The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
LUMA CEO calls energy politicking a distraction
By THE STAR STAFF
LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca said Tuesday that the fact that the performance of the energy consortium is a central theme of political campaigns is “a distraction.”
“It is a distraction for our employees, it is a distraction of my time, it is a distraction for those who help us do the work, because time has to be invested in that,” Saca said at a press conference. “I want to clarify that this does not mean that we are not responding to the entities that regulate us. We are regularly issuing reports, we are issuing reports, we will be going to hearings and by law we have to do that and we will have to continue doing it.”
“It is a distraction, because it takes us a lot of time to respond and search for information,” he added. “And LUMA’s response is to communicate progress and education to Puerto Rico.”
Saca also rejected the statements of some mayors about the lack of communication with LUMA executives. He insisted that the private operator of the electric power transmission & distribution system has available records of all the communications it has had with the island’s 78 mayors.
“That we may have a difference in how we do things, yes, that exists,” he said. “But that we are not communicating, that is not the case.”
“First of all, the responsibility for resolving the electricity issue in Puerto Rico is LUMA’s, not the mayors’,” Saca continued. “I know that it is important for everyone to understand that. I know that in the past, it was different, or let’s say they were more involved or worked in a different way.”
He reiterated that of the current 22 cents per kilowatthour charged on the electricity bill, 3.5 cents is for the consortium that manages the transmission and distribution of electricity.
“I mean, it is important to educate the people about what is really happening,” Saca said. “Eleven cents of the 22 cents is fuel. Nobody in Puerto Rico controls that. It is not controlled by the governor, the legislator, nobody. And it is important that we educate the communities and the citizens better so that we understand.”
‘Regarding the fact that electricity in Puerto Rico is the most expensive, well, I have good news, it is not the most expensive,” the official said. “In fact, in the Caribbean there are something like 20 other countries that are more expensive and in the United States there are eight states that are more expensive than Puerto Rico.”
Saca acknowledged that “[t]hat is no consolation until
the system begins to behave and reduce service interruptions, because that bothers people and everyone a lot.”
Saca and several other LUMA executives have been summoned to a public hearing in the island House of Representatives today.
Meanwhile, in response to the proposal by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, the New Progressive Party candidate for governor, and Manuel Calderón Cerame, the Popular Democratic Party candidate for the District 4 (San Juan) seat in the House, to establish a new entity to oversee LUMA, Saca said the private consortium would adapt to the public policy that is established.
“In every country there is a public policy and I have worked in six countries and that public policy, whether we like it or not, we have to follow it,” he said. “Today that public policy is that there is the Energy Bureau, there is the [Financial Oversight and Management] Board and the P3A [Public-Private Partnerships Authority] and we have a specific relationship with each one of them. If the government of Puerto Rico decides to have an energy ZAR [“czar”], then we will work with that energy ZAR to comply with whatever it may be.”
“We will work with whoever Puerto Rico’s public policy decides [we must work with],” Saca added. “We don’t get involved in that; we simply adapt to whatever comes.”
LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca
The San Juan Daily Star
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 3
González Colón proposes energy ‘czar’ to oversee LUMA
Her PDP opponent in governor’s race accuses resident commissioner of siding with embattled grid operator, says he will cancel contract
By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul1@gmail.com
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, the New Progressive Party (NPP) candidate for governor, announced on Tuesday her intention to create a “czar” to oversee the LUMA Energy contract if she becomes governor.
LUMA is the private operator of the island’s electric power generation
González Colón expressed concern about LUMA’s management and suggested that the company could be looking for an excuse to have the contract canceled, which would result in additional costs for Puerto Rico.
“I would like, and I said it at the beginning with the contract that was awarded, that the secretary of Justice should have evaluated the terms of the contract, which is leonine and does not defend the interests of the people of Puerto Rico,” González Colón said in a radio interview (WKAQ 580).
She also suggested that LUMA could be creating situations to justify canceling the contract and thus receive higher compensation.
“Sometimes I wonder if all these things that LUMA says and does are not a pretext to leave and get paid more because the contract is canceled,” she added.
González Colón said that although she would like to cancel the contract, doing so would be irresponsible due to the cost this would entail for Puerto Rico.
“Canceling a contract like that would immediately cost the people of Puerto Rico more,” she said.
Instead, she proposes the creation of a task force led by a “czar” dedicated to the constant oversight of LUMA, with the implementation of metrics and clear consequences for the company for any noncompliance.
“I believe that one of the things we have to do is with the metrics, imposing criteria, reviewing the contract all the time and having a committee … that is overseeing, following up on this,” González Colón said.
“What they will get from me is oversight and a working committee on top of them all
“LUMA [has] not been able to manage the [electric power] system, they do not have the sense of urgency that the country needs,” Ortiz González added. “Every time the country is without electricity, they hit our economy, they hit the quality of life of the people, they hit the living conditions of the family. It is not the time to be half-hearted or with political calculations and to be changing positions depending on how the wind blows. We are going to execute this responsibly so that the country has the system it deserves.”
government,” Calderón Cerame said in a written statement.
He noted that part of the purpose for the creation of an energy department is to guarantee compliance with Law No. 17 of 2019, which establishes the public energy policy of Puerto Rico, as well as to ensure compliance with the metrics for the LUMA
the time, questioning the metrics and ensuring that people’s problems are resolved,” the candidate said.
She added that her approach would include imposing clear consequences for LUMA for service failures, and stressed the need for ongoing oversight, not just in emergency situations.
González Colón said that under her administration, rigorous and constant oversight would be applied to ensure that LUMA complies with its contractual obligations and responds adequately to the needs of its subscribers.
“That oversight and the clampdown we put on it will lead to consequences that do not exist right now,” she said.
González Colón’s main opponent in the governor’s race, Popular Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, wasted little time in reacting to the proposal.
“We have to put ourselves in the people’s shoes and the cards are clear today,” said the lawmaker and PDP president in a radio interview (WKAQ 580). “With Jenniffer González, LUMA stays. With me, LUMA leaves and we are going to begin a responsible process for a transition to a new operator. She is on LUMA’s side, I am on the people’s side. She proposes more of the same and I am going to act as a governor who cares about the well-being of his country and his people and the quality of life of the people.”
The proposal to create an entity to oversee LUMA Energy and Genera PR, the private operator of the island’s electric power generation assets, is not entirely new, however. On June 9 of this year, Manuel Calderón Cerame, the PDP spokesperson in the San Juan Municipal Legislature and candidate for the District 4 (San Juan) seat in the House of Representatives, presented a proposal to oversee the public-private partnership (PPP) contracts for the generation and distribution & transmission of energy.
“The first package of proposals that I will be filing in January 2025 will include the creation by law of the Puerto Rico Department of Energy with the mandate to supervise and enforce the PPP contracts of LUMA and Genera PR, as well as to consolidate into a single public entity the executive functions in energy matters that are currently distributed among several agencies of the Puerto Rico
Energy and Genera PR contracts established by the island Energy Bureau.
Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago also jumped into the fracas on Tuesday, saying it is unacceptable that González Colón has decided to stay with LUMA Energy and that she characterizes the cancellation of the private consortium’s contract to operate the electrical system in Puerto Rico as irresponsible.
He said what is irresponsible is to leave the NPP and LUMA in charge of the island’s electricity transmission and distribution system.
“While the NPP continues to destroy the country, Puerto Ricans suffer the consequences of the poor administration of this government,” Dalmau Santiago said in a written statement. “It was precisely the NPP that accelerated the debt in the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, creating the economic crisis we are experiencing today with the bankruptcy.”
“Jenniffer González’s position today puts her on the same level as Pedro Pierluisi, whom she criticized so much during the last primary,” he added.
Continues on page 4
Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, the New Progressive Party candidate for governor
Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, the Popular Democratic Party candidate for governor
LUMA: 90% of remaining customers without service will see it restored by Thursday
By THE STAR STAFF
LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca said that by Thursday, 90 percent of the electric power service should be restored for the 37,800 customers who still do not have it.
“While we have made great strides in restoring service to the majority of customers in just four days after Tropical Storm Ernesto, we still have work to do to restore power to all affected customers,” the head of the island’s electricity transmission and distribution operator said in a written statement. “We are focusing our efforts on the communities most impacted by the storm, and we continue to prioritize critical facilities and schools. We are also working closely with municipalities and mayors.” Saca said restoration efforts are focused on the service regions of Caguas,
Carolina, Mayagüez and Ponce. In those regions where six municipalities have sustained the greatest damage, Río Grande, Yabucoa and Orocovis should reach 90% on Tuesday, while Añasco should reach that threshold today and Luquillo and Maricao on Thursday.
Saca urged customers to call 1-844888-5862 (LUMA) if they experience service interruptions.
The LUMA CEO also predicted that selective blackouts due to lack of generation would occur on Tuesday afternoon.
“For tonight [Tuesday night], it is being predicted that we could potentially have a 100 megawatt deficit,” he said. “We are not sure yet; we are monitoring it every minute. This could affect 50,000, 70,000 customers and it is a manual changeover.”
“When we can already anticipate and can plan, tonight at peak time when everyone is cooking and turning on the air conditioners and we already know that we have an energy deficit, well, we plan and see how to impact as little as possible,” Saca added. “That lasts about 20 or 30 minutes and I know that it is very annoying, but it is part of the management that LUMA does to minimize the impact on customers.”
According to data from Genera PR, Unit 2 of the Aguirre Power Plant is shut down, as are the Palo Seco units, while two EcoEléctrica units are not in operation.
Aguada mayoral candidate files complaint over political signs at schools
By THE STAR STAFF
Wilbert Nieves Chaparro, New Progressive Party (NPP) mayoral candidate Aguada, was filing a complaint on Tuesday before the Electoral Comptroller’s Office against the sitting mayor of that town, Christian Cortés, for placing what Nieves Chaparro said was political-partisan propaganda on the fences of several schools at the start of classes.
“Yesterday afternoon, we learned from parents and teachers that they were outraged by signs that were placed on the gates of the Dr. Carlos González and Eladio Tirado López schools in anticipation of the start of school in the public education
system,” Chaparro Nieves said in a press release. “The signs contained the name of the mayor, his photograph, and the insignia of the Popular Democratic Party. We are requesting the intervention of the Electoral Comptroller’s Office and the Department of Education to investigate who authorized the placement of these signs in clear violation of applicable regulations and laws when using public school facilities for these purposes.”
The NPP candidate also criticized Cortés for neglecting his responsibilities to the school community, stating that “instead of ensuring that all schools in our town are ready for the new school year and advocating for the necessary funds to benefit
our boys and girls for the improvement of education, the mayor has decided to play politics before fulfilling his duty as the first municipal executive.”
The former municipal legislator also stressed the need for accountability and called for immediate action to prevent the misuse of public facilities from happening again in the future.
“We will be following this investigation closely,” Nieves Chaparro said. “Our people deserve answers from the relevant authorities who have allowed this political propaganda to be placed at our schools. We cannot allow this type of ethical violation to continue in clear disregard for following established laws and regulations.”
A sign with a back-to-school message and the mayor’s image is seen on a fence in front of a school in Aguada.
From page 3
“The differences between the NPP and the PDP are clear,” Dalmau Santiago said further, echoing his party’s president and candidate for governor. “The PDP will cancel the LUMA contract, which has caused so much damage to the quality of life of Puerto Ricans; and Jenniffer González has already assured that she will keep LUMA. Resident
commissioner, it is irresponsible to allow thousands of Puerto Ricans to be without electricity, and for this company to continue to be in charge of the electrical system.”
Juan Dalmau Ramírez, the candidate for governor for the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and the Alliance between the PIP and the Citizen Victory Movement, also lashed out on Tuesday against González Colón following her statements about LUMA, as well
as the revelation that a $225,000 contract had been awarded by the Department of Education to her campaign treasurer.
“Jenniffer González should take the story she told herself when she criticized LUMA for electoral opportunism in the primary: ‘This is no longer funny,’” Dalmau Ramírez said in a written statement. “For the people who condemn the mismanagement of public funds and LUMA’s abuse, taking one step forward and three steps back is not a joke.”
The PIP leader accused González
Colón of showing who she really answers to and criticized what he called “political opportunism.”
“Jenniffer González once again shows her true colors,” he said. “Her statements confirm what interests she answers to and has always been subject to. Once again, she is acting out of political opportunism and not conviction by justifying an exorbitant contract for one of her closest campaign collaborators with the Department of Education and protecting LUMA’s contract.”
LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca said 90 percent of the grid operator’s 37,800 customers who still lacked electric power should have it back by Thursday.
The speech Biden never wanted to give
By PETER BAKER
When the crowd members in the United Center first chanted, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!” on Monday night, President Joe Biden looked down, fought back tears and soaked in the admiration.
But he knew. He might not have wanted to admit it. But he knew. They were thanking him, yes, for what he accomplished during a lifetime in public service. But they were also thanking him, let’s be honest, for not running again.
It is hard to think of a more bittersweet moment for a president who spent more than a half-century on the stage only now to be involuntarily shown the exit. The warm bath of affection in Chicago, real as it may have been, could go just so far to salve the wounds of the past few weeks.
As much as they cheered Biden and waved their preprinted “We Y Joe” signs, the thousands of Democrats gathered for their quadrennial national convention were sending him off to the presidential retirement home four years before he was ready. Biden found himself demoted from speaking as the presidential nominee on Thursday night, when as recently as a month ago he had expected to address the convention, to Monday night, an evening usually reserved for the party’s past stars. Biden, 81, gave little indication that he was eager to go. While he made a couple of self-deprecating jokes about his age, he barely alluded to his decision to step aside under pressure from fellow Democrats worried that the struggles of the oldest president in the nation’s history would sink the party. When he did, he simply framed it as an act of sacrifice to save
American democracy from former President Donald Trump.
“It’s been the honor of my lifetime to serve as your president,” he said in a 52-minute speech capping the first night of a convention celebrating the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris to be his successor. “I love the job, but I love my country more. I love my country more. And all this talk about how I’m angry at all the people who said I should step down — it’s not true.”
At that point, the crowd chanted, “We love Joe! We love Joe!”
“I love my country more,” Biden repeated, “and we need to preserve our democracy.”
Citing song lyrics, he offered a valedictory. “America, America, I gave my best to you,” he said. “I made a lot of mistakes in my career. Well, I gave my best to you for 50 years. Like many of you, I’ve given my heart and soul to our nation, and I’ve been blessed a million times in return with the support of the American people.”
He might not acknowledge being angry, but he was not going out of his way to offer forgiveness either. After leaving the hall, he spoke briefly to reporters at the airport before leaving on Air Force One for a vacation in California and was asked about his relationship with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was seen as a critical force in pressing him out of the race. “No, I haven’t spoken to her,” he said, then added, “No one made my decision but me.”
This was the 13th convention that Biden attended going back to 1972 and at least the eighth where he spoke, but the last he would address as a current office holder or candidate
— and the one speech he never wanted to deliver. He has been such a part of the American political firmament for so long that it seemed hard to imagine him ceding the spotlight.
And in fact, he made little accommodation to that unhappy reality, largely giving what seemed like the speech that could have been written before his withdrawal from the race on July 21, extolling his record and excoriating Trump’s. Practically all he had to do was tweak the section talking about goals of the next term to substitute the phrase “Kamala and Tim will” where he would have said “I will” and excise the words, “I accept your nomination.”
Indeed, while he declared that picking Harris was the “best decision I made my whole career” and praised her as “tough” and “experienced” with “enormous integrity,” he did not offer an extended testimonial to her, leaving that to future speakers on future nights.
After he wrapped up his speech, though, Harris appeared onstage to honor him. “I love you so much,” she could be seen telling him as she hugged him. Looking up at him as if he were her father, she repeated, “I love you.”
But the Democrats jumbled their homage plan with a slate of speeches that went so long that Biden was pushed out of prime time on the East Coast. He did not begin his own address until about 11:30 p.m. in Washington, a cardinal sin in modern convention planning. Democrats were so far behind schedule that they had to scrap a video tribute to the outgoing president.
If Biden minded, though, he did not say. Nor did he cut short his own address. He had a lot to say and wanted to say it. Much of it was Joe Biden Classic, all the familiar themes, hokey stories, family sayings, unabashed patriotism and sometimes debatable claims. Some of it adopted the language of his 2020 address almost word for word, down to the “veins bulging” description of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
All his favorite phrases were there, too — the “inflection point” that the country faces and “middle out, bottom up” to describe his economic philosophy and the punctuating “not a joke” and “I’m serious.”
He finished with the lines he uses to end almost every speech. “Folks, we just have to remember who we are,” he said, raising his voice to a shout. “We’re the United States of America, and there’s nothing we cannot do when we do it together. God bless you all. And may God protect our troops.”
Préstamos Personales Pequeños otorgados para la semana que terminó el Sábado, 17 de agosto de 2024
President Joe Biden arrives on stage after an introduction by his daughter Ashley Biden on the first night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
Outraged over Gaza, protesters show left-wing divisions as convention opens
By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS, ERNESTO LONDOÑO, MITCH SMITH, ROBERT CHIARITO and DAN SIMMONS
As Democrats gathered in Chicago on Monday, eager to project an image of a liberal movement fully united behind Vice President Kamala Harris, thousands of people marched a few blocks away, presenting a thorny counterpoint.
For hours, protesters furious over the Biden administration’s support for Israel and its failure to end the war in the Gaza Strip held signs, chanted and pushed for Harris to break with the president on those issues. The loudest challenge to the opening day of the Democratic National Convention was coming not from Republicans, but from the progressive left.
“It is no longer good enough just to stand against Trump,” said Ellie FeyansMcCool, who traveled from Minnesota to attend the march, and had not yet decided whether she would support Harris or some other candidate. “You have to do good.”
Protesters gather in Union Park as the Democratic National Convention kicked off at the United Center in Chicago, on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. Hundreds of left-wing protesters marched in Chicago on Monday as the Democratic National Convention got underway nearby, providing an early test of the city’s security preparations and of Vice President Kamala Harris’s attempts to project a sense of intraparty unity. (Jon Cherry/The New York Times)
From the moment Chicago was announced as host to the convention, residents and pundits alike raised concerns about the prospect of protests amid memories of violent clashes between police officers and demonstrators in the city at the Democrats’ 1968 convention. The war in Gaza, and federal lawsuits from activists accusing Chicago of infringing on their right to protest, only heightened the worries.
The protest on Monday, one of several demonstrations expected this week, was not as big as organizers had predicted. There were some clashes between activists and police officers, but nothing on the scale of 1968.
The march drew a mix of people of different ages, some in button-down shirts and others in protective gear and face masks. Some were locals, while others had traveled in on charter bus or plane. People chanted and waved signs as officers looked on. At least a dozen of the demonstrators pushed strollers as they marched.
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Tasa mínima, promedio ponderado, y máxima para préstamos personales pequeños otorgados para la semana que terminó el sábado, 17 de agosto de 2024
It included a coalition of more than 200 activist groups focused on a range of progressive causes, including environmental issues, abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, but united in anger over the war in Gaza.
Farzeen Harunani, a pro-Palestinian activist from the Chicago area, was among many in the crowd who described a feeling of political homelessness because of the Biden administration’s approach to the war.
“I’ve been blue ticket my whole life,” Harunani said. “I volunteered for the Democrats, I donated to the Democrats, door-knocked for them, phone-banked for them.”
But she said the top two candidates vying for president had left voters with a terrible choice. She said she was inclined to vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate.
“All of us are very frustrated because we have a twoparty system that is so ingrained,” Harunani said. “What if, rather than voting for harm or harm reduction, we could vote for no harm?”
For many in the crowd, replacing President Joe Biden with Harris atop the Democratic ticket had no real effect on their feelings about the election.
“It’s all the same,” said Ashley Taylor-Gougé, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, who said that the group had organized two buses to bring people on the 6-1/2hour drive from Minneapolis to Chicago. “There have been no changes made, there have been no statements made that are in line with what we want to see happen.”
Late in the afternoon, after hours of spirited but peaceful demonstration, a number of protesters appeared to break off from the main march and move past one of the gates around the security zone near the United Center, the main conven-
tion hall. Dozens of Chicago police officers wearing helmets and carrying batons moved in on the group, urging protesters and then reporters, to leave the area. Several protesters lobbed signs and cans at the police. At least six people were detained.
In a statement, a joint information center operated by local and federal agencies said that protesters had “breached a portion of anti-scale fencing” near the United Center. The group added that law enforcement officials responded immediately and that “at no point was the inner perimeter breached.”
Earlier in the day, when a group of about a dozen people with Israeli flags marched around the park where activists had gathered, a small contingent of pro-Palestinian protesters broke off and jeered at them. Police officers worked to keep the two groups separated.
The march on Monday, which was expected to be one of the larger protests of the convention, was an early test of Chicago’s preparations. City officials, frustrated by comparisons to the 1968 convention, have sought to convey a sense of calm and confidence.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, a first-term Democrat who spoke at the convention on Monday night, has insisted that the city is ready to a host a safe convention where protesters can gather peacefully but violence will not be tolerated.
On Sunday evening, hundreds of demonstrators marched along Michigan Avenue downtown, calling for the protection of abortion and LGBTQ rights, and peace in Gaza.
“Our officers responded exactly the way we trained them to respect First Amendment activity,” the police superintendent, Larry Snelling, said of Sunday’s protest.
One 23-year-old woman was arrested nearby on Sunday and charged with defacement of property and obstructing a police officer, he said. The woman was not part of a march, he said.
The crowd on Monday appeared to number in the low thousands, and while sizable it was smaller than organizers had expected. In an interview before the march started, an organizer said he hoped that more protesters would converge on Chicago during the week.
Unlike at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month, where protests were mostly contained to the first day, activists from different groups have announced plans to gather repeatedly in Chicago.
Another protest group, focused on issues affecting poor and homeless people, marched up to the edge of the security perimeter on Monday evening. More demonstrations were scheduled on Tuesday, on Wednesday and again on Thursday evening, when Harris was expected to speak from the main stage.
Families are going into debt for Disney vacations
By JESSICA FU
Alyssa Leach and her husband have visited Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, every year since 2015. To them, the theme park feels like an oasis where they can escape the stress of everyday life.
So when their son, Lincoln, was born in 2020, Leach wanted his first visit to the park to be special and spared no expense in planning it. She booked a two-week trip to visit Florida in December 2022, which included stays at Disney World and Universal Studios.
The costs quickly accumulated. Leach and her family traveled from New Haven, Connecticut, and paid extra for admission to “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party,” an after-hours event that cost about $200 per person. She also shelled out $100 for the theme park’s photo service so she could download photos of the family that photographers took during the visit.
The vacation cost around $6,000, which included accommodations, tickets and a car rental, and which Leach charged to her Disney-branded credit card.
Leach is one of many parents who have taken on debt for a Disney family vacation. In June, LendingTree, a financial firm, published the results of a survey of more than 2,000 people that found that 45% of parents with children under 18 who have gone to Disney went into debt for the trip.
For a family of four, the cost of a one-week trip to Disney can range from $6,463 to $15,559, not including flights or souvenirs, according to an analysis by NerdWallet, a personal finance site. Many families can’t afford the trip at all. Last week, Disney reported softening demand for its theme parks because families, after years of dealing with high inflation, have less money to spend on amusement.
But Leach, 38, who works in sales, relies on quarterly bonuses to cover vacation costs. She and her husband earn about $250,000 annually, combined, though that figure can fluctuate each year. Her family doesn’t always have the money to pay for vacations upfront. Instead, she books first, then pays off her balances as the bonuses come in.
For the trip in 2022, Leach paid the minimum on her credit card for two months, accruing around $382 in interest before she was able to pay off the balance.
Disney stories, and the characters who populate them, are deeply embedded in American pop culture, and many families consider a trip to Disney-themed parks to be a rite of passage. The Magic Kingdom theme park at Disney World is the biggest amusement park in the world by attendance, drawing more than 17.1 million visitors in 2022, according to a report by AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm. The second biggest is Disneyland in California, which drew more than 16.8 million visitors in the same year.
Leach said she had no regrets about taking her 18-month-old son on his first Disney trip.
“I’ll make more money,” she said. “But he’ll never be that young again.” Today, the family lives in Tampa, Florida, and each member has a Disney World annual pass.
“Disney does carry a level of nostalgia for people,”
In images she provided, Alyssa Leach’s family vacation at Walt Disney World in Florida, a $6,000 trip they charged on a Disney-branded credit card. Families spending more than they can afford on Disney vacations say it is because they know their children won’t stay young forever. (Alyssa Leach via The New York Times)
said Rachel Cruze, who hosts a personal finance podcast and wrote a personal finance book with her father, Dave Ramsey, geared toward parents. “It’s a lot of people’s childhoods. When you can go to one singular place and have so many of those memories and those characters come to life, it does bring a level of joy.”
However, Cruze said, the pressure to visit Disney theme parks and to go all out for what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip can lead families to spend beyond their means. Often, visitors contend with sticker shock when they arrive at the park.
For Johnny Esfeller of Helena, Alabama, Disney was a central part of his childhood. When he became a parent, he wanted his daughter to experience the same love for the theme park and its characters.
Esfeller, 41, who works in public relations and marketing, prides himself on nailing his budgets. So when he took his wife and their daughter, then 4, to Disney World in February 2022, he was shocked to find himself in debt after the trip.
“Disney’s never been a cheap vacation,” he said. “That’s been true since probably when Walt opened the park in the 1950s.” He had budgeted about $6,000 for the trip, but overspent by $2,500.
Esfeller and his wife are both employed full time and describe themselves as upper middle class. Together, they were able to pay off the debt from the trip in a few months. Still, it lingers in his memory like a cautionary tale.
He and his wife consider themselves seasoned Disney vacationers, but they were caught off guard by numerous pricing changes. The biggest one involved the park’s lineskipping system. For years, Disney offered visitors FastPass, a free service that allowed them to effectively hold a reserved time slot to ride an attraction without having to wait in long, winding lines. The park replaced it with a paid version in the fall of 2021. The cost of FastPass can vary depending on the ride, theme park and time of year.
The service cost Esfeller’s family $15 per person per day. “By the end of the trip, it was several hundred dollars that I didn’t bank on,” he said.
But shelling out extra for the new paid version of the line-skipping service, Esfeller said, didn’t feel like a choice.
“You’re there, you’re not sure when you’re coming back, and it’s like: ‘Fine, I’ll just bite the bullet. We’ll worry about the cost later,’” he said. “I just didn’t want my daughter to miss out on anything.”
Another example of what Esfeller described as the “nickel-and-diming” of his experience involved transportation within the park. Previously, Disney offered a shuttle service, branded as the Minnie Van and operated by Lyft. The company initially charged a $25 flat rate to transport families between any two locations on the resort premises. By the time Esfeller and his family were vacationing in 2022, it was operating on a surge-pricing model instead.
Also gone during their trip were prepaid dining plans that let families budget a flat payment for a set number of meals. (Disney brought back its dining plans in 2024 because of demand.)
A spokesperson for Disney said the company offered vacation options at multiple price points, including for hotels, park tickets, transportation and merchandise. The spokesperson said that the FastPass pricing model was standard in the industry, and that one benefit of variable pricing was lower costs for rides and parks that saw less demand.
Cruze advises families against going into debt for vacations. She said more families should consider less expensive travel, such as going to national parks. Though a Disney vacation can feel like an escape from reality, families eventually return to everyday life.
“If you don’t have the money, and you charge it, then that vacation follows you home for the next few months,” Cruze said.
Stocks
S&P 500 to end 2024 near current level, suggests AI rally fizzling out
The S&P 500 will trade near current record levels at year-end, according to a Reuters poll of market strategists that suggests the AI rally is losing steam as investors wait for a widely-expected U.S. central bank interest rate cut next month.
The benchmark S&P 500 will end 2024 at 5,600 points, according to the median forecast of 41 equity strategists, analysts, brokers and portfolio managers collected Aug. 8-20. The index closed at 5,608 on Monday.
In a May poll, market strategists expected the S&P 500 to trade nearly unchanged for the rest of the year but the index has climbed over 5% since then.
Overall, the S&P 500 has surged around 17% so far in 2024, backed by sharp gains in Nvidia, Microsoft and other Wall Street heavyweights as they race to dominate emerging AI technology.
The U.S. stock market has turned volatile in recent weeks, partly on recession fears, but also related to the unwinding of large leveraged positions in markets as a result of a sudden, sharp rise in the Japanese yen, used as a funding currency.
Fading recession concerns helped boost stocks last week, marking their biggest weekly gains since November.
Investors have also become nervous about massive spending by Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta Platforms to build their AI infrastructure.
“The AI sugar high is fading and the market is coming to grips with a possible slowdown in GDP,” said Synovus Trust portfolio manager Daniel Morgan, warning as well of “little room for error” due to stretched valuations.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% on Tuesday ahead of an annual central banking conference at Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this week that could offer clues about the trajectory of interest rate cuts. The index is down about 1% from its record high close on July 16.
Nvidia’s stock has surged 158% in 2024, and analysts expect the chipmaker’s quarterly net income to more than double when it reports its results next week, according to LSEG.
The S&P 500 will trade at 5,900 points by the end of next year, a 5.2% gain from Monday’s close, the survey showed.
Stock strategists struggle to accurately predict the market, but their forecasts offer a glimpse of sentiment across Wall Street and
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Reuters poll medians often correctly predict the direction of trading.
A neck-and-neck race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris means additional uncertainty for investors ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
As well, turmoil in the Middle East and uncertainty over how many interest rate cuts the Fed will deliver make it particularly difficult right now to forecast the stock market, said Chase Investment Counsel President Peter Tuz.
Money market traders mostly expect a 25 basis point rate cut at the Fed’s September policy meeting, with a total of at least 75 basis points in reductions by year end, according to CME Group’s FedWatch.
Asked by Reuters, over half of poll respondents said a stock market correction of at least 10% is likely by the
end of September. More than half predicted corporate earnings would beat expectations through the end of 2024.
While the AI rally has benefited the U.S. stock market’s most valuable companies, much of the market has lagged.
The median S&P 500 stock has gained around 9% this year, while the S&P 500 consumer discretionary, real estate and materials sector indexes have languished with year-to-date gains of about 5% each.
Following this year’s rally, the S&P 500 is trading at 21 times expected earnings, compared to a 10-year average of 18, according to LSEG.
Goldman Sachs lowered the odds of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months to 20% from 25% following recent upbeat jobless claims and retail sales reports.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 9
Iran is to blame for hacking into Trump’s campaign, intelligence officials say
By GLENN THRUSH and ADAM GOLDMAN
U.S. intelligence agencies said earlier this week that Iran was responsible for hacking into former President Donald Trump’s campaign and trying to breach the Biden-Harris campaign.
The finding, which was widely expected, came days after a longtime Trump adviser, Roger Stone, revealed that his Hotmail and Gmail accounts had been compromised. That intrusion evidently allowed Iranian hackers to impersonate him and gain access to the emails of campaign aides.
The announcement was Monday’s starkest indication to date that foreign intelligence organizations have mobilized to interfere in the 2024 election at a moment of heightened partisan polarization at home and escalating tensions abroad between Iran and Israel, along with its international allies, including the United States.
“Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” intelligence officials wrote in a joint statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The Islamic republic has “demonstrated a long-standing interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means,” the officials added.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, speaks on the economy during a campaign stop at Precision Components Group in York, Pa., a manufacturing business that makes parts for U.S. Navy submarines among other industrial parts, on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
The joint statement provided no new details about the attacks nor did it specify how the agencies knew Iran was responsible. Iran denied that it was behind the hacking, calling the allegations “unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran harbors nei-
ther the intention nor the motive to interfere with the U.S. presidential election,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement. “Should the U.S. government genuinely believe in the validity of its claims, it should furnish us with the pertinent evidence — if any — to which we will respond accordingly.”
But the U.S. intelligence agencies expressed confidence that the Iranians used “social engineering,” posing as trusted members of an organization’s social network to people with direct access to the inner communications of the presidential campaigns in both parties.
“It is important to note that this approach is not new,” they wrote. “Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.”
Iran’s government has shown signs of becoming increasingly aggressive in recent months, because it sees the outcome of the elections as “particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests,” the officials said.
They did not specify which, if any, outcome Iran might favor. In 2018, Trump scrapped an agreement reached in the waning days of the Obama administration to limit and monitor Iran’s civilian nuclear development program in exchange for easing economic sanctions.
But leading Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, have also taken a tough line with Iran, the chief sponsor of Hezbollah and Hamas.
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged email users to strengthen their passwords, install software updates, avoid opening suspicious attachments and alert law enforcement officials of any possible hacking efforts.
A week ago, the FBI confirmed that it was investigating “a campaign cyberintrusion,” days after Trump asserted that Iran had targeted his campaign. The bureau did not specifically name Iran or Trump at the time — nor did it indicate the extent of the breach or the possibility that it encompassed other campaigns or political figures.
But investigators appeared to also be examining an attempt to infiltrate accounts associated with the Democrats’ presidential campaign, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the situation.
The timing of the attempt was unclear, though the official added that there was no indication that the effort had succeeded. Harris’ team, which carefully monitors cyberthreats, is not aware of any breach to its systems, according to a campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss security arrangements.
Nicaragua shutters 1,500 nonprofit groups, many of them churches
By FRANCES ROBLES
The Nicaraguan government earlier this week canceled the legal status of 1,500 nonprofit organizations — many of them evangelical religious groups — in the authoritarian government’s continued effort to quash people and institutions that are not allied with the government.
More than 5,000 nonprofit organizations, including church groups, have been shut down in Nicaragua since 2018. Monday’s sweep of 1,500 civic and religious groups was by far the largest in a single day.
The measure came just days after the government banished from the country two Catholic priests who had been detained this month. Monday’s decision was notable because President Daniel Ortega’s government had until now focused its ire on the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in regions where high-profile bishops and priests had spoken out against human rights abuses.
Evangelical pastors had largely stayed out of the political fray. But the elimination of hundreds of their churches on Monday shows the Ortega administration is expanding its effort to silence religious leaders and close off any independent space not affiliated with the government, said Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who tracks attacks against churches and clergy.
“All of their properties are going to be confiscated,” said Molina, who fled Nicaragua in 2021 and now lives in Texas. “This is an attack against religious freedom.”
Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have presided over an increasingly autocratic regime that has seen them take control over virtually all government institutions, including the legislature, courts and elections.
In 2018, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country protested against cuts to social security and eroding democracy in a quest to topple the government, but the pair responded with a tough crackdown. Hun-
dreds of people were killed, imprisoned or forced out of the country.
Murillo, who serves as spokesperson for the government, did not respond to a request for comment.
Since that uprising, nearly 250 priests, nuns, bishops and other members of the Catholic church were forced out of the country, according to a report that Molina released Friday. Some of them fled, but three bishops and 136 priests were expelled.
The region of Matagalpa traditionally had around 71 priests but now just 13 remain, she said.
A Jesuit university was shut down and taken over by the government last year, and in June this year, 20 Protestant churches were slammed with unexplained exorbitant fines.
The Nicaraguan Ministry of Interior closed the organizations this week, saying they had failed to meet their legal obligations to report their finances, according to a notice published in the Nicaraguan government’s legal register.
The notice listed the 1,500 organizations, which included hundreds of small faith groups, many of them affiliated with Pentecostal and Baptist churches.
The government uses a repressive legal framework to persecute Catholic and Protestant communities through arrest, imprisonment and the seizure of property, according to a June report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a U.S. government commission that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. Laws ostensibly meant to combat terrorism and money laundering are instead used to arbitrarily cancel the legal status and seize the property of such groups, the report said.
The government-controlled legislature passed several laws that created onerous financial reporting requirements for nonprofit organizations, making it difficult for them to comply. Even Catholic charity groups have found themselves faced with money laundering charges.
Mexico’s judges vote to strike, opposing overhaul of legal system
By SIMON ROMERO and EMILIANO RODRÍGUEZ MEGA
Federal judges voted Monday night to go on strike across Mexico, protesting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed overhaul of the country’s judicial system. The judges will join thousands of other court employees who went on indefinite strike earlier in the day over the contentious policy changes.
The moves reflect rising tensions over López Obrador’s push for the most sweeping changes to Mexico’s legal system in decades. He and his supporters want thousands of Mexico’s judges, including those on the Supreme Court, to stand for election instead of being appointed based on qualifications and specialized training.
López Obrador has defended the plan, arguing that the ultimate goal is to rid the judiciary of “corruption and privileges.” Critics say the change could result in people with minimal legal experience being elected to judgeships.
The president “has lost it,” said Juana Fuentes, the national director of Mexico’s association of federal judges and magistrates, which organized the strike vote. “If this bill passes, we will be creating a regime of absolute power
Judges from Mexico and Colombia training to conduct trials in open court in San Juan, Puerto Rico, June 9, 2012. As part of an overhaul of its justice system at the time, Mexico sought to move away from a system where judges ruled on cases behind closed doors, based on written evidence. Federal judges voted earlier this week to go on strike across Mexico in protest of the latest proposed overhaul of the country’s judicial system.
(Dennis Rivera/The New York Times)
concentrated in one single person.”
The vote means that on Wednesday, more than 1,400 judges and magistrates will join the federal court workers who walked off the job Monday.
López Obrador is hoping to push his mea-
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entitled to abandoned property in the amount of fifty dollars or more.
sures through in September, his last month in office, when Congress reconvenes. With the combination of lawmakers from his Morena party plus allied lawmakers, the president is expected to have a large congressional majority.
But while he appears to have the votes needed in Congress to pass the policy changes, large pockets of resistance have coalesced in recent weeks.
Critics of López Obrador argue that the proposals amount to a power grab, aimed at eroding checks on the executive branch, after the Supreme Court developed into a bastion of opposition to the president. If the system is changed, all 11 judges on the Supreme Court, as well as thousands of other federal and state judges, could potentially be forced to step down.
“We have been working for 10, 15, 20 years to become judges or magistrates, and suddenly they tell us that those years we invested are no longer going to be of any use,” said Víctor Flores, the secretary-general of the Federal Judiciary Workers Union in Toluca, a city in central Mexico. The election of judges by popular vote, he added, would no longer ensure that people who have built their careers in the judiciary could become judges.
affect employee benefits.
Nearly all 55,000 federal court workers are expected to join the strike in the next few days, said Flores, meaning that hundreds of courthouses and tribunals across the country would be closed. In Mexico state, where Flores is based, about 1,500 people have already joined the strike, with some locking entrances to their workplaces with chains.
“If the workers don’t show up for work, well, obviously judges and magistrates can’t issue rulings,” Flores added. However, exceptions would be made to allow rulings on “urgent matters,” including cases where people’s lives are at risk, Fuentes said.
The striking judges and court workers are hoping to draw attention to the proposed overhaul, which critics say would roll back decades of efforts to bolster judicial independence in Mexico.
“There is an atmosphere of uncertainty, sadness and disappointment,” said Anallely Reyes, a federal clerk who joined the strike in Naucalpan, an industrial hub in Mexico state. “The whole country is going to be harmed by electing people who do not know about these issues. It has taken us years to know the laws, to know how they should be applied.”
Many judicial experts acknowledge that Mexico’s legal system has problems, like slow-moving cases and inept investigations that allow many crimes to go unpunished. But critics contend that López Obrador’s overhaul would do little to address such systemic issues, or could even make them worse by politicizing vast parts of the judicial system.
“Above all, this is about vengeance,” said Víctor Oléa, the president of Mexico’s national bar association, referring to López Obrador’s frequent attacks on the judiciary. “It’s a way of going back in time by taking political control over the judicial system.”
Critics say that if the overhaul is approved in its current form, candidates aligned with López Obrador and his protege, Claudia Sheinbaum — who was elected president in a June landslide and takes office in October — are likelier to win judicial elections than critics of the government would be.
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Liberty Way Dover, NH 03821 has been made to the Commissioner of Insurance pursuant to Section 2604 of the Unclaimed Funds in Insurance Companies, General Agents, Managers, and Agents Law of the territory of Puerto Rico. Such unclaimed funds will be paid or delivered by us on or before December 1, 2024 to persons establishing their right to receive the same; on or before December 20, 2024, such unclaimed funds which still remain uncollected shall be paid to the Commissioner of Insurance who shall be thereinafter responsible for their payment. Liberty Mutual Insurance 225 Borthwick Ave MS - N4CD Portsmouth, NH 03801 unclaimedproperty@libertymutual.com
Court workers, including clerks and other support staff, decided to organize their nationwide strike after learning that López Obrador’s proposals would not undergo significant changes before being discussed next month in Congress. Last year, hundreds of judicial employees carried out a 13-day strike against proposed budget cuts, included in the government’s initiative, that would negatively
“What we want is for there to be a true justice system in the country,” Sheinbaum told reporters Monday when asked about the strike. “Now, the judiciary will have more autonomy when judges, magistrates and ministers are elected. Why? Because a judge will be elected by the people — just like the president.”
Experts in Mexico and abroad, however, have warned that the proposed changes would threaten judicial independence, violate international legal standards and undermine the rule of law.
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records of the above-named company to be
Harris should take divisions over Gaza seriously
Attendees at a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, her running mate, in Detroit, Aug. 7, 2024. (Daniel Ribar/The New York Times)
By FARAH STOCKMAN
For weeks, the signs did not look good for Kamala Harris in Michigan. Literally. A digital billboard on the side of a barn, which I saw while driving to Grayling, read, “Willie Brown Endorses Kamala,” a farmer’s snarky reminder of a chapter of Harris’ life — when she briefly dated the speaker of the California Assembly — that I’m pretty sure she’d prefer voters forget.
Even in Detroit, usually friendly territory for Democrats, I bumped into haters. The leader of a well-to-do neighborhood association told me that the way Harris got nominated resembled “entrapment.” And, at a street fair, I chatted with Tamika Daniels, an activist who was working to register formerly incarcerated people to vote. Daniels expressed skepticism about Harris because the vice president had once been a prosecutor.
There was no sign of such skepticism at the Harris rally near the Detroit airport Aug. 7, where roughly 15,000 excited people waited hours to see her. The crowd included recovering Republicans who had never been to a political rally before, United Auto Workers members in matching red shirts and Black sorority sisters dressed head to manicured toe in pink and green. Some of them mentioned experiencing the same magic they’d felt during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential run, as they pondered the possibility of breaking another barrier — this time, the first female president. “I missed out on Obama,” Sheila Sigro, who runs the Wayne County beauty pageant, told me. “I didn’t want to miss out on history again.”
Those comparisons are both inspiring and worrying. Inspiring because it does matter that such barriers are broken, and worrying because it can tempt Democrats to focus on style and symbolism over substance. This risk is most evident, and most significant, on the issue of the Gaza Strip. There is perhaps no issue that divides the Democratic Party more than the U.S. government’s support for Israel’s retaliation following the brutal attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. If the Harris campaign
is unable to address this thorny issue in a way that feels like substance, then Democrats may not get the unity they’ll need to win in November.
Nowhere is this question more salient than Michigan, a must win-state and home to one of the largest Arab American communities in the country. Arab Americans turned away from the Democratic Party in large numbers, outraged that President Joe Biden was spending their tax dollars to buy bombs that were killing their loved ones. To turn this outrage into political power, two Detroit-based Democratic organizers, Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed, co-founded a movement in Michigan to convince people to vote “uncommitted” in the Democratic primaries as a way to show their displeasure with Biden and demonstrate their electoral strength. It quickly grew into a national effort.
More than 100,000 Michigan voters cast “uncommitted” ballots — not enough to change the outcome of the primary, since Biden had virtually no competition — but enough that the party could not afford to ignore them. Alawieh says 30 members of the Uncommitted National Movement, including himself, earned delegate spots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. The group is pushing for the DNC to allow Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a doctor who recently spent two weeks in Gaza, to address the convention, which seems like the least the party can do to show they take the suffering of Palestinians seriously. In Michigan, a state that Donald Trump won by a little more than 10,000 votes in 2016, these voters could be crucial. One of the biggest questions of this election is whether Harris can win any of them back.
For some, there’s probably nothing she could do to earn forgiveness. Floyd Merwan Beydoun, a UAW member, got his hopes up briefly after Harris began her presidential campaign, when he saw a clip of Harris saying that too many lives have been lost in Gaza. But then he saw her repeating the old mantra about Israel’s right to defend itself after Israel killed a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, and Beydoun was done. He says he’s voting for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. “I know she doesn’t have a chance,” he told me. But he’s voting for her anyway because she “believes in peace.”
The founders of the uncommitted movement say they want to help Harris get elected. But unless she gives them a significant policy win, they will not be able to justify their support, nor will they be able to mobilize their communities to vote.
“I want to be right there with my fellow Democrats, oozing enthusiasm about Tim Walz and what’s the latest with the campaign,” Alawieh told me. But as he gets campaign updates, he says he is “simultaneously getting updates from my family members in Southern Lebanon who are checking in on each other because of the last bomb that dropped.”
Calling for a cease-fire, which Harris has done, is not enough.
“We’ve seen a huge shift in language — when she talks about Palestinian right to self-determination,” Elabed told me. “But Palestinian children can’t eat words. Words are not going to make their limbs grow back.” She wants Harris to commit to an arms embargo that might actually force Israel to moderate
its behavior.
That demand is a tall order, since pro-Israel groups are also a major force in Democratic politics. Calling for an arms embargo would spark outrage and dramatically change longstanding American policy toward Israel.
Harris has said she does not support an arms embargo, but Alawieh hasn’t given up. He used to serve as chief of staff for Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri — an unapologetic supporter of Palestinian rights — and before that, he was legislative director for Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the first Palestinian American to serve in Congress, who is also Elabed’s sister. During those years, he said, he worked with Harris’ staff in the Senate. “I know that she has relationships with Arab Americans and Muslim Americans and Palestinian Americans,” he told me.
But this request comes at a time when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is targeting some of the most outspoken defenders of Palestinian rights. Bush, Alawieh’s old boss, lost her primary race on Tuesday to a challenger who got a boost from an AIPAC-supported super political action committee that spent more than $8 million on the race.
Earlier this year, at the height of the campus protests about Gaza, meeting or at least acknowledging protesters’ demands wasn’t just the right thing to do, it also appeared to be the politically savvy thing for Democrats to do. That notion is looking shakier now, as two members of Congress who supported Gaza protesters, Bush and Jamaal Bowman of New York, lost primary challenges.
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Director de Finanzas de Jenniffer González renuncia a su contrato con el Departamento de Educación
POR CYBERNEWS
SAN JUAN – El licenciado Oriol Campos, director de Finanzas de Jenniffer González, anunció el martes su renuncia al contrato con el Departamento de Educación, tras la controversia generada por la contratación de su bufete para proveer servicios legales en el área de Infraestructura.
“A solicitud de la agencia, presenté una propuesta de servicios profesionales para proveer servicios lega- les en el Área de Infraestructura y, entre otras cosas, aportar a reducir el cúmulo de proyectos de reconstrucción de escuelas atrasados, que han evitado que se comiencen las reparaciones necesarias,” explicó Campos en un comunicado.
Según Campos, su propuesta fue evaluada y aceptada cumpliendo con todas las leyes y reglamentos aplicables. “Tanto este servidor, como todos los profesionales que laboran en mi bufete, tenemos la capacidad y la experiencia necesaria para realizar las tareas
legales y administrativas requeridas y necesarias para que los trabajos de reparación de escuelas que se han encontrado estancados se agilicen,” añadió.
El abogado subrayó que las tarifas por hora trabajada se basan en las recomendaciones de la Oficina del Contralor de Puerto Rico y que su facturación está muy por debajo de las tarifas establecidas por otras compañías para trabajos similares. Campos destacó que, a pesar de la necesidad de estos servicios, decidió renunciar debido a los ataques políticos que han desvirtuado el propósito del contrato.
“Lamentablemente, siendo año eleccionario, este contrato válido, ha sido utilizado para realizar ataques políticos y desvirtuar la razón de ser del mismo. Aunque la necesidad de servicios aún persiste, y se requiere que los servicios se brinden, no voy a permitir que se mancille mi reputación, mi intachable trayectoria profesional, y la de mis colegas, tanto en el sector público como privado,” afirmó.
Por estas razones, Campos informó que ha decidi-
do dar por terminado el contrato con el Departamento de Educación. “Le he cursado una comunicación al Departamento de Educación, informándole que la corporación no estará disponible para continuar ofreciendo los servicios contratados y que doy por terminado el contrato firmado conforme al procedimiento establecido en el contrato,” concluyó.
Intensifican vigilancia para garantizar cumplimiento de la Ley 36 que regula la práctica de técnicos de refrigeración en Puerto Rico
manejen y compren refrigerantes.
SAN JUAN – La Junta Examinadora de Técnicos de Refrigeración y Aire Acondicionado, junto al Colegio de Técnicos de Refrigeración y Aire Acondicionado de Puerto Rico (CTRA), anunciaron el lunes que intensificarán las visitas a negocios, talleres y grandes empresas en todo el país para verificar que los trabajos de refrigeración y acondicionadores de aire se realicen correctamente y por técnicos debidamente licenciados.
La decisión fue adoptada en una reunión de los directivos del CTRA, en respuesta a una iniciativa de la Junta Examinadora. Este esfuerzo forma parte de un plan para asegurar el cumplimiento de las leyes que exigen que solo técnicos licenciados y certificados a nivel federal
Durante la reunión, que contó con la participación del presidente de la Junta Examinadora, Héctor Ramírez Ramírez, y su vicepresidente Mario de Jesús, entre otros, se acordó un plan de visitas para reforzar la vigilancia. Además, el Secretario interino del Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor, Francisco González de la Matta, ha manifestado su respaldo a este esfuerzo conjunto.
“El consumidor debe pedir la licencia, y si no la tiene, no lo contrate. Hay que tener mucho cuidado con ciertas ofertas que parecen gangas, porque al final terminan siendo un dolor de cabeza,” advirtió Jeremías Santana Castro, presidente del CTRA. Santana también destacó los riesgos asociados con el manejo incorrecto de los
nuevos refrigerantes, que son altamente inflamables y deben ser gestionados bajo estrictos protocolos de seguridad.
Por su parte, el presidente de la Junta Examinadora, Héctor Ramírez Ramírez, subrayó la importancia de contratar técnicos licenciados para proteger a la ciudadanía. “Contratar técnicos licenciados por nuestra entidad les garantiza que no están bajo asecho de algún criminal dentro de su hogar,” afirmó Ramírez, destacando que los técnicos deben tener un certificado de antecedentes penales limpio para obtener la licencia. Ramírez también señaló que todos los técnicos deben revalidar su licencia cada cuatro años, completando 32 horas de educación continua, lo que asegura que estén actualizados con los cambios en refrigerantes y equipos. POR
Radican cargos contra hombre por apuntar y disparar arma de fuego contra su expareja en Hato Rey
SAN JUAN – La Policía informó que realizó una investigación que culminó en la radicación de cargos contra Kelvin Morel De Paula, de 38 años y residente de Canóvanas, por violaciones a la Ley 54 de Violencia Doméstica y la Ley de Armas de Puerto Rico. Según la investigación, el 18 de agosto del año en cur-
so, en Hato Rey, supuestamente Morel De Paula llegó hasta la casa de su expareja, donde le apuntó con un arma de fuego y disparó hacia la pared de la estructura en la que ella se encontraba.
El agente investigador Josué Pellot consultó el caso con el fiscal de turno, quien radicó cargos por maltrato bajo el artículo 3.1 de la Ley 54, disparar o apuntar armas de fuego bajo el artículo 6.14, y posesión de armas de fuego
sin licencia bajo el artículo 6.08 de la Ley de Armas. La jueza Brenda Sala Rivera, del Tribunal de San Juan, determinó causa para arresto y le impuso una fianza de $150,000, la cual Morel De Paula no pudo prestar, por lo que fue ingresado en el Complejo Correccional de Bayamón.
La vista preliminar quedó señalada para el 30 de agosto de 2024.
POR CYBERNEWS
Where to stream the films of Alain Delon
By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI
Most reviews of the films Alain Delon made at his 1960s and ’70s peak mention his beauty or his inscrutability. Very often they bring up both.
Despite his looks, the French star, who died Sunday at 88, was not a typical leading man. He did not do romance and mostly avoided the relationship dramas so popular in his home country, even though he won his single César Award for one, “Notre Histoire” (1984). Delon generally steered clear of lighthearted fare — the over-the-top spaghetti swashbuckler “Zorro” (1975) is one of the few such outliers. Instead, Delon will forever remain associated with the bleak thrillers and noirs he focused on after the mid-1960s. Sometimes he played the cop, other times the criminal. Always he looked as if he was withholding something — as an actor, he was never afraid of silence.
Luckily, a large number of Delon classics are available to stream. Here are 10 of the best, in chronological order.
‘Purple Noon’
Stream it on the Criterion Channel; rent or buy on Apple TV or Amazon.
Has there ever been a more handsome, conscience-free psychopath than Delon’s Tom Ripley? The actor was 25 when his breakthrough hit came out, in 1960, and his magnetism made the character’s dangerous pull on men and women completely inevitable. Delon is a major reason this film remains one of the best Patricia Highsmith adaptations ever, and his youthful cockiness and lethal charm continue to burn the screen.
‘Rocco and His Brothers’
Stream it on the Criterion Channel, Metrograph at Home, Ovid and Kino Film Collection.
The same year as the color-drenched “Purple Noon,” Delon starred in Italian director Luchino Visconti’s inky take on Greek tragedy. You might argue that the film, in which Delon plays one of five sons (albeit the title one), is more of an ensemble piece. But he expresses a rare vulnerability and tenderness that makes “Rocco and His Brothers” — one of European cinema’s all-time greats — worthy of inclusion here. Although he is a kind soul who does not actually enjoy pummeling people, Rocco becomes a boxer. It’s
a painful path that Delon fully commits to exploring.
‘The Leopard’ Rent or buy on most major platforms.
Delon teamed up with Visconti again for another three-hour-long film, albeit a radically different one: Instead of black-and-white neorealism, this historical epic set in 19th-century Italy reveled in breathtaking colors and grandiose set pieces. Delon’s opportunistic character, Tancredi, smells the winds of change favoring the rising bourgeoisie, while his uncle (Burt Lancaster) embodies the waning aristocracy. Tancredi, who looks dashing even — especially — when wearing a black eye patch, is a ruthless seducer who knows full well that his class needs to adapt if it wants to survive. He is raffishly charismatic, and you can’t take your eyes off him.
‘Any Number Can Win’ Stream it on the Criterion Channel.
Delon and the French star Jean Gabin attempt to pull off a daring heist in a Riviera casino in this entertaining, stylish action film orchestrated by the director Henri Verneuil in 1963. The two actors have a natural rapport that makes their May-September pairing feel organic, and Delon, best known as a master of silence, is surprisingly comfortable with Michel Audiard’s punchy dialogue. It’s a lot of fun to watch him play a lovable bad boy in a
leather jacket, and at times he even gives out Gallic Steve McQueen vibes.
‘Once a Thief’
Rent or buy on most major platforms.
For his first lead role in an American movie, Delon chose well with a kinetic, jazzy noir that always operates in the red. He plays Eddie Pedak, a retired thief from Trieste whose no-good brother (Jack Pa-
lance) tries to get him back into a life of crime. Ann-Margret is fantastic as Eddie’s wife, and she and Delon — who had not yet put up the impassive shield he would become famous for — share sensual scenes that still smolder nearly 60 years after the movie came out. A sterling B movie that deserves to be better known.
‘Le Samouraï’
Stream it on the Criterion Channel or Max.
One of Delon’s most consequential encounters was with director Jean-Pierre Melville. Their first collaboration, from 1967, firmly established the actor, here playing an enigmatic contract killer, as the undisputed king of stylish French noir. It also locked in his screen presence: taciturn, carved in granite, decked out in a fedora and a trench coat. The film’s gun-metalgray palette and its meticulous direction create a chilling, coldblooded ambience, and Delon’s performance matches it. The second Delon-Melville film, “Le Cercle Rouge” (1970), is almost as good, and this time Delon has a terrific foil in Bourvil, a comic actor playing against type as the police inspector on our man’s tail. (The last Delon-Melville film, “A Cop,” is also the least, though still better than most thrillers.)
Continues on page 14
Alain Delon and Marie Laforêt during the shooting of “Purple Noon” in Italy, August 1959. (Wikipedia)
Alain Delon in a scene from “Rocco and His Brothers” (1960). (Wikipedia)
From page 13
‘La Piscine’ Stream it on the Criterion Channel and Max.
Nine years after “Purple Noon,” Delon and Maurice Ronet faced off again in this slow-burn by Jacques Deray (one of the star’s go-to directors). Delon and his former real-life girlfriend Romy Schneider burn up the screen as a couple lazing around their Provence pool during a sun-drenched vacation — the close-ups of their dewy, golden skin feel as if they’re going to torch the screen. The arrival of Ronet and his 18-year-old daughter (Jane Birkin) throw a wrench into the cozy arrangement: Three’s a crowd, four’s a French erotic thriller — luckily this was made years before the 1980s ruined that genre. Delon is opaque as ever, which only adds to his mystique.
‘Two Men in Town’ Rent or buy on Amazon.
In his latter years Delon became more famous for his far-right political opinions than for his acting, but he was a complicated man who stood by
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 14
progressive-minded projects as a producer. Chief among them is this quietly devastating 1973 melodrama in which he plays a former robber whose efforts to lead an honest life are encouraged by a social worker (Jean Gabin) and thwarted by a vengeful cop (Michel Bouquet). This is one of Delon’s most openhearted characters, who provides the actor
with the rare opportunity to shed screen tears. Toward the end, José Giovanni’s film turns into an impassioned plea against the death penalty. You will not forget the final shots.
‘Mr. Klein’ Stream it on the Criterion Channel.
Once again Delon took risks as a producer, entrusting this daring project
from 1976 to the expatriated American director Joseph Losey. Delon’s Robert Klein is profiteering from Jews trying to flee 1942 Paris when one day he realizes there is a Jewish man with the same name as his. He begins obsessively tracking the other Mr. Klein, who always remains just out of reach, and becomes embroiled in a Kafkaesque nightmare. By the mid-1970s, Delon was getting used to portraying characters who play things close to the vest, but here he is masterful as a man who feels as if he is losing his grip on his identity, and reality itself.
‘Three Men to Kill’ Stream it on Tubi.
Delon entered the 1980s with another successful collaboration with Deray. Fans of the brilliant writer JeanPatrick Manchette may be frustrated by the liberties this adaptation takes with his novel, but “Three Men to Kill” stands on its own as a taut thriller distinguished by an almost clinical sobriety. Delon plays Michel Gerfaut, a professional poker player who finds himself embroiled in a violent conspiracy. The film culminates in an ending that is stunning in its matterof-fact hopelessness.
Alain Delon plays Michel Gerfaut, a professional poker player who finds himself embroiled in a violent conspiracy in “Three Men to Kill”.
The San Juan Daily Star
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 15
Stranded in space? NASA doesn’t see the Starliner astronauts that way.
By KENNETH CHANG
If you go somewhere expecting an eight-day trip and end up not being able to leave for eight months, most people would consider that “stranded.”
That is what has happened to Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, two NASA astronauts who traveled to the International Space Station in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. During the test flight, the propulsion system malfunctioned, and engineers are not certain it would bring the two astronauts back to Earth alive. So, doesn’t that mean the astronauts are stranded?
Delian Asparouhov, a founder and the president of Varda Space Industries, which seeks to manufacture drugs and other materials in space, posted on the social platform X: “I don’t know about you, but if I got stuck at an airport for seven months longer than expected, that would definitely qualify as ‘stranded.’”
But for astronauts who spend their careers hoping to travel to space, extra time in orbit — now 10 weeks and counting — is not a nightmarish struggle for survival as it is for Matt Damon’s marooned astronaut character in the movie “The Martian.”
Indeed, it might be more like your boss asking if you would mind extending a short business trip to Paris by half a year.
“Butch and I have been up here before, and it feels like coming home,” Williams, who has had two previous long stays on the space station, said during a news conference last month. “It’s great to be up here, so I’m not complaining.”
Whether Williams and Wilmore are stranded or not, NASA now faces a difficult decision it needs to make within the next week or so about the safest way to bring them back to Earth.
If it decides the problems with Starliner’s propulsion system pose too great a risk, NASA will switch to a backup plan, bringing the two astronauts home on Crew Dragon, a vehicle built by Boeing’s rival, SpaceX.
That, in turn, will lead to a juggling of astronaut assignments for the space station. The next Crew Dragon, scheduled to launch in late September, would take two astronauts to the space station instead of four, leaving two seats for Williams and Wilmore on the return trip around February of next year.
All summer, NASA and Boeing officials have been reluctant to use the words, “stuck” and “stranded,” which would add another black mark to a spacecraft that has been delayed for years by technical setbacks.
“I think reporters use imprecise language to get viewers,” said Lori Garver, who served as deputy administrator of NASA during the Obama administration. “We’re all used to that. I don’t think it’s worth being defensive about, but they’re also not really stranded.”
For one, though NASA and Boeing did say Starliner would spend at least eight days at the space station, officials point out this is a test flight designed to uncover problems. Thus, they say, it is not a surprise that not everything has gone perfectly.
“I think we all knew that it was going to go longer than that,” said Mark Nappi, the Boeing official in charge of the Starliner program. “We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about how much longer, but I think it’s my regret that we didn’t just say, ‘We’re going to stay up there until we get everything done that we want to go do.’”
The reasons for the astronauts’ extended visit — or stranding, if you prefer — involves 28 thrusters known as the reaction control system that Starliner uses for maneuvering. During its approach to the space station, five of them malfunctioned. Though four were revived, and Starliner safely docked, there remained concerns that they might fail again on the return trip.
Ground testing showed that the problem might have been caused by the expanding of a Teflon seal within the thrusters, constricting the flow of propellant.
But subsequent test firings of Starliner’s thrusters in orbit showed that the performance had returned to almost normal. That was puzzling, because a distorted Teflon seal would not be expected to return to its original shape. That raised the possibility that something else was the cause of the thruster problems.
Joseph Fragola, an aerospace safety expert who has not worked on Starliner but did work with similar thrusters on the lunar lander during the Apollo program in the 1970s, said that an imbalance of the propellants could lead to a buildup of gunk within the thrusters. That too would explain the diminished performance of the thrusters, and the residue could later evaporate, explaining why the thrusters now work normally.
“I don’t know if that’s the problem they’re having, but it took us a long time to fix that problem,” Fragola said.
If that is an issue, it could pose a serious danger. The residue and an unbalanced mixture of propellants could set off an
explosion, Fragola said.
NASA officials offer another reason to support their assertion that Williams and Wilmore aren’t truly stranded: They remain confident enough in Starliner that two astronauts would use it in case of an emergency evacuation of the space station.
That was not the case in December 2022, when the radiator of a Russian Soyuz capsule sprang a leak and all of the vehicle’s coolant floated into space. A NASA astronaut, Frank Rubio, had traveled to the space station on the Soyuz, and NASA officials decided that the damaged spacecraft was not safe enough for an emergency because temperatures inside during reentry might grow fatally hot. At that time, a jury-rigged seat was added for Rubio in a Crew Dragon that was also docked at the space station.
Rubio was arguably stranded at the space station until Russia sent a replacement Soyuz. He had been scheduled to spend six months at the space station, but he ended up setting the record for the longest single stay in orbit by an American astronaut: 371 days.
The extended stays for Williams, Wilmore and Rubio may have been unplanned, but not uncomfortable, with plenty of supplies brought up by cargo spacecraft.
That was not the case in 2003 for Don Pettit, an astronaut who is currently in Russia preparing for his fourth spaceflight, a launch to the space station scheduled for Sept. 11. During his first spaceflight two decades ago, he was one of three astronauts on the space station when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry.
The astronauts on the station — Pettit, along with Ken Bowersox of NASA, who is currently a top NASA official overseeing Starliner’s plight and was then the commander of the ISS, and Nikolai Budarin, a Russian astronaut — were in no immediate danger.
But as the three crew members grappled with the deaths of seven Columbia astronauts — their friends and colleagues — they also quickly realized that the shuttle Atlantis, which was to pick them up the following month, was not arriving anytime soon. They began rationing supplies.
“We were immediately on a water shortage and a food shortage and a clothing shortage, and we extended the best we could these supplies,” Pettit said during an interview Friday.
In a NASA interview in 2015, Pettit said there were more than enough supplies there. But no one knew how long the shuttles would remain grounded.
“It’s like you’re sitting on a mountain of food and clothing, and you’re starting to ration these things out, not because you need to for your mission, but you’re doing that to extend other people’s missions,” Pettit said.
There are no washing machines in space, so clothes are worn for a few days, then used as rags, then thrown out. Pettit said the astronauts began wearing their clothing longer than planned.
“The indicator that it was time to change your underwear would be when you started to get a rash around your waist,” Pettit said.
Pettit and his crewmates finally returned to Earth in May 2003 on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft — three months later than planned.
In an image provided by JSC/NASA, the Starliner spacecraft, built by Boeing, docked with International Space station in 2024. NASA doesn’t say the Boeing Starliner astronauts are ‘stranded’ on the space station, but it’s a word that a lot of people are using. (JSC/NASA via The New York Times)
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO
DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
PAUL FRANCIS COLGAN
JOHNSTONE CARMEN
ANGÉLICA CATONI
ZEPPENFELDT Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANACIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Peticonarios Vs. EX PARTE
Civil Núm.: CG2024CV01591.
Sala: 301. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.
UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.
A: CARMEN PROVIDENCIA
RODRÍGUEZ RÍOS - 10218
WILD WILLOW LANE, CHARLOTTE, NC 28277; POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LUIS RAMÓN
BERRÍOS, INMEDIATO ANTERIOR DUEÑO DE LA PROPIEDAD OBJETO DE ESTE TRÁMITE; JOHN DOE Y JANE ROE, PERSONAS
IGNORADAS A QUIENES PUEDA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN SOLICITADA.
Quedan emplazados y notificados de que en este Tribunal se ha radicado una Petición de Expediente De Dominio. Se les notifica para que comparezcan ante el Tribunal dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto y exponer lo que a su derecho convenga, en el presente caso. En la Petición se solicita que para que se declare justificado el dominio a su favor sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el barrio Ceiba Sur del término municipal de Juncos, Puerto Rico, e identificado como Parcela “A” hoy, antes “Old Proposed Access”. Esta parcela tiene una cabida superficial de MIL TRESCIENTOS DOCE PUNTO DOS MIL CIENTO NOVENTA Y CINCO METROS CUADRADOS (1,312.2195 M.C.), equivalentes a CERO PUNTO TREINTA Y TRES MIL TRESCIENTOS OCHENTA Y SEIS CUERDAS (0.33386 CDS). En lindes, por el NORTE, con la parcela número cincuenta y tres (53); por el SUR, con la parcela cincuen-
ta y dos (52); por el ESTE, con camino de acceso dedicado a uso público; y por el OESTE, con futuro embalse del Río Valenciano propiedad de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados. Se les apercibe y notifica que, si no contestan la petición radicada, radicando el original de la misma y enviando copia de su contestación al abogado de la parte peticionaria: LCDO. MANUEL E. MALDONADO PÉREZ; DIRECCION: 1019 AVENIDA LUIS VIGOREAUX 17-E GUAYNABO, PUERTO RICO 00966; TELÉFONO: 939-2449188; CORREO ELECTRÓNICO: @gmail.com dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra y se podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por los peticionarios, sin más citar, ni oír. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, a 29 de julio de 2024. IRASEMIS DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ANA H. LUGO MUÑOZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIO A SALA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. SUCESION DE JOSÉ
VEGA ARROYO T/C/C JOSÉ RAMÓN VEGA ARROYO COMPUESTA POR LA SUCESION DE JOSE RAMÓN VEGA CEDENO COMPUESTA POR FULANITO(A) DE TAL, SUTANITO(A) DE TAL Y MENGANITO(A) DE TAL Y JANE DOE EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL
USUFRUCTUARIA; SUCESION DE MARIA ELENA VEGA CEDENO COMPUESTA POR FULANO(A) DE TAL, SUTANO(A) DE TAL Y MENGANO(A) DE TAL, Y MARY DOE EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; MADELINE VEGA
CEDENO Y EDWIN
VEGA CEDENO; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS
MUNICIPALES; SECRETARIO DE
LA VIVIENDA Y DESARROLLO URBANO; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
Demandados Civil Núm.: MZ2019CV00410. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E. U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. Yo, CALIXTO RIVERA GHIGLIOTTY, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Mayagüez, al público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que se me libró con fecha de 4 de abril de 2024, por la Secretaria de este Tribunal, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente y/o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Parcela marcada con el número ciento setenta y tres en el plano de parcelación de la comunidad rural La Parguera del Barrio Parguera del término municipal de Lajas, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de cero cuerdas con mil ochocientos veinte diezmilésimas de otra, equivalente a setecientos quince punto cincuenta y uno metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con parcelas ciento setenta y dos y ciento setenta y cuatro de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la calle número seis de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con parcela ciento setenta y cinco de la comunidad; por el OESTE, con parcela número ciento setenta y uno de la comunidad. Inscrita al Folio 158 del Tomo 168 de Lajas, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de San Germán, Finca Número 5,822. Dirección física: Colinas de la Parguera, 173 Calle 6, Lajas Puerto Rico 00667. La finca 5,822 está gravada con la siguiente hipoteca cuya ejecución se solicita en la subasta objeto de este edicto: Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de The Money House, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $113,000.00, con intereses al 7% anual, vencedero a la presentación, constituida mediante la escritura número 338, otorgada en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, el día 29 de agosto de 2007, ante la notario Namyr T. Hernández Sánchez, e inscrita al folio 37 del tomo 340 de Lajas, finca número 5,822, inscrip-
ción 17. La propiedad está afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: A. Hipoteca revertida en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Secretario del Departamento de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano, Development, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $113,000.00, con intereses al 7% anual, vencedero a la presentación, constituida mediante la escritura número 339, otorgada en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, el día 29 de agosto de 2007 ante la notario Namyr T. Hernández Sánchez, e inscrita al folio 37 del tomo 340 de Lajas, finca número 5,822, inscripción 18a. B. Aviso de Demanda de fecha 22 de marzo de 2019, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, en el Caso Civil número MZ2019CV00410, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico; versus José Vega Arroyo también conocido como José Ramón Vega Arroyo; Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano; Estados Unidos de América; por la suma de $176,073.45, más intereses y otras sumas, anotado el día 16 de mayo de 2019, al tomo Karibe de Lajas, finca número 5,822, Anotación “C”. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Banco Popular de Puerto Rico; por la hipoteca de $113,000.00 total o parcialmente. 1. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, total o parcialmente el importe de la Sentencia emitida el 28 de noviembre de 2023, notificada y archivada en autos el 12 de diciembre de 2023. El importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, asciende a las siguientes cantidades: $261,090.85 al 30 de septiembre de 2023. Cantidad que continuará acumulándose a razón del 7% hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además, en la escritura de hipoteca, las partes pactaron la suma de $11,300.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados. Asimismo, la parte demandada se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $11,300.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $11,300.00 para cubrir intereses adicionales a los garantizados por ley, según pactado. El precio mínimo de licitación con relación a la antes descrita propiedad y la fecha y hora de cada subasta es como sigue: PRIMERA SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 10 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $113,000.00. SEGUNDA SUBASTA: Se celebrará el
día 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $75,333.33. TERCERA SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 24 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $56,500.00. Las subastas de dicha propiedad se llevarán a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de Mayagüez, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo éste el mejor postor. En cualquier momento luego de haberse comenzado el acto de la subasta, el Alguacil podrá requerir de los licitadores que le evidencien la capacidad de pago de sus posturas. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el titulo del inmueble y las cargas o gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda responsable de los mismos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se le apercibe a los tenedores de gravámenes posteriores al que se ejecuta que, para proteger cualesquiera derechos que tengan sobre el inmueble, deberán comparecer a la subasta, pues de no hacerlo así y de no igualar el precio de venta del gravamen hipotecario que se ejecuta, el Tribunal ordenará la cancelación de todos los gravámenes posteriores. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Si se declara desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, durante horas laborables. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general el presente edicto se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico una vez por semana por un término de dos
(2) semanas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre cada publicación. Se fijará además, en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta, estos lugares serán la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía de dicho Municipio. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a su dirección que obra en autos. Una vez efectuada la correspondiente venta judicial, otorgaré la escritura del traspaso al licitador victorioso, quien podrá ser la parte demandante, cuya oferta podrá aplicarse a la extinción parcial o total de la obligación reconocida por la Sentencia. Colocaré al licitador victorioso en posesión física de la Propiedad mediante el lanzamiento de los ocupantes en el término legal de veinte (20) días desde la fecha de la venta en pública subasta. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el Tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante o ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. El Registrador de la Propiedad cancelará, libre de derechos, todo gravamen posterior a la fecha en que se otorgó la hipoteca que ha sido ejecutada mediante esta acción, y procederá a la inscripción de la venta a favor del comprador en subasta libre de todo gravamen posterior a la fecha en que se otorgó la hipoteca que ha sido ejecutada mediante esta acción. Expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Mayagüez. En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, a 24 de julio de 2024. CALIXTO RIVERA GHIGLIOTTY, ALGUACIL #283, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. PABLO JOSE BURGOS ALVAREZ
Demandada Civil Núm.: ECD2016-0267. (802). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que
le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el día 3 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS, SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en URB. BUNKER, CALLE PANAMA #22, CAGUAS, PR 00725 y que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número 22 del plano de inscripción del proyecto UM-7 denominado Bunker, radicado en el barrio Cañabón de Caguas, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 316.01 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar número 21, en 26.33 metros; por el SUR, con el solar número 23, en 26.24 metros; por el ESTE, con la calle Panamá, en 12.00 metros; y por el OESTE, con terrenos de la Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico, en 12.05 metros. Enclava una casa. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita en el Folio 146 del Tomo 642 de Caguas, finca número 20,868, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Primera. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $63,085.00. Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 10 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $42,056.66. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $31,542.50. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la es-
critura número 33 otorgada en Caguas, Puerto Rico, el día 17 de diciembre de 2008, ante la Notario Público Luisalma Rivera Santana, la cual consta inscrita al Folio 149 vuelto del Tomo 642 de Caguas, finca número 20,868, inscripción tercera (3ra) en el Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Primera. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido desde el 20 de abril de 2016 ascendente a la suma de $52,591.96 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de octubre de 2019, más intereses al tipo pactado de 6.50% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además la parte demandada adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $6,308.50. Además la parte demandada se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $6,308.50 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $6,308.50 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al Procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS, SALA SUPERIOR durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación del inmueble y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio de remate. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita. Surge de un estudio de título que, sobre la finca descrita anteriormente, pesa el gravamen posterior a la hipoteca que se ejecuta mediante este
procedimiento que se relaciona a continuación: Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de La Autoridad Para El Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $25,000.00, sin intereses, vencedero el día 17 de diciembre de 2008, constituida mediante la escritura número 34, otorgada en Caguas, Puerto Rico, el día 17 de diciembre de 2008 (asi surge), ante la notario Luisalma Rivera Santana, e inscrita al folio 149 vuelto del tomo 646 de Caguas, finca número 20,868, inscripción 3ra., como Asiento Abreviado extendidas las líneas el día 13 de enero de 2012, según la ley número 216 del día 27 de diciembre de 2010. (Fue presentado el día 16 de enero del 2009, al Asiento 674 del Diario 1,145).). Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores desconocidos, no inscritos o presentados que sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad objeto de ejecución y descrita anteriormente se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores una vez el Honorable Tribunal expida la correspondiente Orden de Confirmación de Venta Judicial. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Este Edicto será publicado dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 5 de agosto de 2024.
ÁNGEL GÓMEZ GÓMEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #593, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS, SALA SUPERIOR.
LEGAL NOTICE
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO. LIME HOMES, LTD.
Plaintiff, v. MARCELO TORCHIO GOMEZ
Defendants Civil Action Num.: 19-cv-01833 (JAG). Matter: Foreclosure of Mortgage. NOTICE OF SALE. TO: MARCELO TORCHIO GOMEZ: AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC:
WHEREAS: On January 24th, 2023, Default Judgment was entered and grated day in favor of Plaintiff to recover from defendants the principal amount of $250,423.40, plus interests at a rate of 2.50% per annum since November 1, 2018, which continues to accrue until the debit is paid in full, late charged on the amount of 5.00% of each and any monthly installment not received by the note holder within 15 days after the installment is due, all advances made in accordance with the mortgage note including, but not limited to, insurance premiums, taxes and inspections as well as 10% ($17,460.00) to cover costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligation. The records of the case and of these proceedings may be examined by interested parties at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Room 150 or 400 Federal Office Building, 150 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. WHEREAS: Pursuant to the terms of the aforementioned Judgment, Order of Execution, and the Writ of Execution thereof, the undersigned Special Master or its appointee was ordered to sell at public auction for U.S. currency in cash or certified check without appraisement or right of redemption to the highest bidder and at the following address: Rondapro, 441 Calle E, Frailes Industrial Park, Guaynabo, 00969, Puerto Rico (18.3698414, -66.1125080), to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following property described in Spanish: URBANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Condominio Los Pinos de Carolina Norte. Apartamento: G-3 Oeste. Cabida: 55.58 metros cuadrados. Colindando el mismo por el NORTE, con el apartamento G dos Oeste; por el SUR, con el apartamento G cuatro Oeste; por el ESTE, con el patio central Sur del Condominio; y por el OESTE, con el pasillo central del piso, por donde tiene su puerta de entrada el apartamento por cuyo pasillo tiene salida el apartamento al vestíbulo central y a las demás áreas comunes del piso terrero de ambos edificios del condómino y a sus patios circundantes y a la calle en la colindancia Norte del solar. Le corresponde un área de estacionamiento marcado con el número y letra del apartamento. Enmendada la descripción Registral de este apartamento en cuanto a lo siguiente: que por error o inadvertencia en las operacio-
nes Registrales al momento de individualizar este apartamento conforme a la escritura número 770, al Registro expresó incorrectamente el número del apartamento como 3-G Oeste, cuando lo correcto es que dicho apartamento fue descrito en la referida escritura como el apartamento G-3, Oeste, quedando nuevamente descrita la propiedad conforma a dicha escritura como se describió nuevamente al comienzo; segón Instancia suscrita el día 20 de septiembre de 2015, ante la notario Frances I. Ascencio Guido, inscrito al tomo Karibe de Carolina, finca número 31,628, inscripción 7ma. The property is recorded at Page 127 of Volume 598 of Carolina, Property Registry of Puerto Rico, and lot number 31,628, First Section of Caguas. The deed of mortgage is recorded at Page 213 of Volume 941 of Carolina, Property Registry of Puerto Rico, and lot number 31,628, 6th inscription. Property address: Condominio Los Pinos, Apartamento G-3, Carolina, Puerto Rico 00979. The deed of mortgage is recorded at Page 213 of Volume 941 of Carolina, Property Registry of Carolina, Sixth Section. WHEREAS: This property is subject to the following liens: Senior Liens: NONE. Junior Liens: NONE. Other Liens: NONE. 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. THEREFORE, the FIRST public sale shall be held on the September 20, 2024 at 9:45 am. The minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $174,600.00. In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND public auction shall be held on the September 27, 2024 at 9:45 am, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum $116,400.00, which is two-thirds of the amount of the minimum bid for the first public sale. If a second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD public auction will be held on the October 4, 2024 at 9:45 am, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $88,300.00, which is one-half of the minimum bid in the first public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the third public sale, the property may be awarded to the creditor for the entire amount of its debt if it is equal to or less than
the amount of the minimum bid of the third public sale, crediting this amount to the amount owed if it is greater. The undersigned Special Master shall not accept in payment of the property to be sold anything but United States currency (cash), or certified checks, except in case the property is sold and adjudicated to the plaintiff, in which case the amount of the bid made by said plaintiff shall be credited and deducted from its credit; said plaintiff being bound to pay in cash or certified check only any excess of its bid over the secured indebtedness that remains unsatisfied. WHEREAS: Said sale to be made by the undersigned Special Master subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and possession to the property will be executed and delivered only after such confirmation. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued cancelling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of Clerk of the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 31 day of july, 2024. By: Josel Ronda, Special Master. ***
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE PONCE
LEGACY MORTAGE TRUST 2019-PR1
Parte Demandante Vs. YAZMIN VELEZ TORRES Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: PO2022CV01552. 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 Humacao, 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 $48,120.81 de balance principal, el cual se compone de un principal de $44,036.59 y un balance diferido de $4,084.22, más los intereses adeudados sobre dicho principal y computados al 6.39210% anual sobre el principal de $44,036.59 hasta su total pago y completo pago desde el primero de junio de 2021; car-
gos 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: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número PP guión cuarenta y uno (PP-41en el plano de parcelación de la comunidad rural Punta Diamante del Barrio Canas del término municipal de Ponce, con una cabida superficial de trescientos cuarenta y seis punto cuarenta y nueve (346.49) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, con la calle de la comunidad; por el Sur, con la servidumbre de paso de la comunidad; por el Este, con la calle dela comunidad; y por el Oeste, con la parcela PP guión cuarenta (PP-40) de la comunidad. Inscrita al folio doscientos dieciséis (216) del tomo mil setenta y dos (1,072) de Ponce, finca número veinticuatro mil cuatrocientos cuarenta y nueve (24,449), Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección II. Dirección Física: PP41 Almacigo St., Urb. Punta Diamante, Ponce, PR 00731. Dicha propiedad se encuentra afecta al siguiente Gravamen posterior: Hipoteca en garantía de pagaré suscrito a favor de Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, por la suma de $3,000.00, según consta de la escritura numero 37, otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 31 de octubre de 2005, ante el Notario Mariela Guadalupe Ithier, según inscripción cuarta (4ta). La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $50,954.43 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 24 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $33,969.62. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 1 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $25,477.21. 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 2 de agosto de 2024. Pedro Rodríguez, Alguacil #369, Alguacil Del Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Sala De Ponce.
LEGAL NOTICE
NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA DE SAN JUAN ISLAND PORTFOLIO
SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. IRMA ESQUILIN RODRIGUEZ
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: SJ2024CV02848. 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: IRMA ESQUILIN RODRIGUEZRES SAN FERNANDO EDIF 5 APT 109, SAN JUAN PR 00927; RES SAN FERNANDO EDIF 7 APT 166, SAN JUAN, PR 00927-5844.
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 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de junio de 2024. SRA. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. ENID DÍAZ RÍOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES , LLC, COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC.
Demandante Vs. YARLIN M GARCIA CAMILO
Demandado
Civil Núm.: SJ2024CV02857. Salón: 802. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - R.60. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: YARLIN M. GARCIA CAMILO - REPARTO METROPOLITANO CALLE 11 SE 997, SAN JUAN, PR, 00921; 46 TEXAS AVE APT 2, LAWRENCE, MA, 01841.
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/tribunalelectronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Jan Miguel Otero Martínez cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección jan.otero@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 17 de junio de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 17 de junio de 2024. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria. Nancy I. García Figueroa, 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. GISELE PEREZ RAMOS
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: TA2024CV00134. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. Sala: 500-A. EMPLAZAMIEN-
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Trice has big night as Caguas ties BSN final with OT road win
By THE STAR STAFF
With 37 points from Travis Trice and 22 from Louis King, the Caguas Criollos beat the Manatí Bears 109-104 in overtime on
Monday night to tie the National Superior Basketball (BSN by its initials in Spanish) finals at a game apiece.
The Criollos took a 51-45 lead into halftime but in the third quarter, the Bears (Osos) started 9-0 and pulled to within two, 73-71, at the end of the frame. Caguas put together a 13-3 run to open the fourth quarter and looked to be in control with a 10-point lead as the period progressed, but Manatí responded with a 12-2 run to make it 93-90 with 2:15 left in regulation. After trading leads, with baskets by King and
Cheick Diallo (19 points, 7-for-12 from the field, 15 rebounds) and free throws by Jhivvan Jackson (19 points, 5-for-11 from the field, 7-for-8 in free throws, seven rebounds), the Bears led with seven seconds left.
As the clock clicked down to two seconds, Trice made a half-court shot to tie the game and send it to overtime.
In the extra session, it was another 3-pointer by Trice that, with the score tied at 104, put Caguas in front with one minute left, a lead they would not give up. Between turnovers, hasty shots and an off night for Norris Cole (12 points, 6-for-19 from the field), the Bears could not recover and lost for the first time at home in the postseason.
Game 3 will tip off tonight at 8 in Caguas. The
Travis Trice scored 37 points, including a half-court heave with time expiring to send the game into overtime, as the Caguas Criollos beat the Manatí Bears 109-104 on Monday night.
Florida celebrates its 2nd Double A baseball championship
By THE STAR STAFF
Hundreds of people filled the streets of Florida on Sunday to celebrate the Florida Titans winning their second Double A Superior Baseball League championship and their first title in 42 years.
A caravan left from the Puerto Blanco sector and toured the town, receiving massive support from the communities as Titans fans celebrated the achievement in grand style.
The Titans were crowned champions for the first time since 1982 after winning the final series 4 games to 1 over the Yabucoa Azucareros.
“It was a unique experience, a town party where everyone went out to the streets, a great caravan, incredible enthusiasm,” Titans manager Antonio “Tony” Vega said. “The baseball players enjoyed sharing with the fans. These are unforgettable moments that
one experiences only once in a lifetime.”
After finishing in last place in the North section with a 3-17 record in 2023, the Titans accomplished one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent Double A history. In addition, they defended the dominance of the North section, after the Arenosos of Camuy won the league title last season.
“I am truly grateful to God and the people of Florida for all that enthusiasm and welcome,” Vega added. “This town needed this victory; they are enjoying it and it is an honor and a privilege to be part of this.”
With Florida and Titans flags, as well as messages hailing the championship, hundreds of cars drove through the streets of the small northern municipality for around four hours. The celebration culminated with a party in the town square, with musical performances by the bands Algarete and Grupo Manía.
San Juan Daily Star
The Florida Titans gave the northern town its first Double A baseball championship since 1982.
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