Thursday Jan 18, 2024

Thursday, January 18, 2024

San Juan The

Star

Frontier Airlines to Open Crew Base at LMM International

DAILY 50¢

P5

AI Comes to Sanse

Leading Edge Tech to Be Part of Street Festival’s Security Plan for the First Time P5

Bills That Would Stiffen Penalties for Hit-and-Run Drivers Draw Mixed Response P4

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 16

How Much Ice Is Greenland Losing?

Researchers Found an Answer. P12

2 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING 3

January 18, 2024

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.

PREPA stops payments to Cobra because the firm owes taxes to towns

Today’s

Weather

By THE STAR STAFF

Day

Night

High

Low

85ºF

T

75ºF

Precip 15%

Precip 24%

Mostly Sunny

Few Clouds

Wind: From E 18 mph Humidity: 70% UV Index: 8 of 11 Sunrise: 6:59 AM Local Time Sunset: 6:09 PM Local Time

INDEX Local 3 Mainland 7 Business 10 International 12 Viewpoint 15 Noticias en Español 16 Entertainment 17 19 Health

Science Kitchen Travel Legals Sports Games Horoscope Cartoons

20 21 22 23 28 29 30 31

San JuanDAILY Star The

PO BOX 6537 CAGUAS PR 00726

sanjuanweeklypr@gmail.com FAX

(787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 (787) 743-5606

ing. Five towns that are owed money have not filed court petitions yet.

On Dec. 18, 2023, PREPA received an order he Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) says it would withhold payments to Cobra Ac- from the Humacao Superior Court requiring it to quisitions for work to reconstruct the power grid withhold $9 million from any payment otherwise due after it was destroyed in the 2017 hurricanes because to Cobra. The Humacao order relates to a motion to municipalities have filed lawsuits alleging that Cobra seize property to ensure satisfaction of a potential judgment against Cobra on a separate motion filed owes them taxes.

The information is contained in a status report by the Municipality of Maunabo against Cobra stemfiled by PREPA on Tuesday. For years, Cobra has been ming from an alleged unpaid debt of municipal and trying in court to obtain millions of dollars in pay- construction excise taxes. Accordingly, last Friday, ments from bankrupt PREPA for work it performed Jan. 12, PREPA deposited $9 million in a segregated to repair the power grid decimated by the 2017 bank account.

PREPA also said that as of Jan. 11 of this year, it hurricanes Irma and Maria. Payments to Cobra were delayed after criminal charges were filed against the is aware of 12 Puerto Rico Superior Court cases filed company’s former president, Donald Ellison, who against Cobra by different municipalities relating to ultimately pleaded guilty to offering gratuities to a the same claims for municipal and construction excise Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) taxes. As of Jan. 11, the municipalities of Las Piedras, administrator in exchange for a contract. They have Humacao and Caguas have filed motions in Puerto also been delayed because all the PREPA officials Rico Superior Court requesting orders requiring PREPA with the authority to approve the invoices left when to withhold from Cobra the total amounts, or about LUMA Energy took over PREPA’s transmission and $7 million, allegedly owed to each municipality.

On Jan. 12, the municipalities of Guayama, Cayey distribution system.

Now, PREPA is saying it will stop payments of and Yabucoa each filed a similar motion requesting approved unpaid invoices because of lawsuits filed the garnishment of funds otherwise owed to Cobra. by certain municipalities. Twelve towns allege they These three municipalities invoked having an already are owed a combined $70.4 million in separate perfected lien in their favor in the amounts allegedly cases for municipal and construction taxes. One of owed to them. The municipalities assert they are owed the municipalities has a judgment requiring PREPA a total of $18 million.

The towns of Gurabo, Salinas, Arroyo, Patillas to withhold $9 million from payment to Cobra. Six others have filed similar motions but they are pend- and Guaynabo have yet to file any motions in Puerto Rico court regarding the garnishment of funds.

“However, considering how the courts have already reacted to the previously mentioned municipalities, it is likely they will also request similar relief …” PREPA said. “Based on the foregoing, PREPA has informed the Oversight Board that it will withhold the release of any further funds otherwise distributable to Cobra.”

Cobra has said it is owed some $300 million Twelve towns allege they are owed a combined $70.4 million in separate cases for municipal in at least two contracts with the utility. and construction taxes not received from power grid repair contractor Cobra Acquisitions.

(787) 743-5100

4

Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Mother of hit-and-run victim testifies at House hearing on stiffer penalties

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Judiciary Committee of the island House of Representatives on Wednesday took up two measures that seek to impose harsher penalties for people convicted of “hit and run” accidents.

House Bill 1957 would amend the Vehicle and Traffic Act (Act 22- 2000) and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Reorganization Plan (2011) for the purpose of making the imposition of supervision mandatory and eliminating deferred bail for the crime of fleeing after an accident resulting in serious bodily harm or death to a person.

House Bill 1958 seeks to exclude probation or release to evidence as an alternative to extinguish the fixed sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment in such cases.

During the public hearing, the testimony of Jenniffer Rivera López, mother of hit-and-run victim Natalia Nicole Ayala Rivera, called for approval of both bills.

On Nov. 9, 2023, Carlos Julián Maldonado Dávila was sentenced to a 10-year suspended sentence for the hit and run that caused Ayala Rivera’s death.

“This person took my daughter’s life. He goes on the run after taking this life. He goes to a [police] barracks to make up a story … so that [he does] not [have to] take responsibility for what happened,” said Rivera López, who was accompanied by Edwin Ser-

“If he [hit-and-run driver Carlos Julián Maldonado Dávila] had taken another action to take responsibility, I wouldn’t be here,” said Jenniffer Rivera López, mother of fatal hit-andrun victim Natalia Nicole Ayala Rivera. (Tammy Olivencia) rallés, Ayala Rivera’s stepfather.

“If he had taken another action to take responsibility, I wouldn’t be here,” Rivera López said. “This is an accident that can happen to anyone, but it’s the action.”

Ariana Peña of the Traffic Safety Commission said she favored both pieces of legislation and agreed that they are analogous to the efforts of the agency.

“It is necessary to revisit and attend to the legal

provisions that regulate this type of traffic collision so that, by imposing more [responsibility] on [them], those people who, after being involved in a traffic accident, don’t leave the scene,” she said.

Yahaira Colón Rodríguez, director of the Special Affairs Division of the Puerto Rico Legal Aid Society, did not favor the approval of the measures.

“We believe that both bills have no justification or basis to continue aggravating the rule of law by promoting the prolonged incarceration of a citizen who can comply with his criminal responsibility and the consequences of the accused acts without having to be imprisoned,” Colón Rodríguez said in a written statement.

The attorney added that despite the state’s interest in safeguarding the safety of people who are victims of traffic accidents, the proposed measures do not advance the intention nor do they correctly address “hit and run” cases.

“Given the existence of more civilized alternatives than prolonged confinement to address regrettable situations in which any citizen may be involved, we cannot support the approval of legislative measures that from the beginning only seek excessive penalization and punishment,’’ she said. ‘’Crime and the need to improve the quality of life are social problems that cannot be solved by aggravating sentences or increasing our prison population.”

AFICA to issue $235 million in bonds to pay costs related to cruise terminal P3

By THE STAR STAFF

A

Puerto Rico government entity will issue $235 million in new bonds to finance capital improvements and transaction costs related to the public-private partnership (P3) agreement to develop and operate the San Juan cruise terminals.

The information is contained in a Jan. 11 letter from the Financial Oversight and Management Board to Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority Executive Director Omar Marrero Díaz.

“The Oversight Board understands that the Proposed Debt Transaction will finance capital improvements and transaction costs related to the public-private partnership agreement dated August 15, 2022 between the Puerto Rico Ports Authority and San Juan Cruise Port, LLC to privatize the San Juan cruise terminals for a term of 30 years,” the letter notes.

The issuance will be carried out by the Puerto Rico Industrial, Tourist, Educational, Medical, and Environmental Control Facilities Financing Authority (AFICA) for the benefit of the project’s private partner San Juan Cruise Port

LLC. Global Ports Holdings PLC is the parent company of San Juan Cruise Port LLC. Under the proposed transaction, AFICA will issue up to $235 million in federal tax-exempt Series 2023A bonds and taxable Series 2023B bonds. The AFICA bonds, along with cash equity funding provided by Global Ports Holdings PLC, will finance substantial repairs and new construction on cruise port piers 1, 3 and 4, and Pan American piers 1 and 2 and related buildings.

San Juan Cruise Port LLC will have full responsibility for repayment and collateral.

The P3 was signed by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority and San Juan Cruise Port LLC to operate San Juan’s cruise terminals for a term of 30 years.

The net proceeds of the AFICA bonds will be used to: pay a portion of the estimated $80.1 million rehabilitation and related costs of the initial investment projects, make a $72 million concession payment to the Ports Authority as required by the P3 agreement, and fund operating expenses and reserves for financing and legal costs of the AFICA bonds.

The oversight board also recently authorized the

Ports Authority to settle a $601 million claim with the Government Development Bank debt facility to help push forward the P3.

Under the proposed transaction, the Puerto Rico Industrial, Tourist, Educational, Medical, and Environmental Control Facilities Financing Authority will issue up to $235 million in bonds, which will finance, in part, substantial repairs and new construction on cruise port piers 1, 3 and 4, and Pan American piers 1 and 2 and related buildings.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

5

Mayor: For the first time, AI will be used in festival’s security plan

By THE STAR STAFF

S

an Juan Mayor Miguel A. Romero Lugo said the security plan, which for the first time will have artificial intelligence, will run from today to through Sunday, during the 54th edition of the San Sebastián Street Festival for the tranquility, order, and well-being of the residents, merchants, and attendees of the mass event.

A total of 1,350 police officers, made up of 550 municipal officers, 400 private officers from Génesis and Sheriff Security Services (100 armed and 300 unarmed), and 400 from the State Police, will be present on every street in Old San Juan. They will work 12-hour shifts to monitor property and platform areas and to support traffic controls and municipal public transportation stations.

The mayor said at a press conference that among the technology to reinforce surveillance of cultural activity, the city will have 30 “Tower Cams,” which have five cameras and a lamp per unit for a 360-degree view.

“The 30 ‘Tower Cams’ will be eco-friendly and powered by solar panels. If a failure occurs, they are supplied with a battery to continue operating,” Romero Lugo said. “They will be a visual complement to the 198 regular monitoring cameras in Old San Juan, covering surveillance with 375 cameras available to assist in the safety of attendees.”

As an avant-garde novelty in this edition of the festivities, for the first time, there will be use of 10 “call boxes” or emergency button stations, distributed throughout the squares and strategic points along Calle San Sebastián that will operate with artificial intelligence (AI) tools for operational efficiency and citizen protection.

The GENETEC video intelligence program is offered through all devices positioned throughout the walled city and in municipal transportation stations to facilitate quick responses and provide evidence for investigations if a situation arises.

The mayor said the incorporation of AI into San Juan’s video surveillance system will provide an additional layer of efficiency and security provided by active officers.

“This artificial intelligence that the Municipality of San Juan acquired at the cost of approximately $130,000 for its licenses and programming updates will be inaugurated at this event to help automatically detect suspicious behavior, pattern recognition, and early warnings of possible threats,” Romero Lugo said. “This technology will be used to optimize resource utilization by reducing false alarms. Its implementation in video surveillance positions San Juan at the technological forefront, highlighting its commitment to advanced security and the adoption of innovative solutions.”

After the San Sebastián Street Festival, this technology will be permanent in all the security cameras installed throughout the Capital City

that will be found in Market Square in Santurce and Jaime Benítez Park, to mention two, the mayor said.

All cameras equipped with the program will be monitored from three places such as the Carnegie Library, the Main Operations Center of the Municipal Police, and an external station created for the Municipal Police near Banco Popular.

Also, another technological advance to be used will be a specialized “DRONE” operated by a certified pilot from the San Juan Municipal Police. It will serve as an aerial ally for the entire field operation that the municipality has coordinated with state and federal agencies.

For the event, the Old San Juan units on bicycles and scooters will expand surveillance, while the Maritime Unit will use two boats, two “jet skis” and an inflatable boat, to make rounds at the Cataño boat crossing, the entrance to the bay and its nearby bodies of water. The Coast Guard will have a presence as an external resource to help with the boat crossing.

In addition, the uniformed Canine Unit (K-9) and the Technical Services Unit will be active to respond to any scene requiring documentation or evidence collection.

Because the festival is a mass activity, the FBI Terrorism Unit and municipal personnel will be available.

Additionally, the Municipal Police carried out a protocol in collaboration with the De-

partment of Community Social Development and the island Family Department to establish meeting points to address any situation with minors and older adults.

When transporting a person detained for any crime, a task force was designated to transfer the person to one of the barracks outside of La Isleta and continue the due process.

San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo

Frontier Airlines crew base to open at LMM International

By THE STAR STAFF

G

ov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia announced on Wednesday, after a meeting with Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle, that the airline will establish a new crew base at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan this June, which expands its presence on the island and will generate more than $80 million annually in local salaries.

Additionally, additional growth is expected in the coming years, through job creation and strengthening Puerto Rico’s connection with destinations nationwide, officials said. During the first year of operation at the base port, the airline plans to employ up to 90 pilots and 200 flight attendants, in addition to the employees it will have to work at the airport and maintain its aircraft.

“Tourism in Puerto Rico has had three years

of sustained growth and we continue to invest in the promotion of our island as a destination,” the governor said in a written statement along with

Tourism Company Executive Director Carlos Mercado. “The announcement by Frontier Airlines to open a crew base at the Luis Muñoz Marín

International Airport is more positive news for the development of our tourism industry. Frontier is betting on Puerto Rico by contributing to the creation of jobs and injection of funds into our economy, and it reflects the potential that Puerto Rico has for the establishment and development of this type of industry.”

Biffle expressed his gratitude to the government of Puerto Rico and the island’s tourism and commercial partners.

“Our 13th crew base in San Juan will provide a significant economic impact and new jobs for Puerto Ricans,” he said. “This base will also contribute to maintaining smooth flight operations, benefiting customers who will have access to our ‘Low Fares Done Right,’ as we continue to expand our operations in Puerto Rico.”

Frontier currently operates 14 non-stop routes from San Juan and offers flights to the Frontier Airlines’ expanded presence on the island will generate more than $80 milthree main airports on the island. lion annually in local salaries, officials said. (Gov. Pedro Pierluisi/Facebook)

6

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Arrest warrants executed for 60 suspected drug traffickers, violent criminals

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he authorities conducted an operation during the early hours of Wednesday to execute 60 arrest warrants and the filing of 231 charges against subjects alleged to be dedicated to drug trafficking, arms sales and violent crimes.

“Something that the police have done consistently since the beginning of my administration and that I have to mention, is identify, arrest and prosecute gunmen; we have already done that with over 400 gunmen in a matter of three years,” Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said at a press conference. “There’s one thing I’m sure of.

What has caused murders to drop substantially, reaching a level not seen in 40 years, is specifically that we have taken that very impressive number of gunmen out of circulation. It must be remembered that a gunman is someone who is dedicated to murdering people in exchange for compensation that he receives from a criminal organization like this one that we are dismantling today. And there are already more than 400

“Something that the police have done consistently since the beginning of my administration ... is identify, arrest and prosecute gunmen; we have already done that with over 400 gunmen in a matter of three years,” Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said. [taken out of circulation] and we have done it in collaboration with the federal authorities.”

When the governor was asked if those 400 people were serving any jail sentences, he replied that “we would have to see the outcome of each case; some were processed at the federal level.”

“So the federal authorities are the ones

who could say what the status of those cases is,” Pierluisi said. “As I indicated, there is no absolute right to bail there. So the advantage that this system has is that when you know that when you’re dealing with a dangerous person, that you’re dealing with a gunman, then you take them out of circulation immediately. In the level of state cases, there is a bail amount set

and sometimes they have the means to provide it and then they go out into the free community.

You have to look at the nature of these cases to know if they have all been sentenced.”

Chief Prosecutor Jessika Correa González said each case varies because there may be people out on bail or people already sentenced.

“Most of these people, from the evidence that is presented, enter a guilty plea,” she said. “Therefore, it may be that there is a higher percentage of people who are serving time for these crimes.”

Police Commissioner Antonio López Figueroa added that “as part of the operation, called High Profile, each of the people arrested are not drug addicts, they are people who are dedicated to the transfer and sale of illegal weapons in the underworld.”

“Among the defendants are about 25 people, drug traffickers and high-profile firearms dealers in the underworld, who are dedicated to supplying controlled substances by the kilo to different points and organizations as wholesalers,” he said. “As well as several gunmen, linked to multiple murders and criminal groups.”

Administrative workers at Centro Médico to go on strike

By THE STAR STAFF

M

edical Services Administration (ASEM by its Spanish acronym) workers will go on strike Jan. 26 at the Río Piedras Medical Center to protest against “illicit practices” conducted by the agency’s management.

Edwin Méndez, president of the General Workers Union, said “ASEM managers are using the Financial Oversight and Management Board as a pretext not to sit down to negotiate labor

conditions seriously.”

“We believe that ASEM management is negotiating in bad faith,” he said. “Bad faith negotiations can result in unfair and unfavorable agreements to workers. Collective bargaining agreement negotiations must start on a basis of mutual respect and transparency.”

According to a statement from the union, as of Jan. 26, the emergency room, the trauma area, the operating room, and external clinics of the Río Piedras Medical Center, among other

medical services to citizens, will be closed.

Méndez highlighted that ASEM “maintained secret written communications with the Oversight Board, while in face-to-face meetings with the union’s negotiating committee, they had indicated that the conversations they have had with the supervisory body have been verbal.”

“In those written communications they sent to the Oversight Board were draft documents of our proposals on the negotiating table, to which they never responded and never presented

Labor Dept. launches ‘Dress for Success’ project

By THE STAR STAFF

I

n an effort to create more opportunities for those aspiring to enter the workforce, the Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH by its Spanish initials) announced its latest “Dress for Success” project on Wednesday.

This initiative, which is part of the “Puerto Rico Está Faja’o” campaign, aims to provide, free of charge, appropriate clothing for job applicants looking to make their best impres-

sion during a job interview.

Regarding the initiative, which is being carried out in partnership with the organization Recicla Viste Ayuda Puerto Rico, Labor Secretary Gabriel Maldonado González noted that “part of our mission at DTRH is to promote a fair, inclusive and prosperous labor market for all citizens of Puerto Rico.”

“That’s why Dress for Success is another step in the direction of making this mission a reality for every person looking for employ-

ment opportunities,” he said. “Access to appropriate professional attire can make all the difference on the path to job success and we are committed to contributing positively by providing tools for every job applicant to achieve a promising future.”

To obtain the clothing, go to the DTRH headquarters in the Prudencio Rivera Martínez #505 building on Muñoz Rivera Avenue in Hato Rey. On Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to noon and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. visitors

a counterproposal,” the union leader said.

Besides poor labor conditions, the union has for years been denouncing problems caused by staff shortages at the medical center.

“The shortage and flight of personnel can be stopped by declaring health service essential,” the union has said in the past.

Declaring health care an essential service would protect and assign the medical center sufficient funds to hire the necessary personnel to provide quality services, the union asserted. will be able to access a comfortable space where they will find outfits such as suits, shirts, jackets, skirts, ties and shoes, among others. It should be noted that the clothing is delivered ready to be used, which includes washed and ironed.

In addition to the donated clothing, attendees will have the opportunity to register on the Employment and Recruitment Portal to Facilitate Labor Integration, an agency tool powered by artificial intelligence that is available through trabajo.pr.gov. The innovative platform identifies job opportunities based on the applicant’s skills, abilities and interests, while connecting them with employers in different industries.

The San Juan Daily Star

7

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Senate advances stopgap bill to avert a partial shutdown T

By CATIE EDMONDSON

he Senate earlier this week took the first step in advancing a stopgap spending bill to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, buying time to enact a broader bipartisan funding agreement for the remainder of the year.

By a 68-13 vote, senators voted to take up the legislation, which would temporarily extend funding for some federal agencies until March 1 and for others through March 8. It would keep spending levels flat while lawmakers and aides hammer out the details of a $1.66 trillion deal reached between Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Democrats.

The lopsided vote reflected broad backing in the Senate for a measure that faces a much more complicated path in the House, where far-right Republicans are in revolt over the spending agreement and refusing to back it. Their opposition means that Johnson is all but certain to be forced once again to turn to Democrats for help in passing crucial spending legislation, in a vote expected later this week.

“The key to finishing our work this week will be bipartisan cooperation in both chambers,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader. “You can’t pass these bills without support from Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate.”

He warned that “a small group of hardright extremists seem dead set on making the shutdown a reality.”

It was unclear whether conservatives in the Senate who are opposed to the deal would try to slow its consideration. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, signaled his support for the bill.

“Shutting down the government — even part of it — would interrupt this important progress” of passing the 12 individual spending bills that fund the government, he said.

In the House, Republicans’ razor-thin majority and hard-line members’ resistance to the legislation mean that Johnson will be unable to pass it without solid Democratic backing, along with help from mainstream Republicans.

Members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus have balked at the spending deal, saying they would prefer a shutdown to a funding bill that keeps spending flat and imposes no new policies cracking down on migration at the U.S. border with Mexico.

“If the border is not secured, this gover-

nment does not deserve to be funded,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said on Fox News on Sunday. “We will fund the Department of Defense, we’ll pay our troops, we’ll take care of our veterans and VA, we’ll even make sure our border agents are paid to have some semblance of security. But the rest of this government doesn’t deserve money if our border continues to be open the way that it is.”

The temporary extension of government funding could tee up a fierce fight over conservative policy provisions that House Republicans insist must be part of any spending legislation.

They have loaded their funding bills with a series of partisan policy mandates aimed at amplifying political battles on social issues — such as restrictions on abortion, transgender rights and diversity initiatives — that House and Senate Democrats have declared nonstarters.

Johnson, who has infuriated the right by agreeing to the overall spending agreement with Democrats, has signaled he intends to allow such policy proposals to be attached to the funding bills needed to enact that deal into law.

“We have the top-line agreement,” Johnson said last week. “This allows us to fight for our policy priorities, for our policy riders now. And our appropriators are resolute on doing that.”

But the proposals are all but certain to die in the Senate, making it likely that Johnson will be forced to drop them or once again face the threat of a shutdown, unless he again turns to Democrats to push through a final package.

Cambio de Alineamiento Oferta desde Aceite y Filtro Básico

3999

$

49

$

99

Precio regular desde $69.99

Garantía de 6 Meses o 6,000 Millas

NO PIERDES

Sintético

59

$

99

Incluye hasta 5 qt., filtro reemplazo y labor.

Filtro original disponible con costo adicional.

Más detalles en la tienda.

GARANTÍA

DEL MANUFACTURERO 6 CENTROS de Servicios autorizados

Especial de Gomas Nuevas TAMAÑO

PRECIO

TAMAÑO

PRECIO

175/70R13

$49.99 c/u

215/70R16

$89.99 c/u

185/65R14

$54.99 c/u

215/55R17

$89.99 c/u

185/60R15

$59.99 c/u

235/70R16

$99.99 c/u

185/65R15

$59.99 c/u

225/65R17

$99.99 c/u

195/65R15

$64.99 c/u

235/65R17

$109.99 c/u

205/55R16

$64.99 c/u

245/65R17

$109.99 c/u

205/60R16

$69.99 c/u

265/70R17

$129.99 c/u

¡MONTURA GRATIS! Precio ilustrado es por cada goma. No Incluye IVU.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), left, and House Speaker Mike Johnston (R-La.) at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. Congressional leaders unveiled stopgap legislation on Sunday night, Jan. 14, 2024, to avert a partial government shutdown, teeing up a race to pass the bipartisan spending deal into law before a deadline at the end of the week.

(Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)

¡EsCaneA para agenDar tu cita ahora!

Caguas

Gurabo

Bayamón

(787) 230-6068

(787) 737-7868 (787) 395-7896

(787) 995-7868

Bo. Bairoa Carr. #1 Detrás de EcoMaxx.

Bo. Las Flores Carr.941 Km1.0 (Antiguo Gurabo Car Care)

Santa Rosa Shopping Mall

Carr. #2, Reparto Industrial Correa

Guaynabo (787) 276-7868 Ave. Magnolia K22, (Antiguo Frankie Auto Service)

(787) 705-7628 Los Jardines Shopping Center

ABIERTOS LUNES A SÁBADO: 7AM-6PM •OFERTAS VÁLIDAS DEL HASTA EL 24 DE ENERO DE 2024.

8

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Senate rejects Israel human rights measure, but skepticism on aid persists

By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN

W

hen Hamas unleashed a bloody attack against Israel in October, there was a swift and strong bipartisan clamor of support in Congress for the United States to spare no expense in backing a robust military response by the Jewish state. More than 100 days later, that consensus on Capitol Hill shows signs of fraying, as left-wing Democrats alarmed by the rising human toll of the war in the Gaza Strip press to limit aid to Israel or impose strict conditions on it.

The effort has divided Democrats and spurred an intensive lobbying countereffort by pro-Israel groups. It reached a peak Tuesday, when the Senate voted on a resolution threatening to freeze all U.S. security aid to Israel unless the State Department produces a report within 30 days examining whether the country committed human rights violations in its conduct of the war.

The Senate tabled the measure, forced to the floor by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., by a vote of 72-11. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined Sanders and nine Democrats in voting to keep the resolution alive.

The result highlighted fissures among Democrats about fulfilling President Joe Biden’s request to send a fresh infusion of military aid to Israel, which some on the left say must be limited or otherwise conditioned on changing its approach to the war in Gaza.

Sanders’ resolution is just one of a raft of measures that Senate progressives have proposed in recent weeks reflecting their uneasiness with Israel’s conduct of the war and raising questions about whether and under what circumstances the United States would send funding to back the country.

“This is a tragedy in which we, the United States of America, are complicit,” Sanders said on the floor, pointing out that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza was more intensive than the bombing of Dresden, Germany, in World War II, and had put the local population at risk of famine.

“Much of what is happening, much of the bombardment and the other actions we are seeing now is happening right now with U.S. arms and equipment,” he added.

Biden in October requested a

sweeping emergency national security package including roughly $14 billion to back Israel’s war effort, but debate on that measure has largely focused on the much bigger sum earmarked for Ukraine.

Many Republicans oppose sending more money to Ukraine, while others have insisted that it must come with an immigration crackdown at the U.S. border with Mexico — demands that have been the subject of painstaking negotiations.

In recent weeks, more than a dozen Senate Democrats, almost all from the party’s left wing, have signed on to various measures to limit or place conditions on security aid to Israel.

One, led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., would require the president to guarantee that any weapons provided would be used in accordance with U.S. and international law. Another, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., would ensure that Congress retains the ability to review arms transfers to Israel, which would be waived under the emergency national security supplemental. Both are being offered as amendments to the national security spending package.

Sanders, who last month voted against sending unconditional security aid to Israel, described his resolution as a reasonable and conservative measure, despite the fact that it earned slightly less support than other pending proposals.

“This is a very modest, commonsense proposal and frankly hard for me to understand why anyone would oppose it,” Sanders said on the Senate floor. “What we are voting on today is simply a request for information.”

Congress has not invoked the arcane human rights authority that Sanders’ resolution relied on, which would have frozen aid until the administration submitted the required human rights report, since 1976.

Senate Republicans denounced the resolution as a misguided attempt to undermine an ally that would empower Hamas.

“I can only imagine the joy that terrorist groups throughout the world have that we are even talking about such a proposal,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on the floor. The resolution, he added, “is not only off base, it’s dangerous. It’s doing harm. It sends absolutely the wrong

signal at the wrong time.”

Most Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, have also been reluctant to back efforts to force the Biden administration to impose conditions on aid to Israel as a matter of law.

“There’s no question that the administration can and should continue to push for reduced civilian casualties and more humanitarian assistance,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “But right now, Israel is locked in a life-or-death struggle against a terrorist organization sworn to annihilate it and the Jewish people, and I believe we must maintain both military and humanitarian assistance.”

It is not yet clear whether either Kaine’s or Van Hollen’s proposals will receive votes, as the national security spending bill remains stalled while the border security negotiations drag on. But Democratic proponents suggest they are prepared to hold up the measure unless their proposals are considered.

“In order to get a bill the size of the supplemental through the Senate, our support and cooperation will be necessary,” Van Hollen said in an interview, adding that there was growing interest among

Senate Democrats in his proposal. “We have lots of leverage when it comes to the supplemental — we will insist that we have a chance to vote on this.”

Pro-Israel groups have lobbied intensely against Sanders’ resolution and the proposals to put conditions on aid to Israel. The Biden administration has also resisted congressional efforts to place stipulations on aid, and officials have argued that Sanders’ resolution is ill-timed and unnecessary.

“It’s unworkable, quite frankly,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, said in a statement. “The Israelis have indicated they are preparing to transition their operations to a much lower intensity. And we believe that transition will be helpful both in terms of reducing civilian casualties, as well as increasing humanitarian assistance.”

Schumer, who voted against Sanders’ resolution, has yet to commit to allowing votes on any of the Israel-related amendments to the national security bill.

“There are discussions happening among members of our caucus with the administration on the best path forward,” he said in a statement. “I am happy to review what they come up with.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leaves the West Wing of the White House after a meeting with President Joe Biden, in Washington, Aug. 30, 2023. A measure

by Sanders that would order a report on whether Israel had committed human rights violations reflects some Democrats’ resistance to providing unfettered aid.

(Doug Mills/The New York Times)

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

9

Despite frigid cold, Texas power grid has kept the heat on so far

By MICHAEL CORKERY and COLBI EDMONDS

December 2022, there would be about a 1-in-6 chance of rolling blackouts occurring during the morning hours. illions of Texans endured wickedly Although a lot of attention is focused cold air earlier this week, but the Texas on Texas, the state is far from the only place power grid, which failed spectacularly hoping that crucial utility infrastructure will during a deep freeze in 2021, held firm. not fail under the strain of the cold weather.

After issuing a request for Texans to In 2021, while millions of Texans conserve electricity Tuesday morning, a found themselves without electricity, many time that posed a crucial test for the power people in the Mississippi state capital, Jackson, were without water for weeks. And on supply, the grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, indicated that it Christmas in 2022, tens of thousands of had sufficient power available to handle people in Jackson did not have running water expected demand for the rest of the day. The because some of the system’s pipes could situation was expected to further improve not withstand the subfreezing temperatures. with a forecast rise in temperatures.

One of Jackson’s water plants was built Wind chills fell below zero in the in 1914, and some of the city’s water issues morning in cities such as Austin, Dallas stem from the age of the city’s infrastructure. As freezing temperatures become more and San Antonio. Many businesses were frequent in the South, they have exposed reopening after a long holiday weekend, Power lines in Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan. 15, 2024.

Millions of Texans waking up vulnerabilities in systems designed for mild but several major school districts, including those in Houston and Dallas, remained closed to wickedly cold air on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, hoped that the state’s power grid, winters. which failed spectacularly during a deep freeze in 2021, would hold up this time.

“We’ve made a lot of improvements because of the weather. in facilities that were never built for cold By late Tuesday morning, ERCOT had (Desiree Rios/The New York Times) weather,” said Ted Henifin, interim manager ended its call for energy conservation, saying said Monday. of Jackson’s drinking water system. “We’re in a statement that Texans’ efforts, “along Highways in Dallas were clear before sunrise Tues- feeling good about where we are.” with additional grid reliability tools, helped us get through record-breaking peak times today and yesterday morning.” day, despite worries from officials there that wet Another moment of strain on the grid had been expec- roads could refreeze. Some water-main breaks Ruddy Her nández ted in the evening but that, too, passed without incident. were reported in Dallas and Fort Worth, and the REAL ESTATE Lic. 9551 Brutal winter weather in February 2021 caused the region’s two largest school districts announced Calle Rubí #27 Villa Blanca, Caguas state’s electricity grid to fail, with millions of people losing closings Tuesday because of the potential for ice 787-436-4215 787-593-3846 power for days. The failure contributed to the deaths of on the streets and dangerous temperatures for APARTAMENTO APART solar, completamente llano, VENTA CASAS VENTAVENTA children waiting for the bus. Many other school more than 240 people.

ISLA VERDE -CORAL 2,511 mts. aprox.

CAGUAS State officials have taken steps since then to prevent districts were open.

BEACH TORRE I6to piso. a solo 2 minutos en auto URB. SAN ANTONIO At Wellington Elementary School in the such critical infrastructure from failing again when demand Studio amueblado con vista de la playa. $140,000 Res. 4H/2.5B S,C,C, increases during cold weather. The state has expanded the city of Flower Mound, teachers were taking turns lateral a la playa, piscina CAGUAS URB. EL RETIRO marquesina $135,000 amount of solar power on the grid, in addition to large standing outside beside the car drop-off lane, CAGUAS BO. BORINQUEN y con 1 estacionamiento. Solar de 1,007 mts. Aprox. rotating after five minutes. Cars were backed up amounts of wind energy. $310,000.

Llame para SECT. LOS PANES Even as officials projected confidence in the bols- after the bell rang. Bike racks were empty, and a CAGUAS-PASEO información y cita.

Res. de dos niveles tered electrical grid, though, ERCOT was not ruling out few bundled-up children ran on foot to school.

DEGETAU-Apt 3H/2B, Alquiler casa 1er nivel capacidad ALQUILER CASA “I understand they only have a certain S, C, C, balcón.

CAGUAS URB. CAGUAX 6 autos. 2ndo nivel the possibility of rolling blackouts, in which electricity is Dos estacionamientos.

Res. 3h /1b sala, comedor, 3H/2B S,C,C,A balcón deliberately shut off to certain areas, then restored to those amount of bad-weather days here,” said Susan REBA JAD amplio solar $129,000 ¡Amueblado! $155 k. O.M.O. cocina, marquesina, balcón areas and shut off elsewhere. This emergency measure is Maslanka, a crossing guard. “But at the same y terraza. Amueblada HUMACAO BO MARIANA VENTA VENTA SOLARES SOLARES meant to keep peak demand from overwhelming the grid time, having all these schools open, with the $1,200 mens.

SECT. AGUACATE CIDRA BO. ARENAS temperatures and the grid as tight as it is, it’s a and causing more widespread and prolonged outages.

Alquiler Res. 3H, 2.5B, S,C,C, SECTOR CAMPO BELLO, ALQUILER Comercial: COMERCIAL Winter mornings are particularly taxing on the grid. little bit silly.”

CAGUAS VILLA marq., 2,228 mts.

RÍO LA PLATA At 6 a.m., the temperature at Dallas-Fort That is when temperatures tend to be near their lowest; the BLANCA - 977 p/c Area un apart. extra en la parte Dos (2) solares wind that drives electrical turbines is often quiet; and the Worth International Airport was 13 degrees, with posterior 2H, 1b, y sala ¡VISTA ESPECTACULAR! alquiler $1,500 mens. sunlight that powers the solar panels is not strong enough. a wind chill reading of minus 5.

Alquiler Apartamento $125,000 O.M.O. Topografía irregular.

ALQUILER APARTAMENTO ERCOT said there had been no power disSeveral Texas mayors implored residents to take saCAGUAS-PASEO CAYEY EL POLVORIN Entre Ambos 5,029 mts. fety precautions in the extreme cold. Warming shelters in ruptions Monday, when electricity use surpassed DEGETAU-Apt 3H/2B, 4H/1B Sala, cocina, balcón $75,000 por ambos Austin were slated to remain in operation through Tuesday a previous record of peak winter demand that s, c, c, balcón. y marq. Solar 279 mts.

PATILLAS morning, after housing 400 people overnight, many of was set during the cold snap of December 2022.

Necesita mejoras BO. GUARDARAYA, SECT. Dos estacionamientos.

A forecast by ERCOT had estimated that if them vulnerable homeless people at risk of hypothermia.

Llamar para citas.

LA COMUNA Espectacular ¡Amueblado! $950 Mens.

“It is very, very cold,” Mayor Kirk Watson of Austin temperatures in January fell as low as they did in

M

10 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Judge blocks JetBlue from acquiring Spirit Airlines

By J. EDWARD MORENO and SANTUL NERKAR

A

federal judge earlier this week blocked JetBlue Airways’ proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit Airlines, a victory for the Department of Justice, which argued that the deal would harm travelers.

In his 109-page ruling, Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts sided with the Justice Department in determining that the merger would reduce competition in the airline business.

The proposed merger would have created the nation’s fifth-largest airline. The Justice Department had argued that smaller, low-cost airlines such as Spirit help reduce fares and that allowing the company to be acquired by JetBlue, which tends to charge higher prices than Spirit, would have hurt consumers.

The four largest U.S. airlines — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines — control about two-thirds of the market. The merger would have given Jet-

Blue a market share of 10%, still shy of United, the fourth-largest U.S. airline, which has 16%.

Attorneys for JetBlue argued in court last month that the merger would allow it to better compete with the four large national airlines, bringing prices down overall. The Justice Department argued that a larger JetBlue would act just like its bigger competitors while taking away a low-cost option for travelers.

Analysis presented at trial showed that when Spirit introduces a new route, fares, including those on JetBlue flights, come down.

JetBlue planned to reconfigure tightly packed Spirit airplanes to match its own roomier layout, meaning it would reduce the number of seats.

Young agreed with the government, ruling Tuesday that the merger would “likely incentivize JetBlue further to abandon its roots as a maverick, low-cost carrier.” He said Spirit played an important role in the market as a small, low-cost alternative to large airlines.

“Spirit is a small airline,” he said in the ruling. “But there are those who love it. To tho-

se dedicated customers of Spirit, this one’s for you.”

President Joe Biden hailed the ruling as a win for consumers in a post on X, formerly Twitter, and said that his administration would aggressively enforce antitrust laws. “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism — it’s exploitation,” he said. “Today’s ruling is a victory for consumers everywhere who want lower prices and more choices.”

Spirit’s share price tumbled 47% by Tuesday afternoon following the news, while JetBlue’s share price closed up 5%.

Jonnathan Handshoe, an airline analyst for CFRA Research, said JetBlue shares had risen because the rejected merger represented a $3 billion cost-saving measure for the company. Spirit’s shares fell in part because the proposed merger would have been a lifeline to the company, which had been struggling with operational issues and had not turned a profit since before the pandemic.

During COVID, many domestic airlines took on a mountain of debt “because they

were trying to replace older aircrafts with much newer ones,” Handshoe said.

As part of the merger agreement, JetBlue agreed to pay Spirit $70 million and its shareholders $400 million if the deal were blocked.

In a joint statement Tuesday, the airlines said they disagreed with the ruling and were evaluating their options.

“We continue to believe that our combination is the best opportunity to increase muchneeded competition and choice by bringing low fares and great service to more customers in more markets while enhancing our ability to compete with the dominant U.S. carriers,” the companies said.

The ruling comes just weeks after Alaska Airlines announced plans to acquire Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion. If approved, that deal would give Alaska about 8% of the airline market.

In May, a federal judge blocked a partnership between JetBlue and American in Boston and New York after it was challenged by the Justice Department, which argued it dampened competition for flights in the Northeast. The ruling Tuesday creates a “winning streak” for antitrust officials, said Dylan Carson, a lawyer at the firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

11 Stocks

US bank profits fall as competition for deposits erodes lending margins

S

everal large U.S. regional banks reported lower profits on Wednesday, in a further sign that the income boost from interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve is starting to wane.

Charles Schwab (SCHW.N), opens new tab, Citizens Financial (CFG.N), opens new tab and US Bancorp (USB.N), opens new tab said that, along with one-off charges, the rising cost of retaining customer deposits ate into fourth-quarter net interest income (NII), the difference between what banks earn from lending and pay on deposits.

Fed rate hikes last year aimed at taming inflation boosted many lenders’ NII, a core business for most regional banks.

But growing competition for deposits from the country’s biggest banks is eating into their profits and in some cases subduing loan growth.

Big banks have benefited from an exodus of deposits from small institutions, which were seen as riskier, after Silicon Valley Bank and two other regional lenders collapsed last year.

Potential Fed rate cuts this year will likely further dent NII, some banks have warned.

Charles Schwab’s quarterly profit fell 47%, partly due to a 30% drop in NII on higher deposit costs. Schwab paid an average of 1.37% on deposits, compared to 0.46% a year earlier, it said.

Citizens reported a 71% decline in profit, with NII down 12%. US Bancorp’s (USB.N), opens new tab profit fell 14% as NII dropped 4.2%. On Tuesday, PNC Financial (PNC.N), opens new tab, another big regional lender, said profits shrank, with NII contracting 8%.

Citizens warned that its NII this year could be 6% to 9% below the $6.24 billion it made in 2023. Shares of Charles Schwab dropped 1.3%, US Bancorp fell 2.6%, while Citizens was up 1.3%.

At 11 U.S. regional banks with assets of $50 billion to $100 billion, analysts expect earnings per share to drop from 2023 mostly due to increased deposit costs, according to LSEG estimates, Reuters previously reported.

The KBW regional bank index (.KRX), opens new tab was last down 1%, in line with the broader market. Still, it is up about 10% since March when the industry crisis erupted, and some analysts think the sector remains attractive despite NII declines.

“It seems logical that the recent trend higher in share prices is met with near-term turbulence (from both NII softness and normalizing credit trends) – however, we believe the regionals remain attractive over the next 12-18 months as we fully price in the 2025 outlook,” Citi analysts wrote.

As with the largest U.S. lenders which reported earnings on Friday, regional banks also took big one-time charges to replenish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) deposit insurance fund, which was dented by the crisis.

JPMorgan (JPM.N), opens new tab, Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab, and Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab posted lower profits on Friday, in part due to lower NII. Executives at these top banks were generally upbeat on

MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

COMMODITIES

CURRENCY

the economy, noting American consumers remained resilient even as defaults on consumer loans are returning to pre-pandemic levels.

But major questions hang over markets, including whether the economy will avoid a recession and, as inflation eases, when the Fed will start to cut rates. Strong U.S. retail sales data on Wednesday showing the economy on a solid

footing cast further doubt over market expectations of a Fed rate cut in March.

“I am a little on the cautious side,” JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon told CNBC on Wednesday when asked about the U.S. economy.

Speaking to FOX Business Network’s “Mornings With Maria” at Davos on Wednesday, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the daily debate about where the Fed will take rates continued to create uncertainty for consumers and businesses.

“When the Fed’s done, then the capital markets reopen.

Then people say, OK, 3.5 to 4% unemployment rate. I got my job, I got my wages, you know, things settle in.”

12 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

How much ice is Greenland losing? Researchers found an answer.

By DELGER ERDENESANAA

G

reenland’s expansive ice sheet is known to be shrinking, especially since the 1990s, because of warming from climate change. It’s a fate shared by the Antarctic Ice Sheet as well as glaciers around the world. Now, a new study reveals that about 20% more of the Greenland ice sheet has disappeared than previous estimates show.

The missing ice has been breaking and melting from the ends of glaciers around Greenland’s perimeter. The new research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, provides a detailed accounting of a process that scientists knew was happening but had struggled to measure comprehensively.

“Almost every glacier in Greenland is retreating. And that story is true no matter where you look,” said Chad Greene, a glaciologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the lead author of the study. “This retreat is happening everywhere and all at once.”

Because the ends of these glaciers generally sit below sea level, within deep fjords, their retreat isn’t directly adding a significant amount to sea level rise. But melting ice still adds an influx of freshwater that has implications for global climate models and projections, and for the system of ocean currents that regulates temperatures on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Greene’s team combined more 200,000 observations of glacier end points, covering almost all of Greenland, based on satellite images taken from 1985 to 2022. The

A glacier meets the waters of Tunulliarfik Fjord in Narsarsuaq in Greenland, Aug. 23, 2021. A study published in Nature in January 2024 reveals that about 20% more of the Greenland ice sheet has disappeared than previous estimates show, potentially threatening ocean currents that help to regulate global temperatures. (Carsten Snejbjerg/ The New York Times) researchers used observations from existing public data sets and combined them to create a comprehensive bird’s-eye view of the contracting edges of Greenland’s ice sheet over the past 40 years.

“They provide a really important new data set that captures the aerial extent of the entire Greenland ice sheet,” said Laura Larocca, a climate scientist at Arizona State University who has also studied Greenland’s glaciers but was not involved in this project.

Earlier estimates of the changing size of Greenland’s ice sheet were based on three

types of measurements: the altitude of the sheet’s surface, the velocity of ice passing by fixed locations and the gravitational pull produced by the sheet’s mass.

Combining several of these estimates, scientists arrived at a consensus that Greenland has lost a total of nearly 5 trillion metric tons of ice since 1992.

These traditional methods can capture how much the ice sheet has contributed to sea level rise: about 13 millimeters, or half an inch, so far. But they don’t capture everything happening around the margins, at the feet of

hundreds of glaciers that funnel through the island’s many fjords. This process, called glacial terminus retreat, accounts for an additional 1 trillion metric tons of lost ice, according to the new study.

That amount is roughly equivalent to an ice cube covering an area larger than Manhattan and taller than Mount Everest, according to the European Space Agency.

Only one glacier out of more than 200 included in the study had definitively expanded since 1985. Its gains were small compared with the losses elsewhere.

The erosion of these glaciers’ end points has an indirect effect on sea levels.

Greene compared glacial terminus retreat to unplugging a drain, allowing the whole glacier to flow faster and thin out, accelerating melt from the parts above sea level as well.

So, while this study does not measure a direct addition to sea level rise, he said, “we’re probably measuring a cause of sea level rise.”

Greenland’s additional lost ice is important for other reasons, too.

Once the ice melts, it adds a significant amount of freshwater to the ocean, potentially weakening an important system of ocean currents called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. This system includes the Gulf Stream, which brings warm tropical water up the southeast coast of the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, contributing to relatively mild temperatures there.

The fraying ends of Greenland’s glaciers have been somewhat overlooked as scientists focused on the urgent question of sea level rise. Vincent Verjans, a glaciologist at the IBS Center for Climate Physics at Pusan National University in South Korea, who reviewed the study, said it would help scientists better understand the climate system as a whole and the way global warming is being distributed among the atmosphere, the ocean and the ice sheets.

It’s a topic that is “very barely covered,” Verjans said, but “it is an important topic.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

13

Scope and quality of Gaza tunnels awe Israelis

An Israeli soldier exits a Hamas tunnel in the central Gaza Strip, during an escorted tour by the Israeli military for journalists, Dec. 15, 2023. The Israel military, surprised by the extent, depth and quality of the tunnel network under the Gaza Strip, now estimates that it is more than 450 miles long. (Tamir Kalifa/The New York Times)

By ADAM GOLDMAN, RONEN BERGMAN, PATRICK KINGSLEY and GAL KOPLEWITZ

O

ne tunnel in the Gaza Strip was wide enough for a top Hamas official to drive a car inside. Another stretched nearly three football fields long and was hidden beneath a hospital. Under the house of a senior Hamas commander, the Israeli military found a spiral staircase leading to a tunnel approximately seven stories deep.

These details and new information about the tunnels, some made public by the Israeli military and documented by video and photographs, underscore why the tunnels were considered a major threat to the Israeli military in Gaza even before the war started.

But Israeli officials and soldiers who have since been in the tunnels — as well as current and former U.S. officials with experience in the region — say the scope, depth and quality of the tunnels built by Hamas have astonished them.

Even some of the machinery that Hamas used to build the tunnels, observed in captured videos, has surprised the Israeli military.

The Israeli military now believes there are far more tunnels under Gaza.

In December, the network was assessed to be an estimated 250 miles. Senior Israeli defense officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, are currently estimating the network is between 350

and 450 miles — extraordinary figures for a territory that at its longest point is only 25 miles.

Two of the officials also assessed there are close to 5,700 separate shafts leading down to the tunnels.

The numbers could not be independently verified, and there are varying estimates by Israeli officials for the increased scope of the tunnel network, based on different intelligence. But the immense efforts of Hamas to militarize the enclave are not in dispute; nor are the intelligence failures of the Israeli military in underestimating the extent and importance of the network to Hamas’ survival.

In a meeting last January, a top Israeli military official said the tunnels would not even be a factor in any future war with Hamas because of Israel’s military strength, according to a transcript of the discussion reviewed by The New York Times.

“Hamas has used the time and resources over the last 15 years to turn Gaza into a fortress,” said Aaron Greenstone, a former CIA officer who has worked extensively in the Middle East.

For the Israeli military, the tunnels are a subterranean nightmare and the core of Hamas’ ability to survive. Every strategic goal of Israel in Gaza is now linked to wiping out the tunnels.

“If you want to destroy the leadership and arsenal of Hamas, you have to destroy the tunnels,” said Daphné Richemond-Barak, a tunnel

warfare expert at Reichman University in Israel.

“It’s become connected to every part of the military missions.”

Hamas has invested heavily in the tunnels since it does not have the resources or numbers to fight the Israeli military in a conventional war. The group uses the tunnels as military bases and arsenals, and relies on them to move its forces undetected and protect its top commanders.

One 2022 document showed Hamas budgeted $1 million on the tunnel doors, underground workshops and other expenses in Khan Younis.

Israeli intelligence officials recently assessed that there were about 100 miles of tunnels just under Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city, where Israeli forces are now in heavy fighting. Yehia Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas in Gaza, had a home in Khan Younis.

In addition, a 2015 report indicated that Hamas had spent more than $3 million on tunnels throughout Gaza, including many built under civilian infrastructure and sensitive locations such as schools and hospitals, the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military said it had found two types of tunnels: ones used by commanders and others used by operatives. The commander tunnels are deeper and more comfortable, allowing for longer stays and use of ceramic tiles. The other tunnels are more spartan and often shallower.

An Israeli official said the military might have spent a year locating a single tunnel, but now the ground campaign has provided a trove

of information about Gaza’s underground network.

The Israeli military has examined computers used by Hamas operatives in charge of tunnel construction to find the underground passageways, a senior Israeli official said. Some documents captured in the war are also proving vital. The Israeli military has found lists of the families that “hosted” the tunnel entrances in their private homes.

In one case, Israeli soldiers located a map of tunnels in Beit Hanoun, a city in northern Gaza, and used it to find and destroy tunnels.

Even with this battlefield intelligence, the fighting in Gaza around the tunnels has been grueling. The Israeli military reports that nearly 190 soldiers have been killed and about 240 seriously wounded since the ground campaign started.

But the military has not disclosed the number of dead and wounded in connection with the tunnel warfare.

One soldier, speaking on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said he oversaw the destruction of about 50 tunnels in Beit Hanoun. All of them were booby-trapped, he said.

The soldier, an officer in the combat engineers, said his unit had found bombs hidden in walls and a massive explosive device that was hardwired to be remotely activated.

The soldier, who was a reservist and has since been discharged, said the device had been made in a factory and had a serial number on it.

If it had gone off, the bomb would have killed anybody in the tunnel and directly outside it, he said.

MENSAJE IMPORTANTE

A PACIENTES SMART CARE PHARMACY La siguiente SMART CARE PHARMACY estará cerrando operaciones en la fecha indicada en este comunicado. Los expedientes serán transferidos a FARMACIA FARMALAB con el objetivo de dar continuidad de servicios a pacientes que decidan continuar sus servicios en la FARMACIA FARMALAB. Los pacientes tienen libre selección de escoger su farmacia de preferencia y solicitar copia de su expediente. En caso de dudas o preguntas, favor de consultar con su farmacéutico de SMART CARE PHARMACY. Smart Care Pharmacy Plaza Río Cañas 106 Carr 1 KM 27.8 Caguas, PR 00725 787-931-0196 Cierra el 16 de febrero de 2024 Gracias por su patrocinio Smart Care Pharmacy

Los expedientes de Recetas serán transferidos a: Farmacia FarmaLab Villa Blanca Industrial Park Caguas, PR 00725 787-979-3111• Fax 787-979-3110 Email rxfarmalab@gmail.com

14

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

US strikes Houthi targets in Yemen for a third time

By ERIC SCHMITT and SAEED AL-BATATI

T

he United States carried out a new military strike against Houthi ballistic missiles in Yemen earlier this week, the U.S. military said, but the latest salvo against the Iran-backed group left the White House grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade.

The strikes Tuesday, the third overall against the group since a U.S.-led air and naval barrage hit dozens of targets last week, destroyed four missiles that the Pentagon’s Central Command said posed an imminent threat to merchant vessels and Navy ships traveling through the Red Sea and nearby waters.

But the preemptive U.S. strike also came on the third day in a row that the Houthis have defied the Biden administration and its allies by firing missiles at passing ships, damaging a Greek-owned cargo vessel Tuesday. The Houthis damaged a U.S.-owned commercial ship Monday after attempting to hit an American warship the day before.

“We’re not looking for a war; we’re not looking to expand this,” John F. Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, told reporters Tuesday, adding, “We will continue to defend against them and counter them as appropriate.”

That leaves the administration with difficult choices. President Joe Biden could order another blitz of strikes against Houthi air defenses, weapons depots, and facilities for launching and producing an array of missiles and drones, but analysts say that would risk widening the war even more. Or he could settle for more limited tit-for-tat exchanges, like Tuesday’s strike, but that would not necessarily resolve the threat to commercial ships, analysts

Cargo ships wait in the Red Sea near the opening of the Suez Canal, on March 29, 2021. The United States’ latest military strike against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen left the White House grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade. (Sima Diab/The New York Times) say.

Neither approach has fazed the Houthis.

Vowing solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the group’s leaders have said they will continue their attacks in what they say is a protest against Israel’s military campaign in the territory.

Kirby defended the strikes on Thursday and Friday that American and British attack planes and warships carried out against more than 60 targets using some 150 precision-guided bombs and missiles.

“The strike was designed to degrade and disrupt their military activity, their ability to

store, launch and guide these missiles for their targets, as well as the drones that they have launched,” he said. “We believe that we had good effects.”

A confidential Pentagon analysis of the first barrage suggests otherwise. While the U.S.-led strikes damaged or destroyed about 90% of the targets that were struck, the Houthis retained about three-quarters of their ability to fire missiles and drones at ships, two U.S. officials said Saturday.

The damage estimates are the first detailed assessments of the strikes against nearly 30 locations in Yemen last week. They reveal the serious challenges the Biden administration and its allies face as they try to deter the Houthis from retaliating, secure critical shipping routes between Europe and Asia and contain the spread of regional conflict.

“There’s a limited amount you can do with just an air campaign,” said Adam Clements, a retired U.S. Army attaché for Yemen, who noted that the Houthis have survived a near decadelong air war with Saudi Arabia.

“It’s very difficult to neutralize this wide array of threats.”

Residents in the area near the latest U.S. airstrike said Monday that they saw Houthi missiles being fired from remote and mountainous parts of Mukayras, a Houthi-controlled town in central Yemen, on Friday and Monday.

The missiles launched from Mukayras

are believed to have been aimed at ships south of Aden or in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, while missiles fired from the western cities of Hodeida and Taiz targeted ships south of the Red Sea or off Yemen’s coast.

The Houthis so far have been undeterred.

On Tuesday, the Houthis fired an antiship ballistic missile into the Red Sea, hitting the Zografia, a Maltese-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier, Central Command said. The ship’s crew reported no injuries. The vessel remained seaworthy, and continued its journey, the military said.

A Houthi spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said in a statement that the group had targeted the ship with “a number of missiles” because it was “sailing to the ports of occupied Palestine” and that the ship was directly hit.

The Houthis “will continue to take all procedures to defend and attack as part of its legitimate right to defend our dear Yemen, and we confirm our continued solidarity with the wronged Palestinian people,” he said.

The Houthis have repeatedly said that they are acting in support of the people of Gaza, though many of the group’s targets have had no clear connection to Israel.

Identifying Houthi targets is proving to be challenging for U.S. forces. American and other Western intelligence agencies have not spent significant time or resources in recent years collecting data on the location of Houthi weapons sites, the two U.S. officials said.

That all changed after the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, and the Israeli military’s responding ground campaign in Gaza.

U.S. analysts have been rushing to catch up and catalog potential Houthi targets every day, the officials said. The Houthis are an agile guerrilla fighting force and have been for decades, skilled in moving and hiding weapons, equipment and supplies. Hitting pop-up targets on short notice, such as Tuesday’s strike, a practice the military calls dynamic targeting, would probably be an important part of any additional strikes that Biden and his commanders might order.

Senior administration officials and Pentagon aides say they are bracing for much larger retaliatory attacks from the Houthis, and American commanders are preparing a series of escalating responses, senior U.S. military officials said.

“We know they still have some capability,” said Kirby, a retired Navy admiral. “They still have time to make the right choice, which is to stop these reckless attacks.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

15

Should we be seeing red over the Red Sea?

By PAUL KRUGMAN

T

here are many reasons to be horrified about recent events in the Middle East, and the prospect that attacks on shipping might undermine progress against inflation is way, way down the list. Nonetheless, if you are trying to forecast inflation, disruption of a major choke point for global commerce — the Red Sea is how ships get to and from the Suez Canal — isn’t what you want to see. But how big a deal is it?

Well, it’s not trivial. But while supply problems in general were a major factor in the 2021-22 surge in inflation, and the resolution of those issues is the main story behind recent disinflation, it’s important not to get too physical. The pileup of ships waiting outside the ports of Los Angeles in early 2022 was a conspicuous and highly visible cause of inflation, but it was less important than more diffuse, relatively intangible factors including the way the pandemic and its aftermath disrupted labor markets. Since there’s no reason to expect these more diffuse problems to return, the inflation impact of the conflict with the Houthis and its effect on Red Sea shipping will be limited.

But before I get there, a word about where inflation stands now. Since last week’s report on the consumer price index, I’ve had several conversations with friends who

PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726 Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 (787) 743-5606 • Fax (787) 743-5100

Dr. Ricardo Angulo Manuel Sierra

Founder

General Manager

María de L. Márquez

Ray Ruiz

Legal Notice Director

Sharon Ramírez

Business Director

Legal Notices Graphics Manager

R. Mariani

Aaron Christiana

Circulation Director

Lisette Martínez

Advertising Agency Director

Editor

María Rivera

Graphic Artist Manager

believe, probably based on what they’ve heard from talking heads on cable TV, that inflation is stuck at a relatively high level. Indeed, the core CPI, which excludes food and energy, is up 3.9% over the past year.

But anyone citing that number as evidence of stubborn inflation is deeply misinformed. Indeed, if he or she is in the business of giving financial advice, harping on 3.9% amounts to professional malpractice.

To see why, let me give you a few more numbers: — Core CPI, past 12 months: 3.9% — Core CPI, past six months (annualized): 3.2% — Core HICP (harmonized index of consumer prices), past 12 months: 1.9% — Market expectations for 2024 inflation: 2.2% So, when people talk about 3.9% inflation over the past year, they’re averaging 4.6% inflation in the first half and 3.2% in the second half — that is, they’re very far behind the curve. Furthermore, a lot of that inflation reflects official estimates of shelter costs, especially an estimate of what homeowners would be paying if they were renters, which lag far behind market rents.

The harmonized index of consumer prices, which doesn’t include this imputed number — and is the way Europe measures inflation — has already declined to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, showing that misleading estimates of shelter costs are the source of any perception of stubborn inflation. And markets know that: Recent market behavior implies a belief in what the data really shows us, which is that inflation is already under control.

Which finally brings me back to the original question: Maybe it looks right now as if we’ve won the war on inflation, but will shipping disruptions in the Red Sea bring it back? This goes back to the question of how inflation got so high for a while, and why it came down so easily.

When inflation took off in 2021, it was initially concentrated in sectors facing supply bottlenecks because of delayed effects of the pandemic, and many economists, myself included, thought that inflation would soon subside once those bottlenecks were cleared. Those of us who believed that were dubbed Team Transitory — and we were wrong.

Inflation broadened to include most of the economy.

There are various ways to show this broadening. One way is to compare the rate of inflation as measured by the personal consumption expenditure deflator — which the Fed prefers to the CPI — to the “trimmed mean” estimate produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which excludes extreme price movements.

Until around September 2021, despite a sharp rise in total inflation, the trimmed measure hadn’t accelerated by much, suggesting that bottlenecks in a few sectors were the main story. But then the trimmed mean shot up, too; so it

wasn’t just bottlenecks after all.

In that case, however, what was driving inflation? Many economists, most famously Larry Summers, insisted that the problem was excessive spending — and that controlling inflation would mean both large reductions in spending and a large rise in unemployment.

Yet that wasn’t what happened. By almost any measure (except that deeply misleading 3.9% people keep throwing around), inflation fell rapidly in 2023, without any surge in unemployment.

How do we make sense of this story? The best going story is that Team Transitory was basically right, but thinking too narrowly. The pandemic did cause large disruptions, which were a large part of the inflation story, but those disruptions extended far behind physical bottlenecks such as clogged ports and took much longer to resolve.

Put it this way: In the face of the pandemic, Americans rearranged their lives, how they worked and how they spent their money; then, as fears of infection declined, we rearranged our lives again, going back to the old habits in some ways but not others. We stopped going out to eat, then started again; we started working from home, and in many cases continued to do so, which meant big changes in the economy’s geography — that is, where stuff happened.

All this created a lot of what you might call churn, as businesses and people switched up their games.

One readily available measure of churn is the rate at which workers voluntarily quit their jobs. Normally, the quits rate is negatively correlated with the unemployment rate: Workers are more willing to quit when they’re confident about finding new jobs. For a while, however, quits bucked that trend and were really high (as were unfilled job vacancies), before coming down as the economy adapted to the postpandemic changes.

This churn meant that there were widespread temporary shortages of workers and the things workers produced, which drove inflation up; inflation then plunged as the economy settled down. Inflation was transitory after all, but “transitory” was bigger and longer than we realized.

Which brings me back to the Red Sea (no, I didn’t forget about it). One way to think about the effects of Houthi attacks on shipping is that they may recreate a situation comparable to the supply bottlenecks of the first half of 2021, although on a more limited scale. But as I’ve just argued, those bottlenecks ended up being only a relatively small part of the overall inflation story. And nothing happening in the Middle East will cause the kind of broader disruption that led inflation to become so high and widespread.

So the economics of the events in the Red Sea, while not great, aren’t a reason to be greatly concerned. Now ask me about what happens if China attacks Taiwan.

16 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Vivienda Pública se une al Departamento de Recreación y Deportes para realizar torneo de residentes de vivienda pública POR CYBERNEWS

S

AN JUAN – Los residentes bonafides de la Administración de Vivienda Pública (AVP) en la categoría de 14 años o menos, participarán del torneo de baloncesto organizado por el Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (DRD) bajo la iniciativa Vive el Deporte, trascendió el miércoles.

“Este torneo inició hace dos años junto a la Fundación de JJ Barea. Este año le dimos un nuevo giro para brindarle la oportunidad a los residentes del sistema de vivienda pública. Ya hay confirmados 40 equipos de todo Puerto Rico. Al igual que en las pasadas dos ediciones, los campeones viajarán a Estados Unidos a participar de un torneo invitacional y disfrutarán de varios partidos de la NBA”, señaló el secretario del DRD, Ray Jones Quiñones Vázquez en declaraciones escritas.

Por su parte, el administrador de la AVP, Alejandro Salgado Colón, expresó que “continuamos promoviendo

iniciativas de sana convivencia entre los residentes y que ayuden a nuestros niños y jóvenes con sus habilidades deportivas. Sabemos que el deporte es una herramienta esencial para el desarrollo de nuestras comunidades”.

El torneo, que comenzará el 20 de enero y se extenderá hasta el 16 de marzo, se jugará en formato de carnaval con cinco sedes fijas de juegos que serán en Mayagüez,

Ponce, Arecibo, San Juan y Guayama.

Los premios para el equipo campeón y subcampeón incluyen un viaje a Miami de ambos equipos, estadía, comidas y transportación terrestre, boletos de entrada a un juego de la NBA y la participación en un torneo invitacional en la ciudad de Miami.

Por su parte, el secretario de la Vivienda, William Rodríguez Rodríguez indicó que “estamos muy entusiasmados con esta nueva iniciativa que involucra a nuestros residentes y que, sin duda, servirá para exponer el gran talento que hay en las comunidades de vivienda pública.

Continuaremos fomentando espacios para lograr el desarrollo pleno de la niñez y juventud de Vivienda Pública de la mano de otras entidades como el DRD”.

Otros eventos deportivos desarrollados por la Administración de Vivienda Pública son el torneo de baloncesto masculino Hoops of Hope, el torneo de volibol femenino Volleyball Empowering Women y los Juegos Xtremos.

Más de 600 escuelas implementan horario extendido de clases para el nuevo semestre POR CYBERNEWS

S

AN JUAN – La secretaria del Departamento de Educación (DE), Yanira Raíces Vega, anunció el miércoles, que ya dio inicio la segunda edición de Refuerzo Académico Extendido (RAE) para el semestre de 2024. Un total de 619 escuelas han adoptado el horario extendido de clases, brindando apoyo académico adicional a estudiantes que buscan mejorar sus habilidades, así como reforzar destrezas.

“Nos complace anunciar que el horario extendido ya comenzó y que las puertas de nuestras escuelas están abiertas para atender a nuestros estudiantes.

Hacemos un llamado a los padres y encargados a aprovechar este recurso y, en caso de identificar alguna necesidad o área de mejora en sus hijos, matricularlos en (RAE) para que puedan recibir el apoyo necesario del personal especializado que hemos asignado a estas escuelas en horario extendido”, declaró la secretaria de Educación.

Más de 55 mil estudiantes ya se han matriculado para participar en las clases extendidas, que se llevarán a cabo desde las 2:45 hasta las 6:00 de la tarde. La secretaria de Educación ha implementado una logística integral que incluye medidas de seguridad escolar y un servicio

de comedores extendido para garantizar un entorno propicio para el aprendizaje.

Además, se ha ampliado la presencia de profesionales como psicólogos, directores, maestros y personal adicional, quienes estarán disponibles durante este horario extendido para brindar apoyo a los estudiantes en su proceso académico.

El programa Refuerzo Académico Extendido (RAE) es una iniciativa de la administración del gobernador Pedro Pierluisi, financiada con fondos federales ESSER, y su eficacia ha sido demostrada en la mejora significativa de las habilidades de los estudiantes en áreas como matemáticas, lectura, escritura, entre otras.

Anuncian inversión millonaria en servicios para la niñez de Carolina POR CYBERNEWS

E

l gobernador Pedro Pierluisi, junto a la secretaria del Departamento de la Familia (DF), Ciení Rodríguez Troche, y el administrador de la Administración para el Cuidado y Desarrollo Integral de la Niñez (ACUDEN), Roberto Carlos Pagán, anunció el miércoles, la renovación del Centro de Servicios para la Niñez de la ACUDEN en Carolina.

También, entregó una nueva flota de vehículos para

los empleados que brindan servicios a la niñez de cero a cinco años en el municipio de Carolina.

“En octubre pasado inauguramos la sede oficial de la ACUDEN en Hato Rey en la que se destaca la innovación y el fortalecimiento de su cultura organizacional a favor del futuro de nuestra niñez, convirtiéndola en una agencia del futuro. Se establecen los pilares de bienestar y salud mental, de innovación y digitalización, de mejoras a la infraestructura y los centros 2GEN, y la distribución y optimización de los fondos

disponibles. Cumpliendo con esas metas y los avances en el proceso de construcción y remodelación, la antigua oficina regional de Carolina ahora la convierten en el nuevo Centro de Servicios a la Niñez de la ACUDEN en esta región. Estas mejoras beneficiarán tanto al personal que labora en el Centro como a sus beneficiarios y visitantes”, dijo Pierluisi en declaraciones escrtitas.

El mandatario estuvo acompañado del director ejecutivo de la Autoridad de Edificios Públicos (AEP), Yamil Ayala.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

17

Paul Giamatti has done the reading

By REGGIE UGWU

P

aul Giamatti would just like to put it out there that maybe he doesn’t always have to play such a motormouth.

It might be nice, just to shake things up a bit, if he could portray someone more likely to express themselves nonverbally — a taciturn horse breeder with an anguished past, say, or a world-class safecracker with shrapnel-related vocal cord injuries.

“Please, don’t make me talk so much,” he said recently, in a low register, his hangdog eyes pleading with the universe.

Giamatti watchers may have a hard time imagining the actor tongue-tied. He is one of cinema’s great talkers, often cited for dazzling flights of oratory. Think of Miles’ profane rebuke of merlot in “Sideways” (2004) or the Founding Father flogging the virtues of independence in “John Adams” (2008) or brash boxing manager Joe Gould in “Cinderella Man” (2005). For Giamatti to yearn for fewer lines of dialogue might sound like a Formula One car pining for a bus route.

His latest role — as Paul Hunham in “The Holdovers,” a solitary and cantankerous New England boarding-school teacher saddled with babysitting duty over Christmas break — adds a number of memorable monologues to the actor’s oeuvre. But Giamatti also imbues the character with a deep well of melancholy and thinly disguised tenderness, traits that tend to reveal themselves in wordless, physical gestures: a crumpling of the chin, a narrowing of one

Paul Giamatti in New York, Nov. 28, 2023. For his role in “The Holdovers,” set at a prep school not unlike the one he attended, the hyper-literate actor mined his own dormant memories. (Sinna Nasseri/The New York Times) eye.

“There are close-ups where you can see not only his transition from one thought to the next, but all of the little microthoughts that happen in between,” said Alexander Payne, director of “The Holdovers,” who reteamed with Giamatti nearly 20 years after “Sideways.” “You could hire him to play the Hunchback of Notre Dame and he’d do a great job with it.”

The real Giamatti, as encountered during a recent interview here, is soft-

spoken, gentle-mannered and contemplative, with a habit of gazing into the distance when he needs to collect a thought. If you didn’t keep up with “Billions,” Giamatti’s workhorse Showtime drama that ended in the fall after seven seasons, his hair is whiter than you might remember, as if Santa Claus had a brother with a humanities degree.

Giamatti is often mistakenly presumed to be similar to his characters, which is both a compliment and a nuisance. Pay-

ne is convinced that the actor didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for “Sideways” (his co-stars Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen were nominated in the supporting categories) because he made it look too easy. In real life, let it be known, Giamatti is not terribly interested in wine and knows little about it, much to the dismay of fans who approach him in restaurants.

Aside from a shared interest in the arcana of the Roman Empire, he has few things in common with his character in “The Holdovers” — an antiquities teacher and campus ogre with an impaired eye and a skin condition that makes him smell like fish.

Yet, Giamatti found himself strangely invested in the role. Both of his parents were teachers (his father, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was the president of Yale University and later the commissioner of Major League Baseball), and he graduated from a prep school similar to the one depicted in the movie. More so than for any role he can recall, he got lost in the character, allowing his own memories and experiences to color his performance.

“It was more unconscious than normal, which was a little alarming because I almost felt at times like I wasn’t working hard enough, like I was being lazy,” Giamatti said. “Even when I watched it, it was weird. I kept looking on and thinking, ‘Is that what I was doing?’”

Giamatti was born and raised in Connecticut and attended Yale for both his undergraduate degree and Masters of Continues on page 18

•Pre-Arreglos Funerales • Cremaciones • Siempre con panteones disponibles •24 Horas • 7 DÍAS Búscanos en Facebook

Llame 787.743.2688 • 743.8668

o visitenos para orientación Carr. #189 Urb. Santa Elvira, Caguas a Gurabo

Desde 1961 Una empresa cagüeña Atendido por sus propios dueños

• Contamos con nuestro propio centro de cremación •

18 From page 17 Fine Arts, in English literature and drama.

Although he quickly dispensed with the idea of following his parents into academia, he has always been a voracious reader with a deep interest in science fiction, history, philosophy and mysticism. On “Chinwag,” Giamatti’s podcast, started last year with Stephen Asma, a philosophy professor and author, the actor peppers friends and experts with questions about obscure historical figures and the paranormal: ghosts, UFOs, Hollow Earth theory, ancient Egypt.

Asma befriended Giamatti during the pandemic (the actor emailed him, out of the blue, to compliment him on an online lecture he had given about the science of imagination), and said they had spent two hours during their first conversation discussing little-known 18th-century Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg.

“Every wall of every room in his apartment has bookshelves filled with books, multiple levels deep,” Asma said.

“He reads more than most English professors I know, but he wears it lightly.”

In both his life and his work, Gia-

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

matti has always been drawn to characters on the margins. He is the rare baseball fan more interested in the umpires than the players. (“You’re a hugely important part of the game, and yet you’re outside of it — what is that like?”)

Even in supporting roles — a coldblooded slave trader in “12 Years a Slave,” a duplicitous music manager in “Straight Outta Compton” — his presence turns up the volume of humanity on screen.

When he is preparing for a part, Giamatti reads and rereads the script numerous times (he is not generally a fan of improvisation), making inferences about how the character might present in 3D. He often looks for ways to transform himself physically, a task for which his regular-joe facade has proved handy.

“You can dress me as a short-order cook, or as a butler, or as the president of the United States in the 18th century, and I kind of look like I should wear the clothes,” he said.

For “The Holdovers,” in which his character gradually forms a bond with a bright but troubled student (played by newcomer Dominic Sessa) and the head of the school’s cafeteria (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), Giamatti grew a handlebar mustache and wore a toggle jacket inspired by a similar one of his father’s.

But the person he most found him-

self channeling, the man he sees when he watches the film now, is a biology teacher from his own prep school, Choate Rosemary Hall: a sarcastic, “pasty, comb-over man” who seemed lonely and smelled like an ashtray and a martini.

As a student, Giamatti didn’t think much about the man, and the two almost never exchanged words. But one day, late in the school year, after a test on which he had performed uncharacteristically poorly, the teacher stopped by Giamatti’s desk.

“He handed me back the test and said, ‘You usually do really good on these, what happened?,’” Giamatti recalled. “I was like 15 and just shrugged: ‘I don’t know, man.’

But the guy stayed there and he looked me in the eye and asked, ‘Is everything OK?’” Giamatti, feeling awkward, said that it was, and they never discussed it again.

But the fact that the teacher — someone he had effectively considered a stranger, or worse — not only knew him well enough to suspect something was wrong, but cared enough to ask, has always stayed with him.

“It took me by surprise,” Giamatti said.

“He actually gave a [expletive] about us.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

19

Workplace wellness programs have little benefit, study finds

By ELLEN BARRY

E

mployee mental health services have become a billion-dollar industry.

New hires, once they have found the restrooms and enrolled in 401(k) plans, are presented with a panoply of digital wellness solutions, mindfulness seminars, massage classes, resilience workshops, coaching sessions and sleep apps.

These programs are a point of pride for forward-thinking human resource departments, evidence that employers care about their workers. But a British researcher who analyzed survey responses from 46,336 workers at companies that offered such programs found that people who participated in them were no better off than colleagues who did not.

The study, published this month in Industrial Relations Journal, considered the outcomes of 90 different interventions and found a single notable exception: Workers who were given the opportunity to do charity or volunteer work did seem to have improved well-being.

Across the study’s large population, none of the other offerings — apps, coaching, relaxation classes, courses in time management or financial health — had any positive effect. Trainings on resilience and stress management actually appeared to have a negative effect.

“It’s a fairly controversial finding, that these very popular programs were not effective,” said William J. Fleming, the author of the study and a fellow at Oxford University’s Wellbeing Research Center.

Fleming’s analysis suggests that employers concerned about workers’ mental health would do better to focus on “core organizational practices” like schedules, pay and performance reviews.

“If employees do want access to mindfulness apps and sleep programs and well-being apps, there is not anything wrong with that,” he said. “But if you’re seriously trying to drive employees wellbeing, then it has to be about working practices.”

Fleming’s study is based on responses to the Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey in 2017 and 2018 from workers at 233 organizations, with financial and in-

surance service workers, younger workers and women slightly overrepresented.

The data captured workers at a single point in time, rather than tracking them before and after treatment. Using thousands of matched pairs from the same workplace, it compared well-being measures from workers who participated in wellness programs with those of their colleagues who did not.

It is possible that there was selection bias, since workers who enroll in, say, a resilience training program may have lower well-being to begin with, Fleming said.

To address that, he separately analyzed responses from workers with high preexisting levels of work stress, comparing those who did and did not participate. But among this group, too, the survey answers suggested that the programs had no clear benefit.

The findings call into question practices that have become commonplace across job sectors. But researchers said they came as no surprise.

“Employers want to be seen as doing something, but they don’t want to look closely and change the way work is organized,” said Tony D. LaMontagne, a professor of work, health and well-being at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, who was not involved in the study.

Workplace mental health interventions may send the message that “if you do these programs and you’re still feeling stressed, it must be you,” LaMontagne said. “People who don’t have a critical view might internalize that failure: ‘So I really am a loser.’”

The corporate wellness services industry has ballooned in recent years, with thousands of vendors competing for billions of dollars in revenue. Companies invest in the interventions in hopes of saving money overall by improving worker health and productivity.

Some research supports this expectation. A 2022 study tracking 1,132 workers in the United States who used Spring Health, a platform that connects employees with mental health services like therapy and medication management, found that 69.3% of participants showed improvement in their depression. Partici-

pants also missed fewer days of work and reported higher productivity.

Adam Chekroud, a co-founder of Spring Health and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale, said Fleming’s study examined interventions that were “not highly credible” and measured well-being many months later. A blanket dismissal of workplace interventions, he said, risks “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

“There is recent and highly credible data that things like mental health programs do improve all those metrics that he mentions,” Chekroud said. “That’s the baby you shouldn’t be throwing out.”

There is also solid evidence that practices like mindfulness can have a positive effect. Controlled studies have consistently demonstrated lower stress and decreased anxiety and depression after mindfulness training.

The lackluster benefits that Fleming found may reflect variations in offerings, said Larissa Bartlett, a researcher at the University of Tasmania who has designed and taught mindfulness programs. “Lighttouch” interventions like apps, she added, are generally less effective than one-onone or group trainings.

Fleming’s study, she said, “misses most of these details, condensing interven-

tion types into broad labels, engagement into yes/no, and dismissing the reports from intervention participants that they felt they benefited from the programs they did.”

A key omission, she added, is longitudinal data showing whether participants experience improvement over time. The result is a “bird’s-eye view” of the wellbeing of participants that “skates over changes that may occur at the individual level,” she said.

Fleming said he was aware of the body of research supporting the treatments’ effectiveness, but that he had “never been as convinced by the very positive findings,” since the data comes from controlled trials in which the treatment is implemented very well, something that may not be the case in employer-provided programs.

Dr. David Crepaz-Keay, the head of research and applied learning at the Mental Health Foundation in the United Kingdom, who has advised the World Health Organization and Public Health England on mental health initiatives, described Fleming’s data and analysis as “certainly more robust” than “most of the research that has created the consensus that employee assistance works.”

An office in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023. An Oxford researcher measured the effect of popular workplace mental health interventions, and discovered little to none. (Jason Henry/The New York Times)

20

Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Where anteaters and anacondas roam, and ranchers are now rangers

A savanna hawk in the newly established Manacacias National Park, in Meta, Colombia, Nov. 23, 2023. Colombia created its latest, and perhaps last, national park by befriending the traditional ranching culture that surrounds the land. (Federico Rios/The New York Times)

By JENNIE ERIN SMITH

T

he llanos region spans more than 200,000 square miles through Colombia and Venezuela. Hot winds blow over its grassy hills, and scattered forests of Mauritius palms shelter hidden streams and lagoons. For centuries, this landscape, shaped by ancient rivers, has been shared by ranchers and cattle, which learned to coexist with jaguars, panthers, anacondas, electric eels and crocodiles.

In December, Colombia declared a new national park in a corner of the llanos that borders the Manacacías River.

The Manacacías joins the larger Meta River; then the Orinoco River, which forms part of the border with Venezuela; and there feeds into a tributary of the Amazon. At 263 square miles, the new Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Manacacías is not Colombia’s biggest. But from a conservation perspective, it is strategic, protecting a crucial link between this vast tropical savanna and the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest.

The Manacacías park is six hours from the nearest town, San Martín. To reach the park, one must navigate unmarked roads across an undulating sea of green prairie grass, seldom seeing another vehicle.

On a ride into the nascent park in late November, just days before it was legally declared, Thomas Walschburger, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy in Colombia, explained why it was needed so urgently.

Cattle rearing, the traditional livelihood of the region and one that was easier on its rivers and soils, was giving way to a new agricultural frontier. Fields of African oil palms, and white-trunked eucalyptus trees, were encroaching ever closer to the park’s boundaries.

The sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soils of the llanos can

support these commercial crops only when doused with fertilizers and calcium carbonate. But intensive agriculture compromises the water, and the ability to sustain life, in a key transition zone between the llanos and the Amazon. The hope is that by protecting this small puzzle piece of savanna, a whole lot more can be saved.

Farewell to a family legacy Hato Palmeras, the Rey family ranch, sits close to the Manacacías River, in the southern part of the park, surrounded by a panoramic view of prairie. Founded in the early 1950s, the ranch and its 25,000 acres of natural grasslands, palm forests and wetlands have never been touched by a tractor.

On a November afternoon, Ernesto Rey, 68, prepared to drive hundreds of his cows out of the park’s limits, never to return. The ranch would soon be turned over to the Colombian government, and the farmhouse converted to a ranger station.

Colombia put up about $20 million for the park, using funds from a fossil fuel tax and environmental impact compensation payments from industry.

William Zorro, the new park’s director, had also come to see the Rey cows leave. The lawyers, park people and conservationists were not there to monitor the ranchers, Zorro insisted, but to accompany them. The atmosphere was convivial, as everyone knew one another well.

Zorro, 51, had spent more than 20 years directing different national parks in Colombia, some of them in conflict zones. As a result, his diplomatic skills were well honed. Not everyone living within the boundaries of the park was as cooperative as the Rey family; some ranchers would not vacate until they absolutely had to. Zorro tried to be as flexible as he could with them. He would give them time before he and his team began dismantling the corrals that allowed people to rear cattle here.

Another challenge Zorro faced was that people came to these lands from the surrounding community to hunt and fish, activities soon to be prohibited. “Llaneros love to hunt,” he said. “It’s something we have to work on.”

Oscar Rey, 44, worked on the family ranch for much of his life. He was there a decade ago, when teams of biologists and geologists from Colombia’s Universidad Nacional came to conduct the meticulous surveys that would form the scientific evidence for the Manacacías park. In 2022, he greeted the country’s then-environment minister when he arrived by helicopter to see it for himself. By then, the Reys had committed to selling Hato Palmeras to the government. And Oscar Rey, rather than inherit his share of it, had become a park ranger.

In many ways, he said of the llanos, “it’s like old times here.” His family ranch has always been owned and run by men; his grandfather left nothing to his daughters. But a younger generation no longer wanted to work on huge, isolated cattle ranches, he said. They wanted to study, find jobs with oil companies or agricultural firms, or move. They sought relationships that were more like partnerships, without the strict gender roles typical of the ranches. With fair of-

fers for their properties, and few interested heirs, most landowning families were willing to sell.

The Manacacías park, Rey said, would accelerate the cultural changes already underway.

‘We’re like pioneers here’ Ernesto Rey and his cowboys awoke in their hammocks before dawn, to the percussive harps of llanera music on their phones and Jupiter visible in the sky. After a breakfast of beef bones in broth, they grabbed their soft-brimmed topochero hats and took off on their horses in a chorus of high-pitched hollers and whips cracking. A pink sunrise turned to yellow as Rey rode behind the herd in shirt sleeves, chasing wayward cows.

Within two hours, they and 300 cows would cross a river and leave the park’s limits, but their journey to the rented farm was just starting. For three nights, they would rely on the hospitality of the owners of other far-flung ranches.

The park workers and conservationists left Hato Palmeras soon afterward, headed for a northeastern sector where the new rangers were stationed.

That morning, along the improvised roads that crisscrossed the plains, wild animals were out in force. Bushytailed giant anteaters galloped in the dewy grass. A tamandua, or collared anteater, with prizefighter arms and curved claws that break open termite mounds, tried to ignore a car full of onlookers.

The rangers occupied an emptied-out ranch with limited electricity, no internet and no refrigerator; their fresh food was stored in foam coolers. The way it worked, a group of three rangers stayed in the house for two weeks at a time, and then returned to their base in San Martín, replaced by different colleagues. Several times a week, they made the rounds of the park together on motorcycles that their boss, Zorro, borrowed for them.

They were mostly young, poorly paid and all alone. As not even dogs can be kept in Colombia’s national parks, their sole pet was a chicken left behind by its former owners. “We’re like pioneers here,” said Alexandra Rubio, 21, who, with her colleagues, had been working in these bare-bones conditions for months. They would have to put up with the conditions a while longer, Zorro said. Once the park was officially declared and had a definite budget, things would start to improve.

Already, though, the rangers had made a difference.

They had established the government’s presence in a formerly anything-goes region. On their motorcycle patrols through Manacacías, the rangers had logged some important wildlife sightings.

Oscar Rey joined his colleagues as they stopped at a bend of the Manacacías River. The rangers frequently checked in on this sandy shoreline, as people routinely placed fishing nets across it.

Everywhere around him were tracks made by tapirs, peccaries, capybaras and lizards. It was almost the time of year when freshwater turtles dug nests in the riverbanks, he said. Rey’s grandparents ate their eggs, of course, but future generations would not.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

21

An oatmeal cookie for raisin haters

By MELISSA CLARK

I

t may come as a shock to legions of chocolate chip devotees, but there’s a small but passionate faction of cookie lovers who prefer oatmeal raisin.

It’s not that we just tolerate oatmeal raisin cookies, nor that we think of them as a dignified second best. It’s that we would, in fact, brush past a teetering stack of fancy chocolate chunk mega-cookies to get just one nubby, chewy, dried-fruit-speckled disk of oatmeal raisin, especially if it is still soft and warm from the oven, fragrantly spiced.

Sadly, far from the myriad chocolate chip cookie recipes to be found in print and online, oatmeal raisin fans have only a handful to choose from and even fewer variations. This recipe is my humble but considered contribution to the cause.

Its basic dough is close to my favorite oatmeal raisin iteration, full of dark brown sugar for butterscotch notes and crisp, caramelized edges.

But here’s where the variety comes in.

Instead of raisins, I use a homemade blueberry-maple compote brightened with lemon juice and grated zest for those pops of fruit.

Homemade compote is fresher tasting than store-bought preserves, while also allowing you to control the sweetness level, adding less or more maple syrup (though you can use a jar of jam in a pinch; stir in the lemon juice and zest). And it’s easy to make: Simply simmer the ingredients until they turn syrupy, then turn off the heat. The compote thickens as it cools, turning jammy and satiny. The most intense flavor is to be had from frozen wild blueberries if you can find them, but any kind of blueberries work nicely, fresh or frozen.

To form the cookies, start out as if they were thumbprints. Place the balls of dough on the pan, create a divot in the center, then spoon in some compote. This is where the similarity ends. Instead of leaving the compote visible, I hide it with more dough. Because who doesn’t love a sweet surprise?

From the outside, the cookies look plain, disappointing even (what, no chocolate and no raisins?). But bite in and a sticky puddle of blueberry goodness is instantly revealed, followed closely by spices and a nutty crunch.

Be sure to save a few to share with chocolate chip cookie fans. You just may bring

them, at least temporarily, over to the oatmeal side.

Maple blueberry oatmeal cookies These soft, lightly spiced oatmeal cookies have a sweet surprise in the middle: a pocket of syrupy blueberry-maple jam. The jam helps keep the cookies soft and tender for days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature, so you can bake a batch over the weekend and snack on them all week long. If you can find frozen wild blueberries to make the compote, these will have an even more intense berry flavor, but any blueberries will work in these homey treats.

Yield: 30 cookies Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes, plus cooling Ingredients: For the blueberry-maple jam: 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw) 3 tablespoons maple syrup, or to taste 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (see tip) Pinch of fine sea or table salt For the cookies: 1 cup/227 grams unsalted butter, softened, more for pans 1 1/2 cups/315 grams dark brown sugar 1 large egg 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups/187 grams all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3 cups/260 grams rolled oats (not instant) 1 cup/100 grams chopped pecans or walnuts Preparation: 1. In a small saucepan, combine berries, maple syrup, lemon juice, zest and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer vigorously for 12 to 22 minutes, or until the jam has thick-

Maple blueberry oatmeal cookies on a cooling rack, in New York, Jan. 4, 2024. A puddle of blueberry maple jam is stuffed inside these tender, gently spiced treats.

(Ryan Liebe/The New York Times)

ened; most of the liquid should have evaporated and what’s there should look syrupy rather than runny. Transfer jam to a bowl. Refrigerate or freeze until cool, about 20 to 30 minutes.

(Jam can be made up to 5 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.)

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or reusable silicone liners.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg until fully incorporated.

Then beat in vanilla extract, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and baking soda. Set mixer on low speed and beat flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in oats and nuts. (Dough can be made up to 5

days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.)

5. Spoon or scoop out large tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.

Use your thumb or a spoon to make a thumbprint. Spoon a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each thumbprint. Top jam with an additional 1 tablespoon of dough and press around the edges to lightly seal the cookie. A little of the jam will seep out, which is good; it will give the baked cookies a nice rippled look.

6. Bake for 15 to 23 minutes, or until the edges turn deep golden brown and the centers are firm. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

TIP: It’s easier to zest the whole lemon before halving it to squeeze the juice.

Te ayudamos a Vender, Alquilar, Comprar y Administrar tu Propiedad

José Rodríguez

Corredor de Bienes Raices Lic. C-20077

787.349.0013•kingdomrealty1429@gmail.com

22 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

In Europe, trains are full, and more are on the way

By PAIGE McCLANAHAN

P

aris to Venice, Italy. Barcelona, Spain, to Amsterdam. Brussels to Bratislava, Slovakia. European cities could see a flurry of new rail connections in the next few years, as governments and private investors respond to climate concerns and strive to keep up with strong demand for cross-border passenger rail traffic.

Patience is required: Some new connections will take a year or more to start operating, and there will be the occasional inconveniences — like the sixmonth suspension of nonstop service from Amsterdam to London beginning in June, as Amsterdam’s Central Station undergoes renovations.

The route that passes under the English Channel could also have some slow-building changes in the works. Eurostar has had a monopoly on passenger rail traffic under the Channel for nearly 30 years. But the Channel Tunnel is open access, and competitors are lining up to offer additional services between Britain and the Continent.

It’s all part of Europe’s ongoing rail renaissance, which is being driven in large part by strong interest from passengers.

“For long-distance travel, trains are full — and we have more demand than supply. This is true for day trains as well as night trains,” said Alberto Mazzola, the executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies, a Brussels-based industry group.

He attributed the rise in demand to passengers’ concerns about the climate as well as trains’ increasing price competitiveness with flights. For example, on Thetrainline.com, a popular platform for train bookings in Europe, a round-trip rail journey between Paris and Geneva in late January starts at 63 euros (about $69), including luggage. On Google Flights, the cheapest round-trip ticket is 148 euros, not counting fees for checked luggage or airport transfers.

“The big problem that we have is lack of infrastructure,” Mazzola said,

European cities could see a flurry of new rail connections in the next few years, as governments and private investors respond to climate concerns. noting that train stations are the biggest bottleneck, followed by capacity on the lines themselves. Governments, including in Germany and France, are making major investments in infrastructure, he added, although these projects could take several years to bear fruit.

But passengers are ready to go.

Across the European Union, passenger rail transport saw a 50% jump between 2021 and 2022, landing at nearly 245 billion miles traveled — just 5% shy of 2019 levels. Based on feedback from rail operators around Europe, Mazzola expects to see the trend continue when 2023 data is released.

Cross-channel competition Gwendoline Cazenave, the CEO of Eurostar, said that growth is also strong on the cross-Channel route, where passenger numbers for 2023 were close to their pre-pandemic high of over 11 million.

“The demand for sustainable railway travel is really booming,” Cazenave said, adding that by 2030, Eurostar aims to transport 30 million passengers every year across its network — which includes stops in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, as well as Britain and France.

Competitors are taking note, especially on the cross-Channel route.

In October, Evolyn — a new rail operator led by the Spanish Cosmen family, travel industry heavyweights — announced that it had reached an agreement with French train manufacturer Alstom to secure 12 to 16 high-speed

trains for the cross-Channel route.

“There is room for business there,” said Estefanía Campos, a spokesperson for Evolyn. She added that the company’s cross-Channel service would begin in 2025, with full operations coming online in 2026.

British businessperson Richard Branson could also be preparing a bid.

In November, The Telegraph, citing unnamed sources, reported that Branson, the owner of Virgin Group, a multinational venture capital corporation, was “plotting a rival operation” on Eurostar’s flagship route. When asked about the news article, the company said that it “doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation.”

Heuro, in the Netherlands, also announced plans for a cross-Channel route. Direct service between Amsterdam and London, with up to 16 trains per day traveling in each direction, is scheduled to begin in 2028.

Other new connections Competitors may be lining up for the London-Paris route, but elsewhere startups are among those looking to build direct connections where none now exist.

May, Dutch-Belgian company European Sleeper started overnight service between Brussels and Berlin. It is scheduled to extend to Dresden, Germany, and Prague in the spring. European Sleeper is also planning direct service between Amsterdam and Barcelona in 2025.

Meanwhile, Midnight Trains, a Paris-based startup, is working to build overnight routes in and out of Paris —

including to Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Barcelona and Madrid. It plans to launch the first service, Paris-MilanVenice, in 2025.

And in central Europe, Leo Express, based in Prague, already operates a network that connects the Czech capital to Krakow, Poland, and Bratislava, among other cities. The company has applied for approval to begin running a daily 19-hour service between Bratislava and Brussels, which could launch as soon as late 2024.

The national railways are also involved.

In September, German Transport Minister Volker Wissing vowed to free up 40 billion euros to revitalize the country’s rail network. “The rail infrastructure has been neglected for decades and brought to its absolute limits,” Wissing said in a statement. “This is no longer acceptable and unworthy of a progressive economic nation. We need the railroads as a climate-friendly mode of transport.”

In Spain, the government has opened up its high-speed rail network to private competition with great success.

And the national rail operator, Renfe, recently started direct services between Madrid and the French coastal city of Marseille, and between Barcelona and Lyon, France.

And in France, President Emmanuel Macron promised in 2020 to revitalize the country’s rail network to promote the country’s “ecological transition.” Overnight services have recently restarted between Paris and Nice, Paris and Vienna, and Paris and Aurillac, in the south.

Paris is also now enjoying direct overnight service to and from Berlin, the result of a collaboration among the national railway companies of France, Germany, Belgium and Austria. French Transport Minister Clément Beaune was among those aboard the inaugural train, which pulled into Paris’ Gare de l’Est on the morning of Dec. 12.

“It was magnificent,” Beaune told a reporter waiting to greet him on the platform. “It’s a symbol that we need at the moment.”

The San Juan Daily Star LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAM´ON

COMPU-LINK CORPORATION, D/B/A CELINK Demandante Vs.

SUCESION DE LEONOR FIGUEROA CARRILLO T/C/C LEONOR FIGUEROA T/C/C LEONOR FIGUEROA DE VILLANUEVA COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2023CV03128.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

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

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, 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 Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 6 DE FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Solar numero Trescientos Ochenta y Nueve (389) del Bloque “U” del plano de inscripción de la Urbanización Forest Hills Extensión, situada en el Barrio Cero Gordo de la Municipalidad de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, con una área de Trescientos Cincuenta y Cuatro Punto Treinta y Siete Metros

@

Cuadrados (354.37 M.C). En lindes por el Norte, con el Solar Numero Trescientos Ochenta y Siete (387), en veintiuno punto cero cero metros (21.00 m.); por el Sur, con Calle Venecia, en veintiuno punto cero cero metros (21.00 m.); por el Este, con el Solar Numero Setecientos Cincuenta (750), en diecisiete punto cero cero metros (17.00 m.), y por el Oeste, con Calle Ecuador, en diecisiete punto cero cero metros (17.00 m.).” Enclava una casa. Finca número 13,720, inscrita al folio 241 del tomo 211 de Bayamón Sur, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección I. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al tomo Karibe, finca 13,720 de Bayamón Sur, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección I, inscripción 13ª. Propiedad localizada en: URB. EXT. FOREST HILLS, U-389 CALLE ECUADOR, BAYAMON, PUERTO RICO 00959. 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: $211,500.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 6 de mayo de 2084. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $141,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 13 DE FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $94,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se

Thursday, January 18, 2024 produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $70,500.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 20 DE FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $124,556.31 por concepto de principal, más la suma de 38,305.99 en intereses acumulados 15 de agosto de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 3.529% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $6,679.19 en seguro hipotecario; $5,915.00 de cargos por servicio; $2,661.26 de seguro de la propiedad; $1,500.00 de tasaciones; $760.00 de inspecciones; $9,736.40 en mantenimiento a la propiedad; $4,138.80 en adelantos pendientes; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $14,100.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado. A tenor con la Regla 44.3 de Procedimiento Civil se condena a la parte demandada a pagar intereses aplicables sobre el importe de la presente sentencia incluyendo costas y honorarios de abogado, desde esta fecha y hasta que sea satisfecha. 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 Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 22

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

de diciembre de 2023. FRANCES TORRES CONTRERAS, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING LLC Demandante Vs.

SUCESION VICTOR MANUEL GONZALEZ RIVERA T/C/C VICTOR M GONZALEZ RIVERA T/C/C VICTOR M GONZALEZ T/C/C VICTOR GONZALEZ COMPUESTA POR FELIX JUAN GONZALEZ FELIX; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2023CV01112.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

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

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, 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 Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 6 DE FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:45 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Santa Rosa del término

(787) 743-3346

23 municipal de Dorado, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 455.195 metros cuadrados.

En lindes por el NORTE, en 12.288 metros, con la Sucesión Oquendo; por el SUR, en 12.392 metros con camino vecinal; por el ESTE, en 30.848 metros, con Ruperta Ríos; y por el OESTE, en 35.724 metros, con Ramón Ríos.” Finca número 4724, inscrita al folio 131 del tomo 107 de Dorado, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección IV. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita en Karibe, finca 4724 de Dorado, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección IV, inscripción 6ª. Propiedad localizada en: PR 659 KM 1.2, SECTOR JAZMIN, BO. SANTA ROSA, DORADO, PR 00646. 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: $174,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 13 de noviembre de 2084. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes.

El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $174,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 13 DE FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:45 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $116,000.00, 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 $87,000.00, la mitad (1/2)

del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, Cuarto Piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas, el 20 DE FEBRERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:45 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $77,227.19 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $29,058.61 en intereses acumulados al 12 de abril de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 4.231% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $8,466.03 en seguro hipotecario; $950.00 de tasaciones; $340.00 de inspecciones; $4,563.00 de honorarios de abogado; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $17,400.00, 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 Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 22 de diciembre de 2023. FRANCES TORRES CONTRERAS, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735. ****

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

MAXIMINO SANTIAGO FIGUEROA

Demandada Civil Núm.: HU2023CV01513.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO

Demandados CIVIL NUN. PO2023CV03789.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: JOHN DOE y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO

POR LA PRESENTE se le

A: MAXIMINO emplaza para que presente al SANTIAGO FIGUEROA. Tribunal su alegación responsiC-28, 1 ST QUINTAS DE va a la demanda dentro de los CANDELERO, HUMACAO, treinta (30) días a partir de la PUERTO RICO 00791; HC publicación de este edicto. En 2 BOX 11502, HUMACAO, dicha demanda se reclama la cancelación un pagaré otorgaPUERTO RICO 00791; do el 22 de mayo de 2008, a fa1003 CALLE 2 SE, SAN vor de PENTAGON FEDERAL JUAN, PUERTO RICO CREDIT UNION, por la suma principal de $83,000.00, con 00921.

intereses al 5.750% anual, vencedero el 1 de junio de 2023 y otros créditos accesorios. Para garantizar el pago de dicho paqaré se constituyó hipoteca voluntaria mediante la escritura número 37, otorgada el 22 de mayo de 2008, ante el Notario Osvaldo Toledo Martinez, sobre el bien inmueble que se describe a continuación: ---”URBANA: Solar marcado con el número 8 del bloque “VV” en el plano de inscripción de la Urbanización Jardines Del Caribe, Segunda Etapa, radicada en los Barrios Canas, Quebrada Limón y Pastillo del término municipal de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 337.500 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en 13.500 metros con la Calle Número 48; por el SUR, en 13.500 metros con los solares número 4 y 5 del bloque “VV”; por el ESTE, en 25.00 metros con el solar número 9 del bloque “VV”; y por el OESTE, en 25.00 metros con el solar número 7 del bloque “VV”. Sobre este solar se ha construido una casa de concreto armado para ser utilizada como residencia familiar. “ Inscrita al folio 141 del tomo 564 de Ponce Sur, finca 7144, LEGAL NOTICE Registro de la Propiedad de ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Ponce, Sección II. ---La hipoDE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- teca antes mencionada consta NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA inscrita al folio 211 del tomo SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE. 1194 de Ponce Sur, finca 7144, PENTAGON FEDERAL Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección II, inscripción CREDIT UNION 2a. Usted deberá presentar su Demandante vs. alegación responsiva a través LEGAL NOTICE JOHN DOE Y JANE del Sistema Unificado de MaESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DOE COMO POSIBLES nejo y Administración de Casos DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUTENEDORES (SUMAC), al cual puede acceNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 00936-6603. Tel. (787) 9190073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 9 de enero de 2024. EVELYN FÉLIX VÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA GENERAL. DALIAS REYES DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

24 der utilizando la siguiente direccion electronica salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberé presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsive dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en e1 ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Greenspoon Marder, LLP Lcda. Frances L. Asencio -Guido R.LJ.A. 15,622 TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 loo WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309 Telephone: (954) 343 6273 Frances.Asencio@grnlaw.com Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello del Tribunal, en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 22 de diciembre de 2023. Carmen G. Tirú Quiñones, SECRETARIO. Hilda J. Rosado Rodriguez, SUB-SECRETARIO.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

REYNALDO PAGAN BURGOS Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: PO2023CV00962.

(Salón: 605 CIVIL SUPERIOR).

Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. REGGIE DÍAZ HERNÁNDEZ, RDIAZ@BDPRLAW.COM.

A: REYNALDO PAGAN BURGOS T/C/C REINALDO PAGAN BURGOS COMO TENEDOR DESCONOCIDO DEL PAGARE, SOUTHERN MORTGAGE INC., JOHN DOE COMO TENEDOR DESCONOCIDO DEL PAGARE.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 27 de diciembre 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 10 de enero de 2024. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 10 de enero de 2024. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA. KEILENE RODRÍGUEZ MELÉNDEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

DORAL FINANCIAL CORPORATION Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: CG2023CV01765.

(Salón: 802). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO ENMENDADA. BELMA ALONSO GARCÍA, OFICINABELMAALONSO@GMAIL. COM .

pia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 10 de enero de 2024. Notas de la Secretaría: PARA ELIMINAR PARTES DE LA NOTIFICACIÓN DE EDICTO SEGÚN ORDEN DEL 5 DE ENERO DE 2024. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, el 10 de enero de 2024. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. MARÍA E. GORDILLO CRUZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

el 12 de enero de 2024. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA. HILDA ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC

LEGAL NOTICE

JONATHAN M. MORALES RODRIGUEZ

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

CONDOMINIO BAHIA PROPERTIES, LLC

Demandante V. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO SUCESION DE JOSE DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUVARGAS VELAZQUEZ NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANY OTROS CIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE Demandado(a) PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE Caso Núm.: SJ2023CV03126.

PONCE FIRST AMERICAN TITLE (Salón: 901 CIVIL). Sobre: DE DINERO - ORDIINSURANCE COMPANY COBRO NARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE Demandante V. SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. R-G FEDERAL SAVINGS ALEJANDRO BELLVER ESPINOSA, BANK, HOY ORIENTAL ALEJANDRO@BELLVERLAW.COM.

BANK Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: PO2023CV03570.

(Salón: 604 CIVIL SUPERIOR).

Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE SOBRE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. SANDRA DE L. TOS CHEVRES, STOUS@BUFETETOUS.COM. R-G FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK, HOY ORIENTAL BANK - ORIENTAL BANK, LEGAL DEPARTMENT, P.O. BOX 195115, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, 00919-5115.

R-G PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO, HOY ORIENTAL BANK; ORIENTAL CENTER LEGAL DEPARTMENT, P.O. BOX 195115, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 009195115.

A: MORTGAGE PLUS EQUITY & LOAN CORPORATION; CONSTANCIA GARCÍA A: FULANO DE TAL, Y MORALES; FULANO DE MENGANO MAS CUAL. TAL Y MENGANO DE TAL, (Nombre de las partes que se le POSIBLES TENEDORES notifican la sentencia por edicto) DESCONOCIDOS DEL EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que PAGARE.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 21 de diciembre de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Co-

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

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

A: SUCESIÓN DE JOSÉ VARGAS VELÁZQUEZ, COMPUESTA POR NEYDA VARGAS, FULANO DE TAL, MENGANO DE TAL, MENGANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL.

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

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

Demandante V.

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: VA2023CV00091.

(Salón: 502). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - REGLA 60. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERA, NATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. COM.

A: JONATHAN M. MORALES RODRIGUEZ.

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

LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. NEREIDA QUILES SANTANA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC Demandante V.

DACHA M ORTIZ SANTANA

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: SJ2023CV07102.

(Salón: 505 CIVIL). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERA, NATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. COM.

A: DACHA M ORTIZ

SANTANA.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 10 DE ENERO DE 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 11 de enero de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 11 de enero de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. SONIA N. ORTIZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO DEPARTAMENTO DE TRANSPORTACIÓN Y OBRAS PÚBLICAS AUTORIDAD DE CARRETERAS Y TRANSPORTACIÓN OFICINA ASESORA DE ADMINISTRACIÓN DE PROPIEDADES SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO RESOLUCIÓN

A LOS DUEÑOS ANTERIORES, CAUSAHABIENTES, OCUPANTES LEGALES, ENTIDADES GUBERNAMENTALES Y OTRAS PERSONAS QUIENES PUDIERAN TENER DERECHO DE READQUIRIR LOS TERRENOS OBJETO DE ESTE AVISO.

PRIMERA: Por la presente se notifica que la AUTORIDAD DE CARRETERAS Y TRANSPORTACIÓN se propone vender la parcela de terreno que se describe a continuación: B1-A: URBANA: Predio de terreno localizado en el Barrio Hato Rey del término Municipal de San Juan, con una cabida superficial de 4,268.6944 metros cuadrados, equivalentes a 1.0867 cuerdas de terreno. Colindado al Norte con Avenida Franklin D. Roosevelt; por el Sur con las Calles Alhambra y Sevilla; por el Este

con la Calle Sevilla y terrenos COMPUESTA POR REMI de la Iglesia Sendero de la RODRIGUEZ NIEVES Y Cruz; y por el Oeste con la finca POR MIGUEL ANGEL principal de la cual se segrega, RODRIGUEZ NIEVES antes Pedro Sobrino López y Demandantes Vs. Carmen M. Marrero. TRACTO REGISTRAL: Finca 42,256, SUCESION DE RAFAEL Tomo Karibe. CATASTRO NÚALVARADO TORO MERO: 063-031-083-18. VACOMPUESTA POR LOR DE LA PROPIEDAD B1-A: MIGADLIA MALDINADO $1,580,000.00. B1-B: URBAJUSINO Y DEMÁS NA: Predio de terreno localiDEMANDADOS zado en el Barrio Hato Rey del término Municipal de San Juan, IDENTIFICADOS COMO con una cabida superficial de JOHN DOE & JANE DOE 396.6249 metros cuadrados, Demandados equivalentes a 0.10091 cuer- Civil Núm.: PO2023CV00405. das de terreno. Colindado al Sobre: ACCIÓN CIVIL SOBRE Norte con Avenida Franklin D. INSCRIPCIÓN DE TITULARIRoosevelt por el Sur con la Ca- DAD. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR lle Alhambra; por el Este con te- EDICTO. rrenos de la ACT; y por el Oeste A: SUCESION DE RAFAEL con la finca principal de la cual ALVARADO TORO. se segrega, antes terrenos de Se le notifica a usted que ha la ACT. TRACTO REGISTRAL: sido radicada ante este TribuFinca 42,257, Tomo Karibe. CAnal de Primera Instancia, Sala TASTRO NÚMERO: 063-032de Superior de Ponce, una 083-35. VALOR DE LA PRODemanda sobre Inscripción de PIEDAD B1-A: $150,000.00.

Titularidad. Usted deberá preSEGUNDA: Las parcelas de sente al tribunal su alegación terreno anteriormente descritas responsiva dentro de los 30 se encuentran inscritas en el días desde la última publicaRegistro de la Propiedad San ción de este edicto, sirviéndole Juan Il, a favor del AUTORIDAD copia de dicha contestación a DE CARRETERAS Y TRANSla Lcda. Teresa Pacheco CaPORTACION. TERCERA: Que macho, con oficinas en la Calle las propiedades anteriormente Santiago Vivaldi Pacheco, Núdescritas han dejado de ser mero 24-B, Yauco, Puerto Rico, de utilidad pública y la venta dirección postal: P.O. Box 5004, de las mismas constituye una PMB 200, Yauco, Puerto Rico transacción beneficiosa para 00698-5004, teléfono número el interés público. CUARTA: 787-267-5784, fax número 787En cumplimiento con las dispo267-6328, correo electrónico siciones de la Ley Número 12 teresa@pacheco-camachodel 10 de diciembre de 1975, lawfirm.com, abogada de los según enmendada, se notifica Demandantes. Se le apercibe a los anteriores dueños, o en que, de no hacerlo así, el trila alternativa a sus respectivas bunal podrá dictar sentencia sucesiones o causahabientes, en rebeldía en su contra y concolindantes, municipios y otras ceder el remedio solicitado en entidades gubernamentales la demanda, o cualquier otro, con interés en ejercitar el desi el tribunal, en el ejercicio de recho preferente de adquirir la su sana discreción, lo entiende propiedad, que le concede la procedente. EXPEDIDO bajo misma, lo informen por escrito firma y sello de este Tribunal a la Secretaria del DEPARTAde Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 8 MENTO DE TRANSPORTAde enero de 2024. CARMEN CIÓN Y OBRAS PÚBLICAS G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECREdentro del término de treinta TARIA DEL TRIBUNAL SU(30) días a contarse desde la PERIOR. HILDA J. ROSADO fecha de la última publicación RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA de esta Resolución. Se notifica AUXILIAR. a los anteriores dueños o en la alternativa a sus sucesiones a LEGAL NOTICE la última dirección conocida con ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO copia de este Edicto, por correo DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUcertificado con acuse de recibo NAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA la intención de la AUTORIDAD TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSDE CARRETERAS Y TRANSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PORTACIÓN, de enajenar el CAGUAS predio de terreno antes descriLIZZA M. GASTON to. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, a FANTAUZZI 9 de enero de 2024. SANDRA Parte Peticionaria Vs. GUTIÉRREZ DÁVILA, SECREEXPARTE; TARIA INTERINA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ALEGADO INCAPAZ: CRISTIAN JAVIER BONILLA GASTÓN

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUCivil Número: CG2023RF00395.

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Sala: 503. Sobre: SOLICITUD SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE DE DECLARACIÓN JUDICIAL SUCESION DE ELBA DE INCAPACIDAD Y RESTITUNIEVES CARABALLO CIÓN DE PATRIA POTESTAD.

The San Juan Daily Star EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., S.S.

A: JAVIER BONILLA.

Por la presente se le emplaza y se le notifica que la parte peticionaria ha presentado ante este Tribunal una Demanda en la cual se solicita el siguiente remedio en su contra: SOLICITUD DE DECLARACIÓN JUDICIAL DE INCAPACIDAD Y RESTITUCIÓN DE PATRIA POTESTAD. Dentro del término de treinta (30) días desde la publicación del presente edicto usted, alegado padre del incapaz, deberá presentar ante este tribunal original de su contestación a dicha demanda y notificar con copia de la misma a LCDA. MARISEL BARRErO VIERA, cuya dirección es la siguiente: URB. CROWN HILLS, 138 AVE. WINSTON CHURCHILL, PMB 224 SAN JUAN PR 00956. Su teléfono es el 787-945-5193, correo electrónico: mariselbarreto@ gmail.com. Se le apercibe que, de no hacerlo, se le anotará la rebeldía y se podrá dictar sentencia en su contra, concediendo los remedios solicitados, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy 10 de enero de 2024.

LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL. GLADYS MULERO COLÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: CA2023CV03153.

(CIVIL 403). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ROBERTO CARLOS LATIMER VALENTÍN, LATIMERRC@LBRGLAW. COM.

A: JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 10 de enero de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los

Thursday, January 18, 2024

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

En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 12 de enero de 2024. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. LILLIAM ORTIZ NIEVES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

to. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 10 de enero de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 10 de enero de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. MILDRED J. FRANCO REVENTOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGüEZ SALA SUPERIOR

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

SUCESIÓN DE IDA LINA PECK SUÁREZ T/C/C IDALINA PECK SUÁREZ T/C/C AIDA ROSA KARRY, COMPUESTA POR “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS LEGAL NOTICE DESCONOCIDOS DE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DICHA SUCESIÓN; DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO DE CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN RECAUDACIONES DE JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES SAN JUAN (C.R.I.M.) ANABEL GONZÁLEZ FIGUEROA T/C/C ANABELLE GONZÁLEZ FIGUEROA Demandante V.

JOHN DOE Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: SJ2023CV10491.

(Salón: 903 CIVIL). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. JOSÉ M. CASTRO ÁLVAREZ, JMCA5419@GMAIL.COM.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE.

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 09 de enero de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edic-

Demandado Civil Núm.: MZ2021CV01649.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. 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 Mayagüez, Mayagüez, 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 13 de noviembre 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: Solar con una cabida de quinientos metros cuadrados, sito en el Barrio Lavadero Uno de Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, que mide por el NORTE, treinta metros y colinda con la finca principal de los esposos Suárez Irizarry; por el SUR, mide veinte metros y colinda con la carretera número dos; por el ESTE, mide veinticinco metros y colinda con el solar letra D; y por el OESTE, mide veinticinco metros y colinda con faja de terreno para entrada del remanente de la finca principal. Edificación con un valor de $46,000.00, según resulta de la escritura número 38, otorgada en Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, el día 15 de julio de 1996, ante el notario Rigoberto Martínez Cruz, inscrita al

folio 1 del tomo 3 de Mayagüez, finca número 953, inscripción 6ta. Inscrita al folio 61 del tomo 32 de Hormigueros, finca número 953. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Mayagüez. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada y notificada en este caso el 27 de julio de 2023, y publicada en un periódico de circulación general de Puerto Rico (“The San Juan Daily Star”) el 25 de agosto de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $55,950.22 por concepto de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma a razón del 5.00%, anual desde el 1ro de febrero de 2020, hasta su completo pago, más las primas de seguro hipotecario, recargos por demora y cualesquiera otras cantidades pactadas en la escritura de primera hipoteca, desde la fecha antes mencionada y hasta la fecha del pago total de las mismas, más la suma de $7,511.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente.

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 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Centro Judicial de Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $75,110.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 28 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe.

El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $50,073.33, 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 6 DE MARZO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $37,555.00, 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 Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy día 22 de diciembre de 2023.

ALGUACIL IVELISSE FIGUEROA VARGAS, ALGUACIL PLACA #924, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE ARECIBO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

JOSEFINA CAMACHO ROSA

Demandada Civil Núm.: CCD2015-0377.

(404). Sobre: COBRO DE

25

DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. 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 Arecibo, Arecibo, 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 6 de diciembre 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: Lote de terreno localizado en la calle número 4 de la Urbanización Brisas de Mar Chiquita en el Barrio Tierras Nuevas Ponientes del municipio de Manatí, Puerto Rico, identificada en el Plano de Inscripción aprobado por la Administración de Reglamentos y Permisos para la urbanización como solar número G-16. El mismo tiene una cabida superficial de 302.25 metros cuadrados. Colindando: por el NORTE, con solar número G-9 separada por un muro, en una distancia de 13.00 metros; por el SUR, con calle número 4, en una distancia de 13.00 metros; por el ESTE, con solar número G-15, en una distancia de 23.25 metros; y por el OESTE, con solar número G-17, en una distancia de 23.25 metros. En el solar enclava una estructura de hormigón armado y bloques.

La misma consta de tres cuartos dormitorios, dos baños, sala, comedor, cocina, marquesina doble y demás dependencias. Inscrita en la finca número 20,419, inscrita al TOMO Karibe de Manatí I, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Primera Sección de Manatí. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 9 de septiembre de 2022 y notificada el 3 de octubre de 2022 en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $130,312.55 por concepto de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma a razón del 6.00%, anual desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2012, hasta su completo pago, más las primas de seguro hipotecario, recargos por demora y cualesquiera otras cantidades pactadas en la escritura de primera hipoteca, desde la fecha antes mencionada y hasta la fecha del pago total de las mismas, más la suma de $14,280.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente.

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 26 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Tribunal de Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $142,800.00.

Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 4 DE MARZO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Tribunal de Arecibo, Arecibo, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $95,200.00, 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 MARZO DE 2024 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Tribunal de Arecibo, Arecibo, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $71,400.00, 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 Arecibo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 19 de diciembre de 2023.

ALGUACIL ÁNGEL TORRES PÉREZ, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ

COMPU-LINK CORPORATION, D/B/A CELINK Demandante Vs.

SUCESION HECTOR CESAR AUGUSTO PEREZ ORTIZ T/C/C HECTOR C. PEREZ ORTIZ T/C/C HECTOR PEREZ ORTIZ T/C/C HECTOR CESAR PEREZ COMPUESTA POR HECTOR PEREZ RAMIREZ, JULIO PEREZ RAMIREZ; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESION MARTA RAMIREZ MORENO T/C/C MARTA RAMIREZ DE PEREZ COMPUESTA POR HECTOR PEREZ RAMIREZ, JULIO PEREZ RAMIREZ; JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados Civil Núm.: MZ2020CV00321.

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.

26 A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO GENERAL:

y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes.

El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la Certifico y Hago Constar: Que responsabilidad de los mismos, en cumplimiento con el Manda- sin destinarse a su extinción el miento de Ejecución de Senten- precio del remate. Se establece cia que me ha sido dirigido por como tipo de mínima subasta el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal la suma de $95,000.00, según de Primera Instancia, Sala Su- acordado entre las partes en el perior de Mayagüez, en el caso precio pactado en la escritura de epígrafe, venderé en pública de hipoteca. De ser necesaria subasta y al mejor postor, por una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por separado, de contado y por mo- declararse desierta la primera, neda de curso legal de los Esta- la misma se celebrará en mi dos Unidos de América y/o Giro oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal Postal y Cheque Certificado, en de Primera Instancia, Sala de mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal Mayagüez, el 28 DE FEBREde Primera Instancia, Sala de RO DE 2024, A LAS 11:00 DE Mayagüez, el 21 DE FEBRERO LA MAÑANA, y se establece DE 2024, A LAS 11:00 DE LA como mínima para dicha seMAÑANA, todo derecho título, gunda subasta la suma de participación o interés que le $63,333.33, 2/3 partes del tipo corresponda a la parte deman- mínima establecido originaldada o cualquiera de ellos en mente. Si tampoco se produce el inmueble hipotecado objeto remate ni adjudicación en la de ejecución que se describe a segunda subasta, se establecontinuación: URBANA: Solar ce como mínima para la TERnúmero ocho (8) del bloque E CERA SUBASTA, la suma de del plano de la Urbanización $47,500.00, la mitad (1/2) del Residencial Villa Alba, radicado precio pactado y dicha subasta en el Barrio Santana del térmi- se celebrará en mi oficina, ubino municipal de Sabana Gran- cada en el Tribunal de Primera de, Puerto Rico, compuesto de Instancia, Sala de Mayagüez, trescientos diez punto veintiuno el 6 DE MARZO DE 2024, A (310.21) metros cuadrados. En LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA. lindes por el Norte, con el solar Dicha subasta se llevará a diecisiete (17) del bloque E; por cabo para, con su producto el Sur, con la calle tres (3) de la satisfacer a la parte demandanUrbanización; por el Este, con te, el importe de la Sentencia el solar siete (7) del bloque E; dictada a su favor ascendente y por el Oeste, con la calle seis a la suma de $77,818.83 por (6) de la Urbanización. Enclava concepto de principal, más la una casa. Inscrita al folio 243 suma de $12,645.22 en intedel tomo 118 de Sabana Gran- reses acumulados al 31 de de, finca 6,449, Registro de la agosto de 2021 y los cuales Propiedad de San Germán. continúan acumulándose a Inscrita al folio 243 del tomo razón de 3.536% anual hasta 118 de Sabana Grande, finca su total y completo pago; más 6,449 Registro de la Propiedad la sumas de $3,312.13 en sede San Germán. La Hipoteca guro hipotecario; $5,110.00 en Revertida se encuentra inscrita tarifas de servicios; $752.00 al folio 1 del tomo 334 de Sa- en seguro; $600.00 de tasaciobana Grande, finca 6,449 Re- nes; $440.00 de inspecciones; gistro de la Propiedad de San $4,735.00 en preservaciones; German, inscripción 4ª. Propie- $2,125.00 de adelantos pendad localizada en: URB. VILLA dientes; más la cantidad de ALBA, E-8 CALLE 3, SABANA 10% del pagare original en la GRANDE, PR 00637. Según suma de $9,500.00, para gasfiguran en la certificación re- tos, costas y honorarios de abogistral, la propiedad objeto de gado, esta última habrá de deejecución está gravada por las vengar intereses al máximo del siguientes cargas anteriores tipo legal fijado por la oficina del o preferentes: Nombre del Ti- Comisionado de Instituciones tular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: Financieras aplicable a esta feN/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: cha, desde este mismo día hasN/A. Según figuran en la certi- ta su total y completo saldo. La ficación registral, la propiedad venta en pública subasta de la objeto de ejecución está gra- referida propiedad se verificará vada por las siguientes cargas libre de toda carga o gravamen posteriores a la inscripción del posterior que afecte la menciocrédito ejecutante: Nombre del nada finca, a cuyo efecto se noTitular: Secretario de la Vivien- tifica y se hace saber la fecha, da y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, de la Carga: $142,250.00. Fe- SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUcha de Vencimiento: 8 de fe- BASTA, si esto fuera necesario, brero de 2084. Se entenderá a los efectos de que cualquier que todo licitador acepta como persona o personas con algún bastante la titularidad de la pro- interés puedan comparecer a la piedad y que todas las cargas celebración de dicha subasta.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

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 Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy 18 de diciembre de 2023.

JOVINO PÉREZ SANTIAGO, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. JOSÉ A. MONTALVO, ALGUACIL PLACA #454.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN

ELBA MARTINEZ ROSADO Demandante Vs.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHOS DE R&G MORTGAGE CORP; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES CON INTERES

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2023CV07343.

(703). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE (PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS).

En este caso Ia parte demandante ha radicado Demanda para que se decrete judicialmente el saldo del siguiente pagaré: Pagare a favor de R&G Mortgage Corporation, o a su orden, por Cincuenta y Seis Mil Trescientos Sesenta y Tres Dólares ($56,363.00), con intereses al siete y medio (7 1/2%) anual, vencedero el primero (1ro) de septiembre del dos mil trece (2013), según consta de la escritura numero mil ciento Treinta y dos (#1132), otorgada en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el día primero (1ro) de septiembre de mil novecientos noventa y tres (1993), ante el Notario Público Héctor Moyano Noriega, inscrita al folio #216 del tomo #134 de Toa Alta, finca #6534, inscripción 4ta. y esta garantizado por hipoteca sobre Ia propiedad que se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar marcado con el numero Siete del Bloque “A” de Ia Urba-

nización Residencias de Monte Verde, localizada en Barrio Mucarabones de Toa Alta, con un área de Cuatrocientos Uno punto Cuarenta metros cuadrados. En lindes: por el NORTE, con el solar número Ocho, distancia de Veintidós punto Ocho metros; por el SUR, con el solar número Seis, distancia de Veinticuatro punto Setentitres; por el ESTE, con Ia calle número Uno, distancia de Quince metros; y por el OESTE, con “Estación de Gasolina”, distancia de Diecinueve punto Treinta metros. Sobre este solar enclava una casa de concreto dedicada a vivienda. Inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Toa Alta, finca numero 6534, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Tercera. La parte demandante alega que dicho Pagare se ha extraviado, según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en Ia Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de unas obligaciones hipotecarias, y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se les emplaza por este Edicto que se publicará en un (1) periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez y que si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda radicando el original de la misma a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual pueden acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se representen por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberán presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Bayamón, con copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Jorge García Rondón, de PMB 538, 267 Sierra Morena, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00926 dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del Edicto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado en Ia Demanda sin más citarles ni oírles. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto por Orden del Tribunal, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 3 de enero de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. NÉLIDA OCASIO ORTEGA, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO

MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

Demandante V.

EFRAÍN SANTANA VÁZQUEZ; SUSANA MALDONADO MARTÍNEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: NG2022CV00102.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA - IN REM. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

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

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Humacao, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque gerente, giro postal, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América al nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Humacao, el 12 DE MARZO DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número 230 en el plano de parcelación de la comunidad rural Peña Pobre del Municipio de Naguabo, con una cabida superficial de 0.0890 cuerdas equivalentes a 350.01 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con parcela número 231 de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la parcela 229 de la comunidad; por el SUR, con calle pavimentada de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con parcela número 237 de la comunidad. ENCLAVA estructura de hormigón y bloques de cemento de una sola planta que consta de las siguientes facilidades: sala, comedor, cocina, tres cuartos dormitorios, un baño, balcón y marquesina con un valor de $35,000.00 según resulta de la inscripción 3a. Consta inscrita al folio 5 del tomo 198 de Naguabo, finca número 10083B, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Humacao. La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución se encuentra inscrita al folio 5 vuelto del Tomo 198 de Na-

guabo, finca número 10083B de Naguabo, inscripción 4a.

Propiedad localizada en: RD 31 Parc 230 Peña Pobre W. Naguabo, PR 00718, t/c/c RD 31 Parcela #230, Peña Pobre Ward, Naguabo, PR 00718. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución no está gravada por cargas posteriores o preferentes a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes.

El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo mínimo de subasta la suma de $34,700.00, 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 Humacao, el 19 DE MARZO DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $23,133.33 dos tercios (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $17,350.00 la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Humacao, el 26 DE MARZO DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $15,839.33 de principal; más intereses al tipo pactado de 7.000% anual desde el 1ro. diciembre de 2021, hasta el saldo total de la deuda; cargos por mora equivalentes a 4% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha vencimiento los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo de la deuda, los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; más la suma de $3,470.00 por concepto de honorarios de abogado. Además de cualesquiera sumas de dinero por concepto de contribuciones, primas de seguro hipotecario y riesgo, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda, así como de

cualesquiera otras cantidades pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta.

Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Humacao, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de enero de 2024.

JENNISA GARCÍA MORALES, ALGUACIL REGIONAL, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO, SALA SUPERIOR. JANIA GUASP LOZA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #653.

DOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA EN EL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE DESCRIBIRÁ Y A TODA PERSONA EN GENERAL QUE CON DERECHO PARA ELLO DESEE OPONERSE A ESTE EXPEDIENTE.

POR LA PRESENTE: se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convengan en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación en la secretaría del Tribunal.

Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en LEGAL NOTICE el ejercicio de su sana discreESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO ción, lo entiende procedente.

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- RÚSTICA: Solar radicado en el NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Barrio Galateo Alto del término CENTRO JUDICIAL DE AGUA- municipal de Isabela, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial DILLA SALA SUPERIOR de DOSCIENTOS SESENTA CARLOS CABRERA Y OCHO PUNTO SEIS SEIS CORTES, CARLOS SEIS SEIS METROS CUAALBERTO CABRERA DRADOS (268.6666 mc). En PEREZ, ROSA ELENA lindes: al NORTE, en diecisieCABRERA PEREZ, te punto ochocientos dieciséis metros (17.816 mts) con Calle ELIEZER CABRERA Gaviota; al SUR, en dieciséis PEREZ, DAMARIS CABRERA PEREZ, 2204 punto setecientos setenta y nueve metros (16.779 mts) CALLE GOLONDRINA, con Ana de la Cruz; al ESTE, COMUNIDAD CAPIRO, en quince punto trescientos BARRIO GALATEO ALTO, noventa y ocho metros (15.398 ISABELA, PUERTO RICO mts) con Calle Golondrina; y, al OESTE, en quince punto 00662 setecientos dieciocho metros EX PARTE (15.718 mts) con Marcos PéPETICIONARIOS Civil Núm.: AG2023CV02013. rez. Enclava una estructura en Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DO- hormigón y bloques dedicada a MINIO - CATASTRO #025-000- residencia. Catastro: #025-000010-50-002. EDICTO. ESTA- 010-50-002. El abogado de la DOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, parte peticionaria es el Lcdo.

EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E. Luis A. González González, PO E. U. U., EL ESTADO LIBRE BOX 613 Isabela, Puerto Rico 00662; Tel. (787) 872-4646.

ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. Se le informa, además, que le A: LAS PERSONAS Tribunal ha señalado vista en IGNORADAS Y este caso para el 8 DE MARZO DESCONOCIDAS A DE 2024, A LAS 4:15 DE LA QUIENES PUDIERA TARDE, mediante videoconferencia, a la cual usted puede PERJUDICAR LA comparecer asistido por aboINSCRIPCIÓN DEL

The San Juan Daily Star gado y presentar oposición a la petición. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo, se identificará en letra tamaño 10 puntos y negrillas, conforme a los dispuesto en las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de veinte (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle. En Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, a 9 de enero de 2024. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ZUHEILY GONZÁLEZ AVILÉS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

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 11 de enero de 2024. En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 11 de enero de 2024.

KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

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

ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC. Demandante Vs.

RAMÓN L. ROSARIO SANTANA

Juan, Puerto Rico, el 6 de noviembre de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ELSIE PRATTS MELÉNDEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE PATILLAS

ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC Demandante Vs.

PEDRO J. SANTIAGO MELÉNDEZ

Demandado Civil Núm.: AY2022CV00050.

Salón: 202. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

Demandado Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV05536.

Salón: 802. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL A: PEDRO J. SANTIAGO LEGAL NOTICE PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTAMELÉNDEZ - 14 CALLE DOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO VIRGILIO SÁNCHEZ, DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO ARROYO, PR 00714 / 152 RICO, SS. NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CALLE MORSE, ARROYO, A: RAMÓN L. CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAPR 00714.

ROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE ROSARIO SANTANA POR LA PRESENTE se le CAROLINA - BDA FIGUEROA, 38 y requiere para que ISLAND PORTFOLIO CALLE BLANCA SAN emplaza conteste la demanda dentro de SERVICES, LLC COMO JUAN PR 00907-0000. treinta (30) días siguientes AGENTE DE ACE ONE POR LA PRESENTE se le los a la publicación de este Edicto. emplaza y requiere para que Usted deberá presentar su aleFUNDING, LLC conteste la demanda dentro de gación responsiva a través del Demandante V. los treinta (30) días siguientes Sistema Unificado de Manejo y YESENIA L BETANCOURT GARCIA a la publicación de este Edicto. Administración de Casos (SUUsted deberá presentar su ale- MAC), la cual puede acceder Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: CA2023CV01881. gación responsiva a través del utilizando la siguiente direc(Civil: 406). Sobre: COBRO DE Sistema Unificado de Manejo y ción electrónica: https://unired.

DINERO - ORDINARIO. NO- Administración de Casos (SU- ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se TIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA MAC), la cual puede acceder represente por derecho propio, utilizando la siguiente direc- en cuyo caso deberá presenPOR EDICTO. ción electrónica: https://unired. tar su alegación responsiva EDWIN OMAR SERRANO PEÑA, EDWIN.SERRANO@ORF-LAW.COM. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se en la secretaría del tribunal. represente por derecho propio, Si usted deja de presentar su A: YESENIA L BETANCOURT GARCIA. en cuyo caso deberá presentar alegación responsiva dentro su alegación responsiva en la del referido término, el tribunal (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) secretaría del tribunal. Si usted podrá dictar sentencia en reEL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- deja de presentar su alegación beldía en su contra y conceder cribe le notifica a usted que el responsiva dentro del referido el remedio solicitado en la de10 DE ENERO DE 2024, este término, el tribunal podrá dic- manda o cualquier otro sin más Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, tar sentencia en rebeldía en citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en Sentencia Parcial o Resolución su contra y conceder el reme- el ejercicio de su sana discreen este caso, que ha sido debi- dio solicitado en la demanda o ción, lo entiende procedente. damente registrada y archivada cualquier otro sin más citarle ni El sistema SUMAC notificará en autos donde podrá usted en- oírle, si el tribunal en el ejerci- copia a los abogados de la parterarse detalladamente de los cio de su sana discreción, lo te demandante, el Lcdo. Kevin términos de la misma. Esta no- entiende procedente. El sis- Sánchez Campanero cuyas ditificación se publicará una sola tema SUMAC notificará copia recciones son: P.O. Box 71418 vez en un periódico de circula- a los abogados de la parte San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936ción general en la Isla de Puer- demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel 8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 to Rico, dentro de los 10 días Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas di- a la dirección kevin.sanchez@ siguientes a su notificación. Y, recciones son: P.O. Box 71418 orf-law.com, y a la dirección siendo o representando usted San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936- notificaciones@orf-law.com. una parte en el procedimiento 8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA sujeta a los términos de la Sen- a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ y el sello del Tribunal, en Guatencia, Sentencia Parcial o Re- orf-law.com y a la dirección yama, Puerto Rico, hoy día 6 de solución, de la cual puede es- notificaciones@orf-law.com. noviembre de 2023. En Patillas, tablecerse recurso de revisión EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Puerto Rico, el 6 de noviembre o apelación dentro del término y el sello del Tribunal, en San de 2023. MARISOL ROSADO de 30 días contados a partir Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 6 RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. de la publicación por edicto de de noviembre de 2023. En San MARÍA M. COTTO AMARO, esta notificación, dirijo a usted

SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE QUEBRADILLAS

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE RÍO GRANDE EN FAJARDO

27

FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS Demandados

da presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Bo. Capetillo, 1006 Calle 3, San Juan, PR 00925-3821. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 29 de diciembre de 2023. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional.

Yesenia Bey Betancourt, SubSecretaria.

ROLINA, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de noviembre de 2023. Lcda.

Kanelly Zayas Robles, Secretaria. Maricruz Aponte Alicea, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV09746.

ISLAND PORTFOLIO ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO MIDLAND CREDIT COBRO DE DINERO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUMANAGEMENT PUERTO SERVICES, LLC COMO Sobre: POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA AGENTE DE ACE ONE RICO, LLC, PLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. SALA DE CAYEY EN CAGUAS FUNDING, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉISLAND PORTFOLIO Parte Demandante Vs. LEGAL NOTICE MIDLAND CREDIT RICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE SERVICES, LLC. COMO LUZ S DEL VALLE MATOS LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LI- ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO MANAGEMENT, INC. AGENTE GESTOR DE Demandante Vs.

JESÚS PÉREZ PÉREZ

Demandada Civil Núm.: QU2023CV00037.

Salón: 102. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: JESÚS PÉREZ PÉREZ - 861 CALLE ROBERTO CLEMENTE QUEBRADILLAS PR 00678-2381 / 1414 CALLE GILBERTO PEREZ QUEBRADILLAS, PR 00678-2388.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en CAMUY, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de noviembre de 2023. En Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, el 7 de noviembre de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. ISAMAR RODRÍGUEZ GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

Parte Demandada BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUCivil Núm.: RG2023CV00384. RICO, SS. NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. FUND, LLC. A: CRISTAL GALINDEZ, SALA DE CAROLINA EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICDemandante Vs. ISLAND PORTFOLIO POR SÍ Y COMO TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE JOSE L SERVICES, LLC MIEMBRO DE LA AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE CARTAGENA FUENTES COMO AGENTE DE SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, Demandado FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS Civil Núm.: EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADE GANANCIALES CY2023CV00210.

DO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. FUND, LLC COMPUESTA CON Salón: 703. Sobre: COBRO Parte Demandante Vs. A: LUZ S DEL VALLE DANIEL PEGUERO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENNEREIDA MATOS - URB JOSEPH TO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS FERNANDEZ. PEDRAZA CRUZ HERNANDEZ 154 CALLE POR MEDIO del presente edicUNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL Parte Demandada PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTAto se le notifica de la radicación 3, RIO GRANDE PR de una demanda en cobro de Civil Núm.: CA2023CV01654. DOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LI00745-3165.

POR LA PRESENTE se le dinero por la vía ordinaria en la Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO emplaza y requiere para que que se alega que usted adeuda EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDIC- RICO, SS. A: JOSÉ L. conteste la demanda dentro de a la parte demandante, Oriental TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE los treinta (30) días siguientes Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE CARTAGENA FUENTES a la publicación de este Edic- y las costas, gastos y honora- DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, - RES. JARDINES DE to. Usted deberá presentar su rios de abogado de este litigio. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIA- MONTELLANO 3001 AVE. alegación responsiva a través El demandante, Oriental Bank, DO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. ha solicitado que se dicte sentencia en contra suya y que se le ordene pagar las cantidades reclamadas en la demanda.

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda 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://www.poderjudicial. pr/index/php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente, sin más citarle ni oírle. El abogado de la parte demandante es: Jaime Ruiz Saldaña, RUA número 11673; Dirección: PO Box 366276, San Juan, PR 00936-6276; TeLEGAL NOTICE léfono: (787) 759-6897; Correo legal@jrslawpr.

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO electrónico: DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- com. Se le advierte que dentro NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA de los diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente SALA DE SAN JUAN edicto, se le estará enviando a ORIENTAL BANK usted por correo certificado con Demandante V. acuse de recibo, una! copia del DANIEL PEGUERO emplazamiento y de la demandel Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:/// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Natalie Bonaparte Servera cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección natalie.bonaparte@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@ orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en RIO GRANDE EN FAJARDO, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de noviembre de 2023.

Wanda Seguí Reyes, Secretaria. Ivelisse Serrano García, Secretaria Auxiliar.

FERNANDEZ,

A: NEREIDA PEDRAZA CRUZ - URB SABANA GDNS 4-26 CALLE 9, CAROLINA PR 00983; U 1000 AVE SANCHEZ OSORIO UNIT 4922, CAROLINA PR 009841144.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:///www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/tribunal-electronico, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Edwin Serrano Peña cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección edwin.serrano@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en CA-

BARCELÓ APT.9 CAYEY, P.R. 00736.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza por la deuda reclamada de $1,074.21 y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo.

Edwin Serrano Peña cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección edwin.serrano@ orflaw.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de noviembre de 2023. En Cayey, Puerto Rico, el 7 de noviembre de 2023. Lisilda Martínez Agosto, Secretaria. Glorimar Rivera Rivera, Secretaria Auxiliar.

28 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star

Changas & Atenienses open 2024 Women’s Superior Volleyball League season tonight

By THE STAR STAFF

Luis “Feñito” Rodríguez made his Women’s Superior Volleyball League coaching debut last year and guided the Changas of Naranjito to the semifinals.

at the Mario “Quijote” Morales Coliseum in Guaynabo at 11 a.m.

“The new administration of the Guaynabo Mets has an initiative with the Department of Education to hold the 77th [LVSF] game with Corozal in Guaynabo at 11 in the morning so that students can attend,” noted Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation President Dr. César Trabanco.

“Although other games appear on the calendar at 11:00 a.m., this was the only one that was locked in. The other matches will be played during the evening hours of each venue.”

The 2024 season will feature the participation of seven teams: the two-time champions and LVSF leader in wins, the Pinkin; the 2023 runners-up Cangrejeras, Changas, Criollas, Atenienses, Valencianas, and the returning Mets.

player may fill those empty slots, but with local players.

Substitute players cannot be reserved.

In the regular season, 84 games will be played from today to March 16.

The top six teams will qualify for the postseason, with the sextets that finish in positions one and two advancing directly to the semifinals.

The teams that finish the regular series in positions three, four, five and six will play a “round robin” in the quarterfinals to fill the next two available vacancies in the semifinals.

Match at 11 a.m. on March 12 The 77th game of the regular season between the defending champion Pinkin and the Guaynabo Mets scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, 2024, will take place

LVSF Week 1 Calendar 2024 Thursday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m., Manatí at Naranjito / Cancha Gelito Ortega in Naranjito Friday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m., Caguas vs Corozal / Cancha Pepín Cestero in Bayamón Friday, Jan. 19 at 8:15 p.m., Santurce at Juncos / Rafael G. Amalbert Coliseum in Juncos Saturday, Jan. 20 at 8 p.m., Guaynabo at Manatí / Juan Aubín Cruz Coliseum in Manatí Sunday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m., Juncos at Caguas / Roger Mendoza Court in Caguas Sunday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m., Guaynabo at Naranjito / Cancha Gelito Ortega in Naranjito Monday, Jan. 22 at 8:12 p.m., Manatí at Santurce / Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan

G

elito Ortega Court in Naranjito will host the first match of the 2024 season of the Women’s Superior Volleyball League (LVSF by its Spanish initials) today when the Changas receive a visit from the Atenienses of Manatí at 8 p.m.

It is the only game on the schedule for today.

Former senior men’s national volleyball team member Luis “Feñito” Rodríguez returns as coach of the Changas for the second consecutive year. Rodríguez made his LVSF coaching debut last year and reached the semifinals with the Changas.

Meanwhile, Cuban Ramón Lawrence returns as coach of the Athenians, a sextet that created considerable buzz last season. Manatí surprised the always formidable Caguas Criollas by eliminating them in the postseason to advance to the 2023 semifinals.

Friday will mark the official opening of the 2024 season of the LVSF, when the Criollas visit the two-time champions Pinkin of Corozal at 8 p.m. at Pepín Cestero Court in Bayamón.

The Pinkin will play all their 2024 local games at Pepín Cestero due to remodeling work on Carmen Zoraida Figueroa Court in Corozal.

That same night there will be another match at 8:15 p.m. between the Cangrejeras of Santurce and the Valencianas at Rafael Amalbert Coliseum in Juncos.

The 2024 season will feature the participation of four reserve players per team; one of them will be a native player who participates in the United States or in foreign leagues. In addition, teams with more than one absent

Giants erupt early in 10-4 victory to even series

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Carolina Giants defeated the Criollos de Caguas 10-4 on Tuesday in the fourth game of the 2023-24 final series of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League at Yldefonso Solá Morales Stadium in Caguas.

With the win, Carolina evened the series at 2-2 and handed the Criollos their first loss at home in the postseason.

The visitors scored all their runs in the first four innings. The first two came in the first inning on a double by JC Escarra and a single by José SerThe Carolina Giants scored all of their 10 runs in the first four mo. The Giants scored two more runs in the secinnings en route to a Game 4 win over the Criollos in Caguas on ond inning, followed by three more in the third. In the fourth inning they added another three with a Tuesday night. (LBPRC)

home run by Delvin Pérez.

Escarra and Johnathan Rodríguez combined to drive in four runs for Carolina.

Caguas scored a run in the first inning and added one run each in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings. Johneshwy Fargas went 2 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored.

Import Harrison Francis took the loss for the Criollos, allowing the first four runs, two unearned, in 1.1 innings. Southpaw starter Luke Westphal picked up the win for the Giants, with five strikeouts and two runs allowed over five innings.

The series was to continue Wednesday night with Game 5 at Carolina’s Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium.

The San Juan Daily Star

GAMES

29

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Sudoku

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules: Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Wordsearch

Word Search Puzzle #B144MM

V

S

E

S

S

E

S

S

A

D

J

O

I

N

O

W

D

E

R

E

W

O

P

S

P

G

M

E

L

K

E

C

U

D

E

D

A

E

B

V

E

K

T

K

N

N

Y

D

D

U

R

A

N

C

S

L

S

M

I

A

M

A

N

A

T

M

N

D

S

I

K

T

A

I

R

A

N

T

I

B

O

D

Y

S

Y

G

L

R

S

D

I

S

S

T

I

N

T

S

L

R

S

A

S

R

S

A

A

T

T

N

E

E

I

U

L

V

E

I

M

E

N

C

A

S

E

R

G

N

F

D

O

E

L

H

T

V

T

L

E

T

H

T

V

N

N

P

V

E

R

A

U

W

K

S

T

T

S

E

I

G

D

E

C

A

M

O

I

I

R

U

S

R

R

S

S

L

L

I

S

R

L

D

V

S

T

O

U

T

H

S

I

R

A

G

A

H

Adjoin

Growl

Operands

Spend

Antibody

Heels

Powered

Stints

Alike

Assesses Attired

Beaded Denials

Distress Drank

Edgiest Encase Garish

Answers on page 30

Grunt Invert

Levee

Maced Maims Mates

Messy

Missions Mutation Nasal

Pleat

Ruddy

Sameness Saunas Seeks

Servants Silken Sills

Sinful

Skylight

Stalk

Stout

Triple Unity

Variance Volts

HOROSCOPE 30 Aries

(Mar 21-April 20)

You may have preferred not to acknowledge your own psychic abilities in the past, Aries, but today they could prove impossible to ignore. Visions, premonitions, and telepathic messages from others could pop into your mind all day. This shouldn’t be treated as something strange, but rather you should regard it as a source of inner power. Abilities like this increase your understanding of others as well as yourself.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

The recent completion of one or more long-term goals may cause you to pause today and consider what you’re going to aim for next. Don’t be afraid to be more ambitious than before, Taurus, because you’ve acquired an inner power that gives you more confidence and a stronger belief in yourself. It is belief in our own self-worth that gives us the power to move mountains. Don’t be surprised if over the next few months you find yourself moving a few!

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

The recent completion of one or more long-term goals may cause you to pause today and consider what you’re going to aim for next. Don’t be afraid to be more ambitious than before, Taurus, because you’ve acquired an inner power that gives you more confidence and a stronger belief in yourself. It is belief in our own self-worth that gives us the power to move mountains. Don’t be surprised if over the next few months you find yourself moving a few!

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

A new and highly compelling interest may have captured your imagination. You could find it difficult to think of much else, Cancer, and so it might be a good idea to try to find the most beneficial ways to pursue this subject. Your abilities for in-depth study are enhanced by intuition, so reading could well prove especially beneficial right now.

Classes and workshops could give you assistance as well as information. Find what works best for you!

Leo

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, January 18, 2024

(July 24-Aug 23)

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

Visitors in the home could share stories of strange experiences of some sort, perhaps intense and vivid dreams, visions, or maybe premonitions that have come true.

This could spark some deep thought, Libra, causing you to reflect on similar experiences of your own. It might be a good idea for you and your friends to attend some classes or workshops on psychic development.

The experiences will probably continue, and they’re more understandable when you know what to look for.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Today you could enter a new romantic relationship, Scorpio, or you could experience a new sense of unity and commitment within an existing one. Whichever it is, the relationship might become very intense, so be sure that you and your partner make the effort to give each other plenty of space. Powerful bonds can lead to great strength as a couple, but they can also bind and constrict if each party isn’t allowed to grow and develop as an individual.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Today you’re likely to be feeling especially fit and healthy and able to take on the most monumental of tasks, Sagittarius. Therefore, you could well decide to clean out the basement or tear all the weeds out of the backyard. Take care to pace yourself! These things need to be done, but not all at once. It’s just as important for you to enjoy yourself as to spend the whole day working.

An intense conversation with a close friend or romantic partner could bring you closer to this person. You probably share a number of goals, Capricorn, and discussions could lead to how you could work together in order to make them happen for both of you. You’re more likely to take the lead, however, since your communicative abilities are particularly high right now. Put your heads together and move forward! Enjoy!

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Today you might turn your attention toward discovering new ways to advance yourself financially, Leo. You’re likely to be more aware than usual of your inner power. Reading about various possibilities could be enlightening, especially as you’re feeling particularly capable today and therefore more likely to be able to zero in on whatever method is best for you.

You might want to sequester yourself from everybody in order to be able to concentrate.

An intense conversation with a close friend or romantic partner could bring you closer to this person.

You probably share a number of goals, Capricorn, and discussions could lead to how you could work together in order to make them happen for both of you. You’re more likely to take the lead, however, since your communicative abilities are particularly high right now. Put your heads together and move forward! Enjoy!

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Events both in your personal and public arenas could give you a new and unexpected sense of power over your own destiny, Virgo. Perhaps hard work has paid off in career and financial advancement. Support and encouragement from friends and family are likely to spur you on to further accomplishments, particularly in areas requiring leadership. If you make good use of these abilities now, this trend could continue.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Your life circumstances may have altered so much in the past few months that you could be in an entirely different space than ever before, Pisces. Success and good fortune have increased your self-image, and business and money matters should be going well. Today you should pause to take some time to assess your situation and decide in which direction you want to go. You now have it in your power to make dreams come true.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Thursday, January 18, 2024

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32 Thursday, January 18, 2024

The San Juan Daily Star