Friday to Sunday Jan 27-29, 2023

The San Juan Star

PREPA Chief Says He’s Gotten No Job

Offer from Incoming Power Plant

Fleet Operator

Russia Launches

Missile Strikes at Targets Across Ukraine

Engaged in Monopolistic Practices

GOOD MORNING

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.

Justice Dept. complaint against pharmacy benefit manager alleges monopolistic practices

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

The Justice Department, through its Office of Monopolistic Affairs (OAM by its Spanish initials), filed a complaint Thursday against Abarca Health LLC, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), after finding that it engaged in deceptive and unfair practices by imposing the rates it would pay pharmacies for drugs.

Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández said at a press conference that “as part of its oversight function, the Office of Monopolistic Affairs identified a serious problem.”

“This PBM used unfair methods of competition and deceptive actions to change drug rates and rehire its pharmacy network,” he said. “For that we are requesting that fines of $5,000 be imposed for each pharmacy to which they made a false representation.”

INDEX

The complaint details that in 2018, Abarca became the exclusive PBM of a medical plan on the island and its commercial lines of business, providing pharmacy network management services that accounted for more than 800,000 patients in Puerto Rico. During that period, Abarca Health made an amendment to its pharmacy provider contracts, ef-

fective Jan. 1, 2019.

In reporting the drug rate changes as part of its contract amendment, Abarca Health falsely indicated that it had conducted a “thorough market analysis” for six months and that the new rates were “competitive and consistent with the market and the needs of our customers.”

However, the OAM found that Abarca Health falsely represented having performed such an analysis. Through the investigation, the OAM confirmed that the PBM had not conducted any formal or written market analysis. So the Justice Department charged the company with deceptive conduct to justify the new rates and get pharmacies to accept the new contractual terms, through what constitutes misrepresentation and an unfair method of competition.

“This is an unacceptable practice that hinders fair competition in the field of health, and we will not allow it,” Emanuelli Hernández said. “So we have filed a complaint with the Department of Consumer Affairs [DACO] to order Abarca Health to cease and desist from this behavior, and to impose the corresponding fines and penalties.”

The complaint was filed with DACO pursuant to Article 3 of Law 77-1964, known as the Law on Monopolies and Restriction of Trade.

Linda Ayala, the executive director of Community Pharmacies Association of Puerto Rico, welcomed the Justice Department’s determination to investigate the claim, which she said ultimately affects patients in their process of acquiring medications.

“Any rate or contract change affects the patient,” Ayala said. “If you used to pay me for a medication at one price and then change it …, that always affects the patient. This affects all medications, because they all go through the PBM. The practices of the PBM, since it is not a regulated entity within the chain, are not totally transparent. By not being totally transparent, they have no obligation to teach anyone anything and everything is like the formula of Coca Cola, which nobody knows what it is, but we all have to pay for it.”

Ayala added that the law that is supposed to regulate PBMs (Law 82 of 2019) has been halted by the Financial Oversight and Management Board as it waits for the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority to deliver the information required for the law’s implementation.

Ayala, executive director of Community Pharmacies Association of Puerto Rico

House hearing to explore alleged mishandling of criminal probes at Justice Dept.

By THE STAR STAFF

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing Monday on the operations of the Department of Justice and its alleged mishandling of criminal investigations.

Committee Chairman Orlando Aponte Rosario made the announcement Thursday.

The first deponent will be Betzaida Quiñonez, who recently remarked that she was pressured into hindering the investigation into the murder of Kevin Fret, a reggaeton performer.

House Resolution 269 orders the committee to carry out a broad and exhaustive investigation into the operations of the Department of Justice, among other law enforcement agencies, to investigate the aforementioned allegations of paralyzation of criminal probes as well as assignment relief, in some cases of vertical assignment in some district attorney’s offices.

The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 pm.

“Our objective with this investigation is to give

citizens the certainty that all criminal cases that the Department of Justice will handle are transparent and with no motivation other than to prosecute those responsible for crimes,” Aponte said. “In addition, every judicial branch employee and the people affected in criminal cases must have the peace of mind that they will find justice through government institutions.”

To conduct the investigation, among other documents, Aponte asked Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández for a copy of the letter of resignation from Janet Parra, a former prosecutor, and the letter accepting her resignation.

In addition, he requested a copy of any manual, regulation, administrative memorandum or communication that serves as a guide for assigning cases vertically to prosecutors.

He also requested copies of any manual, regulation, department memo, or communication that guides the filing of internal complaints against prosecutors.

Fiscal board urges House to nix bill that would amend COSSEC law

By THE STAR STAFF

The Financial Oversight and Management Board asked the island House of Representatives recently to reject a bill that would amend the law governing the Public Corporation for Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives (COSSEC by its Spanish acronym).

The request is contained in a letter dated Tuesday, Jan. 24 from the oversight board’s executive director, Robert Mujica to Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia, Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago and House Speaker Rafael Hernández Montañez.

The oversight board said it is aware that the House is considering whether to adopt Senate Bill 644 (SB 644), which the Senate approved in June 2022. The bill would implement certain amendments to the structure and op-

erations of the COSSEC and would change accounting rules for cooperatives.

“As we previously stated in our June 22 2022 letter to you and to the Senate, the oversight board has serious concerns that SB 644 is significantly inconsistent with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico fiscal plan certified on January 27, 2022 and the COSSEC fiscal plan certified on May 20 2022,” Mujica wrote. “The oversight board therefore urges the House not to approve SB 644.”

The letter focuses on what the oversight board regards as three particularly troubling aspects of the bill: 1) the provisions concerning “mitigation of non-operational risk,” 2) the provisions concerning changes to COSSEC’s governance structure and board composition, and 3) the provision concerning the change in accounting principles for cooperatives.

The bill defines “non-operational risk” as the losses that cooperatives have suffered other than through their “normal operations,” including losses associated with “special investments” as defined in Act 220-2015. The bill’s proposed risk-mitigation process would require COSSEC to disburse funds directly and unconditionally to cooperatives to mitigate their “non-operational risk” – and would require the island Treasury Department to provide the necessary funds to COSSEC to make such disbursements, without negatively affecting COSSEC’s net financial position vis-à-vis its insurance fund.

According to the oversight board, the bill also interferes with COSSEC’s fiscal plan requirement that cooperatives convert their accounting books and change

their accounting principles from regulatory accounting principles, or RAP, to generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, by June 2025, and it directs the government to submit and enact legislation.

“We are mindful that amendments to SB 644 could be introduced during the legislative process and that those amendments could alter the bill’s financial and other impacts,” Mujica’s letter notes. “We will review and comment, as appropriate, on any revised version of the legislation submitted to us. We also remind you that, should the bill be enacted in any form, the governor must submit it for the oversight board’s consideration.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Orlando Aponte Rosario

Robert Mujica, executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board

PREPA chief: No job offer from incoming plant operator

By THE STAR STAFF

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Executive Director Josué Colón Ortiz said Thursday that Genera PR has not offered him a job.

Genera PR, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy, became the private operator of PREPA’s legacy power plants under a 10-year contract and a fixed payment of $20 million. The contract includes up to $100 million in penalties and incentives for performance.

“I have not had any conversation in that direction to date […],” Colón Ortiz said in an interview with Radio Isla. “I continue working for Puerto Rico’s people from the executive director position in the Electric Power Authority and for the governor. What happens or doesn’t happen in the future, well, one should never be closed to any job opportunity that arises. Still, my focus and my work are that of executive director and, right now, on the transition that is taking place.”

Regarding the need to privatize energy, an essential service, Colón Ortiz stressed that the privatization process does not occur in a

vacuum, but instead within the framework of compliance with laws that require the trans-

formation of the electrical system.

“You must look at what was happening

when those laws were approved. When those laws were approved, the Authority had just gone bankrupt […]. It had marked operational problems, blackouts,” he said. “Based on that reality, the legislators [under the administration of then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares] understood that it was necessary to modify how the Authority operated and how the energy system was composed.”

The PREPA chief acknowledged that the generation fleet and dams are being repaired. There is an open process to acquire 11 units to supply generation, among other projects, for which, he said, he continues firmly in his work. He said there had been good and not-so-good administrators at PREPA. From what he understands, that inconsistency has put the corporation where it is today.

Colón said that while there is a $34 million dispute between PREPA and New Fortress, Genera PR’s parent company, due to differences in compliance with clauses in the supply of natural gas, the contract is on solid ground.

“The contract is in good standing and is not in default,” he said.

Senate panel queries Energy Bureau on Genera PR contract

By THE STAR STAFF

The Senate Strategic Projects and Energy Committee, chaired by Sen. Javier Aponte Dalmau, resumed public hearings on Thursday to investigate matters related to the island’s electrical energy system, where the increase in energy costs and the new contract with Genera PR, which will be privatizing the operation of 11 Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) generation units, were discussed.

“Far from what has been said, that this is a generation privatization contract, it is not …,” Aponte Dalmau said in a side note. “We said it from the beginning, that what it was about was that there were some units … that had to be addressed and that there are some federal funds, due to the effects of hurricanes Irma and Maria, that were available and an extensive bidding process was carried out. Here whoever evaluates these contracts has said that these contracts that are being established are not to replace the permanent generation of energy, because that goes against the energy policy that was approved.”

For those purposes, the committee summoned Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) Chairman Edison Avilés Deliz and PREB commissioner Lillian Mateo Santos to depose.

“Genera [PR] puts itself in the shoes of the Electric Power Authority even for environmental compliance purposes. … Therefore, they have to adapt the Integrated Resource Plan

[IRP],” Avilés Deliz said regarding the contract. “The IRP gives a certain life to the authority’s plants that is tied to that useful life and determined by the entry of renewable energy according to Law 16. [And] it is not in the picture, neither for the Authority, nor for Genera PR, which provides gas conversions of these units.”

During her question time, Puerto Rican Independence Party Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón noted that “for each of the generating plants, there is an estimated date of disappearance.” Avilés Díaz responded that “these plants are over 30, 40, 50, 60 years old. …”

“The useful life that is typically contemplated is 30 to 40 years and these plants exceed that. …” he said. “No matter how much we fix them, they are destined to die and therefore, if they die of natural causes, Genera PR does not have the need to exist.”

In turn, Mateo Santos said that “our race is to have the renewable [energy] replacement before they die and leave us without capacity.”

Popular Democratic Party Sen. Ramón Ruiz Nieves asked for an explanation from the PREB chairman of the contract that was signed Wednesday with Genera PR.

“This contract is an operation and maintenance contract to maintain and operate the so-called legacy plants, until they go out of operation because they have been replaced by renewable energy or by any other generation that enters

the system; either through a PPOA with the same authority or through private investment,” Avilés Deliz said. “That was what was signed.”

Of the 11 power plants to be operated by Genera PR, Puerto Rico Energy Bureau Chairman Edison Avilés Deliz said: “No matter how much we fix them, they are destined to die and therefore, if they die of natural causes, Genera PR does not have the need to exist.”

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Executive Director Josué Colón Ortiz

College orientation offered to 500 students in Luquillo

By THE STAR STAFF

As part of his efforts to provide young people with educational opportunities after completing their fourth year of high school, the New Progressive Party minority leader in the island House of Representatives, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez, held a college orientation event with students from Luquillo this week.

About 500 10th-, 11th- and 12thgrade students from Isidro A. Sánchez de Luquillo High School participated Wednesday in orientation talks on the university-level programs that different institutions provide.

“Our young students, particularly those in higher grades, have to make decisions about their academic future that are linked to their desires and aspirations,” Méndez Nuñez said. “Aware of the importance of this action, we decided to develop an open forum for students to dialogue, directly, with staff from universities and other institutions that provide post-graduate high school services. What we seek with this initiative is to expand the range of options,

so that students receive accurate and clear data and make their decision with all the information available.”

The initiative is in conjunction with the Department of Economic Development and Commerce’s Youth Development

Program.

“What we seek … is that these institutions come to the school to dialogue with these extraordinary students in order to facilitate the path to a decision that they will have to make very soon,” said Méndez Nuñez, who is the District 36 representative for Río Grande, Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba, Vieques and Culebra. “Meanwhile, at the same time, 10th- and 11th-grade students are guided on present and future alternatives for when it is time for them to take the reins of their post-high school future.”

Among the institutions on hand were Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Pontifical Catholic University, Polytechnic University and NUC University.

Also present were officers from the Puerto Rico National Guard, among others.

As part of the event, Driver Services Center (CESCO) staff were available to assist in the processing of driver’s licenses for those students who had completed all the requirements for them.

At the same time, officials from the Traffic Safety Commission provided information on many aspects of road safety.

FEMA approves $422 million for public housing renovations

By THE STAR STAFF

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently approved some $422 million to restore and renovate 37 residential properties belonging to the Public Housing Administration (PHA) due to damage caused by Hurricane Maria. The reconstruction work will benefit over 5,400 families throughout the island.

As part of the agency’s commitment to help Puerto Rico by mitigating future damage from other disasters, the funds include nearly $165.3 million for measures that seek to strengthen the facilities.

“This is not only about removing asbestos or repairing walls and ceilings to prevent water filtration in these homes; this is also about repairing basketball courts so that children and youths can enjoy themselves,” said Andrés García, the deputy federal coordinator for disaster recovery. “This translates into sustainable recovery for these communities.”

The housing complexes are located in 20 municipalities: Aibonito, Aguadilla, Bayamón, Caguas, Camuy, Carolina, Cataño, Cidra, Fajardo, Guaynabo, Isabela, Mayagüez, Naguabo, Patillas, Ponce, Quebradillas, Río Grande, Salinas, San Juan and Trujillo Alto.

Part of the renovations at the housing facilities involve cleaning the area and removing asbestos in an effort to render healthy living spaces. Electrical boxes and exterior lighting will also be replaced to provide common areas that are safe for the entire community. The budget also considers repairs for basketball courts, such as painting the floor and replacing bird netting, drainage and lighting.

PHA Administrator Alejandro Salgado Colón stressed the impact of the allocations for the short- and long-term reconstruction of communities and Puerto Rico.

“Hand in hand with FEMA, we are working to guarantee that these budget allocations reaching more than 40 projects run smoothly and in compliance with current regulations, so that damage mitigation and repair work can materialize as soon as possible for the benefit of Puerto Rico,” he said.

One of the housing facilities with recent allocations includes the Nemesio R. Canales public housing complex in San Juan, where more than 900 families live. Nemesio R. Canales was assigned more than $49 million to repair its 65-building structure, which includes the administration building and a basketball court. The mitigation measures for this complex are estimated at nearly $14.2 million and will focus on the roof, to prevent damage from wind

and rain filtration.

The funds to renovate the island’s public housing facilities are part of the agency’s recovery budget under FEMA’s Accelerated Award Strategy, known as FAASt. To date, over $446.3 million has been approved for 48 subprojects.

Rep. Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez

Alejandro Salgado Colón, head of the Public Housing Administration

House passes bill to study FAA alert system whose outage grounded flights

By MARK WALKER

The House passed legislation earlier this week that would create a task force to study a Federal Aviation Administration alert system that went down this month, causing departing flights to be grounded nationwide.

The bill drew overwhelming bipartisan support, passing by a vote of 424-4. It faces an unclear future in the Senate, where it failed to receive a vote after previously passing the House in 2019 and again in 2021. But the system outage this month is bringing more attention to what experts say is outdated technology at the FAA.

Departures across the country were halted for about 90 minutes on Jan. 11 after the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system went down, and thousands of flights were ultimately delayed that day. The socalled NOTAM system is used to provide information to pilots about hazards like runway closures and airspace restrictions.

Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., the bill’s sponsor, said it was unacceptable that the current system had been allowed to stay in place for so long, citing complaints from pilots about how the notices sent through it are hard to interpret. He expressed hope that after the recent outage, the bill would finally make it through the Senate.

“We must do this,” Stauber said. “This is a priority. We cannot have another critical failure like we did a couple weeks ago.”

The legislation would direct the FAA to create a task force to consider improvements to the system. Its members would be appointed by the agency’s administrator and would include representatives of airlines, airports and labor unions as well as experts in areas like aviation safety and cybersecurity.

The FAA declined to comment on the bill. A spokesperson for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, did not respond to a request for comment.

The FAA has been in the process of modernizing the NOTAM system, which the agency’s most recent budget request described as relying on “failing vintage hardware.” Congress provided funding for

the modernization efforts in the spending package that lawmakers approved last month to fund the government through September.

Matthew Lehner, a spokesperson for the FAA, said the modernization project would hit a milestone in 2025 when the legacy portion of the system is phased out. Additional improvements are scheduled through 2030, and the agency is looking for ways to speed up the timeline for that work, Lehner said.

The FAA said last week that a preliminary investigation into the outage revealed that contract personnel had “unintentionally deleted files” while working on the system. The agency added that it had taken steps to make the system “more resilient” and that no evidence of a cyberattack or malicious intent had been found.

The outage came on the heels of another air travel mess. Around Christmas, Southwest Airlines was forced to cancel thousands of flights after a winter storm threw its operations into chaos for days.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., a cosponsor of the bill, said that weeks before the system outage, he and a colleague, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., had sent a letter to the FAA asking for an update on the efforts to modernize the NOTAM system.

DeSaulnier said he had been pushing for the system to be improved since a harrowing incident at San Francisco International Airport in 2017 in which an Air Canada plane almost landed on a taxiway instead of a nearby runway. Four planes loaded with passengers had been waiting on the taxiway to be cleared for takeoff, and the Air Canada plane narrowly avoided a collision.

The flight crew’s “ineffective review of NOTAM information” concerning a runway closure at the airport was among the factors cited in the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the incident.

“We came within 100 feet of having the worst aviation disaster in the history of the country,” DeSaulnier said, “so we’ve got to make sure all of these systems are as foolproof as possible on every level and people have a great sense of confidence in them.”

Cancellations and delays mount on a flight status tracker at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, on Jan.11, 2023.

Obamacare sign-ups top 16 million for 2023, setting another record

and a limited selection of doctors.

Frustrations with the cost of coverage helped fuel a political backlash to the Affordable Care Act that culminated with an effort by Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal the law in 2017. But Republican lawmakers were unable to agree on a program to replace the law that could win majority support in the Senate. Under the new policies enacted during the pandemic, which were renewed through 2025 in the climate, tax and health care bill passed last year, subsidies increased at every level of income.

Americans earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level — around $42,000 for a family of four — are eligible for free health plans that come with low deductibles and copayments. Before the change, many such people could get free plans on the Obamacare marketplaces, but only with very high deductibles. This year, there were particularly large increases in sign-ups in Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina — states with large low-income populations that have not expanded Medicaid, suggesting the new subsidies are driving the change.

By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ

Arecord 16.3 million Americans have signed up for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during this year’s open

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enrollment period, beating last year’s sign-ups by 13%, the Biden administration said earlier this week.

The growing enrollment follows the passage of legislation during the coronavirus pandemic to increase federal subsidies for people buying the plans — substantially lowering prices for nearly every American who buys their own insurance. Around 3.6 million people selected plans in the Obamacare marketplaces who did not receive coverage through them last year. Last year’s total had been the highest in the law’s history.

“It speaks to the power of free, but also free plans that are actually attractive,” said Cynthia Cox, who directs the Kaiser Family Foundation’s program on the Affordable Care Act. The foundation has been tracking the millions of low-income Americans who were eligible for coverage under the law but remained uninsured. Last year, that number fell substantially, and Cox said it would most likely fall again once new data on the uninsured rate is published.

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President Joe Biden cheered the development in a statement, saying, “Today, we received further proof that our efforts are delivering record-breaking results.”

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The Biden administration has taken other steps to encourage enrollment in the plans, including increasing advertising and enrollment assistance and providing a longer window for sign-ups than during President Donald Trump’s administration. But it appears the money is mattering more than anything else.

“The No. 1 reason the Affordable Care Act has worked — and is now working better — is it is affordable,” said Peter V. Lee, a senior scholar at Stanford University who ran California’s marketplace for a decade. “Affordability is the biggest thing.”

There was ample evidence during Obamacare’s earlier years that the price of health plans remained a major barrier for Americans. People qualified for subsidies on a sliding scale according to their income, and under the original formula, the remaining premiums proved a barrier for many low-income households.

For a family of four earning more than around $110,000, there was no federal assistance available at all, saddling many with extremely high insurance prices. The cheapest plans also often came with high deductibles

Americans with incomes higher than four times the poverty level became eligible for subsidies for the first time as a result of the pandemic stimulus bill that Biden signed into law in 2021. Although this higher-earning group, often made up of the self-employed and early retirees, represented a relatively small share of the nation’s uninsured population, there is evidence that they represent a growing share of those covered by Obamacare plans.

The strong enrollment and improved political stability of the Affordable Care Act have helped make the marketplaces a more attractive place for insurance companies to do business. Several years ago, many insurers pulled out of the markets, but since Republicans tried and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, the plans have largely come back. More than 90% of people who signed up this year had a choice among at least three insurance companies, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“That really has become an important and much more stable market,” said Matt Eyles, the president and CEO of AHIP, the insurance industry’s largest trade group.

The numbers announced Wednesday are not final. Some states that run their own marketplaces are continuing to let consumers sign up for plans for this year. Some people also drop their insurance after initially signing up, so it will take a few months for final enrollment numbers to become clear.

An insurance shop advertises Obamacare at a shopping center in Miami, Jan. 10, 2023.

Half Moon Bay immigrant community reels from mass shooting of farmworkers

By DAVID W. CHEN, TIM ARANGO, EDGAR SANDOVAL and SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA

Marciano Martinez Jimenez arrived more than two decades ago from Oaxaca, Mexico, and learned everything he could at a Half Moon Bay mushroom farm, from irrigation to delivery, mastering the skills to the point that he was entrusted with running daily operations.

José Romero Perez was a more recent arrival but was greeted by his fellow Oaxacans as family. He leaned on fellow immigrants who spoke his languages, Spanish and Zapotec, the latter commonly spoken in Oaxaca, to navigate his new terrain in California.

On Wednesday, the small immigrant community in Half Moon Bay was reeling from the mass shooting two days earlier that left Jimenez and Perez dead, along with five other victims who worked on farms near the small coastal town that is better known for its big surfing waves and a popular pumpkin festival.

“I can’t understand so much hate, to kill seven people,” said Mireya Bautista, 46, a fellow immigrant who had gotten to know the men who work in the hongera, or mushroom, farms that attracted immigrant workers from Mexico and China. “Why would someone do something like this?”

The seven dead victims, along with Perez’s brother, who is recovering from gunshot injuries in a Bay Area hospital, were identified Wednesday morning. Hours later, the suspect in the rampage, Zhao Chunli, 66, appeared in court in Redwood City to face seven counts of murder and one charge of attempted murder. He did not enter a plea.

The spate of killings in Half Moon Bay left two crime scenes: one at California Terra Garden, where the suspect lived and worked with his wife, and a second nursery, Concord Farms, about a mile away and where Zhao had previously worked, the police said. Every person shot was specifically targeted, Sheriff Christina Corpus of San Mateo County said in an interview.

“Other people were in his line of sight, but he didn’t target them because what we’re learning is they didn’t really have a lot of contact with him,” she said.

After the shootings, as deputies were hunting for the accused gunman, they found his cellphone lying on the side of a highway, suggesting he had disposed of it to thwart law enforcement from tracking him, Corpus said. Deputies apprehended Zhao after discovering him sitting in his car in a parking lot near a sheriff’s station, where he was lying back in the front seat with the weapon — a semi-automatic pistol — on the passenger seat, she said.

In addition to the 50-year-old Jimenez of Moss Beach, California, five of the deceased victims were named by the San Mateo County Office of the Coroner as Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Aixiang Zhang, 74, of San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, of Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64, of Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose residence was not known.

Perez and his injured brother, Pedro Romero Perez, were identified by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office in a complaint filed ahead of a brief court appearance by Zhao that ended with a judge scheduling an arraignment for Feb. 16. Zhao, who was being detained without bail, wore a red jumpsuit and repeatedly covered his face with a piece of paper.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Steve Wagstaffe, the San Mateo County district attorney, said Zhao, who has been assigned a court-appointed attorney, had spoken to investigators for several hours, describing what happened “in a matter-of-fact way.” He said prosecutors now have a sense of the motive, but he declined to reveal specifics.

“I would say the grievances that he had were personal,” Wagstaffe said, adding “as opposed to, say, a dispute about why’s my workload heavier. It was more personal.”

Zhao’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

Vehicles from a crime scene cleaning firm enter the mushroom farm where a mass shooting occurred two days prior, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.

By CADE METZ

Franz Broseph seemed like any other Diplomacy player to Claes de Graaff. The handle was a joke — Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I reborn as an online bro — but that was the kind of humor that people who play Diplomacy tend to enjoy. The game is a classic, beloved by the likes of John F. Kennedy and Henry Kissinger, combining military strategy with political intrigue as it re-creates the First World War: Players negotiate with allies, enemies and everyone in between as they plan how their armies will move across 20th-century Europe.

When Franz Broseph joined a 20-player online tournament at the end of August, he wooed other players, lying to them and

How smart are the robots getting?

ultimately betraying them. He finished in first place.

De Graaff, a chemist living in the Netherlands, finished fifth. He had spent nearly 10 years playing Diplomacy, both online and at face-to-face tournaments across the globe. He did not realize until it was revealed several weeks later that he had lost to a machine. Franz Broseph was a bot.

“I was flabbergasted,” de Graaff, 36, said. “It seemed so genuine — so lifelike. It could read my texts and converse with me and make plans that were mutually beneficial — that would allow both of us to get ahead. It also lied to me and betrayed me, like top players frequently do.”

Built by a team of artificial intelligence researchers from the tech giant Meta, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other prominent universities, Franz Broseph is among the new wave of online chatbots that are rapidly moving machines into new territory.

When you chat with these bots, it can feel like chatting with another person. It can feel, in other words, like machines have passed a test that was supposed to prove their intelligence.

For more than 70 years, computer scientists have struggled to build technology that could pass the Turing test: the technological inflection point where we humans are no longer sure whether we are chatting with a machine or a person. The test is named for Alan Turing, the famed British mathematician, philosopher and wartime code breaker who proposed the test back in 1950. He believed it could show the world when machines had finally reached true intelligence.

The Turing test is a subjective measure. It depends on whether the people asking the questions feel convinced that they are talking to another person when in fact they are talking to a device.

But whoever is asking the questions, machines will soon leave this test in the rearview mirror.

Bots like Franz Broseph have already passed the test in particular situations, like negotiating Diplomacy moves or calling a restaurant for dinner reservations. ChatGPT, a bot released in November by OpenAI, a San Francisco lab, leaves people feeling as if they were chatting with another person, not a bot. The lab said more than a million people had used it. Because ChatGPT can write just about anything, including term papers, universities are

worried it will make a mockery of class work. When some people talk to these bots, they even describe them as sentient or conscious, believing that machines have somehow developed an awareness of the world around them.

Privately, OpenAI has built a system, GPT-4, that is even more powerful than ChatGPT. It may even generate images as well as words.

And yet these bots are not sentient. They are not conscious. They are not intelligent — at least not in the way that humans are intelligent. Even people building the technology acknowledge this point.

“These systems can do a lot of useful things,” said Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist at OpenAI and one of the most important AI researchers of the past decade, referring to the new wave of chatbots. “On the other hand, they are not there yet. People think they can do things they cannot.”

As the latest technologies emerge from research labs, it is now obvious — if it was not obvious before — that scientists must rethink and reshape how they track the progress of artificial intelligence. The Turing test is not up to the task.

Time and time again, AI technologies have surpassed supposedly insurmountable tests, including mastery of chess (1997), “Jeopardy!” (2011), Go (2016) and poker (2019). Now it is surpassing another, and again this does not necessarily mean what we thought it would.

We — the public — need a new framework for understanding what AI can do, what it cannot, what it will do in the future and how it will change our lives, for better or for worse.

Five years ago, Google, OpenAI and other AI labs started designing neural networks that analyzed enormous amounts of digital text, including books, news stories, Wikipedia articles and online chat logs. Researchers call them “large language models.” Pinpointing billions of distinct patterns in the way people connect words, letters and symbols, these systems learned to generate their own text.

Six months before releasing its chatbot, OpenAI unveiled a tool called DALL-E.

A nod to both “WALL-E,” the 2008 animated movie about an autonomous robot, and Salvador Dalí, the surrealist painter, this experimental technology lets you create digital images simply by describing what you want to

see. This is also a neural network, built much like Franz Broseph or ChatGPT. The difference is that it learned from both images and text. Analyzing millions of digital images and the captions that described them, it learned to recognize the links between pictures and words.

This is what’s known as a multimodal system. Google, OpenAI and other organizations are already using similar methods to build systems that can generate video of people and objects. Startups are building bots that can navigate software apps and websites on a user’s behalf.

These are not systems that anyone can properly evaluate with the Turing test — or any other simple method. Their end goal is not conversation.

Turing’s test judged whether a machine could imitate a human. This is how artificial intelligence is typically portrayed — as the rise of machines that think like people. But the technologies under development today are very different from you and me. They cannot deal with concepts they have never seen before. And they cannot take ideas and explore them in the physical world.

At the same time, there are many ways these bots are superior to you and me. They do not get tired. They do not let emotion cloud what they are trying to do. They can instantly draw on far larger amounts of information. And they can generate text, images and other media at speeds and volumes we humans never could.

Their skills will also improve considerably in the coming years.

In the months and years to come, these bots will help you find information on the internet. They will explain concepts in ways you can understand. If you like, they will even write your tweets, blog posts and term papers.

They will tabulate your monthly expenses in your spreadsheets. They will visit real estate websites and find houses in your price range. They will produce online avatars that look and sound like humans. They will make minimovies, complete with music and dialogue.

Certainly, these bots will change the world. But the onus is on you to be wary of what these systems say and do, to edit what they give you, to approach everything you see online with skepticism. Researchers know how to give these systems a wide range of skills, but they do not yet know how to give them reason or common sense or a sense of truth.

That still lies with you.

The Turing test used to be the gold standard for proving machine intelligence. This generation of bots is racing past it. We need to stay calm — and develop a new test.

Wall St climbs on soft landing hopes, Tesla boost

US stock indexes rose on Thursday after data showing a resilient labor market and better-than-expected economic growth last quarter helped ease worries of a deep recession, while Tesla’s bullish outlook boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

A report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped for the week ended Jan. 21, while the Commerce Department said gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter, above expectations of a 2.6% rise.

“For almost a year, the Federal Reserve has been trying to achieve a soft landing by raising short-term interest rates just-enough to bring down inflation without causing a recession,” said Richard Flynn, managing director at Charles Schwab.

“It’s clear the economy remains relatively strong in the face of the Fed’s efforts, suggesting they’re succeeding.”

The GDP report could mark the last quarter of solid growth before the impact of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening spree starts reflecting, with most economists expecting a mild recession by the second half of 2023.

Money markets are pricing in a 25-basis-points rate hike by the Fed next week, with a terminal rate of 4.9% in June, still below the 5% rate backed by many policymakers.

After Microsoft Corp’s disappointing outlook spooked markets in the previous session, Tesla Inc’s better-thanexpected quarterly results reassured investors that the EV maker could cope with a slowing economy in 2023. Tesla jumped 10.1%, boosting the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector index.

Battered growth stocks have been gaining in January, with the S&P 500 Growth index recouping more than half of the losses logged last month.

At 9:49 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 58.37 points, or 0.17%, at 33,802.21, the S&P 500 was up 21.49 points, or 0.54%, at 4,037.71, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 131.26 points, or 1.16%, at 11,444.62.

Keeping a lid on gains for Dow was chemical firm Dow Inc that fell 1.6% after missing Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit, and a 3.4% drop in IBM Corp after it missed annual cash flow targets.

So far, 126 companies in the S&P 500 have reported fourth-quarter earnings, with 69% topping consensus estimates which is below the average of the past four quarters at 76%, according to Refinitiv. Analysts now see aggregate S&P 500 earnings dropping 2.7% year-on-year.

Mastercard Inc added 1.0% after reporting a better-thanexpected fourth-quarter profit. Rival Visa Inc rose 0.3%.

Chevron Corp gained 2.9%, lifting the S&P 500 energy sector index by 1.1% after the oil major said it would triple its budget for share buybacks to $75 billion.

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Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.42-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.92-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 63 new highs and 11 new lows.

By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ

Russia launched several volleys of missiles at Ukraine on Thursday, with strikes reported across the country killing at least 11 people, authorities said.

The wave of strikes came a day after Germany and the United States pledged to send dozens of battle tanks to Ukraine, a significant step up in Western military support. Large booms shook the capital, Kyiv, about 10 a.m. local time. Russia fired 55 missiles at targets across the country, with 47 shot down, Ukraine’s air force command said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said 11 people were killed in strikes across 11 regions of the country. Another 11 people were wounded in the attacks, which damaged 35 buildings, it said.

A 12th civilian was killed later in the day when a Russian rocket hit a village

By CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE

Two people were killed and at least seven others injured in a stabbing on a train in northern Germany on Wednesday afternoon.

The attack happened shortly before 3 p.m. on a regional train traveling from the northern city of Kiel to Hamburg. Just before the train arrived in the town of Brokstedt, about halfway during the journey, a man started randomly stabbing passengers, according witness reports.

council building in Kochebeivka, a tiny community in the Kherson region, a military official said on the Telegram messaging app.

As it has for months, Russia targeted energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s prime

minister, Denys Shmyhal, said in a post on Telegram. “The main goal is energy facilities, providing Ukrainians with light and heat,” he said.

Since October, Russia has launched more than a dozen major missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities in a campaign to cripple the power grid and leave civilians without power, heat and light over winter. The barrages have sometimes come after Ukraine successes.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said one person had been killed and two were wounded when a projectile hit a building in the city’s south. Three people were killed in a Russian strike on infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia, the state prosecutor general’s office said in a post on Telegram, and there were reports of missile strikes in the Vinnytsia region in western Ukraine and outside Odesa.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, highlighted that the strikes had come a day after the United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO, added Odesa to its World Heritage in Danger List.

The addition to the list gives the city “access to reinforced technical and financial international assistance,” UNESCO said. “Ukraine may request this, to ensure the protection of the property and, if necessary, assist in reconstruction, if attacked.”

For the past week, Russia’s air force has been conducting exercises north of Ukraine in Belarus, keeping the country on heightened alert. Countrywide air attack sirens have sounded each time Russian planes take to the air.

Overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force command, Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 24 Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones.

Russia launches missile strikes at targets across Ukraine Suspect arrested in deadly stabbing of 2 on train in Germany

It was unclear how exactly how the attack ended. One witness told the news site t-online that he held the assailant after the man had dropped the knife until police could arrest him.

The attacker, whom authorities have identified as a 33-year-old Palestinian man, was arrested at the train station in Brokstedt, 40 miles north of Hamburg. Having been alerted by passengers en route, police were waiting for him when the train pulled in. No more information on the suspect was released. A motive was not immediately clear.

Witnesses described a scene of carnage with blood visible along several train cars. Police officers, who questioned witnesses in Brokstedt, said about 70 people were on the train during the attack.

Nancy Faeser, the federal interior minister responsible public safety, promised a quick investigation. “The background to the crime is now being investigated at full speed,” she said.

The attacker, who was also severely injured and was being treated at a hospital, will be interrogated as soon as he is fit, police said.

“It’s quite horrible,” Sabine SütterlinWaack, the state minister of the interior for Schleswig-Holstein, where the train stopped, told a public broadcaster. “We are all completely shocked and horrified that something like this has happened.” She added in a statement, “For me it is clear that the horrific act is directed against all humanity.”

The station was cordoned off and the train was stalled in the station as police investigated the attack. Train service on the line was temporarily halted, according to the national German train service.

The attack follows other recent deadly stabbings in the country, including one

that killed a teenage girl in Illerkirchberg and another that killed three people in Würzburg. There have also been several attacks on trains in recent years. Ubiquitous in Germany, trains usually do not carry extra security or police.

Last May, a 35-year-old man stabbed four people on a similar regional train in North Rhine-Westphalia. A judge recently ordered that the attacker, who came from Iraq, be held in a psychiatric ward.

In November 2021, a 27-year-old attacked four men with knife on a highspeed train in Bavaria. The attacker, who was born in Palestine and grew up in Syria, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

And in 2016, the police shot and killed a 17-year-old assailant who attacked four people on a train with a knife and an ax in Bavaria. The attacker, who identified himself as an Islamic State fighter, came from Afghanistan.

In the attack Wednesday, three people were severely injured, while four others escaped with minor injuries, according to police, who did not release the names of the victims.

“I sincerely wish those injured a speedy recovery,” Faeser said.

The windshield of a tractor-trailer is shattered after a Russian missile struck across the street, in Kyiv, Ukraine on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.

Ukraine war accelerates shift of power in Europe to the East

By STEVEN ERLANGER

In August, in Prague, the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, said it bluntly: “The center of Europe is moving eastward.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a shock to the complacent European order, both to the European Union and to NATO. And it has underscored and enhanced the influence of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Poland and the Baltic states have driven the moral argument to support Ukraine, filling a near-vacuum early in the war, when Europe’s traditional leaders, France and Germany, appeared paralyzed. But the war has also brought new urgency and energy for the enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans and beyond, with offers of candidacy for Ukraine and Moldova.

Vocal pressure from Eastern and Central Europe was crucial to the decisions this week, after months of wrangling and resistance, to give Western tanks to Ukraine. On Wednesday, Scholz announced that his country would supply some of its Leopard 2 tanks and allow other countries to send theirs, and President Joe Biden said he would send Abrams tanks, which gave Scholz the political cover he wanted.

The war is also accelerating what Scholz implied: that the balance of power in Europe is shifting, too, along with its center, away from “Old Europe,” which valued and cultivated its ties to Moscow, to the newer members to the east and north, with their raw memories of Soviet occupation and their reluctance to cede chunks of their reestablished sovereignty to Brussels.

“Scholz is right,” said Timothy Garton Ash, a European historian at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. “The voices of Central and Eastern Europeans are being listened to more and taken more seriously in the councils of Europe, and there is a big eastern enlargement agenda on the table.”

With a major war within its borders, Europe is more about hard power now than before, he said. “So having a Central and Eastern Europe that takes security seriously has an impact.”

Poland has a rapidly expanding military — the government said last year that it planned to double the size of the country’s armed forces — and has ordered a large amount of sophisticated new arms, making it a more important player in both the European Union and in NATO.

Poland was a prime lobbyist to try to persuade a reluctant Berlin to send German tanks to Ukraine and authorize other countries to do so.

“Power has moved east, and Ukraine will cement this trend,” said Jana Puglierin, Berlin

director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. One can extrapolate too much from the Ukraine war, she said, “but you see the clear pattern in moral leadership.”

Central and Eastern European countries, Puglierin said, see themselves as “the freedom fighters in the EU and defending its values, standing up to dictatorship.” They feel vindicated in their long-standing warnings about Russia’s neo-imperialism, its president, Vladimir Putin, and Europe’s dependence on Russian energy — in contrast to what they see as Western Europe’s naïveté about diplomacy and trade with Russia.

Acting early to provide Ukraine military support and to welcome refugees, these countries have helped shape the narrative for Europe, while “in Berlin and Paris, too, there was such a vacuum, negotiating with Putin to the last and surprised by the invasion,” Puglierin said. “The eastern countries were quick movers and much more credible, and we were speechless and frozen.”

Germany and France have also had to confront the failure of their traditional policy of European security with Russia, not against it. President Emmanuel Macron of France persists in hoping to be part of any future peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, going so far as to talk of giving Russia security guarantees, which has enraged many in Europe, not just in the east.

The war has also made Macron’s aspiration for an “autonomous” European defense seem hollow, given the sharply enhanced role of NATO and the United States in the past year.

“The eastern countries are not big fans of

EU defense — they want the United States and NATO,” Puglierin said. Germany, too, wants to enhance the trans-Atlantic relationship and depends on Washington, even as it tries to rebuild its own paltry military. “So France will lose some allies and be outnumbered,” she said.

Weakened within Europe, at least for now, France will also be less influential in a more active and aggressive NATO. The alliance is more reliant on American arms and leadership than it was before the war, not less so, and it is expected to expand soon with the new membership of Sweden and Finland.

Germany’s new government, led by Scholz, was unprepared for war, let alone for a sudden cutoff of Russian energy and trade. With rising concern about similar dependence on China, Germany faces the need to reshape

its export-driven economy, built on cheap Russian gas and unfettered trade with China.

In the longer run, “the prospect of a larger and more eastern Europe will be a source of great strength for the German economy,” Garton Ash said, with Ukraine representing a vast potential for development.

Still, France and Germany are on the back foot in Europe for the near future, at least.

Luuk van Middelaar, a historian of the European Union, notes that since the war began, both Poland and Hungary have been treated more gently by Brussels in the ongoing struggle with them over the rule of law. “Politically and morally, Poland is off the hook because of the role it plays as a front-line state, delivering arms and accepting refugees,” he said.

The power of the French-German “couple” has been waning for some time. Van Middelaar drew a comparison between the war in Ukraine and another tectonic shock to Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany.

François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl, the French and German leaders in that earlier time, had fierce conflicts over reunification, but they had been working closely together for years. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Scholz, who had been in office less than three months, and Macron barely knew one another.

“There was no working relationship or professional intimacy, which you need at such moments,” van Middelaar said, so there has been “a lot of internal suspicion” and “underlying discomfort about how to deal with this new continent where Russia is a foe and Germany has to rethink its economic and political model.”

That has created a void in leadership that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have tried aggressively to fill.

Ukrainian soldiers heading to the front line in the Donetsk region of Ukraine last month. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a shock to the complacent European order.

Pope Francis says homosexuality is not a crime

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Pope Francis condemned “unjust” laws that criminalize homosexuality in an interview with The Associated Press that was published Wednesday, adding that the Roman Catholic Church should do more to put an end to such legislation and that bishops should welcome LGBTQ people into the church, especially in countries where such laws exist.

“Being homosexual is not a crime,” Francis said in the interview, adding that God loves all his children just as they are. Francis called on all countries with laws criminalizing homosexuality — 67 of them in total, including nearly a dozen that have the death penalty, he noted — to undo those laws. “That’s wrong. It’s very wrong. I don’t think anyone should be discriminated against,” he said. Several of the countries are in Africa, which the pope will visit next week.

Asked whether the church should work toward repealing the laws, Francis said, “Yes, yes, they have to do it, they have to do it.”

Francis said there needed to be a distinction between sin and a crime when it came to homosexuality. The Catholic Church considers homosexual acts “intrinsically disordered” and a sin, but believes that people in the LGBTQ community should be welcomed with respect and sen-

sitivity.

“First, let us distinguish sin from crime,” Francis said during the 75-minute interview conducted Tuesday in Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel he calls home. “But it is also a sin to lack charity with one another.”

He also called on bishops who support laws that punish or discriminate against the LGBTQ community to undergo a “process of conversion” and instead apply “tenderness.”

Francis quoted the catechism of the church, which teaches that LGBTQ people should not be marginalized but welcomed.

The pope has made outreach to the LGBTQ community one of the pillars of his papacy. A few months after his election in 2013, he famously said, “Who am I to judge?” when asked during a papal flight from Brazil about priests who might be gay. In a 2020 documentary, he appeared to endorse same-sex civil unions. The Vatican later clarified that the pope believed that gay couples deserved civil protections, including legal rights and health care benefits, but that his comments had not marked a change in church doctrine.

In 2021, many in the

LGBTQ community took Francis to task for a ruling issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith barring priests from blessing same-sex unions, calling such blessing “not licit.”

Reaction to the pope’s call for decriminalization was immediate.

“Pope Francis’ historic call for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide is an immense step forward for L.G.B.T.Q. people, their families and all who love them,” said the Rev. James Martin, the editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America, who said he specifically discussed the issue with Francis at various meetings. “This is the first time that any pope has made such a clear statement about this issue of life and death.” He added that the pope “is siding, as he always does, with life, with human dignity and with the belief that all of us are created in the image of God.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of GLAAD, an advocacy group, called Francis’ remarks “a game changer in the fight to decriminalize LGBTQ people and also illustrate the work that needs to be done with religious leaders to finally show that being LGBTQ is not a sin.”

Francis addressed a wide range of other issues in the interview, including the diplomatic relations between the Vatican and China (“The main thing, the dialogue doesn’t break”) and the use of guns by civilians for self-defense in the United States after the recent mass shootings in California. (It “becomes a habit,” Francis said. “Instead of making the effort to help

us live, we make the effort to help us kill.”)

The 86-year-old pontiff said he was in “good health,” but he also revealed that diverticulosis, a colon condition, had “returned.” Francis had surgery in 2021 to remove a section of his colon because of the condition.

In recent years, Francis’ health has caused intermittent concern. Last summer, he postponed a challenging trip to Congo and South Sudan (which he will make next week) because of problems with his right knee. He told the AP that a slight bone fracture in his knee had healed after laser and magnet therapy.

The pope also has problems with sciatica, a chronic nerve condition that causes back, hip and leg pain, and makes him walk with a limp. Flare-ups of that condition have forced him to cancel or modify high-profile appearances.

These setbacks, combined with his age, have fueled speculation that Francis might follow in the steps of his predecessor and step down. Benedict XVI, who died last month, retired in 2013, the first pope in 600 years to do so.

Francis has said in past interviews that he has never ruled out retirement, though he had no immediate plans to do so. But he said in the interview that he had not thought about drafting norms to “regulate” papal retirements.

He also addressed the sexual-abuse crisis, saying more remained to be done. He pledged the church would be more transparent when it handled such cases. “It is what I want. It is what I want, isn’t it?” he said. “And with transparency comes a very beautiful thing, which is shame.”

He added, “I prefer a church that is ashamed because it discovers its sins, which God forgives,” rather than a church that “hides its sin, which God does not forgive.”

Francis also addressed the wave of criticism from cardinals and bishops of his papacy that only intensified after Benedict’s death on Dec. 31, describing it like an unpleasant “rash that bothers you a bit.” But he said that it was important that his critics were able to speak freely. Criticism was to be expected, he said, part of the “wear and tear of a 10-year government.”

“If it’s not like this, there would be a dictatorship of distance, as I call it, where the emperor is there and no one can tell him anything,” Francis said. “Criticism helps you to grow and improve things.”

A protest at St. Peter’s Square in 2008 against the Vatican’s opposition to a United Nations resolution to decriminalize homosexuality.

Jonatan Ramos Director Funerario

The US has made a coldly logical decision in Ukraine. So has Russia.

By ROSS DOUTHAT

When the Ukrainian military made rapid advances in its autumn campaign, the fears of Russian nuclear retaliation were connected to a long-standing American interpretation of Russian strategic theory: “escalate to de-escalate,” the idea of using a limited nuclear strike to raise the stakes of conflict so high that your enemies see no choice but to bargain, regardless of their conventional advantages.

In the months since, the return to a war of attrition and various Russian disavowals have eased nuclear anxieties somewhat. But an “escalate to de-escalate” theory remains relevant to the situation in Ukraine, because it seems to inform both the U.S. and Russian strategies — conventional, not nuclear — for the spring campaign.

Note that I said U.S. strategy and not Ukrainian. Ukraine’s desired strategy remains what it has been, understandably enough, for the entire war: escalate to win. Kyiv wants as many weapons as the West can send, it wants to reclaim every inch of territory, and it doesn’t want to entertain terms that would concede anything to the invading Russians.

This attitude is shared by many hawkish voices in Europe and America, who continue to plan for Ukraine’s triumph and Vladimir Putin’s overthrow. But it is probably not shared by the Biden administration, or at least not by the key decisionmakers.

Yes, the formal White House position is that Ukraine

will have our support all the way to victory. But the cautious approach that President Joe Biden and his team have taken to armaments that might radically change the balance of the war, the nudges encouraging Kyiv to show openness to negotiation, the concern about investing too heavily at the expense of our Asian commitments — all of this indicates that the White House’s proximate goal is a favorable armistice, not complete Russian defeat.

To get to that imagined peace, though, you need to convince the Russians that a true armistice — as opposed to another “frozen conflict,” in which warfare dies down but peace is never formally established — is in their interests, that if they keep the war simmering they will continue losing men and materiel at a brutal, regime-destabilizing pace.

One hope was that the Ukrainian counteroffensive last fall and Europe’s so-far successful endurance of the winter months would be decisive in pushing Moscow toward accepting this reality, and even toward elaborating its own proposals (no doubt unrealistic ones at first) for a negotiated settlement.

But instead the Russians seem to be not just digging in but also girding for their own renewed offensive. Which explains, in turn, why the Biden White House and our European allies are cautiously — and with a certain amount of Germanic hesitancy — turning up the dial of escalation, enabling an increase in tanks and heavy armor flowing into Ukraine.

So far this is not a policy designed to completely overwhelm a Russian mobilization or drive the Russians out of Ukraine. It’s a policy seemingly intended to blunt any new offensive, to potentially make the Russians lose more ground, and to show Moscow that it can’t win a grinding war any more easily than it initially hoped to win a short one. It’s an escalation that assumes the Russians need a little more convincing, and then they’ll be open to the de-escalation that we haven’t been able to achieve.

But a similar logic also seems to be driving the Russian strategy — to the extent that we can see through the dark glass between us and Russian intentions, that is.

From the assumed Russian perspective, Ukrainian gains in the fall and European resilience in the winter have made military success only more urgent. There’s no point in elaborating peace proposals so long as the Ukrainians are convinced that they can win a total victory, and they’re more convinced of that than ever.

So only once that hope is broken by force of arms can a settlement acceptable to Moscow begin to emerge. Which makes it necessary to prove militarily that stalemate is absolutely the best that Kyiv can hope for, that U.S. and European support may suffice to hold ground but not to sweepingly reclaim it. And such proof can be delivered only through escalation, with de-escalation hopefully waiting on the other side.

Hawks will object to this analysis by noting that we have no proof Russia actually wants real de-escalation at any stage short of conquest. (Hence the hawkish case for a more maximal, regime-change-oriented U.S. commitment.) Doves will object that I’m overestimating the Biden White House’s real desire to reach a settlement and underestimating how much U.S. policy is being set by war fever, military-industrial imperatives or a decaying liberalism’s romance with a distant nationalism. (Hence the dovish case for reducing or refusing further military aid to Kyiv.)

But the reason to see the situation in the terms I’ve described, with both Washington and Moscow imagining themselves escalating toward a peace settlement, is that it’s such a historically familiar situation. A war breaks out, it’s expected to end swiftly but a stalemate ensues instead, and both sides become convinced that increasing their commitment to the conflict will bring it to a swifter end on more favorable terms.

This mutual conviction isn’t a matter of romance or fantasy or simple folly (though of course those forces enter in). Instead, escalation is embraced as a coldly logical decision, as the only reasonable course.

And out of such rationality, you get closer to the irrationality of fighting for years in a war that neither side can fully hope to win.

Taller Prepárate y Compra con Popular Mortgage llega a Caguas

POR EL STAR STAFF

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El registro comenzará a las 9:30 a.m. y la charla será de 10:00 a.m. a 11:30 a.m.

El taller Prepárate y Compra forma parte de la nueva campaña “Tu Casa, Prepárate y Compra con Popular Mortgage” la cual explica el proceso de cómo prepararse correctamente para ese momento importante en la vida personal y financiera de las personas.

Durante la mañana se ofrecerá orientación sobre

tres puntos importantes: crédito, ahorros e ingresos; y los pasos a seguir antes de solicitar un préstamo hipotecario. El taller educativo brinda, además, la oportunidad de que los participantes reciban orientación personalizada por consultores hipotecarios con el objetivo de atender dudas, preguntas e inquietudes sobre el proceso.

“Orientar y proveer las herramientas a nuestros clientes para que estén listos al momento de adquirir su hogar es un compromiso que tenemos en Popular Mortgage. Queremos que los clientes se sientan preparados durante este proceso tan importante en sus vidas. El taller de Prepárate y Compra los lleva paso a paso para lograr ese sueño”, sostuvo Zulema Flores, gerente de Popular Mortgage.

Popular Mortgage comenzó la iniciativa educativa en

el 2018 y hasta la fecha sobre 1,600 personas se han beneficiado de los talleres.

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Radican medida para asignar $2.5 millones a SER de Puerto Rico en el nuevo año fiscal

POR EL STAR STAFF

S AN JUAN – A los fines de asignar una partida de $2.5 millones del Fondo General, para garantizar los fondos necesarios para que la entidad SER de Puerto Rico pueda continuar brindando servicios a través de toda la Isla, el representante del distrito 28, Juan José Santiago Nieves anunció el jueves la radicación de la Resolución Conjunta de la Cámara 436. La misma busca que busca que la asignación presupuestaria sea recurrente y comenzaría a partir del nuevo año fiscal 2023-2024.

“Conociendo la labor tan importante que hace SER de Puerto Rico, me reuní con su presidenta, Nilda

Morales, para compartirle mi interés de poder lograr una solución permanente a las necesidades presupuestarias de la organización, y evitar que vuelvan a estar en una situación vulnerable donde su asignación de fondos sea discrecional o varíe dramáticamente”, señaló Santiago Nieves.

La medida legislativa busca que SER de Puerto Rico no tenga que estar agotando recursos para competir anualmente con otras entidades locales, y que la cuantía asignada no cambie cada año. Lo anterior con el fin de poder facilitar su estabilidad y permitirles mejor planificación en los servicios que, por años, ha brindado a la población con diversidad funcional de todo Puerto Rico.

“De igual manera, está asignación permitiría que el millón de dólares que se le otorga bajo la resolución de Donativos Legislativos pueda ser asignado a otras entidades de todo Puerto Rico, gestión que sería de gran beneficio para aquellas que ofrecen servicios en nuestros distritos”, sostuvo Santiago Nieves.

“Recientemente, se trajo a la opinión pública las dificultades que estaba afrontando SER de PR con la asignación de fondos y, aunque logramos otorgarle los fondos que nos solicitaron, de aprobarse esta medida, ya sería una cuantía fija y recurrente por los próximos años, que fomentaría una seguridad en recursos a esta importante entidad”, añadió.

DACO logra marcada reducción en el número de querellas relacionadas a servicios de energía renovable

POR EL STAR STAFF

SAN JUAN – El secretario del Departamento de Asuntos al Consumidor (DACO), Hiram Torres Montalvo, informó que se han resuelto unas 286 querellas asociadas a la venta, instalación y mantenimiento de sistemas de energía fotovoltaica (solar), sometidas entre el 1 de septiembre de 2021 hasta mediados de enero de este año, como resultado de los trabajos que realiza la Oficina de Asuntos de Energía Renovable del Departamento.

“El pasado 12 de diciembre creé la Oficina de Asuntos de Energía Renovable para atender todas las inquietudes y querellas relacionadas con los sistemas de placas solares instalados a través de toda la Isla. Implementé una estrategia de consolidación y solución rápida de conflictos lo que ha agilizado el proceso. Esto, sumado al trabajo de nuestros inspectores y personal de apoyo desde el 2022, ha logrado reducir el número de

querellas activas en el DACO a unas 134. Nuestra meta es bajar al mínimo el tiempo en que solucionamos las querellas de los consumidores”, dijo el secretario.

Según datos del DACO (13 de enero), la región de San Juan es la que contiene la mayor cifra de querellas pendientes con 52. Luego le sigue Caguas con 23, Arecibo con 21, Mayagüez (16) y Ponce (15).

“Reconozco que esta es una de las industrias de mayor crecimiento, no solo en Puerto Rico, sino en el mundo. En la Isla todos los meses se instalan unos 4,000 sistemas de energía solar y ya superamos las 61,000 instalaciones. Como he indicado anteriormente, en el 2022 DACO recibimos alrededor de 30 querellas de consumidores mensualmente. La nueva Oficina de Asuntos de Energía Renovable ha recibido decenas de inquietudes desde mediados de diciembre, y las ha canalizado y trabajado con premura. En total, desde el 15 de diciembre hasta el 13 de enero, esta oficina

recibió 40 querellas. La inmensa mayoría están por adjudicarse”, expresó Torres Montalvo.

El titular del DACO también notificó que se refirieron nueve querellas al Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico, pues las mismas estaban asociadas a la métrica energética. Por otra parte, 51 de las querellas fueron solucionadas a favor del consumidor bajo el mecanismo de medicación.

Monica Bellucci tries on the dress, and life, of Maria Callas

By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI

There are opera stars, and then there is Maria Callas.

Birgit Nilsson or Luciano Pavarotti may have been great, but they haven’t sung posthumously. Callas, on the other hand, has toured — as a hologram — decades after her death. Few have heard of the William Luce play “Bravo, Caruso!” about that classic tenor, but Terrence McNally’s “Master Class,” which revolves around Callas’ exacting methods as a teacher, won a Tony Award in 1996 and is regularly revived.

This soprano’s fans — the fiercest of whom critic Anthony Tommasini affectionately dubbed “Callas crazoids” — will be kept busy this year, which marks the 100th anniversary of her birth. Early out of the gate, in New York, is actor Monica Bellucci, who is bringing her solo show, “Maria Callas: Letters & Memoirs,” to the Beacon Theater on Friday.

Bellucci, 58, has been performing the piece, in which she reads selections from Callas’ writings, on and off since 2019. Yet she still finds it hard to explain the peculiar, enduring hold that the soprano often referred to as La Divina still has on the collective imagination.

“She had an aura,” Bellucci said during a recent visit to New York.

Bellucci herself was regally resplendent that day, projecting the kind of smoky-voiced elegance often associated with marquee names of Golden Age Hollywood. But her resume is less predictable than that reference might suggest: She has leapfrogged from intimate dramas to the James Bond movie “Spectre,” from Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” to the victim of a brutal rape in the French “provoc-auteur” Gaspar Noé’s “Irréversible.” Her reputation as a symbol of European

glamour and sophistication is so firmly established that she made fun of it in an episode of the series “Call My Agent!” (One crucial difference from that guest appearance: “I never had a relationship with my agent,” she clarified with a laugh.)

Still, as open to new adventures as Bellucci has been, she had steered clear of theater. Undaunted, the director, writer and photographer Tom Volf, who had made the 2018 documentary “Maria by Callas,” trekked to her apartment to pitch a project based on his book “Maria Callas: Lettres & Mémoires.”

“I remember we were in the living room, and she opened the book randomly and started reading out loud,” Volf, 37, said in a video inter-

view. “That’s when I really saw the alchemy right away. Suddenly, her physique, her attitude, her emotion were matching the one that I sensed was Callas’, especially in some specific letters where you can see the woman and not the artist or the public figure.

“I call it an alchemy; I think it’s beyond resemblance,” he continued. “I believe in destiny, like Callas did.” (Whenever Callas comes up, quasi-spiritual references to “aura” and “destiny” have a way of seeping into the conversation.)

Equally bowled over, Bellucci forgot her long-standing reservations about appearing onstage. “The sense of beauty I felt was stronger than being scared,” she said. “I wanted to share what I felt with other people. It was through theater that I could get into that.”

It’s hard to deny that a Callas-Bellucci pairing feels like it was predestined. Bellucci even played a Callas-like Italian opera star nicknamed La Fiamma in season three of the series “Mozart in the Jungle.” Beyond their physical resemblance, Bellucci, an Italian-born Parisian, has led a border-crossing, multilingual international career, just like Callas, a Greek, New York-born singer decades earlier.

Both had to navigate the specific tests that greet famous female celebrities. “I think that Monica can very instinctively and strongly relate to Callas as a woman,” Volf said. “Perhaps because she understands the duality between trying to lead a life as a woman and an artist with worldwide fame, and all the difficulties and the challenges that come with it.”

The Callas mystique, beyond her acting and singing talent, was fed by an agitated, to put it mildly, personal life. She was rumored to have bitter rivalries with colleagues, was crushed by a torrid and unhappy affair with Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis and had a conflicted relation-

ship with her body. (She lost a considerable amount of weight in a crash diet, which some blame for her eventual vocal issues.)

“She’s someone who had the courage to follow her heart, so that’s why when people say she had a tragic life … ” Bellucci said, trailing off. “She had a brave life. She wanted to divorce in a moment when, in Italy, divorce was forbidden. She’s still inspiring today because she had everybody against her, and she was a fighter.”

Callas’ physical reinvention can also be seen as a sign of autonomy rather than of weakness. “She created what she wanted to be, like many, many, many people in the business,” Bellucci said sympathetically. “Marilyn Monroe wasn’t the blond bombshell when she started. We call this ‘les femmes du spectacle’: They know how to create illusion. An artist uses her own body as a transmitter, as a way to show themselves. The body becomes an instrument.”

Because this is not a biographical show, per se, but rather a peek into the singer’s more intimate side, in conversation Bellucci and Volf often differentiated between Callas and Maria as a way to separate her public and private personas. They also pointed out that “Master Class,” for example, focused on a very specific element of her life: “This was the hard part of her,” Bellucci said. “People used to say that she had a temper. Actually, she was uncompromising and completely dedicated to her work with her soul, her heart.

“But the more intimate part of her,” Bellucci continued, “the one that nobody knows, was so fragile and sensitive. And this sensitivity was also the base of her talent: She had the capacity to perceive things like a child. But nobody protected this child — not her mother, not her family. No men protected this child. So the child gets destroyed, and the artist as well.”

Nuestra agencia de seguros continua operando via remoto para beneficio de nuestros socios. Podemos ayudarte a realizar:

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Monica Bellucci, who has been playing Maria Callas in a one-woman show off and on since 2019, in New York, Dec. 8, 2022.

Puedes obtener una cubierta de seguro que puede ayudarte económicamente, si estuvieras hospitalizado o en gastos funebres.

DESDE LA COMODIDAD DE SU HOGAR!

By MELISSA CLARK

Salmon is one of those pliant proteins that you can successfully cook almost any way you want. Sear it hot and fast, until the skin crisps and the fillet browns. Roast it low and slow, covered in olive oil until it collapses into a silky confit. Or swathe it in aromatics and steam it, letting it cook gently while it suffuses with flavor. It’s all good: Salmon’s happy to go with the flow.

For this one-pot salmon and rice dish, I went the steaming route because it is the easiest way to get dinner on the table and can be the most flavorful.

The idea started with a pot of coconut rice, a staple side at our house that we sometimes eat plain and pristine, and other times zipped up with spices and vegetables. Since there was an open can of green curry paste in the fridge, I added some to the rice, along with a handful of spinach, scallions and loads of cilantro.

Usually, while a pot of rice simmers, I’ll separately cook whatever protein we’re having, be it a sheet pan of chicken or sausages, or a couple of skillet-fried eggs.

But since salmon’s so easygoing, draping the fillets right on top of the rice to steam struck me as the simplest way to go, with the fewest dishes to wash afterward.

I coated the salmon with the rest of the green curry. After the rice had cooked about halfway, I added the fish to the pot, covered it and let it slowly cook until everything was done at the same time. It made for a zero-fuss weeknight meal that, because of the lively depth of flavor from the curry paste, tasted a lot more elaborate than it really was.

Bear in mind that different brands of rice absorb water differently, so their cooking times can vary. If your rice looks dry or starts to stick to the bottom of the pot, be sure to add more water. On the other hand, if the salmon is done before the rice, just transfer the fish to a plate, tent with an overturned bowl or foil to keep warm, and continue to cook the rice until done.

Then serve it all forth. It’s a laid-back, crowdpleasing meal that didn’t send you swimming upstream.

Green curry salmon with coconut rice

Sweet coconut milk tempers the fiery pungency of Thai green curry paste in this easy one-pot salmon and rice meal. Fresh scallions and cilantro add herbal freshness, while chopped baby spinach makes the whole thing even greener. Note that different brands of rice absorb different amounts of water, so don’t be afraid to add more water as needed.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds skinless salmon fillets

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons green curry paste

2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil (or use a neutral oil, such as canola)

1 bunch scallions, whites and greens, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk

1 3/4 cups sushi rice or other short-grain rice, rinsed well

2 cups chopped baby spinach

1 cup chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems

Lime wedges, for serving

Preparation:

1. Lightly season salmon with salt and pepper, and spread 1 tablespoon curry paste all over the fillets. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a 5- or 6-quart Dutch oven over medium. Stir in scallion whites and most of the greens, reserving 2 tablespoons scallion greens for garnish. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and a pinch of salt, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute longer.

3. Stir in coconut milk, remaining 3 tablespoons green curry, 1 1/2 cups water and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir in rinsed rice and reduce heat to low. Let simmer, covered and stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, gently fold in spinach, cilantro and a pinch of salt. If the rice looks dry and threatens to stick to the bottom of the pot, stir in 2 to 4 tablespoons more water.

4. Place salmon filets on top of rice, raise heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until salmon is just cooked through, 12 to 20 minutes, depending on thickness.

5. Remove from heat and taste rice for doneness. If the salmon is done before the rice, gently remove the fish from the pan using a metal spatula, transfer to a plate and tent with an overturned bowl or foil to keep warm, then continue to cook rice until tender, adding more water if the rice seems dry. Taste and season with salt as needed. Squeeze a lime wedge over the salmon and serve immediately, garnished with reserved scallions and more lime wedges on the side.

A one-pot salmon and rice with coconut milk and greens in New York, Dec. 19, 2022. For the simplest one-pot meal, fish and grains steam in the same pot, at the same time, on the stovetop.

A one-pot salmon and rice dish you’ll turn to again and again

LLC.

Demandante, Vs. LESLIE A. BURGOS RIVERA

Demandado

Caso Núm.: CA2022CV03134. Salón Núm.: 303. 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.

A: LESLIE A. BURGOS RIVERA - URB. ALTURAS DE RIO GRANDE

O-705 CALLE 13A, RIO GRANDE, PR 00745-3206.

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. Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kevin.sanchez@ orf-law.com, y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de diciembre de 2022. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, el 22 de diciembre de 2022. WANDA SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA. IVELISSE SERRANO GARCÍA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN

JUAN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO

AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC.

Demandante Vs. ROBERTO RIVERA ACEVEDO

Demandado

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV07149.

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. A: ROBERTO RIVERA ACEVEDORESIDENCIAL JARDINES DE MONTE HATILLO, 1207 AVE. MONTE CARIO, APT 139, SAN JUAN, P.R. 00924.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, la Lcda. Natalie Bonaparte cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección natalie.bonaparte@ orf-law.com, Edwin.serrano@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FmMA y el sello del Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 15 de diciembre de 2022. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 15 de diciembre de 2022. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

LOYDA M. COUVERTIER REYES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL

GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA

SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

PUERTO RICO

PROPERTIES

SOLUTIONS LLC

Demandante V.

FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION OF PUERTO RICO Y OTROS

Demandado(a)

Civil: CA2022CV03201. Sala: 409. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: FIRST FEDERAL

SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION OF PUERTO RICO; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DEL PAGARE.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 19 de enero de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 19 de enero 2023.

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

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V.

CARLOS GONZALEZ

SOTO; SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN GONZALEZ ALGARÍN DE GONZALEZ

T/C/C CARMEN

GONZALEZ ALGARÍN COMPUESTA POR SU

HEREDERA CONOCIDA

CARMEN GONZALEZ BUSH; FULANO(A) DE TAL Y SUTANO(A) DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS

DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS DE DICHA SUCESIÓN; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES; DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA

Demandados

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E. U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. Yo, EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, Alguacil del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, al público HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que se me libró con fecha de 28 de diciembre de 2022 por la Secretaria de este Tribunal, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor con dinero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o letra bancaria con similar garantía, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada de epígrafe sobre la siguiente propiedad perteneciente a la parte demandada, la cual se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número cuatrocientos noventa y cinco en el Bloque Cveintidós del plano de inscripción de la Urbanización El Comandante, radicado en el Barrio Sabana Llana del sitio denominado Río Piedras del término municipal del gobierno de la capital de Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de trescientos treinta y un metros cuadrados con veinticinco centímetros cuadrados. Colinda por el NORTE, en una distancia de doce metros con cincuenta centímetros, con el solar número cuatrocientos noventa y siete del bloque C-veintidós del mencionado plano; por el SUR, en una distancia de doce metros con cincuenta centímetros, con la calle denominada Street F del mencionado plano; por el ESTE, en una distancia de veintiséis metros con cincuenta centímetros, con el solar número cuatrocientos noventa y tres del bloque C-veintidós del mencionado plano; y por el OESTE, en veintiséis metros con cincuenta centímetros, con el solar número cuatrocientos noventa y seis del bloque C-veintidós del mencionado plano. Finca Número 2,592 inscrita al folio 206 del tomo 65 de Sabana Llana, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección V de San Juan. Dirección Física: 1243 Consuelo Matos Street, El Comandante, Río Piedras, San Juan, P.R. 00924-2558. La finca 2,592 está gravada con la siguiente hipoteca cuya ejecución se solicita en la subasta objeto de este edicto: Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $69,500.00, con intereses al 7% anual, vencedero a la presentación, constituida mediante la escritura número 371, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 20 de junio de 1994, ante el notario José David Medina Rivera, e inscrita al folio 1 del tomo 863

de Sabana Llana, finca número 2,592, inscripción 6ta. La propiedad está afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: A. Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $69,500.00, con intereses al 7% anual, vencedero a la presentación, constituida mediante la escritura número 372, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 20 de junio de 1994, ante el notario José David Medina Rivera, e inscrita al folio 1 del tomo 863 de Sabana Llana, finca número 2,592, inscripción 6ta. B. Aviso de Demanda de fecha 16 de diciembre de 2021, expedido en el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, en el Caso Civil número SJ2021CV07790, sobre cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Carlos González Soto, por la suma de $244,922.67, más intereses y otras sumas, anotado el día 23 de diciembre de 2021, al tomo Karibe de Sabana Llana, finca número 2,592, Anotación A. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Banco Popular de Puerto Rico por la hipoteca de $69,500.00, total o parcialmente. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a Banco Popular de Puerto Rico total o parcialmente el importe de la Sentencia emitida el 15 de julio de 2022. El importe de la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe asciende a las siguientes cantidades: $246,457.48 al 31 de octubre de 2021. Dicha cantidad continuará acumulándose a razón del 7% hasta el completo pago de la deuda. La demandada adeuda, además, una cantidad equivalente a $6,950.00 por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, $6,950.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y $6,950.00 para cubrir intereses adicionales a los garantizados por ley, según pactado. El precio mínimo de licitación con relación a la antes descrita propiedad y la fecha y hora de cada subasta es como sigue: PRIMERA SUBASTA: Se celebrará el día 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Tipo mínimo: $69,500.00, suma pactada entre los contratantes en la escritura de constitución de hipoteca. Si no se produce remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará la SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 28 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Tipo Mínimo: $46,333.33 dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado entre los contratantes en la escritura de constitución de hipoteca. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCE-

RA SUBASTA el día 8 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Tipo Mínimo: $34,750.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado entre los contratantes en la escritura de constitución de hipoteca. Las subastas de dicha propiedad se llevarán a efecto en mi oficina situada en el local que ocupa este Tribunal en el Centro Judicial de San Juan, advirtiéndose que el que obtuviere la buena pro de dicha propiedad consignará en el acto del remate el importe de su oferta en moneda legal, en adición a los gastos de la subasta, siendo éste el mejor postor. En cualquier momento luego de haberse comenzado el acto de la subasta, el Alguacil podrá requerir de los licitadores que le evidencien la capacidad de pago de sus posturas. Del producto obtenido en dicha venta, el Alguacil pagará en primer término los gastos del Alguacil, en segundo término las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado hasta la suma convenida, en tercer término los intereses devengados hasta la fecha de la subasta, en cuarto término las sumas establecidas en la Sentencia para el pago de recargos por demora, contribuciones, seguros y en quinto término la suma principal adeudada conforme con la sentencia dictada. Disponiéndose que si quedara algún remanente luego de pagarse las sumas mencionadas, el mismo deberá ser depositado en la Secretaría del Tribunal para ser entregado a la parte demandada, previa solicitud y orden del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante el título del inmueble y las cargas o gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistiendo, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda responsable de los mismos sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se le apercibe a los tenedores de gravámenes posteriores al que se ejecuta que, para proteger cualesquiera derechos que tengan sobre el inmueble, deberán comparecer a la subasta, pues de no hacerlo así y de no igualar el precio de venta del gravamen hipotecario que se ejecuta, el Tribunal ordenará la cancelación de todos los gravámenes posteriores. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Si se declara desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secre-

taría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de San Juan durante horas laborables. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda persona que tenga interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, si alguna, y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general el presente edicto se publicará en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico una vez por semana por un término de dos (2) semanas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre cada publicación. Se fijará además, en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde ha de celebrarse la subasta, estos lugares serán la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía de dicho Municipio. Se notificará a la parte demandada copia del edicto de subasta mediante correo certificado con acuse de recibo a su dirección que obra en autos. Una vez efectuada la correspondiente venta judicial, otorgaré la escritura del traspaso al licitador victorioso, quien podrá ser la parte demandante, cuya oferta podrá aplicarse a la extinción parcial o total de la obligación reconocida por la Sentencia. Colocaré al licitador victorioso en posesión física de la Propiedad mediante el lanzamiento de los ocupantes en el término legal de veinte (20) días desde la fecha de la venta en pública subasta y para ello procederé a romper candados de ser necesario. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el Tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante o ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. El Registrador de la Propiedad cancelará, libre de derechos, todo gravamen posterior a la fecha en que se otorgó la hipoteca que ha sido ejecutada mediante esta acción, y procederá a la inscripción de la venta a favor del comprador en subasta libre de todo gravamen posterior a la fecha en que se otorgó la hipoteca que ha sido ejecutada mediante esta acción. Expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 18 de enero de 2023.

EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

LEGAL NOT ICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MANATÍ

ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V.

MAIKEI BATISTA MONTELIER

Demandado(a)

Civil: MT2022CV00447. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: MAIKEI BATISTA MONTELIER.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 19 de enero de 2023. En Manatí, Puerto Rico, el 19 de enero de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. CARMEN J. ROSARIO VALENTÍN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

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. PABLO ANDRÉS RÍOS TORRES, SU ESPOSA MARLINE GONZÁLEZ RAMOS T/C/C MARILINE GONZÁLEZ RAMOS

T/C/C MARILYN GONZÁLEZ RAMOS, Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: MZ2019CV00488. 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 PUBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 11 de mayo de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número 10 del Bloque E, según el Plano de Inscripción del Proyecto de Solares de la Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico, UM-6-129, denominado Jardines de Añasco, radicado en el Barrio Daguey del término municipal de Añasco, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 471.20 metros cuadrados, según el documento y de 469.00 metros cuadrados, según el Plano. Colinda: por el NORTE, con la Calle número 4, distancia de 8.93 metros en arco; por el SUR, con Calle Principal, distancia de 30.50 metros; por el ESTE, con el solar número E-11, distancia de 34.04 metros; y por el OESTE, con el solar número E-9, en distancia de 22.06 metros. Finca número 7,458 inscrita al folio 97 del tomo 212 de Añasco. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Mayagüez. La propiedad ubica en: E-10 4 St., Jardines de Añasco, Añasco, Puerto Rico. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 10 de febrero de 2022 y notificada el 15 de febrero de 2022, por la cantidad de $70,328.68 por concepto de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma a razón del 5.50%, anual desde el 1ro de agosto de 2018, 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 $8,600.00 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 18 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $86,000.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma

se llevará a efecto el día 25 DE ABRIL DE 2023 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 $57,333.33, 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 2 DE MAYO DE 2023 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 $43,000.00, 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 18 de enero de 2023. CA-

LIXTO RIVERA GHIGLIOTTY, ALGUACIL PLACA #283, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE MAYAGÜEZ.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAROLINA RALI INVESTMENTS, LLC.

Demandante Vs. RG PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO, LUEGO SCOTIABANK DE PUERTO RICO HOY ORIENTAL BANK; JOHN DOE; RICHARD ROE

Demandados

Ciivl No.: CA2023CV00046.

Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. POR MEDIO del presente edicto se les notifica de la radicación de una demanda de cancelación de pagaré extraviado por la suma de $35,000.00 de una propiedad sita en Comunidad Malpica de Río Grande, Puerto Rico. POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la Demanda radicando el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Fajardo, y notificándole con copia de dicha contestación al abogado del demandante, Lcdo. Alejandro J. Cacho Rodríguez, 54 Calle Resolución, Suite 303, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00920-

2729 Tel: (787) 722-2242; Fax: (787) 722-2243, cacho@cacholaw.com dentro del término de treinta (30) días siguientes a la fecha de publicación de este Edicto; si dejaren de así hacerlo, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia contra ustedes concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal de Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy 19 de enero de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. GERARDO

MALDONADO CLAUDIO

Demandado(a)

Civil: VB2022CV00735. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: GERARDO

MALDONADO CLAUDIOBDA. COREA, 468 CALLE SANTO DOMINGO, VEGA ALTA, PUERTO RICO 00692-8060; VILLA DEL RIO, 131 CALLE 6, VEGA ALTA, PUERTO RICO, 00692. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 29 de noviembre de 2022, 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 17 de enero de 2023. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, el 17 de enero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Demandante V. ROBERTO ROMÁN ROSA, LYDIA DEL CARMEN GUTIÉRREZ QUIÑONES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: RG2022CV00417.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

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

A: ROBERTO ROMÁN ROSA, LYDIA DEL CARMEN GUTIÉRREZ QUIÑONES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 00936-6603. Tel. (787) 9190073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 13 de enero de 2023. WANDA I. SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LYDIA E. RIVERA MIRANDA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Sala Superior de HUMACAO PALMAS DEL MAR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. Demandante Vs

LUIS MARTÍN JIMÉNEZ, ET AL

Demandado

Civil: HU2022CV01171. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: LUIS MARTÍN JIMÉNEZ Y MARISOL COLLAZO ORTIZ A SU DIRECCIÓN

CONOCIDA: BAHIA DEL SUR #28, PALMAS DEL MAR, HUMACAO, PR 00791. P/C LCDO. JOSÉ

R. GONZÁLEZ RIVERA. EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de ENERO de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 20 de ENERO de 2023. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, el 20 de ENERO De 2023. IVELISSE FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL INTERINA. MICHELLE GUEVARA DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALAS DE FAMILIA Y ASUNTOS DE MENORES REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN MÓNICA

SANTIAGO SALGADO

Parte Demandante Vs. JOSÉ SALGADO BREWLEY

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: BY2022RF01985.

Sala: 4003. Sobre: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE).

EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO ENMENDADO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRCIA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: JOSÉ SALGADO BREWLEY.

Por la presente, se le notifica que la parte demandante de epígrafe ha presentado ante este Tribunal, demanda contra

usted, solicitando la concesión del siguiente remedio: Divorcio (Ruptura Irreparable). La parte demandante se encuentra representada por:

LCDO. MARISEL BARRETO VIERA

RUA 19000

Urb. Crown Hills, 138 Ave. W. Churchill PMB 224 San Juan, PR 00926-6013

mariselbarreto@gmail.com 787-945-5193

Se le apercibe que si no compareciere usted a contestar dicha demanda dentro del término 30 días a partir de la publicación del último edicto, notificando copia de su contestación al abogado de la parte demandante; se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en rebeldía en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitando en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: hhtps:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronicol, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico a 17 de enero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

REVERSE MORTGAGE

FUNDING, LLC

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE NICOLÁS RODRÍGUEZ SURILLO

T/C/C NICOLÁS ANTOLÍN RODRÍGUEZ SURILLO

T/C/C NICOLÁS A. RODRÍGUEZ SURILLO

T/C/C NICOLÁS A. RODRÍGUEZ T/C/C

NICOLÁS RODRÍGUEZ

COMPUESTA POR JOHN

DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESIÓN ADELAIDA

BATISTA ORTIZ T/C/C

ANA LAIDA BATISTA ORTIZ T/C/C ADELAIDA

BATISTA COMPUESTA

POR JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV01974. (604). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE

HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE NICOLÁS RODRÍGUEZ SURILLO T/C/C NICOLÁS ANTOLÍN RODRÍGUEZ SURILLO T/C/C NICOLÁS A. RODRÍGUEZ SURILLO T/C/C NICOLÁS A. RODRÍGUEZ T/C/C NICOLÁS RODRÍGUEZ; JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN.

LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 13 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 20 de enero de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 20 de enero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ELSA MAGALY CANDELARIO CABRERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE LARES

SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC.

Demandante V. ANDRES ALEXIS

SANTIAGO CORTES, MERARIS PEREZ LOPEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado(a)

Civil Núm.: LR2022CV00140. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

solar #13; por el OESTE, en igual medida con el solar #11. Enclava una casa. Inscrito al folio 201 del tomo 139 de Sabana Llana, finca número #6,085 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Quinta de San Juan. Propiedad ubicada en: 503, Calle Teruel, Villa Granada, San Juan, PR. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor, el día 3 de agosto de 2017 y notificada el 9 de agosto de 2017, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $137,156.53 por concepto de principal; $1,045.44 por concepto de intereses acumulados; $172.16 por concepto de cargos por demora; los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, $243.86 por concepto de “Escrow Advances” y la suma de $16,540.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente (Sentencia). La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 23 de febrero de 2023 a las 10:00 de la mañana, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es por la cantidad de $165,400.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 6 de marzo de 2023 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 $110,266.66, 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 13 de marzo de 2023 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 $82,700.00, 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. Los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado pueden concurrir a la subasta si les convienen o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes.

Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate.

EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 20 de enero de 2023. Pedro Hieye Gonzalez, Alguacil, División de Subastas Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de San Juan.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA JOSÉ LUIS

CONCEPCIÓN VEGA

Demandante Vs MERCEDES MARÍA OBJIO ABREU

Demandada

Civil Núm.: DO2022RF00017.

Sobre: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE). SENTENCIA

EN REBELDIA. En el presente caso se radicó una Demanda de Divorcio por Ruptura Irreparable por lo que se señaló vista mediante videoconferencia el 20 de enero de 2023, comparece el demandante representado por el Lcdo. Edgar A. Molina Jorge. No comparece la demandada ni representación legal alguna a pesar de haber sido debidamente emplazado. Surge del expediente que se le anotó la rebeldía a la parte demandada el 22 de diciembre de 2022. Previa juramentación de la parte demandante se desfiló prueba en apoyo de las alegaciones de la demanda y este Tribunal se convenció de que la decisión de solicitar la disolución del vínculo matrimonial es libre y voluntaria. El matrimonio aquí disuelto se contrajo el 28 de marzo de 2010 en Dorado, Puerto Rico, según surge del Certificado de Matrimonio Número 152-2010-00056-003741104501-01914496. Durante el matrimonio las partes no procrearon hijos, no adquirieron bienes ni deudas de carácter ganancial. La parte demandante manifiesta que los nexos de convivencia matrimonial han sido rotos y no existe la posibilidad de reconciliación y que la demandada no se encuentra en estado de embarazo. A base de un análisis de la prueba desfilada, de las disposiciones del Artículo 430 del Nuevo Código Civil de Puerto Rico, este Tribunal decreta roto y disuelto el vínculo matrimonial existente entre las partes por la causal de Ruptura Irreparable. Esta Sentencia será final y firme transcurrido los 30 días de su notificación. REGÍSTRESE Y NOTIFÍQUESE. Dada en Toa Alta, Puerto Rico a 20 de enero de 2023. JUAN S. NEVÁREZ

GARCÍA, JUEZ SUPERIOR. LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR TOA ALTA BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V.

SUCESION DE AMERICO

RAMOS PEREZ Y SUCESION DE ANA LUGO GONZALEZ AMBAS COMPUESTAS

POR ANAIDA RAMOS LUGO, FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL, SUTANA DE TAL, A, B Y C COMO MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES; HONORABLE SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE JUSTICIA DEL ESTADO LIBRE

ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO; HONORABLE SECRETARIO DE HACIENDA DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO

Demandado

Civil Núm.: TA2022CV00930.

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

A: SUCESION DE AMERICO RAMOS PEREZ Y SUCESION DE ANA LUGO GONZALEZ, COMPUESTAS POR FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL, SUTANA DE TAL, A, B Y C COMO MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LAS SUCESIONES.

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, radicando el original de la contestación ante el Tribunal y sala que se menciona en el epígrafe de este edicto con copia a la parte aquí demandante. 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.

Por la presente el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, conforme al caso de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria vs. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 DPR 689 (2005), le ordena que en el término de treinta (30) días, haga declaración aceptando o repudiando las herencias de la SUCESION DE AMERICO RAMOS PEREZ Y SUCESION DE ANA LUGO GONZALEZ. Se le apercibe que de no expresar su intención de aceptar o repudiar la herencia dentro del término que se le fijó, las herencias se tendrán por aceptadas. 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 electróni-

ca: 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. El abogado de la parte demandante es: Lcda. Melisa Figueroa Castro, 1606 Ave. Ponce de León, Edif. VIG Tower, Suite 706, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00907, Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 722-1932. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 23 de enero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA GENERAL. MARTHA E. ROSARIO ROSA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE ARECIBO JUNTA DE RETIRO DEL GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO ANTES SISTEMAS DE RETIRO DE LOS EMPLEADOS DEL GOBIERNO, SISTEMA DE RETIRO DE LA JUDICATURA Y SISTEMA DE RETIRO DE LOS MAESTROS

Demandante V. MICHAEL JOSÉ COSME SEPÚLVEDA, EDEMY OCASIO RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandada Civil Núm.: MT2022CV00583. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: MICHAEL JOSÉ COSME SEPÚLVEDA, EDEMY OCASIO RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio,

en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 009366603. Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 19 de enero de 2023. VIVÍAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA

REGIONAL. CARMEN J. ROSARIO VALENTÍN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, INC.

Demandante Vs MARIA VICTORIA RIVERA APONTE; ORIENTAL BANK & TRUST; JOHN DOE

Demandado (a)

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV06175. Sala: 0505. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: MARIA VICTORIA

RIVERA APONTE & JOHN DOE COMO TENEDOR DESCONOCIDO DEL PARAGE; ORIENTAL BANK & TRUST.

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 23 de enero de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 23 de enero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ

COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. E. DIOMARYS ALCÁNTARA FÉLIX, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. JOSÉ RAMÓN ORTIZ

VARGAS, WENDY IVELISSE FERNÁNDEZ FUENTES

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: BY2018CV01686. (504). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA “IN REM”. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia en Rebeldía Enmendada In Rem dictada el 29 de octubre de 2021, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 29 de septiembre de 2022 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 30 de septiembre de 2022 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 8 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA en el Cuarto Piso de la Oficina del Alguacil de Subastas, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Sala Superior, ubicado en la Carretera Número Dos (#2), Kilómetro 10.4, Esquina Calle Esteban Padilla, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América, cheque de gerente o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal; todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar marcado con el Número Doce (12) del bloque “AR” del plano de inscripción de la Urbanización Rexville, situada en el Barrio Pájaros de Bayamón, Puerto Rico con una cabida de 323.26 metros cuadrados; en lindes por el NORTE: en 13.469 metros, con la Calle Número Cincuenta (50); por el SUR: en 13.469 metros, con los Solares Número Diecisiete (17) y Dieciocho (18); por el ESTE: en 24.00 metros, con el Solar Número Trece (13); y por el OESTE: en 24.00 metros, con el Solar Número Once (11). En este solar enclava una casa residencial para una familia. La propiedad consta inscrita al folio 31 del tomo 927 de Bayamón, Finca 41641. Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección I. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Bayamón, Finca 41641. Registro de la Propiedad de Ba-

yamón, Sección I. Inscripción quinta. DIRECCIÓN FÍSICA: URB. REXVILLE, AR12 CALLE 50, BAYAMÓN PR 00957-4220. Número de Catastro: 15-112039-275-12-001. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $118,316.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 15 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de dos terceras partes del tipo mínimo fijado en la primera subasta, o sea, $78,877.33. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 29 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $59,158.00. 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. Dicho remate se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la demandante el importe de la Sentencia por la suma de $108,809.08 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 3.75% anual desde el 1 de febrero de 2017 hasta su completo pago, más $257.04 de recargos acumulados, más la cantidad estipulada de $11,831.60 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesan los siguientes gravámenes posteriores a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: a. Aviso de Demanda: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico Vs. Wendy Ivelisse Fernández Fuentes, José Ramón Ortiz Vargas (soltero) y Ana María Cedeño Soto (quien compareció en la hipoteca como co-deudora), ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, en el Caso Civil Número D CD2017-1001, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca con un balance de $108,809.08 y otras cantidades, según Demanda de fecha 22 de agosto de 2017. Anotada al Tomo Karibe de Bayamón. Anotación A. b. Aviso de Demanda: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico Vs. Wendy Ivelisse Fernández Fuentes, José Ramón Ortiz Vargas (soltero), Ana María Cedeño Soto y Alejandro Rubén Rolón Merle (Titular Registral), ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, en el Caso Civil Número BY2018CV01686, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución

pondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad para ejecutar será adquirida libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante.

Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 29 de diciembre de 2022. ARELI VÁZQUEZ SOLÍS, ALGUACIL #207, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE GUAYNABO. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL

SUPERVISORA #735. LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, AS INDENTURE TRUSTEE, FOR THE CSMC 2015-PR1 TRUST, MORTGAGE-BACKED NOTES, SERIES 2015-PR1

Plaintiff V. ANGEL GARCIA GARCIA

Defendants

Civil Action Num.: 21-cv-01229. (FAB). Matter: FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE. NOTICE OF SALE.

To: ANGEL GARCIA GARCIA AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC:

WHEREAS: On July 13, 2022

Default Judgment was entered and grated on same day in favor of Plaintiff to recover from defendants the principal amount of $127,202.53 plus accrued interests at an annual rate 4.00%, since March 1st, 2020, to the present, a deferred principal balance of $2,114.68, which does not accrue interest at the time, plus late charges fees in the amount of 5.0% of each and any monthly installment not received by the note holder within 15 days after the installment was due, including the balance of the sum of $15,229.00, for costs, charges, disbursements, expenses and attorneys’ fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligations. The records of the case and of these proceedings may be examined by interested parties at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Room 150 or 400 Federal Office Building, 150 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

WHEREAS: Pursuant to the terms of the aforementioned Judgment, Order of Execution, and the Writ of Execution thereof, the undersigned Special Master was ordered to sell at public auction for U.S. currency in cash or certified check without appraisement or right of redemption to the highest bidder and at the office of the Clerk of the Court, Room 150 or 400 – Federal Office Building, 150 Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following property described in Spanish: UR-

BANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento número ciento cuarenta (140), localizado en el tercer cuarto y quinto piso del Edificio I del Condominio Paseo Mónaco, situado en el kilómetro dieciséis punto seis (16.6) de la Carretera Estatal número ciento sesenta y siete Barrio Cerro Gordo del Municipio de Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Este apartamento está construido en hormigón reforzado. Tiene tres (3)

niveles, con su puerta de entrada por el lindero Este, y por ella se accesa al área común general del Condominio. Este apartamento tiene un área total de mil quinientos sesenta y cuatro punto noventa y seis (1,564.96) pies cuadrados equivalentes a ciento cuarenta y cinco punto cuatrocientos cuarenta y dos (145.442) metros cuadrados.

Linderos: En el primer nivel del apartamento (tercer piso del edificio) por el NORTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); por el SUR, con área común general del condominio; por el ESTE, con área común general del Condominio entre la que se encuentra el área de ubicación de la puerta de entrada al apartamento y con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); y por el OESTE, con área común general del Condominio. Los linderos en el segundo nivel del apartamento (cuarto piso del edificio) son por el NORTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); por el SUR, con el apartamento número ciento cuarenta y cuatro (144) y con área común general del condominio; por el ESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y siete (137) y con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); y por el OESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y siete (137) y con área común general del condominio. Este segundo nivel se comunica con el primero a base de una escalera interior del apartamento. Los linderos del tercer nivel del apartamento (quinto piso del edificio) son por el NORTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); por el SUR, con el apartamento número ciento cuarenta y cuatro (144); por el ESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y siete (137); y por el OESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139) y con área común general del condominio: Este tercer nivel se comunica con el segundo a base de una escalera interior del apartamento. Este apartamento consta de sala-comedor, balcón, cocina con clóset, tres cuartos con closets, dos baños, un medio baño, un área de lavandería, un clóset adicional fuera de los cuartos, escalera interior, un área techada en la azotea del edificio y un área techada en laazotea del edificio, y un área de terraza descubierta en la azotea del edificio la cual está delimitada en su lindero por una pared. A este apartamento le corresponde dos espacios sencillos de estacionamientos, identificados cada uno con el número ciento cuarenta (140) en el área de estacionamiento ubicada al Este del edificio marcado I; J, K y L del condominio. Le corresponden a este apartamento como anejos, el estacionamien-

to número ciento cuarenta (140) para dos automóviles, uno detrás del otro y el área de terraza que ubica en el tercer nivel del apartamento, todo según ilustrado en el Plot Plan y planos del condominio aprobados por ARPE. A este apartamento le corresponde una participación de cero punto cinco mil quinientos cuarenta y ocho por ciento (0.5548%) en los elementos comunes del Condominio. The encumbered property is recorded at Page 35 of Volume 1918 of Bayamon Sur, Property Registry of Puerto Rico, lot number 79,880, First Section of Bayamón. Property address: Condominio Paseo de Monaco II, Apartament 140, Bayamón, P.R. 00960. The deed of mortgage and subsequent modifications are recorded at Page 35 of Volume 1918 and Page 55 of Volume 1922 both of Bayamón Sur, Property Registry of Bayamón, Third and Fourth Inscription respectively. WHEREAS:

This property is subject to the following liens: Senior Liens: NONE. Junior Liens: NONE. Other Liens: NONE. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax, liens, (express, tacit, implied or legal) shall continue in effect it being understood further that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancellation. THEREFORE, the FIRST PUBLIC SALE shall be held on the 14TH DAY OF MARCH OF 2023 AT 8:45 AM. The minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $135,966.15. In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND PUBLIC AUCTION shall be held on the 21ST DAY OF MARCH OF 2023 AT 8:45 AM, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum $90,644.10, which is two-thirds of the amount of the minimum bid for the first public sale. If a second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD PUBLIC AUCTION will be held on the 28TH DAY OF MARCH OF 2023 AT 8:45 AM, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $67,983.01, which is one-half of the minimum bid in the first public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the third public sale, the property may be awarded to the creditor for the entire amount of its debt if it is equal to or less than the amount of the minimum bid of the third public sale, crediting this amount to the amount owed if it is greater. The

undersigned Special Master shall not accept in payment of the property to be sold anything but United States currency (cash), or certified checks, except in case the property is sold and adjudicated to the plaintiff, in which case the amount of the bid made by said plaintiff shall be credited and deducted from its credit; said plaintiff being bound to pay in cash or certified check only any excess of its bid over the secured indebtedness that remains unsatisfied. WHE-

REAS: Said sale to be made by the undersigned Special Master subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and possession to the property will be executed and delivered only after such confirmation. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued cancelling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of Clerk of the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, 17th day of January of 2023. Pedro A. Vélez Baerga, Special Master, 787-672-8269.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN CARIBE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

Demandante V. CARLOS RAFAEL MELÉNDEZ RYAN

Demandado(a)

Civil Núm.: CZ2022CV00081. Sala: 503. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (REGLA 60). EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: CARLOS RAFAEL MELÉNDEZ RYAN. DIRECCIÓN:

VALLE DE ARAMANA, 5 CALLE FLAMBOYÁN, COROZAL, PUERTO RICO 00783-9745.

POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza y se le notifica que una Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero ha sido presentada en su contra y se le requiere para que conteste la misma dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación del edicto, radicando el original de su contestación en el Tribunal correspondiente y notificando con copia de la misma a la parte demandante a la siguiente dirección:

BUFETE APONTE & CORTES

LCDA. ERIKA MORALES MARENGO PO Box 195337 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919

Tel. (787) 302-0014 / (787) 239-5661

Email: emarengo@apontecortes.com

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio. Se le apercibe que de no hacerlo, el tribunal podrá dictar Sentencia en rebeldía concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy día 12 de enero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVETTE M. MARRERO BRACERO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAROLINA

FIRSTBANK

PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE NAZARIA CRUZ LOPEZ COMPUESTA

POR FRANK AYALA

CRUZ Y JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE ESTA Y ADMINISTRACIÓN

PARA EL SUSTENTO DE MENORES Y CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Parte Demandada Caso Civil Núm.: CA2022CV03551. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO E INTERPELACIÓN.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R.

A: FRANK AYALA CRUZ POR SÍ Y COMO HEREDERO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE NAZARIA CRUZ LÓPEZ.

POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento, notificando copia de la misma al abogado de la parte demandante. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se 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 concederá el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Lcda. Marjaliisa Colon Villanueva, abogada de la parte demandante, (787) 843-4168, PO Box 7970, Ponce, Puerto Rico 00732, colonlawoffica@yahoo.com. Por la presente se le notifica, como miembro de la Sucesión de NAZARIA CRUZ LÓPEZ, se ha presentado una solicitud de interpelación judicial para que sirva en el término de treinta (30) días aceptar o repudiar la herencia. Se le apercibe que si no compareciera usted a expresarse dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la presente notificación de la Interpelación Judicial en torno a la aceptación o repudiación de la herencia, se presumirá que ha aceptado la herencia del causante NAZARIA CRUZ LÓPEZ a beneficio de inventario y por consiguiente, responderá por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme dispone el Artículo 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico, 31 L.P .R.A. sec. 11021. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y SELLO DEL TRIBUNAL, hoy 19 de enero de 2023.

LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. KEILA GARCÍA SOLÍS, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA

SUPERIOR DE MANATÍ

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DE ADELA

RAMIREZ RIVERA

T/C/C ADELA RAMIREZ

T/C/C ADELA RIVERA

QUINTERO COMPUESTA

POR FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS, LA SUCESIÓN DE ENID

RAMIREZ T/C/C ENID

RAMIREZ RIVERA

COMPUESTA POR

DALIZ ENID OQUENDO

RAMIREZ, GERARDO FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ

RAMIREZ, GERALDINE ENID RODRIGUEZ

RAMIREZ, SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: MT2022CV00218. Sobre:

COBRO DE DINERO Y EJE-

CUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO ENMENDADA. A: DALIZ ENID OQUENDO RAMIREZ, GARARDO FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ T/C/C GERARDO FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ, GERALDINE ENID RODRIGUEZ RAMIREZ, COMO HEREDEROS DE ENID RAMÍREZ T/C/C ENID RAMÍREZ RIVERA

A: URB. MONTEVERDE, BLOQUE XX-4 CALLE 32 MANATI PR 00674, URB. MONTE VERDE, 3172 CALLE MONTE MAR, MANATI PR 00674-6336 FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE ADELA RAMÍREZ RIVERA T/C/C ADELA RAMÍREZ T/C/C ADELA RIVERA QUINTERO, CON IDENTIDAD Y DIRECCIÓN DESCONOCIDA. SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE ENID RAMÍREZ T/C/C ENID RAMÍREZ RIVERA, CON IDENTIDAD Y DIRECCIÓN DESCONOCIDA. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de octubre de 2022, 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 23 de enero de 2023. En Manatí, Puerto Rico, el 23 de enero de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. SARAY SALGADO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

NFL playoff predictions: Our conference championship picks

By DAVID HILL

The matchups in this season’s conference championships are not just close, they are historically so, at least from a market perspective. The teams in both games are so evenly matched that the point spreads for the AFC and NFC championship games are each less than a field goal.

The Super Bowl-winning odds of the Philadelphia Eagles (+230), Cincinnati Bengals (+240), Kansas City Chiefs (+280) and San Francisco 49ers (+320) leave barely a glint of daylight between them, the first time in the recorded history of the NFL betting markets that all four teams in the conference championships were this close. By comparison, the odds for last year’s final four were spread out between +125 and +900 going into championship weekend.

The relative parity in the AFC championship forecasts owes almost entirely to Patrick Mahomes’ high ankle sprain, sustained in last week’s divisional-round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Fears that Mahomes may not be able to play on Sunday, or will be so hobbled by the sprain that he can’t play effectively, have sent Kansas City’s stock plummeting: The team entered the playoffs as Super Bowl favorites and dropped to the third choice after the injury.

But probability and possibility aren’t the same thing. Last year, Kansas City was the +125 favorite to win it all while the Bengals were the +900 longshots, and the Bengals sent a healthy Mahomes packing. Cincinnati has won the last three meetings and has only lost to a Mahomes-led Kansas City team once.

Could Mahomes play hurt and still turn the tables on the Bengals? It’s not impossible. Could this weekend’s conference championships be boring? Improbable.

Last week’s record: 3-1

Overall record: 141-130-10

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, Fox

Line: Eagles -2.5 | Total: 46

Jalen Hurts seemed to address questions about the health of his sprained throwing shoulder early in last week’s divisional-round win, when he completed a 40-yard pass on his second play against the New York Giants. But the Eagles got out to a quick four-score lead, and Hurts didn’t need to do much to come away with the win. He finished with only 154 passing yards, his second-lowest total of the

season.

That’s probably not going to work against the 49ers, who have the best linebacker trio in the NFL in Azeez Al-Shaair, Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. They’re fast enough to keep up with receivers and tough enough to stop running backs in their tracks. Coupled with a staunch defensive line featuring Nick Bosa, the prospective defensive player of the year, San Francisco holds opponents to a leaguelow 3.4 yards per rushing attempt this season and put the clamps on the Dallas Cowboys’ top-3 offense last week. They’ll need another tightfisted game against the Eagles, the NFL’s No. 2-rated offense, which has kept defenses off-kilter by choosing wisely between the pass and run game.

Rookie quarterback Brock Purdy has won seven straight as the 49ers’ starter, with each successive game looking like the one in which his inexperience would be the team’s undoing. In the divisional round against the Cowboys, Purdy finally looked shaky and was held without a touchdown for the first time. He still managed to power a win over a tremendous defense.

Against the Eagles, on the road, the task becomes even more difficult. Philadelphia finished the season two sacks shy of the NFL record set by the Chicago Bears in the 1984 season (72), and got five sacks last week against the Giants. Purdy will be aided by an offense that thrives on short and intermediate passing — the better to get the ball out of his hands quickly — and teammates’ “everybody blocks” mentality, in which hybrid-skill position players get physical.

The Eagles have attracted over 90% of the money bet on this game, but every time this point spread touched 3 at sportsbooks around the world, money came in on the 49ers and brought the spread back to 2.5. It’s a tight number in what will most likely be a tight game. All season long, we’ve leaned toward the underdog in games that felt this close, and we’re sticking with that strategy again this week. Pick: 49ers +2.5

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, CBS

Line: Kansas City +1 | Total: 47

Patrick Mahomes plans to play through

his high ankle sprain this week, but because of the injury Kansas City is home underdog for only the second time this season. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has thwarted the quarterback with second-half adjustments in each of their past three meetings, and if Mahomes is going to reverse the losing streak against Cincinnati, he will have to depend on his playmakers to keep the offense moving. That’s especially true given that the forecast calls for below-freezing temperatures and snow that could inhibit big-play gambles.

Mahomes leaned on running back Jerick McKinnon as a passing option this season, where McKinnon averaged a team-high 9.7 yards after catch per reception (usually Travis Kelce’s annual honor). With the quarterback hobbled last week against the Jaguars, McKinnon saw fewer targets, a trend that’s likely to continue if Kansas City needs him as a blocker. That leaves Kelce as the primary safety-valve option, but when these teams met in Week 13, the Bengals defense held Kelce to four receptions and 56 yards, and linebacker Germaine Pratt forced a game-shifting Kelce fumble in the fourth quarter that allowed Cincinnati to seal the win.

The Bengals are steamrolling teams as they did in the run up to its Super Bowl appearance last year, in no small part because Joe Burrow is taking fewer sacks than he did last season (41 vs. 51 in the regular season). The Kansas City defensive line should generate more pressure than the Buffalo Bills did last week without Von Miller, which could pose a problem for a Cincinnati offensive line that has three starters listed as questionable for Sunday. But the Bengals’ late-season win streak coincides with a rebuilt run game, and Joe Mixon’s big day (20 carries for 105 yards) last week was a big reason Buffalo couldn’t key in on Burrow.

The Bengals enter this game with a 13-5 record against the spread, but they’ve been a mixed bag on the road. Including the bye week, the top-seeded Kansas City will have spent three straight weeks at home. Last week, we pointed out that Kansas City has had a hard time covering because it faced too-large point spreads at home that were inflated by an adoring public. This week, that isn’t the case.

The Bengals have been great at covering the spread largely because they haven’t had much market respect. This time they’re getting 73% of the money as road favorites. They’re finally getting the respect they deserve, but is it too late? It really all depends on that ankle.

Pick: Kansas City +1

Jalen Hurts led the Eagles to the N.F.C.’s best record but sprained his right shoulder at the end of the regular season. He’ll test it against a 49ers defense that led the N.F.L. in interceptions (20) this season.

BY CYBERNEWS

The Mayagüez Indians were crowned on Wednesday night as Puerto Rican winter baseball champions after defeating the Carolina Giants 2-1 at Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium in Carolina.

Mayagüez notched its 19th winter league championship and will represent Puerto Rico in the 2023 Caribbean Series in Venezuela.

The Indians had a season of ups and downs, and in the last week of the regular season the team hired veteran manager Mako Oliveras, the winningest helmsman in Puerto Rican baseball, to take over the team.

As soon as Oliveras arrived, the Indians strung together enough wins to qualify for the postseason with a 26-24 record, occupying the fourth position in the tournament.

In the semifinal, Mayagüez quickly dispatched the Caguas Criollos, 4-2, with a home run by Blaine Crim that took them straight to the final.

On Tuesday, a single by the Mayagüez’s

Jeremy Rivera in the ninth inning forced a Game 7 in the Final Series of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League.

The Indians, who arrived in Carolina on Wednesday with the goal of ending a decadelong championship drought, entrusted their hopes in veteran pitcher Rob Whalen.

Whalen gave the tribe a solid six and one-third innings, striking out seven and allowing no runs for the win.

In the top of the second inning, Mayagüez scored the first run of the game when Rivera’s groundout to shortstop sent Crim home from third base.

An RBI double by Ruchie Palacios in the fourth inning made it 2-0 Mayagüez.

Facing closer Brandon Webb in the ninth inning, Carolina put the tying runs on base, but only managed to capitalize on one, not enough to avoid the setback.

Webb picked up the save, while Eduardo Rivera took the loss, allowing the two runs over six innings.

Rivera, of Aguada, was awarded the Copa Humana as the most valuable player in the finals.

Mayagüez wins winter league championship in 7 games LeBron James NBA scoring record tracker

By TANIA GANGULI

Since his early days playing basketball, LeBron James has considered himself more of a passer than a scorer. But he has always been dynamic at the rim, and later in his NBA. career he developed a shooting touch that made him even more dangerous offensively.

Twenty years of perfecting exactly how to attack NBA defenses have brought James to the cusp of a historic achievement that had once seemed almost impossible for anyone to reach.

James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, is 158 points away from eclipsing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387. Abdul-Jabbar has been the NBA’s career scoring leader since April 5, 1984 — more than eight months before James was born. Abdul-Jabbar played five more seasons for the Lakers after passing Wilt Chamberlain for that title.

As James has approached the record, he has increased his scoring output to about 35 points per game in January, up from 28.5 points per game in the season’s first three months. This season and 2021-22 have

been two of the highest-scoring of his career. Though it would be difficult, it is possible he could break the record against the New York Knicks on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, one of his favorite arenas. Four games later, the Lakers will host the Milwaukee Bucks in a game between the two NBA teams for which Abdul-Jabbar played.

LAKERS SCHEDULE

— Saturday at Boston Celtics

— Monday at Brooklyn Nets

— Tuesday at New York Knicks

— Feb. 2 at Indiana Pacers

— Feb. 4 at New Orleans Pelicans

— Feb. 7 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

— Feb. 9 vs. Milwaukee Bucks

Here are some of James’ notable performances this season:

Jan. 24 vs. Los Angeles Clippers: 46 points

The Clippers took a big lead early, and from then on the only facet of the game that seemed to be working for the Lakers was James’ long-range shooting. James made nine 3-pointers, a career high, on 14 attempts.

James ended the night with 46 points, making it the first time he’d scored at least 40 points against the Clippers. He is the first player ever to score at least 40 points in a game against all 30 NBA teams.

Despite James’ good night, the Lakers lost, 133-115, leaving James dejected as he sat on the bench at the end of the game.

Jan. 16 vs. Houston Rockets: 48 points

The Lakers had just come off close losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers and were on a three-game losing streak. James has produced several impressive performances in losses this season, but he enjoys it more when the team wins. This game was his highest scoring this season, and came on the second night of a backto-back.

He also got a reminder of his age when Houston rookie Jabari Smith Jr. told him during the game that his father had played against him in James’ first NBA game in 2003. At 38, James is one of the oldest players in the league.

“I could have very easily took tonight off, but I don’t feel like the momentum of our ballclub could use me taking a night off tonight,” James said after the game. “I don’t

feel like I wanted to sit on that loss to Philly last night. I kind of wanted to get that out of my taste buds.”

Dec. 2 at Milwaukee Bucks: 28 points

This wasn’t one of James’ highest-scoring games, but it was one that showed the Lakers’ potential when they’re at full strength. Anthony Davis was healthy and scored 44 points as the Lakers beat one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams on the road.

James’ 11 assists allowed him to pass Magic Johnson for the sixth-most career assists in NBA history. It was also his 900th career win.

The Mayagüez Indians won their 19th winter league baseball championship, and first in a decade, with a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Giants at Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium in Carolina on Wednesday night.

LeBron James has long said that he sees himself more as a passer than a scorer.

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

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

Feelings of positivity encourage you not to put your dreams to one side, but to pursue them. Happiness may come from doing what feels best to you Aries. And even if you had your doubts, they might now begin to clear up as fresh ideas come into view. Yet nothing is certain until it happens, so try to be realistic. You’ll need to have a plan and set it in motion to succeed.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

Feeling upbeat and eager to move in interesting circles? This may be because the pearly Moon aligns with positive Jupiter, and could coincide with warm and friendly encounters. This aspect can also lead to a tendency to indulge, but if you don’t get to do so very often, then enjoy it. Have a desire for something? Relax, and you’ll get your wish faster than you imagined, Taurus.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

Ready to help in a crisis, Gemini? The Moon’s angle with Mercury could find you caught up in dramas. You may be the only person who has all the answers. Yet by taking sides, it might not help. Go for the middle path, and you may turn this around. And with the planet of talk and thought in an intense zone, you’ll easily be able to read between the lines in a key conversation.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

A delightful Moon/Jupiter tie may be excellent for sealing a deal, or making headway in discussions and negotiations. You and another seem to get along well, and this can lead to more interactions and a stronger relationship in the future. And yet there is also potential to be over- confident or to ignore the finer details, which is so important if this is to turn out as hoped.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Know your worth Leo, as a contract or deal could be yours for the right price. If anything, you may be offered more than you wanted, but you’ll also be expected to put in more effort. Plus, a Moon/Mercury angle might put you in a tetchy mood if things don’t go according to plan. You’ll see the potential in an opportunity, but if you don’t have enough time, you’ll need to make it.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

With an exuberant energy in the air, you’ll be firing on all cylinders, and there’s plenty you could accomplish if you want to. The Moon’s angle to Mercury might coincide with a conflict of interests. You may have strong feelings about someone’s proposal, especially if they aren’t in the mood to compromise. And yet if you want to get anywhere, you’ll need to keep trying, Virgo.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

With an exuberant energy in the air, you’ll be firing on all cylinders, and there’s plenty you could accomplish if you want to. The Moon’s angle to Mercury might coincide with a conflict of interests. You may have strong feelings about someone’s proposal, especially if they aren’t in the mood to compromise. And yet if you want to get anywhere, you’ll need to keep trying, Virgo.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

As Mars continues its journey through your sector of transformation, you may be eager to do something you weren’t quite ready for more recently. This change of heart might have arisen because of a decision to take a stand on matters that were blocking your success. Now with more room to think and express yourself, it’s time to take a leap forward that changes everything.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

This can be a good time to enhance your income, but it may require you to tap into resources and innate skills you haven’t used for a while or lacked the confidence to try. There can be an element of going into the unknown here. But if you’re willing to push ahead, you’ll find the people around you could be very impressed with what you’re offering. It is worth the effort!

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

With the Moon aligning with upbeat Jupiter, don’t feel guilty about investing in yourself or indulging in some self-care. If you have the means and the inclination, then a little pampering could be a chance for some quiet time, and the opportunity to reflect on anything that has been bothering you. Feeling restless? A change of routine or a good walk could help, Capricorn.

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

Don’t want to think about something too deeply because of what it implies? With the Moon forging an edgy angle to Mercury, you may decide that by ignoring it, it will go away. Face it to even a small degree, and clarity could begin to dawn. Look even deeper, and much can be discovered, Aquarius. And you might find you have nothing much to worry about at all.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

Is it worth splashing out and going to an event? You may be in two minds Pisces, especially if it’s likely to be an expensive affair, and you’re just as happy to spend the evening in relaxing. It could be worth the expense if you connect with someone who offers you an opportunity you’ll be pleased to consider. It might be work or romance related, but either way you’ll feel good about it.

Speed Bump