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.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board came out Sunday against the tax reform proposal unveiled recently by Gov. Pedro Pierluisi because of what it said would be the high cost to the public coffers.
The proposed tax reform would reduce tax rates for individuals and companies with a fiscal cost of $474.4 million. About 60% of the tax relief is for corporations. It comes at a time when Puerto Rico is still exiting bankruptcy.
first $40,000 of gross income generated for a period of five consecutive taxable years.
The measure would extend certain benefits of what was known as Act 22-2012 to local investors, granting them tax exemptions on the income of dividends, interest and capital gains from the purchase and sale of securities and businesses.
The fiscal impact of those two benefits is estimated at $35.5 million and all the individual tax changes proposed in the measure have the potential to benefit nearly 630,000 taxpayers.
“Our analysis points to far greater costs than the governor’s current estimates,” the oversight board said in a written statement. “Any potential tax reform must be fiscally responsible, meaning it cannot lose revenues in the process that are necessary to fund essential services. Therefore, any tax reform or tax law initiative must be revenue neutral. Further, any tax reform must reduce the tax system’s complexity, work to attract new investment without harming local businesses, and incentivize Puerto Rico’s business to expand and hire.”
The oversight board said tax reform must be essential to sustainable economic growth, comprehensive, holistic, and for the long term. The board added that it has been in ongoing discussions about the proposal’s effect.
The governor’s proposed tax reform, unveiled last week, would reduce the tax rate for individuals with a yearly income of $41,501 to $61,500 to 22% from 25%, a 3% reduction that may benefit some 30,000 taxpayers.
Taxpayers earning $61,501 to $81,500 a year would enjoy a 22% tax rate, an 11% reduction from the current 33% rate. The cut would benefit another 30,000 taxpayers.
Likewise, some 40,000 taxpayers with net incomes from $81,501 to $300,000 would enjoy a 30% tax rate, down from 33%. The fiscal impact of the proposed tax changes for some 100,000 taxpayers was estimated at $153.2 million.
The bill maintains the cost of living adjustment, which had been introduced in January and will begin in the taxable year 2024.
The proposed tax reform would grant incentives to doctors, who will be exempt from paying taxes on the
The governor said 22,000 companies would benefit from lower tax rates.
The bill would reduce the tax scales from six to three depending on income, lowering the maximum rate, which now reaches 37.5%, to 33%. For corporations with net income up to $275,000, the marginal rate would be 17%.
For corporations with net income from $275,000 to $3 million, the marginal rate would be 27%, and for corporations with net income of $3 million and over, the rate would be 33%. In total, some 22,000 companies would benefit, receiving savings of more than $283.6 million.
Oversight board officials said they will continue to work with the governor and the Legislature toward a truly comprehensive tax reform that can contribute to Puerto Rico’s competitiveness as a critical part of its economic development.
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) latest debt adjustment plan, which was announced late last week, would result in an average rate hike of about $8.71 per month for customers, representing a 5% increase in the total electricity bill.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board, which submitted the third amended adjustment plan on Friday, said the plan would reduce PREPA’s $10 billion in total claims by various creditors by almost 80% to the equivalent of $2.5 billion, excluding pension obligations.
PREPA’s estimated legacy fee for customers not currently benefiting from subsidized electricity rates would now average about $8.71 per month, based on updated data from the PREPA fiscal plan.
PREPA’s legacy fee would exclude low-income residential customers who meet connection fee and volume-charging requirements of up to 425 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month, which is equivalent to the consumption of middle-income homes in Puerto Rico, according to LUMA Energy and others. Around half of PREPA’s some 1.4 million private customers would
not pay any old fees to PREPA if their consumption remained below 425 kWh per month.
For non-subsidized retail customers, the proposed legacy fee would consist of a flat connection fee of $1 per month; $0.007 per kWh for up to 425 kWh per month of electricity supplied by PREPA and $0.027 per kWh for consumption greater than 425 kWh per month.
Commercial, industrial and government customers would pay a legacy fee consisting of a connection fee of $1.25 per month for small business and small industrial customers and up to $112.50 per month for large businesses.
Regarding the bondholders, the amended adjustment plan issued Friday offers significantly more of the original value of outstanding bonds to those who agree to the plan than to those who do not.
BlackRock Financial Management, Nuveen Asset Management, Franklin Advisers, Whitebox Advisors and Taconic Capital Advisors agreed to the adjustment plan, which would give them 12.5% of original par. In exchange, those firms agreed to support the terms and to not file an appeal of the plan if the U.S. District Court approves it.
The firms and people who do not agree to the settle-
ment, including Assured Guaranty, Syncora Guarantee and GoldenTree Asset Management, would receive new bonds with a par value of 3.5% of the original claim.
Under the amended agreement with National, the bond insurer would recover a base amount of 68.4% of its share of the allowed bond claim, or 19.27% of its asserted claim.
The plan includes two contingent value instruments (CVIs). Bondholders would receive the revenue from the fixed fee element of the PREPA legacy debt charge if PREPA repays its new bonds sooner than the expected 35 years and electricity demand exceeds the PREPA fiscal plan projections.
Bondholders would also receive a share of the savings in the cost of fuel generated by the operator of PREPA’s power plants for the term of the operator’s agreement. General unsecured creditors would recover some 13.5% of their claims, which was unaffected by the U.S. District Court’s ruling on bondholder claims.
The prior plan support agreement with PREPA’s Fuel Line Lenders to receive new Series A bonds, a settlement agreement with holders of some $75 million in uninsured PREPA bonds, and a plan support commitment from Vitol Inc. remain in place.
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) latest debt adjustment plan, which was announced late last week, would result in an average rate hike of about $8.71 per month for customers, representing a 5% increase in the total electricity bill.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board, which submitted the third amended adjustment plan on Friday, said the plan would reduce PREPA’s $10 billion in total claims by various creditors by almost 80% to the equivalent of $2.5 billion, excluding pension obligations.
PREPA’s estimated legacy fee for customers not currently benefiting from subsidized electricity rates would now average about $8.71 per month, based on updated data from the PREPA fiscal plan.
PREPA’s legacy fee would exclude low-income residential customers who meet connection fee and volume-charging requirements of up to 425 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month, which is equivalent to the consumption of middle-income homes in Puerto Rico, according to LUMA Energy and others. Around half of PREPA’s some 1.4 million private customers would not pay any old fees to PREPA if their consumption remained below 425 kWh per month.
For non-subsidized retail customers, the proposed legacy fee would consist of a flat connection fee of $1 per month; $0.007 per kWh for up to 425 kWh per month of electricity supplied by PREPA and $0.027 per kWh for consumption greater than 425 kWh per month.
Under the third amended debt adjustment plan issued by the Financial Oversight and Management Board late last week, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s estimated legacy fee for customers not currently benefiting from subsidized electricity rates would now average about $8.71 per month, based on updated data from the utility’s fiscal plan.
Commercial, industrial and government customers would pay a legacy fee consisting of a connection fee of $1.25 per month for small business and small industrial customers and up to $112.50 per month for large businesses.
Regarding the bondholders, the amended adjustment plan issued Friday offers significantly more of the original value of outstanding bonds to those who agree to the plan than to those who do not.
BlackRock Financial Management, Nuveen Asset Management, Franklin Advisers, Whitebox Advisors and Taconic Capital Advisors agreed to the adjustment plan, which would give them 12.5% of original par. In exchange, those firms agreed to support the terms and to not file an appeal of the plan if the U.S. District Court approves it.
The firms and people who do not agree to the settlement, including Assured Guaranty, Syncora Guarantee and GoldenTree Asset Management, would receive new bonds with a par value of 3.5% of the original claim.
Under the amended agreement with National, the bond insurer would recover a base amount of 68.4% of its share of the allowed bond claim, or 19.27% of its asserted claim.
The plan includes two contingent value instruments (CVIs). Bondholders would receive the revenue from the fixed fee element of the PREPA legacy debt charge if PREPA repays its new bonds sooner than the expected 35 years and electricity demand exceeds the PREPA fiscal plan projections.
Bondholders would also receive a share of the savings in the cost of fuel generated by the operator of PREPA’s power plants for the term of the operator’s agreement. General unsecured creditors would recover some 13.5% of their claims, which was unaffected by the U.S. District Court’s ruling on bondholder claims.
The prior plan support agreement with PREPA’s Fuel Line Lenders to receive new Series A bonds, a settlement agreement with holders of some $75 million in uninsured PREPA bonds, and a plan support commitment from Vitol Inc. remain in place.
By THE STAR STAFF
New Progressive Party (NPP)
President Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia expressed his satisfaction on Sunday with the results of the pro-statehood party’s convention, which was held at a hotel in Río Grande.
“Very happy. This has been a success from start to finish,” Pierluisi said at the conclusion of the event. “All activities were very clear-cut. A lot, a lot of joy, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of positivity. Messages from the State Board. Everything is very good, actually, unbeatable.”
The governor noted that “the vast majority of those from the Penepés are very clear.”
“They know that we want to see the progress we have made in these two years and eight months continue and that we achieve our ideal,” Pierluisi said. “They also recognize that reconstruction is taking place. That is for the good of the people of Puerto Rico. When the NPP governs, Puerto Rico progresses, and the work of the NPP is always better than the work of others. The numbers are
impressive and I provide them, because they are irrefutable”.
The NPP State Board had a quorum of 96%. During his message, the NPP president said his administration has
made great progress in terms of Puerto Rico’s economy and reconstruction.
During the State Board meeting, party vice presidents Sen. Thomas Rivera Schatz and Rep. Carlos “Johnny”
Méndez Nuñez were present. In addition, Pierluisi presented a resolution of recognition and thanks to NPP Secretary General Carmelo Ríos Santiago, whose term in that position ends today. The new secretary general of the party will be former Consumer Affairs Secretary Hiram Torres Montalvo.
Meanwhile, NPP Electoral Commissioner Vanessa Santo Domingo, along with Alternate Electoral Commissioner Edwin Mundo Ríos, presented the resolution for the process of the filing of candidacies, according to the island Electoral Code and the party’s regulations, which was approved unanimously.
The nomination process begins Friday, Dec. 1 and runs through Saturday, Dec. 30 at noon. However, internally, the party will open the candidacy filing process, for the evaluation of candidates, from Oct. 2 to Saturday, Dec. 30 at noon.
Former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares offered a recorded message about the extended delegation that is charged with taking the case for Puerto Rico statehood to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C.
Popular Democratic Party (PDP) President Jesús Manuel Ortiz González on Saturday rejected the appointment of Judge Jorge Rivera Rueda as president of the State Elections Commission, saying it shows that the governor doesn’t take electoral matters seriously.
“The appointment of Judge Jorge Rivera Rueda as chairman of the State Elections Commission, despite the rejection of the Senate last year, and the electoral commissioners of four parties recently, not only shows that Governor Pierluisi does not take electoral matters seriously, but he does not care that the appointee lent himself to vote in a precinct where he did not belong in 2020,” Ortiz González said. “A person who was able to violate the electoral code cannot lead the highest electoral forum.
“Rivera Rueda is not the SEC chairman that Puerto Rico needs right now,” he added.
Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago also said previously that he does not support the appointment.
“Once again, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi fails to comply with the mandate of the people who ordered, through their
votes, that a party other than his own lead the legislative branch,” he said in a written statement issued late Friday.
“By sending an appointment for the chairmanship of the State Elections Commission without having previously mediated a process of dialogue and deference, the constitutional provision of advice and consent of the Senate is violated. That, I reiterate, is unacceptable.”
“Not only does it do a disservice to Puerto Rican democracy, but it also crushes those who appoint, since it comes before the Senate as an attempt at imposition instead of a product of dialogue and consensus that prevails in the constitutional mandate of advice and consent,” Dalmau Santiago added.
Minutes after issuing the above statement, Dalmau Santiago announced the cancellation of a public hearing in which the appointment of Yanira Raíces Vega as secretary of the Department of Education would be considered.
The Senate president noted that a new date for taking up Raíces Vega’s appointment would be announced soon. The public hearing had been scheduled for today at 10 a.m. in the Leopoldo Figueroa Carreras Hall in the Capitol.
Learning something new is usually a positive thing, and children in school tend to learn a multitude of things as they enter a new school year.
The recent start of classes has not been without some controversy, however, not just for the public school system but for other types of institutions as well, and charter schools are no exception. One of those schools, Paradiso College Preparatory in Río Piedras, is about to meet its end sooner rather than later.
“The school known as College was operating illegally,” Puerto Rico Teachers Federation President Mercedes Martínez said at a press conference late last week. “They are not operating with permits, as required by law, in violation of rule number 9155 of the Department of Education and against the will of the Río Piedras community, which has expressed itself relentlessly against this corporation. Charter schools are a model of privatization that puts public funds in the hands of private schools to operate schools that have been proven to discriminate against students who are at a disadvantage. They deny access to these students. Giving constitutional rank to Paradiso puts the profits of charter schools above the intent of the [island] Constitution, which is to provide an educational system that is accessible for all students in Puerto Rico.”
The Teachers Federation and the Public Education Defense Coalition celebrated the sentence, handed down in San Juan Court late last week, that ordered the shutdown of Paradiso. The order was issued by Judge Alfonso Martínez Piovanetti, right after the Municipality of San Juan and the company that runs Paradiso reached an agreement in which the company would accept that it doesn’t have valid permits and is obligated to close all operations until they go through the Location Council under the Municipal Permits Office process.
Meanwhile, designated Education (DE) Secretary Yanira Raíces Vega has been asked to place herself in favor of the public education system and immediately revoke any sort of authorization given to Paradiso and the Corporation for Development of Private School Alliances of Puerto Rico by the DE. The aforementioned teachers’ organizations are asking for an immediate response on the part of the DE to the situation, in which they say it is being shown that privatization is a breeding ground for corruption and that charter schools have detrimental effects on students.
The structure and function of charter schools introduce new agents into public and private education, the groups said, privatizing public assets and raising the probability of the mismanagement of funds and corruption within the agency. It has already been demonstrated in the mainland United States that charter schools create an environment where funds mismanage-
ment, discrimination and negligence are common, they said, adding that now the same thing is happening in Puerto Rico.
Teachers Federation Vice President Edwin L. Morales Laboy condemned such acts of discrimination against students with functional diversity and special education students, as had been alleged at the San Juan charter school.
“Parents in Río Piedras have stated that Paradiso discriminated against students with functional diversity during the process of enrollment,” he said. “Even though their children went through the process of enrolling in the school and were offered their uniforms, they were later notified that they would not be able to begin their school year.”
Alonso Ortiz Menchaca, executive director of the organization The Other Puerto Rico, which fights against the Act 22 incentives law and its rapid spread, pointed out that “the community of Río Piedras had been fighting the fraudulent company of Act 22 beneficiary Robert Acosta and Kira Golden for five months.”
“During the summer, the 10 communities and sectors of Río Piedras were consulted by the Community Board about the company. Nine voted against it,” the attorney said. “Despite this, this invader destroyed a historic structure to make his school without building permits, advertised a charter school for which he did not have a permit granted by the Department of Education, and fraudulently misled the Municipality of San Juan by telling them that he would operate administrative offices to obtain a use permit. At each meeting we were clear that our community did not want them and that we were going to remove them. Today we have come close to that achievement.”
Paradiso College had started classes on Wednesday, Aug. 16, in its facilities on Ponce de León Avenue in Río Piedras with around 150 students. With the school closing its doors soon though, those students’ future remains uncertain, as does the future for charter schools on the island. Will the Paradiso decision be used as an example for other charter schools on the island and compel them to keep their documents and services up to date? Only time will tell, the Teachers Federation president said.
“To reinforce the claims against charter schools, we will soon be calling on teachers, mothers, fathers, guardians and citizens to demonstrate in defense of public education in our country,” Martínez said.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reported Sunday that a new heat record for Aug. 27 was set in the San Juan metropolitan area.
“We have a new record for the San Juan area with 95 degrees Fahrenheit reached at 12:14 p.m. (the previous record was 93 set in 1982), and the record was tied on St. Croix with 92F (the previous record is from 1993),” the agency wrote on Twitter. “It may continue to rise later this afternoon.”
Another record temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit for the San Juan metro area was set last Thursday at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, which surpassed
the previous record of 94 degrees set on the same date in 1976.
The all-time record high temperature for the San Juan area is 98 degrees Fahrenheit, set on Oct. 9, 1981. A heat advisory was in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the afternoon Sunday.
A limited heat advisory with a heat index of 102107 degrees Fahrenheit was in effect on Puerto Rico’s southern coast, while an elevated heat index of 108 to 111 degrees was in effect across the urban and coastal areas from west/northwest to eastern Puerto Rico, Culebra, Vieques, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Heat exhaustion is possible with prolonged exposure, and heat stroke is also possible, the NWS said.
A new record high temperature for the San Juan metro area, 95 degrees Fahrenheit, was reached a little past noon on Sunday, eclipsing the previous record for Aug. 27 set 41 years ago, according to the National Weather Service.
sippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.”
Talina Massey, community organizer, entrepreneur, New Bern, North Carolina
“This is what’s called voter suppression. Especially in the South with these methods of suppression that make it harder for citizens to vote. This is why we’ve got to keep swinging and not giving up until the fight is won.”
King on justice
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
Grady Smith, retiree, Atlanta
“I came here today because I’ve been a civil rights worker. And we’re here with a lot of civil rights workers and leaders, because we had supported the effort that Martin Luther King put forth years ago about voting rights, equality. We’re still not there. That’s why I’m here.”
King on urgency
“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”
Nancy Hoover, pediatric nurse practitioner, Damascus, Maryland
By DARREN SANDSSixty years after the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech galvanized supporters of the Civil Rights Movement with an anthemic call to action, several thousand people gathered on the National Mall on Saturday to remind the nation of its unfinished work on equality.
Many who turned out, some having also attended the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, traveled from across the country to recall a searing moment in American history that propelled, in the words of one speaker, “the struggle of a lifetime.” The event was convened by the Rev. Al Sharpton and by Martin Luther King III, the son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, and was attended by dignitaries including Andrew Young, a former United Nations ambassador and mayor of Atlanta, and the U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia.
Hovering above all the proceedings, though, were the words delivered by King six decades ago in front of the Lincoln Memorial, when he took the measure of society a century after slavery was abolished and lamented how Black Americans were “still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”
Though the speech gained renown for its rousing, aspirational coda, other segments decried facets of racial inequality that still resonated with Saturday’s participants. Several attendees who were interviewed — some of them commented on specific excerpts, while others expressed thoughts on King’s words in general — reflected on the echoes, and the nation, from today’s perspective. Their quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
Martin Luther King on law enforcement
“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.”
Jacquealin Yeadon, organizer, National Action Network, Moncks Corner, South Carolina
“Police brutality hasn’t gone anywhere — in fact, we deal with it all the time. People dying in jail, in police custody. We’ve got stories upon stories upon stories — of the same thing.”
King on voting rights
“We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Missis-
“I was a freshman in high school in New York when I heard the speech. I wasn’t here, which would have been phenomenal. But now I am. And I feel there’s not been enough progress. It’s like, ‘Come on world, let’s get going. What are we waiting for?’”
King on his dream
“This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”
Alfonso R. Bernard Sr., New York City, founder, CEO and pastor, Christian Cultural Center
“He spoke of a dream, an American dream. And here we are 60 years later. Blacks have experienced unprecedented wealth, education. We have more Blacks in positions of power than we have had at any time in the history of America, have an increasing number of Black millionaires. With all that said, we still have the highest rate of poverty. We still have racial disparities in our justice system, policing systems, educational system, health care system and economic opportunity. We still have a long way to go.”
if any, intentions the gunman might have had related to the school.
“I can’t tell you what his mindset was while he was there,” Waters said. “But he did go there and he did put his vest on and a mask on and then went directly to Dollar General.”
Waters added, “This is a dark day in Jacksonville’s history. Any loss of life is tragic, but the hate that motivated the shooter’s killing spree adds an additional layer of heartbreak.”
In Jacksonville, a city of 971,000 where 30% of residents are Black, people formed prayer circles outside the scene, which was cordoned off by police.
Donna Deegan, the mayor of Jacksonville, pointed out that the shooting came on the five-year anniversary of a shooting at a gaming tournament in the city that left three dead, including the gunman. She said the gunman Saturday alluded to that 2018 shooting in his written statements.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating this is for all of us,” Deegan said. “We’ve seen it too much.”
Local residents weighed in as details emerged.
“Hate motivated him to do this,” said Warren Jones, a school board member and former council member. “There’s a lot of hate speech going on.”
Laylana Bell, 43, called the surrounding neighborhood a “close-knit community” filled with longtime “mom and pop” businesses and older homes and apartments occupied by low-income residents.
By ORLANDO MAYORQUINAwhite gunman wearing a tactical vest barged into a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday and fatally shot three Black people in an attack that authorities said they were investigating as a hate crime.
The gunman, who has not been publicly identified and was described as being in his early 20s, died after shooting himself, Sheriff T.K. Waters of Jacksonville said at a news conference Saturday evening.
“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” Waters said.
The rampage Saturday was the latest high-profile racially motivated attack carried out by a white gunman
Tasa mínima, promedio ponderado, y máxima para préstamos personales pequeños otorgados para la semana que terminó el sábado, 19 de agosto de 2023
in the United States.
A shooting last year that targeted Black people left 10 dead at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. And in 2019, an attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killed 22. The gunman in that shooting told police he wanted to kill Mexicans.
In Jacksonville, the victims were two males and a female, officials said. No one else was shot or injured.
Authorities said the gunman left his parents’ house in neighboring Clay County about 11:39 a.m. Saturday and headed toward Jacksonville. At 1:18 p.m., he texted his father to ask him to check his computer.
Waters said the gunman had written “several manifestoes,” including one to his parents, in which he detailed his “disgusting ideology of hate.”
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the gunman’s parents at 1:53 p.m. By that time, Waters said, the shooting had already begun in Jacksonville.
Authorities said the gunman was armed with an AR-15-style rifle that bore swastika markings, as well as a handgun.
He had been spotted on the campus of Edward Waters University, a historically Black college about half a mile from the Dollar General.
The school had ordered its students to shelter in place amid reports of the shooting. It was not clear what,
“A lot of us went to school together,” Bell said. “A lot of people went to EWC,” alluding to the university.
The Dollar General, she added, was a relatively new addition.
The store chain said in a statement that it was “heartbroken by the senseless act of violence” and that it was working closely with law enforcement.
Police said the gunman had been involved in a “domestic call” in 2016 and that he underwent a mental illness examination by authorities in 2017.
On Saturday evening, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a video statement calling the shooting “horrific” and saying the gunman had targeted victims based on their race.
“That is totally unacceptable,” DeSantis said.
He added: “This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. And so he took the coward’s way out.”
DeSantis’ office said he would cut short a campaign trip to Iowa and return to Florida.
In a statement, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, said the agency was “closely monitoring” the situation surrounding the shooting.
“Too many Americans — in Jacksonville and across our country — have lost a loved one because of raciallymotivated violence,” Mayorkas said.
More than 57 million people in the American South and Southwest were under an excessive heat warning Saturday afternoon — the most severe category for heat conditions — as temperatures across the Gulf Coast and parts of the Southwest soared to record-breaking levels and were expected to remain high through early next week.
The warnings reached as far north as southern Illinois and the region surrounding St. Louis, which the National Weather Service said was expected to have its seventh day of heat indexes over 100 degrees.
A heat index factors in humidity — which can make the air feel swampier and more suffocating — to determine how hot it really feels even at a deceptively lower air temperature.
“Extreme heat and abnormally high overnight temperatures will persist in the South” over the weekend, forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center said early Saturday, adding that “widespread record-high and -low temperatures are likely to be tied or broken across the Gulf Coast.”
An additional 54 million people were under a heat advisory Saturday afternoon, including in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest.
Forecasters warned residents that they should “not underestimate” the health risks of extreme heat, which can result in serious illness or death.
Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, Texas, “set new daily
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record highs (again)” Friday, reaching 110 degrees, according to the weather service office in the region.
A high of 108 was possible for Saturday in Dallas and Fort Worth, which would break a record for the day of 106, reached in 1999 and 2011. The city of Austin is expected to reach a high of 106 on Saturday.
The heat index in the New Orleans region was also expected to reach “oppressive” levels Saturday, forecasters said, hitting 118 degrees in Covington and 115 in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
A high of 102 in New Orleans and 105 in Baton
Rouge were forecast for Saturday, which would break daily temperature records in both cities.
Forecasters in Phoenix said residents could expect a high of 113 on Saturday, adding that “a stretch of recordhot temperatures” will begin Sunday and continue through early next week, reaching 115 degrees Monday and Tuesday.
Memphis, Tennessee, recorded a high of 102 on Friday, breaking the daily record of 101 set in 1943. It then recorded a minimum of 80 on Saturday, a degree above the record set in 2014.
Heat indexes in excess of 110 were also expected on Saturday in Little Rock, Arkansas; Macon and Columbus, Georgia; Lafayette, Louisiana; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Tallahassee, Florida; and Gulfport, Biloxi and Jackson, Mississippi.
Punishing heat conditions in the South have been relentless this summer, compounded by suffocating humidity and a scarcity of rainfall.
While any single weather event can be hard to tie directly to climate change, scientists have no doubt that heat waves around the world are becoming hotter, more frequent and longer lasting.
The 2018 National Climate Assessment, a major scientific report by 13 federal agencies, noted that the number of hot days was increasing, and that the frequency of heat waves in the United States had jumped to six per year by the 2010s from an average of two per year in the 1960s.
The season for heat waves was also now 45 days longer than it was in the 1960s, according to the report.
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As increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems with the potential to reshape society come online, many experts, lawmakers and even executives of top AI companies want the U.S. government to regulate the technology, and fast.
“We should move quickly,” Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, which launched an AI-powered version of its search engine this year, said in May. “There’s no time for waste or delay,” Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, has said. “Let’s get ahead of this,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
Yet history suggests that comprehensive federal regulation of advanced AI systems probably won’t happen soon. Congress and federal agencies have often taken decades to enact rules governing revolutionary technologies, from electricity to cars. “The general pattern is, it takes a while,” said Matthew Mittelsteadt, a technologist who studies AI at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.
In the 1800s, it took Congress more than half a century after the introduction of the first public, steam-powered train to give the government the power to set price rules for railroads, the first U.S. industry subject to federal regulation. In the 20th century, the bureaucracy slowly expanded to regulate radio, television and other technologies. And in the 21st century, lawmakers have struggled to safeguard digital data privacy.
It’s possible that policymakers will defy history. Members of Congress have worked furiously in recent months to understand and imagine ways to regulate AI, holding hearings and meeting privately with industry leaders and experts. Last month, President Joe Biden announced voluntary safeguards agreed to by seven leading AI companies.
But AI also presents challenges that could make it even harder — and slower — to regulate than past technologies.
The hurdles
To regulate a new technology, Washington first has to try to understand it. “We need to get up to speed very quickly,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who is part of a bipartisan working group on AI, said in a statement.
That typically happens faster when new technologies resemble older ones. Congress created the Federal Communications Commission in 1934, when television was still a nascent industry, and the FCC regulated it based on earlier rules for radio and telephones.
But AI, some advocates for regulation argue, combines the potential for privacy invasion, misinformation, hiring discrimination, labor disruptions, copyright infringement, electoral manipulation and weaponization by unfriendly governments in ways that have little precedent. That’s on top of some AI experts’ fears that a superintelligent machine might one day end humanity.
While many want fast action, it’s hard to regulate technology that’s evolving as quickly as AI. “I have no idea where we’ll be in two years,” said Dewey Murdick, who leads Georgetown University’s center for security and emerging technology.
Regulation also means minimizing potential risks while harnessing potential benefits, which for AI can range from drafting emails to advancing medicine. That’s a tricky balance to strike with a new technology. “Often, the benefits are just unanticipated,” said Susan Dudley, who directs George Washington University’s regulatory studies center. “And, of course, risks also can be unanticipated.”
Overregulation can quash innovation, Dudley added, driving industries overseas. It can also become a means for larger companies with the resources to lobby Congress to squeeze out less-established competitors.
Historically, regulation often happens gradually as a technology improves or an industry grows, as with cars and television. Sometimes it happens only after tragedy. When Congress passed, in 1906, the law that led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration, it didn’t require safety studies before companies marketed new drugs. In 1937, an untested and poisonous liquid version of sulfanilamide, meant to treat bacterial infections, killed more than 100 people across 15 states. Congress strengthened the FDA’s regulatory powers the following year.
“Generally speaking, Congress is a more reactive institution,” said Jonathan Lewallen, a University of Tampa political scientist. The counterexamples tend to involve technologies that the government effectively built itself, like nuclear power development, which Congress regulated in 1946, one year after the first atomic bombs were detonated.
“Before we seek to regulate, we have to understand why we are regulating,” said Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., who has a master’s degree in AI. “Only when you understand that purpose can you craft a regulatory framework
that achieves that purpose.”
Brain drain
Even so, lawmakers say they’re making strides. “I actually have been very impressed with my colleagues’ efforts to educate themselves,” Obernolte said. “Things are moving, by congressional standards, extremely quickly.” Regulation advocates broadly agree. “Congress is taking the issue really seriously,” said Camille Carlton of the Center for Humane Technology, a nonprofit that regularly meets with lawmakers.
If federal regulation of AI did emerge, what might it look like?
Some experts say a range of federal agencies already have regulatory powers that cover aspects of AI. The Federal Trade Commission could use its existing antitrust powers to prevent larger AI companies from dominating smaller ones. The FDA has already authorized hundreds of AI-enabled medical devices. And piecemeal, AI-specific regulations could trickle out from such agencies within a year or two, experts said.
Still, drawing up rules agency by agency has downsides. Mittelsteadt called it “the too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen problem, where every regulator is trying to regulate the same thing.” Similarly, state and local governments sometimes regulate technologies before the federal government, such as with cars and digital privacy. The result can be contradictions for companies and headaches for courts. But some aspects of AI may not fall under any existing federal agency’s jurisdiction — so some advocates want Congress to create a new one. One possibility is an FDA-like agency: Outside experts would test AI models under development, and companies would need federal approval before releasing them. Call it a “Department of Information,” Murdick said.
But creating a new agency would take time — perhaps a decade or more, experts guessed. And there’s no guarantee it would work. Miserly funding could render it toothless. AI companies could claim its powers were unconstitutionally overbroad, or consumer advocates could deem them insufficient. The result could be a prolonged court fight or even a push to deregulate the industry.
Rather than a one-agency-fits-all approach, Obernolte envisions rules that accrete as Congress enacts successive laws in coming years. “It would be naive to believe that Congress is going to be able to pass one bill — the AI Act, or whatever you want to call it — and have the problem be completely solved,” he said.
Heinrich said in his statement, “This will need to be a continuous process as these technologies evolve.” Last month, the House and Senate separately passed several provisions about how the Defense Department should approach AI technology. But it is not yet clear which provisions will become law, and none would regulate the industry itself.
Raindrops hang over a Wall Street sign outside the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan on October 26, 2020 in New York City, New York, US.
REUTERS/Mike Sager/File Photo Get Licensing RightsA look at the day ahead for US and global markets from Mike
DolanHopes of a late-August rally in world markets fizzled out as investors looked forward to a deeper assessment of the long-term interest rate trajectory from the Federal Reserve boss on Friday – pushing the dollar higher again in the process.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver the keynote address at the annual Central Banking Symposium in Jackson Hole at 1405 GMT. Nervousness about the speech largely explains why discussion about artificial intelligence again dampened Thursday after this week’s stellar Nvidia results.
And given the growing contrast in economies on both sides of the Atlantic, Powell’s words are expected to convey a different message from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, delivered later in the day at 1900 GMT. Business surveys for August this week underscored that activity is shrinking in the euro area but still expanding in the States. The omission strengthened the picture in another poll by Germany’s Ifo on Friday.
As a result, the euro/dollar exchange rate fell to its lowest level in more than two months on Friday – 4.5% below July’s peak, as US long-term bond yields began their upward march through August again .
The dollar index rose to its highest since June 7 against most-traded currencies (.DXY), while sterling also retreated sharply to June levels as UK economic clouds gathered.
The dollar’s jump ahead of the Jackson Hole set-piece was a modest change in Fed futures pricing, which now indicates a more than 50% chance of a Fed rate hike to 5.55.75% next month.
While there hasn’t been a major change in pricing, the changing constraints put the onus on Powell to return to the market if he really wants to signal that the Fed is done with its rate hike campaign.
Some of his aides indicated on Thursday that the central bank has indeed done enough to tighten the policy rate –and may continue to drive inflation down by keeping rates high longer. This allows it to reduce the traditional lag in credit tightening while keeping the long-term bond markets under its control.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Boston Fed President Susan Collins tentatively welcomed the recent jump in bond market yields, which complement the Fed’s work to bring inflation back to the 2% target and prevent another hike Can do.
Collins said, “We may be close, we may even be at a place where we will stop.”
“The higher long rates are consistent with the understanding that this will take some time,” Harker said.
Certainly the latest US economic data is showing no signs of weakness, with jobless claims falling below forecast in the latest week and orders for core durables still resilient in July.
Meanwhile, market pricing for ECB and Bank of England policy rates has declined sharply in recent weeks. Money market and swap rates are now ending the ECB campaign
at 3.75% with no further increases in this cycle. Implied BOE terminal rates have fallen sharply to 5.5% from 6% in July.
This helped European shares to improve the gloomy equity market mood of the past 24 hours, where Asian shares were in the red after Wall St’s sharp technical-led reversal on Thursday. US futures were mostly flat ahead of Friday’s open.
Treasury yields moved slightly higher overnight, while oil prices edged up again.
China’s stock markets were also in losses, sources told Reuters, but authorities are planning to cut stamp duty on stock trading by up to 50% – in another attempt to revive the country’s struggling stock market. The authorities have also increased the defense of Yuan.
Tropical Storm Franklin strengthened to a hurricane Saturday, becoming the second hurricane of the Atlantic season with the potential of gaining major storm status, the National Hurricane Center said.
As of 11 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, Franklin was about 250 miles northeast of Grand Turk Island of Turks and Caicos and was moving north-northwest at almost 8 mph, the center said.
Franklin’s maximum sustained winds remain near 85 mph. The center said that “further strengthening” was expected and that Franklin could become a major hurricane early next week.
A major hurricane has sustained winds of at least 111 mph, corresponding to a Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricane.
The center said satellite and microwave imagery showed that Franklin had become better organized Saturday.
“Early visible satellite images showed a ragged eye, which has become cloud filled in the last hour or two,” the center said. “Deep convection around Franklin has become more symmetric compared to recent days, likely due to a decrease in vertical wind shear.”
Although no watches or warnings were posted, the center said swells generated by Franklin could start affecting Bermuda by Sunday night.
“These swells are also likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions late this weekend into early next week along portions of the East Coast,” it said.
The storm left at least one person dead in the Dominican Republic and hundreds of thousands of homes without power or potable water earlier in the week.
More than 500 homes were damaged in the Dominican Republic and more than 2,500 roads were affected, leaving six communities cut off, officials said. At one point Wednesday night, 350,000 homes were without power and more than 1.6 million did not have potable water.
Franklin was the fourth named storm to form in two days. Tropical Storm Emily was downgraded Monday to a post-tropical cyclone after forming the day before, and Gert was also short-lived. Tropical Storm Harold
formed early Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Texas in the morning. Don, which briefly formed as a hurricane in July, was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season.
The Atlantic hurricane season started June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.
In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that there would be 12 to 17 named storms this year, a “near-normal” amount, forecasters said. On Aug. 10, NOAA officials increased its estimate to 14 to 21 storms.
There were 14 named storms last year, coming on the heels of two extremely busy Atlantic hurricane seasons in which forecast-
ers ran out of names and had to resort to backup lists. (There were a record 30 named storms in 2020.)
This year features an El Nino pattern, which started in June. The intermittent climate phenomenon can have wide-ranging effects on weather around the world, and it typically impedes the number of Atlantic hurricanes.
In the Atlantic, El Nino increases the amount of wind shear, or the change in wind speed and direction from the ocean or land surface into the atmosphere. Hurricanes need a calm environment to form, and the instability caused by increased wind shear makes those conditions less likely. (El Nino has the opposite effect in the Pacific, reducing the amount of wind shear.)
At the same time, this year’s heightened sea surface temperatures pose a number of threats, including the ability to supercharge storms.
That unusual confluence of factors has made making storm predictions more difficult.
There is consensus among scientists that hurricanes are becoming more powerful because of climate change. Although there might not be more named storms overall, the likelihood of major hurricanes is increasing.
Climate change is also affecting the amount of rain that storms can produce.
In a warming world, the air can hold more moisture, which means that a named storm can hold and produce more rainfall, as Hurricane Harvey did in Texas in 2017, when some areas received more than 40 inches of rain in less than 48 hours.
Russian authorities have officially confirmed the death of the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, with investigators saying on Sunday that genetic testing showed that the victims of a plane crash last week matched all the names on the jet’s manifest.
The announcement put an end to several days of speculation over the fate of the mercenary chief, who was presumed to have died in the plane crash on Wednesday, just two months after he launched a failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership. U.S. and Western officials believe the crash was the result of an explosion on board and several have said they think that President Vladimir Putin of Russia may have had Prigozhin killed in retaliation for his mutiny — suggestions the Kremlin on Friday dismissed as an “absolute
lie.”
Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for Russia’s investigative committee, said in a statement on Sunday that “the identities of all 10 victims have been established” and that “they correspond to the list stated in the flight manifest.”
Prigozhin and Wagner’s top field commander, Dmitri Utkin, were listed as passengers on the plane. Russian authorities had said they were awaiting the results of an investigation before confirming the identities of the 10 people on board.
In his first comments about the crash,Putin on Thursday spoke obliquely of Prigozhin’s death, referring to him in the past tense. “He made some serious mistakes in life, but he also achieved necessary results,” Putin said.
Prigozhin led the Wagner private military group, which has operated in Syria, Africa and Ukraine to advance the
Kremlin’s interests — while gaining a reputation for military effectiveness and severe brutality. In Ukraine, the group shored up Russian forces and drew the Ukrainian military into a costly fight for the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russia captured in May after a nearly yearlong battle.
To build out the private army, Prigozhin recruited thousands of ex-prisoners to join Wagner’s ranks. He also became increasingly critical of the Russian military leadership’s handling of the war in Ukraine, accusing them of corruption and incompetence.
In June, Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against the top military leadership.
The rebellion presented Putin with the most dramatic and public challenge to his two-decade rule, and speculation had been rife that the Russian president would not let such an affront go unpunished.
Russia said Ukraine fired a string of drones over the weekend in an attempt to attack border regions and the capital, Moscow, in the latest strikes deep inside Russian borders.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that its forces had intercepted Ukrainian drones overnight in the regions of Bryansk and Kursk, both of which border Ukraine. A drone crashed into an apartment building in Kursk but did not cause any injuries, the regional governor said on the Telegram messaging app.
The border region of Belgorod also was attacked by drones over the weekend, according to Russian authorities. One person was killed in the village of Shchetinovka and another drone was intercepted by air defenses Saturday, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said in Telegram posts.
Russian claims had not been independently verified, and Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment, as is their general custom on attacks inside Russia.
Such attacks have recently become a more regular occurrence in the 18-month-long war. Since July, Russian officials have reported that more than two dozen drones have targeted the Moscow region alone.
Throughout the summer, the intensifying attacks — many of which have been carried out with Ukrainian-made drones — have hit buildings in central Moscow’s financial district and a supersonic bomber aircraft stationed south of St. Petersburg.
Though the scale of the destruction pales in comparison to the devastation wrought by Russia’s aerial attacks in Ukraine, the assaults have caused damage and disruption.
U.S. officials have said the drone attacks are intended to demonstrate to the Ukrainian public that Kyiv can still strike back, even as its counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory in the south and east of Ukraine moves slowly. Another objective, as top Ukrainian officials have said, is to bring the war home to the people of Russia.
But it remains unclear whether such long-distance strikes are having any effect on Russia’s battlefield operations. News reports this past week, including from The New York Times, indicated that Ukrainian and U.S. officials have had disagreements about tactics and strategy in the counteroffensive, especially on where to deploy troops.
Here’s what else is happening in the war:
— Jet collision: Three Ukrainian pilots died Friday after two combat training aircraft collided in a region west of Kyiv, the Ukrainian air force said. Among the victims was Andriy Pilshchykov, better known by his call sign “Juice,” who had been a frequent voice in Western media advocating for the supply of F-16 fighter jets. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine paid tribute to Juice late Saturday, saying that he had “helped our country a lot.” He said an investigation was underway into what caused the crash and expressed condolences to families and friends of the victims.
— Black Sea corridor: A second cargo ship has sailed from Odesa, according to marine traffic data, traveling through the temporary corridor set up by Ukraine’s government for civilian vessels after Russia pulled out of an agreement allowing Ukraine to export its grain.
It was not immediately clear what the vessel, which sailed under a Liberian flag
and was en route to Bulgaria, was carrying. The temporary corridor, which hugs the western Black Sea coast from Ukraine to Bulgaria, was established to allow passage for civilian ships that have been docked in Ukrainian ports since before Russia’s full-scale invasion. But Ukrainian officials said they were considering using this new route to restart grain shipments, an uncertain option given Russia’s threats to vessels in the Black Sea going to and from Ukraine.
— Attacks across Ukraine: Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling killed
at least two people on Sunday. One woman was killed in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine and another died in the Kharkiv region of the northeast, local military authorities said.
Ukraine’s air force also said Russian forces launched a wave of missiles toward Kyiv and the surrounding area early Sunday, with air defense systems intercepting four cruise missiles. But debris from downed missiles injured two people and damaged 10 houses in the Kyiv region, the local military administration said in a statement.
Last fall, U.S. diplomats received grim news that border guards in Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. partner in the Middle East, were using lethal force against African migrants who were trying to enter the kingdom from Yemen.
The diplomats got more detail in December, when United Nations officials presented them with information about Saudi security forces shooting, shelling and abusing migrants, leaving many dead and wounded, according to U.S. officials and a person who attended the meetings, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
In the months since, U.S. officials have not publicly criticized the Saudis’ conduct, although State Department officials said this past week, following a published report of the killings, that U.S. diplomats have raised the issue with their Saudi counterparts and asked them to investigate. It remains unclear whether those discussions have affected Saudi actions.
The Saudi security forces’ violence along the border came to the fore in a report by Human Rights Watch on Monday that accused them of shooting and firing explosive projectiles at Ethiopian migrants, killing hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of them during the 15-month period that ended in June.
The report was based on interviews with migrants and their associates, photos and videos and satellite photos of the border area. It cited migrants who said Saudi guards had asked them which limb they preferred before shooting them in the arm or leg and a 17-yearold boy who said guards had forced him and another migrant to rape two girls as the guards looked on.
The report said that if killing migrants were official Saudi policy, it could be a crime against humanity.
In a statement sent to The New York Times on Saturday night, after this article was initially published, the State Department said the United States learned about specific accusations after the U.N. High Commissioner
for Human Rights publicly released letters it had sent on the issue to Saudi Arabia and to Houthi officials in Yemen in late 2022. (A response rebutting the accusations sent by Saudi diplomats in March indicates at least one U.N. letter was sent Oct. 3. The public release was 60 days later, the State Department said.)
“The United States quickly engaged senior Saudi officials to express our concern,” the department said, adding that U.S. officials “have continued to regularly raise our concerns with Saudi contacts,” including at the Security Council briefing in January.
The new details about the Saudi border killings come as President Joe Biden seeks to overcome past tensions and cinch a diplomatic breakthrough between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Late last year, around the time when U.S. diplomats were learning about the border violence, Biden accused Saudi Arabia of acting against U.S. interests over other issues. Saudi leaders had cut oil production, potentially leading to a rise in global oil prices before the midterm elections. Biden administration officials thought they had reached a secret agreement for the Saudis to increase production. Biden vowed to impose “consequences” on Saudi Arabia.
Further straining relations, Saudi Arabia had declined to join Western sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. And Saudi Arabia’s decision to decrease oil production seemed to support Russia’s economy, which relies on oil and gas exports.
But in recent months, Biden and his aides have been talking to Saudi officials about their country establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, which would be a major geopo-
litical coup. In those discussions, the Saudis have asked the United States for security guarantees, more lethal weapons and help with a nuclear energy program. Biden might speak with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, on the sidelines of a leadership summit of the Group of 20 nations next month in New Delhi.
Some members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have strongly criticized Saudi Arabia for its human rights record, including its yearslong war in Yemen. Those lawmakers will almost certainly raise further doubts about selling more arms to Saudi Arabia or working with it on a civilian nuclear program, which some U.S. officials fear could be cover for a nuclear weapons program.
Among those briefed on the killing last December by U.N. officials was Steven Fagin, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, according to a person who was present. Around that time, the U.N. also shared information with others at the State Department and with diplomats from France, Germany, Holland, Sweden and the European Union, this person said.
Inside Yemen, the border killings are anything but secret. Some attacks are reported on Yemeni television, and many of those wounded end up in Yemeni hospitals.
“We face these cases daily coming from the border areas: dead and seriously wounded, women, old people and children,” Mujahid al-Anisi, the head of the emergency unit at al-Jumhori Hospital, a Yemeni facility near the main crossing zone, told the The New York Times by phone Wednesday.
The hospital receives an average of four or five cases a day, he said. Many are found by the road unconscious and driven 12 hours to the hospital with wounds in their heads, chests and abdomens that require urgent surgeries.
Some need amputations. About 1 in 10 are women.
“These people arrive so worried and badly wounded,” he said.
Aid workers and U.N. officials have been tracking the violence since early last year, but international efforts to investigate the matter have been few, and public efforts to make it stop even fewer.
That’s because of many factors, aid workers said. Delivering aid in war zones like Yemen requires not angering one’s hosts, including the rebels who control northern Yemen and facilitate human trafficking, or one’s funders, which in some cases includes Saudi Arabia.
Rights violations, no matter how grave, rarely take priority when diplomats do business with their counterparts from rich partners like Saudi Arabia. And most efforts at accountability first call for Saudi Arabia to investigate itself, which it has shown little willingness to do.
Further limiting attention to the killings is their location, in an inaccessible border zone, where journalists, activists and other independent observers can’t witness events.
Human rights groups have long documented threats to migrants from East Africa who cross the Gulf of Aden to Yemen and head north toward Saudi Arabia, where they hope to find work or escape political persecution. They started getting reports of increased violence on the border about two years ago.
Last September, Mwatana reported that the bodies of about 30 Yemeni and Ethiopian migrants had been found May 12, 2022, on the Saudi side of the border, some bearing gunshot wounds or signs of torture. A State Department human rights report on Saudi Arabia last year mentioned Mwatana’s research in a paragraph.
The Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration found that at least 788 migrants had died near the Saudi border in 2022, mostly from artillery or gunfire. The actual number of those killed was likely much higher, the organization said.
Last October, a group of U.N. experts confronted Saudi Arabia with reports similar to what Human Rights Watch would later find. They cited allegations that border guards had shot at migrants, killing as many as 430 in the first four months of 2022, and raped women and girls, sending some back to Yemen naked.
The experts said that, if confirmed, the incidents would indicate “a deliberate policy of large-scale, indiscriminate and excessive use of lethal force” to deter migrants and urged Saudi Arabia to rein in its forces.
The kingdom denied the allegations and said it needed more detail in order to investigate.
Russians have always had a penchant for rumor and conspiracies, underpinned by the presumption that official news is deeply doctored by the Kremlin. So it is not surprising that within hours of the first reports of a plane crashing with somebody as notorious as Yevgeny Prigozhin listed as a passenger, speculation spread like a Siberian wildfire. Perhaps he was not on the plane and had staged his death to disappear. Or maybe President Vladimir Putin now had Prigozhin in a secret dungeon. Or the Ukrainians on whom he unleashed his mercenaries blew the plane up.
Nothing seemed impossible with Prigozhin, a racketeerturned-caterer-turned-warlord and Putin crony who sent his Wagner mercenary group on an audacious march on Moscow in June to settle scores with Russia’s military leaders. There was no shortage of people who probably wished him dead, including those same Russian military leaders, or the Ukrainians, or the African and Syrian rebels savaged by his mercenaries.
But as is so often the case with atrocities in Putin’s Russia, the plane crash was probably exactly what it appeared to be: the assassination of a nettlesome rival by the ruthless ruler. That may never be proved; Putin may choose to posthumously honor Prigozhin as a patriot, or at least to blame his death on his pet villains, Ukrainian “fascists” and a deceitful and degenerate West. But for now, most observers believe the evidence, motive and means point to Putin.
In the brutal logic of dictatorial rule, Putin would have had no choice. Though Prigozhin was careful to display total fealty to the president even when he ordered his forces on a “march for justice” in June, it was an open rebellion against Putin’s rule, and the president’s first public reaction was to warn — without naming Prigozhin — that those who prepared the mutiny “have betrayed Russia.” In Putin’s lexicon, that’s a death sentence. He is Russia.
Putin played the aftermath with the same cunning that has kept him in power for more than 20 years, allowing the warlord to leave for Belarus after the mutiny, dropping formal charges against him, inviting him to a three-hour chat at the Kremlin, then leaving him free to move about Russia.
Prigozhin seemed to conclude that he had been forgiven. He claimed to have made an appearance at a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, though there is no firm evidence he was there. Then, two days before the plane crash, he released a new recruitment video for the Wagner group, purportedly filmed in Africa. Against the backdrop of a bare field, Prigozhin appeared decked out in the full commando kit he favored for such videos before the mutiny.
“We’re working,” he intoned in his tough-guy growl. “Temperature 50 plus, as we like it. Wagner is carrying out reconnaissance and search operations, making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free.”
After that display of bravado, Putin apparently made his first move Wednesday — two months to the day since the mutiny — when Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a former commander of the Ukraine operation, was reportedly demoted. He had dropped from public view right after the mutiny. And after 6 p.m. that evening, Prigozhin’s plane — an executive jet he frequently used, and said to be the same one on which he flew to Belarus after the aborted mutiny — dropped out of the sky.
PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726
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Publisher Ray Ruiz Legal Notice DirectorAn unconfirmed video of the incident posted online showed the plane crashing to earth, evidently with only one wing. And witnesses reported hearing two explosions, raising the possibility that the jet had been shot down by an anti-aircraft battery. Soon after, official media reported that Prigozhin was on the list of seven passengers and three crewmen aboard. There were reports that the military commander of the Wagner group, Dmitri Utkin, said to be an open admirer of Nazi Germany, was also onboard.
Alexander Litvinenko, and the Novichok nerve agent used in an attempt on another, Sergei Skripal, were meant to leave no doubt about who did it or why. And efforts to silence his most tenacious opponent, Alexei Navalny, by an attempted poisoning, and a draconian prison sentence, are clear signs of near total intolerance for any dissent.
The need to enforce personal loyalty has become even more critical with the invasion of Ukraine, an operation linked directly to Putin that is amassing a terrible cost in lives, treasure and international standing.
Given Prigozhin’s sordid history, it remains possible that new and perhaps surprising revelations about this crash still lie ahead. But if it turns out that this was not Putin’s doing, it may only be because someone beat him to it.
Director R. Mariani Circulation DirectorThe seemingly unavoidable conclusion is that Prigozhin’s fate was sealed two months ago. Whatever the cause of this crash, Putin’s army of sycophants and cronies are certain to understand the message: No amount of bootlicking, at which Prigozhin had been a master, and no long history of loyal service, whether providing food for the Kremlin or running a private army, would be enough to protect anyone who turned on the don.
Lisette
Martínez Advertising Agency Director
It has long been clear that in Putin’s Russia, betrayal is unforgivable. The radioactive polonium used to kill one KGB defector,
CULEBRA – Personal de la Oficina del portavoz de la delegación del Partido Nuevo Progresista en la Cámara de Representantes, Carlos ‘Johnny’ Méndez, junto a funcionarios de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AAA) y oficiales del municipio de Culebra, solucionaron un error en facturación por servicios de agua potable a unas 39 familias de varios sectores en esa isla municipio.
“En días recientes, varios residentes de Culebra nos trajeron a la atención altas facturas por el servicio de agua potable. Luego de revisar las mismas, determinamos que lo más probable fue un error técnico, así que nos comunicamos con la directora ejecutiva de la AAA, Doriel Pagán, para trasladarnos inmediatamente a Culebra y solucionar esta problemática”, comentó el también representante por el Distrito #36 de Río Grande, Luquillo, Fajar-
do, Ceiba, Vieques y Culebra.
El pasado jueves, ante el pedido del Portavoz novoprogresista en la Cámara Baja, Pagán y un grupo de funcionarios de la AAA se trasladaron a Culebra para dialogar con los residentes afectados, unas 39 residencias en total, e iniciar el proceso de revisión y cambio de facturas.
De acuerdo a los residentes afectados, las facturas llegaban con excesos en la cuantía del consumo y pago esperado, por eso la intervención de Méndez y su equipo.
“Agradezco a la Directora Ejecutiva de la AAA por responder de forma expedita a esta situación. De igual manera al amigo y alcalde de Culebra, Edilberto ‘Junior’ Romero, por asistir siempre. Nuestra oficina continuará monitoreando el asunto de las facturas por servicio de agua para asegurarnos que todo marche con normalidad”, culminó diciendo el expresidente cameral.
S AN JUAN – La alcaldesa de Loíza, Julia Nazario Fuentes, lamentó el fallecimiento del exalcalde de Canóvanas Don Sergio Calzada Rivera. “Queda su labor como servidor público y su ejemplo a los demás. Fue alcalde de Canóvanas en los cuatrienios de 1971 al 1973 y del 1973 al 1986. Vayan nuestras condolencias a toda su familia y amigos”.
Calzada nació el 7 de enero de 1936 en Loíza, hijo de Don Néstor Calzada y Doña Margarita Rivera. Estudio sus primeros grados en la escuela Calzada Ferrer en Campo Rico y los niveles intermedios y superiores en la escuela Andrés Flores López, graduándose en el año 1954. Ingresó a la Universidad de Puerto Rico, donde aprueba el curso básico y en el año 1957, obtiene el certificado de delineante de la escuela Vocacional Metropolitana Miguel Such de Río Piedras. Luego continúa estudios sabatinos de la facultad de Ciencias Sociales, en la Universidad de Puerto Rico. En el año 1958, contrajo nupcias con la profesora Elsie M. Rivera.
Comienza su carrera en el servicio público, aún siendo muy niño, cuando en la clase de Estudios Sociales le dieron la oportunidad de crear partidos políticos y desde sus catorce años abrazó el sueño de convertirse en alcalde. Trabajó como delineante en la oficina de Mapas Topográficos para el Departamento de Obras Públicas del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, entre otros cargos en el servicio público.
En virtud de la Ley 149 de 30 de junio de 1969 se creó la Comisión Especial, la cual supervisaria la creación del Municipio de Canóvanas y el traslado
de la capitalidad del Municipio de Loiza al poblado de Loíza Aldea. Basado en los hechos históricos del referéndum llevado a cabo en 1970, Sergio E. Calzada Rivera fue nombrado, mediante una Asamblea de Delegados, alcalde de Loíza, municipio bajo el cual estaba administrado el barrio Canóvanas.
La Ley antes mencionada también dispuso en ese entonces, que la creación del nuevo municipio se haría vigente cuando tomaran posesión de sus cargos el Alcalde y demás funcionarios correspondientes, luego de ser electos en los comicios generales de noviembre de 1972. Es en ese momento que, Calzada Rivera se convierte en el primer alcalde, por voto directo del pueblo, bajo la insignia del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), tomando posesión el 8 de enero de 1973.
Durante su incumbencia como alcalde obtuvo logros importantes, entre los cuales se le adjudica la conversión de caminos municipales en calles pavimentadas, la construcción del puente que conectó la comunidad Las Cuatrocientas (400) con el Barrio Lomas y la nueva entrada a la comunidad de Puente Moreno. También realizó las gestiones administrativas para la construcción de varias escuelas, la construcción del nuevo y moderno Centro de Diagnóstico y Tratamiento (CDT), el Coliseo Carlos Miguel Mangual, una biblioteca en el casco urbano, entre otros proyectos.
Se le reconoce además, por la entrega de parcelas en la comunidad de Alturas de Campo Rico, por proveer los recursos necesarios para la vida en comunidad y contribuir significativamente al deporte. Como político edificó la zapata para el desarrollo del
Municipio de Canóvanas y en el 1986 presentó su renuncia, declarando lo siguiente: “Me voy con la labor cumplida”.
En el año 2016, la actual alcaldesa de Canóvanas, Lornna Soto, inauguró la Sala de Historia Sergio Calzada Rivera, ubicada justo al lado de la Casa Alcaldía en la calle Luis Hernaíz Veronne, donde visitantes y residentes del municipio y visitantes pueden conocer la historia de Canóvanas desde su fundación. El velorio de Calzada se llevará a cabo este miércoles, 30 de agosto en la Funeraria Carrión del centro urbano de 3:00 de la tarde a 8:00 de la noche, y el entierro será el jueves a la 10:00 de la mañana en el Cementerio Nuevo de Canóvanas.
This month’s picks include a Mexican resort thriller, a British time-travel caper and a coming-of-age drama from Costa Rica.
Time Share’
If “White Lotus” were directed by Ari Aster, it might look something like this creepy Mexican resort thriller from Sebastián Hofmann. At a snazzy tropical timeshare recently acquired by a global franchise, Pedro (Luis Gerardo Méndez), his wife and their son encounter a series of mishaps that teeters between amusingly odd and disturbingly sinister. Their misfortunes begin when they’ve barely arrived for their vacation and learn that their villa has been doublebooked. Faced with a comically inept staff, they now have to share the house with a rube-ish family of five. Meanwhile, in the bowels of the resort, a depressed laundry worker, Andres (Miguel Rodarte), and his salesperson wife, Gloria (Montserrat Marañon), are being put through some strange training program by their new American executives, who want to mine the couple’s traumas for profit-making schemes.
The ruthlessness of global capitalism, the emotional labor of the hospitality industry and the fragility of masculinity all become targets of Hofmann’s slippery satire, which derives its power from its ambiguities. Is Pedro right in suspecting his newfound roommates of foul play, or is his patriarchal pride just wounded? Is Andres being controlled by his bosses or rightfully treated for an illness? There are no clear answers in “Time Share,” but the film will leave you deliciously confused, unsettled and wary of the charms of vacation resorts. (Stream it on Netflix.)
‘Rival’
Marcus Lenz’s border-crossing feature is a film of quiet surprises and formidable performances. “Rival” opens in rural Ukraine, where 9-year-old, freckle-faced Roman (Yelizar Nazarenko) is suddenly pulled out of his life of play when his grandmother dies. Soon, he is smuggled in the back of a truck to Germany, where his mother (Maria Bruni) works — without papers — as a caretaker for a newly widowed elderly man, Gert (Udo Samel). When Roman realizes that Gert might soon become his stepfather, he begins to lash out, until a gutting rug-pull sends the man and the boy on the run together.
For all its high-stakes plotting, “Rival” is an extraordinarily gentle film that dwells in wordless moments of connection, particularly as Gert and Roman, who do not speak each other’s languages, try to communicate. If Gert seems a little seedy at first, he turns out to be wonderfully tender; Roman, with his wide blue eyes and feral love for his mother, is menacingly unpredictable yet fiercely lovable — a child caught in a world of loss he doesn’t understand. Through the boy’s naive gaze, Lenz sketches out the precarity of contemporary immigrant life, leaving us not with hope or resolution, but only a childlike rage against the world. (Stream it on Amazon.)
‘Beatrix’
Summer is a time of both joy and melancholy: brimming with sunshine and leisure, yet ephemeral and transitory, a fleeting prelude to the harshness of winter. This debut
feature by Austrian directors Milena Czernovsky and Lilith Kraxner distills that bittersweet mood perfectly. It drops us into the daily routines of a young woman, Beatrix (Eva Sommer), who is biding the dog days alone in a beautiful country home that doesn’t seem to be her own. There is something slightly out of place and hesitant about the way she goes around the house, as if she is slowly learning its surfaces.
We simply observe Beatrix as she mills about, watches TV, feeds the cat, takes phone calls and occasionally has friends over for dinner. Their conversations are not about anything in particular, and the film doesn’t enlighten us about Beatrix’s backstory or desires. Instead, we are invited to simply feel the passing of time alongside her, in colorful, saturated tableaux that heighten the tactility of her verdant surroundings. Little happens per se, yet “Beatrix” leaves you feeling both sated and light, as after a summer lunch — glad for having experienced it and a little sad that it’s over. (Stream or rent it on dafilms.)
‘Lola’
This debut feature from Irish director Andrew Legge is a marvel of lo-fi sci-fi, that microgenre of speculative cinema that conjures grand, fantastical worlds from the simplest of materials. Here, archival newsreels and black-and-white 16 mm footage transport us to 1940s Sussex, England, where a pair of orphaned sisters — Martha (Stefanie Martini) and Thomasina (Emma Appleton) — have invented a device that can intercept radio and television broadcasts from the future. They call it Lola, and use it to tune into music and pop culture years away — Bob Dylan is a revelation, as is David Bowie — until they realize that their janky gadget could have groundbreaking implications for the war effort.
They quickly run into the classic conundrums of time-travel tales: Their godlike ability to anticipate and tweak the future sets off unintended consequences and unfurls a revisionist version of World War II. What’s remarkable is the film’s minimalist
elegance in bringing these ideas to life. Digitally altered newsreels insert the characters into history, while intimate, mockumentary-style camerawork creates the illusion of having stumbled upon an authentic time capsule from the past. (Rent it on Apple TV.)
‘I Have Electric Dreams’
Valentina Maurel’s sunbaked Costa Rican drama takes a familiar genre — the coming-of-age of a teenage girl — and spikes it with poetry, beauty and violence. Sixteen-year-old Eva (Daniela Marín Navarro) struggles with the fallout from her parents’ divorce. She and her sister live with their wellto-do mother, whom Eva irrationally resents, while she idealizes her father, a hippie poet with anger issues. Stability and wisdom on one side, danger and wild freedom on the other — it’s no surprise that Eva chooses the latter, but her mom is prescient when she says, “The obsession you have with your dad, and all the men that come your way, is something that’ll pass, mark my words!”
A combustible feeling of naturalism courses through “I Have Electric Dreams.” The handheld camera traipses around restlessly, following Eva, and the actors — particularly Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez as the father — embody a capriciousness that makes their characters impossible to pin down. The result is a film that feels wholly, messily human, with its empathetic yet cleareyed visions of the love and hurt that often tangle together in families, binding us to our kin almost in spite of ourselves. (Stream it on Mubi.)
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Every Christmas season starting when I was 5, my sister and I had a go-to movie: “Barbie in the Nutcracker.”
We’d pop in the VHS tape and watch Barbie as Clara dance the night away with the Nutcracker on a journey to find the Sugarplum Princess and defeat the Mouse King. We cheered as she landed her prince and consoled each other when she lost him again.
It was just the tip of our fandom for the animated Barbie films that Mattel began releasing at a rate of around one per year beginning with “Nutcracker” in 2001 and eventually totaling about 40 films. Our affection came to encompass VHS tapes of the first five princess movies, as well as my “Barbie of Swan Lake” eighth birthday party with an Odette ice cream cake and pink paper-swan tiaras (which my 70-something grandfather gamely donned).
Although Greta Gerwig’s new live-action “Barbie,” which just crossed $1 billion at the box office, has been a smash, attracting reams of pink-clad moviegoers to cheer Kate McKinnon’s Weird Barbie and lust after Ken’s tie-dye “I Am Kenough” hoodie, it’s hardly the first beloved movie to feature the doll, as my sister and I well knew. But until recently, I thought the hold the animated films had on us was unique.
And then I learned that there’s a whole generation obsessed with them, drawn perhaps by nostalgia for a simpler time of sparkly princess gowns, beautiful music and, despite a few obstacles, happy endings for Barbie and her friends.
On college campuses across the
country, 20-somethings host watch parties, mainlining hours at a time of the 90-minute animated adventures, the earliest of which feature classical scores played by illustrious outfits such as the London Symphony Orchestra and star villains voiced by name actors such as Martin Short (the traitorous Preminger in “The Princess and the Pauper”) and Tim Curry (a conniving Mouse King).
There are dozens of TikTok accounts devoted to clips from the movies. On eBay, play sets associated with the earlier films — such as the royal music palace from “Princess and the Pauper” — can command upward of $1,000.
“There’s so much positivity in the movies, friendship and love, that people can’t not love them,” said Hannah, a 26-year-old Barbie cosplayer in Neuberg, Germany. (The New York Times agreed to identify her only by her first name because of privacy concerns.) Since 2016, she has run a popular Instagram account in which she posts photos of herself dressed up as the franchise’s heroes, including Odette, Rapunzel and Clara. (“Nutcracker” is her favorite film.)
One reason she is so drawn to the early animated films, Hannah said, is the gorgeous backdrops and the fabulous fairy-
tale wardrobe.
“At first, my idea of making a Barbie ballgown for myself caused a lot of people around me to shake their heads and laugh,” she said. But she wanted to show them “that I could be whatever I wanted.”
Even, she added, a princess.
The success of the animated films, at first glance, is not obvious: The one regarded as the best, “The Princess and the Pauper,” sits at just 75% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have been lukewarm, with The New York Times calling “Barbie in the Nutcracker,” the first installment, a “pallid but likable” tale for “very small children.” Aspects such as the greedy, hooknosed villain of “Swan Lake” have not aged well, provoking criticism for antisemitic tropes.
The problems are painfully obvious to me now. But on a recent rewatch, I also saw what had initially engrossed me and my sister: Barbie is incorruptible, resistant to the human forces of temptation, pride, selfishness. By the rules of fairy-tale logic — good things happen to good people — her happy ending is a foregone conclusion.
Kelly Sheridan, a Canadian actress who voiced Barbie in 28 of the films between 2001 and 2015, said the initial mantra for the Barbie character was “kind,
clever, brave.”
“Barbie was flawless,” Sheridan, 46, said in a recent phone conversation from her home in Vancouver, British Columbia. “She could do no wrong.”
For instance, in “Nutcracker,” the script initially had Barbie as Clara stumbling when she carried a tray and catching herself before spilling it contents. But a meeting of the film’s producers and Mattel representatives led to a change because, Sheridan said, “Barbie would never stumble.”
Another time, when Sheridan was recording the scene in which Clara confronts the Mouse King, a Mattel representative asked if Barbie could sound less angry. “Because Barbie would never be angry, even confronting the villain,” she said. “She was always kind, clever and brave.”
The reins had loosened, she said, by the 16th film, “Barbie and the Three Musketeers,” in which an athletic, ambitious Barbie engages in sword fights. The studio, she said, realized people actually wanted to relate to her.
“She was able to be more silly and goofy and to have more comedic moments,” she said.
By the career-focused titles of the mid-2010s, Barbie had shed her princess gowns for pants. Now she was exploring space, going on spy missions and designing video games.
An artist known as Purcy, a 22-yearold illustrator who on Instagram posts her work picturing Barbie as various characters from the animated films, has seen 33 of the films. (She also asked not to use her full name for privacy reasons.) The ones she rewatches the most are set in the modern day, including her favorite, “Barbie: Princess Charm School.”
The Barbie of those films, she said, “showed us that we can be kind, caring, feel love, love pink,” while also being “strong and standing up for ourselves.”
For Hannah, the best Barbie animated films will always be the original princess tales.
Whenever she attends a cosplay event or posts a photo of her costumes on Instagram, she said, men and women approach her to share childhood memories they associate with the movies and the dolls.
“Barbie connects us,” she said.
Imoved to Spain about a year ago and at one of my first meals in Madrid, I saw a handsome young couple drinking some kind of unidentifiable light brown cocktail on ice with a wedge of orange and green olives. It was before noon and I was stumped. I had to know what it was. Vermouth, they told me.
Before I moved to Spain, I knew of two types of vermouth: white and red. So I had to try it — and it was delicious. Lighter, more subtle, more medicinal than anything I’d had in America.
And it’s a lot more than a drink. Vermouth is to Spain what a pint is to Ireland or mate is to Argentina — a national pastime. It’s a lifestyle, as much an activity as it is a beverage. There are establishments called vermuterias here. Historically, people drink vermouth on Sunday mornings after church. In fact, it’s so stitched into the culture that “fer un vermut” (“to do a vermouth”) is an expression that doesn’t even require you to order vermouth. It means, let’s meet for a drink in the middle of the day (another culinary surprise).
If you ask enough Spaniards about vermouth, soon enough you will wind up in Reus, a Catalan city just south of Barcelona with a thousand-year history, and the drink’s unofficial capital.
“Reus was the second industrialized city in Catalonia,” said Joan Tàpias Cors, the founder and owner of Museu del Vermut, in the old town in Reus. (The first was Barcelona.) “In the 1850s a blight of bacteria killed almost all the grapevines. So winemakers here decided to start making vermouth — it made the grapes go farther.”
Tàpias Cors told me that the museum (which is also a restaurant) has more than 6,500 items related to vermouth, representing 57 countries. “We have vermouths from the United States made during Prohibition that are called ‘nonintoxicating,’ which is of course impossible,” he said.
A few weeks later, I attended the Excellence Vermouth Awards, an annual conference of vermouth makers held at
the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid, with my friend Celia Crespo, owner of Vino con Tino, a service that selects and ships wine for clients, hoping to learn more.
“Welcome to the showroom of vermouth,” said Javier Fernández Piera, the organizer of the conference. All around us were men and woman who owned restaurants or bottled spirits or just loved vermouth. The men wore suits, the women wore scarves, and everyone looked like they’d be equally comfortable at a political fundraiser.
“The history of vermouth goes back to ancient Greece and ancient Rome, when they made wine with botanicals, which changed the nature of the wine,” said Fernández Piera, gesturing to the dozen or so vermouth makers around us. “These vermouths have that history.”
I later spoke to Noelia Callejo, a vermouth maker in Pedrosa de Duero, who underscored his point: “In the 1980s, it wasn’t as popular. Spain was a new democracy, coming out of a strong dictatorial regime, and the young people wanted to break with the traditions of their parents’ generation. Now people are starting to enjoy it again. It’s
a very nice drink with a lot of possibilities. And it’s no longer associated with the dictatorship.”
Calling something a vermouth requires a fairly complex calculus. Unlike wine, which, in its purest form, is just grapes plus time, vermouth is a blend of
art and science.
“To understand vermouth, think of it like tea,” Fernández Piera said. “Instead of water, you have the wine, usually white wine. Instead of a bag of tea, you put in absinthe, wormwood. And instead of milk or honey or lemon, you add botanicals.” It’s the botanicals that give vermouth its personality and distinct taste.
A good vermouth should have a light body and offer a complex mix of five flavors — salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami — with a good balance, especially between the sweet and the bitter, and it should linger in your mouth, he explained.
That’s the art part.
“In America, you drink Martini & Rossi more than any other vermouth,” he continued, tacitly impugning Martini, Rossi and the drinking population of America. “It’s very commercial and too sweet. It lacks bitterness. We would not call that a traditional vermouth.”
According to the European Union, for something to call itself a vermouth, it must be at least 75% wine, include wormwood, and be between 14.5% and 22% alcohol. That’s the science.
Continues on page 20
Salty, sweet, bitter and more, vermouth is a taste of Madrid in a glassBodegas Casas, a traditional tavern near the Parque del Retiro in Madrid on June 20, 2023. Vermouth has been serving at Bodegas Casas since 1923.
From page 19
Beyond that, “there are no rules,” said Ester Bachs, the author of “Guía del Vermut,” one of the most comprehensive books on the subject. “You can add gin, honey, hibiscus, rose extract, any botanical you want. There is so much innovation in vermouth.”
I asked everyone I knew for the best vermuteria in Madrid. Marisa, my Spanish teacher and a fourth-generation Madrileña, suggested Bodegas Casas, a 100-year-old vermouth bar in the center of Madrid but a dimension removed from any tourist map. Marisa’s father would fer un vermut on most days, as his father did before him, well into their 90s. I called Niki and Annalisa, two friends who live in Madrid. It was time to fer un vermut for myself.
On an early Tuesday afternoon in May, Bodegas Casas was in prime form.
The bar is small, a few stools and a single table by the window. The walls are lined with bottles of sherry, spirits, wine and, of course, vermouth — thickly covered with dust and history. Every stool was occupied, the bartender was shuttling from end to end, pouring, serving, clearing. Bodegas Casas has served vermouth on tap since it opened: Pour, top off with a splash of sparkling water, serve. It’s purist’s vermouth — no ice, no olives or wedge of orange, as many other places use.
Bachs had advised me to “put something salty next to vermouth so you have all the flavors in your mouth.” Niki ordered three glasses of vermouth along with a plate of pickled peppers and a basket of chips.
Two gentlemen, in suits and hats, one with a cane, sat next to each other at the far end of the bar. They looked dressed from an era when people didn’t wear T-shirts and never left the house without a hat.
“I have been sitting in this seat every day for 50 years,” said Jaime, 91.
“Nothing has changed here since we started coming,” said his friend Paco, 92, “except the neighborhood. Inside this bar, it is always the same. Every day, I come here for vermouth. But never more than two.” Then he winked at me.
Where
If a drink can be a snapshot of history, vermouth is a textbook. It has spanned millenniums, from ancient Rome to the streets of Madrid in 2023. It has moved from the aristocracy to bluecollar workers at lunch counters. A real vermouth is never mixed; it is savored. It is a piece of craftsmanship, picking up botanicals and personality along its own particular journey. And if you want the best, you have to come to a stool at a
dusty old bar in Madrid and have a glass poured directly from the tap.
If you’re in Madrid for a few days, there’s a decent chance you will find yourself at Mercado de San Miguel, a well-known food hall off Plaza Mayor. The mercado is reliably crowded and touristy, but also home to one of the best vermouth bars in the city, La Hora del Vermut. For a less crowded taste of vermouth, the city offers ample options.
Bodegas Casas
For 100 years, this has been a vermouth bar for locals — relaxed, low-key and very friendly. The on-tap vermouth is served with a splash of soda water, and the bartender is generous with the chips (Avenida de la Ciudad de Barcelona, 23).
Taberna La Elisa
If you’re looking for a charming tapas bar with a charming, if occasionally grumpy, proprietor, you’re in luck. The house vermouth is served on the rocks and goes great with their patatas bravas. Afterward, walk around Barrio
de las Letras, the neighborhood Miguel del Cervantes and Lope de Vega called home (Calle de Santa María, 42).
La Violeta
A more modern take on a traditional vermouth bar, La Violeta has an extensive vermouth list, an impressive selection of tapas and a staff happy to advise on both (Calle de Vallehermoso, 62).
Casa Camacho
Just off the small, lovely Plaza Juan Pujol in the Justicia neighborhood, Casa Camacho has tiled walls, vermouth on tap and very few seats. The house vermouth runs sweet, so it’s usually served on ice with a lemon slice (Calle de San Andrés, 4).
Ultramarinos Quintín
It’s more a high-end restaurant than a vermouth bar, but Quintín, in Recoletas, makes its own label of vermouth. The downstairs bar and outdoor seating are less fussy than the dining room, but the whole place is lovely (Calle de Jorge Juan, 17).
Q: Is getting a tan just as bad for my health as getting a sunburn? Isn’t it good to get some vitamin D from sun exposure?
A: Although rates of indoor tanning have been dropping in the United States, many people still try to get a tan outdoors. According to a National Cancer Institute analysis of data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey, about 39% of women and 29% of men in the United States had intentionally sought an outdoor tan in the past year.
Yet while bronzed skin may not hurt or peel like a sunburn, it still is not safe, experts say. “If your skin could talk, it would say, ‘Ouch!’ when you get a tan,” said Dr. Maral Skelsey, a dermatologist at Georgetown University.
In fact, she said, skin bronzes precisely because it has been injured — the extra pigmentation is the skin’s attempt to protect itself from further damage.
Tanning can lead to skin cancer and more
Sunburns have long been associated with an increased risk for skin cancer, but tanning raises the risk, too, said Dr. Patricia Farris, a dermatologist in Metairie, Louisiana.
Tans and sunburns are caused by exposure to two types of ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun. Ultraviolet B rays cause sunburns, and ultraviolet A rays penetrate more deeply and induce tans. Both types of UV rays can cause DNA mutations that raise the risk of cancer, Farris said.
“When indoor tanning became vogue, they pushed the narrative that tanning could be done safely as long as you don’t burn,” she said. “Almost immediately, dermatologists began seeing younger and younger patients with skin cancers and particularly melanoma.”
UVA radiation injures the skin in other ways, too, said Dr. Min Deng, a dermatologist with MedStar Health in Chevy Chase, Maryland. “There’s a whole milieu of molecular consequences,” she said. In addition to directly damaging the DNA, UVA radiation suppresses the immune system in ways that also increase the risk for cancer, she said.
It also ages the skin; UVA rays are involved in “breaking down collagen and
elastin molecules and causing wrinkles, brown spots and weathered-looking skin,” Farris said.
What about vitamin D?
Although it’s important to get enough vitamin D — adults ages 19 to 70 should aim to get 600 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day — people often have misconceptions about how best to obtain it, experts said.
Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin after exposure to the sun’s UVB rays. Most adults with lighter skin can typically get enough vitamin D after spending up to 10 minutes outside at midday during the spring and summer months, research has found.
Studies also suggest that sunscreen does not significantly impair the body’s ability to make vitamin D from sunlight exposure, Farris said.
If you have darker skin, your body may not be able to synthesize as much vitamin D from sunlight, so it’s safer to get it from foods like salmon, egg yolks, fortified milk and juice, as well as supplements, Skelsey said.
Older adults also have more trouble synthesizing vitamin D compared with younger people, Skelsey said. So the older you are, the more you will want to consider eating vitamin D-rich foods or taking supplements, she said.
To best protect your skin from UVA and UVB rays, use a sunscreen that is labeled “broad spectrum,” Skelsey said; the American Academy of Dermatology recommends SPF 30.
For people with darker skin tones, Deng advises using tinted mineral sunscreens because the iron oxide they contain protects the skin from other wavelengths of light that can contribute to hyperpigmentation and other disorders common with darker skin.
“Patients with deeper skin tones can still get sunburns and develop skin cancers,” Deng said.
Most people woefully under-apply sunscreen, Deng said. “They only apply about a quarter of the thickness that they’re supposed to apply,” she said.
To get appropriate coverage, apply one ounce, or a shot glass worth, of sunscreen over all exposed skin. If using a spray, she recommended spraying just a couple of inches from the skin and then rubbing it in
with your hands.
Most people also don’t reapply sunscreen nearly as much as they should, Deng said. If you’re swimming, getting splashed with water or sweating, you should reapply every hour, even if it’s a waterproof sunscreen, she said. If you’re not getting wet,
you should reapply every two hours.
The American Academy of Dermatology also recommends sun-protective clothing with its UPF, or ultraviolet protection factor, on the label. “Sun-protective clothing, hats, beach umbrellas, sunglasses, tinted car windows are all helpful,” Skelsey said.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. YOVANNY GELVACIO PAULINO JIMÉNEZ, SU ESPOSA KEISHLA JANICE BIDOT MARTÍNEZ,
Demandados
Civil Núm.: BY2022CV02445.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL:
Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 7 de agosto de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA:
Solar catorce, Bloque H, Urbanización Santa Juanita, Barrio Minillas de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, compuesto de quinientos trece metros, sesenticinco centímetros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la Calle Visalia; por el SUR, con Bayamón Hills Corporation; por el ESTE, con Solar trece; y por el OESTE, con Solar quince. Este solar está atravesado en su extremo Sur por una tubería abierta para desagüe de doce pulgadas, que discurre de Este a Oeste. Contiene una casa de hormigón y bloques para una familia. Inscrita en la finca número 18,731, al folio 175 vuelto del tomo 414 de Bayamón Sur. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Bayamón. La dirección de la propiedad según consta en el pagaré:
Lot #14 Block H Santa Juanita Development Minillas Ward, Bayamón PR t/c/c H-14 Visalia
Street San Juanita Development, Bayamón, PR. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada el 20 de junio de
2023 y notificada en este caso el 23 de junio de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $139,353.44 y el interés que será al 3.875% anual, vencedero el día 1 de mayo de 2046, según la escritura número 182, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 24 de mayo de 2016, ante la notario Carla Colón Gómez, e inscrita al tomo Karibe de Bayamón Sur, finca número 18,731, inscripción 26ta. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el cuarto piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas de Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $139,353.44. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 21 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $92,902.29, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 28 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $69,676.72, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase 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 de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confir-
mada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate.
EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de agosto de 2023. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, ALGUACIL DE LA DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DEL FINADO RAMON RIVERA VIERA COMPUESTA
POR RAMON RIVERA, MICHELLE RIVERA, JEAN RIVERA, XYZ (HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS);
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO Y CRIM
Demandados
Civil Núm.: BY2023CV00776. (501). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA.
Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.
A: LA SUCESIÓN DEL FINADO RAMON RIVERA VIERA COMPUESTA POR RAMON RIVERA, MICHELLE RIVERA, JEAN RIVERA, XYZ (HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS); ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO Y CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM).
Yo, MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A
LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el Cuarto Piso, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Bayamón durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día 21
DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A
LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 28
DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A
LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: Propiedad Horizontal: CONDOMINIO REXVILLE PARK de Bayamón
Sur. Apartamento: V-343. Cabida: 92.032 Metros Cuadrados. Linderos: Norte, en 21 pies con 10 pulgadas equivalentes a 6.49 metros y centésimas, con espacio abierto. Sur, en 21 pies
Monday,
con 10 pulgadas equivalentes a 6.49 metros y centésimas, con área común. Este, en 52 pies con 5 pulgadas equivalentes a 15.586 metros y milésimas V-344 y área común. Oeste, en 52 pies con 5 pulgadas equivalentes a 15.586 metros y milésimas, con el apartamento U-342. Tiene su puerta de entrada y salida por su lado Este que da al área de pasillo del edificio. Consta de 3 habitaciones, 2 baños, cocina, comedor, sala y balcón. Le corresponde a este apartamento de 2 espacios de estacionamientos identificados con los números 240 y 241. A este apartamento le corresponde una participación en los elementos comunes del Condominio de 0.00750%.” Inscrita al folio 66 del tomo 1808 de Bayamón Sur, finca número #71787, inscripción 4ta del Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Primera. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Condominio Rexville Park, 200 Calle 17 A, Apt. 343, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. La subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $86,143.40 de principal, más intereses al tipo convenido al 5.750% anual, desde el día 1ro. de agosto de 2022, hasta su total y completo pago, más la cantidad de $13,000.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, que la parte demandada se obligara a satisfacer como suma líquida y sin necesidad de nueva liquidación y aprobación por este Tribunal, más la cantidad que se adeuda mensualmente a partir del 1ro. de septiembre de 2022, por concepto de las partidas enumeradas en el párrafo primero de las Determinaciones de Hechos, más los cargos por demora, más cualquiera otros adelantos que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca., todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $130,000.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $86,666.66 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $65,000.00. Si se declara desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es
mayor. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que todo licitador acepta como suficiente la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 14 de agosto de 2023. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN. ***
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE ARECIBO. Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, not individually but solely as trustee for Finance of America Structured Securities Acquisition Trust 2019-HB1
DEMANDANTE V. Sucesión de Israel Concepción Hernández t/c/c
Concepción, Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal; Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales; Estados Unidos de América
DEMANDADOS
CIVIL NÚM.: AR2021CV01855.
SOBRE: Ejecución de Hipoteca
In Rem. EDICTO DE SUBASTA.
Al: Público en General A: SUCESIÓN DE ISRAEL CONCEPCIÓN HERNÁNDEZ T/C/C ISRAEL CONCEPCIÓN COMPUESTA POR MARÍA DE LOS ANGELES CONCEPCIÓN CONCEPCIÓN, CARMEN ISIDRA CONCEPCIÓN CONCEPCIÓN, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Yo, Luangy Viera Romero, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Arecibo, a los demandados, acreedores y al público en general con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, por la presente CERTIFICO, ANUNCIO y HAGO CONSTAR: Que el día 27 de septiembre de 2023, a las 9:15 de la mañana, en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico, procederé a vender en Pública Subasta, al mejor postor, la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria mediante Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, la cual se notificó y archivó en autos el día 16 de junio de 2023. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una segunda subasta para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el 4 de octubre de 2023, a las 9:15 de la mañana, ; y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una tercera subasta el día 12 de octubre de 2023, a las 9:15 de la mañana en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que ha sido liberado por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Arecibo,
en el caso de epígrafe con fecha de 3 de agosto de 2023, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el veinte (20) del Plano de Inscripción de la Proyecto de Vivienda a bajo Costo denominado “PRHA” setenta “PRHA70” radicado en el Barrio Coto del término municipal de Arecibo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos cincuenta y cuatro punto cuarenta y y cinco (354.45 m.c.) metros cuadrados, en lindes por el NORTE, con Solar diez (10); por el SUR, Calle A; por el ESTE, Solar veintiuno (21); y por el OESTE, Solares seis (6) y siete (7). Finca número 14,836, inscrita al folio 31 del tomo 371 de Arecibo. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Arecibo. Dirección de la Propiedad: #124 (20) B St., Reparto San Juan Dev., Arecibo, PR 00612. La subasta se llevará a cabo para satisfacer, hasta donde alcance, el importe de las cantidades adeudadas a la parte demandante conforme a la sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: de $77,111.99 en concepto de principal con interés al 5.060% anual, hasta su total y completo pago, los cuales continúan acumulándose, así como la cantidad líquida estipulada en los documentos del préstamo para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en caso de reclamación judicial y que correspondan a intereses y cargos por demora posterior a dicha fecha, y la suma de $15,300.00 equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original pactada, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; más recargos acumulados hasta la fecha en que se pague la deuda; más cualquiera suma de dinero por concepto de contribuciones, primas de seguro hipotecario y riesgo, así como cualesquiera otras sumas pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura número 12 otorgada el día 14 de diciembre de 2012, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, ante la Notario Público Dinorah Collazo Ortiz y consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Arecibo, finca número 14,836, Registro de la Propiedad de Arecibo, Sección I de Arecibo. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus
de segregación desde el punto número cuarenta y cuatro (44) hasta el punta número cuarenta y cinco (45) en una distancia de doce punto quinientos sesenta y siete (12.567) metros rumbo norte nueve (9) grados cincuenta y cinco (55) minutos ocho (8) segundos este. Inscrita al folio doscientos cincuenta y nueve (259) del Tomo ciento ochenta y cuatro (184) de Canóvanas, finca ocho mil nueve cientos noventa y tres (8993), Registro de Carolina, Sección III. SE LES APERCIBE que, de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en Carolina, Puerto Rico. A 16 día de agosto de 2023. LCDA. KANELLY
ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DENISSE TORRES RUIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
WILMINGTON SAVINGS
FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR FINANCE OF AMERICA STRUCTURED SECURITIES
ACQUISITION TRUST 2019-HB1
Demandante Vs. SUCESION IVETTE
MARGARITA TORRES
ESPINOSA T/C/C IVETTE TORRES ESPINOSA
T/C/C IVETTE TORRES
T/C/C IVETTE M. TORRES ESPINOSA
COMPUESTA POR IRMA
AMARILYS BERMUDEZ
TORRES; JOHN DOE
Y JANE DOE COMO
POSIBLES HEREDEROS
DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Demandados
Civil Núm.: CA2022CV00973.
Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: LA PARTE
DEMANDADA, AL (A
LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO
Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, el 2 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Villas de Loiza, situado en el barrio Canóvanas del municipio de Canóvanas, Puerto Rico, marcado con el número treinta y dos (#32) del bloque “S”, con un área de DOSCIENTOS TREINTA PUNTO CERO, CERO (230.00) metros cuadrados; En lindes por el NORTE, en diez punto cero, cero (10.00) metros con la calle numero veinte (#20); por el SUR, en diez punto cero, cero (10.00) metros, con los solares número (#4) y cinco (5); por el ESTE, en veintitrés (23.00) metros con el solar treinta y tres (#33); por el OESTE, en veintitrés punto cero, cero (23.00) metros, con el solar número treinta y uno (#31). Enclava una casa. Inscrita al folio 169 del tomo 101 de Canóvanas, finca 5,399, Registro de la Propiedad de Carolina, Sección III. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al folio 21 del tomo 426 de Canóvanas, finca 5,399, Registro de la Propiedad de Carolina, Sección III, inscripción 4ª. Propiedad localizada en: VILLAS DE LOIZA, S-32 CALLE 20, CANOVANAS, PUERTO RICO 00729. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $169,500.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 26 de agosto de 2091. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutan-
te antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $169,500.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, el 10 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $113,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $84,750.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, el 17 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $114,684.79 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $19,704.85 en intereses acumulados al 31 de agosto de 2022 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 5.250% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $6,951.60 en seguro hipotecario; $4,140.00 en tarifas de servicio; $425.00 de tasaciones; $220.00 de inspecciones; $1,797.50 en honorarios de abogado; $181.00 en otros adelantos; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $16,950.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado, esta última habrá de devengar intereses al máximo del tipo legal fijado por la oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras aplicable a esta fecha, desde este mismo día hasta su total y completo saldo. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles
en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy 15 de agosto de 2023.
JOSÉ R. CRISTÓBAL, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. GRETCHEN M. JEREZ SEDA, ALGUACIL PLACA #568.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CRÉDITO
HERMANOS UNIDOS
Demandante V. PAN AMERICAN FINANCIAL CORPORATION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV07366. Sala: 803. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.
A: JOHN DOE / RICHARD DOE.
Quedan notificados que la demandante de epígrafe ha radicado en este Tribunal una Demanda contra ustedes como co-demandados en la que se solicita la cancelación por la vía judicial de un Pagaré hipotecario extraviado a favor de Pan American Financial Corporation, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $23,000.00 e intereses al 8.25% anual y vencimiento el día 1ro de septiembre de 2017, mediante la Escritura Número 36 otorgada en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico ante el notario público Pedro Díaz García. El descrito Pagaré hipotecario grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación:
URBANA: El Embalse (PRHA20) San José de Sabana Llana. Solar: C-34. Cabida: 250.48 metros cuadrados. Linderos: NORTE, con el solar C-33, en una distancia de 22.83 metros. SUR, con el solar C-33, en una distancia de 22.83 metros. ESTE, con la calle número 31, en una distancia de 10.97 metros. OESTE, con el solar C-7, en una distancia de 10.97 metros. Consta inscrita al folio
inscrita al folio móvil del tomo 977 de Sabana Llana, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección V de San Juan, finca número 32374, inscripción 4ta. Se les advierte que el presente Edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y se le requiere para que contesten la Demanda de epígrafe dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación del edicto, radicando el original de su contestación en el Tribunal correspondiente y notificando con copia de la misma a la parte demandante a la siguiente dirección:
BUFETE APONTE & CORTES
LCDA. ERIKA MORALES MARENGO PO Box 195337 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-5337 Tel. (787) 302-0014 / (787) 239-5661
Email: emarengo@apontecortes.com
Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio. Se le apercibe que de no hacerlo, el tribunal podrá dictar Sentencia en rebeldía concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy día 14 de agosto de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARÍA I. RÍOS LÓPEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE MANATÍ FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESION DE FRANCISCO MARTINEZ SANTIAGO, COMPUESTA POR FRANCISCO MARTINEZ MORENO, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS, Y LA SUCESION DE MILAGROS RODRIGUEZ CRUZ, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS, ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA POR CONDUCTO DEL FISCAL FEDERAL DE LA CORTE DE DISTRITO DE ESTADOS UNIDOS PARA EL DISTRITO DE PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: AR2022CV01266. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA
Y COBRO. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Manatí, 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 $69,954.94 de balance principal, los intereses adeudados sobre dicho principal y computados al 5.50% anual hasta su total pago y completo pago desde el primero de octubre de 2021; cargos por demora devengados, más la suma estipulada de $7,605.78 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 doscientos cincuenta (250) en el plano de parcelación de la comunidad rural Cotto Norte del territorio municipal de Manatí, con una cabida superficial de cero punto dos cinco ocho uno (0.2581) cuerdas, equivalentes a uno cero uno cuatro punto tres uno (1014.31) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, con parcela número doscientos cuarenta y cinco (245) de la comunidad; por el Sur, con la carretera estatal seiscientos setenta (670); por el este, con la parcela número doscientos cincuenta y uno de la comunidad; y por el oeste, con la parcela doscientos cuarenta y nueve (249) de la comunidad. Inscrita al folio ciento noventa y cinco (195) del tomo doscientos dieciséis (216) de Manatí, finca número nueve mil quinientos ochenta y cuatro (9,584), Registro de la Propiedad de Manatí. Dirección Física: 13 Marginal St., Parcelas Marquez, Manati, PR 00674. Dicha propiedad se encuentra afecta a el siguiente gravamen
posterior: EMBARGO: Estados Unidos de América contra M. Rodriguez Cruz, notificación número 358779619, seguro social xxx-xx-8941 por la suma de $21,953.46, de fecha 9 de mayo de 2019, anotado al sistema Karibe bajo Asiento 2019-004739-FED, presentado el 17 de junio de 2019. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de
$76,057.75 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 26 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $50,705.17. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 2 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $38,028.87. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. 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 Manatí, Puerto Rico, a 16 de agosto de de 2023. WILFREDO RODRÍGUEZ CARRIÓN, ALGUACIL CONFIDENCIAL PLACA #135, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE MANATÍ.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE HUMACAO PALMAS DEL MAR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
Parte Demandante Vs. FERNANDO E. HERNÁNDEZ HUERTAS Y MARIELA SANTIAGO ROSARIO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Parte Demandada (23-00077)
Civil Núm.: HU2023CV01067. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.
A: FERNANDO E. HERNÁNDEZ HUERTAS Y MARIELA SANTIAGO ROSARIO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS. POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza y requiere para que notifique a:
GONZÁLEZ & MORALES LAW OFFICES, LLC PO BOX 10242
HUMACAO, PR 00792
TELÉFONO: (787) 852-4422
FACSÍMIL: (787) 285-4425
Email: jrg@gonzalezmorales.com abogados de la parte demandante, cuya dirección es la que deja indicada, con copia de su Contestación a la Demanda, copia de la cual le es servida en este caso, dentro de los TREINTA (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando
la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Debe saber que en caso de no hacerlo así podrá dictarse Sentencia en Rebeldía en contra suya, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 15 de agosto de 2023.
IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVELISSE M. MONCLOVA CRUZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA
ELSA LOPEZ CRESPO
Demandante V. UNITED MORTGAGE CORPORATION, JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y CUALQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA
Demandado(a)
Civil: GM2023CV00252. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: UNITED MORTGAGE CORPORATION, JUAN Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO.
(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de agosto de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia
Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha
de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 21 de agosto de 2023. En Guayama, Puerto Rico, el 21 de agosto de 2023. MARISOL ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. LUZ MARÍA GUZMÁN SANTIAGO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA
TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. CESAR DAVID LUGO DE JESUS, JOHN DOE
Demandado(a)
Civil: Núm. BY2023CV02278.
SALA: 503. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO POR LA VIA JUDICIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: CESAR DAVID LUGO DE JESUS; JOHN
DOE COMO TENEDOR DESCONOCIDO DEL PAGARE.
(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 11 de agosto de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 18 de agosto de 2023. En BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, el 18 de agosto de 2023.
LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, SECRETARIA. IVETTE
M. MARRERO BRACERO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V HEBE LIDUVINA BRENES FELICIANO y la SUCESIÓN DE ALBERTO MANUEL TOSSAS VEGA, compuesta por su esposa Hebe Liduvina Brenes Feliciano; ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Demandados
CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2019CV02656.
SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia notificado por el Tribunal el día 16 de agosto de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con la letra C de la Urbanización Regional en el Barrio Hato Rey municipalidad de San Juan, compuesto de 227.43 metros cuadrados; colinda por el Norte, en 7.54 metros con la calle Ponce, por el Sur, en 7.56 metros con la Universidad de Puerto Rico; por el Oeste, en 30.37 metros con el solar D y por el Oeste, en 30.26 metros, con el solar B. Enclava: Se está construyendo una casa de concreto. La casa anteriormente descrita tiene únicamente en común con las casas edificadas en los solares D y B paredes medianeras en sus latos Este y Oeste respectivamente”. Dirección física de la propiedad: 78 C Ponce St., Urbanización Pérez Moris, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Inscrita al folio 71 del tomo 1485 (ágora) de San Juan, finca núm. 24109 del Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección Segunda. La propiedad está ubicada, según pagaré, en: 78C Ponce St., Pérez Morris Dev., (Hato Rey Ward), San Juan, PR 00917. Además, el Alguacil que suscribe, hago saber a todos los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las
personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surjan de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante:
Aviso de Demanda de fecha 26 de marzo de 2019, expedido en el Centro Judicial de San Juan, en el Caso Civil número SJ2019CV02656, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Alberto Manuel Tossas Vega, Hebe Liduvina Brenes Feliciano y la sociedad legal de bienes gananciales compuesta por ambos, por la suma de $234,711.11, anotado el día 29 de marzo de 2019, al tomo Karibe de Sabana Llana, finca número 24,109, Anotación A. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 19 de mayo de 2023, archivada en autos y notificada el 19 de mayo de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber, la suma de $234,711.11 de principal, más intereses a razón de 3.500% anual desde el día 1 de septiembre de 2018, hasta su total y completo pago, más las contribuciones, recargos y primas de seguro adeudados y los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $26,559.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados (“Sentencia”). La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA subasta se llevará a efecto el día 25 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $265,590.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 3 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $177,060.00, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la
PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 11 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $132,795.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase 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 de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO,
en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de agosto de 2023. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. DAMIÁN PEÑA HERRERA, POR SÍ Y POR CONCEPTO DE USUFRUCTO VIUDAL; SUCESIÓN DE SILVERIA DEL ORBE JOSE, COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS YOHANNNY DE LA CRUZ DEL ORBE, JEHAN CARLOS DE LA CRUZ DEL ORBE, AQUILES DE LA CRUZ DEL ORBE, Y JUAN DEL ORBE; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (C.R.I.M.)
Demandados
CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2022CV04210.
SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia notificado por el Tribunal el día 16 de agosto de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número cuarenta y cuatro guión A (44-A) en el Plano de Parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Hill Brothers del Barrio Sabana Llana (Sector Río Piedras) del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de cero punto ochocientos siete (0.807) cuerdas, equivalentes a trecientos diecisiete punto treinta y dos (317.32) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la calle número dieciocho (18) de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la pared número cuarenta y cinco guión A (45-A) de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con la parcela núme-
ro cuarenta y cuatro (44) de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con la parcela número cuarenta y cuatro guión B (44-B) de la comunidad. Inscrita en la finca número 26,677, al folio 248 del tomo 668 de Sabana Llana. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección V de San Juan. La propiedad está ubicada, según pagaré, en: 44-A 18 St. Hill Brothers, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00924. Además, el Alguacil que suscribe, hago saber a todos los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surjan de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante: Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de El Municipio de San Juan, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $42,000.00, sin intereses, vencedero en 20 años, constituida mediante la escritura número 342, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 2 de octubre de 2006, ante el notario Rey Javier De León Colón, e inscrita al folio 27 del tomo 1007 de Sabana Llana, finca número 26,677, inscripción 6ta. Sujeta a Condiciones Restrictivas por el término de 20 años. Aviso de Demanda del día 23 de mayo de 2022, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, en el Caso Civil número SJ2022CV04210, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecucion de Hipoteca, seguido por el Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Damian Peña Herrera y su esposa Silveria Del Orbe José y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos, por la suma de $69,341.48 de principal mas otras sumas, anotado el día 30 de mayo de 2022, al tomo Karibe de Sabana Llana, finca número 26,677, Anotación A. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 14 de junio de 2023, archivada en autos y notificada el 16 de junio de 2023, y publicada en periódico de circulación general, “The San Daily Star”, el 23 de junio de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber, la suma de $69,341.48 por concepto de principal; ge-
nerando intereses a razón de 6.00% desde el 1ro de enero de 2020; cargos por demora los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, y la suma de $9,135.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente (“Sentencia”). La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA subasta se llevará a efecto el día 25 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $91,350.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 3 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $60,900.00, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 11 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $45,675.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase 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 de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se
pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate.
EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de agosto de 2023. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
Plaintiff, V. CARMEN IRIS VEGAHOYOS, ET AL., Defendants
CIVIL NO. 19-2074 (DRD).
JUDGMENT BY DEFAULT
Upon Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment, and it appearing from the records on file in this proceeding that default was entered by the Clerk of this Court upon Defendants for failure to answer or otherwise plead in this case, the Plaintiff is entitled to a Judgment by Default, and the Court being fully advised, hereby ORDERS, ADJUDGES, AND DECREES: On November
19, 2019, Plaintiff filed the instant complaint against Defendants for Defendant’s non-compliance with the terms and conditions of a loan and mortgage deed in the amount of ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-ONE
THOUSAND THREE HUN-
DRED EIGHTY-FIVE DOLLARS ($131,385.00), executed on March 31, 2008.
Defendants were served pursuant to, and in compliance with the applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On August 16, 2023, Plaintiff and Codefendant, Carmen Iris Vega Hoyos filed “Stipulation for entry of Partial Judgment between Plaintiff GITSIT Solutions, LLC and Codefendant Carmen Vega Hoyos”. Codefendants, Manuel De Jesus Álvarez Echevarría, Susana Altagracia Álvarez Echevarría, Celeste Aida Álvarez Echevarría, Minor K.N.A.D., Minor M.N.A.P., as members of the Estate of Manuel Ramón Álvarez Arias, Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales and United States of America failed to appear, plead or answer the complaint. Plaintiff’s motion for judgment includes all the evidence necessary to prove the allegations of the complaint. That evidence and the information included in this case are sufficient for the Court to enter judgment. On March 31, 2008, for value received, a mortgage note payable to Associates International Holdings Corporation h/n/c/ Citifinancial, or its order, was executed before Notary Public Adela Surillo Gutierrez, affidavit number 19,153. The mortgage note in the principal sum of ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE DOLLARS ($131,385.00), repayable with an interest rate of twelve point thirty five percent (12.035%). The interest rate was lowered to 5.004% per internal agreement. The principal and interests due under the mortgage note are payable in monthly installments. The mortgage note provides for the payment of late charges in the amount of 5% of each and every monthly installments not received by the person entitled to enforce the instrument within 15 days after the installment is due, and for the payment of 10% of the original principal balance, or $13,138.50 to cover costs, expenses and attorney’s fees in the event the person entitled to enforce the instrument is required to seek judicial collection. As guarantee of the repayment obligation evidenced by the Mortgage Note, Defendant also executed on March 31, 2008, Mortgage Deed number 39 before Notary Public Adela Surillo Gutierrez, to secure the repayment of (a) the indebtedness evidenced by the mortgage note, (b) an amount of 10% of the original principal balance, or $13,138.50 to cover cost, expenses and attorney’s fees in the event of judicial collection, (c) an amount of 10% of the original principal balance,
or $13,138.50 to cover any advances made under the mortgage deed, and (d) an amount of 10% of the original principal balance, or $13,138.50 to cover interests in addition to those secured by law. The mortgage is recorded at the overleaf of page 92 of volume 1,140 of Santurce Norte, property number 7,218, Registry of the Property of Puerto Rico, Section I of San Juan, 20th inscription. The mortgage deed encumbers the property described below in the Spanish language: URBANA: Solar radicado en el sitio conocido con el nombre de Barrio Obrero de San Juan, Puerto Rico, marcado con el número cinco de la Calle ocho del plano de Urbanización trazado por el Departamento del Interior, titulado Plano Demostration de la Progresión del Barrio Obrero, que Tiene una superficie de ciento cincuenticinco metros cuadrados, colindando por el Frente, en una extensión de diez metros con la calle número ocho; por el derecha entrando, en una extension de quince metros cuarenta centímetros con el solar número siete de la calle ocho; por el izquierda entrando, en una extensión de quince metros sesenta centímetros con el solar número tres de la calle ocho; y por el fondo, en una extensión de diez metros con el solar número seis de la calle siete. Enclava casa terrera de madera y techada de zinc, según la inscripción 3ra Property number 7218, recorded at page 174 of volume 45 of Santurce Norte, Registry of the Property of San Juan, Section I. GITSIT Solutions, LLC, is the person entitled to enforce the mortgage note pursuant to 19 L.P.R.A. Sec. 601. It was expressly stipulated in the mortgage note and in the mortgage that default in the payment of the monthly installments or failure to comply with the covenants or agreements included in the mortgage note and/or the mortgage deed would authorize the person entitled to enforce the instrument to declare due and payable, and to proceed with the execution or foreclosure of the mortgage. The last payment made by the defendant under the mortgage note was the payment due on April 15th, 2016. The Defendant has failed to comply with the terms of the mortgage note and the mortgage deed and have breached their duties to pay the monthly installments due since April 15th, 2016, until present day. GITSIT Solutions, LLC, has attempted without avail to collect the indebtedness evidenced by the mortgage note. The entire principal sum and accrued interests and expenses have become due and payable pursuant to the acceleration
clause of the mortgage and mortgage deed. After declaring all the indebtedness of the Defendants due and payable, GITSIT Solutions, LLC, is entitled to judgment as a matter of law against Defendants, in the following amounts: principal amount of $127,470.76, plus interest 5.004% per annum from March 15, 2016, until the debt is paid in full. Late charges in the amount of 5% of each and every monthly installment not received by the person entitled to enforce the instrument within 15 days after the installment was due, until the debt is paid in full. All advances made under the mortgage note, including, but not limited to, insurance premiums, taxes and inspections, as well as 10% of the original principal balance, or $13,138.50 to cover costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligation. In default of the payment of the summons specified or any part of them, within ten (10) days from the date of entry of judgment, the property, pursuant to Plaintiff’s request, and with the purpose of collecting the monies due pursuant to the mortgage note, the mortgage deed and this judgment shall be sold to its highest bidder at a public auction or judicial sale, by the United States Marshal for this district or the Special Master to be appointed by this Court. The United States Marshal or the Special Master shall conduct the sale of the property in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 2001 and 2002. The amount of $131,385.00. as set forth in the mortgage deed, shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the first public sale. Should the first public sale fail to produce an award or adjudication, two-thirds (2/3) of the amount of the first public sale or $87,590.00 shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the second public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the second public sale, the minimum bidding amount for the third public sale shall be $65,692.50, equivalent to half (1/2) the amount set for the first public sale. The United States Marshal or the Special Master shall issue the corresponding notice of sale to be published in a newspaper of general circulation. Once the order of confirmation of the sale is entered, the United States Marshal or the Special Master will execute the corresponding deed of judicial sale vesting title of the property to the purchaser, who shall be entitled to the delivery of the property and its physical possession. Possession may be obtained by evicting the property’s occupant without the need of further order of this Court. Plaintiff may apply to this
Court for those additional orders as it may deem advisable to its interest, in accordance with the terms of this judgment. The Clerk shall issue all writs necessary to enforce and execute the judgment. THIS CASE IS NOW CLOSED FOR ALL ADMINISTRATIVE AND STATISTICAL PURPOSES. IT IS SO ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, on this 18th day of August, 2023. S/Daniel R. Domínguez Daniel R. Domínguez United States District Judge.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR CAROLINA PC 2018-1 LLC Demandante v. PREFERRED MORTGAGE CORPORATION, HOME MORTGAGE COMPANY, BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, STANWICH MORTGAGE ACQUISITION COMPANY LLC; EVELYN LÓPEZ ÁLAMOY CARMEN ÁLAMO RODRÍGUEZ; FULANO DETAL Y FULANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ
Demandado(a)
CIVIL: CA2023CV01780 (404) SOBRE: SUSTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: HOME MORTGAGE COMPANY; FULANO DETAL Y FULANA DETAL COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto).
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 18 de agosto de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del
término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de agosto de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 21 de agosto de 2023. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, Secretaria. MYRIAM l. FIGUEROA PASTRANA, Secretaria Auxiliar.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ IOCP PROPERTIES, LLC , MAGALI ARILL MIRANDA
Parte Demandante Vs. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO, FIRST BANK DE PUERTO RICO, DOE Y RICHARD DOE
Pate Demandada
Civil Núm.: MZ2023CV01022. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. EDICTO.
A: JANE DOE Y RICHARD DOE. Se le apercibe que la parte demandante por mediación de la Lcdo . José F. Giraud Mejías, P. O. Box 277, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681, Tel. 787-265-0334, ha radicado la acción de epígrafe en su contra. Copia de la demanda, emplazamiento y del presente edicto le ha sido enviado por correo a su última dirección conocida. Puede usted obtener mayor información sobre el asunto revisando los autos en el Tribunal. Se le apercibe que tiene usted un término de treinta (30) días para radicar contestación a dicha demanda de cobro de dinero y/o cualquier escrito que estime usted conveniente pero que de no radicarse escrito alguno ante el Tribunal dentro de dicho término el Tribunal procederá a ventilar el procedimiento sin más citarle ni oírle. Dada en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy 14 de agosto de 2023. ALEXANDRA MARIE LÓPEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN GERMÁN
COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CRÉDITO DE CABO ROJO
Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN ANA C. VARGAS SEPÚLVEDA, SUCESIÓN GUALBERTO GONZÁLEZ MIRANDA COMPUESTA
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: SG2021CV00241.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.
Se le apercibe que la parte demandante por mediación del Lcdo. Rafael Fabre Colón, P.O. Box 277, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681, Tel. 787-265-0334, ha radicado la acción de epígrafe en su contra. Copia de la demanda, emplazamientos y del presente edicto le ha sido enviado por correo a la última dirección conocida. Pueden ustedes obtener mayor información sobre el asunto revisando los autos en el Tribunal. Se le apercibe que tiene usted un término de treinta (30) días para radicar contestación a dicha demanda de cobro de dinero y/o cualquier escrito que estime usted conveniente a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal de epígrafe, pero que de no radicarse escrito alguno ante el Tribunal dentro de dicho término el Tribunal procederá a ventilar el procedimiento sin más citarle ni oírle. Dada en San Germán, Puerto Rico, hoy 15 de agosto de 2023. LIC. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA REGIONAL II, SECRETARIA GENERAL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN GERMÁN. LYDIA SANTIAGO MORALES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
DEMANDANTE VS. LA SUCESIÓN DE LA FINADA LUZ MARIA
PASSAPERA RIVERA
TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA
COMO LUZ MARIA
PASSAPERA Y COMO
LUZ MARIA MORALES, COMPUESTA POR FERNANDO MORALES PASSAPERA, LOURDES MORALES PASSAPERA, GLADYS MORALES PASSAPERA, JANE DOE, JOHN DOE (HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS); ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO Y CRIM DEMANDADO (A) CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2022CV01916. SALA: 508. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTOS.
A: JANE DOE, JOHN DOE (HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS). COMO HEREDEROS DE LA FINADA LUZ MARIA PASSAPERA RIVERA TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO LUZ MARIA PASSAPERA Y COMO LUZ MARIA MORALES; JANE DOE, JOHN DOE (HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS), COMO HEREDEROS DE LA FINADA LUZ MARIA PASSAPERA RIVERA TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO LUZ MARIA PASSAPERA Y COMO LUZ MARIA MORALES. EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de agosto de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 21 de agosto de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 21 de agosto de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARTHA ALMODÓVAR CABRERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
FIFA, the soccer world’s governing body, said Saturday that it had provisionally suspended Luis Rubiales, president of Spain’s soccer federation, amid an investigation that he forcibly kissed player Jennifer Hermoso after Spain’s Women’s World Cup victory last Sunday.
In a statement, FIFA said Rubiales would be suspended “from all football-related activities” at national and international levels for an initial period of 90 days, starting Saturday. The body also ordered Rubiales and the soccer federation he chairs to refrain from contacting Hermoso, a star forward on Spain’s winning national team.
The decision came less than a day after Spain’s soccer federation said it would stand by Rubiales, who has insisted he did nothing wrong to Hermoso, and threatened legal action to protect the reputation of its president.
Rubiales’ kiss at the Women’s World Cup medals ceremony in Australia — broadcast live to millions — cast a pall over the Spanish team’s celebrations, drawing attention away from a proud national moment and toward a legacy of sexism scandals in Spanish soccer.
“I felt vulnerable and the victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out-of-place act without any consent on my part,” Hermoso said in a statement Friday, adding she had initially faced pressure to downplay Rubiales’ actions.
Many thought Rubiales, who during a speech called the kiss a consensual “peck,” would resign, putting an end to the controversy. His refusal to do so fueled outrage in a country that views the fight against sexism as a societal priority.
Spain’s main union of professional female soccer players, several Spanish soccer clubs and leading politicians, including government ministers, have condemned Rubiales’ behavior and called for him to step down. And Saturday, 11 members of the women’s team coaching staff said in a statement that they were resigning “in the face of the unacceptable attitudes and declarations” of Rubiales.
The same day, Spain’s top sporting body filed a formal complaint against Rubiales — who is also a vice president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body — in an administrative court that handles sporting disputes, accusing him of abusing his authority and violating public sports decorum.
“We are ready for this to be the #MeToo of
Spanish football and for this to be a change,” Víctor Francos Díaz, who directs Spain’s National Sports Council, told reporters Friday before filing the complaint.
Both the kiss and the federation’s forceful defense of its embattled president have prompted debate over a history of accusations of misogyny in Spanish soccer. The previous head coach of the women’s national soccer team, Ignacio Quereda, served for 27 years before being ousted amid allegations of sexism.
“This situation has caused structural damage not only to women’s soccer, but also to sport in general and to the values it transmits to society,” said Dolors Ribalta Alcalde, a specialist in women’s soccer at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona.
But in a statement released late Friday, Spain’s soccer federation pushed back, vowing to take “as many legal actions as are appropriate in defense of the president’s honor” in response to Hermoso’s account of the incident. Spanish media reported that the federation Saturday afternoon released a second statement — that was later removed from its website — in which it accused Hermoso of “distorting reality.”
The federation’s defensive stance seemed to match that of its president, who, in a speech delivered at a federation meeting earlier Friday, argued that the kiss had been “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and consensual.” He accused his detractors of practicing “false feminism” in an attempt to tear him
down, drawing applause from the mostly male audience.
Rubiales said Hermoso, as she lined up onstage to collect her medal, “was the one who lifted me in her arms and brought me close to her body.” Then, according to Rubiales’s account, he asked if he could give her a small kiss and she said, “Vale,” or “OK.”
Hermoso is widely regarded as one of the best forwards in women’s soccer today, and she holds the record for the number of goals scored with the Spanish national team. She initially downplayed the kiss, saying it had been a “spontaneous mutual gesture.”
But she added in her statement Friday that she had been under pressure from the Spanish soccer federation “to give a testimony that had little or nothing to do with my feelings.” In a postmatch video, she could be heard voicing her distaste: “Hey, but I didn’t like that!”
Rubiales has also been criticized after video appeared to show him grabbing his genitals with both hands to celebrate Spain’s victory. (He later apologized.)
A career soccer player raised in Grenada, Rubiales never became a household name. But he eventually rose through the ranks off the field — first becoming the chief of the Spanish players association in 2010 and eventually federation head in 2018.
Many in Spain — including in its vaunted soccer community — denounced Rubiales’ actions and issued public statements of solidarity. Players on the Spanish women’s team,
along with dozens of others, have said they will refuse to play for the national squad until “the current leaders,” including Rubiales, are gone.
Xavi Hernández, coach of FC Barcelona, said during a pregame news conference Saturday that Rubiales’ behavior was “totally unacceptable” and “inadmissible.” Jorge Vilda, coach of the women’s team, told the EFE news agency late Saturday that he deeply regretted “the improper behavior” of Rubiales.
Politicians across the political spectrum also fiercely criticized Rubiales.
“Mr. Rubiales still does not understand where he is or what he has done,” Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s labor minister, said on social media. “You should resign now and save us the embarrassment.”
A soccer match dedicated to Rubiales was canceled in Motril, his hometown, by local authorities to head off potential disturbances.
In its statement released Friday, Spain’s soccer federation provided four images of the embrace, asserting that they were visual proof of Rubiales’ version of events. In another statement released Saturday, the federation took note of Rubiales’ suspension by FIFA, saying he would step away and use the “opportunity to begin his defense.”
Ribalta described Rubiales’ behavior — the kiss and his response to the outcry — as the culmination of years of mistreatment of female players.
Spain’s women’s national team long lacked elite training facilities and even jerseys designed to be worn by women. Most recently, 15 players revolted last year against Vilda and the federation, complaining of outdated training methods and controlling behavior.
“We’ve reached a key moment when changes need to be implemented,” Ribalta said.
For two years, Novak Djokovic has been dreaming about New York City. He has had plenty of success here, winning the U.S. Open three times. It’s where he made one of his most famous shots, returning Roger Federer’s serve with a walloping forehand when he was down double-match point in their semifinal in 2011.
His mind, though, has been stuck on one of his lowest moments, just before the end of his disappointing loss in the 2021 U.S. Open singles final against Daniil Medvedev.
Djokovic was one win away from just about the only thing he has not accomplished in his career — becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four Grand Slams in a single year. He sat in his chair on the sideline before the final game listening to the crowd of 23,000 in Arthur Ashe Stadium, who had long mostly cheered for his beloved opponents, roaring for him instead. He sobbed into a towel.
He knew that New York crowds appreciated seeing greatness and history. He had felt and heard them pulling for him as soon as he walked onto the court, and they were still there for him as he sat on the edge of defeat.
“I fell in love with the New Yorkers and New York in a completely different way that day,” Djokovic said during an interview on a quiet Wednesday evening in the player garden outside the stadium.
After missing the tournament last year because of his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Djokovic is finally back at the U.S. Open. Like his collection of Grand Slam singles titles, now numbering 23 and the most of any man, the love he felt that Sunday two years ago seems only to have grown, on both sides.
“I cannot wait to have Novak back in
New York,” tournament director Stacey Allaster said at a recent news conference.
Djokovic has always been a gladiator on the court. He roars, pounds his chest, returns taunts from fans and smashes the occasional racket. He got himself defaulted from the 2020 U.S. Open when he swatted a ball in anger and inadvertently hit a line judge.
But now, at 36, he has grown into being relaxed and introspective off it. While he has no shortage of pointed political stances, which he does not hide, he also apologizes for being late, makes fun of himself and is easy with a smile. He wants people to like him, and he isn’t afraid to admit it.
The public has seen more of the latter since Djokovic overtook Federer and Rafael Nadal, his longtime rivals, in the race for the most Grand Slam singles titles at the French Open in June.
Much has changed since Djokovic last came close to winning here. He has become the elder legend of the sport and solidified his status as the greatest player of the modern era. Federer is retired. Nadal is recovering from surgery and on the edge of retirement. Carlos Alcaraz, a 20-year-old Spanish upstart long touted as the sport’s next big thing, has emerged ahead of schedule to fulfill every lofty expectation. He is the defending champion and the
world No 1.
Djokovic prevailed in their first match at the French Open, where Alcaraz succumbed to stress-induced cramping, but lost in five thrilling sets in the Wimbledon final. Maybe it was a torch-passing moment. Maybe not. Either way, Djokovic is enjoying himself. Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner of Italy and Holger Rune of Denmark, he said, are members of a generation that unapologetically believes it is capable of beating him to win big tournaments. They are bold, and he loves that.
“My role nowadays is to prevent them from that,” he said with the sly grin that has become a late-career trademark.
He can remember when he was one of them, in his late teens and early 20s, showing up in New York and, like many players before him, being blown away by the size and energy of the city. For a kid from a mountain town in the Balkans, even one who had traveled throughout Europe for tennis, it was a lot.
On his first visit, he stayed with family friends in New Jersey, traveling through the Lincoln and Midtown tunnels every day to get to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Every time he sees a sign for the Midtown Tunnel, his thoughts drift back to the innocence of that first visit in 2003.
Now, he spends the week before the U.S. Open at a hotel in Manhattan, soaking in the energy of the city before moving with his wife and young children to a friend’s estate in Alpine, New Jersey. There, he switches into “lockdown mode”
and finds peace and serenity among the trees and nature, especially on the days between matches, when he will often practice with hitting partners there rather than trekking to Queens.
There is another advantage to that locale. Djokovic has heard plenty of stories in the locker room of players who have fallen victim to the pull of the New York night. Some of them involve his peers, and he may have even accompanied them to a club or two in an earlier life.
“I was lucky early on to have people around me that kept me at bay,” he said. “But I did have freedom to explore and go around. Let’s say that I did get to know New York at night as well.”
That will not happen this year, not with the memory of the loss to Alcaraz so fresh in his mind and the young Spaniard presenting a challenge equal to his greatest duels with Federer, Nadal and Andy Murray. After that Wimbledon loss, Djokovic put his rackets away for two weeks and headed for Croatia and Montenegro to vacation with his family in the mountains and waters that he knows so well. He pulled out of the National Bank Open in Toronto, citing fatigue.
The tennis schedule does not indulge regret and hindsight, though, and quickly it was time to begin preparing for the next quest, the tournaments that often unfold in the sweltering, late-summer humidity of Cincinnati and New York. He trained in the hottest times of European summer days. Then he did two more “big heat” workouts when he arrived in Cincinnati for the Western & Southern Open.
Good thing. Last Sunday’s final against Alcaraz was an enthralling slugfest that lasted nearly four hours. Djokovic won in a deciding-set tiebreaker after being pushed to the edge of heat stroke. Alcaraz cramped in the climactic moments. Djokovic called it one of the toughest mental and physical challenges of his career.
A grueling test like that wasn’t really a part of his U.S. Open prep plan, but the intent was to win the tournament. It always is.
“How you win and how long does it take, that’s something that’s unpredictable,” he said. “Better this way than losing a match like that, that’s for sure.”
Or, love and dreamy moment aside, the one that happened in New York the last time around. This year, he hopes, another kind of dream awaits.
Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.
Sudoku Rules:
Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9
Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9
Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9
Answers on page 30
Aries (Mar 21-April 20)
Today you could find that you’ve left something at home, perhaps a book or letter that you need. There’s no way around it, Aries, you’ll have to go back. This could make you late. Stay calm! This is a temporary irritation that will pass. Making yourself crazy over it will only stress you out. At lunch, treat yourself to a glass of wine or a soothing cup of tea.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Your love partner may be experiencing some minor conflicts with colleagues today, Aries, and may seem distant and preoccupied. The problem could well pass by tomorrow, but your friend isn’t likely to listen to any reassurance. Just make it clear that you’re there if needed and then do something else. Your beloved may have to come to terms with this alone.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
Paperwork involving money may need doing today, Gemini, and this could take you away from what you love most - working on your own projects and spending time with a love partner. Don’t get too crazy over it or you might make mistakes. Correcting those errors would eat up more time. Take care of it methodically and quickly and you’ll be able to get back to your life.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
An unhappy visitor, probably a woman, could come to your home today, Cancer. This person has a lot of anger right now and probably won’t make much of a conversationalist. If you can’t make your excuses, put on some music or perhaps a funny movie. You might be surprised at the results! Some soothing chords or a few laughs might accomplish wonders. Be clever!
Leo (July 24-Aug 23)
Have you been expecting an important letter, Leo? If so, it may not arrive for a while. If it doesn’t appear today, call the person who sent it and ask for a duplicate because the original could be lost in the mail. Better to have two copies than wait for one that will never come.
Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)
Money worries could have your nerves on edge, Virgo. It’s better to focus on doing what you have to do to resolve your difficulties than it is to waste time fretting over them. Your business head is operating at a high level today. If you stay focused, you can accomplish wonders. Formulate a plan of action and put it to work.
Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)
A lot of tedious paperwork is probably waiting for you, and you will want to get it done as quickly as possible. You might be distracted and irritated by everyone goofing off. Don’t worry about everyone else. Concentrate on your own work. You will only cause further irritation by getting upset with everyone. You will be done with your tasks when they’re just getting started on theirs!
Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)
Some facts that you may need for certain projects might prove elusive today, Scorpio. No matter what website or periodical you consult, you’ll probably come across some interesting stuff but not exactly what you’re looking for. If the task isn’t urgent, it might be a good idea to put it off for a bit. Otherwise you’ll spend too much time looking for the impossible.
Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)
You should pay attention to your dreams, Sagittarius, but tonight your subconscious might send you some garbled information that means next to nothing. If the message is obvious, pay attention to it, but if you have to perform too many mental gymnastics to discern what the symbols mean, they might mean nothing. Sometimes a dream is just a dream.
Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)
A miscommunication with a business or romantic partner might cause some ruffled feathers today, Capricorn. You can divert this by explaining the facts clearly whenever you give information. Make sure your partner understands what you’re saying before they go and act on it! For your own part, don’t be shy about asking what someone means. Remember, it’s better to ask a stupid question than make a dumb mistake!
Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)
Do you work with a lot of documents, Aquarius? If so, you might find today that some of the papers you need are missing. They might seem to have vanished into a black hole. Look everywhere, of course, but chances are that someone has them and isn’t aware of it. Don’t be too shy to ask people about the papers. You could save yourself a lot of unnecessary effort this way.
Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)
A missed communication - or miscommunication - with a romantic partner could find you waiting in the wrong place, Pisces. If you’re planning to get together with someone special tonight, make sure you get the full details of the location, including the exact address, cross street, and driving directions. Write it down! And don’t forget to note the time.
