players just arriving at a club to claim they have always dreamed of playing for their new club.
But it is unusual for new signings to talk of feeling such love if they have regularly scored important goals against their new club, while regularly turning down public offers to come and play for it.
“I’ve dreamed for many years of playing for Real Madrid,” Kylian Mbappé said to a crowd of 80,000 in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium last month. “I want to especially thank all the ‘Madridistas,’ because for many years they have given me a lot of affection, a lot of love, which went straight to my heart.”
In this case, the message made sense. The story of Mbappé growing up as a Madrid fan and idolizing former galacticos Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo is already part of Bernabeu folklore. He began learning Spanish as a teenager so that he would be ready for his move to Madrid. Many in the Spanish capital viewed him as one of their own long before he arrived after his exit from Paris St.-Germain. As Madrid began its La Liga season Sunday, Mbappé is finally in the fold.
On the morning of his presentation to the fans, Mbappé visited Madrid’s training ground to greet his new coach, Carlo Ancelotti, and sign his contract with President Florentino Pérez in the club’s offices. The ultramodern facilities at Valdebebas, on the outskirts of Madrid, have changed a lot since his first visit in December 2012.
Back then, Real Madrid pulled out all the stops to impress Mbappé, who turned 14 that week. Zidane, then an adviser to Perez without a formal role after his legendary playing career, chaperoned him throughout. Mbappé also had his first taste of the Bernabeu atmosphere that week, with Zidane hosting him and his family for a league game against Espanyol. It seemed like fate even then. As an 8-year-
old, he had received a model of the stadium as a gift. “One day I’ll take you all to Real Madrid, and we’ll sit in the VIP seats,” Mbappé told his parents that Christmas.
Zidane introduced Mbappé to Ronaldo after the game. A photo of the meeting was soon proudly displayed in his bedroom in the Parisian suburb of Bondy.
But the summer after Mbappé visited the Spanish capital, he turned down an offer from Madrid, entering Monaco’s youth system instead. “I wasn’t ready to go abroad and leave
my friends and my country behind,” he later told Le Parisien.
In the summer of 2017, when Mbappé was still just 18, Madrid and Monaco’s hierarchy agreed to a transfer. But Mbappé instead decided to join PSG. As luck would have it, Madrid and PSG were then drawn together in the next season’s Champions League round of 16. That meant Mbappé’s first taste of playing at the Bernabeu came against the team of his dreams, in February 2018.
Mbappé won the World Cup with France that summer, and for a while, he seemed fully focused on PSG.
But nobody in Madrid had forgotten about him.
PSG and Madrid were drawn together again in the 2019-20 Champions League group stage. When the lineups were read before kickoff at the Bernabeu, Madrid fans cheered Mbappé’s
name. When he scored, the crowd chanted, “Sign him now.”
The conversations before and after the game were about how Madrid could get Mbappé to join. One story that week in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo claimed an agreement was already in place for him to run down his PSG contract and join Madrid on a free transfer in the summer of 2022.
A free transfer for Mbappé remained the most likely outcome, even after another offer from Madrid in 2021, given that PSG did not seem to be interested in selling.
That all added to the drama when Madrid and PSG were again drawn together in the Champions League round of 16 in February 2022. Mbappé had four months left on his PSG deal, and confidence was high around the Bernabeu that he would soon be theirs.
When Mbappé scored in Madrid, the crowd watched in silence. But Madrid came back to take the tie and knock PSG and its young star out of the competition.
Most in Madrid believed it was now even more likely that Mbappé would soon join their squad. When he appeared again in the Spanish capital soon thereafter, for a visit with his PSG teammate Achraf Hakimi, details were breathlessly reported by the Madrid-supporting media. Mbappé himself announced his presence in the city on social media — widely taken as a hint that he would soon be living there permanently.
So, the disappointment was greater just a few weeks later, when PSG announced that Mbappé had agreed to a new contract to stay with the French team.
In January, when it emerged that he would leave when his contract ended this past June, the extreme focus on everything Mbappé returned to the Bernabeu. But the extent of their shared connection became clear only during Mbappé’s July presentation.
He entered the Bernabeu’s shiny new press room beaming that day, while clutching the model of the stadium he had received as a kid almost two decades ago.
“I was under a lot of pressure this morning when I woke up,” he said in excellent Spanish. “I thought I must enjoy every second, if my nerves allowed me. The passion and love the fans have shown me is unbelievable. I feel like an adopted member of this family.”
Many new players make emotional statements on their first days at a new club, but the bond between Mbappé and Madrid has existed for more than a decade.
Forward Kylian Mbappé, who was slated to play his first game as a member of Real Madrid on Sunday, in New York on June 21, 2022. (Josefina Santos/The New York Times)
Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21
