Older Towns
Number of Senior Citizens Compared to Minors Under 15 Has Doubled in 34 Municipalities
Photo by Jessica Hearn
2 GOOD MORNING
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LUMA chief anticipates temporary bill hike due to fuel costs
By THE STAR STAFF
LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca said Thursday that a temporary increase in the electricity bill is expected for the next quarter because of fuel prices.
Saca insisted that LUMA, the private operator of the island’s electric power transmission and distribution system, is not requesting an increase in the electricity rate, but rather for fuel purchase costs.
“If there is a $200 bill for [a consumer], $30 belongs to LUMA,” he said. “The rest is fuel and other things that are right there on the bill.”
Fuel costs fluctuate every three months, Saca pointed out.
“Sometimes it goes down, sometimes it goes up,” Saca said following a meeting with senators and mayors from the New Progressive Party (NPP). “What I don’t want is for the Puerto Rican people to think that LUMA is raising the cost of electricity. That is the job of the [Puerto Rico Energy] Bureau. In this case, we are talking about fuel. I understand that it is half a cent [the requested increase].”
Nonetheless, there will be a process for a permanent power rate hike after the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) exits bankruptcy.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board is supporting a hike in the power rate to guarantee the operations of the electrical system, a move that certain sectors have said will impact the economy.
The Energy Bureau (PREB) recently postponed the start of a rate case order it had issued, citing the pending con-
firmation of the PREPA Plan of Adjustment and its ultimate contents as a key input in such a process. After confirmation hearings concluded in March, PREPA appeared to be nearing its exit from bankruptcy and approaching the end of the Title III process.
On June 17, however, following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit’s determination establishing that PREPA bondholders hold a non-recourse claim against the utility secured by a valid, perfected security interest in PREPA’s net revenues, the oversight board announced plans to seek a limited reopening of the confirmation hearing record in order to deal strictly with the value of that collateral.
Due to the PREB’s postponement of the rate case, the fiscal year 2025 PREPA budget for the energy system is expected to continue to be constrained by the current base rate. The budget is now in deficit by almost $60 million. The oversight board has stressed the need for a budget that provides sufficient revenues for PREPA and private operators to work.
a meeting with members of the Puerto Rico Mayors Federation on Thursday, LUMA Energy President & CEO Juan Saca, second from left at microphone, reiterated that a requested increase in the electricity bill is because of fuel purchase costs. (Puerto Rico Mayors Federation/Facebook)
Dalmau Santiago defends productivity of Senate
By THE STAR STAFF
Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago responded Thursday to criticism about the closure of the ordinary session and the number of measures approved, and defended legislative productivity.
“This Senate works for the people and not for those who intend to govern from the comfort of the stands,” Dalmau Santiago said in a written statement. “The easy thing in life is to get paid for criticizing; the difficult thing is to get five different parties and an independent senator to work in unison, for the benefit of the people of Puerto Rico.”
The Senate president said the productivity of a Legislative Assembly is measured by the accumulation of legislation
approved throughout an entire four-year period.
“Unlike some lobbyists, who are also analysts, for the 156,000 retirees who today have their pensions insured at 100% of their income, this Legislature was productive,” he said. “It also was for the 90,000 public employees who received salary increases by law, such as teachers, firefighters and police officers, who, in addition, will finally have their dignified retirement with assured income.”
The senator stressed that the Legislature was also productive for the 200,000 workers who saw an increase in the minimum wage and for the 640,000 people who have benefited from employment credits, a measure legislated by the majority Popular Democratic Party that makes annual income of up to $7,000 viable for families in need.
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Number of senior citizens compared to teens has doubled in 34 towns
By THE STAR STAFF
The number of individuals older than 65 has doubled in relation to the population of individuals younger than 15 in 34 island towns, and in Hormigueros it has tripled, according to the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday published the most recent data from the Annual Population Estimates, on demographic characteristics for municipalities and Puerto Rico at large, as well as for United States counties and states.
The statistics refer to July 1, 2023 (the most recent year available), and include population estimates by age and sex for each municipality and the population change in the current decade. On behalf of the U.S. Census Data and Information Center Network, the Statistics Institute reported several findings from the new publication of population estimates for 2023.
As of the July 1, 2023, the new estimates of the population by age groups, which are used to generate the old-age index for the municipalities and Puerto Rico, reveal that according to the old-age index, some 34 municipalities had doubled the size of their population aged 65 or over, in relation to their population under 15 years old, respectively.
The municipality of Hormigueros had an old-age index of 312, reflecting that the elderly population had already tripled the population of minors in the municipality.
Hormigueros had an old-age index of 312, reflecting that the elderly population had already tripled the population of minors in the municipality. The next four municipalities with the highest old-age indexes were Rincón (285), Guaynabo (252), Lajas (249) and Ceiba (243).
In addition to Hormigueros, the next four municipalities with the highest old-age indexes were Rincón (285), Guaynabo (252), Lajas (249) and Ceiba (243).
On the other hand, the five municipalities with the lowest old-age index turned out to be Barranquitas (134), Santa Isabel (137), Juncos (141), Peñuelas (142) and Toa Alta (146).
At the Puerto Rico level, the old-age index indicates that the population of older adults is approaching doubling for every 100 minors with a value of 199. Compared to the most recent Decennial Census (April 2020), the old-age index specifically increased by 25%, from 158.4 to 198.6 in 2023.
“Based on the new estimates, and examining indicators such as the old-age index, the rapid demographic transformation of the jurisdiction can be closely followed,” said Alberto L. Velázquez Estrada, senior manager of statistical projects of the Institute. “This indicator contextualizes which population group (elderly and minors) has the greatest weight when providing services. The need to strengthen the entities that focus on providing services to the older adult population is clear, both at the municipal and Puerto Rico levels.”
The old-age index compares the population aged 65 or over to the population of children under 15 to see if the elderly population of a place is more, equal to, or less than the population of minors. It is interpreted as the number of elderly people per 100 minors in a given place.
As an interactive summary, the Statistics Institute published a map (https://censo.estadisticas.pr/node/529) that allows people to see the old-age index at the municipal level, facilitating geographic comparison within Puerto Rico.
Cataño mayor asks Justice Dept. to expand corruption charges
By THE STAR STAFF
Cataño Mayor Julio Alicea Vasallo sent a letter to Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández requesting that more people involved be included in recently filed corruption lawsuits.
Alicea Vasallo was referring to 15 lawsuits announced by the Justice Department based on Law No. 2 of Jan. 4, 2018, known as the “Anti-Corruption Code for the New Puerto Rico.”
“Yesterday, you, in your capacity as Secretary of Justice and on behalf of the Department you lead, announced the
filing of 15 lawsuits before the Court of First Instance of San Juan, with the purpose of recovering public funds and damages caused by more than 30 [individuals] convicted of corruption by the people of Puerto Rico,” Alicea Vasallo said in his letter.
The mayor pointed out that he noticed the absence in the lawsuits of certain officials and contractors related to acts of corruption in Cataño. Among those were: Pedro Marrero Miranda, a former director of public works under the administration of former Catano mayor Félix Delgado Montalvo, who pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme with the company J.R. Asphalt Inc.; José L. Bou Santiago and his corporation,
Justice Dept. files 61 charges of Medicaid fraud
By THE STAR STAFF
Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández announced on Thursday that the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) has for the first time joined the National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action initiative, a national effort to combat health care fraud.
“This coordinated action between the Puerto Rico Department of Justice and the United States Department of Justice to combat health care fraud nationwide seeks to generate significant attention to deter this type of crime,” Emanuelli Hernández said in a written statement.
During the period from June 10 to June 25, multiple states
and territories of the United States, including Puerto Rico, filed indictments against individuals suspected of committing fraud in the Medicaid program. In Puerto Rico, the MFCU charged a doctor, a corporation and its administrator for illegal schemes through which they submitted false claims to the Medicaid program and health plans, managing to appropriate over $60,000 in public funds.
The first case was filed against the Laboratorio Clínico de San Juan corporation and its owner and administrator, Julio Martorell González. Prosecutor Brenda Rosado Aponte filed 17 charges against the defendant, which include illegal appropriation of public funds, illegal identity appropriation and fraud in the Medicaid program. The corporation faces 10 charges for
Bou Maintenance Services, Corp., which obtained a contract in 2019 to provide roofing services in La Esperanza Park, mediating bribes and kickbacks between the then-mayor and Bou, who pleaded guilty in federal court; and Island Builders Corp., owned by Óscar Santamaría Torres, who made cash payments to Delgado Montalvo to obtain contracts in favor of Island Builders.
Alicea Vasallo asked the Justice Department to file lawsuits against the aforementioned natural and legal persons to recover the illegally obtained funds.
“Puerto Rico and the municipality I lead deserve nothing less,” he said.
violating articles 182 of the Penal Code and 3.07 of the Fraudulent Claims Act for Programs, Contracts and Services of the Government of Puerto Rico.
According to the investigation, between August 2018 and December 2022, the San Juan Clinical Laboratory submitted fraudulent claims to the Humana Health Plan, MCS Advantage, MMM, Plan de Salud Menonita and Triple S medical plans for $49,119.54. As part of the scheme, they appropriated the identities of Medicaid beneficiaries to bill and collect from the health plans.
The second case was filed against Dr. Luis Espinet García, who served as a dentist and provider for the Medicaid program. He is accused of making false and fraudulent claims for services he never provided, and deceptively charging patients excessive amounts of money for services included in the Medicaid program. The fraud amounts to $11,314.43 and involves 44 charges filed.
PREPA signs contract for dredging of 5 reservoirs
By THE STAR STAFF
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and CSA Group LLC signed a contract for design services, field investigations, and consulting for the dredging of the Dos Bocas, Caonillas, Guajataca, Guerrero and Garza reservoirs, the first phase of which will take an estimated eight months, it emerged on Thursday.
“The goal of this project is to return to these reservoirs the storage capacity they had before the passage of both hurricanes [in 2017] through the island,” said Jaime Umpierre Montalvo, PREPA’s director of operations and HydroCo.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is contemplating removing about 4.2 million cubic yards of sediment in 11 reservoirs, at an estimated cost of $350 million.
Umpierre Montalvo noted that Hurricanes Irma and Maria deposited a significant amount of sediment in PREPA’s main water storage reservoirs, shortening their operational
FEMA
Guajataca Reservoir straddles three towns in northwestern Puerto Rico: San Sebastián, Quebradillas and Isabela.
capacity.
The PREPA official said the reservoirs provide water for energy generation, the public corporation’s irrigation system, and raw water for more than 500,000 people in the northern, eastern and southeastern regions of Puerto Rico. He highlighted that the Dos Bocas and Caonillas reservoirs in Utuado are significant since they are used for the production of hydroelectric energy and provide between 75 and 100 million gallons of water daily to municipalities in the north and the metropolitan area through the North Coast Super Aqueduct.
Umpierre Montalvo added that the dredging project will remove some 1.3 million cubic yards of sediment in Dos Bocas and 918,567 cubic yards in Caonillas. He also announced that the contract for the dredging design of the six remaining reservoirs, Matrullas, Guineo, Guayabal, Lucchetti, Loco and Guayo, is expected to be signed in the first week of July after receiving approval from the Financial Oversight and Management Board.
assigns funds to DNER for repairs at refuge, public beach in Cabo Rojo
By THE STAR STAFF
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated funds to the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) to carry out repairs at the Iris Alameda Wildlife Refuge and the facilities at Combate Beach in Cabo Rojo for damage after Hurricane Fiona.
Located in the Boquerón neighborhood, the Iris Alameda Refuge protects, conserves and manages coastal and marine resources, in addition to the recreational space that is available for activities such as cycling, hiking, fishing and hunting.
“Both projects represent a significant investment for the recovery and protection of natural and recreational resources in Puerto Rico,” Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator José G. Baquero said. “A resilient reconstruction for Puerto Rico also entails the preservation of the environment for the well-being of the local community.”
The allocation of over $1.2 million for the refuge will allow
for work such as the replacement of slabs, fences, roofs and fishing ramps. The funds include over $533,000 for mitigation measures that encompass the creation of infiltration ditches, as well as the installation of nonwoven pavement and geotextile fabric structures to prevent erosion and improve resistance to natural elements.
The refuge’s biologist and management officer, Jenny E. Vázquez Morales, said the facilities support the conservation of endangered Puerto Rican flora and fauna such as the Puerto Rican boa, the ladybug, the guabairo and the black cobana tree. DNER Secretary Anaís Rodríguez Vega said “these funds will allow not only the repair of damaged infrastructure, but also the strengthening of our conservation efforts, ensuring that this refuge continues to be a vital sanctuary for endangered species and a valuable resource for the community.”
The DNER Combate Beach facilities, meanwhile, have nearly $49,000 assigned for their reconstruction. Fences, roofs and slabs will be replaced, and exterior lighting systems will
be installed. Over $23,000 of the sum is earmarked to implement mitigation measures, such as installing gabions to prevent erosion and flooding.
Amicus brief filed in Clemente family intellectual property challenge
By THE STAR STAFF
The Beacon Center of Tennessee, a free market think tank, filed an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on behalf of the Clemente family challenging what it said is the Puerto Rican government’s improper and unconstitutional use of baseball legend Roberto Clemente’s trademark on specialty license plates.
Immediately afterwards, the Puerto Rico Institute for Economic Liberty (ILE by its initials in Spanish) filed an amicus brief supporting the legal action of the Clemente family.
ILE filed the amicus brief due to the implications of the governmental action, which it says deprives the Clemente family of
fundamental property rights protected by the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. The image rights of Clemente, a national hero in Puerto Rico who was born and raised in the San Antón barrio of Carolina, are the private property of his family, and private property is inseparable from economic freedom, the ILE said.
The Puerto Rico government earned some $15 million from the unauthorized use of Roberto Clemente’s trademark without permission from his three children and refused to compensate them for the unauthorized use, according to the legal appeal by the Beacon Center against the commonwealth government. The appeal aims to set a precedent in the United States regarding rightful compensation when the government uses someone’s private property, whether intellectual or physical, without permission, the
group said in a press release.
“We’re honored to represent Roberto Clemente’s family and legacy in a case to protect the rights of property owners nationwide,” Beacon Center Director of Legal Affairs Wen Fa said. “We’re asking the court to apply the ‘you-break-it-you-buy-it’ rule to the government. If the government takes your property, it should have to pay.”
ILE Legal Affairs Director Arturo V. Bauermeister stated: “We understood it was essential as a Puerto Rican civil organization and free market think tank to file an amicus brief in this case and express our concern about the Government of Puerto Rico’s actions against the right to private property.”
“If they did this to the Clemente family, they could do it to anyone,” he added.
Iris Alameda Wildlife Refuge in Cabo Rojo (FEMA)
House GOP pushes deep cuts to federal law enforcement
By CATIE EDMONDSON
House Republicans earlier this week advanced legislation that would slash funding for the Department of Justice and U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country, the latest attempt by the GOP to punish federal law enforcement agencies that they claim have been weaponized against conservatives, especially former President Donald Trump.
The spending bill, approved along party lines by a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, would cut funding for salaries and other expenses at the Justice Department by 20%, and for U.S. attorneys’ offices by 11%.
It comes as the Department of Justice is prosecuting two federal cases against the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, one related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the other concerning his retention of classified materials.
It is also an early example of how House Republicans are again trying to inject the annual government spending bills with partisan policy mandates aimed at amplifying political grievances and culture war issues. A similar process played out last year, but the most conservative measures were ultimately jettisoned in bipartisan negotiations with Senate Democrats and the White House.
The policies being advanced this year are similarly dead on arrival. But in the interim, with a September funding deadline and the November elections approaching, House GOP leaders are again loading the spending bills with hardright measures in an effort to delight their ultraconservative core supporters and placate the most conservative members of their conference.
In the next few days, with lawmakers scheduled to consider spending bills to fund the Pentagon, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security, Republicans plan to force votes on proposals including reducing to $1 the salaries of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; cutting off pay entirely for Secretary of State Antony Blinken; cutting funding for Mayorkas’ office by $10 million; and prohibiting U.S. funding for Ukraine, including the use of taxpayer money to greenlight arms sales to Kyiv.
Already baked into the bills are a series of conservative social policy dictates, including measures that would bar the Pentagon from using any funds to promote critical race theory or to allow drag queen story hours on military bases, and would prohibit agencies from enforcing a slew of executive orders related to climate change issued by President Joe Biden. The bills also prohibit agencies from allowing federal employees to take paid leave to obtain
an abortion.
Some Republican lawmakers are seeking to go even further. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., this week announced that he would try to add a provision to the military spending bill to strip money for in vitro fertilization treatment, which he said was “responsible for the destruction of life.”
The spending bill that funds the Department of Justice and the FBI has become a particular flashpoint in the House, with conservatives bent on defunding an agency they believe is arrayed against them and their supporters. Hard-right lawmakers announced Wednesday that they would move this week to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena for audio recordings of Biden’s interview by a special counsel regarding his own handling of classified materials.
Ever since Jack Smith, the Justice Department’s special counsel, charged Trump in connection with his retention of classified documents at his residence in Florida, House Republicans have pledged retribution.
They have quickly learned that is easier said than done.
Special counsels are funded outside the normal congressional appropriations process, thanks to a 1988 law that established a permanent fund at the Treasury Department to pay for the office’s expenses.
“It’s a separate, distinct account and it’s effectively on auto-fund and autopilot,” Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference last month. “So, it has to be dealt with separately.”
“We can’t have special counsels engaged in political vendettas, either,” he continued. “And that’s what a lot of people see right now. We haven’t yet come to a consensus on what that remedy looks like. But we’re actively discussing it.”
For now, top Republicans have settled for using the Justice Department bill to make broad cuts to law enforcement agencies, but some hard-right lawmakers are still seeking to add provisions targeting Smith. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who sits on the Appropriations Committee, told Fox News that he planned to introduce an amendment barring the use of any funding in the bill for the prosecution of a presidential candidate before the 2024 election — though it is not clear what effect that would have on the cases against Trump given that Smith’s independently funded office is handling them.
“The politically motivated and weaponized Department of Justice is restrained and will no longer follow the political whims of the Biden administration,” said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chair of the panel’s subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation will be refocused on its core competencies, and numerous ill-advised rule-makings by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that challenge constitutional rights will be stopped in their tracks.”
Democrats unanimously opposed the legislation, charging Republicans with advancing measures that would undermine law enforcement efforts even as they decry crime.
“It would greatly reduce the number of FBI special agents and analysts, and these are outstanding public servants who keep us safe by preventing and investigating everything from human and narcotics trafficking to public corruption to kidnappings, mass attacks, cybercrimes and much more,” said Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
Rep Mark Alford (R-Mo.) speaks alongside several other Republican members of Congress during a news conference on holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for his refusal to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur at the Capitol in Washington, on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Republicans put forward a spending bill that would slash funding for federal law enforcement, though they failed to find a way to defund the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald J. Trump. (Eric Lee/ The New York Times)
Corruption law allows gifts to state and local officials, Supreme Court rules
By ABBIE VANSICKLE and ADAM LIPTAK
The Supreme Court limited the sweep of a federal law this week aimed at public corruption, ruling that it did not apply to gifts and payments meant to reward actions taken by state and local officials.
The 6-3 ruling, which split along ideological lines, was the latest in a series of decisions cutting back federal anti-corruption laws.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for a conservative majority, said that the question in the case was whether federal law makes it a crime for state and local officials to accept such gratuities after the fact. He wrote, “The answer is no.”
Federal prosecutors’ interpretation of the law created traps for public officials, leaving them to guess what gifts were allowed, he added. If they guessed wrong, the opinion continued, the officials could face up to a decade in prison.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The Supreme Court limited the sweep of a federal law on Wednesday aimed at public corruption, ruling that it did not apply to gifts and payments meant to reward actions taken by state and local officials. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
The decision reflected a sharp divide on the court, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting. While the conservative wing asserted that the ruling gave discretion to state and local governments and protected officials from having to guess whether their behavior had crossed a criminal line, the liberals said the decision represented more chipping away of a statute aimed at protecting against graft.
“Officials who use their public positions for private gain threaten the integrity of our most important institutions,” Jackson wrote. “Greed makes governments — at every level
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— less responsive, less efficient and less trustworthy from the perspective of the communities they serve.”
In what appeared to be a dig at the court’s conservative bloc, Jackson added that the defendant in the case offered an “absurd and atextual reading of the statute” that “only today’s court could love.”
The decision was issued as the court faces increased scrutiny over its ethics practices. After months of revelations by ProPublica and others that Justice Clarence Thomas had failed to reveal luxury travel and gifts from Texas billionaire and conservative donor Harlan Crow, as well as revelations about other justices, the court adopted an ethics code, the first in its history.
The case before the court, Snyder v. United States, No. 23-108, concerned James Snyder, a former mayor of Portage, Indiana, a city of about 38,000 people near Lake Michigan. In 2013, while Snyder was mayor, the city awarded two contracts for a garbage truck company, Great Lakes Peterbilt. Portage bought five garbage trucks for about $1.1 million.
In 2014, after the process was complete, the company cut Snyder a check for $13,000 for what he later said were consulting services.
The FBI and federal prosecutors said the bidding process had been manipulated to ensure the company prevailed. Investigators said the money was a gratuity for the garbage truck contracts, but Snyder said it was payment for his consulting services as a contractor for Peterbilt.
A jury convicted Snyder of accepting an illegal gratuity, and a federal judge sentenced him to more than a year in prison. On appeal, Snyder argued that the federal statute criminalized only bribes, not after-the-fact gratuities. A federal appeals court affirmed his conviction, and Snyder petitioned
the Supreme Court to review the case.
The majority explained that the law typically makes a distinction between bribes — payments made or agreed to before a government action to influence the outcome — and gratuities — payments made after a government action to reward or thank the public official.
Although bribes are frowned upon as inherently corrupt, the majority noted, federal, state and local governments have treated gratuities with more nuance.
In its reasoning, the conservative majority said it relied on statutory history and text, among other factors, to find that the federal statute focused on bribes, not gratuities.
Kavanaugh wrote that such gifts to officials were often already regulated by state and local governments. The federal law, he wrote, “does not supplement those state and local rules by subjecting 19 million state and local officials to up to 10 years in federal prison for accepting even commonplace gratuities.”
Rather, he wrote, the law “leaves it to state and local governments to regulate gratuities to state and local officials.”
To uphold prosecutors’ interpretation of the law “would significantly infringe on bedrock federalism principles,” Kavanaugh wrote.
The federal law, he added, lacked clear guidance for local officials to follow, leaving them to try to discern what actions might amount to a violation.
He cited examples, nodding to the case’s origins in Indiana.
“Could students take their college professor out to Chipotle for an end-of-term celebration?” he wrote. “And if so, would it somehow become criminal to take the professor for a steak dinner? Or to treat her to a Hoosiers game?”
While “American law generally treats bribes as inherently corrupt and unlawful,” Kavanaugh wrote, gratuities are another matter. Some can be “problematic,” while others can be “commonplace and might be innocuous.”
He listed examples. A family tipping their mail carrier. Parents sending a gift basket to thank their child’s teacher at the end of the school year. A college dean giving a sweatshirt to a city council member who speaks at an event.
Those examples, he wrote, suggest that “gratuities after the official act are not the same as bribes before the official act,” adding that unlike gratuities, “bribes can corrupt the official act — meaning that the official takes the act for private gain, not for the public good.”
In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the decision reflected an age-old understanding that when “any fair reader of this statute would be left with a reasonable doubt” as to whether the law applied to the defendant’s actions, the court must err on the side of the person charged with the crime.
‘It’s all happening again.’ The supply chain is under strain.
By PETER S. GOODMAN
Stephanie Loomis had hoped that the chaos besieging the global supply chain was subsiding. The floating traffic jams off ports. The multiplying costs of moving freight. The resulting shortages of goods. All of this had seemed like an unpleasant memory confined to the COVID-19 pandemic.
No such luck.
As head of ocean freight for the Americas at Rhenus Logistics, a company based in Germany, Loomis spends her days negotiating with international shipping carriers on behalf of clients moving products and parts around the globe. Over the past few months, she has watched cargo prices soar as a series of disturbances have roiled the seas.
Late last year, Houthi rebels in Yemen began firing on ships entering the Red Sea en route to the Suez Canal, a vital artery for vessels moving between Asia, Europe and the East Coast of the United States. That prompted ships to avoid the waterway, instead moving the long way around Africa, lengthening their journeys by as much as two weeks.
Then, a severe drought in Central America dropped water levels in the Panama Canal, forcing authorities to limit the number of ships passing through that crucial conduit for international trade.
In recent weeks, dockworkers have threatened to strike on the East and Gulf coasts of the United States, while longshore workers at German ports have halted shifts in pursuit of better pay. Rail workers in Canada are poised to walk off the job, imperiling cargo moving across North America and threatening backups at major ports like Vancouver, British Columbia.
The intensifying upheaval in shipping is prompting carriers to lift rates while raising the specter of waterborne gridlock that could again threaten retailers with product shortages during the make-or-break holiday shopping season. The disruption could also exacerbate inflation, a source of economic anxiety animating the U.S. presidential election.
If the supply chain disturbances of the pandemic proved anything, it was this: Trouble in any one place tends to ripple out widely.
A container full of chemicals that arrives late to its destination spells delayed production for factories waiting for those
ingredients. Ships jammed at ports wreak havoc on the flow of goods, clogging warehouses and putting pressure on the trucking and rail industries.
“I’m lovingly calling the market now ‘COVID junior,’ because in a lot of ways we’re right back to where we were during the pandemic,” Loomis said. “It’s all happening again.”
Since October, the cost of moving a 40-foot shipping container from China to Europe has increased to about $7,000, from an average of roughly $1,200, according to data compiled by Xeneta, a cargo analytics company based in Norway. That is well below the $15,000 peak reached in late 2021, when supply chain disruptions were at their worst, but it is about five times the prices that prevailed for the years leading up to the pandemic.
Rates to ship goods across the Pacific have multiplied by a similar magnitude. It now costs more than $6,700 to transport a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Los Angeles and nearly $8,000 for Shanghai to New York. As recently as December, those costs were near $2,000.
“We haven’t seen the peak yet,” said Peter Sand, Xeneta’s chief analyst.
Importers relying on shipping bemoan the return of another source of distress they suffered during the pandemic: carriers frequently canceling confirmed bookings, while demanding special handling charges and premium service fees as the requirement for getting containers on vessels.
“Everything is a fight to get containers,” said David Reich, whose Chicago company, MSRF, assembles gift baskets for Walmart and other giant chains. “It’s frustrating.”
Alarmed by the growing threats to sea transportation, Reich is accelerating plans to amass goods for the holiday season. He is pressing his suppliers in China to make his packaging for food items faster, anticipating delays in shipping.
Reich has contracts with two ocean carriers to move four containers per week from China to Chicago at prices below $5,000. Yet he was recently informed that the carriers were imposing escalating “peak season surcharges” that would add as much as $2,400 per container, he said.
And even at those prices, the carriers often say they have no space on their vessels, he complained. He fears he will have to resort to booking on the so-called spot mar-
ket, where prices fluctuate, with rates now reaching $8,000.
In an emailed statement, the World Shipping Council, an industry trade association, said “spot rates reflect demand and supply in a competitive, global market, and the large majority of container traffic moves under rates negotiated through long-term contracts.”
Experts challenge that assertion, noting that container shipping is characterized by a dearth of competition on major routes, allowing carriers to raise prices substantially when the system is strained.
Three primary alliances of carriers control 95% of the container traffic between Asia and Europe and more than 90% between Asia and the East Coast of the United States, according to the International Transport Forum, an intergovernmental organization in Paris with 69 member countries including China and the United States.
The most immediate cause of the recent increase in shipping prices is the targeting of vessels by the Houthis, who are acting in support of Palestinians under assault by Israeli forces.
That threat appears to be escalating, as the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels increase the frequency of their attacks, supplementing missile strikes with sea drones — essentially waterborne boats loaded with explo-
sives and commanded by remote control.
In recent weeks, such assaults have sunk two vessels, including a Greek-owned ship carrying coal.
With container traffic through the Suez Canal dropping to one-tenth of its usual flow, most ships moving between Asia and Europe now circumnavigate Africa, which entails burning more fuel.
At the same time, carriers have concentrated their fleets on the most lucrative routes, those connecting destinations like Shanghai and the Dutch port of Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest. That has forced cargo bound for other places to stop for loading and reloading at major hubs known as transshipment ports.
The largest such ports, including Singapore and the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, are now overwhelmed with incoming vessels. Ships must wait at anchor for as long as a week before pulling up to the docks.
Given the disruptions and additional costs, some increase in shipping rates is unavoidable. But those dependent on the industry argue that the carriers are increasing prices beyond the recovery of their own additional costs.
“The carriers learned a very valuable lesson during the pandemic,” Loomis said. “They will manipulate capacity, and they will jack up freight rates.”
Shipping containers at the Port of Savannah in Garden City, Ga., Sept. 29, 2021. As Houthi rebels intensify strikes on vessels headed for the Suez Canal, global shipping prices are soaring, raising fears of product shortages and delays. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
Stocks mixed, bond yields dip after US economic data
Global stock indexes were mixed in choppy trading Thursday, while U.S. Treasury yields declined slightly after a series of U.S. economic reports suggested ebbing momentum.
The data mostly supported the view the Federal Reserve could soon begin cutting interest rates. It included a report showing first-time applications for U.S. unemployment benefits drifted lower last week, but the number of people on jobless rolls jumped to a 2-1/2-year high in mid-June.
Investors are gearing up for a debate late Thursday between Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump.
Traders also are waiting for Friday’s U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data, which is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure and could help traders determine the U.S. rate outlook.
“The bond market is taking some of the weaker economic data to heart,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois.
Also, he said, “there is some expectation by equity investors that there might be something to come from the debate tonight. Is it something long term? No.”
The Japanese yen edged up from a 38-year low against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, helped by the softening U.S. economic data.
But investors remained on high alert for any signs of Japanese intervention to prop up the currency.
Japan’s finance minister has said he would take any necessary action on currencies, and that Japanese authorities were “deeply concerned” about the effect of the yen’s drop on the economy.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.03% against the greenback at 160.77 per dollar.
Technology stocks led advances among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, followed by equities in communications and industrials sectors. Consumer staples stocks were the biggest losers.
The May private payrolls report on Wednesday was the latest data to suggest an easing in labor market tightness that could propel the Fed to begin cutting rates this year. A report on Tuesday showed job openings fell in April to the
MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS
fewest in more than three years.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.13% at 105.91, with the euro up 0.23% at $1.0704.
Wall Street’s major stock indexes were mixed near flat. Chipmaker Micron Technology’s shares were down about 6% after a disappointing revenue forecast late Wednesday. An index of semiconductors was down 0.4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25.65 points, or 0.07%, to 39,102.15, the S&P 500 lost 1.89 points, or 0.03%, to 5,476.27 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 49.52 points, or 0.28%, to
CURRENCY
17,855.83.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.71 points, or 0.09%, to 803.02. The STOXX 600 index fell 0.43%. France, Italy and Spain will also release inflation data on Friday.
Investors had become more worried about inflation following a surprise jump in inflation data in Australia on Wednesday and in Canada on Tuesday.
Also, the first round of French parliamentary elections will take place on Sunday.
In U.S. Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10year notes fell 2.4 basis points to 4.292%, from 4.316% late on Wednesday.
Brent crude oil futures rose up $1.14, or 1.34%, to settle at $86.39 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 84 cents, or 1.04%, to settle at $81.74.
Ahead of election, Iranian voters say,
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Central Tehran is ablaze this week with posters and billboards of the six candidates in Friday’s presidential election, and the streets are jammed with buses taking supporters to campaign rallies, yet it is hard to find enthusiasm even for voting, much less for any individual candidate.
Iranians will head to the polls in a special election to choose the successor to former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
The election comes at a critical moment for Iran’s leadership. The economy has been weakened by years of sanctions, and under Raisi’s ultra-conservative leadership, personal freedoms and expressions of dissent have been increasingly quashed. Yet the government is keen to persuade more Iranians to show up at the polls in large numbers because voter turnout is seen as a measure of its support and legitimacy.
It may be a challenge, after years of voter boycotts and apathy, and judging from a small sample of interviews in recent days. Conversations with more than a dozen government workers, students, businesspeople and other ordinary men and women revealed a degree of weariness, even skepticism, despite the risks of speaking freely in Iran.
Even those who say they will vote — although they rarely want to say for whom — say they have little faith that their lives will change in ways that matter to them.
“We have been going backward and we are crying inside; I cannot afford to buy the machines I need for my work,” said Ibrahim, 53, an industrial engineer who owns a cement business in the northern city of Tabriz and who, like most Iranians interviewed in the days just before the election, was reluctant to give his full name for fear of retribution from the authorities.
The Iranian economy has struggled in recent years, partly a result of the sanctions the United States imposed after the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, but also because of economic mismanagement by the country’s clerical and military rulers. Iranians have also chafed under restrictions on their personal lives, particularly the requirement that women wear the hijab, which led to mass protests in 2022.
They have heard presidential candidates’ promises of change from time to time, and they are hearing them again in full throat in this election. But in the past they have,
‘We have been going backward’
Posters of presidential candidates on the streets of Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Central Tehran is ablaze this week with posters and billboards of the six candidates in Friday’s presidential election, and the streets are jammed with buses taking supporters to campaign rallies, yet it is hard to find enthusiasm even for voting, much less for any individual candidate. (Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times)
at best, gained some relaxations of laws on personal freedoms under moderate presidents like Hassan Rouhani, or the reformist Mohammad Khatami, only to face a crackdown under their conservative successors, like Raisi.
And they know the final say in all matters in Iran lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that they have no sway whatsoever over his decisions.
Since uprisings in both 2009 and 2010 over what was widely thought to be a rigged election, and in those that were violently suppressed with executions and imprisonment in 2022 over the hijab, protests have taken different forms. One of those is to boycott the polls altogether to show that the people reject any candidate who is allowed to run by the government, which vets all hopefuls.
That disaffection with Iran’s current leaders comes through in many conversations with ordinary Iranians, though older ones like Ibrahim draw some satisfaction from their experiences in the early years after Iran’s 1979 revolution.
Ibrahim had stopped with his family to visit the shrine built south of Tehran to honor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the ideological architect of the revolution, the overriding event of the past 50 years here and one that still shapes Iran’s domestic and foreign affairs.
The enormous golden mausoleum, with its mosaic-covered domes and soaring gold-
en minarets visible from miles away, is a striking contrast to the diminished circumstances that so many Iranians say they feel today, and although I visited on a religious holiday, the vast complex and its many parking lots were almost empty.
“I’ve seen two generations — I was 7 years old when the revolution came — the generation of the revolution and the next generation,” he said.
“After the revolution we saw more sacrifice, and everybody thought that they were brothers and sisters, and there was this philosophy of martyrdom, of everybody being ready to give his life for the country,” he said, referring to the Iran-Iraq conflict that ended in 1988 at the cost of hundreds of thousands of Iranian lives, though the true number is unknown.
But now, if there is another war, “I don’t think that they will go and fight for the country.”
Those who feel most committed to voting are those who took part in the 1979 revolution, or at least have a memory of it from childhood, and often worked for a long time in the government. Often, they
also fought in the Iran-Iraq war, and feel deeply connected to the country’s revolutionary identity.
Hossein Nasim, 56, who runs a small carpet shop in the Tajrish Bazaar, says he is enthusiastic about voting on Friday. He spent seven years as a prisoner in Iraq during the war — he became a soldier at 17 — and has one demand of the next president: Keep Iran away from war.
“Keep us away from any type of invasion,” he said, adding that the leaders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard are “peace-loving people” who are trying to avert conflict. He said Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led Iran’s powerful Quds Force, which is responsible for Iran’s external defense, and whom the United States killed in a drone strike in Iraq in 2020, was the kind of leader “who could organize people very well.”
Soleimani, whom the United States described as a terrorist, was responsible for setting up the Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East that have helped to achieve Nasim’s goal of keeping war away from Iran. These groups — Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and various militias in Syria and Iraq — give Iran plausible deniability while carrying out attacks on Iran’s enemies, including Israel and the United States.
Masumeh, 27, a conservatively dressed accountant in a black chador who had come with her 6-year-old son to pray at the shrine, appeared to be searching for that same sense of mission that both Nasim and Ibrahim, the industrial engineer from Tabriz, drew from the early days of the revolution.
Speaking of Khomeini, she said, “I am too young to remember the revolution, but I know that many young people followed him and he strengthened Islam in Iran.”
“This revolution was like a miracle for Iran. It made Iran exceptional, and we should continue in his path,” she said.
Bolivian general is arrested after apparent coup attempt
By JULIE TURKEWITZ, GENEVIEVE GLATSKY and MARÍA SILVIA TRIGO
Atop general and allied members of the military tried to storm the presidential palace in Bolivia on Wednesday, before quickly retreating in an apparently failed attempt at a coup.
Hours later, the general was taken into custody on live TV.
Video on Bolivian television showed security forces in riot gear occupying the main square in the administrative capital, La Paz, a camouflaged military vehicle ramming a palace door and soldiers trying to make their way into the building.
Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, the general, Juan José Zuñiga disappeared, and his supporters in the armed forces pulled back and were replaced by police officers supporting the country’s democratically elected president, Luis Arce.
Arce ventured onto the plaza after calling on Bolivians “to organize and mobilize against the coup and in favor of democracy.”
“Long live the Bolivian people!” he shouted in a televised address. “Long live democracy!”
In all, the attempted afternoon incursion into the palace lasted just three hours. As time wore on, it became clear that Zuñiga’s plan had little support.
Just before his arrest, Zuñiga claimed, without providing evidence, that Arce had asked him to stage the coup attempt.
“The president told me,” Zuñiga said as television cameras rolled, “the situation is really messed up, this week is going to be critical — so it’s necessary to prepare something that will raise my popularity.’”
Moments later, the police whisked the
that Zuñiga was dismissed from his position this week, which some in the country believed to be related to remarks he made about former President Evo Morales, a mentor of Arce.
The coup attempt came at a tense moment for Bolivia, a landlocked nation of 12 million people in South America. Arce, a leftist and the hand-picked successor of Morales — the country’s first Indigenous president and a towering figuring in Bolivian politics — is battling with Morales for control over their party and who will be its candidate in a 2025 race.
Bolivia’s economy is struggling, and Arce has been accused of moves his critics call undemocratic, including the detention of opposition figure Luis Fernando Camacho and former President Jeanine Áñez.
chez Velásquez, urged Zuñiga “not to spill the blood of our soldiers.”
The military’s initial move on the palace was immediately criticized by some leaders in the region, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. “Coups have never worked,” he told reporters Wednesday.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, who has long expressed admiration for Arce and Morales, also condemned the attempted coup, calling Arce Bolivia’s “authentic democratic authority.”
It was under the López Obrador administration that Mexico first provided a landing spot and asylum to Morales after he stepped down in 2019 amid violent protests set off by a disputed election.
general away in a white truck.
Afterward, a key minister in Arce’s government, Eduardo del Castillo, responded to the accusation by saying that Zuñiga and an alleged co-conspirator, Vice Admiral Juan Arnez, head of the navy, “have lost all credibility.”
“They were trying to win popular support and the support of the Bolivian people,” he said. “But the people of Bolivia no longer want coup adventures.”
Del Castillo added that nine people had suffered firearm injuries amid the chaos.
The office of Bolivia’s attorney general announced Wednesday evening that it had opened an investigation into Zuñiga “and all the other participants” in the day’s events, adding that it would seek “the maximum punishment” for those responsible.
Local news outlets previously reported
During the attempt to take over the palace, Zuñiga briefly entered the building, according to local reporters, before exiting and making a speech surrounded by masked members of the security forces. He criticized the government of Arce, and said the military was attempting to install “a true democracy, not one for a few.”
He also called for the release of several politicians and members of the military who have been imprisoned, including Áñez and Camacho.
“Enough of rule by a few,” the general said. “Look where that has gotten us! Our children have no future, our people have no future, and the army has the balls to fight for our children’s tomorrow.”
Shortly afterward, Arce confirmed that he was replacing Zuñiga, the commander general of the armed forces, as well as the heads of the air force and navy.
In a statement on television, the new commanding general, José Wilson Sán
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The secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, also expressed concern about the day’s events and called on all sides “to protect the constitutional order and to preserve a climate of peace.”
Bolivia, a deeply polarized country, has had 190 coups throughout its 200 years of history. And much of the discontent among members of the military, analysts say, stems from the feeling that they end up defending the established order, only to be punished politically, or with jail time, for standing by that order once a new government takes over.
But Carlos Saavedra, a Bolivian political analyst, said he saw little support in the country for this short-lived incursion, calling it an “adventure of a small group of soldiers.”
“There is no mobilization in any other department of the country,” he said. “It seems like it is Zuñiga’s intimate group that wanted to latch on to the command of the general of the army.”
Luis Alberto Arce Catacora, President of Bolivia, speaks at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 20, 2022. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
Why Republicans are talking about Biden’s ‘dictatorship’
By JAMELLE BOUIE
The United States under President Joe Biden is a “dictatorship,” according to Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota.
“Under Joe Biden,“ Burgum told Fox News, “we’re actually living under a dictatorship today where he’s, you know, bypassing Congress on immigration policy; he’s bypassing Congress on protecting our border; he’s bypassing Congress on student loan forgiveness; he’s defying the Supreme Court.”
Asked on Sunday to defend his claim, Burgum, who is apparently on the short list of potential running mates for Donald Trump, stood his ground, telling CNN that Biden is “bypassing the other two branches of government to push an ideological view of — whether it’s on economics or whether it’s on climate extremism — he’s doing that without using the other branches.”
It is an odd sort of dictatorship in which the head of state is bound by the rule of law as well as by the authority of other constitutional actors, one in which the dictator’s critics can organize to defeat him in an election without intimidation, penalty or threat of legal sanction — and in which he will leave office if he loses. If nothing else, it is hard to imagine a world in which Biden is both a dictator and someone who would allow Burgum, a regime opponent, to speak freely on national television as he works to defeat Biden at the ballot box.
In fairness to the North Dakota governor, he was trying to make a point about a perceived double standard, in which Trump and not Biden is blasted as an authoritarian for his use of executive orders. But even this is misleading, because the issue with Trump is not the use of executive orders per se. Instead, it is his demonstrated contempt for democratic accountability — he does not accept the right of an electorate to remove him from office — his desire to use the instruments of state to inflict punishment and suffering on his political enemies and his efforts to transform the office of the presidency and the broader executive branch into instruments of his personalist rule.
(That said, there is a conversation for another day about the overreliance on executive orders by presidents of both parties as a symptom of congressional weakness and a product of long-running structural transformations in the nature of the presidency, tied specifically to the growth and preeminence of the national security state.)
Burgum is obviously wrong about the idea that Biden is a dictator. But he is not the only Trump ally to speak in such dire terms about the United States. As Politico’s Ian Ward noted, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — another Republican hoping to stand with Trump as his second — believes that “the United States is on the verge of going up in smoke” and that “electing Trump represents the only hope that Americans have for getting off the path to literal civilization collapse.”
And Russ Vought, former budget chief in the Trump administration and one of the architects of the former president’s second-term agenda, believes that Americans are living in a “post-constitutional” moment that justifies the radical use of executive power to quash protesters with the military, the gutting of the federal civil service in favor of
a spoils system for Trump loyalists and the seizing of the power of the purse from Congress. He urges his comrades in arms to “cast ourselves as dissidents of the current regime and to put on our shoulders the full weight of envisioning, articulating, and defending what a Radical Constitutionalism requires in the late hour that our country finds itself in, and then to do it.”
Just as Americans are not living under a Biden dictatorship — in which the watchful eye of Dark Brandon prowls the nation in search of malarkey — the United States is also not on the verge of collapse. Our economy is the envy of the world, we remain the preeminent military power, and for all of its serious problems of representation and inclusion, our political system is still capable of handling at least a few of the major issues that face the nation. It does not downplay the challenges we confront to say that we have the capacity and the resources to meet them head on. That, if anything, makes it all the more frustrating that we have not yet secured decent housing, health care, child care and education for everyone in this country. None of these things are beyond our material ability to accomplish — far from it.
Of course, even mentioning the reality of conditions in the United States is a bit beside the point, because the breathless catastrophizing by Trump and his allies is not an expression of ignorance as much as it is a statement of intent. Rhetorically, the MAGA political project of personalist
rule in support of social hierarchy, unrestrained capital and the destruction of public goods depends on the conceit that the nation exists in a state of exception that demands extraordinary — and extreme — measures to resolve.
The cultivation of this notion of a state of exception, of a sense of emergency, is the overriding aim of MAGA political messaging. The targets change — in 2020 it was leftists and protesters, this year it is migrants and refugees again, as it was in 2016 — but the goal is always the same: to designate an enemy, to label that enemy an urgent threat to society and to try to win power on a promise to destroy that enemy by any means necessary.
Embedded in this maneuver is a radical claim of sovereignty. The so-called enemy is whoever Trump says it is, and once designated, the entire political system must bend to his will on the notion that he, alone, can fix it.
Sovereign power of the sort that Trump and his allies gesture toward does not exist in the American system as traditionally understood, and there is no provision in our Constitution by which the executive can set aside the rule of law to deal with threats and emergencies. But the point of this rhetoric of exception is to set the conditions for doing just that — for creating an actual state of exception in American politics.
Put another way, if we are on the verge of civilizational collapse, if we are in a post-constitutional moment, if we are already in a dictatorship, then anything is permitted in defense of the old order. And if democracy should stand in the way of recovery and restoration, then democracy should, perhaps, be set aside.
PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726
Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 (787) 743-5606 • Fax (787) 743-5100
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The Capitol in Washington, on May 20, 2024. (Will Matsuda/The New York Times)
Infosys BPM abre segunda oficina en Aguadilla y genera 325 nuevos empleos
POR CYBERNEWS
AGUADILLA
– El gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia, junto al secretario del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio (DDEC), Manuel Cidre, anunció el jueves la apertura de la segunda oficina de Infosys BPM en Aguadilla, que generará 325 nuevos empleos, sumándose a una plantilla actual de 300 trabajadores.
“Infosys es una empresa líder a nivel global que tiene gran impacto en nuestro ecosistema empresarial y complementa nuestra visión de una economía diversificada, sofisticada y multisectorial. Infosys ya ha duplicado su plantilla de empleados desde que llegó a Puerto Rico, lo que demuestra el potencial de crecimiento que tiene,” dijo Pierluisi Urrutia en declaraciones escritas.
“Aquí se estarán creando 325 nuevos empleos de alta calidad, los cuales se suman a los 300 empleados de la empresa, al pre-
sente. Además, está invirtiendo sobre 200 mil dólares en nueva maquinaria y equipos”, añadió.
El gobernador añadió que “el gobierno de Puerto Rico va a darle todo el apoyo que necesita para seguir creciendo, expandir su empresa y alcanzar su mayor potencial posible. Esta expansión, al igual que muchas otras que hemos logrado en estos pasados tres años y medio, también
Yaucanos ya pueden sacar el ‘Real ID’ en su propia municipalidad
YAUCO– Teniendo muy presente las distintas situaciones y contratiempos que protagonizan muchos de los residentes del Municipio de Yauco, a la hora de tener que trasladarse a las diversas oficinas gubernamentales centrales para obtener los servicios, el alcalde Ángel Luis ‘Luigi’ Torres Ortiz anunció -hoy, miércoles- la suma de la adquisición del ‘Real ID’ a las modernas instalaciones del Centro de Servicios Integrados (CSI), ubicadas en la Calle Comercio, en pleno corazón del pueblo del café.
“Es decir, que ya nuestros queridos hermanos y residentes no tendrán que salir más de nuestro amado pueblo para obtener este documento tan importante y necesario en la vida diaria”, informó quien hizo hincapié, en medio de la
inauguración del servicio, en que “así las cosas, a partir de hoy, nos convertimos, oficialmente, en el tercer municipio, en todo Puerto Rico, que ofrece esta identificación oficial, la que estamos trabajando, responsablemente, de la mano del Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP) y agencias federales”.
“A partir del mes de mayo de 2025, es importante destacar, será obligatorio que todas las personas tengan esta identificación con alcance federal. Más aún, sino tienen pasaporte y desean viajar a Estados Unidos… ¡Será requisito mostrarla antes de abordar un avión!... Del mismo modo, será necesaria para poder entrar a edificios federales y alquilar vehículos de motor, entre muchas otras cosas”, añadió.
envía un mensaje claro al mundo: estamos abiertos para hacer negocios.”
La nueva oficina de Infosys BPM en el Parque Industrial Montana de PRIDCO en Aguadilla, inaugurada nueve años después del primer edificio que la empresa ocupó en 2015, ampliará su capacidad para atender a más clientes de los sectores aeroespacial, salud, finanzas y telecomunicaciones, ofreciendo oportunidades de empleo en el procesamiento de datos y servicio al cliente.
Infosys BPM Limited, filial de gestión de procesos empresariales de Infosys Limited, con sede en Bengaluru, India, se especializa en la gestión de pedidos y servicios de soporte al cliente para la industria aeroespacial, aeronáutica y de defensa. También presta servicios a sectores gubernamentales locales e internacionales y de soporte IT para el sector de la salud.
Anantha Radhakrishnan, CEO y directora general de Infosys BPM, reafirmó el compromiso de la empresa con la Isla. “Nuestras nuevas instalaciones ampliadas en Puerto Rico son otro paso importante hacia la aceleración de la innovación para las empresas globales.”
“Esto es parte de nuestro gran compromiso inquebrantable con cada yaucano, en fin, hacerle más accesibles los servicios del Gobierno Central… En nuestro amado Yauco, hoy damos otro paso al frente y de vanguardia... Pues, la realidad del caso es que, al presente, son muy pocos los ayuntamientos que lo están haciendo. ¡El ‘Real ID’ ya puede ser sacado en Yauco!”, expresó.
Pronostican condiciones marítimas y del tiempo deterioradas por Onda Tropical AL95
POR CYBERNEWS
SAN JUAN – Según la última guía del modelo, la Onda Tropical AL95 debería moverse hacia el Mar Caribe a principios de la próxima semana, en deterioro de las condiciones marítimas y del tiempo en Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes Estadounidenses desde tarde el lunes hasta el martes.
El Servicio Nacional de Meteorología (SNM) ha emitido la sección de Perspectiva sobre las Condiciones del Tiempo en el Trópico sobre AL95 o Invest 95L:
Este del Atlántico Tropical (AL95): Una onda tropical localizada varios cientos de millas al oeste-suroeste de las Islas de Cabo Verde continúa produciendo actividad de aguaceros desorganizados y tormentas eléctricas. Se pronostica que las condiciones ambientales serán propicias y se anticipa el desarrollo de este sistema. Es probable que una depresión tropical o tormenta tropical se forme este fin de semana varios cientos de millas al este de las Islas de Barlovento mientras el sistema se mueve hacia el oeste a 15 a 20 mph. Los intereses en las Antillas Menores deben monitorear el progreso de este sistema.
•Probabilidad de formación hasta 48 horas: Media, 60 por ciento.
•Probabilidad de formación hasta 7 días: Alta, 80 por ciento.
Recuerde que esta información es sensible al tiempo y puede cambiar con la próxima perspectiva. Proporcionaremos correos electrónicos informativos (al menos) diariamente durante los próximos días. Los intereses en Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes Estadounidenses deberían continuar monitoreando este sistema.
POR EL STAR STAFF
Kevin Costner is pursuing his western dream. Will audiences follow?
By NICOLE SPERLING
Oh, to have the self-confidence of Kevin Costner.
There are few actors in the final chapter of their career who would turn down a consistent $1 million-an-episode payday to pursue the vagaries of the Wild West. Yet there are few actors who are as single-minded as Costner.
For the 69-year-old star and director, who has made a career of taking the road less traveled, has embarked on what many would call a foolhardy quest to turn his long-percolating story of the settling of the West post-Civil War into four theatrical films. It’s an endeavor he’s undertaking without the true support of Hollywood: No legacy studio wanted to finance his sprawling epic. And it’s one that comes at great personal cost, both financially, with Costner investing $38 million of his own money, and professionally, with his commitment to the films causing a schism with the producers of “Yellowstone,” the television franchise that revitalized his career.
There is no guarantee his grand experiment will succeed. “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” is set to debut Friday. And in an unprecedented move, “Chapter 2” will hit theaters less than two months later, on Aug. 16. Both features cost in the $100 million range. Warner Bros. is releasing the films in the United States, Canada and some international territories in a service deal calling for Costner to pay for the marketing costs while collaborating with the studio on the creation of the marketing materials. (Warner Bros., according to a representative who was not permitted to speak on the record, has a small financial stake in the production of the first two films.) The deal’s structure means that should the movies backfire, there will be little financial downside for the studio but much risk for Costner himself.
But as he has put it, letting go was never an option. He first commissioned the script back in 1988. He almost made it with The Walt Disney Co., but the two parties couldn’t agree on a budget and the movie didn’t go forward. Then, instead of retooling one movie to fit the parameters of potential buyers, he and screenwriter Jon Baird turned it into four. To partly finance the films, he mortgaged a 10-acre piece of undeveloped coastline in Santa Barbara that he’s owned since 2006.
“It’s hard to fall out of love for me. I don’t do that,” he told journalists during the online debut of his teaser trailer in February, and added, “There’s a lot of people out there that know I’m a little bit of a hard-head or something. When no one wanted to make the first one, I got the bright idea to make four. So I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” (Costner declined to be interviewed for this story.)
Costner has been dreaming of “Horizon” since his breakthrough role in “Silverado” in 1985. This was before Costner bet big on himself in “Dances With Wolves,” the 1990 epic he pursued in place of the hefty paycheck he would have received to play Jack Ryan in “The Hunt for Red October,” an offer he described to GQ ma-
gazine as “more money than he had ever seen.” (The role went to Alec Baldwin.)
Instead he gambled $3 million of his own money on his ability to direct a film about a Civil War soldier’s relationship with a band of the Lakota tribe, the film that grossed $424 million worldwide and won seven Oscars, including the crucial best picture and best director prizes. Costner gave directing another go in 1997 with “The Postman,” an R-rated postapocalyptic drama that also involved an investment of his own funds. That movie, which cost $80 million, earned only $20 million at the box office and landed him in director jail for a good number of years.
And so it went for Costner, who continued toiling in Hollywood to greater and lesser success. In 2015, he also personally invested in the drama “Black or White,” a movie The New York Times described as “timid but honorable”; it earned $21.7 million at the box office. Costner chipped in $9 million and starred in the film opposite Octavia Spencer.
But “Horizon” may be his biggest bet yet.
The film was scheduled to go in production as Costner’s star was rising again, this time atop Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” franchise: He played the prickly patriarch John Dutton in television’s most popular show. Something of a unicorn itself, “Yellowstone” saw its audience grow during its last 4 1/2 seasons on the Paramount Network, and it earned
Costner his third Golden Globe. Yet, that relationship has now come to a bitter end because of a scheduling dispute between Costner and Sheridan, precisely because of the “Horizon” films.
Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter he was “disappointed” by Costner’s departure, adding that “it truncates the closure of his character.” Paramount in a statement said: “While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent and our production needs in order to move forward together.” A source at the studio said that a shortened schedule was offered to Costner along with a hefty payday but that he only responded with “unrealistic and ever-changing demands.”
A representative for Costner said he had no comment.
When the second half of Season 5 begins airing in November, Costner will not be part of the Dutton ensemble. He made it official in a video posted on Instagram on Friday, saying that in the “long year and a half” of working on “Horizon,” he realized that he wouldn’t be able to continue with “Yellowstone,” which he described as “that beloved series that I love that I know you love.”
Instead, he will be back in Utah, filming the third installment of “Horizon.” It’s unclear whether he has the money to finish the movie and whether anyone will bail him out, especially if the first movie doesn’t perform at the box office.
“It’s one of those weird things where it’s not about the money, it’s about believing in your story and the film that you want to make,” said actor Danny Huston, who played opposite Costner in “Yellowstone” and has been cast in the “Horizon” saga as a Civil War colonel. “But it is about the money,” he added with a laugh, “because the dream is a rich one.”
Costner debuted “Chapter 1” last month at Cannes, where it received a standing ovation. Yet critics have not been kind in early reviews. Time magazine called it “curiously undistinguished.” The Hollywood Reporter deemed the near-three hour film a “clumsy slog,” pointing out “the uncomfortably long time” it takes to add context to the portrayal of its few Native American characters.
It is currently tracking to open at $12 million, an inauspicious start for an expensive film, but insiders at Warner Bros. believe the tracking services are not reaching Costner’s audience for these films, primarily older men living in the middle of the country.
Costner himself remains undeterred.
“I’m out there heading west again, pushing a rock uphill trying to make the third one,” he said at the trailer event. “I know I’m a little bit of a joke, or it’s maybe humorous to even watch me because it’s like, ‘Whoa, I wonder when he’s going to ever stop digging.’
“I’m terribly satisfied in my own life that God allowed me to get these first two done,” he added. “If I’m hit by lightning, who knows what happens. At least I went west.”
Kevin Costner poses for a portrait in Carpinteria, Calif., May 11, 2018. Costner’s sprawling four-film western epic, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” is set to debut Friday, with “Chapter 2” hitting theaters less than two months later, on Aug. 16. He said his commitment to “Horizon” means he won’t be able to continue with “Yellowstone,” the hit television franchise that revitalized his career. (Elizabeth Weinberg/The New York Times)
A 20-minute intense workout that’s easy on your joints
By JEN MURPHY
High-intensity workouts are designed to be hard. The whole point of repeatedly going all out for 30 seconds or a minute at a time is to get the maximum cardiovascular exercise in the least amount of time. But that doesn’t mean these workouts need to be punishing for your joints.
The most well known of these workouts, high intensity interval training, or HIIT, involves high-impact moves and has been adopted by serious athletes to become stronger, faster and more powerful, said Susane Pata, a Miami-based trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
HIIT workouts caught on at gyms in the early 2000s, and studies have shown their benefits, including improved cholesterol and blood pressure profiles, heart health and fat loss.
However, since then, many trainers have adapted them to be accessible to a wider audience, Pata said. Since the end of the pandemic, a gentler version has emerged, known as HILIT, or high-intensity, low-impact interval training.
These workouts substitute high-impact activities such as sprinting, burpees or jump lunges with joint-friendly alternatives. The goal is still the same: to keep your heart rate above 80% of your absolute maximum before letting it barely recover and then repeating the effort.
Not just for beginners
Novice exercisers need to build a foundation of balance, core strength and joint stability before attempting dynamic plyometrics exercises, such as burpees, that are usually included in HIIT routines, Pata said.
HILIT, which removes those high-impact moves, is useful for beginners. It can also help people with joint pain, as well as those who are recovering from an injury or even pregnant women, keep up a fitness regimen.
The downside to substituting lower-impact movements is
Don’t get discouraged if you can’t complete all three exercises in any given minute. Simply lower the reps to meet your fitness level, Martin said. You can also perform these same exercises in a Tabata-style workout, if you prefer. And never sacrifice form. If your technique is faltering, scale back on reps.
The workout does not require equipment and should take less than 20 minutes, including the warmup and cooldown. Do a slow-paced run-through of each move before starting the workout. If you feel any pain, or if a certain move is too challenging, substitute a different one. The goal is to get your heart rate up, using a combination of moves that work for your body.
A model demonstrates highintensity, low-impact interval training, or HILIT, in Portland, Oregon, on May 16, 2024. You can substitute high-impact activities such as sprinting, burpees or jump lunges with joint-friendly alternatives. (Gritchelle Fallesgon/The New York Times)
that you may burn fewer calories, according to Vanessa Martin, a trainer and founder of New York City-based SIN (Strength in Numbers) Workouts. She recommended consulting with your doctor before embarking on any new training, especially if you are pregnant or have a cardiac condition.
Get used to pushing yourself
If you’re new to exercise or new to high intensity training, the first step is to get used to the feeling of pushing yourself hard and then recovering. Ease in with a cardio-focused routine using some form of low-impact exercise, like rowing or walking. If you have access to a gym, try a stationary bike, elliptical machine, assault bike or rowing machine. If you don’t have access to machines, you can march in place with high knees, shadow box or do step jacks.
Begin with an easy, minute-long warmup, then go as hard as you can for 10 seconds, then drop your pace or rest for 50 seconds. Repeat six times. When this starts to feel easy, shorten the rest until your recovery is five to 10 seconds. If at any point you feel dizzy or too out of breath, stop the workout.
The workout
The best HIIT workouts mix strength and cardio exercises that last longer than rest times. One popular format is “every minute on the minute,” or EMOM. The goal is to complete a specific number of exercises within, or under, one minute.
For instance, in the following workout, designed by Martin, perform the first group of three exercises during every odd minute and the second group during every even minute. If you can’t complete all three exercises during the first odd minute, stop and move on to the next group of exercises, and then pick up with the exercise you left off in during the next odd minute.
Only take a break if you finish all three exercises before each minute is up. Aim to work at 80% to 95% of your maximum heart rate. This should be enough effort that you are unable to speak.
New exercisers should aim to complete one to two HILIT sessions per week and supplement the training with low-impact, steady-state cardio, like swimming or cycling, to build endurance. Regular fitness enthusiasts can engage in HILIT three to five times per week. Consider downloading a free interval-timer smartphone app to alert you at the end of each minute.
Warmup: Inchworm crawl out to plank to hand-release pushup for three to five minutes. The goal is to elevate your heart rate and activate your muscles. Form is the focus, not speed. If the pushup is too much, cut it out. If you can, go right into the workout after warming up.
Minutes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9: The following exercises should be done during each of the odd minutes. Aim to complete all of them in less than one minute. If you cannot finish, move on when the minute is up. Then, on the next odd minute, start with the exercises you missed before. If you exercise regularly, try raising each rep count to 20.
— 10 step jacks (left and right side).
— 10 forearm plank step-outs (left and right side).
— 10 1:1 count bicycles (left and right side).
Minutes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: The following exercises should be done during each of the even minutes. Aim to complete all of them in less than one minute. If you cannot finish, move on when the minute is up. Then, on the next odd minute, start with the exercises you missed before. If you exercise regularly, try raising each rep count to 10.
— Four alternating lateral lunges with toe tap (left and right side).
— Four modified burpees (hands to ground, step back to plank, step feet forward, come to stand).
— Four alternating traveling planks.
Cooldown: Take three to four minutes to bring your heart rate back to baseline with dynamic, yoga-inspired stretches and slow, controlled breathing.
Planks are a great low-impact way to build core muscles and challenge your body. (Gritchelle Fallesgon/The New York Times)
The San Juan Daily Star
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE UTUADO SALA SUPERIOR DE LARES
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. YASHIRAH LUZ
CASTILLO CABÁN
Demandado
Civil Núm.: UT2022CV00103. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de Lares, Lares, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 6 de mayo de 2024, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número 2 del Bloque I (I-2), Calle 7 en el Plano de Inscripción de la Urbanización Palmas del Sol, radicado en el Barrio Pueblo del término municipal de Lares, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 275.00 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el SUROESTE, en distancia de 25.00 metros, con el solar I-3; por el NOROESTE, en distancia de 11.00 metros, con el Solar I-1; por el NORESTE, en distancia de 25.00 metros, con la Calle 7; y por el SURESTE, en distancia de 11.00 metros, con el solar I-13. Enclava una estructura para uso residencial. Inscrita en la finca número 19,158, inscrita al folio 176 del tomo 399 de Lares, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Utuado. La propiedad ubica según pagaré: I-2 7 St. Palmas del Sol, Lares, PR. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada y notificada en este caso el 10 de agosto de 2022, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $74,773.17 por concepto de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma a razón del 3.99%, anual desde el 1ro de agosto de 2019, hasta su completo pago, más las primas de seguro hipotecario, recargos por demora y cualesquiera otras cantidades pactadas en la escritura de primera
hipoteca, desde la fecha antes mencionada y hasta la fecha del pago total de las mismas, más la suma de $8,075.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 10 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Centro Judicial de Lares, Lares, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $80,750.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 17 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $53,833.33, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 24 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $40,375.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas
que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Lares, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de mayo de 2024. ALGUACIL ISMAEL SERRANO CARDONA, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE LARES.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO SALA SUPERIOR ORIENTAL BANK
COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC.
Demandante Vs. LA SUCESION DE ANDREW ORTIZ JR. T/C/C ANDREW ORTIZ AGOSTO T/C/C ANDREW JR ORTIZ T/C/C ANDRE ORTIZ COMPUESTA POR FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)
Demandados Civil Núm.: HU2023CV00038. Sala: 206. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Al-
guacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el 16 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO, SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en: E-4 CALLE 4, URBANIZACION SAN ANTONIO, HUMACAO, PR 00791 y que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número cuatro (4) del Bloque “E” de la Urbanización San Antonio, radicado en el Barrio Mabú de Humacao, Puerto Rico, compuesto de trescientos veinticinco (325.00) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en veinticinco (25.00) metros, con el solar número cinco (5) del Bloque “E”; por el SUR, en veinticinco (25.00) metros, con el solar número tres (3) del Bloque “E”; por el ESTE, en trece (13.00) metros, con el solar número diecinueve (19) del Bloque “E”; y por el OESTE, en trece (13.00) metros, con la calle número cuatro (4) de la Urbanización. Enclava una estructura de concreto dedicada a vivienda. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita al Folio 238 del Tomo 146 de Humacao, bajo la finca número 4,518, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $141,000.00. Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 23 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $94,000.00. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas
del Alguacil que suscribe el día 30 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $70,500.00. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura número 160 otorgada en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el día 26 de agosto de 2021, ante la notario Teresita Navarro García y consta inscrita al Tomo Karibe de Humacao, bajo la finca número 4,518, inscripción 9na, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido contra la parte demandada ascendente a la suma de $139,658.85 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de abril de 2022, más intereses al tipo pactado de 3.50% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además, la parte co-demandada, La Sucesión de Andrew Ortiz Jr. t/c/c Andrew Ortiz Agosto t/c/c Andrew Jr. Ortiz t/c/c Andre Ortiz, adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $14,100.00. Además, la parte co-demandada, La Sucesión de Andrew Ortiz Jr. t/c/c Andrew Ortiz Agosto t/c/c Andrew Jr. Ortiz t/c/c Andre Ortiz, se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $14,100.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $14,100.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al Procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO, SALA SUPERIOR durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación del inmueble y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere,
al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio de remate. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores ni preferentes según las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores conocidos y desconocidos que tengan inscritos, no inscritos, presentados y/o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad objeto de ejecución y descrita anteriormente se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores una vez el Honorable Tribunal expida la correspondiente Orden de Confirmación de Venta Judicial. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Este Edicto será publicado dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal en Humacao, Puerto Rico, hoy día 6 de junio de 2024. JENNISA GARCÍA MORALES, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. WILNELIA RIVERA, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO, SALA SUPERIOR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE
PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. ERNESTO OJEDA MOURA; LAS SUCESIONES DE LUIS P. MOURA SOTO T/C/C LUIS MOURA SOTO Y HAYDEE GONZÁLEZ SEGARRA COMPUESTA POR HILDA MOURA GONZALEZ; FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL; MENGANO Y MENGANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLE HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LAS SUCESIONES; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)
Demandados Civil Núm.: PO2021CV02927. Sala: 406. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el 16 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en: B-11 CALLE VIRGILIO BIAGGI, URBANIZACION GRILLASCA PONCE, PUERTO RICO 00731 y que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar número once guión B (11-B) del Bloque “K” de la Urbanización Villa Grillasca en el Barrio Canas de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con un área de doscientos treinta y siete metros y medio cuadrados (237.50). Colindando por el NORTE, en veinticinco metros, con el solar número diez guion A (10-A); por el SUR, en veinticinco metros, con el solar número once guión A (11-A); por el ESTE, en nueve metros y medio con la Calle número seis (6); y por el OESTE, en nueve metros y medio, con la Cooperativa de Hogares, todos del mismo bloque de la urbanización. Existe una casa de concreto armado
de una sola planta, con techo de azotea y piso de losas del país que constituye una vivienda independiente consistiendo de tres dormitorios con sus closets, sala y comedor con una sola unidad, con sus closets, cuarto de baño y balcón. Existe sobre esta finca una servidumbre consistente de una pared medianera que divide la unidad descrita anteriormente de la unidad segregada, cuya pared continuará sirviendo a ambas unidades y pertenecerá en común proindiviso y en toda su actual extensión y espesor a los propietarios de los mismos. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita al Folio 89 del Tomo 176 de Ponce, finca número 20,171, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $40,550.00. Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 23 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $27,033.33. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 1RO DE AGOSTO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $20,275.00. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura de hipoteca número 173 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 26 de junio de 1998, ante el Notario Ricardo R. Pérez Pietri, y consta inscrita al Folio 149 del Tomo 957 de Ponce, Finca Número 20,171, inscripción 9na., en el Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido contra la parte codemandada, ascendente a la suma de $40,550.00 la parte co-demandada, Ernesto Ojeda Moura y Las Sucesiones de Luis P. Moura Soto t/c/c Luis Moura Soto y Haydee González Segarra, .adeuda la cantidad de $25,557.92 por concepto
($83,313.00), interés al ocho por ciento (8%), vencedero al primero (1ro) de noviembre de dos mil veintinueve (2029), según surge del testimonio número mil doscientos noventa y dos (1,292) de la escritura número doscientos treinta y uno (231), otorgada San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día catorce (14) de abril de mil novecientos noventa y nueve (1999), ante el notario Ignacio José Gorrín Maldonado, y cuya obligación hipotecaria se encuentra inscrita al tomo Móvil ochocientos ochenta y cuatro (884) de Sabana llana, finca número nueve mil ciento catorce (9114), inscripción décima (10ma). Que la propiedad sobre la cual se constituyó dicha hipoteca es la siguiente: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número veintitrés (23) de la Manzana “P” del plano preparado porla Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico para su proyecto de solares denominado Sabana Llana, radicado en el Barrio Sabana Llana del término municipal de San Juan, antes Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos uno punto veintidós (301.22) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la servidumbre de paso propuesta Avenida Ramal Este, en distancia de trece punto cero cero (13.00) metros; por el SUR, con la servidumbre de paso calle “A”, distancia de trece punto cero cero (13.00) metros; por el ESTE, con e Solar P guion veinticuatro (P-24 ). distancia de veintitrés punto dieciséis (23.16) metros: por el OESTE, con solar P guion veintidós (P-22), distancia de veintitrés punto quince (123.15) metros. Inscrita al folio doscientos treinta y res (233) del tomo doscientos tres (203) de Sabana Llana, finca número nueve mil ciento catorce (9114). Registro de la Propiedad Sección de San Juan Sección Quinta (5ta). SE LES APERCIBE que, de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda. sin más citarle ni oír!e. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 21 día de MAYO de 2024. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA(O).
GLORlAM MARTINEZ RIVERA, SSS.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA ORIENTAL BANK
Demandante V. ROSA MARIA CARDONA ORTIZ
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: TA2024CV00140. (Salón: 201B). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO Y OTROS. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. BALDOMERO A. COLLAZO TORRES - BCOLLAZO@LAWPR.COM.
ROSA MARIA CARDONA ORTIZHC-46 BOX 5705 DORADO, PUERTO RICO 00646. A: ROSA MARIA CARDONA ORTIZ. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 21 de junio de 2024. En Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, el 21 de junio de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARITZA BONILLA HERNÁNDEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Demandante V. JOHN DOE Y OTROS Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: PO2023CV03789. (Salón: 604 CIVIL SUPERIOR). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
FRANCES L. ASENCIO GUIDOFRANCES.ASENCIO@GMLAW.COM.
A: JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 21 de junio de 2024, este
Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de junio de 2024. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 21 de junio de 2024. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA. KEILENE RODRÍGUEZ
MELÉNDEZ, SECRETARIA
AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGION JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN.
ORIENTAL BANK
Demandante v. MARIA LOURDES
MELENDEZ MACHUCA
t/c/c MARIA DE LOURDES
MELENDEZ MACHUCA
Demandados
CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2023CV11605. Sobre: Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, hago saber a la parte demandada, MARIA LOURDES
MELENDEZ MACHUCA T/C/C MARIA DE LOURDES MELENDEZ MACHUCA y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 5 de junio de 2024, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, la siguiente propiedad con dirección física: Condominio San Luis, 54 Calle Palmeras, Apt. 703, San Juan Puerto Rico 00918 y que se describe como sigue: URBANA: Apartment number 703, situated on the lot described on the center of the seventh regular floor of the Resident Section, that is Building B, of Condominio San Luis,
upon entering the said building from Palmeras Avenue. Its boundaries are as follows: On the NORTH, with wall with the building; on the SOUTH, with wall of the building and wall separating it from the emergency stairway; on the EAST, with wall separating it from the principal and service lobbies, with wall separating it from the service stairway and with wall separating it from apartment type #1; and on the WEST, with wall of the building. The main entrance to this apartment which gives access to the principal lobby is located on the East side of this apartment. The kitchen door and the service bedroom door of this apartment which gives access to the service lobby is also located on the East side. It consists of an individual private area, of a joint right of co-ownership in the areas of Local Condominium of Building B, of a joint right of co-ownership in the areas of general condominium of the structure known as “Condominio San Luis”; and of a right of exclusive use over space for parking one automobile, all of the above rights being necessary for the adequate use and enjoyment of the apartment. The description of the aforesaid private area and the rights inseparably annexed to it area as follows: Private Area: Private area belonging exclusively to the owner or owners of this apartment, which area is contained within the above stated boundaries of the apartment and which comprises an approximated area of one thousand nine hundred thirty five square feet, equivalent to one hundred fifty and two hundred twenty eight thousandths square meters. It includes the following rooms: living room, dining-room with air conditioning closet, master bedroom with adjoining bathroom and closet, two additional bedrooms each with adjoining closet, common bathroom, hall with one closet between the bedrooms, kitchen with one closet, service bedroom adjoining bathroom, service porch adjacent to the kitchen and covered terrace adjacent to the living room. The bathrooms are fully equipped, including hot and cold water installations. The kitchen is equipped with an electric range, kitchen sink and kitchen cabinets. There is an electric cloth dryer installed in the service porch. Joint right of co-ownership in the areas of local Condominium of Building B a joint right of co-ownerships, together with the other owners of apartments in Building B, equivalent to four and nine hundred seventy six thousandths percent in all the title and interest to the areas of local Condominium of Building B, which percentage shall determine the share belonging to
the owner or owners of this apartment in the profits and common expenses in the said elements of local condominium, as well is the representation of the owner or owners of the apartment for voting purposes in matters dealing with the elements of local condominium of Building B at the general meeting of owners of Condominium San Luis. The afore-mentioned areas of Local Condominium in Building B area the following: The following facilities which area found in the basement: Reservoir for the storage of water. Compartment for water pumps for the use of the building. Compartment for the main light, power and telephone installations. Janitors room with garbage incinerator. Compartment for storing property of the tenants of the building. Small storage closet. The following facilities which are found on the ground floor. A lobby which gives access to the passenger elevator. A lobby which gives to the service elevator and access to the service elevator and to the stairway which leads to the higher floors of the building. Compartment for the use of the janitor of the building. Compartment for one service toilet for the use of the service personnel of the building. Office space. The following facilities which are found in each one of the seven regular floor: A principal lobby which gives access to the three apartments to the passenger elevator, to the emergency stairway and to the service lobby. The emergency stairway in turn gives access to the kitchen and service quarters of apartment type number two. However, in the seventh regular floor the principal lobby also has access to the service quarters of apartment type #2, and the emergency stairway will not have access to the kitchen and service quarters of apartment type #2 except through the service porch. A service lobby which gives access to the kitchen and servants quarters of apartment type #1 and #3, to the service elevator, to the service stairway, to the incinerator the compartment for the use of the janitor through the service stairway landing and to the principal lobby does not have access to the service quarters type #1 except through the kitchen. Compartment for the use of the janitor with a sink and its corresponding water and sewage installations. The following facilities are found in the eight floor where the penthouse is situated. Roof garden located over apartment type #3 and occupying that part of the root of the seventh floor which is not occupied by the penthouse and by the emergency stairway. The area of this roof level is approxi-
mately one thousand eight hundred twenty square feet, equivalent to one hundred forty-one and three hundred thousandths square meters, which area is not included in the building area of Building B. A principal lobby which gives access to the passenger elevator and to the emergency stairway as well as to the penthouse, to the roof garden and to the service lobby. A service lobby which gives access to the service elevator, to the service stairway and to the principal lobby. This lobby also gives access to the kitchen of the penthouse to the incinerator and to the compartment for the use of the janitor through the service stairway landing. Compartment for the use of the janitor with sink and its corresponding water and sewage installations. The following facilities which are found on the ninth floor. Compartment to be used as access to elevator machine rooms and the root of the penthouse. Area comprising the roof of penthouse. The following facilities are found on the tenth floor: Compartment for panel and equipment room of the passenger and service elevators. Concrete water reservoir located on tops of walls of service stairway. The following facilities which serve the several floors of the building. A passenger elevator for the use of the owners and tenants of the building and their guests which serve the ground floor, the seven regular floors and the penthouse. A service elevator which serves the basement, the ground floor, the seven regular floor and the penthouse. A garbage incinerator in the basement which is connected to the incinerator flue of the building. An incinerator flue extending from the basement to the tenth floor. This flue has a receptacle accessible from the service lobby of the ground floor, of each of the seven regular floors and of the penthouse, to be used for the disposal of garbage of the residents of the building as well as for the deposit of trench accumulated from cleaning the common areas. Water pumps are located in the basement for the supply of water to the building. An electric sub-station with its necessary transformers, the latter to be furnished by the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority is located at the basement for supplying light and power to the building. The owner of the commercial Building, that is Building A has the right to install or have installed by the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority three transformers and accessory equipment necessary for the transformers, on the premises wherein the electric sub-station is situated; provided however that right of use here in above granted to the
owner of Building A does not give the latter any property rights in Building B. A service stairway of approximately three feet eight inches wide, equivalent to one and twenty-one thousandth meters, which connects the basement to the ninth floor. This stairway is an interior stairway and connects the lobby of the ground floor with the service lobby of each one of the regular floors and with that of the penthouse. An emergency stairway of approximately three feet eight inches wide, equivalent to one twenty-one thousand meters, connecting the ground floor to the eighth floor. This stairway is an exterior stairway and connects the lobby of the ground floor with the principal lobby of each one of the regular floors and with that of the penthouse. Small iron stairway connecting the ninth and tenth floor. A shaft for each one of the elevators which extends from the basement to the ninth floor. All cold water plumbing throughout Building B installed outside the private areas. Electric wiring net throughout Building B which supplies electricity and power to each one of the distributing panels of the individual apartments and to the common elements of Building B. Provision for light, telephone, and water connections to the public utilities. The foundations bearing walls and columns of Building B. Joint of Co-Ownership in the General Condominium Areas of Building A and B. A joint right of Co-Ownership, together with the other owners of apartments in Building B and with the owner or owners of Building A, equivalent to four and one hundred fifty three thousandth percent in all the title and interest to the General Condominium Areas of Building A and B which percentage shall determine the share belonging to the owner or owners of this apartment in the profits and common expenses in the said elements of general condominium, as well as the representation of the owner or owners of the apartment for voting purposes in matters dealing with said elements of general condominium at the General Meeting of Owners of Condominium San Luis. Finca 427 inscrita al Folio 32 del Tomo 22 de Puerta de Tierra, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección I. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Scotiabank P.R., o a su orden, por $337,000.00, al 3.125% vencedero el 1 de abril de 2041, según Esc. #27 en Guaynabo, a 31 de marzo de 2016, ante Rina Cofiño Hernandez, inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Puerta de Tierra, Finca #437, inscripción 12ma. La hipoteca
objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dictada el 21 de marzo de 2024, mediante la cual se determinó que la cantidad adeudada y vencida, ascendiente a $278,627.13 de principal, más intereses acumulados, más cargos por demora, más costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, según pactado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya afectado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 29 de julio de 2024, a las 10:30 de la mañana en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma, la cantidad de $337,000.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 5 de agosto de 2024, a las 10:30 de la mañana, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $224,666.67. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día _12 de agosto de 2024, a las 10:30 de la mañana, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $168,500.00. El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad para ejecutar será adquirida libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del eje-
cutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 24 de junio de 2024. PEDRO HIEYE GONZALEZ, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
ANTONIO J. CABRERO MUÑIZ Demandante V. FRANCISCO ZAYAS
SEIJO, ET AL
Demandado
Civil Núm.: DDP98-1258. (506). Sobre: DIFAMACIÓN, DAÑOS Y PERJUICIOS. EDICTO DE SUBASTA.
A: FRANCISCO
ZAYAS SEIJO, NANCY COLON NUÑEZ, LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA ENTRE AMBOS y aL PUBLICO EN GENERAL:
El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Utuado, hago constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia dictada con fecha de 19 de enero de 2018 por el Tribunal de Apelaciones, debidamente notificada, de la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia emitida el 1 de septiembre de 2021 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 7 de septiembre de 2021, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que se describe a continuación:
RÚSTICA: BARRIO MAMEYES
ARRIBA de Jayuya. Solar: REMANENTE. Cabida 262,878.9 Metros Cuadrados. Linderos: Norte, terrenos de José Bibiloni. Sur, con la carretera número 141. Este, con José Bibiloni y Emilio Padua. Oeste, con José Márquez y parte de la finca en Utuado y terrenos de B. Márquez. Finca Núm. 1705 de Jayuya. Dirección física de la propiedad: Barrio Mameyes de Jayuya, Carretera 141, km. 15.1, Jayuya, Puerto Rico. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la suma de $375,000.00 que compone la deuda del principal, más el interés legal anual sobre el balance del principal calculado desde el 19 de enero de 2018, hasta el pago de la deuda en su totalidad. Los intereses continuaran devengándose hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda. El Honorable Tribunal emitió orden de embargo a favor del demandante sobre dicha propiedad presentada al asiente 2018-080579-UT01. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen POSTERIOR que afecte la mencionada finca. LA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 18 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, en la sala del referido Alguacil, sita en el primer piso del edificio que ocupa el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Utuado. No hay precio mínimo fijado en este caso debido a que la Ley Hipotecaria, Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria del 2015, no aplica al presente caso por ser una ejecución de una propiedad de los demandados para satisfacer la suma de dinero conferida al demandante por sus daños personales y no una ejecución de garantía hipotecaria. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación del inmueble y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistente. Entendiéndose que el rematante lo acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. No constan
inscrito en el Registro de la Propiedad acreedores que tengan derechos o cargas sobre el bien hipotecado con anterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante. Se les advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará el mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en moneda curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América, entiéndase en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Tome conocimiento la parte demandada y toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando; y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, se publicará dos (2) veces en un periódico de circulación diaria en la Isla de Puerto Rico y se fijará, además, en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Una vez efectuada la venta de dicha propiedad, el Alguacil procederá a poner al licitador victorioso en posesión física de la propiedad dentro del plazo de veinte (20) días contados a partir de la venta en pública Subasta. Además, el Alguacil procederá a darle posesión del material al adjudicatario, en los casos que fuere necesario, proceda el lanzamiento del demandado o terceras personas de la propiedad subastada y forzar puertas o ventanas, romper cerraduras, candados, cortar cadenas y tomar cualquier otra medida propia. De igual forma, el Alguacil sacará cualquier propiedad mueble o personal de los demandados o de terceras personas que se encuentren en la mencionada propiedad. Además, los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Utuado, Puerto Rico, a 29 de mayo de 2024. ELIEZER MOLINA SÁNCHEZ, ALGUACIL #433, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE UTUADO.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Demandante V. WALFREDO
FIGUEROA REYES
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: BY2023CV06453. (Salón: 401). Sobre: COBRO
DE DINERO - REGLA 60. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
GABRIEL ANTONIO RAMOS COLÓN -GABRIEL.RAMOS@ORF-LAW.COM. NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERANATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. COM.
WALFREDO FIGUEROA REYESURB RIBERAS DEL RIO D23 CALLE 8 , BAYAMÓN, PUERTO RICO, 00959-8821.
A: WALFREDO FIGUEROA REYES.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de junio de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 21 de junio de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. NÉLIDA OCASIO ORTEGA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Demandante V. KELVIN LOPEZ MATOS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: TB2023CV00331. (Salón: 403). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERANATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. COM.
A: A: KELVIN LOPEZ MATOS - 7851 CALLE CORREA, SABANA SECA PR 00952.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que
el 20 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de junio de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 21 de junio de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. KATHERINE SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGÜEZ SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN GERMÁN
ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC
Demandante V. EDWARD GONZALEZ CRUZ
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: SG2023CV00465. (Salón: 0100). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - REGLA 60. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERANATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. COM.
A: EDWARD GONZALEZ CRUZ. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 09 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual
puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de junio de 2024. En San Germán, Puerto Rico, el 21 de junio de 2024. Norma G. Santana Irizarry, Secretaria. Santa Rodríguez Bonilla, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGÜEZ SALA SUPERIOR DE CABO ROJO
ISLAND PORTFOLIO
SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC
Demandante V. WANDA I
RIVERA SANCHEZ
Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: CB2023CV00688. (Salón: 0001). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - REGLA 60. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. EDWIN OMAR SERRANO PEÑAEDWIN.SERRANO@ORF-LAW.COM.
KEVIN SÁNCHEZ CAMPANEROKEVIN.SANCHEZ@ORF-LAW.COM. A: WANDA I
RIVERA SANCHEZ. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 20 de junio de 2024. En Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, el 20 de junio de 2024. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. MARÍA M. AVILÉS BONILLA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC Demandante V. IVELISSE GARCIA COLON Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: CT2023CV00114. (Salón: 402 SUPERIOR CIVIL). Sobre: COBRO DE DINEROORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. KEVIN SÁNCHEZ CAMPANEROKEVIN.SANCHEZ@ORF-LAW.COM.
A: IVELISSE GARCIA COLON - URB. MARIA DEL CARMEN H-3 CALLE 4, COROZAL, PR 00783. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 12 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 20 de junio de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 20 de junio de 2024. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria. Noelia Matías Salas, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Y SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO Y OTROS
Demandante V. FULANO DE TAL SUTANA DE TAL HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS
Y OTROS Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: BY2018CV03714. (Salón: 504). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FASJCFORTUNO@FORTUNO-LAW. COM.
A: SUCESION DE FLORENTINO RODRIGUEZ TORRES T/C/C FLORENTINO TORRES Y SUCESION DE LOLA SEMIDEY T/C/C DOLORES SEMIDEY T/C/C DOLORES SEMIDEY T/C/C DOLORES RODRIGUEZ T/C/C DOLORES SEMIDEY RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTAS POR SU HEREDERO CONOCIDO TITO RODRIGUEZ SEMIDEY; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERES EN DICHAS SUCESIONES. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 06 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 24 de junio de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 24 de junio de 2024. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria. Vivian J. Sanabria Ortiz, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.
se llevarán a efecto en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan. Del Estudio de Titulo realizado surgen los siguientes gravámenes: GRAVAMENES: Por su procedencia: Servidumbres a favor de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico, Autoridad de las Fuentes Fluviales de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Condiciones Restrictivas y servidumbres a favor del Departamento de Recursos Naturales para el mantenimiento y conservación de canal cerrado y otro abierto. Se advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará el mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el mismo acto de la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el término de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores, previa orden judicial dirigida al Registrador de la Propiedad de la sección correspondiente para la cancelación de aquellos posteriores. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados, durante horas laborables, en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes; entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Y para conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Librado en la Sala de San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 14 de
junio de 2024. PEDRO HIEYE GONZÁLEZ, ALGUACIL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V. JESUS GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ Y OTROS Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: VA2022CV00177. (Salón: 503). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO Y OTROS. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. GUILLERMO A. SOMOZA COLOMBANI - BILLYSOMOZA@ YAHOO.COM. A: JESÚS GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, POR SI Y EN REPRESENTACION DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA CON GLORIMAR BUITRAGO CARRIÓN Y A GLORIMAR BUITRAGO CARRIÓN, POR SI Y EN REPRESENTACION DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA CON JESÚS
GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de junio de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de junio de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 21 de junio de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. IVETTE M. MARRERO BRACERO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO
DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE PEÑUELAS ISLAND PORTFOLIO
SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC.
Demandante Vs. LUIS J. RAMOS CORREA
Demandado
Civil Núm.: PE2023CV00091. Salón: 406. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: LUIS J. RAMOS CORREA - HC 2 BOX 3996, PENUELAS PR 00624-9630. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, Yauco en Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, hoy día 1 de mayo de 2024. En Yauco, Puerto Rico, el 1 de mayo de 2024. Carmen G. Tirú Quiñones, Secretaria Regional. Daisy Quiñones Vázquez, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA DE BAYAMÓN Island Portfolio Services, LLC, como agente de Fairway Acquisitions Fund, LLC. DEMANDANTE VS. XIOMARA J.
RIVERA RÍOS
DEMANDADA
CIVIL NÚM.: BY2024CV00766. SALÓN: 500-A. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. Estados Unidos de América El Presidente de los Estados Unidos El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. SS: A: Xiomara J. Rivera Ríos– COND PARK WEST APT 95 EDIF 15, BAYAMON PR 00961
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/ , salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal
podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamon, Puerto Rico, hoy día 2 de mayo de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 2 de mayo de 2024. Lcda. Laura I Santa Sanchez, Secretario(a). Vivian J Sanabria, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE LARES ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS
FUND, LLC. Demandante Vs. RICARDO NIEVES CARRILLO Demandado Civil Núm.: LR2024CV00032. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: RICARDO NIEVES CARRILLO - HC 04 BOX 44334, LARES PR 00669-9431; 1101 PENNSYLVANIA AVE NW # S, WASHINGTON, DC, 20004; 604 N 5TH ST APT 2 NEWARK NJ 071072646.
El Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de Lares, dictó la siguiente providencia: “Vista la Demanda y la solicitud de que se autorice el emplazamiento por edicto al amparo de la Regla 4.6 de Procedimiento Civil, de las cuales surge que RICARDO NIEVES CARRILLO es parte necesaria y legítima
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June 28-30, 2024 22
The San Juan Daily Star
Steven Kwan’s rise from pinball wizard to Guardians’ humble hitting savant
By ZACK MEISEL / THE ATHLETIC
Steven Kwan’s path to hitting prominence started in his grandmother’s garage, where he fiddled with a rickety pinball machine that had an outer space theme. Because of his expert timing on the controls, the game could last all afternoon.
The root of Kwan’s rise to prominence in the batter’s box for the Cleveland Guardians is his hand-eye coordination, a trait mastered through childhood summers full of pinball.
Two decades later, Kwan is flirting with a .400 batting average and blazing a trail to the All-Star Game. He is leaving those in his dugout saying wow and leaving those in the opposing one asking how.
How could this 5-foot-9, 170-pound chess champion who was never a high-profile prospect, who figured his rotten freshman year at Oregon State was his baseball journey’s death knell, reside in the same stratosphere as the sport’s slugging behemoths?
Kwan is the lone soul uninterested in the hype. His father floods his phone with jarring statistics, but Kwan responds by urging him to ditch social media. He will entertain those facts after the season. He cannot be bothered with adoration. The instant he allows his focus to stray, he insists, he will not be prepared to keep this going.
This surge, though, has put Kwan on the national radar, even if he will not indulge. When he turns on an inside fastball and yanks it off the foul pole, he credits his “shorter limbs,” not his unparalleled contact ability. He explains every hit as a lucky bloop or the byproduct of fortunate placement.
“He’s the humble king,” Guardians outfielder Will Brennan said.
That attitude has guided Kwan to this point, in which he rivals the league’s luminaries on every leaderboard. So have a rigid commitment to mental preparation, a determination to prove his mother wrong and, of course, pinball.
When he was 4, Kwan told his mother he wanted to be a baseball player. Jane Kwan told him maybe it would be better to focus on something else.
She was playing the odds, and he still teases her about it. She never intended to doubt him. She just wanted to offer a dose of reality. But he understood her position.
“Small kid,” Steven Kwan said. “Barely any athleticism in our family.”
But he refused to ponder the future or shore up a plan to enter the business world once the baseball dream fizzled. He entered what he described as survival mode, a one-year-at-a-time approach to an athletic career that figured to slam into a dead end before long.
In his first college game, he was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, a missed sign, a botched bunt and a misplayed ball in the outfield. He was convinced he had no future on the diamond. But, he said, he would not quit “until someone rips the cleats off me.” That never happened, and Kwan adopted his mother’s more realistic approach as he pushed forward.
He did not expect to break camp with the Guardians in 2022, especially with a shorter audition because of the lockout. But he started in right field on opening day. He was certain he would head to Class AAA after a week or two, once Josh Naylor returned from injury. He has not been back to Columbus, aside from a rehabilitation assignment. And Kwan and Naylor are now pivotal players in Cleveland’s lineup.
But, no, he will not get caught up in the hysteria surrounding his average, which was .385 through Tuesday, in 231 plate appearances, not quite enough to qualify for the American League batting title race. But he is gaining on that number (3.1 plate appearances per scheduled game).
“Hitting like this just isn’t very common,” he said, “so I’ve never really thought about something like this.”
Scott Barlow, pitching for the Kansas City Royals, allowed Kwan’s first major league hit, in 2022. When the two became teammates this season, Barlow had Kwan sign a bat for him. It rests in the back of the reliever’s locker.
Barlow was the first of many who have struggled to unearth a formula to quiet Kwan’s bat. The best tactic is not some 98 mph heater or wipeout slider. It is prayer.
When Kwan swung and missed for his 15th strikeout of the season one day last week — for perspective, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has more than 100 — manager Stephen Vogt and his bench coach, Craig Albernaz, looked at each other and gasped.
“It’s like a glitch,” catcher Austin Hedges said.
Vogt remembers game-planning for Kwan last year as Seattle’s bullpen coach. The strategy was to throw it down the middle and let him slap a single somewhere or, ideally, shoot it toward a fielder. There was no use in wasting pitches against a guy who has a better handle on the strike zone than the umpires.
“His ability to make an adjustment in the middle of a pitch and time it up,” Barlow said, “whether it’s to foul it off or rifle a line drive off you real quick, it’s crazy.”
Kwan ranks at the top of the leaderboard in strikeout rate and whiff rate, and he rarely chases pitches out of the zone. If he does, it is for one of those short-limb-driven fastballs that he converts into a souvenir.
Kwan spent his winter seeking ways to hit the ball with more authority. More muscle and better bat speed were not the remedies. No, the key was in his approach. He stepped into a Chicago batting cage and practiced swinging and missing more. He needed to reach a point of acceptance. He would stand in, spot the ball, take a healthy hack and if he missed — which goes against every cell in his body — he had to learn to shrug it off.
The plan was to take more chances in advantageous counts
Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan scores a run during Game 3 of their A.L. division series with the New York Yankees at Progressive Field in Cleveland, on Oct. 15, 2022. So far this season, Kwan is flirting with a .400 batting average and blazing a trail to the All-Star Game. (Maddie McGarvey/The New York Times)
when a whiff would be less detrimental than weak contact. He strove to alter his bat angle and to elevate a pitch he knew he could damage, to target the outfield gap or the fans in the third row.
On Sunday, Kwan turned on another fastball and pulled it into the right-field seats. Through Tuesday, he had hit a career-high seven home runs, in a third of the plate appearances of a normal season. He is jockeying with Shohei Ohtani for second place behind Aaron Judge in the league’s slugging ranks.
But do not tell him any of these facts until after the season.
When Kwan showers after a game, he watches the shampoo, soap and water funnel down the drain. In his mind, everything that occurred on the field goes with it. Every day is a clean slate.
“A lot of us can learn from that,” Brennan said.
Most mornings, Kwan meditates for 10 to 15 minutes. It centers him and helps him dismiss any intrusive thoughts, though he admits that has been more difficult lately, given the increased attention on his every swing.
Hedges took Kwan under his wing in 2022 and said it was the easiest mentorship he has forged. Kwan was curious and caring, eager to learn how to stick in the majors and how to foster a healthy clubhouse culture. Hedges has watched him blossom into a leader — he is the Guardians’ union rep at age 26. Now he finds himself learning from Kwan and marveling at his influence on a first-place team.
Kwan’s parents are savoring every moment, too. Most nights, they schedule dinner around the Guardians’ first pitch. On the West Coast, that often means a 4 p.m. meal. They would not dare miss the game’s most lethal leadoff hitter take his first cuts.
Through Tuesday, Kwan owned a 1.006 on-base plus slugging percentage, and he had more walks (20) than strikeouts (16).
And it all traces back to that pinball prowess. Kwan’s parents met while playing pinball in the 1980s. Kwan remembers asking for their permission to use the family computer so he could play a pinball game. Little did he know that he was also cultivating the skills that would make him one of baseball’s most imposing hitters.
“It feels lazy to be like: ‘It’s baseball. It’s lucky,’” Kwan said. “But I think sometimes, it has to just come down to that.”
Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21
