Tuesday Jul 21, 2020

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

San Juan The

50¢

DAILY

Star

To Buy Buy aa Basquiat, Basquiat, Swipe Swipe Right Right To

No Easy Way Out

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No Money? No Problem!

Another Referendum on the Way

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Vázquez: Zero Alcohol as Businesses to Close This Sunday Amid COVID-19 Crisis P3

In the Middle of Her Campaign, Non-Elected Governor to Be Investigated as Determined

by Special Independent Prosecutor Panel After Justice Dept. Report P4

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

- “Nosotros los empleados de la AEE estamos locos de empezar con ustedes y estar a la altura de la industria eléctrica a nivel mundial para echar a P.R. hacia adelante y acabar con el abuso que tienen aquí la unión esta”.

- “We Are Ready”.

- “Esperando con mucho deseo que se entrevisten con los empleados”.

- “Bienvenidos a Puerto Rico”.

- “Welcome to Puerto Rico. Team AEE member!!! Hoping to be Team LUMA”.

- “Trabajé como Line Man por 18 años con la AEE. Mis últimos 5 años fui Line Man 4. Me interesa saber cómo puedo aplicar con LUMA PR”.

-Agradezco la iniciativa de mantener abiertos los canales de comunicación y la disponibilidad para aclarar todas nuestras dudas. Aunque los procesos de cambios inevitablemente causan incertidumbre y ansiedad, estar informados nos ayuda a procesar estos cambios de manera responsable y proactiva. Estoy seguro de que este nuevo comienzo en manos de la administración de LUMA, resultarán en grandes oportunidades profesionales para los empleados de la Autoridad, y más que nada, en numerosos beneficios para el pueblo de Puerto Rico. Ofrezco mi disponibilidad para brindar la asistencia durante cualquier etapa del proceso de transición.

De una empresa privada, estoy ubicado en la AEE de Santurce. Estoy interesado en ser parte de ustedes si van a reclutar personal. Soy bilingüe y tengo solo mi 4to año. Estoy a su disposición. Tengo 6 años trabajando en la AEE.

-Estoy disponible para ser parte de LUMA, aquí a disposición.

Soy ingeniero eléctrico experimentado con más de 20 años de experiencia trabajando como gestor de construcción eléctrica y consultor eléctrico en AEE, FLOUR y Farmacéuticas; entre otros. Estoy interesado en obtener información sobre el proceso de contratación y las oportunidades en LUMA Puerto Rico.

-Vivo en Puerto Rico y recientemente se anunció que LUMA Energy administrará el sistema de energía eléctrica de la Isla. Escribo este correo porque me gustaría ser considerado para un puesto en LUMA

Espero recibir noticias pronto.

Actualmente, estoy buscando un nuevo desafío. Me gustaría ser considerado como parte del cambio que todos los puertorriqueños merecen.

-Buenos días. Como cliente y ciudadano de San Juan les doy bienvenida.

-Buenas tardes. Recibimos ayer un email sobre preguntas y respuestas relacionadas al proceso de transición de la AEE a LUMA Energy.

En mi carácter personal, agradezco la disposición para aclarar las dudas.

Si ustedes logran que esto ocurra con LUMA, tendrán empleados con un gran compromiso, fidelidad y orgullo de servir y de ofrecer un sistema de energía eléctrica de calidad a nuestro país… y lo podemos lograr junto con LUMA.

- Los empleados de la Autoridad llevamos desde el 2014 con incertidumbre sobre nuestro empleo y retiro, con rechazo del pueblo de Puerto Rico solamente por trabajar aquí (algunas brigadas han experimentado hasta insultos cuando están trabajando en la calle), una alta gerencia que no tiene comunicación con nosotros (de muchos asuntos nos hemos enterado por la prensa),

-Soy técnico de AEE. Buscando información encontré que las compañías QUANTA Y ATCO tienen una excelente política con relación a sus empleados veteranos y militares. Como veterano, que me enorgullece serlo,… ¿qué planes tiene LUMA para con los veteranos?

Esto es solo una muestra del apoyo y deseo de pertenecer a

- “Hi, welcome to PR. We are waiting for this moment. Now you have full support of PREPA Safety Team.

- “Tengo experiencia trabajando en compañías de electricidad y me gustaría aprender aún más”.

- “Quisiera saber cómo nos podemos comunicar directamente con ustedes para saber qué nos ofrecen a los empleados”.

- “I am PREPA worker. I am willing to work for you”.

-¿En qué fecha entrevistarán a los empleados interesados en unirse a LUMA? Estoy muy interesado en ser parte de esto.

-Gracias anticipadas por la disposición para aclarar dudas. ¡Deseándoles éxito en esta nueva tarea!

-Primero, quiero darles la bienvenida a este gran reto, que es llevar el sistema de energía eléctrica de Puerto Rico a un nivel moderno, confiable y eficiente. Quiero agradecerles la comunicación directa. Les recomiendo que esta comunicación sea con la mayor frecuencia posible.

lumapr.com

-Recibí la información sobre la

si cumplo con los requisitos de

transición de la AEE a LUMA. Actualmente, estoy a punto de completar mis 30 años de servicio con

cualquier empleo en el área de

la Autoridad. Tengo tanto compromiso con mi empresa que me gustaría seguir trabajando para LUMA en el

ingeniería. Les agradezco su atención.

De tener alguna pregunta, no duden en ponerse en contacto conmigo en cualquier momento.

futuro.

-Buen día, soy empleado de la -Muchas gracias a ustedes por hacer la diferencia. Me gustaría pertenecer a ustedes y espero que salgan nuevas oportunidades. ¿Dónde puedo enviar mi resumé? Estoy muy deseoso de que me llamen ya.

Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico. Actualmente, soy Supervisor de Líneas de Ingreso.

Estoy en la disposición de abrirme nuevas puertas en LUMA.

Si están buscando un empleado que piense “out of the box”… ¡Estoy listo!

-¡Saludos! Deseo información sobre las plazas disponibles. Adjunto resumé para el Departamento de Recursos Humanos.

-¡Saludos! Quisiera información de los empleos disponibles.

Gracias.

-Como todos, en este proceso de transición, tenemos una serie de preguntas en relación a la información provista. Las preguntas son las siguientes: Estoy interesado en pertenecer a LUMA.

hemos experimentado 3 desastres casi consecutivos (como el huracán María, terremotos y la pandemia) y ni unas gracias nos han dado. Es importante que estos temas delicados sean tratados con la sensibilidad que amerita para cuidar la salud mental de nosotros los empleados que hemos tenido todas esas experiencias antes mencionadas y que ahora enfrentamos el miedo natural al cambio, a lo desconocido. La comunicación directa y la apertura a recibir mensajes de parte de ustedes es un gran paso en esta dirección. Los empleados de la AEE son fieles y orgullos de la Autoridad.

-Recibí la información sobre la transición de la AEE a LUMA. Actualmente, estoy por cumplir mis 30 años de servicio con la Autoridad. Tengo un compromiso con mi empresa y me gustaría seguir con el mismo compromiso de seguir trabajando para LUMA. Mi pregunta es… si me acojo al retiro de la AEE, durante los próximos meses, ¿podré solicitar trabajo cuando salgan las plazas publicadas en LUMA? - ¡Buenas tardes! Yo trabajaba con la AEE y renuncié. Me fui para Estados Unidos y ahora quiero regresar a mi Isla para trabajar con ustedes.

-"Muchos éxitos para Puerto Rico gracias por estar aquí para mejorar nuestro sistema eléctrico; yo trabajo por 26 años AEE en Transmisión y necesitamos mejorar mucho y con la ayuda de ustedes será posible."

-"Saludos, estoy recién graduando de la UPR en Mayagüez como ingeniero eléctrico. Me gustaría ver si tendría alguna oportunidad de trabajar para su compañía o si tuviese alguna posición como ingeniero eléctrico o ingeniero de proyectos. Le agradecería si me podrían ayudar en eso, cualquier otra información que necesiten se la puedo hacer llegar vía correo electrónico. Muchas gracias por su tiempo y éxito en su compañía."

-"Para solicitar empleo en PR ya que trabajo en la Florida con ### Energy".

-"Tengo licencia de ayudante de perito con experiencia urbano, comercial e industrial, dónde puedo ver ofertas de empleo."

lumapuertorico

GOOD MORNING

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July 21, 2020

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.

Governor shuts down businesses and forbids alcohol sale on Sunday

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ll businesses except pharmacies, supermarkets, gas stations, and restaurants will be closed and alcoholic beverage sales are not permitted this Sunday as Governor Wanda Vázquez amended Executive Order 2020-054 to control crowdings of people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The amendment came to effect as Vázquez held a meeting with members of both Medical and Economic Task Forces, Health Secretary Lorenzo González, Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Manuel Laboy, and other members of the private industry as they agreed to shut down this Sunday all businesses except the aforementioned. Likewise, restaurant dining halls will also remain closed but can provide delivery, carry-outs and drive-in orders; while megastores will only have their supermarket and pharmacy sections open.

“As I said this morning, we have seen havocs last weekend, especially on Sundays, when a lot of people forget that we are still facing the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. At moments where

[COVID-19] cases are increasing, hospitalizations and casualties are on the rise, we cannot lower our guard. It is due to this that, with the support of representatives from these industries, we have determined to take even more restrictive measures.

At the moment, it will be for this Sunday”, said Vázquez.

Meanwhile, religious services will continue on Sunday, complying with safety measures to prevent infection of the coronavirus disease. On the other hand, the governor said that the restrictions announced last week are still in effect until July 31, which includes curfew hours from 10pm until 5am, and alcohol sales until 7pm.

“Next Tuesday, we will meet again to evaluate if people have complied or not to the Executive Order during the weekend. Once we analyzed, we will determine if it is still necessary to shut down again on Sunday, August 2. This is a precautionary measure to stop the contagion curve and keep adjusting”, she said.

The governor said the decision was announced early in order for citizens and businesses to prepare in a timely fashion.

“With these necessary measures, we can defeat this invisible enemy,” she said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

SIP appointed to investigate governor, other officials after DJ report

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Special Independent Prosecutor Panel (PFEI by its Spanish initials) determined on Monday to continue the investigation submitted by the Puerto Rico Department of Justice against Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced and other government officials.

“After evaluating in a detailed and exhaustive manner the Preliminary Investigation Report submitted by the Department of Justice, it is believed that the investigation showed sufficient cause for an in-depth investigation to be carried out on the facts indicated in the referral,” the PFEI said in a written statement.

The other officials to be investigated are: La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Antonio L. Pabón Batlle, former Administration for Socioeconomic Development of the Family chief Surima Quiñones Suárez, José Galarza Vargas, María Teresa Zayas Gierbolini and Sen. Evelyn Vázquez Nieves. As for Sen. Nelson Cruz Santiago and Peter Muller Maldonado (Vázquez Nieves’ husband), the panel determined the case file.

The PFEI appointed Leticia Pabón Ortiz as special Independent prosecutor and Miguel Colón Ortia as deputy prosecutor for the investigation.

The aforementioned report was signed by former Justice Secretary Denisse Longo Quiñones, who was dismissed over an alleged conflict of interest.

Health, housing issues to be addressed in 5th special session

By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

G

ov. Wanda Vázquez Garced announced on Monday that the Legislative Assembly will meet for its Fifth Special Session in order to address critical measures related to health, retirement, housing and nonprofit organizations as some were left pending after the last ordinary session on July 1.

Vázquez said that to fulfill a promise made during the State of the Commonwealth message, she summoned both the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to evaluate 16 bills that will benefit mostly health providers and patients by giving both more power. The special session will open after Executive Order 2020-055 comes into effect.

“As I anticipated and per my commitment to Puerto Rico, I am convening an extraordinary session to attend to several core issues, specifically those related to health policy. During my State [of the Commonwealth] message, I made a commitment to safeguarding patients’ rights.

With this in mind, today I announce this public policy that is accessible and effective for the delivery of our health services,” Vázquez said. “This will do social justice to both patients and health professionals so that all citizens receive quality health services and we enact measures to amend the Puerto Rico Pharmacy Law and the Insurance

Code in order to streamline the process of adjudication and payment of claims submitted by health service providers to insurers.

For example, Bill 128 seeks to reduce the period that the insurer has to answer a claim over denial of coverage for health service or treatment from 72 to 48 hours, and, with controlled medications, the period would be reduced from 36 to 24 hours. Meanwhile, Bill 129 intends to amend Law 5-2014, known as the Law to Establish the ELA’s Public Policy Related to the Interpretation of the Provisions of the Health Insurance Code and Issue Prohibitions, which will outline more precise and efficient guidelines for the regulations that are enacted on the utilization review processes for medical-hospital services.

“From now on, it will be the sole and guiding criteria to determine the treatment to follow with a patient, and this cannot be altered by a health insurer,” the governor said. “Health treatment and services are to be determined by the doctor and not the insurer.”

The governor also said that Senate Bill 1528, which establishes the Patient Protection Law Against Surprise Medical Bills, will be under evaluation. The measure amends the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Code in order to tackle so-called “surprise billing” through a health plan that will establish consumer protections, transparency measures, cost controls, and liability guidelines outside the provider network.

“One of the biggest issues that our citizens have is that, whenever they visit a health provider, there is a chance that the service they require is not covered by their healthcare plan, [which they only become aware of] once they get surprise bills with emergency room fees or charges for any other service that the patient had no chance to deny,” the governor said. “I have heard from many patients that, during emergencies or even scheduled surgeries, they find out that their health provider is not covered, leading to costly bills. With this bill, we expect to solve this problem.”

Another bill to be evaluated in the special session will be House Bill 2075, which would remove the Forensic Science Bureau from the Public Safety Department (DSP

by its Spanish initials), so that it can be a separate and independent agency, and can generate its own funding.

“I consider that the Forensic Science Bureau needs that independence not only for its specificity, but for the amount of work that it delivers to Puerto Ricans,” Vázquez said. “Many of its protocols should be quick and, probably … the DSP … has not performed with the efficiency that we expect. Because of that, we included this bill for the [special] legislative session.”

The governor also announced that she signed the measure that allows the Housing Finance Authority (AFV by its Spanish initials) to transfer repossessed homes to victims who lost their homes during the January earthquakes in the island’s southwestern region. The bill amends the AFV organic law to allow the ownership of repossessed homes and properties to be transferred to municipalities.

“This allows the municipalities of Ponce, Guánica, Yauco, Utuado, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas to donate or give in usufruct the homes to those who lost their homes,” Vázquez said. “Many families will be able to have a home soon.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

5

Governor proposes referendum to give pension payments constitutional priority

By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

W

hile the State Elections Commission (SEC) struggles to fund the 2020 general elections, Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced on Monday announced a Fifth Extraordinary Session in which the Legislative Assembly will address a vote on Nov. 3 calling for an amendment to the Puerto Rico Constitution that would change the order of debt payments to give priority status to the payment of pensions to thousands of government employees.

As Vázquez and the legislative leaders are fighting a proposed 8 percent cut to pensions that are higher than $1,200 a month as part of a preliminary restructuring support agreement on the general obligation debt reached with creditors in February, she said the proposed vote would amend Article VI, Section 8 of the Commonwealth Constitution to give pension payments the same priority as the payment of interest and amortization of the debt.

“In case the available revenues including surplus for any fiscal year are insufficient to meet the appropriations made for that year, interest on the public debt and amortization thereof shall first be paid, and other disbursements shall thereafter be made in accordance with the order of priorities established by law,” says Article VI, Section 8 of the Constitution.

At a news conference in which she was flanked by legislative leaders -- Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and House Speaker Carlos Méndez Nuñez, as well as

other legislators -- Vázquez said one of the reasons that both the House of Representatives and the Senate were to be summoned was to evaluate the referendum proposal, which would ask if voters are in favor of establishing retirees’ pensions as a constitutional priority.

The governor said there is an urgent need to hold a popular vote to avoid what she called “an injustice.”

“It is not a gift,” Vázquez said. “Only after paying the public debt service and the pensions, we will be able to make every [other] disbursement according to the law and the Constitution. This could mean a profound shift in the actual order as that, at the current time, means that pension payments will be left behind and we will only proceed after the government has paid interest and redeemed the debt, the commitments made under legal contracts in effect, court rulings in cases of forced expropriation, and other obligations.”

The proposed constitutional referendum is one of more than a dozen measures the governor included in the list of bills to be evaluated in the special legislative session she is convening, including various bills to amend the award process and payment of submitted claims from healthcare providers to health insurers. After a member of the press asked why the government was presenting the bills now and if there was enough time for the Legislature to evaluate such large-scale proposals when there were others left pending on July 1 after the conclusion of the last ordinary session, Vázquez said that as the government met with various sectors, it was decided to respond to their needs in the midst

of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As for why the bills are being presented now, it is because we had discussions with different groups recently, such as healthcare insurers, retirees, and other sectors that demanded that their needs be met,” she said. “I wanted this extraordinary assembly to focus on bills that benefited patients and healthcare providers. We thought this was the time to do it, and we did it.”

Rivera Schatz added that the extraordinary session would give them enough space to evaluate bills such as the referendum, noting that even though the Legislature surpassed the expected number of approved bills in the ordinary session, when other “high-impact” bills were received at the last minute, other measures were left behind.

“Many of the bills were approved by the House or by the Senate, and what happened was that if we examine the number of laws that were approved in both House and Senate, the numbers surpass those of any other Legislature,” Rivera Schatz said.

“Unfortunately, there were some bills that came to us that were intense, as they are of high impact. I couldn’t pretend that the House would approve our bills at the last minute or that the Senate would approve what arrived from them [the House]. If we have an extraordinary [assembly], we give ourselves the space to address these bills.”

Meanwhile, referring to concerns about how the SEC was going to fund the referendum if it were approved, the governor said the government will work to defray expenses as retirees’ rights and their sacrifice would be

considered above everything else. Nonetheless, when The Star asked how the SEC would pay for the plebiscite if election commissioners from the New Progressive Party and Popular Democratic Party have suggested that the agency might not have enough in their budget for the general elections, Rivera Schatz said that instead of questioning how much the referendum costs, people should ask how much it costs to defend retirees’ rights.

“Lately, the situation with how much it costs, it should be more how much it costs defending our pensioners, how much democracy costs. Let’s criticize now that we want to delegate, to a constitutional degree, the right to pay retired employees. If you asked how much the referendum costs, ask how much it costs to defend pensioners’ rights,” he said. “There might be different theories: ‘let’s defend our pensions against being cut,’ but our colonial condition limits us.

The Financial Oversight and Management Board approved a budget haphazardly. We are telling you that we want the retirees’ pay to have constitutional merit so we don’t end up in the courts, with the argument that the Constitution states that we have to pay all of our debt first and then, if there’s something left, we attend to our pensioners, who are the people who have worked for Puerto Rico for decades. It’s just a question for people to position themselves for or against pensioners.”

The Financial Oversight and Management Board, meanwhile, declined to comment on the bill, stating that it learned about it during the governor’s press conference and did not have sufficient information.

Citing virus outbreaks in gov’t agencies, unions call for stricter safety protocols

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

T

he General Workers Union (UGT by its Spanish initials) warned Monday about COVID-19 outbreaks in various government agencies and Medical Center hospitals, urging the central government to take the necessary measures while desisting from the flawed policy of leaving the adoption of health and safety protocols, as well as their implementation, to the heads of the agencies.

“The uncontrollable number of outbreaks that have arisen in [Puerto Rico] make it necessary to desist from the current policy that leaves self-regulation of agencies and companies in the hands of officials and businessmen without much health knowledge,” said José Rodríguez, UGT secretary of health and safety. “We have information on outbreaks in the Medical Center hospitals where there are resident doctors, nurses, staff and security guards among others who have tested positive for COVID. There are

different agencies with outbreaks, the Treasury, the Minillas Building, and Correction, among others. The new reality that we are experiencing makes it necessary for health experts to define the necessary protocols and establish clear guidelines to enforce them uniformly. The above, together with adequate supervision by the Department of Health that guarantees strict compliance, as well as the adoption of the measures recommended by the Health Task Force, will allow us to advance in the prevention, detection and follow-up of COVID-19 cases.”

Rodríguez pointed out that the recommendation made by the union, given the disorganization that prevails in the various public agencies, should also be applied to all companies and businesses that intend to continue operating on the island.

The UGT added that to the extent that the various agencies do not comply with a strict safety protocol and the necessary measures are not taken to guarantee the health and safety of the workers they represent, they will be exposing their lives

and those of their associates working in unsafe places and lacking the equipment and materials to do so in complete safety.

“It does not make any sense, nor does it really contribute to the country’s economy and well being, to continue working without the minimum guarantees of health and safety, leading to infection and contagion with the deadly virus,” insisted UGT Secretary Treasurer Mirnalee Lamboy. “Likewise, the government must guarantee the best conditions so that public servants can continue to provide the essential services that citizens demand without exposing their lives when fulfilling their work obligations.”

Mayra Rivera Cordero, organizational secretary of the UGT, pointed out that “if the necessary measures are not taken at this time, we are exposed to the fact that everything we have achieved so far will be lost and our health system will collapse, with all the negative consequences that such a situation entails.”

Meanwhile, Ángel Pinto, president of the

PROSOL-UTIER Highways and Transportation Authority union chapter, asked that the Minillas Government Center in Santurce be closed after a fourth positive case of COVID-19 in the building was confirmed.

“This building must be closed to disinfect it thoroughly. Closing [only] the floor where the employee tested positive does not solve anything,” Pinto said. “For weeks we have been saying it, and just on Saturday we found out about a fourth positive case in Minillas. Closing and cleaning only the floor where the positive case occurred does not prevent the virus from continuing to spread in the building, since the person who tested positive could have been in other floors and offices in Minillas.”

Pinto added that the Highways and Transportation Authority administration is not complying with the protocols established in the executive order since they force employees to return to work even without knowing their COVID-19 test results or after having tested positive.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

2019 Economic Freedom Index report: PR sees rise in labor freedom, declines in tax health, gov’t spending, other scores

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Center for Economic Renewal, Growth and Excellence (CRECE by its Spanish acronym) on Monday unveiled the results of the 2019 Economic Freedom Index for Puerto Rico based on The Heritage Foundation methodology, which measures the effectiveness of public policy in promoting economic freedom and sustainable growth.

It was the third edition of the Economic Freedom Index for Puerto Rico.

The study focuses on four aspects of the economic environment over which the government exercises public policy. These are: 1) rule of law; 2) government size; 3) regulatory efficiency; and 4) market opening. The study was performed by the local firm Economic Intelligence.

“The Economic Freedom Index for Puerto Rico is a valuable tool for outlining a path to prosperity and growth,” CRECE Executive Director Tere Nolla said. “The analysis allows us to study the degree of economic freedom in Puerto Rico, which we know promotes human dignity. People living in countries with greater economic freedom enjoy greater food security, higher incomes, better environmental quality, and better quality of life.”

For 2019, Puerto Rico ranked 69th out of 180 countries with a score of 64.4, representing an increase of 3.4 points vs.

2018. The level of economic freedom in Puerto Rico is moderate and comparable

to that of countries such as Mexico (64.7) and Turkey (64.6). In the Latin American and Caribbean region, the United States, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Barbados and Mexico outperform Puerto Rico in their ranking of economic freedom and ease of doing business.

This year’s report shows a slight improvement for Puerto Rico in the subcategory of Labor Freedom, which rose by two points from 2018 to 2019. This increase, although slight, can be attributed to the implementation of the 2017 Labor Reform, through which companies obtained greater flexibility to optimize their operations.

The report also indicates that score improvements in certain subcategories don’t respond to changes in local public policy, but rather to limitations in the data available for performing calculations using The Heritage Foundation methodology, after Puerto Rico was excluded from the World Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum. Due to the lack of data, other resources were used that particularly affected scores in the subcategories of Right to Property, Government Integrity and Judicial Effectiveness.

Meanwhile, the report emphasizes that scores in the subcategories of Monetary Freedom, Trade Freedom, Freedom to Invest and Financial Freedom for Puerto Rico are the same as in the United States, because federal public policy applies in these categories. Therefore, any fluctua-

tions in these categories respond to actions taken by the federal government.

In 2019, Puerto Rico experienced decreases in government spending, tax health and business freedom scores. The drop in the subcategories of Government Spending and Fiscal Health are due to the increase in government spending for the recovery of Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria that respond to federal funds transfers for the reconstruction of Puerto Rico, but not in government revenue. In the Business Freedom category the score dropped 10.8 points between 2018 and 2019. This reduction is not due to local actions, but rather to assertive steps taken in other jurisdictions around the world that increased the international average.

In other words, countries around the world are acting to improve their Economic Freedom Index and competitiveness, while Puerto Rico remains stagnant.

For the first time, this year’s report includes a comparison of economic freedom between Puerto Rico and the

50 states focusing on specific U.S. cities.

The analysis was conducted using a study

by Arizona State University called Doing Business in North America (DBNA), which measures the economic freedom of 115 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico based on the World Bank’s Doing Business report. In the DBNA report, the city with the highest score was Oklahoma City with 85.2, which would position it as the fifth largest economy in the world with the most ease of doing business. In this analysis, Puerto Rico ranks 57th among 66 cities in the United States, with an index of 70.1.

The analytical comparison between Puerto Rico and U.S. cities highlights the importance of expanding economic freedom to effectively compete with states and other countries. The analysis also emphasizes the reason why Puerto Ricans move to cities like Orlando, Fla. and Bridgeport, Conn., looking for greater opportunities and a better quality of life.

“Continuing to delay the adoption of public policy that promotes economic freedom and prolonging reliance on federal funding related to disasters puts us at a disadvantage compared to other jurisdictions,” said economist Gustavo Vélez, who was in charge of the study.

“We have the opportunity to promote structural reforms that allow us to improve the business environment, expand economic freedom and place Puerto Rico in a more favorable competitive position.”

PR receives $52.3M federal injection for childcare services, health science research

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

R

esident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón announced on Monday the approval of $52.3 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) for childcare services, and medical research and development in Puerto Rico.

Within the allocation, the Municipality of Humacao will receive $337,680; the Municipality of Isabela will receive $781,715; the Municipality of Manatí will receive $1,126,255; the Municipality of Patillas will receive $105,706; the Municipality of Utuado will receive $249,799 and the Administration for the Comprehensive Care and Development of Children will receive $1,862,667 and the Foundation for the Development of Home Ownership Inc. will receive $1,969,449.

Likewise, under the funds allocated

for Head Start in the category of social services, the Municipality of Bayamón will receive $2,506,843; the Municipality of Caguas will receive $1,937,853; the Municipality of Guaynabo will receive $1,282,556; the Municipality of San Juan will receive $4,739,674; the Municipality

of San Sebastián will receive $1,208,694; the Administration for the Comprehensive Care and Development of Children will receive $5,739,576; Youth Services Center Inc. will receive $6,003,613; and the Foundation for the Development of Home Ownership Inc. will receive two sets of funds of $10,207,807 and $4,495,343.

González Colón said the funds allocated for Head Start are final and only the agency’s disbursement date remains pending, which varies depending on the program.

The Puerto Rico Department of Health will receive $3,987,818 through the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for health services for mothers and infants.

The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Medical Sciences Campus, through the office of the director of the National Institute of Health, will receive $3,670,641 for research purposes under the program Animal (Mammalian and Non-mammalian)

Model, and Animal and Biological Materials Resource Cooperative Agreements for a project called Maintenance of a Closed CPRC SPF Colony.

Meanwhile, the National Science Foundation (NSF) allocated $50,000 to the UPR Mayagüez Campus for the ICorps: Laparoscopic Induction Heaters for Biomedical Applications program to develop miniature induction heaters for heating electrically conductive materials in hard-to-reach places within the human body. The goal is to develop smaller magnetic applicators that can be used in patients who have metal implants (eg, hip replacement implants, etc.) who would not otherwise be eligible to receive cancer therapies based on current magnetic nanoparticles. In addition, the goal is to enable the development of new medical procedures that require contactless heating of electrically conductive materials in relatively inaccessible places within the human body.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

7

Vulnerable border community battles virus on ‘a straight up trajectory’

By CAITLIN DICKERSON

O

n a sweltering day last week near the southern tip of Texas, where high rates of poverty and chronic illness have heightened the ferocity of the coronavirus, Dr. Renzo Arauco Brown made his rounds, checking on patients who were facing severe complications from the virus and barely hanging on to life.

The now-chaotic special infectious disease unit where he works has been clobbered with new admissions in recent weeks. Clinicians sweat under layers of protective gear and yell over constantly blaring alarms.

Standing over a 63-year-old man whose lungs were taking in dangerous amounts of oxygen from a ventilator, Brown ordered medication to paralyze the man in hopes it would fix the problem. But it was one of many. The man had also suffered a severe stroke and blood clots because of the virus.

Down the hall, a nurse pulled a cushion out from under the head of a 39-year-old woman and found it covered with blood. Brown rushed over. He turned to the nurse, who was already on the phone ordering supplies for a transfusion.

“Tell them to bring it, like, now,” he said.

As the coronavirus expands its destructive path across the United States, it is bearing down on some of the places most vulnerable to its devastation — places like the southernmost wedge of Texas, on the border with Mexico, which has seen a punishing surge in infections.

In the Rio Grande Valley, more than onethird of families live in poverty. Up to half of residents have no health insurance, including at least 100,000 people living in the country without legal permission, who often rely on underresourced community clinics or emergency rooms for care.

Tick off the list of risk factors for developing severe complications from the virus, and you will have described this margin of the country: More than 60% of residents are diabetic or prediabetic.

The rates of obesity and heart disease are among the nation’s highest. More than 90% of the population is Latino, a group that is dying from the virus at higher rates than white Americans are.

There had been an eerie calm during the early months of the pandemic. Many public health officials attribute the initially low number of cases in the valley to earlier lockdown orders.

That changed swiftly after Gov. Greg Abbott allowed the state’s shelter-in-place requirement to expire in May. “We knew that this was a time bomb be-

Leviticus Lister, an emergency room technician from Louisiana, rests for a moment in a passageway in the serious infectious disease unit at the DHR Health in Edinburg, Texas, on July 8, 2020. cause the percentage of obesity, hypertension, diabetes is so high,” said Dr. Adolfo Kaplan, a critical care physician who works with Brown at DHR Health in Edinburg, Texas. “We knew that if the hospital was hit, it was going to be a disaster, and that’s what we are living through.”

More than 57,000 people are now hospitalized around the country, according to the COVID Tracking Project, reflecting a sharp increase that is approaching the previous national peak in April, when the center of the U.S. outbreak was in New York.

The three facilities this hospital is using to treat patients with COVID-19 have been filled to capacity since the first week of July. At times, a dozen or more ambulances have waited outside for beds to become available.

Reclining chairs and hallway beds have been moved into the emergency rooms, where some patients wait more than a day to be transferred to an intensive care unit.

With 11,000 active infections in the region, public health officers estimate that hospitalizations could double within two weeks. But with every hospital nearby also full, it is not clear where the patients will go. On Wednesday, Abbott announced that a surge of funding, medical workers and supplies would be sent to health care facilities in the area.

“Our curve is a straight up trajectory right now. There’s no flattening. There’s no relief,” said Sherri Abendroth, the hospital’s safety and emergency management coordinator.

DHR Health administrators said they have kept their main hospital largely free of the coronavirus to treat patients with serious conditions

unrelated to the pandemic, like heart attacks and strokes, as well as some elective procedures.

Months ago, Abendroth began purchasing extra dialysis machines for patients with kidney failure as well as for those who would develop it because of the virus. She recruited additional practitioners with experience treating the complications that are common in the valley.

But there were factors outside her control that would add to the challenge of fighting the virus: Many in the community avoid health care at all costs, out of fear that it could lead to a bill they cannot afford or, for some, jeopardize their immigration status.

“They don’t seek health care until they’re much sicker,” she said. “So when we get them, it’s longer hospital stays, more intensive treatment.”

Even the babies in the Rio Grande Valley are particularly vulnerable. High rates of diabetes among pregnant women make it difficult for lungs to develop in the uterus. Even before the pandemic, many babies were put on tiny ventilators until they were strong enough to breathe on their own.

A section of the organization’s women’s hospital that has been sealed off for pregnant women infected with the coronavirus has been expanded twice. Some women have had to begin the early part of their labor in their cars because the unit was full.

In a community known for its strong multigenerational family ties, where doctors joke that some pregnant mothers could fill a grandstand with relatives who want to be present while they give birth, the process of having a baby while infected with the coronavirus has been

remarkably somber.

“I wanted everything to be different,” Marisa Ponce, who was expecting twin girls, said as she prepared to be wheeled into an operating room for a cesarean section. Ponce’s entire pregnancy had been made bleak by the pandemic. Most days, she stayed in her bedroom to avoid getting sick.

She skipped having a baby shower and asked her boyfriend’s mother to pick out onesies and a crib. She still somehow contracted the virus.

Under hospital safety procedures, she could not bring anyone with her to give birth.

Her doctor had advised her to isolate from the babies for two weeks after they were born, until two tests proved that she had fully recovered.

During the C-section, Ponce was stoic, surrounded by clinicians who tried to comfort her through layers of protective clothing and eyewear. They looked as if they were dressed to go into space.

When the babies emerged, a loud filtering device that was scrubbing the air of coronavirus particles muffled their cries. Within seconds, a respiratory therapist rushed them to the neonatal intensive care unit. Tears streamed down Ponce’s face.

Doctors and nurses are pulling extra shifts to keep up with the relentless admissions. For many, the devastation feels personal.

“It’s not even about the money,” said Christian Gonzalez, a 25-year-old nurse born in the valley, who has been working 12- to 14-hour shifts six days a week since coronavirus cases spiked in July. “The people I grew up with — this is their mom, this is their dad who is sick.”

For the staff members at the hospital, the death toll has been crushing.

One afternoon, with tears in their eyes, three nurses in the intensive care unit huddled around an 84-year-old woman who had been talking just a few days earlier. “She looked like she was really going to make it,” one of the nurses said.

That morning, it had become clear the woman’s heart was going to give out. The nurses had called her daughter and promised that the woman would not die alone. One sat beside her, holding a phone to the woman’s ear with her daughter on the line. With her free hand, the nurse stroked her patient’s forearm through her final moments of life.

When the machines indicated that the woman was gone, the nurses stood up slowly.

They closed her eyes and placed a blanket on top of her, preparing for another sick patient to take her place.

8

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

New York city enters phase 4, but restaurants and bars are left behind

Customers on Sunday at Skin Contact in the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

By DANA RUBINSTEIN and SEAN PICCOLI

F

or the 25,000 restaurants and bars in NewYork City, Monday was supposed to be a day of celebration — the turning point when the city would enter Phase 4, the final phase of reopening after the coronavirus outbreak.

Instead, the start of Phase 4 marks a roadblock on New Yorkers’ path to normalcy and serves as another reminder that the city, once the national center of the virus, is still subject to more restrictions than the rest of the state, even though it has flattened the curve.

On Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City would enter Phase 4 — with caveats. Zoos and botanical gardens could open, but museums and indoor dining, permitted elsewhere in the state with limitations, would still be banned.

A day earlier, Cuomo said that in New York City, bars and restaurants would be subject to a special “Three Strikes and You’re Closed” regimen: If they overlooked violations of social distancing rules or allowed customers to drink without ordering food, they could lose their liquor licenses after three violations.

The governor also announced that restaurants and bars across the state would

be barred from selling alcohol unless drinks were accompanied by a “food item,” a term whose definition has been hotly contested.

Both state and city officials have said that, while they are eager to reopen widely, they also fear that the virus could seep back into the region from Sun Belt states that are experiencing huge surges in coronavirus cases. In states like Florida and Texas, indoor bars and restaurants have fueled the spread of the disease.

“I feel like we’re standing on a beach and we’re looking out at the sea and we see the second wave building in the distance,” Cuomo said Friday.

So instead of a festive atmosphere over the weekend, bars and restaurants were grappling with new, confusing limitations, and had no clear picture of when their economic outlook might brighten.

One bar suddenly listed grilled cheese on its menu. Another made orders of hot dogs compulsory.

At Angry Wade’s in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, a chalkboard in the doorway suggested that the bar was on board with the latest edict governing how New Yorkers may socialize.

It offered customers waffle fries for $8, or a pizza for $10.

But no one who was drinking at the bar late Saturday afternoon had ordered those items. Instead, some customers

munched on bruschetta they had brought themselves, served from a large aluminum tray. Others were drinking but showed no signs that they planned to order food.

“We don’t usually have a lot of food, and people don’t usually come here to eat,” said a bartender, who declined to give her name. “So we’ve adapted.”

The governor said the new restrictions were necessary because city revelers needed to be reined in. Since outdoor dining was allowed to resume June 22, he said Thursday, state inspectors had found “significant evidence of failure to comply.”

“It’s wrong. It’s dangerous. It’s selfish.

It’s unacceptable,” he said. “It’s also illegal.”

But for bar and restaurant owners, confusion and desperation are the orders of the day. Among other things, they do not understand how the Cuomo administration can single out New York City for these measures, without providing data to support its assertion that the city has more social distancing problems than the rest of the state.

“The rest of New York state is reopened, and that was based on a phased-in process where certain metrics have to be met,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance.

“But now we’re in no man’s land. No one knows when we’re going to be able to reopen and what the metrics are that must be met. It’s very unfair.”

A spokesman for the governor, Jonathan Sterne, countered that State Liquor Authority investigators had found that nearly 10% of downstate establishments were not in compliance with the pandemic regulations.

He said the number of complaints about city establishments to the state’s task force on bars and restaurants jumped 13% after the resumption of outdoor dining. He was unable to immediately provide any comparative data about other regions of the state.

The scene on Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens, over the weekend, where maskless revelers converted the commercial strip into a de facto dance club, seemed to prove the governor’s point that some New York City residents were ignoring the pandemic restrictions.

De Blasio, who often clashes with the governor, was on the same page when it

came to the Steinway crowds.

“Party’s over,” de Blasio said on Twitter on Sunday night. “Dedicated sheriff patrols will be on Steinway until further notice. They’ll enforce closing times, issue summonses and work with the NYPD to keep the roadways clear. We haven’t beaten COVID-19 yet. We can’t let up now.”

Michael Gianaris, the state senator for the district, said people were eager to get back to normal and were ignoring the reality that the virus was still a threat.

“I think people are frustrated after being cooped up for months and are anxious to be out,” he said. “Younger people who feel they are invincible to the virus need to realize that, first of all, they’re not, but second of all, they’re putting everyone around them in danger. It needs to stop.”

Businesses have accepted social distancing restrictions, Rigie said, but fail to grasp how the governor’s latest decree requiring the sale of food with alcohol will protect New Yorkers.

“How does having an order of wings with a beer make you safer from COVID-19 than just having a beer alone?” he asked.

“But then you can have multiple beers with that order of wings and that’s OK? We’re just asking for thoughtful, clear requirements that protect public health and safety and that businesses can rely on and understand.”

Struggling restaurant owners were not the only ones grappling with the ever-changing regulatory landscape. The governor’s decision to exclude New York City museums from Phase 4 pained museum operators, including at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. A museum spokeswoman, Jamie Salen, said its exclusion from Phase 4 “will have a significant impact” on its finances.

“How do we do our best to make sure the institution itself survives, long-term?” she asked.

Sterne said the upstate-downstate museum disparity was a simple function of density.

“Because New York City was the hardest-hit hot spot in the country and is one of the most dense areas in the United States — everything that happens in New York City is amplified exponentially compared to upstate,” he said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

9

‘If it’s here, it’s here’: America’s retirees confront the virus in Florida

By KIMIKO DE FREYTAS-TAMURA

F

or months, many of the residents at one of America’s biggest retirement communities went about their lives as if the coronavirus barely existed. They played bridge. They held dances. They went to house parties in souped-up golf cars that looked like miniature Jaguars and Rolls-Royces.

And for months they appeared to have avoided the worst of the pandemic. From March through midJune, there were fewer than 100 cases in The Villages, a sprawling community in Central Florida where about 120,000 people mostly 55 and older live.

But now as cases spike across Florida, the virus appears to have caught up with the residents of The Villages.

Since the beginning of July, hospital admissions of residents from The Villages have quadrupled at University of Florida Health The Villages, the hospital’s critical care doctors said. As of last week, the hospital admitted 29 Villages residents, all of them with the virus, said Dr. Anil Gogineni, a pulmonologist and critical care doctor there.

That was up from the single digits three weeks before.

In Sumter County, the biggest of three counties where most of The Villages is concentrated, the number of cases ballooned from 68 in the first week of June to more than 270 last week, according to the county’s Health Department.

The Villages is a sprawling palm-tree-lined complex so big it has three ZIP codes, 12 golf courses and multiple libraries and movie theaters, drawing affluent retirees from all over the country.

Now many residents are confronting their new reality. “It’s seeping in, no matter what,” Rob Hannon, 64, said as he sipped a beer, adding that “friends that would come down for years are saying, ‘We’re not going to go.’”

The golf course is still crowded, he said, as well as the hair salon where his wife, Michelle, 53, works.

“The women are still coming in but they’re a little more anxious,” Rob Hannon said. “You can’t stop living. But you can stop being cavalier.”

In an email to residents last week, Jeffrey Lowenkron, the chief medical officer of The Villages, said cases were increasing and urged them to take “proactive steps to reduce the risk of disease transmission.”

“They should consider postponing participation in social events with more than 10 people, particularly those events held indoors,” he wrote. “The upward trend is accelerating.”

About 20% of Florida’s population is 65 or older, the highest percentage in the nation alongside Maine, and that age group has made up half of its coronavirus hospitalizations and over 80% of deaths. As of Saturday, more than 45,000 of the state’s 350,000-plus cases are

among that age group.

The rise in cases among older residents most likely stems from the spread of the virus by young people who are not taking preventive measures like wearing masks, said Dr. Madiha Syed, an infectious-disease specialist who works at University of Florida Health.

“You see, they don’t wear their masks,” Syed sighed.

“What do you do?”

But even as cases climb, doctors in The Villages say they are prepared for an increase in patients. The hospital has enough capacity and antiviral drugs, Gogineni said.

One area of concern, however, is the four nursing homes in the community, and a number of others on the outskirts that also cater to residents.

Early in the pandemic, DeSantis took an aggressive approach to nursing homes, and the state’s outbreaks were not as deadly as they were in places like New York. DeSantis banned visits to nursing homes, ordered them to not readmit residents unless they tested negative twice, and opened at least 14 coronavirus-only facilities.

That helped slow the spread, but now health officials are concerned that nursing homes will not be able to avoid a coming onslaught of cases.

Even with the spike, many residents at The Villages say they are conflicted about the virus and what to do now.

Some steps have been taken to help slow infections.

Crowds around the faux Spanish colonial buildings and fountains are smaller, theaters are closed and the bands have stopped playing.

Yet, residents still congregate every day without wearing masks. They turn up the volume on a radio and dance in the squares. They crowd bars where songs by Elvis Presley and Bobby Sherman play. There are picnics and water aerobics classes.

Jim Lomonaco, 67, a former law enforcement official, shrugged off the latest headlines.

“I’m not pushing my luck but I’m not overly concerned. If it’s here, it’s here by now — we don’t have walls,” he said on a recent day. Bursts of loud laughing were heard from other retirees clustered around tables at a nearby restaurant. A few feet away, dozens of others were practicing a dance.

Even if they have had the virus, most Villages residents are reluctant to talk about it.

One resident declined to be interviewed because he was embarrassed after getting infected at a party.

“People are being very secretive,” said Neil Craver, 66, who said he got the virus two weeks ago. “It’s like the plague and they don’t want to let anybody else know that they’re sick.”

Residents say they have not received any directions about informing the management if they get sick.

The Villages is a sprawling palm-tree-lined complex so big it has three ZIP codes, 12 golf courses, and multiple libraries and movie theaters, drawing affluent retirees from all over the country.

10

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Husband and son of federal judge shot in New Jersey

By NEIL VIGDOR and AIMEE ORTIZ

A

gunman shot the son of a federal judge at her home in New Jersey on Sunday, according to an official with knowledge of the situation. The Associated Press reported that he had died and that the judge’s husband also had been shot.

The judge, Esther Salas, was home at the time of the shooting at her residence in North Brunswick, New Jersey, but was not injured, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the authorities had not made any public statements.

Her son, Daniel Anderl, a college student, died in the shooting and her husband, Mark Anderl, was injured, Chief District Judge Freda Wolfson told The Associated Press.

The FBI office in Newark said Sunday night that it was looking for “one subject” in relation to the shoo-

ting.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., expressed his sorrow in a statement Sunday night.

“I know Judge Salas and her husband well, and was proud to recommend her to President Obama for nomination to New Jersey’s federal bench,” Menendez said. “My prayers are with Judge Salas and her family, and that those responsible for this horrendous act are swiftly apprehended and brought to justice.”

Menendez was the mayor of Union City, New Jersey, which is where Salas grew up. Both have parents who emigrated from Cuba.

Francis Womack, mayor of North Brunswick, wrote on Twitter that “no words can express the sadness and loss we share tonight as a community” after the shooting.

“We commit to do all we can to support the family in this time, as well

as all law enforcement agencies involved,” he added.

The shooting happened around 5 p.m. Eastern time, according to Marion Costanza, who lives three doors down from Salas’ home in the Hidden Lake neighborhood of North Brunswick.

Federal agents and police officers went door to door on Sunday night interviewing neighbors. Police tape blocked off the front lawn and driveway of the family’s colonial home. A North Brunswick police cruiser was parked outside the house, and two police officers stood sentinel outside the front door. An American flag was planted in the ground, illuminated by a floodlight.

Costanza said that Salas previously remarked that being a public figure could make her a target.

“She had some high-profile cases, and she was always a little concerned,” said Costanza, who attended Salas’ swearing-in ceremony when she

Police outside the home of the federal judge, Esther Salas, in North Brunswick, N.J., early on Monday, July 20, 2020.

became a federal judge.

Costanza said that the judge and her family were caring neighbors, and recalled the time when Daniel Anderl brought her supplies during a snowstorm.

“There’s no one like them,” she said. “They’re extremely good-natured.

They would do anything for anyone.”

The younger Anderl went to Saint Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey, and played baseball, according to Costanza, who said that Salas had been wistful when her son went off to Catholic University in Washington, D.C. “I think she cried for a week, and that’s just in D.C.,” she said. “He was her only child.”

Salas was the first Hispanic woman to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey.

President Barack Obama nominated her to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey in 2010. She had previously served as a magistrate judge and an assistant federal public defender.

Last week, Salas was assigned to a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of investors against Deutsche Bank, contending that the firm had failed to flag questionable transactions that were made from the account of the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in August while in jail awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

In 2014, Salas sentenced two married stars of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” television show to prison time after the couple pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Salas sentenced one of the stars, Teresa Giudice, to 15 months in prison and her husband, Giuseppe Giudice, known as Joe, to 41 months. The judge staggered the sentences because of the couple’s four young daughters, The Associated Press reported.

Salas met her husband, a defense lawyer, when he was a prosecutor in the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, according to a 2018 profile of her in New Jersey Monthly.

“We’ve been inseparable since 1992,” she told the magazine.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

11

How buying beans became a political statement

By FARAH STOCKMAN, KATE KELLY and JENNIFER MEDINA

F

or years, the Goya brand was synonymous with the Latino American dream. The sheer number of products that lined the grocery store aisles — from refried pinto beans to sazón con azafran seasoning — spoke to the growing number of Hispanic immigrants who bought them. Goya, the nation’s largest Hispanic food company, has sponsored Dominican art shows, mariachi contests and soccer programs.

Advisers to President Donald Trump considered it a victory when Goya’s chief executive, Robert Unanue, agreed to appear at the White House rollout of what it called the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, an executive order that promised better access to education and employment for Hispanics.

In the Rose Garden on July 9, Unanue praised Trump and compared him to his grandfather, who founded Goya.

“We’re all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder,” Unanue said. “And that’s what my grandfather did.”

And just like that, a once-beloved brand became anathema in many Latino homes across the United States. People posted videos and photos of themselves clearing out their pantries and tossing cans of Goya beans into the trash. It became a symbol of political resistance to share recipes for Goya product substitutes. “Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling ‘how to make your own Adobo,’” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter, referring to a popular seasoning that Goya sells.

Almost immediately, Trump loyalists pushed back — filling shopping carts full of Goya products and posting videos of themselves dutifully swallowing Goya beans.

By the time Ivanka Trump tweeted an endorsement of Goya, one thing had become clear: In a polarized country, at a polarized time, the buying of beans had become a political act.

Even as Trump’s support has cratered among many demographics, he has held onto a small but durable slice of Hispanic voters, many of them in Florida, a state full of Cuban Republicans that is known for razor-thin electoral margins.

Polls consistently show Trump with an approval rating among Hispanic voters hovering around 25%, within the lower end of the range that Republican presidents have attracted for decades. Before the coronavirus pandemic tanked the economy, the Trump campaign repeatedly pointed to the low unemployment rate among

Hispanics as an indication that the administration was delivering for the community, a group he has also offended with inflammatory remarks about immigration.

Now Goya has fallen into this boiling pot of politics and anger, a strange turn of events for a company that has prided itself on knowing its customers intimately.

With each wave of Hispanic immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, Goya has added new products to suit their cuisine, and over the years it has distributed millions of pounds of food to pantries after hurricanes and during the pandemic.

The company was founded in 1936 by Unanue’s grandparents, who moved from the Basque region of Spain to Puerto Rico, and then New York City, where they sold sardines and olive oil from a storefront on Duane Street in lower Manhattan.

As the company expanded, it changed its name from Unanue & Sons to Goya Foods — reportedly buying rights to its new name for $1 because it was easier to pronounce than “oo-NAnew-way” — and branched into manufacturing.

During the mid-1970s, Joseph Unanue, one of the founders’ four sons, took over as chief executive, and the company relocated to New Jersey. By the time he stepped down, the company had established relationships with Walmart and other big grocers, and its annual revenue had grown to $1 billion from $20 million.

Some noted that Robert Unanue’s remarks at the White House showcased the glaring disconnect between the wealthy executive whose family hailed from Spain and the largely workingclass Latinos who make up his customer base.

The harshest critics questioned whether he considered himself Latino.

The speed and size of the boycott speak to “how raw people in the community feel about the president,” said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, deputy vice president for policy and advocacy for UnidosUS, a Latino civic engagement organization. She said many Latinos blamed Trump’s attacks on immigrants living in the country without legal permission for inciting discrimination and violence against Latinos, particularly the massacre last summer in El Paso, Texas.

For the first time, she said, anxieties about racial discrimination have ranked in the top concerns among Latino voters in surveys. But Trump’s supporters are betting that this is a winning issue for them and that Americans will not understand or empathize with the boycott.

The day after the Rose Garden ceremony, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted, “Goya is a sta-

The boycott and counter-boycott of Goya, the latest skirmish in a long-running culture war, comes as the major political parties seek to energize Hispanic support ahead of the 2020 election. ple of Cuban food. My grandparents ate Goya black beans twice a day for nearly 90 years. And now the Left is trying to cancel Hispanic culture and silence free speech. #BuyGoya.”

And suddenly, the once-beloved Hispanic brand became a cause célèbre on the right.

Cruz said in an interview that he saw the boycott as an example of the “spirit of intolerance.”

“The offense is, he dared to say he supported the president,” Cruz said, adding that “anytime anyone dares disagree from their rigid orthodoxy, they seek to punish, cancel or destroy” the dissenter.

Unanue, who has contributed to the campaigns of both Democrats and Republicans and worked with Michelle Obama on an anti-obesity initiative, appeared unprepared for the firestorm.

Neither he nor Goya officials responded to requests for comment. But Unanue defended his remarks at the White House, telling The Wall Street Journal that he went there out of respect. “I remain strong in my convictions that I feel blessed with the leadership of our president,” he told the newspaper.

Trump supporters filmed themselves filling shopping carts full of Goya products, relishing in the opportunity to defend a Hispanic businessman and accuse Democrats of being anti-Latino. Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative political commentator, shared a video of himself swallowing beans, which he admitted he rarely ate.

A few days later, Trump circulated a photo of himself sitting in the Oval Office, smiling widely and with his thumbs up, in front of several Goya products, including a package of chocolate wafers and coconut milk.

Some political scientists said Trump appeared eager for the free publicity that came by associating himself with a beloved Hispanic brand.

“It’s the Republican version of ‘Hispandering,’” said Geraldo Cadava, a history professor at Northwestern University and author of “The Hispanic Republican.” “He’s pandering to Hispanics the same way that politicians have peppered their stump speeches with a few words in Spanish. It’s the same kind of signal.”

Trump has occasionally made visible efforts to reach Hispanic voters. The Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, which included few details, came during a week in which he also met with Venezuelans who had fled socialism and held an interview with Telemundo, a Spanish-language television station. Trump spoke in the interview about a “road to citizenship” for immigrants brought to the United States without legal permission as children, even as his administration has pledged to fight a Supreme Court decision upholding the Barack Obama-era program that protected them.

It remains to be seen whether Hispanics who do not support Trump will be swayed by his sudden association with Goya or his attempt to bring Hispanics onto the conservative side of the nation’s long-simmering culture war.

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

For owners of century-old businesses, shutting down brings a special pain tition from big-box stores such as Home Depot were cutting into his revenue. He had already given up selling flooring materials and floor coverings — something Harrell’s had sold from the beginning — because he couldn’t be competitive. But he was also trying to modernize: Harrell started a website and put the store on social media, and he considered adding a bar to the store to give customers another reason to shop.

“If COVID hadn’t hit, I would have kept going even though I would have struggled,” Harrell said. “It was the loss of the income for the two months that really just crippled me.”

One challenge facing family businesses is that there often isn’t anyone who wants to take over — especially during an economic downturn. Harrell’s adult sons live six hours away in Asheville, North Carolina, and aren’t interested in re-imagining retail for a post-COVID world.

Neither are his nieces and nephews.

The venerable retailer, which has sold everything from horse collars to baby shoes, couldn’t survive the coronavirus: its fourth-generation owner recently announced he was closing the business his great-grandfather started.

By AMY HAIMERL

H

arrell’s Department Store has stood sentry over Wright Street in Burgaw, North Carolina, for the past 117 years.

It has served the town’s 4,000 residents with everything they’ve needed, like baby shoes and horse collars in the original wooden building, or church hats and appliances in the two-story red brick building constructed in 1924.

Harrell’s has been the backdrop to several famous late-1990s and early-2000s movies, including “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.” It has survived changing fashions — it once sold long johns — world wars, the Great Depression and the 2008 financial crisis, and floods.

But it couldn’t survive the coronavirus.

Vernon Harrell, the company’s fourth-generation owner, recently announced he was closing the business his great-grandfather started.

“It’s been very difficult,” said Harrell, 65, who started working in the store when he was 13. “I did not want to be the one who brought it to an end.”

The pandemic has devastated many of the country’s small-business owners; nearly a quarter of companies closed either temporarily or permanently in March and April, according

to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. But for firms that have been part of their communities for 100 years or more, there’s more at stake than livelihood — there’s legacy and, in some cases, generations of family ties.

Since March, the pandemic has claimed at least a half-dozen businesses in or near the century club. For example, the Boston Hotel Buckminster, which opened in 1897, closed its doors; Ritz Barbecue, which opened in a small shed in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1927, served its last ribs and ice cream last month; Hickory Grove Greenhouses, just north of Allentown, decided to close after 103 years; and Michigan Maple Block Co., a wood products company in northern Michigan, is shuttering its manufacturing plant and laying off 56 workers after 139 years.

“These firms can die a good death or a bad death; nothing lasts forever,” said Dennis Jaffe, a sociologist who works with family companies and recently published the book “Borrowed From Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family Enterprises.” “It’s sad and there is grieving, but there is also a legacy.”

Harrell was struggling to keep the department store going even before the coronavirus hit. Changing consumer tastes and compe-

Inside Harrell’s Department Store, which has stood for 117 years, in Burgaw, N.C., July 16, 2020.

“There isn’t the next generation with the passion to take the business through a crisis,” said Jennifer Pendergast, executive director of the Center for Family Enterprises at Northwestern University. “This is going to be hard for a while. Is there someone who wants to take that on?”

For business owners trying to chart the future — whether they’re the fifth generation or the second — Pendergast recommends that they find someone who can be their “truth teller,” who will look at the numbers and the emotions of continuing. If the math doesn’t work and the business isn’t viable, there’s no point in keeping it alive. But if it is, then she encourages owners to ask themselves if the work is still meaningful to the family.

“Obligation cannot be the reason to continue,” she said. “Long term, that is not sustainable.”

Amy Hyman feels that obligation daily as she tries to guide Lake Steam Baths in Denver into its 94th year in business.

Like Harrell, she never expected to find herself at the helm of a legacy business. She was happy with her job tending the bar where she met her husband, Hannon. The Russian and Turkish bathhouse was the domain of her mother-in-law, Gertie.

“She was 5-foot-nothing,” Hyman said.

“This little Jewish lady running around telling everyone what to do. That’s my fondest memory of this place — not ever knowing that I would be her someday, in a sense.”

When Gertie died in 2006, Hannon took over — with some input from Hyman. Women had never been allowed in the baths. But Hyman persuaded Hannon to let her test a ladies’ night one Sunday a month so that women could enjoy the hot saunas and whirlpools, and get a massage.

She continued bartending and raising her daughter and son while Hannon ran the business. But when he died in 2015, at age 59, Hyman found herself in charge because no other family members were available.

“Never did I ever believe that I would be running the business by myself,” Hyman said.

“My two kids were 14 and 10 when Hannon passed, and every year I kept saying, ‘I’m going to sell this place and live life.’ But I can’t. The community is amazing.”

She doubled down on the business that Hannon’s grandparents opened in 1927.

She paid off the $400,000 mortgage on the 11,000-square-foot building and parking lot, and began upgrading, spending more than $40,000 on a new boiler, sauna oven and steam machine. She also added more ladies’ nights and expanded the food menu.

The results started showing last year: Hyman said she turned a profit and was on track for 2020 to be her best year. She was preparing to invest in another sauna oven and thinking about how to grow. She employed nine people and had expanded to 36 massage therapists to meet demand.

But the investments also taxed her cash reserves and left her vulnerable when Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, closed businesses in late March to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Her revenue went to zero, and she had to lay off her staff.

“I just keep teetering constantly and just fighting myself: Keep the business, don’t keep the business,” Hyman said. “If I need to let it go, I know the Lake Steam community will forgive me and understand.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

13 Stocks

Wall Street closes higher, Nasdaq sets record as potential vaccines show promise

W

all Street gained ground on Monday and surging technology shares pushed the Nasdaq to a record closing high, as promising trial results from potential COVID-19 vaccines helped investors look beyond spiraling new cases of the disease.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) provided the biggest boosts to the Nasdaq and the S&P500, but industrials retreated, capping the Dow’s nominal gains.

Deaths in the United States from COVID-19 passed the 140,000 mark over the weekend, as cases continued to rise in 42 of 50 states.

Trials of potential vaccines have shown promise.

Most recently, drugs from AstraZenica (AZN.L), CanSino Biologics Inc (6185.HK) and from a partnership between Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and German biotech firm BioNTech (BNTX.O) were safely administered and induced immune responses.

“Developments on COVID, positive or negative, have become the new risk-on/risk-off binary trigger for the market,” said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. “A year ago it was trade.”

“In the next few weeks there will start to be risk assessments made on how the size of the next round of financial stimulus,” Sroka added.

The U.S. Congress, still looking to mitigate the pandemic’s economic effects, was set for a week of partisan wrangling over a new relief package, with two weeks until enhanced jobless benefits expire for millions of Americans.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 8.92 points, or 0.03%, to 26,680.87, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 27.11 points, or 0.84%, to 3,251.84 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 263.90 points, or 2.51%, to 10,767.09.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, consumer discretionary .SPLRCD and tech .SPLRCT enjoyed the largest percentage gains.

Second-quarter earnings season chugged along.

Some 48 companies in the S&P 500 have posted results, with 77.1% of those beating consensus, according to Refinitiv data.

In aggregate, analysts now expect S&P 500 secondquarter earnings to have dropped 43.2% year-on-year, per Refinitiv.

Shares of Halliburton Co (HAL.N) rose 2.5% after the company posted a surprise adjusted quarterly profit and better-than-expected cash flow due to cost-cutting.

Noble Energy Inc (NBL.O) advanced 5.4% on news that Chevron Corp (CVX.N) agreed to buy the oil and gas producer for $5 billion.

Chevron dropped 2.2%.

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14

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Brazil health workers may have spread Coronavirus to Indigenous people

Government health workers test a leader of the Indigenous Kunaruara community, in the state of Pará, for the coronavirus.

By MANUELA ANDREONI, ERNESTO LONDOÑO and LETICIA CASADO

T

he telltale symptoms began in late May, about a week after government medical workers made a routine visit to the Kanamari Indigenous community in a remote part of the Amazon: Elderly members of the group were struggling to breathe.

For months, as the coronavirus tore through Brazil, the Kanamari had sought to shield themselves from the pandemic by strictly limiting access to their riverside villages in the secluded Javari Valley, one of Brazil’s largest Indigenous territories.

But it seemed even there, the virus had reached them. Panic set in.

“Many people grabbed some clothes, a hammock and ran into the forest to hide,” said Thoda Kanamari, a leader of the union of Indigenous peoples in the vast territory, home to groups with little contact with the outside world. “But it was too late, everyone was already infected.”

And the vectors of the disease, according to interviews and federal data obtained by The New York Times, may have been the health workers charged by the federal government with protecting the country’s Indigenous populations.

More than 1,000 nurses and doctors with the federal Indigenous health service, known as SESAI, have tested positive for coronavirus as of early July, a freedom of information request and interviews with union representatives found.

Working without adequate protective equipment or access

to enough tests, these workers may have inadvertently endangered the very communities they were trying to help, medical workers and Indigenous leaders said.

More than 15,500 Indigenous Brazilians have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, including at least 10,889 living in protected territories, according to Instituto Socioambiental, an Indigenous rights organization. At least 523 have died.

In the sparsely populated Javari Valley, in northwestern Brazil, the federal Indigenous health care agency said it had identified 220 cases and one death.

Robson Santos da Silva, the army colonel at the head of SESAI, defended the agency’s response during the pandemic, and brushed off criticism as “a lot of disinformation, a lot of politics.”

“We’re on the front lines,” he said. “We’re battling this disease daily.”

In an emailed statement, SESAI said reports that health workers had exposed Indigenous people to the virus were “inconclusive.” The agency said its employees were outfitted with protective equipment.

“All this planning and early research led to timely and efficient care that was delivered in villages,” the statement said.

But The Times found that in at least six field offices, the share of infected workers was above the Amazon region’s average of 8% for the general population. Two field offices in particular had extraordinarily high rates of infection, according to tallies compiled by health care unions.

The office overseeing the state of Amapá and the northern

part of the state of Pará reported that 186 people — almost half of its health workers — had tested positive for the virus. And in the office covering the Yanomami community, which straddles the border between Brazil and Venezuela, 207 workers — more than 20% of the medical staff — became infected.

Representatives of the health care workers’ union and experts say the true caseload among the federal Indigenous health workers is likely much higher. Many of those on the front lines have sought tests on their own, but as of June 30, the Indigenous health service had only tested 1,080 of its employees, roughly 5% of its workforce.

The large share of infected workers suggests “there were failures in the protection of health care workers at a critical moment, affecting teams that care for a highly vulnerable population,” said Felipe Tavares, who researches Indigenous health at the Federal Fluminense University.

Indigenous leaders said it’s impossible to determine with certainty how many cases were introduced by health care workers. Some Indigenous people may have brought the virus into their communities after traveling to cities to gather supplies and emergency government aid. Illegal miners and loggers who operate in Indigenous territories may also have exposed some communities.

Luiza Garnelo, a doctor and anthropologist at Fiocruz Amazônia, a government health research agency in the Amazon, said the pandemic had exposed the defenselessness of communities that had already been grappling with substandard medical care, poverty, and often violent land invasions.

“Long before the epidemic hit, investment in Indigenous health care was insufficient and the resources that are available were not harnessed in a way that enabled an effective response to the epidemic,” she said. “The Indigenous population is socially and economically vulnerable.”

Some communities pleaded for more robust medical care as the pandemic gripped Brazil.

Carmem Pankararu, the president of the Indigenous health care workers union, said workers were hobbled by a bureaucracy that was slow to get tests and critical supplies to regions where transportation and logistics are extraordinarily hard even in normal times.

“They would only test when we showed symptoms,” she said. “We needed mass testing.”

Criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, within Indigenous territories and beyond, is mounting.

After losing two health ministers who were physicians, in April and May, Bolsonaro put the Health Ministry in the lands of an active-duty army general, who has filled the ministry’s senior ranks with military officers who are not experts in health care.

Several SESAI workers who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation, described an exceptionally challenging mission, impaired by poor guidance, mistrust from many Indigenous communities and a scarcity of tests.

Enoque Taurepang, the coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima, said doctors and nurses had been set up for failure.

“You can’t blame health professionals because they didn’t have the tools necessary to act,” he said.

Meanwhile, the losses to the Indigenous mount.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

15

Southern Europe opens its doors to tourists. Not many are coming.

By RAPHAEL MINDER

M

usic blared from a beachfront cafe along the normally bustling southwestern coast of Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.

But several tables sat empty, a month after a COVID-19 lockdown had ended, and the doors to many resorts remained shut.

Although tourism is returning to southern Europe — stretching from Portugal to Greece — its restart has been sluggish amid new outbreaks in some countries.

Bookings are down 80% in Italy despite government incentives. Ferries to the Greek islands are carrying well under half the load they once did.

While Europeans are starting to travel more within their own countries, far fewer are venturing beyond their borders, particularly the holidaymakers from Britain, Germany and other northern countries who typically journey south each year, spending billions of euros.

And visitors from outside the continent are few and far between: Just 13 countries are on the list of those considered safe by the European Union, a list that so far excludes the United States.

The drag is felt acutely in tourist destinations dependent on air travel, like the Canary Islands, hundreds of miles from mainland Spain. Airlines carried 15 million visitors to the archipelago last year, but the flight capacity this month is just 30% of what it was a year ago.

As a result, property owners in the Canary Islands have opened only about 20% of the tourism beds in the archipelago, according to Jorge Marichal, a Tenerife hotelier who is president of Cehat, the Spanish hotel confederation.

“We are doing our best to highlight the fact that we now have almost no virus problem — but of course we cannot transport the tourists here ourselves,” Marichal said.

Italy has tried to promote national tourism by issuing a holiday bonus, a 150-euro voucher per Italian for lodging, up to 500 euros per family. Dario Franceschini, the minister of culture and tourism, told Parliament this month that about 400,000 vouchers had been issued, worth 183 million euros in total.

The Italian news media painted a less enthusiastic picture. The newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that only a small fraction of Italian hotels accept the vouchers.

Greece, though suffering less from the pandemic than either Italy or Spain, has still seen scant evidence of a rebound in tourism. In the first 12 days of July, passenger traffic at the Athens airport was down 75% from a year ago and 84% at the country’s 14 regional airports.

Although all of the countries of southern Europe have emerged from lockdown, new outbreaks there and quarantine orders elsewhere have added hurdles. This month, Britain said that people coming from Portugal, among other countries, would be forced to quarantine on arrival, a move that essentially choked off British

tourism there.

And Britons have traditionally been the top visitors to the Algarve, the southern region of Portugal. Britain’s move drew fire from Augusto Santos Silva, Portugal’s foreign minister, who called it “absurd.” Still, Portugal has faced a strong uptick in coronavirus cases, including in municipalities surrounding its capital, Lisbon.

Outbreaks have also occurred around major tourism hubs like Barcelona, Spain, where about 3 million residents were told Friday to stay indoors to help contain the coronavirus.

Carlos García Pastor, marketing director of Logitravel Group, a Spanish travel operator that had revenue of about 800 million euros last year, said that his company expected earnings to drop at least 50% this year.

The final result, he said, “will really depend on how many new outbreaks there are.”

This month, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards were placed back under temporary lockdown by regional authorities in Catalonia and Galicia after new outbreaks.

García Pastor said some clients canceled their bookings as soon as they heard about the new restrictions.

“Tourism is extremely reactive, for better or worse,” he said.

In the Canary Islands, home to more than 2 million full-time residents, officials have trumpeted their strict safety measures and their low coronavirus caseload, less than 1% of the nation’s total. The archipelago’s hotels require guests to wear a face mask in the lobby and other indoor areas, and they limit the number of people who

can lounge around their swimming pools.

The protocols drew praise from Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary-general of the World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations, after his visit to tourism destinations in Italy and Spain this month.

That portrait of safety contrasts sharply with the picture that emerged from the Canary Islands in late January, when the archipelago recorded Spain’s first coronavirus case, a German tourist who tested positive on the island of La Gomera.

Weeks later, one of the large establishments on Tenerife, the H10 Costa Adeje Palace, became the first European resort to lock down after the virus was detected among Italian guests.

But as the virus rampaged across mainland Spain, the islands quickly brought their own outbreaks under control. The archipelago has reported 162 deaths, according to the latest official Spanish data, out of 28,420 victims nationwide.

Travel within the Canary archipelago has continued, perhaps even encouraged a bit by the travel hurdles.

Smaller islands like El Hierro that do not have an international airport have reported an influx of Canarians this summer.

But across the islands the doors remain shut to many of the large resorts normally filled by international package tours. At the recently reopened Adeje Palace, some guests said they had been relocated there at the last minute by their travel agents because the hotels they had booked were still closed.

Beach-goers in Tenerife. Several resorts remain closed even after the lockdown ended.

16

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Once a model city, Hong Kong grapples with a new Coronavirus wave

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ and TIFFANY MAY

H

ong Kong once seemed like a model for how to control the coronavirus.

Schools were open. Restaurants and malls buzzed with crowds. Buses and trains operated as usual, with residents dutifully wearing face masks on board.

But a new wave of infections in recent days has put the city on edge. Hospitals are now seeing more cases a day than they ever have during the pandemic. More important, health officials are unable to determine the origin of many of these cases, despite having a robust contact tracing system in place.

The government reported 73 cases Monday, one of the highest totals for a single day since the coronavirus emerged nearly seven months ago in mainland China. In short order, the virus has spread across the city, infecting clerical staff at a government-run eye clinic, residents at a senior center and cleaning workers at the airport.

“The situation is very serious, and there is no sign of it coming under control,” Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, said Sunday as she announced new restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.

As governments around the world look to relax rules put in place to combat the virus, Hong Kong’s experience provides a cautionary tale.

Lifting social distancing restrictions too swiftly, experts say, can open the door to fresh outbreaks. And with a vaccine still many months away, they say, even the most vigilant countries are susceptible to sudden surges in cases. China, Japan, South Korea and Australia are all grappling with outbreaks of the virus.

“It’s really, really alarming,” David Hui, director of the Stanley Ho Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said of the recent outbreak.

“Once you loosen the restrictions too much,

you face a rebound.”

The city had been widely praised by international experts for its response to the pandemic. It moved quickly to tighten its borders and impose quarantine rules, containing outbreaks traced first to travelers from mainland China and then to Hong Kong residents returning from Europe and the United States.

But the latest outbreak has puzzled top health experts.

Officials have so far been unable to trace how a significant number of people caught the virus, a worrisome sign, epidemiologists say, that makes it more difficult to break the chain of transmission. Most people who tested positive for the virus have not traveled and have not been linked to known clusters.

Hui said that previous outbreaks in Hong Kong were effectively contained before they could spread in the community unchecked.

“You could just isolate close contacts, quarantine them and stop the outbreak,” he said. This time, he said, “it’s quite difficult because we had a lot of silent transmission that has entered Hong Kong already.”

Many residents have attributed the outbreak to people who have entered Hong Kong recently without undergoing the standard 14-day quarantine. They have urged the government to stop granting exemptions to some business travelers and airplane pilots, but the government, which is struggling with a recession, has defended the exemptions as necessary.

After easing restrictions on daily life in recent weeks, Hong Kong officials are once again imposing tough measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. Masks are required indoors in public spaces, and dining at restaurants after 6 p.m. is banned.

The government has ordered gyms, movie theaters and swimming pools to close once again. About 40% of government workers have been asked to stay home.

Chuang Shuk-kwan, a top health official, did not rule out the possibility of imposing a curfew or a lockdown if the number of cases grew exponentially.

“Of course, we hope the situation wouldn’t reach that stage,” Chuang said at a news conference Monday.

The government is expanding its testing of residents, especially of those considered to be at a high risk of contracting the virus, including older adults, taxi drivers and restaurant workers. Officials say they are processing about 10,000 tests a day, and health workers have distributed testing kits in residential compounds where clusters have emerged.

Medical workers say they worry that an influx of coronavirus patients could overwhelm the city’s crowded hospitals.

Health officials said Monday that 71% of the 1,700 beds in isolation wards in the city’s hospitals were already in use. Most coronavirus

patients, however, are in stable condition, with only 36 considered to be seriously or critically ill. A dozen people have died from the virus during the pandemic.

Adding to the strain, many isolation wards in Hong Kong are crowded with young patients who show no symptoms of the virus but are required to stay until they test negative.

Doctors worry this could lead to a lack of space for older patients or those with more severe symptoms who need urgent medical attention.

Lam, Hong Kong’s leader, said Sunday that authorities were planning to use some 300 beds at a resort to isolate patients with mild symptoms. The government has said it would build a large quarantine center by the end of the year to accommodate 2,000 people, which could help ease overcrowding if cases rise again later in the year when the temperature drops.

Health care workers administered Covid-19 tests for taxi drivers in Hong Kong on Sunday.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

17

India rounds up critics under cover of virus crisis, activists say

By SAMEER YASIR and KAI SCHULTZ

A

fter spending several anxious days in prison, Natasha Narwal, a student activist accused of rioting by New Delhi police, thought her ordeal was nearing an end.

A judge ruled that Narwal had been exercising her democratic rights when she participated in protests earlier this year against a divisive citizenship law that incited unrest across India.

But shortly after the judge approved Narwal’s release in late May, police announced fresh charges: murder, terrorism and organizing protests that instigated deadly religious violence in India’s capital.

Narwal, 32, who has said that she is innocent, was returned to her cell.

“I felt like crying,” said her roommate, Vikramaditya Sahai. “We are grieving the country we grew up in.”

As India struggles to quell surging coronavirus infections, lawyers accuse authorities of rounding up government critics and keeping them in detention in the middle of a pandemic. It is part of a strategy, they say, to stifle activists who are protesting what they see as iron-fisted and anti-minority policies under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In recent weeks, Narwal and nearly a dozen other prominent activists — along with potentially dozens of other demonstrators, though police records are unclear — have been detained. They are being held under stringent sedition and anti-terrorism laws that have been used to criminalize everything from leading rallies to posting political messages on social media.

India’s coronavirus restrictions, some of which are still in effect, have blocked pathways to justice, lawyers and rights activists said. With courts closed for weeks, lawyers have struggled to file bail applications, and meeting privately with prisoners has been nearly impossible.

Law enforcement officials in New Delhi, who are under the direct control of India’s home ministry, have denied any impropriety. But rights groups said the arrests have been arbitrary, based on scant evidence and in line with a broader deterioration of free speech in India.

In a lengthy report released this month, the Delhi Minorities Commis-

sion, a government body, accused police and politicians from Modi’s party of inciting brutal attacks on protesters and supporting a “pogrom” against minority Muslims.

Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said cases against activists appeared to be “politically motivated” and that police had devised a formula for keeping people like Narwal in jail: When a judge orders the release of a prisoner for lack of evidence, new charges are introduced.

“The urgency to arrest rights activists and an obvious reluctance to act against violent actions of the government’s supporters show a complete breakdown in the rule of law,” she said.

Before the pandemic hit, Modi was in the throes of the most significant challenge to his power since becoming prime minister in 2014. After Parliament passed a law last year that made it easier for nonMuslim migrants to become Indian citizens, millions protested across the country.

To critics, the citizenship law was more evidence that Modi’s Hindu nationalist government planned to strip the country’s Muslims of their rights.

Tensions peaked in February when sectarian violence and rioting broke out in New Delhi. The vast majority of people killed, hurt or displaced were Muslim, and police were involved in many of those cases.

After Modi announced a nationwide lockdown in late March to contain the coronavirus, shutting down businesses and ordering all 1.3 billion Indians inside, the protests disbanded. Lawyers said police then moved to detain demonstrators while skirting complaints against government allies.

Among those in custody are a youth activist who raised awareness about police brutality against Muslims; an academic who gave a speech opposing the citizenship law; and Narwal, a graduate student who co-founded Pinjra Tod, or Break the Cage, a women’s collective that organized some of the largest rallies.

In a recent interview, Sachidanand Shrivastava, the police chief in New Delhi, said his officers were conducting fair investigations.

In May, authorities said they had

detained about 1,300 people for involvement in the protests and riots, including an equal number of Hindus and Muslims.

Recently, police arrested a group of Hindus for forcing nine Muslim men to chant “Hail Lord Ram,” a reference to a Hindu god, before killing them and throwing their bodies into a drain.

“It is very important that the police force remain impartial,” Shrivastava said.

“And we are following this principle from Day 1.”

But members of India’s judiciary have questioned the official numbers, accusing police of withholding information about the arrests under national security protections and singling out Muslims for many of the harsher charges.

In court proceeding notes reviewed

by The New York Times, a judge hearing a case against a Muslim protester wrote that police appeared to be targeting only “one end” without probing the “rival faction.”

During the riots, police were accused of abetting Hindus and, in some cases, torturing Muslims.

Khalid Saifi, a member of United Against Hate, a group that works with victims of hate crimes, was arrested after he tried to mediate between police and protesters, according to his lawyers.

Police charged him with being a “key conspirator” of the riots. His wife, Nargis Saifi, said he was tortured in custody.

“His only crime is he is a Muslim,” she said.

M.S. Randhawa, a police spokesperson, denied that Khalid Saifi had been tortured, adding that he has regular opportunities to speak to a judge if abuse occurs.

“These are just allegations,” Randhawa said. “He would have told the magistrate if he had been tortured.”

But rights advocates accuse Modi’s government of shielding party officials — and more broadly, of Hindus involved in the violence.

Narwal, who was detained in May, could face at least several years in prison for helping organize demonstrations that blocked a busy road in northeast Delhi, where February’s bloodiest battles between Hindus and Muslims broke out.

Police have accused her of playing a leading role in the riots, charging her with murder, attempt to murder and being part of a “criminal conspiracy.”

At the same time, police have been accused of ignoring complaints against Kapil Mishra, a local politician with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party who gave a fiery speech threatening to remove Narwal and other protesters forcibly if authorities did not take action.

Hours after the ultimatum, the streets erupted. But charges were never filed against Mishra, who has denied a role in starting the riots.

A protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi, January 30, 2020.

18

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Where is the outrage? this pandemic, which would eliminate coverage for as many as 23 million vulnerable Americans. t never ceases to amaze me how more And add to that the fact that earlier people aren’t outraged, shocked and this month, as the Times reported: disgusted by Donald Trump’s cruelty “The Trump administration has forand malfeasance. mally notified the United Nations that the Nearly 140,000 Americans are now United States will withdraw from the World dead because of the COVID-19 pandemic Health Organization, a move that would and more than 3 million have contracted cut off one of the largest sources of funding the disease. Furthermore, our outlook in from the premier global health organization this country is dire: Cases are surging and in the middle of a pandemic.” the number of dead continues to climb.

And recently, the Trump administration This is still the first wave; a second told states to stop sending their coronavirus wave could simply pile on and be catadata directly to the CDC and to send it strophic. instead to the Department of Health and And yet, Trump’s cronies are attackHuman Services. As CNBC reported last ing Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading week, “Previously public data has already infectious disease expert, demanding that disappeared from the Centers for Disease all schools reopen in the fall even as the An attendee wears a face mask at the BOK Center during a campaign rally for Control and Prevention’s website” followvirus rages, and continuing to tell the lie that President Donald Trump in Tulsa, Okla., on June 20, 2020. ing the move. the reason we have more cases is because So again I must ask, where is your outwe have more tests.

As The New York Times reported Saturday, Sen- rage? How is this happening? How is it being allowed Trump has so completely politicized the pandemic that people now routinely refuse to wear masks in ate Republicans had crafted a proposal for yet another to happen? Real people, Americans, are being allowed public places, insisting that being compelled to wear round of pandemic aid, this one including billions for to get sick and die while Trump plays a political game. more testing and contact tracing, as well as money for How long can this continue? them is an infringement on their rights.

Republican lawmakers for their part offer only the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and mildest contradictions to Trump’s deadly leadership, the National Institutes for Public Health, but the White House balked at these funding measures. if they offer any at all.

This obstruction will lead to more Americans Young people are now gathering at bars and dying. parties, exhausted by isolation, and no doubt having Not to mention that the White House proposal PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726 absorbed some of the myth that they are invincible for the new bill includes “eliminating a proposed $2 and the pandemic will be fleeting.

Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 But instead of demonstrating leadership and do- billion allocated to the Indian Health Service, which is (787) 743-5606 • Fax (787) 743-5100 ing the simplest and most effective things he could responsible for providing medical care to more than half of the nation’s tribal citizens and Alaska Natives, who do — insisting on a nationwide mask order as well as ramping up testing and contact tracing — Trump have been devastated by the pandemic and are particularly vulnerable to the virus,” according to The Times. appears to be doing the opposite.

Add to this the fact that the administration has As The Washington Post reported last week: said that it might continue to separate children from “Trump in recent weeks has been committing less their parents and hold the parents in detention faPublisher of his time and energy to managing the pandemic, according to advisers, and has only occasionally spoken cilities, even after a federal judge ruled that children Manuel Sierra Ray Ruiz in detail about the topic in his public appearances. should be released because outbreaks of COVID-19 General Manager Legal Notice Director One of these advisers said the president is ‘not really had rendered conditions at the facilities unsafe and María de L. Márquez Sharon Ramírez working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted unconstitutional.

Business Director Legal Notices Graphics Manager But the Trump administration has countered, “The by it. He’s not calling and asking about data. He’s not remedy for a constitutional violation of conditions of worried about cases.’”

R. Mariani Elsa Velázquez Trump is simply putting his head in the sand and confinement is to remedy the violation, not to release Circulation Director Reporter attempting to wish the virus away, or lie it away, or let petitioners.”

Add to that the fact that the Trump administration Lisette Martínez María Rivera it take its victims until there are no more to be had. submitted a brief last month asking the Supreme Court Advertising Agency Director Graphic Artist Manager And he doesn’t seem to want to know the true to overturn the Affordable Care Act in the middle of impact of the virus, nor does he want the public to know.

By CHARLES M. BLOW

I

Dr. Ricardo Angulo

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

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DSP interviene con negocios y ciudadanos por violaciones a la Orden Ejecutiva Por THE STAR

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l secretario del Departamento de Seguridad Pública (DSP), Pedro Janer, y el comisionado del Negociado de la Policía, Henry Escalera Rivera, informaron los resultados de la labor realizada durante el fin de semana como parte del plan de trabajo para hacer cumplir la Orden Ejecutiva 2020-054.

“En cumplimiento con las instrucciones impartidas por la gobernadora Wanda Vázquez Garced, personal del Negociado de la Policía, el Negociado de Investigaciones Especiales y el Negociado del Cuerpo de Bomberos inspeccionaron e intervinieron con decenas de comercios para validar que sus operaciones fueran cónsonas a lo dispuesto en la Orden Ejecutiva como parte de

las medidas de prevención contra el COVID-19. El personal estuvo trabajando arduamente para evitar actos delictivos, reducir las conductas de riesgo como la falta de mascarillas y el aglomeriamiento de público e intervenir con aquellos comercios que no cuenten con los permisos correspondientes”, explicó Janer en declaraciones escritas.

Escalera Rivera indicó que durante las intervenciones, realizadas en las 13 áreas policiacas se logró un total de 40 arrestos por diferentes delitos como drogas, armas y Ley 54. Además, se expidieron un total 1,586 boletos por violaciones a la Ley 22 de Tránsito, y ocuparon una cantidad considerable de sustancias controladas, entre estas 358 bolsas de marihuana, cocaína y decks de heroína. Durante el fin de semana,

también se reportó la ocupación de siete armas de fuego, 15 vehículos de motor y un total de dinero en efectivo de 3,774 dólares.

Estos indicaron que durante el fin de semana, se realizaron un total de 222 intervenciones, las cuales se dividen en 151 a personas y 28 a empresas. Unas 53 intervenciones fueron por violación a la Orden Ejecutiva 2020-054 y otras 18 por infracción al horario del toque de queda a personas que se encontraban en los negocios. Desde el inicio del plan de contingencia con relación al COVID 19 en Puerto Rico se han realizado 949 arrestos y 2,477 denuncias por violación al toque de queda. En lo que respecta a este fin de semana se informó un total de 24 arrestos y unas 174 denuncias por la misma razón.

“El pueblo puertorriqueño debe

tener claro que la Policía continuará en la calle haciendo cumplir las leyes y Órdenes Ejecutivas. Nuestra responsabilidad es salvaguardar la vida de los ciudadanos y continuaremos implementando las medidas necesarias para, junto a los expertos en el tema de Salud, dar la batalla contra el COVID-19. Exhortamos a informar cualquier irregularidad o conducta inapropiada, ya sea en violación de la Orden Ejecutiva, como otros actos delictivos al cuartel de la Policía más cercano. También pueden comunicarse de manera confidencial a través del 787-343-2020”, sostuvo el comisionado.

Durante las intervenciones participó personal del Departamento de Hacienda, OSHA, Departamento de Asuntos al Consumidor y la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica.

Juan Dalmau emplaza a la gobernadora sobre tema de Salud Por THE STAR

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nte el anuncio hecho por la gobernadora de que en la convocatoria a una sesión extraordinaria enviará un proyecto para regular la operación de las aseguradores de salud en Puerto Rico, el portavoz senatorial y aspirante a la gobernación del Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP), Juan Dalmau Ramírez, emplazó el lunes, a la mandataria y a los presidentes de los cuerpos legislativos a que incluyan en la extraordinaria y aprueben con premura la medida radicada por él y su homólogo en la Cámara, Denis Márquez, que busca implantar un Sistema de Salud Universal en Puerto Rico, así como el Proyecto del Senado 334, de su autoría, que propone como política pública el acabar con la injusticia que padecen hoy pacientes y proveedores de salud con aseguradoras privadas que actúan con actitudes tiránicas.

“Si la Gobernadora habla en serio y no miente, cuando expresa que ‘los tiempos en que los médicos y pacientes tienen que estar luchando para lograr un servicio médico adecuado, un servicio accesible y ágil y dónde, además, tienen que pedirle permiso en cada gestión a las aseguradoras comenzarán a ser cosas del pasado’, lo que debe hacer es instar a la mayoría parlamentaria de su partido a que apruebe en ambos

cuerpos el Plan de Salud Universal y el Proyecto del Senado 334 y ella convertirlos en ley estampando su firma inmediatamente”, manifestó el legislador independentista en comunicación escrita.

“Si en algo hay consenso en Puerto Rico, es en la necesidad de acabar de una vez y por todas con la tiranía que imponen los intereses económicos de las aseguradoras privadas, las cuales mediante ese control hoy dictan cuáles tratamientos autorizan basado más en preservar su ganancia que en la salud de los pacientes y ciudadanos”, sentenció el Portavoz senatorial del PIP. Para el senador independentista la aprobación del PS 334 por lo menos protegería al paciente, ya que su proveedor de servicio – sea un médico, un técnico de laboratorio, o farmacéutico- no estaría sometido a un cambio arbitrario y caprichoso en su contrato por parte de las aseguradoras. “El Proyecto del Senado 334 es un primer paso inmediato para al menos proteger al paciente de que su proveedor de servicio no se vea afectado ante los abusos de las aseguradoras. Ese proyecto debe verse cuanto antes de manera que, en lo que se adopta un Sistema de Salud Universal, al menos se tengan unas garantías mínimas para la protección de los pacientes y los proveedores de servicios”, insistió Juan Dalmau.

El Proyecto del Senado 334 establece que los contratos entre aseguradoras y proveedores de cuidado de salud participantes no pueden ser alterados unilateralmente por las aseguradoras de manera que tengan el efecto de menoscabar la compensación o el patrimonio de los proveedores, una vez se han certificado los pagos realizados a los proveedores por diagnósticos y tratamientos debidamente autorizados por el proveedor al paciente.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

To buy this Basquiat, swipe right

By ROBIN POGREBIN

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esting the notion that blue-chip art can be sold with a swipe, former Christie’s executive Loic Gouzer on Monday will use his new app as the auction block for a large drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat that is estimated to sell for $8 million to $9 million.

The app, called Fair Warning, started as a lark, Gouzer said, a way to keep busy under lockdown and to see whether the art world could pivot to online sales in a meaningful way. (Auction houses have since held their first — successful — completely online sales.)

The first piece he auctioned on the app, Steven Shearer’s 2018 portrait “Synthist,” sold to a private European collector for $437,000 — an auction high for the artist — on an estimate of $180,000 to $250,000.

Gouzer said he has sold two works since then: a body print by David Hammons that sold for about $1.3 million (estimated at $500,000 to $700,000) and a piece by Steven Parrino that sold for $977,500 (estimated at $650,000 to $750,000).

“It’s really an experiment,” said Gouzer, who while at Christie’s built a reputation as a bad-boy rainmaker for coming up with unorthodox sale ideas as well as procuring and

A photo provided by Fair Warning LLC, an untitled acrylic and oil stick on paper by Jean Michel Basquiat (1982).

The auction veteran Loic Gouzer is selling major works of art on his new app.

positioning big-ticket artworks, most famously Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” for $450.3 million in 2017.

“The idea was to create a guerrilla type of auction system,” he said, “where you could start moving paintings by using the cloud rather than physical locations.”

So far, the large auction houses seem unconcerned about Gouzer taking a significant piece of their business.

“The availability of only a single lot is a construct easily replicated,” said Marc Porter, chairman of Christie’s Americas, who called the app “clever and inventive.”

“The key factor will be the breadth of audience,” Porter added. “In that, he must contend with the worldwide data that the large auction houses, art fairs and megadealers have been investing in for years.”

Buyers must apply for admission to the app, where they are evaluated for the seriousness of their collecting.

Gouzer is trying to keep out speculators who would flip the works for higher prices to make a quick profit.

He had hoped to avoid guarantees — lining up a minimum bid in advance — which have become routine among auction houses. But he said sellers demand them these days.

(The Basquiat is guaranteed for an undisclosed amount around the low estimate, Gouzer said.)

The untitled Basquiat, an acrylic and oil stick on black paper that measures about 4 by 6 feet, features many of the qualities for which the artist was best known, such as “all the obsessive scribbling and those words that come all the time like ‘tar’ and ‘asbestos,’ ” Gouzer said.

He transformed his garage in Montauk, New York, into a climate-controlled viewing room where interested buyers can view the Basquiat starting Thursday (he hired security to guard it). The piece will sell on July 30.

At this point, Gouzer is planning to sell one piece a week — assuming inventory cooperates — with auctions taking place on the app at 5 p.m. sharp on Sundays. The sales are conducted live with the app registering bids. Gouzer takes a 15% flat commission.

While Gouzer has already been deluged with prospective future lots, he said he is picking and choosing carefully; should he fail to find pieces that satisfy his standards, he will simply wait until he does.

“I only put works that I would buy for my invisible collection. My taste is eclectic but very selective,” he said.

“I don’t have pressure, because I don’t have investors. It’s an extension of the curation I did when I was at Christie’s, but with complete freedom.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

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The Met Opera tests Pay-Per-View model

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

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fter the coronavirus pandemic forced concert halls and opera houses to close this spring, online performances proliferated. The Metropolitan Opera began streaming nightly operas from its extensive video archive, and in April it presented an At-Home Gala, broadcast over smartphones from the homes of singers around the world.

The classical music and opera offerings this spring and summer have mostly been free — and tremendously gratifying.

But as cancellations continue into the fall, and beyond, organizations have worried that listeners will start taking free performances for granted.

So the Met is testing whether audiences will pay for digital content with a series of recitals by some of its biggest stars; the first, on Saturday, featured tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Tickets are $20, roughly the price of the Met’s Live in HD movie-theater transmissions (and the performances remain available on demand for 12 days).

The endeavor might bring in some much-needed revenue for a company that is losing up to $100 million in sales during its theater’s closure, which will last at least until the end of the year. But perhaps even more important, the recitals are intended to stimulate donations. “Fundraising ebbs and flows according to activities and events,” Peter Gelb, the company’s general manager, said in a recent interview with The New York Times.

The Met’s At-Home Gala used charmingly makeshift technology. Kaufmann’s concert, by comparison, offered professional camera work, including many — maybe too many — dramatic close-ups, and high-quality sound. (At least, after a glitch when the audio briefly dropped out just as Kaufmann began singing the aria “Recondita armonia” from Puccini’s “Tosca.”)

The program, with pianist Helmut Deutsch, consisted of 11 arias and one Italian song performed (without a live audience) in the ornate 18th-century library of Polling Abbey near Munich, where Kaufmann lives. With a couple of exceptions, this was a greatest-hits collection of numbers from “Tosca,” “Turandot,” “Roméo et Juliette,” “La Gioconda” and more.

In a photo provided by Metropolitan Opera, the first in the Metropolitan Opera’s livestreamed recital series, the tenor Jonas Kaufmann, with the pianist Helmut Deutsch, performed a greatest-hits arias program near Munich.

Still, Kaufmann has been perhaps the Met’s most elusive star, and it was exciting to hear him again, even over a livestream.

The concert had a feeling of unusual intimacy, like a song recital; Kaufmann and Deutsch, an elegant pianist, have been frequent partners in recordings and performances of lieder. The familiar arias felt like they had been considered anew, and Kaufmann’s singing was splendid — his voice vibrant with dusky colors and warmth, his phrasing impassioned.

When called for, he drew on smoldering power, as in his heroic account of an aria from Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier.”

Yet I’ve seldom heard the “Flower Song” from Bizet’s “Carmen” sung with such tenderness and vulnerability. Kaufmann did the climactic phrase with a softness rare among tenors, following the pianissimo dynamic Bizet wrote in the score. The high B-flat was beautifully subdued.

To give Kaufmann some breaks Saturday, excerpts from his Met Live in HD broadcasts were shown, including scenes from Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” Massenet’s “Werther” and Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West.” There was even footage of Kaufmann performing “Vesti la giubba” from “Pagliacci” at the Salzburg Easter Festival in 2015.

If all this, and the photo montages of Kaufmann in action at the Met, pushed the promotional trappings a little too obviously, no matter. Revisiting his triumphs was a reminder of what opera fans are missing right now. The 12-concert recital series, hosted by Christine Goerke, will include performances from various locations by Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Joyce DiDonato, Bryn Terfel, Angel Blue, Lise Davidsen and others.

One delicate issue came up during Gelb’s recent Times interview: While

the stars participating in the series are being paid, the Met’s orchestra and chorus, among other employees, remain furloughed. But Gelb said the recitals, and other initiatives, are necessary to keep the company going.

“If there’s no Met to come back to,” he said, “the jobs of our furloughed artists will be lost.”

Kaufmann implicitly acknowledged this at the end of the concert, after a valiant performance of “Nessun dorma.” He and Deutsch, following hygiene protocols, bumped elbows instead of shaking hands.

Then Kaufmann spoke of what a “pleasure and privilege” it was to be the first singer in the recital series. Not all musicians have that privilege right now, he added. So he announced that he was donating $5,000 to artists who are out of work, with the hope that they and audiences will be together again soon.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

How koalas with an STD could help humanity

The marsupials sometimes contract chlamydia, which is very similar to human form of the disease, and researchers at the clinic are testing a vaccine they hope could be the key to developing a long-lasting cure for humans.

By RACHEL E. GROSS

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he first sign is the smell: smoky, like a campfire, with a hint of urine. The second is the koala’s rear end: If it is damp and inflamed, with streaks of brown, you know the animal is in trouble. Jo, lying curled and unconscious on the examination table, had both.

Jo is a wild koala under the purview of Endeavour Veterinary Ecology, a wildlife consulting company that specializes in bringing sick koala populations back from the brink of disease.

Vets noticed on their last two field visits that she was sporting “a suspect bum,” as veterinarian Pip McKay put it. So they brought her and her 1-year-old joey into the main veterinary clinic, which sits in a remote forest clearing in Toorbul, north of Brisbane, for a full health check.

McKay already had an inkling of what the trouble might be. “Looking at her, she probably has chlamydia,” she said.

Humans don’t have a monopoly on sexually transmitted infections. Oysters get herpes; rabbits get syphilis; dolphins get genital warts. But chlamydia — a pared-down, single-celled bacterium that acts like a virus — has been especially successful, infecting everything from frogs to fish to parakeets. You might say chlamydia connects us all.

This shared susceptibility has led some scientists to argue that studying, and saving, koalas may be the key to develop-

ing a long-lasting cure for humans. “They’re out there, they’ve got chlamydia, and we can give them a vaccine; we can observe what the vaccine does under real conditions,” said Peter Timms, a microbiologist at the University of Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He has spent the past decade developing a chlamydia vaccine for koalas and is now conducting trials on wild koalas, in the hopes that his formula will soon be ready for wider release. “We can do something in koalas you could never do in humans,” Timms said.

In koalas, chlamydia’s ravages are extreme, leading to severe inflammation, massive cysts and scarring of the reproductive tract. In the worst cases, animals are left yelping in pain when they urinate, and they develop the telltale smell. But the bacteria responsible is still remarkably similar to the human one, thanks to chlamydia’s tiny, highly conserved genome: It has just 900 active genes, far fewer than most infectious bacteria.

Because of these similarities, the vaccine trials that Endeavour and Timms are running may offer valuable clues for researchers across the globe who are developing a human vaccine.

A Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery How bad is chlamydia in humans? Consider that about 1 in 10 sexually active teenagers in the United States is already infected, said Dr. Toni Darville, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina.

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection

worldwide, with 131 million new cases reported each year.

Antibiotics exist, but they are not enough to solve the problem, Darville said. That’s because chlamydia is a “stealth organism,” producing few symptoms and often going undetected for years.

“We can screen them all and treat them, but if you don’t get all their partners and all their buddies at the other high schools, you have a big spring break party, and before you know it everybody’s infected again,” Darville said. “So they have this long-term chronic smoldering infection, and they don’t even know it. And then when they’re 28, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m ready to have a baby’; everything’s a mess.”

In 2019, Darville and her colleagues received a multiyear, $10.7 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a vaccine. The ideal package would combine a chlamydia and gonorrhea vaccine with the HPV vaccine already given to most preteenagers. “If we could combine those three, you’d basically have a fertility anti-cancer vaccine,” she said.

Chlamydia’s stealth and ubiquity — the name means “cloaklike mantle” — owes to its two-stage life cycle. It starts out as an elementary body, a sporelike structure that sneaks into cells and hides from the body’s immune system. Once inside, it wraps itself in a membrane envelope, hijacks the host cell’s machinery and starts pumping out copies of itself. These copies either burst out of the cell or are released into the bloodstream to continue their journey.

“Chlamydia is pretty unique in that regard,” said Ken Beagley, a professor of immunology at Queensland University of Technology and a former colleague of Timms. “It’s evolved to survive incredibly well in a particular niche, it doesn’t kill its host, and the damage it causes occurs over quite a long time.”

The bacterium can hang out in the genital tract for months or years, wreaking reproductive havoc. Scarring and chronic inflammation can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancy or pelvic inflammatory disease. Evidence is mounting that chlamydia harms male fertility as well: Beagley has found that the bacteria damages sperm and could lead to birth abnormalities.

All of this — except the spring break parties — is true in both humans and koalas. Researchers who work with both species note that koala chlamydia looks strikingly similar to the human version. The main difference is severity: In koalas, the bacterium rapidly ascends the urogenital tract and can jump from the reproductive organs to the bladder thanks to their anatomical proximity.

These parallels have led Timms to argue that koalas could serve as a “missing link” in the search for a human vaccine.

“The koala is more than just a fancy animal model,” he said. “It actually is really useful for human studies.”

An Ancient Curse No one knows how or when koalas first got chlamydia.

But the curse is at least centuries old.

In 1798, European explorers reached the mountains of New South Wales and spied a creature that defied description: Ear-tufted and spoon-nosed, it peered down stoically from the

The San Juan Daily Star crooks of towering eucalyptus trees. They compared it to the wombat, the sloth and the monkey. They settled on “native bear” and gave it the genus name Phascolarctos (from the Greek for “leather pouch” and “bear”), spawning the misconception that the koala bear is, in fact, a bear.

“The graveness of the visage,” The Sydney Gazette wrote in 1803, “would seem to indicate a more than ordinary portion of animal sagacity.”

In the late 19th century, Australian naturalist Ellis Troughton noted that the “quaint and lovable koala” was also particularly susceptible to disease. The animals suffered from an eye ailment similar to pink eye, which he blamed for waves of koala die-offs in the 1890s and 1900s. At the same time, anatomist J.P. Hill found that koalas from Queensland and New South Wales often had ovaries and uteruses riddled with cysts. Many modern scientists now believe those koalas were probably afflicted with the same scourge: chlamydia.

Koalas today have even more to worry about. Dogs, careless drivers and, recently, rampant bush fires have driven their numbers down so far that conservation groups are calling for koalas to be listed as endangered. But chlamydia still reigns supreme: In parts of Queensland, the heart of the epidemic, the disease helped fuel an 80% decline over two decades.

The disease is also the one that most often sends koalas to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, the country’s busiest wildlife hospital, 30 miles north of Endeavour. “The figures are 40% chlamydia, 30% cars, 10% dogs,” said Dr. Rosemary Booth, the hospital’s director. “And then the rest is an interesting assortment of what trouble you can get into when you have a small brain and your habitat’s been fragmented.”

Booth’s team treats “chlamydia koalas” with an ampedup regimen of the same antibiotics used on humans. “I get all of my chlamydia information from the CDC,” she said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the United States, “because America is the great center for chlamydia.”

But the cure can be as deadly as the disease. Deep inside a koala’s intestines, an army of bacteria helps the animal subsist off eucalyptus, a plant toxic to every other animal. “These are the ultimate example of an animal that’s completely dependent on a population of bacteria,” Booth said. Antibiotics extinguish that crucial gut flora, leaving a koala unable to gain nutrients from its food.

In a 2019 trial led by Timms and Booth, one of five koalas treated with antibiotics later had to be euthanized “due to gastrointestinal complications, resulting in muscle wasting and dehydration.” The problem is so dire that vets give antibiotictreated koalas “poo shakes” — fecal transplants, essentially — in the hopes of restoring their microbiota.

For the past decade, Timms has worked to perfect a vaccine. Rather than treat animals once they are already sick, a widespread vaccine would protect koalas from any future sexual encounter and from passing the infection from mother to newborn. His formula, developed with Beagley, appears to work well: Trials have shown that it is safe to use and takes effect within 60 days and that animals show immune responses that span their entire reproductive lives. The next step is optimizing it for use in the field.

At Endeavour, the vets treating Jo got a surprise: Molecular tests showed she was chlamydia-free. That meant she could be recruited for the current trial, which is testing a combined vaccine against chlamydia and the koala retrovirus known as KoRV, a virus in the same family as HIV that similarly knocks down the koala’s immune system and makes chlamydia more

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Dr. Rosemary Booth, left, and Michelle Haywood examine and treat Merlin, a wild koala with a severe case of chlamydia, at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah, Australia, June 24, 2020. deadly.

Timms is hoping that this trial and another in New South Wales will be the “clincher” — the last step before the government rolls out mass vaccinations in northern Australia. If he is right, it could be good news for more than just koalas.

Of Mice and Marsupials Timms began his career studying chlamydia in livestock before moving on to using mice as a model for a human vaccine. Cheap, plentiful and amenable to genetic manipulation, mice have long been the gold standard for studying reproductive disease.

But the mouse model comes with serious drawbacks.

Most glaringly, mice exhibit a profoundly different immune response to chlamydia from ours, making the idea of testing a mouse for a human vaccine “completely flawed,” Timms said.

After a decade of doing mouse work, he reasoned that he could take the insights he had gleaned and apply them to an animal that was actually suffering and possible to cure: the koala. “We don’t need a vaccine for mice,” he said. With “koala work, as hard as that is, and as difficult as that is, the results you get are the ones that matter.”

The more Timms worked with koalas, the more he realized that these marsupials were not so different from humans.

Here was a species that, like us, was naturally infected with several strains of chlamydia and suffered from similar reproductive outcomes, including infertility. He realized he might have a useful model animal on his hands.

“You’re better off doing a bad experiment in koalas than a good experiment in mice,” Timms said. “Because koalas really do get chlamydia, and they really do get reproductive tract disease, so everything you do is relevant.”

Outside Australia, many researchers say the idea of a koala model is clever but difficult to implement. Darville pointed out that it would be expensive and logistically impossible to test 30 different vaccines in koalas. (According to Endeavour, it costs roughly $2,000 to pluck one koala from its tree and give it a health exam.)

Still, Timms said, the challenge was worth attempting: “The reason that we’re making a case that in between mouse and humans you should put koalas — rather than guinea pigs, minipigs and monkeys — is that koalas address all of the weaknesses, to some degree, that the others have.”

Paola Massari, an immunologist at Tufts Medical School,

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is collaborating with Timms to test a different potential vaccine in koalas. “The koala represents a perfect clinical model, because it’s an animal for which you can do some experimentation that’s a little more than what you can do in humans,” she said. “And at the same time, if you get results, you are curing a disease (in koalas).”

An Unlikely Alliance On a February afternoon, Booth strode out into the blaring sunlight of the Australia Zoo grounds. She was heading to the chlamydia wards, which in 2018 were officially named the John Oliver Koala Chlamydia Ward after a grant was donated on the comedian’s behalf. About 20 sick koalas were being treated with antibiotics that day, with dozens more on the road to recovery.

Booth stepped up to a leafy enclosure, where a fluffy gray female eyed her curiously from her perch. This koala was originally brought in for chlamydia but had since recovered; her reason for being here, listed on her cage, was “misadventure.”

“This is little Lorna, who’s rather interesting,” Booth said.

“She has a baby in her pouch, and she’s had problems with her glucose metabolism” — she had diabetes.

Wasn’t it unusual to have an animal that gets such humanlike diseases: diabetes, cancer and sexually transmitted infections? “We are but an animal,” Booth said, throwing her hands up in a gesture of unity with the world. “We didn’t think of it first.”

It is still uncertain to what extent the research on koala chlamydia will help in developing a human vaccine. (Darville had been working for nine months when COVID-19 hit, shuttering her lab and slowing scientific progress.) What is certain is that the research done on human chlamydia has greatly benefited koalas. From human antibiotics to mouse insights, wildlife veterinarians have far more tools than before to save the vulnerable marsupials.

For Booth, helping koalas is more than enough. “I don’t want to save humans,” she said. “My emphasis is completely the other way: I want to use human research to help save other animals. Because they don’t have a voice unless we speak for them.”

Merlin, a wild koala with a severe case of chlamydia, under sedation at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah, Australia, June 24, 2020.

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JAMES W. TURNER CONSTRUCTION, LTD. Demandante Vs.

CRESCENT CITY FACILITIES MAINTENANCE, LLC.; JASON MATHERNE; RORY BOUDREAUX

Demandados CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020CV02629.

SALA: 802. SOBRE: SENTENCIA DECLARATORIA; INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO; COBRO DE DINERO Y DAÑOS y PERJUICIOS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA DEL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. s.s.

A: CRESCENT CITY FACILITIES MAINTENANCE, LLC. JASON MATHERNE RORY BOUDREAUX 73018 PENN MILL ROAD COVINGTON, LOUISIANA

Por la presente, se le emplaza y se le notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Deberá presentar la contestación 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 represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentarla ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de San Juan con copia a la representación legal de la parte demandante a la siguiente dirección: Ledo. Víctor M. Rivera Torres; 1420 Avenida Fernández Juncos , San Juan, PR 00909; Tel. (787) 727-5710; Fax (787) 268-1835; Correo electrónico: victor.rivera@rcrtrblaw.com. Se le apercibe que , de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí establecido, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en San ,Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 30 de junio de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional.

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

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SALA DE BAYAMON- SALA la publicación de este edicto, SUPERIOR. el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y ALEXIS conceder el remedio solicitado CORTES NORIEGA en la demanda o cualquier otro, Demandante, Vs. si el tribunal, en el ejercicio BANCO SANTANDER de su discreción, lo entiende DE PUERTO RICO, procedente. Usted deberá preSUCESOR EN INTERES sentar su alegación responsiva DE BAYAMON FEDERAL a través del Sistema Unificado SAVINGS BANK JOHN de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), el cual puede DOE Y RICHARD ROE, acceder utilizando la siguiente Demandados. dirección electrónica: https:// CIVIL NÚM. BY2019CV07044 unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo (501). SOBRE: CANCELAque se represente por derecho CIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRApropio. El abogado de la parte VIADO. EDICTO. ESTADOS demandante es: Lcdo. Raúl RiUNIDOS DE AMERICA EL vera Burgos, RUA 8879, EstanPRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTAcias de San Fernando, Calle 4, DOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LINúmero 4, A-35, Carolina, P.R. BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO 00985, Tel. (787) 238-7665, RICO. Email: rauIrblawcgmail.com.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y ROE o sea, las personas sello de este Tribunal de Bayaignoradas que puedan món, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de ser tenedores del pagaré mayo de 2020. LCDA, LAURA i. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secreextraviado. taria Regional. HERMINELLY Por la presente se les notifiROLON LOPEZ, Secretaria ca que se ha presentada ante Auxiliar. este tribunal una Demanda, en el caso de epígrafe, en la cual LEGAL NOTICE se solicita la cancelación de ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO un pagaré a favor de Bayamón DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL Federal Savings and Loan AsGENERAL DR JUSTICIA TRIsociation of Puerto Rico, o a su BUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANorden, por la suma principal de CIA SALA DE CAROLINA. $42,000.00, con intereses al ORIENTAL BANK 17- 1/2 % anual, vencedero el Demandante 1 de octubre de 2007, según REBECCA RIVERA consta de la escritura número 303, otorgada en Bayamón, el RODRiGUEZ t/c/c 9 de septiembre de 1982, ante REVECA RIVERA el Notario José R. Fournier RODRiGUEZ, Y LUIS Torres, inscrita al folio 295 del MANUEL SALINA tomo 295 de Bayamón Sur, finca número 12,945, inscripción ROSARIO; JOHN DOE Y cuarta, sobre la propiedad que RICHARD ROE se describe a continuación: UrDemandados bana: Solar radicado en la Ur- CIVIL NUM. CA2020CV01424. banización Santa Rosa, situada SOBRE: SUSTITUCION DR en el Barrio Juan Sánchez de PAGARE HIPOTECAR1O. Bayamón, Puerto Rico, que se EMPLAZAMIENTO. ESTAdescribe en el plano de inscrip- DOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA ción de la Urbanización, con EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. el número, área y colindancias UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOque se relacionan a continua- CIADO DE P.R. SS. ción: Número del Solar: 15 de A: JOHN DOE Y la Manzana 10. Área del solar: RICHARD ROE, personas 315.00 metros cuadrados. En desconocidas que se lindes por el Norte, con el solar designan con estos número 14, distancia de 21.00 nombres ficticios, que metros; por el Sur, con el solar número 16, distancia de 21.00 puedan ser tenedor o metros; por el Este, con la Avetenedores, o puedan tener nida Aguas Buenas, distancia algún interés en el pagaré de 15.00 metros y por el Oeste, con el solar número 20, distan- hipotecario a que se hace cia de 15.00 metros. Consta referencia más adelante inscrita al folio 3 del tomo 295 en el presente edicto, que de Bayamón Sur, finca 12,945, se publicará una sola vez.

Registro de la Propiedad de Se les notifica que en la DeBayamon, Sección Primera. manda radicada en el caso de Se le advierte que este edicto epígrafe se alega que un pagase publicará en un periódico ré hipotecario otorgado el 14 de de circulación general una junio de 2006, Rebecca Rivera sola vez y que si no compareRodriguez y Luis Manuel Sauna ce a contestar dicha Demanda Rosario otorgaron en San Juan, dentro del término de treinta Puerto Rico un pagaré hipote(30) días, contados a partir de cario por Ia suma principal de

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

$157,000.00, con intereses a razón del 6.00% anual, a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Puerto Rico (hoy Oriental Bank), con vencimiento el 1 de julio de 2021, ante el Notario Raul J. Vilá Sellés, mediante el afidávit número 36363, se extravió, sin embargo la deuda evidenciada y garantizada por dicho pagaré hipotecario no ha sido salda, por lo que La parte demandante solicita que se ordene Ia sustitución del mismo.

En garantía de dicho pagaré el 14 de junio de 2006, Rebecca Rivera Rodriguez y Luis Manuel Sauna Rosario constituyeron hipoteca numero 535 ante el Notario RaW J. Vita Sellés en garantía del pago del pagaré antes descrito, inscrita al folio 94 del tomo 983 de Carolina, finca 41181, inscripción 2da, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Carolina, sección I. La hipoteca a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Puerto Rico, por La suma principal de $157,000.00 que resulta de Ia inscripción 2da, fue modificada en cuanto a lo siguiente: se cancela parcialmente en cuanto a Ia suma de $1,600.00 quedando reducida a Ia suma principal de $155,400.00, devengando intereses al 4.50% anual, por los primeros 36 meses, comenzando el 1 de noviembre de 2010 y Ia tasa de 6.00% anual por los próximos 444 meses, comenzando eL i de noviembre de 2013 pagadero y vence el 1 de octubre de 2050, según consta de Ia escritura #599, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el dIa 30 de octubre de 2010, ante el Notario Público RaW J. Vilá Sellés, inscrita al folio 94vto del tomo 983, pasando al folio 9 del tomo 1012 de Carolina I, finca 41181, inscripción 3ra. La hipoteca que garantiza dicho pagaré grava La propiedad inmueble que se describe a el continuación: el APARTAMENTO #6601. URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL: el Apartamento residencial de dos niveles de forma irregular identificado con el #601 el del Edificio “6” dcl Condominio Jardin Sereno, situado en el Barrio Sabana Abajo el del término municipal de Carolina, Puerto Rico, tiene una cabida superficial de el 1,621.88 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 150.6784 metros cuadrados. En su primer el nivel colinda por el NORTE, en una distancia aproximada de 20’2”, con elemento el común; por el SUR, en una distancia aproximada de 15’lO”, con elemento comUn; el por el ESTE; en una distancia aproximada de 34’6”, con Apartamento identificado el con el #6-602 y por el OESTE, en una distancia aproximada de 34’6”, con elemento el común y con el apartamento

(787) 743-3346

Tuesday, July 21, 2020 identificado con el #7-704. El segundo nivel colinda el por el NORTE, en una distancia aproximada de 20’2”, con exterior; por el SUR, en el una distancia aproximada de 15’l0” con exterior; por el ESTE, en una distancia el aproximada de 34’6” con apartamento identificado con el #6-603 y por el OESTE, el en una distancia aproximada de 35’4” con el apartamento identificado con el #6- el 602.

La puerta de entrada a este apartamento está situada en el primer nivel en su el colindancia Sur a través de los cuales se llega a los elementos comunes generales, el por los cuales se obtiene acceso a la vía pública.

En su primer nivel este apartamento el consta de un recibidor exterior, sala, comedor, cocina, un baño, lavanderia, escalera el que permite el acceso al segundo nivel, terraza y patio. En el segundo nivel este el apartamento consta de pasillo, baño, tres habitaciones, una de ellas con walk-incloset el y baño. Le corresponde dos espacios de estacionamiento identificados con el los #44 y #45. Participa de 0.007137% en los elementos comunes generales. el Finca 41181 inscrita al folio 94 del tomo 983 de Carolina, Registro de Ia Propiedad el de Carolina, Sección I. el POR LA PRESENTE se Ic emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva el dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el dIa del el diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado el de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando Ia siguiente el dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, el en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en Ia secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja el de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia el en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en Ia demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRON RUANUM. 17682 DELGADO & FERNANDEZ, LLC P0 Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 / Fax (787) 764-8241 E-mail: jmontalvo@ delgadofcrnandez.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 13 de julio de 2020. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Secretaria Regional.

The San Juan Daily Star Ida Fernandez Rodriguez, Sec comenzando el I de agosto Auxiliar del Tribunal. de 2008, con vencimiento el 1 de julio de 2049, tasación LEGAL NOTICE $102,200.00, segUn consta de ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO la escritura #104, otorgada en DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL San Juan, el dIa 23 de junio GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRI- de 2009, ante el Notario PúBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTAN- blico José V. Gorbea Varona, CIA SALA DE BAYAMON. inscrito al folio #45vto del tomo #232 de Bayamón Norte, finca ORIENTAL BANK #4 144, inscripción 9na. ModiDemandante V. MARIBEL CAMACHO fica nuevamente la hipoteca por $94,000.00 que grava esta GINES; JOHN DOE Y finca según inscripción 8va, RICHARD ROE; comparece Maribel Camacho Demandados Gines y Banco Bilbao Vizcaya CIVIL NUM. BY2020CV02016. Argentaría de Puerto Rico, en SOBRE: SUSTITUCION DE cuanto a según ampliada hasPAGARE HIPOTECARIO. EM- ta Ia suma de $102,200.00 por PLAZAMIENTO. ESTADOS Ia inscripción 9na, en cuanto UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL a los extremos siguientes: coPRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. menzando el 1 de febrero de UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASO- 2012 hasta el 1 de enero de CIADO DE P.R. SS. 2017, con intereses al 4.500% A: JOHN DOE Y anual, con pagos mensuales de RICHARD ROE, personas $438.84, comenzando ci I de desconocidas que se febrero de 2017 hasta su fecha de vencimiento ci principal será designan con estos de 5.875% anual, pagos mennombres ficticios, que suales de $570.35, vence ci 1 puedan ser tenedor o de enero de 2052, segUn constenedores, o puedan tener ta de Ia escritura #280, otorgaalgún interés en el pagaré da en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 16 de diciembre de 2011, hipotecario a que se hace día ante el Notario Público Luis referencia más adelante Yamil Rodriguez San Miguel, en el presente edicto, que inscrito al folio #187 del tomo se publicará una sola vez. #265 de Bayamón Norte, finca Se les notifica que en la De- #4 144, inscripción lOma y Ulmanda radicada en el caso tima. La hipoteca que garantiza de epígrafe se alega que un dicho pagaré grava la propiepagaré hipotecario otorgado dad inmueble que se describe a el 28 de febrero de 2006, Ma- continuación: URBANA: Aparribel Camacho Gines otorgO tamiento residencial #N-204 en San Juan, Puerto Rico un en el segundo piso del edificio pagaré hipotecario por Ia suma N del Condominio River Park principal de $94,000.00, con localizado en el Barrio Juan intereses a razón del 6 5/8% Sanchez del término municipal anual, a favor de la Banco Bil- de Bayamón. Tiene un área bao Vizcaya Argentaría Puerto aproximada de fabricación de Rico (hoy Oriental Bank), con 786 pies cuadrados, equivalenvencimiento el 1 de marzo de tes a 73.00 metros cuadrados 2036, ante el Notario RaUl J. con 4 centímetros cuadrados, Vilá Sellés, mediante el afidávit siendo sus mayores medidas número 36158, se extravió, sin lineales aproximadas, 34’ 1/2” embargo la deuda evidenciada en su mayor largo y 25’3” en y garantizada por dicho pagaré su mayor ancho. Colinda por hipotecario no ha sido salda, el NORTE, con pared que las por lo que la parte demandante separa del apartamiento resisolicita que se ordene Ia susti- dencial N-203; por el SUR, con tución del mismo. En garantía pared exterior del edificio N; por de dicho pagaré el 28 de febre- el OESTE; con pared exterior ro de 2006, Maribel Camacho del edificio N y con pared que Gines constituyO hipoteca nu- lo separa del apartamento resimero 184 ante el Notario Raúl dencial N-206; y por el ESTE, J. Vilá Sellés en garantía del con pared que Jo separa de un pago del pagaré antes descri- vestíbulo de uso común y el exto, inscrita al folio 45 del tomo terior del edificio N. Su puerta 232 de Bayamón Norte, finca principal de entrada está situa4144, inscripción 8, Registro da en Ia colindancia Este y lo de Ia Propiedad de Bayamón, comunica a un vestíbulo común Sección III. Ampliada y modifi- que le da acceso a espacios cocada la hipoteca de la inscrip- munes dentro de los limites del ción 8va a favor del Banco Bil- Condominio y sus terrenos que bao Vizcaya Argentaría Puerto a su vez le dan acceso a una Rico, se amplIa el principal en vía pUblica. Se compone de Ia suma de $8,200.00 para un sala-comedor, cocina, balcón, nuevo principal en la suma de dos habitaciones dormitorios, $102,200.00, se modifica el baño, pasillo y closets. Le copago mensual de principal e rresponde una participación de interés a Ia suma de $553.44 0.186670% en los elementos

comunes generales del edificio del cual forma parte. Le corresponde un espacio de estacionamiento marcado con él mismo número y letra del apartamiento. Finca 4144 inscrita al folio 44 del tomo 232 de Bayamón Norte, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. 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 dIa 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 Ia siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramaiudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretarIa del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldIa 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.

LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRON RUA NUM. 17682 DELGADO & FERNANDEZ, LLC P0 Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 / Fax (787) 764-8241 E-mail: jpntaIvo@delgadofernandez.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 13 de julio de 2020. LCDA, LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. Ana Lopez, SubSeretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE FAJARDO.

ENITZA MARIN RODRIGUEZ Demandante vs.

NOEL GARCIA RIVERA

Demandado CIVIL NÚM: BG2020RF00072.

SALÓN: 202. SOBRE: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: NOEL GARCIA RIVERA FEDERAL PRISON CAMP PENSACOLA. 110 Raby Avenue Pensacola, Florida 32509

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y se le notifica que una demanda ha sido presentada en su contra, la cual obra en

The San Juan Daily Star el expediente del Honorable Tribunal de Primera Instancia de San Juan en el caso de epígrafe, y se le 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), el 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 conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier Otro, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

VAZQUEZ & ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICES LCDA. ROSA L. VAZQUEZ LOPEZ RUA 17843 COL 188853 379 Calle Cesar Gonzalez Hato Ray, San Juan PR 00918 Tel (787) 766-0949 / Fax (787) 771-2425 Email: vazquezyasociadospr@ gmail.com Se le apercibe que de no hacerlo, se podrá dictar Sentencia en rebeldía concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin citarle ni oírle mas. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y EL SELLO DEL TRIBUNAL , en San Juan, Puerto Rico., hoy 13 de julio de 2020. Wanda I Segui Reyes, Sec Regional.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

TA (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Debe saber que en caso de no hacerlo así podrá dictarse Sentencia en Rebeldía en contra suya, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy dia 15 de julio de 2020. Dominga Gómez Fuster, Secretaria Regional. Dalias Reyes de Leon, SubSecretaria.

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante vs.

TOMAS RODRIGUEZ JARABO su esposa JOSIE MARIE LOPATEGUI BOU y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos

Demandados LEGAL NOTICE CIVIL NÚM: CA2020CV00084 ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO (404). SOBRE: COBRO DE DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- DINERO (Ejecución de HipoNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA teca por la Vía Ordinaria). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. SALA DE HUMACAO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE PALMAS DEL MAR AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE HOMEOWNERS DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS ASSOCIATION, INC. DE AMÉRICA EL ESTADO LIParte Demandante V. BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO MARÍA E RICO.

RIZZO MERCADO

Parte Demandada CIVIL NUM: HU2019CV01625.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS. A: MARIA E. RIZZO MERCADO POR LA PRESENTE, se les emplaza y requiere para que notifiquen a: GONZÁLEZ & MORALES LAW OFFICES, LLC PO BOX 10242 HUMACAO, PR 00792 TELÉFONO: (787) 852-4422 FACSÍMIL: (787) 285-4425 Email: jrggonzalezmoraIes.com abogados de la parte demandante, cuya dirección es la que deja indicada, con copia de su Contestación a la Demanda, copia de la cual le es servida en este caso, dentro de los TREIN-

A: TOMAS RODRIGUEZ JARABO su esposa JOSIE MARIE LOPATEGUI BOU y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos

su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. 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/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 conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. La dirección postal de la abogada de la parte demandante es la siguiente: Lcda. Adela Surillo Gutiérrez Collazo, Connelly & Surillo LLC, P.O. Box 70212 San Juan, PR 009368212; Teléfono: 625-9999.

Se le notifica también por la presente que la parte demandante habrá de presentar para su anotación al Registrador de la Propiedad del Distrito en que está situada la propiedad objeto de este pleito, un aviso de estar pendiente esta acción.

Para publicarse conforme a la Orden dictada por el Tribunal en un periódico de circulación general. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto que firmo y sello en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy 21 de mayo de 2020. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Secretaria Regional. Myriam I Figueroa Pastrana, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior Municipal de San Juan.

FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO VS

JUAN E. MERCADO VELÁZQUEZ

CIVIL NUM. SJ2020CV00723 (802). SOBRE: INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO; POR EL PRESENTE EDICCOBRO DE DINERO . NOTIFITO, se le notifica que se ha CACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR radicado en esta Secretaría EDICTO POR SUMAC. por la parte demandante, DeA: JUAN E. MERCADO manda sobre Ejecución de VELÁZQUEZ Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria en la que se alega adeuda la EL SECRETARIO (A) que sussuma de $140,789.37 de prin- cribe le notifica a usted que cipal, $24,109.00 de balance el 16 de JULIO de 2020, este principal diferido, intereses al Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, 6 % anual, desde el día 1 ro Sentencia Parcial o Resolución de octubre de 2017 hasta su en este caso, que ha sido debicompleto pago, más la cantidad damente registrada y archivada de $17,232.36 estipulada para en autos donde podrá usted costas, gastos y honorarios de enterarse detalladamente de abogado más recargos acu- los términos de esta. Esta nomulados, todas cuyas sumas tificación se publicará una sola están líquidas y exigibles. POR vez en un periódico de circulaLA PRESENTE se le emplaza ción general en la Isla de Puerpara que presente al tribunal to Rico, dentro de los diez (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 julio de 2020. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 17 de julio de 2020. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. f/ DENISE M. AMARO MACHUCA, Secretario (a) Auxiliar.

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

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO EDECOOP DEMANDANTE vs.

ANA ARROYO TORRES

DEMANDADA CIVIL NUM.: SJ2020CV00404.

SALA: 903. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO (REGLA 60). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS.

A: ANA ARROYO TORRES

Queda emplazada y notificada de que en este Tribunal se ha radicado una demanda de acción civil en su contra. Se le notifica que 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 Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan y enviando copia a la parte demandante: LCDA. ERIKA MORALES MARENGO; PO Box 195337, San Juan PR 00919; Teléfono 787-302-0014 / 787-239-5661; Email emarengo16@yahoo. com. Se le apercibe y notifica que si no contesta la demanda radicada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citárseles, ni oírseles. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, a 13 DE JULIO DE 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. Sonia I Rivera Gambaro, Sec del Tribunal Confidencial.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Yankees and Mets are glad to see some new faces

By JAMES WAGNER

M

ajor League Baseball during a pandemic looks like this: A masked hitter smashing a home run, a bottle of hand sanitizer hanging from an umpire’s waistband, cardboard cutouts of fans positioned in the seats behind home plate, artificial cheering used after plays that benefited the home team.

It was peculiar, but for so many New York Yankees and New York Mets players, it was most welcome. Although Saturday and Sunday’s exhibitions were preludes to the abbreviated 60-game regular season, which begins Thursday, both sides had not faced an opponent since March 12 — the day spring training was shut down because of the coronavirus.

In a normal year, crosstown rivals squaring off would add intrigue. But in a world flipped upside down by a pandemic, players were happy to be competing against someone other than their own teammates and inching toward games that count.

“This is one of the days that we were wishing and waiting for during the second offseason,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said before his team lost to the Yankees, 9-3, on Saturday night at Citi Field.

The Yankees also won Sunday night, 6-0, powered by home runs from Aaron Judge (two), Gary Sánchez, Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit. Even though the Yankees led through 8 1/2 innings at home, the teams went ahead and played the bottom of the ninth, as agreed to beforehand.

These exhibition games arose out of necessity. The second preseason was originally supposed to be held in Arizona and Florida, the two hubs of spring training.

Scheduling games would have been much easier given the proximity of the teams.

But because coronavirus cases surged in both states and teams experienced an increase of infections among their players and staff members, MLB moved summer workouts to clubs’ home stadiums. Teams were allowed to play as many intrasquad games as desired, but only three exhibition games against another club were permitted.

As a few players did on Saturday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone skipped the team bus and drove himself and his bench coach, Carlos Mendoza, to Citi Field. The routine was unlike a normal Mets-Yankees game: There was a temperature check before entering the stadium, masks were required indoors, every other locker stall was empty in the visitors clubhouse and a canopy was erected behind each dugout so reserve players could watch with more distancing.

“It was a little bit different, but exciting at the same time: We’re finally playing another team,” Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela said.

Both teams saw these exhibition games as equally useful on and off the field. There are 113 pages of new MLB regulations unique to the 2020 season, so these games were a trial run for hosting a visiting team. And

while teammates may offer feedback, opponents raise the stakes.

“I felt like I was overthrowing, but that was to be expected facing a different team,” said Yankees pitcher Zack Britton, who allowed one run in one inning Saturday. “It was good to finally get that feeling of getting some adrenaline in that way so it’s not brand-new when we open up the regular season.”

One player who could benefit from facing opponents: infielder D.J. LeMahieu, the Yankees’ best allaround player last season. He joined the team Friday after the Yankees announced July 4 that he had tested positive for the coronavirus while at home in Michigan. He said he took nearly a dozen tests before he finally notched the consecutive negative results at least 24 hours apart mandated by MLB for a return. He said he never had any symptoms.

LeMahieu did not play in the game Saturday. He stayed at Yankee Stadium to work out. He started Sunday, though, leading off for the Yankees and playing second base. As far as his 2020 debut goes, he said, “If it’s not opening day, it’s going to be the first few games.”

For those who played Saturday, it was a useful tuneup. Rick Porcello, the Mets’ starting pitcher, gave up three runs over five innings, including a two-run, second-deck blast to Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier, one of the few players to don a face covering during the game.

“None of us — you guys, us players or really, I think, anybody — knew how it was going to work once we got to camp,” Porcello said. “Each day that’s gone by, it seems to be rolling smoother and smoother — knock on wood.

Now we get to this point where we’re playing against other teams and in a couple of days we’ll get into a regular season. It’s exciting just because of the unknowns coming into this season.”

After the game, players and coaches said it felt fairly normal despite the new restrictions and the empty stands.

“For being an exhibition, it felt really competitive,” Boone said.

But he noted that his players had one particular area of improvement: After the final out, they weren’t sure how to celebrate given MLB’s ban on high-fives and fistbumps. They used pantomimes instead.

“Hopefully we can get more creative in the regular season where it’s a big deal when you win a game,” Boone said. “I don’t want to lose that.”

Inside Pitch Domingo Germán, the Yankees pitcher who is serving the remaining 63 games of his 81-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy, apologized for his Instagram posts Friday in which he suggested he was retiring. Germán deleted those posts Saturday and wrote, “I promise I am not walking away.” He added, “Not being with my teammates while they get ready for the season, knowing that I have let them down, has taken a toll on me and last night I let my emotions get the best of me.” Germán also wrote that the past year had been “very tough” for him and his family, “for which I take full responsibility.”

Germán, 27, was suspended in January under MLB’s domestic violence policy because of his actions in September involving his girlfriend.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

27

Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal have been talking. They’re starting a sports agency.

By MARC STEIN

T

racy McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal were highprofile teenagers who shared the same agent and sneaker brand in January 1998, when a mutual acquaintance suggested that they meet for a meal. They went to an Applebee’s restaurant in Portland, Ore. O’Neal was in his second season there with the Trail Blazers, who had selected him out of high school with the 17th pick in the powerhouse 1996 NBA draft, four picks behind Kobe Bryant. McGrady, who had also been selected out of high school, with the ninth overall pick in 1997, was a rookie with the Toronto Raptors.

“It was just a natural connection,” McGrady said. “We’re like brothers.”

“It was our first time sitting down and having a conversation,” O’Neal said. “For two youngsters to have that type of communication and chemistry, that’s what I always remember every time I come in contact with Tracy.”

That contact is about to become more frequent.

McGrady and O’Neal, who have 13 NBA All-Star appearances between them, said in a phone interview that they plan to open a player representation agency this fall.

They will call it Seven1 Sports Group and Entertainment.

The name is a mash-up of their jersey numbers from careers that propelled McGrady to induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017 and enabled O’Neal to play for seven teams across 18 seasons and sign player contracts worth more than $150 million. If successful, they would become the most prominent players in NBA history to enter the highly competitive and hard-tobreak-into agent business.

McGrady and O’Neal, who both are 41 and live in Texas, said they were secure financially but felt a pull to forge a new path in their post-playing careers after discussing the matter regularly over the past two years.

Their talks intensified over the past four months while they were mostly limited to their homes because of the coronavirus pandemic. McGrady (who lives in suburban Houston) and O’Neal (who lives in suburban Dallas) found themselves, in O’Neal’s words, with “time to process and think hard — together” about how they could help young players, particularly young Black players, the most.

“We think it’s needed, and we have a passion for it,” McGrady said. “We’re around kids every single day because we have youth programs. It just makes sense.

We see the lack of information that these kids are getting, so we would be doing a disservice to our people if we don’t lend our expertise of what we know and help guide them. This is a calling that we have.”

McGrady said he would serve as a co-owner and adviser to players and most likely step away from the broadcasting role he has had the past 4 1/2 seasons with ESPN.

Tracy McGrady at his home in Fresno, Texas.

O’Neal intends to take the National Basketball Players Association test in January to become a registered NBA agent and hold partner status alongside McGrady.

“Make no mistake,” O’Neal said, “this is very personal.”

The relationships O’Neal built with several top draft prospects at his Drive Nation sports complex in Irving, Texas, provided another strong nudge. Three potential first-round picks in the NBA draft in October — R.J. Hampton, Tyrese Maxey and Jahmi’us Ramsey — came through the Drive Nation program, as did highly rated 2021 draft candidate Cade Cunningham. Fielding numerous questions from those players and their families about various aspects of turning pro convinced O’Neal that he and McGrady had much to offer, despite the obvious questions they will face about their lack of negotiating and marketing experience.

“There’s no magic wand for this,” O’Neal said.

“We’re not trying to say we’re the magic wand. But we’re going to be different. You can’t name another pair of people who have had the level of success and the ups and downs that we’ve had in our careers.”

In what became an emotional conference call as they discussed the new venture, McGrady and O’Neal opened up about the various pressures they felt even at the peak of those careers. Both said the strain of superstar pressures — and the lack of paternal guidance to help them through it — were greater than they ever let

on as active players.

“I didn’t meet my father until he was 30, and he died nine months after that,” O’Neal said. “I was truly blessed to have a core of people around me that helped me get through my struggles, but I guarantee you not one team I played for knew that about me. Not one team knew I struggled with that — not being able to pick up the phone and call my dad and ask him, ‘Can you help me?’

Or, ‘Are you proud of me?’ Or to cherish me being drafted or my kids being born.”

“You just brought something back when you said that,” McGrady told O’Neal on the call. He said he had a relationship with his father, Tracy McGrady Sr., while he was playing, but not a strong one.

“Over my career, I hated the fact that I never once was able to just bring my pops to my environment,” McGrady said. “Do you know how hard it is to be an elite player in this league, to be considered a superstar, and then you have a career-changing injury? To be on top and have a career-changing injury and you don’t even get to have a discussion with your father about going through those things — do you know how difficult that is?”

What McGrady and O’Neal can offer potential clients right away, beyond name recognition, is the wisdom gained from dealing with such crises. The value of their expertise may rise further if the NBA, as it hopes, reinstates the rule that allows players to jump directly from high school to the NBA. McGrady, O’Neal, Bryant and Kevin Garnett brought that leap back to prominence in the mid-1990s for the first time since the 1970s.

Of course, for all of the life experiences they can pass on to prospective clients from the combined 34 seasons they played in the NBA, McGrady and O’Neal have no deal-making history to draw from compared with the league’s most established player representation firms.

They said they hoped to recruit players entering the 2021 NBA draft and players already in the league, but that will mean competing with the likes of Excel Sports (led by Jeff Schwartz, the former tennis agent turned NBA power agent), BDA Sports (led by Bill Duffy, one of the league’s most experienced agents) and Klutch Sports (whose chief executive officer, Rich Paul, landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated in June 2019).

O’Neal said he and McGrady were in the process of hiring “seasoned partners,” including a few “old-school pit bulls,” to make up for what they lacked in representation know-how.

Asked about trying to find their niche in such a cutthroat industry, McGrady said of his new rivals: “At the end of the day, they can’t get all the players. Obviously it’s going to take us some time to get our feet wet and really understand how this thing works. But we’re not intimidated by anybody. We know there’s going to be a lot of people trying to poke holes into this.”

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

NFL players say #WeWantToPlay but question training camp safety

By KEN BELSON

T

he NFL plays football in rainstorms, blizzards and blazing heat. Now, the league wants to play in a pandemic.

On Monday, rookies from the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans were to be the first of thousands of players to report to training camp after an offseason of virtual workouts. They will be followed in the coming week by other rookies, quarterbacks, injured players and then all other players, just as is detailed in a memo sent to teams last Friday.

The league’s insistence on sticking to the pledge to start its season on time comes as infections from the coronavirus are rising in dozens of states, including California, Florida and Texas, which together are home to eight NFL teams.

The owners and the NFL Players Association have worked for months to find ways to bring players back together as safely as possible. They have established protocols for how players should social distance when they travel and use locker rooms, and how long they must be quarantined if they test positive for the virus or were in contact with an infected person.

But the two sides have still not agreed on several other key issues, including how frequently players will be tested, implications for players who opt out of the season, mandates on equipment that would limit the potential for spreading the virus like face shields on helmets, and the length of the preseason (owners passed a proposal for two games per team. Players want none.)

These open questions have prompted some of the league’s biggest stars — including Patrick Mahomes and J.J. Watt — to start a social media campaign using the hashtag #WeWantToPlay to get the league to adopt the more stringent proposals that the players prefer, including daily testing and no preseason games.

“If the NFL doesn’t do their part to keep players healthy there is no football in 2020,” New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

“It’s that simple. Get it done.”

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson made a more personal plea.

“My wife is pregnant,” he wrote on Twitter. “We want to play football but we also want to protect our loved ones.”

The players and their union have asked for more measures to mitigate risk, but they recognize that owners have the

“My wife is pregnant,” Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson wrote on Twitter, referring to the pop star Ciara. “We want to play football but we also want to protect our loved ones.” power to open training camps when they want. DeMaurice Smith, the union’s executive director, compared the team owners to a factory proprietor who decides when to operate a plant.

Because the owners plan to open training camps on schedule, it is the union’s job “to hold them accountable for whether it is safe,” Smith told reporters on a conference call Friday.

The players’ taking their case to millions of followers on social media is one way to try to keep management accountable — and to win in the court of public approval. Before agreeing to a 60-game season, Major League Baseball players engaged in an acrimonious negotiation with its league last month over many of the same issues. Star players like league MVP Mike Trout deployed their message on social media, repeating “tell us when and where” in their posts to emphasize that they were willing to play as long as they viewed conditions of their return as safe.

In the past week, the NFL Players Association has taken a similar approach, enlisting well-known players like San Francisco 49ers defensive back Richard Sherman to argue for more stringent health protocols. But because the owners

have the right to open camp when they want, and because fans are eager to watch football again, it is not clear whether the players will gain ground.

“The only realistic leverage the players have is their star power, because on the legal side there’s not much they can do,” said Mark Conrad, who teaches sports law at the Gabelli School School of Business at Fordham University. “Football is also tantamount to religion for a lot of fans and they want to see football, so I don’t know how effective these tweets will be.”

The NFL’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, said there was little daylight between the league and the union when it came to safety protocols. Players will be tested every day for the first two weeks, then every other day. If more than 5 percent of tests are positive in the first two weeks, teams will continue testing every day.

But he warned that tests were not perfectly accurate and that additional measures — protective equipment, social distancing and contact tracing — were also needed.

Some players have accused team owners of prioritizing the league’s finances over all else. One former team execu-

tive, Amy Trask, said the league’s decision to stick to its schedule spoke more to its confidence that it would ultimately find solutions than to a cavalier attitude about player safety.

“Of course, economics play a big part of it,” said Trask, a longtime president of the Raiders who left the club in 2013.

“But from a business perspective, I don’t think the outlook of team owners is ‘We’re tough,’ but ‘We’re smart.’”

While the two sides wrangle over safety measures, they are also negotiating over a second pressing matter: how to offset the loss of revenue from having a limited number or no fans in stadiums this season. Owners proposed keeping 35 percent of players’ salaries in escrow as a way to recoup that money as quickly as possible. That was a nonstarter for the union, which prefers to absorb the losses by lowering the salary cap, which is the maximum teams can pay players, over as many as 10 years.

“We know that players are taking all of the risk by returning to work,” the union said in a statement last week. “We also know there will be a shortfall in revenues next year, but players cannot be asked to bear the full brunt of both the health and safety risk and the financial one.”

The financial formula, though, does not need to be agreed on by the start of training camp. The more pressing matter for the players is how to safely start the season. In addition to the coronavirus, they are concerned about a possible spike in injuries after a long layoff. They point to 2011, when players were locked out by the owners during the offseason and sustained a rash of injuries during training camp.

While the NBA, the WNBA, Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League have all resumed their seasons by quarantining their players in enclosed communities, Major League Baseball and the NFL have chosen to let players return to their homes at night after training, increasing their risk of exposure to the virus.

The league and its players will soon find out whether the protections in place are enough, or whether more steps will be needed to keep the schedule on track.

“Every decision we make this year should be done through a medical lens,” said J.C. Tretter, a center on the Cleveland Browns and the president of the union.

“No one can wish this away.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

29

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

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

(Mar 21-April 20)

Friends will lend a hand wherever and whenever they can but you would do best by going it alone. You’re intent on reaching a goal and the best way to do this is to stay focused. If someone does you a favour you will feel obliged to do the same for them and this will be distracting.

Taurus

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

(April 21-May 21)

Consider your partner’s wishes. Your love life will be going great guns but you will still need to work at keeping the passion alive.

The more cooperative you are with the family, the more relaxed your home life will be. If someone wants your views, diplomacy is key. Treat tense situations with tact.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

People in power have failed to identify the reason for new rules being put in place in the workplace. You aren’t sure how new routines are going to work but will do your best to conform. You’re desperate to crank up your schedule and get some jobs out of the way as quickly as possible.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

You could land a lucrative job at a company based overseas or a raise will come with an impressive promotion. If you enjoy your job but it isn’t paying enough to support you, ask for a pay rise, or start exploring new work opportunities. Working from home could save you money on commutation costs.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Gemini

A part of your role within a team is to help people correct past mistakes. In acknowledging and fixing errors, there will be opportunity for progress. It will be stimulating to work in a group and together you will get results.

Someone in a position of power will notice your versatility and offer you a job.

(May 22-June 21)

You could discover hidden talents through venturing into a new creative field. You’re ready to try something different. Don’t talk yourself out of this. Go on a short trip, sign up for a course and take a different outlook on life. Walk away from situations and attitudes that don’t work for you. Become the courageous person you long to be.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

You’re concerned about everyone else, how they are managing and how they are feeling but your health is important too. Get medical attention if you’ve been suffering from aches and pains. Avoid siting still for hours at a time as this can have an impact on your health.

Walk around while on the phone.

Working behind the scenes or from home will boost your creativity. Not only will it be a relief to escape office politics, you are more productive without distractions. When your boss sees what you are capable of when left to your own devices, they may make this a permanent arrangement. Enjoy this chance to cultivate self-sufficiency.

Leo

Aquarius

(July 24-Aug 23)

This is a wonderful time to showcase your talents. You’re a natural entertainer. If you’re unemployed, you might think about applying for jobs in the art and entertainment field. Publishing an article, joining an on-line choir or selling your handiwork are ideas worth pursuing. Use your imagination and you will reach new heights.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Catch up on household chores. Fix or replace broken appliances. Take this opportunity to tidy up your workplace or living space. Stick to your guns if you’ve decided against going ahead with plans involving younger relatives.

You aren’t saying no altogether but you want to get the timing right.

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

A friend is going through a tough time and you understand how they are feeling. You’re doing your best to help people but you need to look after yourself too. Try not to push past your own energy limits. A strange experience will get you pondering on your spiritual direction in life. It may be time to focus on inner concerns.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

A new job opportunity is worth pursuing.

Take this chance to break into a new career field. With your highly flexible and creative ways, it’s time to pursue your dreams. Don’t be afraid to emphasise these qualities during a job interview. A willingness to learn all aspects of this industry makes you a desirable candidate.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

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