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Puerto Rico Week in New York City kicked off Sunday with the celebration of the Annual Mass of the National Puerto Rican Parade at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
“Apart from the significance of this day, for all of us Puerto Ricans, we are very proud and privileged to be able to be in the second largest church in North America only after the Guadalupano Sanctuary in Zamora, Mexico,” said Lillian Rodríguez López, who chairs the board of directors of the National Puerto Rican Parade. “Today we will remember important figures from the world of music, business, culture and civic life who died last year, but their legacy is with all of us.”
Miguel Guadalupe, vice president of the parade, noted that “[w]e are already in the final stretch of what will possibly be the best Puerto Rican parade in recent years.”
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“Many people living in Puerto Rico began arriving early in the week to put the final touches on their floats, ‘comparsas’ and wardrobes that they will use next Sunday, June 11, on their tour of Fifth Avenue,” he said. “Our National Puerto Rican Parade, the nation’s largest Hispanic cultural event, is an activity awaited by the people of New York. Each year, more and more people continue to join with entities that will pay tribute to figures who have enriched Puerto Rican culture, contributing to its evolution through fine arts, cinema, literature and gastronomy. This year’s honorees are singer Armando Chucho Avellanet, singer Josie Guzmán, writer María Teresa “Tere” Marichal, music teacher Ángel Cucco Peña and award-winning painter Antonio Martorell. The Parade and its directors recognize in a special way this year the veteran public relations officer, Wilson Nazario, who has been working for our organization for 52 years uninterruptedly and who serves as the event’s credentialing officer, an office that certifies any journalist or communicator who wishes to cover the event.”
The parade organizers announced the designations for next Sunday: starting in the “Pioneer” category for Omi Hopper, chef, contestant in “Next Level Chef” and influencer in social networks; the Athlete of the Year will be Alelí Medina, the first para surfing gold medalist (visually impaired category); the ambassadors will be Dr. Antonio Mignucci, a biological oceanographer and veterinary technician; Dr. Ariel Orama, who has been awarded as a filmmaker, actor and clinical psychologist; Nilda María Comas, a sculptor and winner of multiple awards; and Ana Torres Toro who has stood out as a journalist and novelist.
As part of the Puerto Rican Week festivities in New York, many entities organize activities to receive dignitar-
ies and delegations from Puerto Rico who mobilize to the Big Apple to participate in the events. On Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams will host a reception for visitors at the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion.
The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Wind: From SSE 13 mph
“At the end of the week, specifically on Friday during the morning and afternoon, the executives of the government of Puerto Rico, mayors, senators, representatives and leaders from the island will participate in a Conversation on Health organized by CROEM ALUMNI, with the participation of the assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense for health affairs of the United States Army, Dr. Lester Martínez López, with Puerto Rico Secretary of Health Dr. Carlos Mellado [López],” said Wanda Nazario, public relations coordinator of the event. “The Conversation, a continuing education activity, also brings together the executive director of the Traffic Safety Commission, Luis Rodríguez Díaz; ASSMCA Administrator Dr. Carlos Rodríguez Mateo; Puerto Rico Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago; Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez; Mayors Association President Luis Javier Hernández; Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce President Cameron McKenzie; entrepreneur Sheila Otero of the United Center of Retailers; ambulance services expert Asisris Rodríguez; CDC scientist Dr. Francisco Tomei; and the president of the organization Mujeristas (of the University of Dayton), Victoria Rivera, who will touch on the issue of the health needs and services faced by university students for the first time.”
On Friday evening, the Grand Gala Banquet of the National Puerto Rican Parade will be held, whose proceeds will be used for the successful scholarship program initiated by the former president of the parade, Lorraine Cortes Vázquez, who today serves as commissioner of the Office of Elderly Affairs of the City of New York.
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On Saturday, the Puerto Rico delegation will participate in a reception organized by the 116 Festival committee and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New York at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, where the island delegation will present a recognition to businessman Nick Lugo, founder of the Festival de la 116 and the newspaper La Voz Hispana in New York. In the afternoon, the Delegation of Puerto Rico will mobilize to the Salsa Museum (The Spaha Salsa Gallery), where radio and television programs on salsa music originate.
Maj. Gen. Dr. Lester Martínez López
By THE STAR STAFF
On Sunday afternoon, following the primary to fill the vacancy of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) in the Senate for the district of Guayama, the mayor of that municipality, O’brain Vázquez Molina, congratulated Héctor Santiago Torres, who was elected with the support of 129 delegates, of the 382 who participated in the event held at the Guayama School of Fine Arts.
“I must first congratulate all the delegates of our district who fulfilled their democratic duty and participated in the event,” the mayor said. “By a large majority, they have selected comrade Héctor Santiago Torres, who has a combination of youth, academic preparation and experience in public service, particularly in relation to municipal work. Now Héctor assumes a very important position for all 15 towns that make up our district.”
Vázquez Molina also thanked the other four candidates who competed in the PDP event.
“To the friends and POpular comrades Carmen Ciela González, Ángel Rodríguez Otero, Roberto Colón Sánchez and Juan Carlos Figueroa Vázquez, my respect for a clean campaign and ideas,” he said. “You have set a good example for what it means to be Popular and I hope that the four of you will continue to contribute to the PDP as you have done today.”
As soon as the results of Sunday’s event are certified, the new senator must complete the regulatory documentation to take the oath of office and begin his work in the Senate.
For his part, Santiago Torres said that his priorities are in the economic development of the district, “as well as in the solution of pressing problems in the communities, such as consistent access to drinking water and improving the state of public roads.”
“I appreciate the support received, which I will honor by working for our 15 towns in the district of Guayama,” he said.
As soon as the results of Sunday’s electoral event arecertified, the new Popular Democratic Party senator for the District of Guayama, Héctor Santiago Torres, must complete the regulatory documentation to take the oath of office and begin his work in the Senate.
The Office of the Women’s Advocate (OMP by its Spanish initials) and the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics reiterated their call to all working women in Puerto Rico to complete the Working Women’s Needs survey, which is available at the link: www.estadisticas. pr/ needs-woman.
The purpose of the electronic questionnaire, aimed at all working women in the public and private sector, housewives, caregivers, entrepreneurs, and those who are self-employed, is to better identify the needs and challenges of working women and, based on empirical evidence, promote possible solutions in the short, medium and long term.
“The deadline to fill out the questionnaire is June 16, 2023. There is still time to participate in this valuable tool. The survey is of the utmost importance because it
will enable us to more accurately fulfill the mission of our office,” said interim Women’s Advocate Madeline Bermúdez. “We seek to ensure the full development of women, promote equality and equity, eradicate all manifestations of discrimination and violence, promote and enforce public policies that guarantee their human rights and educate the community to make proactive and affirmative decisions in defense of women’s rights.”
“At the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics we are compiling the responses to this survey, to then perform the analysis and generation of statistics for the subsequent presentation of the results,” added Orville Disdier Flores, the executive director of the institute.
Participation in the survey is voluntary and anonymous. The topics included are: current employment situation, work environment, breastfeeding, maternity, structure and needs of the house and home, quality of life, physical health and emotional health.
U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain has set a schedule of matters to be discussed in the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) bond claim estimation hearing set for Tuesday.
Last week, she said on June 6 she will hear legal arguments, on Wednesday, June 7 there will be an evidentiary hearing, and Thursday, June 8 will be the day for closing arguments.
Previously, Swain has said that the size of the bonded debt claim should guide the plan of adjustment for PREPA’s debt, which is about $9 billion.
In March, Swain ruled that payment of PREPA’s $8.4 billion bonded debt is not secured by a 1974 Trust Agreement. She said bondholders have security interests only in sums deposited to the Sinking Fund, Self-insurance Fund, Capital Improvement Fund, Reserve Maintenance Fund, and Construction Fund, as defined in the Trust Agreement. She also said bondholders have an unsecured claim against the utility to be liquidated by a “reference to the value of future net revenues.”
The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, which represents PREPA in the proceedings, had a plan of adjustment that in the event they won against the bondholders in a lien challenge, they would receive less than 1% of the payment.
In the Lien Challenge opinion, the court held that bondholders have “an unsecured claim to be liquidated by reference to the value of future Net Revenues.”
According to the oversight board, the unsecured net revenue claim is approximately $2 billion.
The bondholders said the court has held that the claim arises from equitable remedies and that estimation is therefore necessary to determine the allowable amount of that claim.
“Thus, the inquiry here is, What amount would Bondholders have had the right to be paid through their equitable remedies outside of Title III as of the Petition Date?” the bondholders said. “The answer is that the allowed amount of the PREPA Bond Trustee’s Claim is the full $8.4 billion of outstanding principal and unpaid pre-petition interest.”
PREPA’s retirement system (SREAEE by its Spanish initials) said the amounts owed in pensions must be discounted from PREPA’s revenues as part of the determination of net revenues.
To that extent, those amounts must be subtracted from PREPA’s revenues from that period to reach the net revenues.
“Moreover, should the Unsecured Net Revenue Claim be calculated up to their maturity date, the future contributions for SREAEE must be considered. Pursuant to the SREAEE Bylaws, these payments include employer contributions as well as administrative costs of SREAEE,” the bondholders said.
Those amount to an additional projected total of $5.0679 million through 2060.
PREPA has been in bankruptcy since 2017 to restructure almost $10 billion in debt.
While it is subject to change, the PREPA debt plan in essence proposes to restructure PREPA’s debt principally through an issuance of $5.68 billion of new bonds to fund partial recoveries on creditors’ claims. PREPA owns about $8.26 billion in revenue bonds, plus some $218 million in prepetition accrued interest on such bonds. The utility also owns $700 million in fuel line loans and projects some $246 million to $4.9 billion in general unsecured claims. It also has over $3 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.
Under the proposed plan, PREPA will pay for the new bonds over a 35-year period through revenues from a legacy charge to PREPA’s customers. This legacy charge comprises a monthly flat fee for customers’ connection to PREPA’s power grid and volumetric charges based on energy consumption.
The oversight board determined the legacy charge by developing a view of what it deems affordable for PREPA’s customers, concluding that an affordable and sustainable legacy charge will generate only $5.68 billion in additional net revenues.
Puerto Rico’s legal fees to professionals in its Title III bankruptcy cases have reached $1.1 billion, according to a court report.
The Fee Examiner, the law firm Godfrey & Kahn, recommended the payment of about $194 million in interim and professional fees for the period of Feb. 1, 2023 to May 31, 2023, bringing the amount in professional fees to $1.1 billion in the six years of litigation in the Title III bankruptcy processes, of which only the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) restructuring has yet to be completed.
The report recommended the court’s approval, in conjunction with a hearing on Thursday, of more than 45 interim applications and two final applications. With the PREPA claims estimation hearing set for Tuesday and a plan confirmation hearing in July, the next omnibus hearing is Aug. 30. The PREPA plan provides for the filing of final fee and expense applications within 120 days of the plan’s effective date, according to the Fee Examiner.
The law firm also recommended that the court approve, without adjustment, the final fee application of McKinsey & Co. Puerto Rico Consulting Inc. as consulting services provider to
the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.
Through March 15, 2022 that application requests a total of $75 million in compensation. As the Fee Examiner first reported to the court in March 2018, McKinsey has presented a particular challenge for the Title III review process because of its flat fee pricing model. McKinsey does not maintain daily or hourly time records, does not separately request reimbursement of expenses, and has not assigned hourly billing rates for any of its timekeepers. Those considerations led the Fee Examiner, early in the proceedings, to ask for permission to separate McKinsey from participation in the Title III mandated fee review process. The court declined to do so, instead asking the Fee Examiner to propose a different procedure to evaluate McKinsey’s considerable fees.
Thus, beginning on Oct. 31, 2018, the Fee Examiner periodically recommended court approval of McKinsey fees on an interim basis based on an alternative methodology. This included personal site visits, interviews with the oversight board general counsel, chairperson and executive directors, and estimated blended hourly rates based on the information McKinsey provided.
Some of the professionals are working on flat fees, something that posed complications because Congress did not include
bankruptcy provisions allowing professionals in the case to be compensated in such a way. Still, the Fee Examiner recommended that Moelis & Co. would be paid a flat fee of $250,000 per month for the first three months of its engagement and $150,000 per month thereafter. CitiGroup Global Markets also requested monthly flat fees of $1.2 million for Citigroup’s Commonwealth and PREPA workstreams, plus $275,000 per month for its Highways and Transportation Authority workstream.
rononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA a/k/a GenX).
The suit says the defendants, including 3M and Dupont, are responsible for the contamination threatening Puerto Rico’s natural resources and citizens as they designed, manufactured, marketed, distributed and sold a wide range of products that contain PFAS that were used and discharged into the environment through multiple pathways, contaminating natural resources and putting Puerto Rico residents’ health at significant risk. The PFAS products included but were not limited to specialized fire-fighting foams, household and consumer products such as grease-, stain-, and water-repellant cookware; carpeting, clothing, and food packaging; and processing aids used to make different products.
and by extension, the immense efforts that will be required to remove such chemicals from Puerto Rico’s environment and protect those living on the island from further exposure, the suit says.
In March 2023, the EPA released its proposed drinking water standards for the aforementioned chemicals. It provided notice that the maximum contaminant levels for PFOS and PFOA would be significantly low, at four parts per trillion, the suit says.
By THE STAR STAFFPuerto Rico is suing close to 20 manufacturers of so-called “forever chemicals” in U.S. District Court for polluting natural resources, which with stricter U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards now in place will make it costlier for the island government to remove and clean up the substances.
The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources filed suit last Wednesday, May 31, to address contamination of Puerto Rico’s natural resources with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including but not limited to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluo-
The manufacturers, the suit says, concealed their knowledge that PFAS are toxic and pose significant risks to human health and the environment. Internally, the defendants determined that PFAS are harmful and began accumulating in human blood throughout the country decades ago.
“They further knew that PFAS released and discharged into the environment would reach the commonwealth’s waters and drinking water supplies and build up in people’s bodies as they were continuously exposed to the chemicals over time,” the suit says. “They also knew that PFAS, now commonly known as ‘forever chemicals,’ are persistent and will remain in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years, leaving a toxic legacy for future generations of Puerto Ricans and others.”
Based on recent developments, including the EPA’s proposed drinking water regulations for PFAS, the commonwealth is only now in a position to understand the risks posed by PFAS,
“As a result of these proposed regulations, Puerto Rico’s public water suppliers will be required to meet these stringent requirements by constructing and/or updating treatment systems and taking other action in the near future to protect the health of the people of Puerto Rico from this emerging threat,” the government said. “Based on USEPA’s proposed drinking water standards for these PFAS, it is now apparent that addressing the threat to human health and the environment that defendants have caused will require substantial resources and expense.”
The commonwealth will have to pay for monitoring the levels of the chemicals. PFAS sampling in Puerto Rico has been sporadic, conducted chiefly by federal agencies. PFAS contamination has been found at the former U.S. Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba, Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, and Fort Buchanan in Guaynabo, and is believed to have migrated to surrounding areas, polluting groundwater, surface water and additional resources in the surrounding areas, the suit says.
Besides 3M and Dupont, the suit also names as defendants AGC Chemicals Americas, Amerex Corp., Archroma U.S. Inc., Arkema Inc., BASF Corp., Buckeye Fire Equipment Co., Carrier Fire & Security Americas Corp., Carrier Global Corp., ChemDesign Products Inc., Chemguard Inc., Clariant Corp., Corteva Inc., Kidde PLC Inc., National Foam Inc., Chemours Co. and Tyco Fire Products LP.
The Merchants Association of the village of Boquerón in Cabo Rojo described as “misguided” the statements of Natural and Environmental Resources Secretary Anaís Rodríguez Vega that the municipality of Cabo Rojo has not made any request to take over a spa in the southwestern coastal town.
Association president Henry Correa said Mayor Jorge Morales Wiscovitch and previous municipal administrations requested the transfer of the facilities’ operations to city hall.
“Former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed a bill to that end and nothing has been done,” Correa said. “[Former] Rep. Kebin Maldonado also did the same in the time he was in the Legislature.”
Correa noted that last March an activity called “Boquerón 2.0” was organized, in which an operation to begin rehabilitating the cabins at the spa was launched. More than 500 volunteers, the central government and all agencies participated, he said.
“It is time for Cabo Rojo to obtain the transfer of the resort as has happened in Fajardo,” he said. “We demand that Gov.
Pedro Pierluisi make this a reality.”
Merchant Ángel Rodríguez pointed out meanwhile that they have been advocating for 12 years for the municipality of Cabo Rojo to take the reins of the Boquerón resort. He stressed that they have met with several mayors to raise concerns that the resort is deteriorating.
“If an action is not taken immediately so that the municipality of Cabo Rojo is in charge of the operation of the place, we will lose one of the great attractions of the western zone,” said the owner of the Boquemar Inn.
Police on Sunday asked for the public’s cooperation in efforts to find the suspect in the murder of a woman last Thursday at El Prado residential complex in Río Piedras.
According to the police report, Nyckole David Rosario Jaime, 28, of Río Piedras, entered the apartment of Jaimy Ramos Osorio, 38, and fired several shots that killed her instantly.
Rosario Jaime faces charges in absentia for murder in
the form of femicide, destruction of evidence and violations of the Weapons Law.
Judge Brenda Salas, of San Juan Superior Court determined cause and issued an arrest warrant with a bail set of $3 million.
Anyone with information that could help in locating the whereabouts of Rosario Jaime is urged to contact the Puerto Rico Police Bureau at 787-793-1234 exts 2200 or 240201, or at the confidential line (787) 343-2020. All calls are confidential.
On Saturday, meanwhile, a 40-year-old man was arrested
for allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman with a machete at a McDonalds restaurant on highway PR-111 in Utuado.
According to the police report, the subject caused several injuries with the machete. The woman was transported to Utuado Hospital in stable condition.
The case was referred to the Assault Division of the Utuado Criminal Investigations Corps, which will consult the case with the prosecutor on duty for the filing of charges.
Shalanda Young couldn’t sleep. A small team of Biden administration officials had spent the past two days in intense negotiations with House Republicans in an attempt to avert a catastrophic government default. Young, the White House budget director, had been trading proposals on federal spending caps with negotiators deputized by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose Republican caucus was refusing to raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit without deep cuts.
Now, as she scrolled Netflix in search of “bad television” to distract her racing mind, Young had a sinking feeling. What if she cut a deal to reduce spending and raise the debt limit, only to see Republicans attempt to force through much deeper cuts when it came time to pass annual appropriations bills this fall?
At work the next morning, Young asked her staff how to stop that from happening. They settled on a plan, which in essence would penalize Republicans’ most cherished spending programs if they failed to follow the contours of the agreement. Then they forced Republicans to include that plan in the legislative text codifying the deal.
That approach reflected a broader strategy President Joe Biden’s team followed in the debt limit negotiations, according to interviews with current and former administration officials, some Republicans and other people familiar with the talks.
On Saturday, that strategy reached its conclusion as Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 into law, just days before a potential default and following weeks of talks and a revolt from right-wing lawmakers in the House that put an agreement at risk of collapse.
In pursuit of an agreement, the Biden team was willing to give Republicans victory after victory on political talking points, which they realized McCarthy needed to sell the bill to his conference. They let McCarthy’s team claim in the end that the deal included deep spending cuts, huge clawbacks of unspent federal coronavirus relief money and stringent work requirements for recipients of federal aid.
But in the details of the text and the many side deals that accompanied it, the Biden team wanted to win on substance. With one large exception — a $20 billion cut in enforcement funding for the IRS — they believe they did.
The way administration officials see it, the full final agreement’s spending cuts are nothing worse than they would have expec-
ted in regular appropriations bills passed by a divided Congress. They agreed to structure the cuts so they appeared to save $1.5 trillion over a decade in the eyes of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. But thanks to the side deals — including some accounting tricks — White House officials estimate that the actual cuts could total as little as $136 billion over the two enforceable years of the spending caps that are central to the agreement.
Much of the $30 billion in clawed-back COVID-19 money was probably never going to be spent, Biden officials say, including dollars from an aviation manufacturing jobs program that had basically ended.
At one point in the talks, administration officials offered to include in the deal more than 100 relief programs from which they were willing to rescind money. The final list spanned 20 pages of a 99-page bill, and McCarthy championed it on the House floor. But because much of the money was repurposed for other spending, the net savings added up to only about $11 billion over two years. One of the programs had a remaining balance of just $40.
Many Democrats remain furious that the deal included new work requirements that could push 750,000 people off food stamps, which the Biden team begrudgingly concluded it had to accept.
That measure alone could have tanked Democratic support for the deal in Congress, officials knew. So they sought to counterbalance it with efforts to expand food stamp eligibility for veterans, homeless people and others, which Republicans agreed to do. The budget office concluded that the changes would actually add recipients to the program, on net.
Some Democrats and progressive groups have sharply criticized Biden for negotiating over the debt limit at all, denouncing the spending cuts and work requirements and saying he cemented Republicans’ ability to ransom the borrowing limit whenever a Democrat occupies the White House.
Republican negotiators sold the deal as a game-changing blow to Biden’s spending ambitions. “They absolutely have tire tracks on them in this negotiation,” Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said before the House vote Wednesday.
Biden views it differently. As the Senate prepared to pass the agreement Thursday evening, he huddled with his chief of staff, Jeffrey Zients; along with Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president; and other aides, in Zients’ office in the West Wing of the White House. Biden asked them what might be called a score card
question: What percentage of Democrats in the House had voted for the deal, and what share were expected to in the Senate?
When Ricchetti told him the number of Democrats would be larger, in both chambers, than the share of Republicans supporting the deal, Biden was pleased. It was validation, in his view, that he had cut a good deal.
Zients referred to that vote share in an interview Friday. “If you go back a few months ago, no one would have thought this was possible,” he said.
Biden’s economic advisers — including Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — had been warning of catastrophic damage to the economy if the government could no longer pay its bills on time.
The talks took a few surprising turns. Multiple White House officials say the Republican team briefly entertained relatively modest proposals to raise tax revenue, including closing loopholes that benefit some real estate owners and people who trade cryptocurrency. Those discussions stalled quickly.
Democrats agreed to fast-track a natural gas pipeline, in what officials concede was making good on a promise to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for backing Biden’s signature climate law last year.
The spending caps ended up roughly
where many Biden aides had predicted they would in private discussions months ago. But few White House officials believed they would have to give up $20 billion of the $80 billion that Democrats approved last year to help the IRS crack down on tax cheats. Biden hammered out the amount in a final call with McCarthy.
Young said that cut was painful. “And not just for me,” she added. “It’s something we talked to the president about many times. He cares deeply about this.”
On Thursday evening in Zients’ office, the president and his team were focused on upsides. They had beaten back Republican attempts to cancel the climate law, to add new work requirements on Medicaid recipients and to impose binding spending caps for a decade. Biden was particularly pleased to spare key veterans’ programs from cuts.
On Friday morning, Zients gathered core officials in his office, as he had every day, seven days a week, for several weeks running. Brainard and the economic team were relieved to have cleared the threat of default not just for this year, but through the next presidential election. Aides worked on honing Biden’s planned remarks in an Oval Office address Friday evening.
The speech started at 7:01 p.m., unusually prompt for Biden. By then, his staff was already celebrating. An hour earlier, happy hour had begun in Zients’ office.
The San Juan Daily Star Monday, June 5, 2023 7 Shalanda Young, White House budget director, who was a key part of President Joe Biden’s team of negotiators that brokered the debt-limit deal, in Washington, Jan. 26, 2023. The president and his negotiators believe they crafted a deal that allowed Republicans to claim big spending cuts, while reality was far more modest.America’s state capitals are as polarized as they have been in decades, with lawmakers imposing unflinchingly conservative or liberal agendas this year, even in politically diverse places.
The 2022 election brought single-party control of the governor’s office and legislature to 39 states, the most in at least three decades.
Many of the 22 Republican-led states pushed new curbs on abortion, sweeping restrictions on gender transitions for youths and laws limiting discussion about sexuality in school classrooms. Democrats, who have full control in 17 states, passed new gun control measures, set limits on carbon emissions, and created safe havens for abortion and medical care for transgender people.
The result was that the legislative season, which has ended in much of the country, left an even wider divide between Republican and Democratic states on the country’s thorniest social issues. In some Republican states, lawmakers also took aim at the powers of Democratic officeholders or sought to limit local control in liberal-leaning cities.
“We’ve always known that California was progressive, Texas was conservative, but it now feels like almost every state is kind of falling into one of those categories,” said Tim Storey, CEO of the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan group.
Some of the states that pursued ambitious partisan agendas had long been single-party strongholds. In Washington, where Democrats have had full control of state government for 14 of the past 19 years, lawmakers banned the sale of AR-15-style weapons and enshrined protections for abortion and transgender medical care in law. In North Dakota, where Republicans have led the government since 1995, officials banned transition care for minors, outlawed abortion and barred materials deemed to be sexually explicit from the children’s section of libraries.
But even in states with recent histories as political battlegrounds, lawmakers pushed hard this year to the left or right, potentially leaving a significant segment of residents alienated.
In Florida, which voted twice for Barack Obama but has since swung decisively toward Republicans, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed laws restricting abortion, banning transgender medical care for minors, loosening the requirements to impose the death penalty and allowing concealed guns to be carried without a permit. In Minnesota, where Democrats flipped a legislative chamber last year to narrowly take full control of the statehouse, Gov. Tim Walz signed bills codifying abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and expanding voting rights for felons, a spree of liberal wins that drew the attention of Obama.
“If you need a reminder that elections have consequences,” the former president said on Twitter, “check out what’s happening in Minnesota.”
In Iowa, it was Republicans pressing the advantage conferred by their trifecta — control of the governorship and both legislative chambers — and continuing the transformation of their former swing state into a bastion of conservatism. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed bills passed by her fellow Republicans that
loosened child labor rules and allowed families to put taxpayer money toward private school tuition. Her state was also one of at least 16 this year that banned or significantly limited gender transition treatments for minors.
“Americans are taking notice as states around the country are looking to Iowa as a beacon for freedom and opportunity,” Reynolds said in a statement last month in which she called the legislative session “historic.”
Republicans in several states wielded their power in ways that silenced or reduced the power of elected Democrats. In Mississippi, Republicans imposed a state-controlled police force and a second court system within the boundaries of Jackson, the largely Black and Democratic capital city. In Texas, Republicans passed a bill that would expand state oversight of elections in the county that includes Houston. In Tennessee, Republicans expelled two Democratic legislators who protested on the House floor. And in Montana, a Democratic lawmaker was barred from the House floor after speaking against a bill limiting transgender rights.
Decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court last year added urgency, and often acrimony, to the lawmaking season.
After the court said Americans have the right to carry guns outside their home, Democrats passed new laws this year seeking to limit access to firearms, while gun rights supporters filed lawsuits challenging restrictions and Republicans passed laws expanding gun access. On abortion, an issue the court returned to the states, Republicans moved to severely restrict or ban access in several states, including Florida, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina and Wyoming, despite intraparty fights about how far to go. Democrats sought to strengthen abortion protections in many of their states.
Democrats entered this year with full power in four new states — Maryland and Massachusetts, where the governorship flipped, and Michigan and Minnesota, where legislative control shifted — and more states under their control than at any point since 2009. After Republicans spent more than a decade
consolidating state-level power and passing sweeping new laws, Democrats saw this session as an opportunity to reverse recent history, with slightly more Americans now living in states under their control than in those where Republicans are in charge.
“I’ve been working my entire life to have an opportunity like this,” said Melissa Hortman, speaker of the Minnesota House. “I mean, it was a golden moment this year to have the trifecta and to have a surplus and to have bills and authors that were ready to go.”
On a single day this session in Michigan, where Democrats won full control for the first time since the 1980s, lawmakers advanced bills to codify LGBTQ rights, create a red-flag gun law and repeal a so-called right-to-work law loathed by labor unions.
“There were a lot of things that we knew exactly what we wanted to do, and we knew what those policies looked like,” said Winnie Brinks, majority leader in the Michigan Senate. But while she expressed no regrets about acting quickly, Brinks acknowledged that doing so “was not exactly the most beneficial in terms of establishing really good working relationships” with Republicans.
Across the country, some topics resonated repeatedly across partisan lines, including economic development and mental health. And with the economy relatively stable and some federal pandemic relief funds still unspent, many states had money available to create new programs, pass tax cuts or send checks to residents. California, with a projected budget deficit in the tens of billions of dollars, was a notable exception.
Although the session was defined by the majority party scoring policy wins, there were moments when minority lawmakers made their presence known. In Oregon, the state Senate came to a standstill after Republicans fled the Capitol, denying the majority Democrats a quorum and the ability to pass their agenda. And in Missouri and Nebraska, filibusters by Democrats ate up precious legislative time and helped to extract limited concessions from Republicans on bills restricting transgender rights.
There were also moments of intraparty disagreement, including in New York, where some legislative Democrats deemed a judicial nominee put forth by the Democratic governor to be too conservative, and in Texas, where Republicans diverged on whether to impeach the state’s Republican attorney general.
In Colorado, a former swing state where Democrats have steadily built power in recent years, lawmakers raised the minimum age to buy a gun, required gender-neutral bathrooms in new public buildings and passed a first-of-its-kind law making it easier for farmers to repair their own equipment instead of relying on manufacturers. But Democrats diverged on a measure that would have banned certain high-powered guns, dooming that bill.
“We’re not in a world where the Democrats all line up and vote the way the party is telling them to,” said Julie McCluskie, the Democratic speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.
As polarized as the nation’s legislative season was this year, the next one has the potential to be even more lopsided. Although most states will not hold statewide elections again until 2024, a handful of races this November give Republicans an opening to claim up to three more trifectas.
Afederal judge ruled last week that a law in Tennessee aimed at restricting drag shows was unconstitutional, saying it was overly broad and violated the First Amendment.
The ruling is an initial victory for supporters of LGBTQ rights after weeks of turmoil and confusion over the law’s language and how it would affect not only drag artists in the state, but also transgender, nonbinary and other gendernonconforming people. Tennessee, which passed the law this year with the stated goal of protecting children, was among more than a dozen states that passed measures restricting LGBTQ rights.
Although only Shelby County, where the lawsuit was filed, is explicitly prevented from enforcing the law, the decision by Judge Thomas L. Parker of U.S. District Court in Memphis sent a clear signal about the statute that could affect enforcement of the law and lead to challenges elsewhere in Tennessee.
The attorney general of Tennessee, Jonathan Skrmetti, who said he expected to appeal the decision, maintained that the ruling did not affect the rest of the state. “The Adult Entertainment Act remains in effect outside of Shelby County,” he said. He added that the law’s language “is rooted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s longestablished First Amendment precedent.”
Gov. Bill Lee signed the law in early March, but it had been on hold after a Memphis theater company, Friends of George’s, challenged it in court and Parker issued a temporary injunction.
Friends of George’s, which frequently puts on productions featuring drag or LGBTQ actors, argued that the wording of the law was vague and threatened its constitutional right to freedom of speech and its income from performances.
The law does not explicitly refer to drag but forbids “adult cabaret,” including by “male or female impersonators,” on public property or anywhere children could see it if the performance meets the state’s definition of “harmful to minors.” Violators of the law would be charged with a misdemeanor for a first-time offense and a felony for subsequent offenses.
During the temporary injunction, the law’s potential impact had sowed fear and uncertainty among drag artists and organizers behind a series of Pride Month celebrations set to take place across Tennessee. Across the country, drag events and Pride celebrations have faced an uptick in protests and threats, as conservative activists have sought to limit the events in public or in the presence of children. In Los Angeles on Friday, a fight broke out near an elementary school between parents protesting a Pride Day assembly and counterprotesters.
Parker’s ruling Friday came hours before dozens of drag artists and thousands of revelers were expected to celebrate the Memphis Pride Festival and Parade on Saturday.
In his 70-page ruling, the judge said the law “reeks with constitutional maladies of vagueness.” He added that the legislature “carelessly, if not intentionally” enacted the measure “for the inappropriate purpose of chilling constitutionally free speech.”
A spokesperson for Lee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Jack Johnson, the state Senate majority leader and a key sponsor of the legislation, supported appealing the decision.
“Despite the court’s perplexing reading of the law, I am confident — and have always been — that this legislation does nothing to suppress the First Amendment,” he said in a statement.
Tennessee Republicans and conservative activists have framed the law as a way to protect children, saying that it would not infringe on any performances that were not obscene. Before the ruling, the court had also received multiple letters from individuals across the state calling for the law in order to shield children from inappropriate content.
The measure was crafted in part after a state lawmaker, Rep. Chris Todd, and other community members in Jackson, Tennessee, successfully sued over a drag show, advertised as family-friendly entertainment, at a Pride celebration there. On Twitter, Todd said he supported appealing the ruling.
But critics of the law said its ambiguous language could escalate
harassment against not only drag performers, but also transgender or gendernonconforming people going about their daily lives. They also warned that it ignored an opportunity for children, especially LGBTQ youth, to learn about self-expression and acceptance.
Steven J. Mulroy, the Shelby County district attorney who was listed as the defendant in the lawsuit due to his official role in that jurisdiction, said in a statement that he supported the decision on the measure. “I look forward to not enforcing it,” he said.
Regina L. Hillman, an assistant professor of law at the University of Memphis who challenged laws banning marriage equality in the state, said that although the ruling was not binding outside Shelby County, “it’s certainly heavily, heavily persuasive.”
“The analysis is not limited, regarding the constitutionality of it,” she added, noting that it is likely that other challenges emerge elsewhere in the state that cite Parker’s findings. Should there be an appeal, she said, that ruling could also result in a broader decision for the entire state.
Parker acknowledged what he described as a “compelling state interest in protecting the physical and psychological
well-being of minors.” But he pointed to comments from Todd and other lawmakers during debate and testimony in the state legislature earlier this year as evidence that the law was “geared toward placing prospective blocks on drag shows — regardless of their potential harm to minors.”
The judge also noted that drag, although not specifically mentioned in the law, served as “the one common thread” in examples of conduct described as harmful to minors.
With a nod to Elvis Presley, one of Tennessee’s most impersonated singers, the judge sketched out a scenario in which a woman performing in an Elvis costume was far more likely to face punishment under the law than a man and questioned whether an Elvis impersonator of either gender would be wholly protected under the law.
The law, he said, “targets the viewpoint of gender identity.”
Parker also took issue with the decision to use the phrase “male or female impersonators.” Referring to the decision by lawmakers to group those people with exotic dancers, topless dancers and strippers, he said that while “doing so may have escaped many readers’ scrutiny in 1987, it may not do so with ease in 2023.”
tal lawyer advising plaintiffs in the cases.
Environmental groups were cautious, however. Erik D. Olson, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the settlement, combined with money recently appropriated by Congress to help with contamination, would “take a bite out of the problem.” But, he added, “it’s not going to fully solve it.”
The preliminary settlement with Chemours, DuPont and Corteva, all of which declined to comment beyond the announcement, may not be the end of the costs for those companies, either. The deal, which requires approval by a judge, would resolve lawsuits involving water systems that already had detectable levels of PFAS contamination, as well as those required to monitor for contamination by the Environmental Protection Agency.
government would for the first time require near-zero levels of the substances.
Some industry groups criticized the proposed regulation and said the Biden administration had created an impossible standard that would cost manufacturers and municipal water agencies billions of dollars. Industries would have to stop discharging the chemicals into waterways, and water utilities would have to test for the PFAS chemicals and remove them. Communities with limited resources will be hardest hit by the new rule, they warned.
The EPA estimated that compliance would cost water utilities $772 million annually. But many public utilities say they expect the costs to be much higher.
By BEN CASSELMAN, IVAN PENN and MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN
Three major chemical companies said late last week that they would pay more than $1 billion to settle the first in a wave of claims that they and other companies contaminated drinking water across the country with so-called forever chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other illnesses.
The companies — Chemours, DuPont and Corteva — said they had reached an agreement in principle to set up a $1.19 billion fund to help remove toxic perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from public drinking water systems. PFAS have been linked to liver damage, weakened immune systems and several forms of cancer, among other harms, and are referred to as forever chemicals because they linger in the human
body and the environment.
Bloomberg News also reported Friday that 3M had reached a tentative deal worth “at least $10 billion” with U.S. cities and towns to resolve related PFAS claims. Sean Lynch, a spokesperson for 3M, declined to comment on the report, which cited people familiar with the deal without identifying them.
Hundreds of communities nationwide have sued Chemours, 3M and other companies, claiming that their products — which are used in firefighting foams, nonstick coatings and a wide variety of other products — contaminated their soil and water. They have sought billions of dollars in damages to deal with the health impacts and the cost of cleaning up and monitoring polluted sites.
A trial set to begin next week in federal court in South Carolina was seen as a test case for those lawsuits. In that case, the city of Stuart, Florida, sued 3M and several other companies, claiming that firefighting foam containing PFAS — used for decades in training exercises by the city’s fire department — had contaminated the local water supply.
The announced settlement is “an incredibly important next step in what has been decades of work to try to make sure that the costs of this massive PFAS ‘forever chemical’ contamination are not borne by the victims but are borne by the companies who caused the problem,” said Rob Bilott, an environmen-
But it excludes some other water systems, and it would not resolve lawsuits resulting from claims of environmental damage or personal injury from individuals sickened by the chemicals. And state attorneys general have filed new suits, some as recently as this week, over the matter.
The liability of 3M could be even greater. In an online presentation in March, CreditSights, a financial research company, estimated that PFAS litigation could ultimately cost 3M more than $140 billion, though it said a lower figure was more likely. The company has said that by the end of 2025 it plans to exit all PFAS manufacturing and will work to end the use of PFAS in its products.
Shares of 3M rose sharply on Friday after the Bloomberg report, as did shares of Chemours, DuPont and Corteva.
The synthetic chemicals are so ubiquitous that nearly all Americans, including newborns, carry PFAS in their bloodstream. As many as 200 million Americans are exposed to PFAS in their tap water, according to a peerreviewed 2020 study.
PFAS cleanup efforts took on more urgency last year when the EPA determined that levels of the chemicals “much lower than previously understood” could cause harm and that almost no level of exposure was safe. It advised that drinking water contain no more than 0.004 parts per trillion of perfluorooctanoic acid and 0.02 parts per trillion of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid.
Previously, the agency had advised that drinking water contain no more than 70 parts per trillion of the chemicals. The EPA said the
PFAS-related litigation involves more than 4,000 cases, filed in federal courts nationwide but largely consolidated before a federal judge in Charleston, South Carolina, as so-called multidistrict litigation because the lawsuits involve a common set of facts and allegations. It is not uncommon for so-called mass tort cases to be grouped together like this in federal court, making it easier to conduct discovery and take depositions when so many plaintiffs and defendants are involved.
Elizabeth Burch, a professor at the University of Georgia who studies mass tort litigation, said, “Without the settlement documents being made public, it’s hard to say for certain which claims are covered by the purported deal.”
The list of cases against the companies continues to grow. Maryland filed two suits this week against 3M, DuPont and others. Days earlier, a similar one filed by Rhode Island’s attorney general accused the companies of violating “state environmental and consumer protection laws.”
“I think this is the tip of the iceberg,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit organization in Washington that works on issues related to clean water, food and climate. “This issue affects people all across the country in so many communities.”
Hauter said she wanted to see more stringent regulations from the EPA.
“We need real strong enforceable regulations on the entire class of PFAS chemicals,” she said. “I’m not sure that this settlement is as large a deterrent as necessary. So much harm has been done in northern Michigan. People’s lives have been severely impacted. Setting up a fund is a modest step.”
As the U.S. stock market continues its climb, investors holding shares of the massive tech and growth companies leading the charge are debating whether to cash out or stay on for the ride.
A record $8.5 billion flowed into tech stocks in the latest week, data from BofA Global Research showed, as investors piled into a rally that has seen the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (.NDX) gain 33% in 2023. The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) has risen 11.5% this year and stands at a 10-month high.
Yet others see reasons for caution. Among them is the narrowness of the market’s rally: the five largest stocks in the S&P 500 have a combined weighting of 24.7% in the index, a record high dating back to 1972, Ned Davis Research said in a recent report. The heavy weightings could mean more significant fallout for broader markets should those names falter.
“We had this big run and the essential question is, do you believe it’s going to continue or do you believe things are going to return to the mean?” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel.
Excitement over advances in artificial intelligence is a key factor fueling gains in megacap stocks. Big movers include shares of Nvidia (NVDA.O), which are up about 170% this year, while Apple (AAPL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O), the top two U.S. companies by market value, have both climbed nearly 40%.
Jay Hatfield, CEO of hedge fund InfraCap, believes excitement over AI will keep boosting megacap stocks. He is overweight megacaps, including Nvidia, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O).
“We 100% believe in the AI boom,” Hatfield said. “I would be shocked if by the end of the year these stocks are not significantly higher.”
Data on Friday showed U.S. job growth accelerating in May, even as a jump in the unemployment rate suggested labor market conditions were easing, boosting investors’ appetite for stocks amid hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to bring down inflation without badly hurting growth. The S&P 500 rose 1.45%.
Megacap stocks led markets for much of the decade after the financial crisis and betting against them has been a perilous strategy in 2023. Investors’ allocation to cash is higher than it has been historically, data from BofA showed, which some market observers believe leaves plenty of fuel to push the rally further.
Strong momentum can also continue to propel stocks higher.
Michael Purves, CEO of Tallbacken Capital Advisors, wrote last week that technical analysis showed the Nasdaq 100 is overbought, a condition that can make an asset more vulnerable to sharp declines. However, the index managed to rally another 10% over three months when it reached the same condition two years ago, according to Purves.
The recent surge in Nvidia showed how a stock can
keep climbing even after posting hefty gains. Shares were already up 109% heading into its May 24 earnings report, but rose another 30% in the past week after the chipmaker’s surprisingly upbeat sales forecast.
Kevin Mahn, chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh Asset Management, said shares of Nvidia, which now trade at 44 times forward earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv Datastream, have become “a little rich.”
“I still like the technology sector over the next two
years, but I now have to be a lot more focused on valuation given the run up in a lot of these megacap stocks,” said Mahn, who says Microsoft shares remain attractive due in part to the company’s impressive cash flow and healthy dividend yield.
Others are growing wary, citing factors such as rising valuations and signs that the rest of the market is languishing while a small cluster of stocks soars.
The performance of just seven stocks, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon (AMZN.O), Nvdia, Meta Platforms (META.O) and Tesla (TSLA.O), accounted for all of the S&P 500’s 2023 total return through May, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
After giving the strongest indication yet that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is imminent, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday urged his compatriots to personally thank the volunteers and soldiers fighting Russian troops, in a sign of how grim the next phase of the war could be.
Zelenskyy singled out more than a dozen soldiers by name, noting that in his nightly speeches he usually thanks specific units or brigades. But Saturday’s address was, he said, a collection of “more personal words of gratitude to particular warriors.”
His plea to thank soldiers, even if only on social media, followed similar statements from his top military commanders, who have said they are ready for the counteroffensive despite a lack of air defense systems. And his defense minister rebuffed peace talks at a summit of military officials in Singapore on Saturday. Ukraine has also grown bolder, attacking behind Russian lines in past months, another sign of the shifting tone of the war.
Earlier on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal published an
interview with Zelenskyy in which he said that Ukraine was ready for the counteroffensive but warned that “a large number of soldiers will die” because Russia retains the upper hand in air power. In addition to the billions of dollars of military
aid and advanced weapons that Ukraine has already received from the United States and Europe, Zelenskyy has been pushing his allies for more air defense systems and F-16 fighter jets.
And Ukraine continues to reject proposals of peace talks that do not involve Russia first withdrawing its forces from occupied areas. The latest such proposal was made by Prabowo Subianto, the Indonesian defense minister, on Saturday at the international gathering in Singapore.
Zelenskyy’s comments were published a week after Ukraine’s top military commander signaled that the counteroffensive was about to be launched, which analysts have said may have already begun in one form or the other. It is likely to be centered in southern Ukraine and focus on land routes between Russia and Crimea, the Ukrainian territory Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
“There is no perfect time to launch the Ukrainian offensives, but there will be a time that is optimum for Ukrainian force preparations and where they are most able to exploit Russian weaknesses,” Mick Ryan, a military analyst and retired Australian general, wrote Sunday on Twitter. “That time is close.”
Abreached emergency gate at Israel’s southern border with Egypt that was held closed only with plastic handcuffs; the passage of hours before two Israeli soldiers’ bodies were discovered; and the botched pursuit of an infiltrator that led to the death of a third soldier.
On Sunday, a day after three Israeli soldiers were killed at Israel’s mostly peaceful border with Egypt, Israeli authorities were examining a series of failures and mishaps that allowed a lone suspect identified by both Israeli and Egyptian authorities as a member of the Egyptian security forces to cross the heavily fortified boundary undetected, spend several hours inside Israeli territory and kill three Israeli soldiers in two separate locations before being encircled and fatally shot.
And as Israel prepared Sunday to bury the three soldiers, analysts were raising painful questions about the apparent blunders involved.
Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty more than 40 years ago, and the Israeli troops patrolling the border are more used to dealing with drug-smuggling gangs than with armed militants. The episode Saturday was the first of its kind along the Egyptian border in more than a decade.
According to the Israeli military, troops remained deployed along the border early Saturday after a major crossborder drug smuggling attempt was foiled and a haul worth about $400,000 was seized at 3 a.m. The units deployed in the area regularly thwart such smuggling efforts, the military said, often using live fire.
The last contact made with two Israeli soldiers — a man and woman — holding one of the positions along the border, was at 4:15 a.m., Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, told Kan, Israel’s public radio, on Sunday. The pair began their 12-hour shift at 9 p.m. Friday.
Radio contact is supposed to be made on an hourly basis, but this did not happen, he said. Only at 9 a.m. Saturday did a commander arrive at the position to check on the pair, find them dead and raise the alarm about an assailant on the loose, Hagari said.
Forces and trackers sent in pursuit were aided by a drone that spotted a suspicious figure in the sand about a mile from the border, inside Israeli territory, around noon.
But Hagari said that the drone images did not clearly show a weapon, and that the troops needed to get closer to ensure that the figure was not an Israeli civilian who could have been hiking in the area. As the troops closed in, the person opened fire from a distance of about 200 yards, fatally shooting a third Israeli soldier and wounding a fourth before being killed himself.
His identity and motivation remained unclear Sunday. The Israeli news media reported that a Quran was found in his bag, suggesting a possible Islamist link, but any affiliation with a militant group was not immediately known.
Among the other questions that remained to be investigated, Hagari said, was why an emergency gate in the steel fence along the border, through which the suspect entered Israel, had no proper lock but was held closed only by plastic hand restraints; why sensors along the fence did not detect the breach; and how he managed to reach the army position
and surprise the soldiers without being spotted by lookouts. Sometimes, Hagari said, the systems can be affected by weather conditions.
“The Israeli defenses collapsed yesterday,” Yossi Yehoshua, a military affairs commentator, wrote Sunday in the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Ahronot. Given that the Israeli military “enjoyed real superiority in terms of manpower, daylight visibility conditions and auxiliary troops,” he wrote, the pursuit should have ended without Israeli casualties.
Other analysts questioned whether troops stationed along the border could be expected to remain alert for 12hour shifts in the heat of the desert.
The Egyptian Army publicly offered a different version of the event Saturday, saying in a statement that at dawn on that day, a member of its security forces had breached the security fence while chasing drug smugglers and had exchanged fire that led to the deaths of three Israeli soldiers and the wounding of two others as well as the death of the Egyptian officer himself.
The Egyptian statement did not account for the hours between the smuggling attempt and the shootings that the Israeli military outlined.
Hagari said the Israeli military had been in touch with Egyptian officials from about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, in the spirit of their strategic alliance.
Although many Egyptians are unhappy with the peace treaty with Israel, Israeli and Egyptian authorities have coordinated closely along the border in recent years, particularly since the rise of an Islamic State affiliate in the vast deserts of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
The 95th Air Assault Brigade in a wooded position targeting Russian positions in eastern Ukraine on Friday.As giant excavators tried to untangle crushed trains Saturday at the scene of India’s worst rail disaster in decades, a solemn scene was playing out at a small school a few hundred yards away.
In humid air filled with the odor of human flesh, relatives went through the harrowing exercise of identifying their loved ones from about 120 dead bodies lined up on the ground after the crash Friday night.
Among those searching was Miyah Jan Mullah, who had come from neighboring West Bengal to look for his son, Musavir, who had been on his way to his tailoring job in Chennai. When Mullah finally found Musavir’s body, most of it was burned, but his face was largely intact.
“When I saw my son’s face, I thought he had just gone to sleep,” Mullah said. “But when I looked at his body, I raised my hands toward God and asked him what have I done that my flower turned into a charcoal?”
At least 288 people were killed and more than 700 others injured in what officials in a preliminary government report described as a “three-way accident” involving two passenger trains and one freight train in the eastern state of Odisha. Officials said they were investigating signal failure as a possible cause of the crash.
The toll, exceptionally large even in a nation with a long history of deadly crashes, has renewed long-standing questions about safety problems in a system that transports more than 8 billion passengers a year.
It has also dented, even if temporarily, what is emerging as one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature appeals as he gears up for a third term in office next year — his vast effort to modernize India’s longdilapidated infrastructure.
Modi had been scheduled on Saturday to inaugurate the latest in a series of new high-speed trains, the rollout of each appearing timed at building momentum for his campaign. Instead, he arrived at the devastating scene of the wreckage in Odisha to assess the damage.
“The people we have lost, we will not be able to bring them back. But the government is with their families in their grief,” Modi said after visiting the site. “This is a very serious incident for the government. We have given directions for all lines of inquiry, and whoever is found responsible will
be given the strongest punishment. They will not be spared.”
As Modi left the scene after reviewing the wreckage, a large police contingent struggled to hold back a crowd of thousands who had gathered nearby. Excavators removed what was left of the collided trains, and railway workers tried to clear the tracks so train service could restart.
Survivors of the crash said their train was crowded with hundreds of migrant laborers, students and daily wage workers who were packed shoulder to shoulder in at least three general compartments — with most of them standing — when the trains collided.
“It was full of people,” said Sayel Ali, who was admitted to a hospital near the site of accident. “You could only see heads. When the accident happened, I couldn’t see anything. I don’t know how I reached the hospital.”
Some details about the cause of the disaster were beginning to emerge, although much remained unclear.
According to an initial government report seen by The New York Times, a highspeed passenger train traveling from Kolkata, the Coromandel Express, collided with a freight train that had been idled at a smalltown station, Bahanaga Bazar, around 7 p.m. local time. The passenger train was “going at full speed across the station as it was not supposed to stop” there, the report said.
After smashing into the freight train, the passenger train, with 1,257 passengers, derailed. Twenty-one of its coaches bounced off the track, with three of them sprawled onto another track.
“Simultaneously,” according to the report, a passenger train from Bengaluru to Kolkata, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express, with 1,039 passengers, was headed in the opposite direction — on the track where the three dislocated coaches lay. This second collision knocked the last two coaches of the third train off its tracks.
Officials did not yet have any explanation for why the freight train was stopped, nor why the Coromandel Express was not alerted to its presence on the tracks, which triggered the entire disaster.
Aditya Kumar Chaudhary, chief public relations officer for Southern Eastern Railways, confirmed reports that a “preliminary inquiry” had indicated the cause was likely due to a signal failure. But Chaudhary said those initial suggestions needed to be checked in a thorough investigation.
“The train was to go for the main line, but signal pointer was given for the loop line. That is what the supervisors have pointed out,” Chaudhary said. “Lots of many ifs and buts are there. It has to be checked and cross checked.”
“It was a devastating scene because the train was at high speed, full speed,” Sudhanshu Sarangi, the chief of Odisha’s fire service, said after he arrived at the crash site. “The goods train was stationary; the other two trains were running.”
Shashwat Gupta, 25, an information technology worker who had boarded one of the trains in Kolkata along with his sister and her children to visit his parents in the city of Cuttack, in Odisha, said their coach had flipped “to a 90-degree angle” after a sudden jerk.
“I could locate the emergency window, and we managed to get out of the train,” he said. “In the other coaches, I could hear shouting, crying. There was a lot of blood.”
The government in Odisha, which is home to about 45 million people, declared a day of mourning. Dozens of trains were canceled. Teams from India’s army, air force and National Disaster Response Force were mobilized to help. And people near the crash site lined up to donate blood.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of railways, told reporters Saturday that he had ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
“Our immediate focus is on rescue and relief,” he said from the site of the disaster. “We will know more after the inquiry.”
The crash was the deadliest since a crash in 1995 in which more than 350 people were killed when two trains collided 125 miles from Delhi.
India’s railway system, one of the largest in the world, was first developed in the 19th century by British colonial authorities. Today, more than 40,000 miles of track — enough to wrap around the Earth about 1 1/2 times — are spread like capillaries over a nation about twice the size of Alaska that stretches from the Himalayas to tropical rainforests.
Passenger safety has come under scrutiny in India in recent years.
The Modi administration has spent tens of billions of dollars to renovate and modernize old trains and tracks, accelerating the work of improving train safety. By 2020, for two years in a row, India had recorded no passenger deaths in serious train accidents. It was a first, and Modi’s government hailed it as an achievement. Until 2017, more than 100 passengers were killed every year.
territory after Mawar, allowing residents to apply for individual assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hundreds of federal aid workers are on the island to support recovery efforts, the agency said, with help from the military, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The territory’s governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, said on Facebook that the disruption to the island’s communications systems had made recovery efforts more challenging but that in the week since the storm, “we have already made significant improvements to damaged infrastructure and restored critical public services.”
Still, in an emergency session of the territory’s Legislature on Tuesday, Jesse Alig, mayor of the village of Piti and the president of the Mayors’ Council of Guam, criticized the response of the island’s government and utilities, calling it slow and inadequate.
“Shame on us for making our people suffer,” the mayor said, adding, “Mawar was nothing compared to what we’re going through right now.”
Damage from the high winds and surf from Typhoon Mawar in the tourist district of Tumon, Guam, on May 25, 2023. Thousands of people across the island of Guam remained without power, water and cellphone service on Friday, June 2, 2023, more than a week after the U.S. territory was pummeled by the strongest typhoon in at least two decades, which flooded homes, downed coconut and mango trees, and disrupted basic services.
By JOSIE MOYER and JACEY FORTIN
Thousands of people across the island of Guam remained without power, water and cellphone service going into the weekend, more than a week after the U.S. territory was pummeled by the strongest typhoon in at least two decades, which flooded homes, downed coconut and mango trees, and disrupted basic services.
“Losing water has been the hardest part,” said Melinda Sanchez, 50, whose family lives in central Guam. Still, she said, island residents were familiar with storm-related disruptions. “We just go back to what we’ve learned to do during these times. We get through it.”
The typhoon, Mawar, brought widespread flooding and 140-mph winds, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane,
when it struck the island of 150,000 people in the Pacific Ocean on May 24, knocking out power across much of the territory. Now a tropical storm, Mawar prompted the evacuation of 1.2 million people as it approached Japan on Friday.
No deaths were reported on Guam, which is home to bases for the U.S. Navy and Air Force, but officials said the restoration of basic services to some parts of the island could take several weeks.
The Guam Power Authority said in an update Friday that electricity had been restored to just over 40% of customers, while the Guam Waterworks Authority reported that about half of the wells that supply most of the island’s water were operational. About half of the island’s cellphone towers were working by Thursday, officials said.
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster for the
Nearly the size of Chicago and about 1,500 miles east of the Philippines, Guam is used to typhoons (as tropical cyclones are called in the Pacific; in the Atlantic, they are hurricanes). The last major storm, Typhoon Pongsona, came ashore in 2002 at Category 4 strength and caused more than $700 million in damage.
In an early assessment after Mawar hit last week, government officials estimated that the island’s commercial sector had lost about $112 million, mostly because of building damage. A broader assessment of the storm’s impact awaited the restoration of communications and other services.
The island’s major medical center, Guam Memorial Hospital, was forced to rely on generators in the storm’s immediate aftermath but has since had power restored, said Cindy Hanson, the hospital’s spokesperson. But the facility is still waiting to regain full access to the water system, she said.
Although no deaths had been reported, Hanson said the number of people receiving medical care at the hospital rose slightly over the past week. But that could be attributed in part to the number of pregnant women who had been advised to wait out the storm at the facility, which is the island’s only public hospital.
Twenty-two babies were born there during the typhoon, Hanson said.
In the Agana Heights neighborhood of central Guam, Jessica Kim, 37, has been sorting through waterlogged wreckage since the wind ripped off the roof of her garage and floodwaters invaded her family’s home last week.
Kim still had no power as of Friday, she said. And she could see that the trash was still sitting on the sidewalk — including the food that she had removed from her warming fridge.
“We’ve all been hot, moody and short-tempered with each other,” Kim said, adding, “But we’re finding ways to have fun and entertain ourselves.”
One of the misimpressions people have about the world is that it’s going to hell.
Perhaps that’s because humanity’s great triumph over the past half-century — huge reductions in poverty, disease and early death — goes largely unacknowledged. Just about the worst thing that can happen to anyone is to lose a child, and historically, almost half of children died before reaching adulthood. We happen to live in a transformational era in which 96% of the world’s children now survive until adulthood.
That arc is visible here in Sierra Leone, a country that remains heartbreakingly poor — yet where the risk of a child dying is less than half what it was 20 years ago.
You may have heard of Sierra Leone as “the most dangerous place in the world to give birth.” No longer true: Deaths in pregnancy and childbirth have plunged 74% since 2000, according to United Nations figures.
In a remote health center, I met Yeabu Kargbo, 19, who had just given birth with the help of a trained midwife,
after a full set of prenatal visits. Medical care for pregnant women and babies is mostly free now in Sierra Leone, as is contraception.
stench of rotting flesh) that kills more people worldwide than maternal mortality but gets much less attention. Some girls in Sierra Leone now get the HPV vaccination against it, and some clinics offer low-cost screenings that bathe the cervix in vinegar and look for lesions.
Meanwhile, obstetric fistulas are being repaired, giving girls their lives back, at a pace that couldn’t have been imagined 20 years ago.
Enormous challenges remain, including turmoil to the north in Mali and Burkina Faso that could destabilize the entire region.
But one reason the world doesn’t do more to help poor countries is exhaustion, a sense that nothing works. I fear that misperception is driven partly by journalists like me, and by aid workers, advocates and other bleeding hearts.
We pounce upon crises, so what the public hears about in Africa is carnage in Sudan, hunger in Somalia and massacres in Ethiopia. Those are real problems that deserve more attention, not less — but we don’t do enough to illuminate the backdrop of gains in health, education and well-being.
PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726
Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537
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Kargbo’s mother, who was offering unsolicited parenting advice that Kargbo pretended not to hear, is illiterate and had six children. Kargbo herself has a sixth grade education and said she wanted to stop at three children — and with the country’s improving health care and education, she has big plans for her new baby girl.
“I want this child to go to university,” she said.
Sierra Leone is still a dangerous place to give birth by international standards. But I’ve been visiting West Africa since I was a law student in 1982, and one reason I often write about reproductive health is that I’ve seen too many women dying unnecessarily in childbirth in the region. The improvement in well-being is stunning.
More than 90% of pregnant women in Sierra Leone now get prenatal care, and the great majority are assisted during delivery by a trained midwife, nurse or doctor. After delivery, nurses put babies to the breast right away and counsel moms on exclusive breastfeeding practices, reducing infant mortality.
At the bustling maternity ward in the city of Makeni, a nurse told me that women in labor now often arrive on the backs of motorcycles, which doesn’t sound great — until she explains that they used to arrive in wheelbarrows.
Health centers are beginning to take on cervical cancer, a hideous disease (sometimes diagnosed partly by the
Many people believe that global poverty is hopeless — 87% said in a 2016 survey that poverty had stayed the same or gotten worse over the previous two decades — while, in fact, the share of the world’s people living in extreme poverty has plunged from 38% in 1990 to about 8% now. Historians may eventually look back and conclude that leaps in human well-being, health and child survival were the most important things happening in the world in the early 21st century.
I’m winding up my annual win-a-trip journey, in which I take a student with me on a reporting trip. This year’s winner is Maddie Bender. We met President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, and I asked him if he thought journalistic obsession with crises was damaging.
“Sure,” he said, “we do blame you.”
We are privileged to live in an age of miracles. This is biblical: The blind see (cataract and trichiasis surgeries!); the lame walk (clubfoot correction!). Age-old maladies such as leprosy, polio, fistula, Guinea worm and river blindness are receding, and this progress is as authentic as all the perils that make the headlines.
There are many reasons to tear our hair out, but let’s also take a nanosecond to acknowledge the growing number of children who are not hungry, the increasing share of moms who are not dying in childbirth, the proven ways we have to make a better world. That is how I can wind up a visit to one of the world’s poorest countries and emerge with hope.
Pregnancy information at a clinic in Makeni, Sierra Leone, May 15, 2023. “We happen to live in a transformational era in which 96 percent of the world’s children now survive until adulthood,” writes The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Dr. Ricardo Angulo PublisherLAJAS – Personal de la Administración de Servicios de Salud Mental y Contra la Adicción (ASSMCA) orientó a decenas de personas que se dieron cita este domingo en el Poblado de La Parguera en Lajas, como parte de los esfuerzos de política pública de la agencia para prevenir conductas de riesgo, como es el consumo de alcohol, cigarrillos, el vapeo y otras drogas.
La iniciativa, liderada por el administrador de ASSMCA, el doctor Carlos Rodríguez Mateo, promueve el que niños, jóvenes y adultos creen conciencia sobre las diversas conductas de riesgo en las que pueden incurrir cuando consumen alcohol u otras drogas a través de música, dinámicas interactivas, tecnología, concursos, regalos y otras atracciones. Es el cuarto año que se lleva a cabo esta alianza con organizaciones y entidades del sector privado.
“La educación y orientación para prevenir muertes,
o conductas de riesgo para la salud física y mental de las personas, no tiene que ser aburrida y la práctica basada en evidencia reconoce como a través de la música y el juego el ser humano aprende de una manera ágil y consistente. Desde ASSMCA continuamos trabajando sin descanso, en las comunidades, para llevar un mensaje claro y evitar que más personas mueran a consecuencia de conductores en estado de embriaguez, y que en medio de lo que debe ser la sana convivencia del verano, nuestro niños y jóvenes caigan en vicios de drogas, alcohol o el uso de cigarrillos electrónicos”, reiteró el administrador de ASSMCA.
Se estima que anualmente en Puerto Rico, sobre 3,000 personas son arrestadas por conducir ebrios. Asimismo, sobre 2,500 choques involucran al menos un conductor borracho. En la mayoría de los casos, según las estadísticas, son hombres los implicados en estos choques por conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol. Mientras, la Consulta Juvenil más reciente de
ASSMCA reveló que 23,720 estudiantes de séptimo a duodécimo grado de las escuelas públicas y privadas, han usado cigarrillos electrónicos y/o vaporizadores en los últimos 30 días por lo que es importante que los jóvenes comprendan los efectos de vapear en la salud. Los cigarrillos electrónicos y/o vaporizadores tienen altos niveles de nicotina, razón por la que son adictivos, compuestos cancerígenos y otras sustancias dañinas que afectan su bienestar físico, emocional y hasta pueden causar la muerte.
POR CYBERNEWS
SAN JUAN – El isabelino Esteban Mundo Hernandez escribió, produjo y dirigió el cortometraje Chapter 1 Devils Mind, el cual debutará en el Festival de Cine Online Filmmaker Sessions de Lift-Off.
La producción, catalogada como de Drama Ho-
rror y Suspenso, se proyectará por dos semanas en https://liftoff.network.
Mundo Hernández grabó totalmente independiente el cortometraje de 25 minutos en la urbanización Manuel Corchado de Isabela. El cortometraje esta disponible en las plataformas de Apple TV ,Roku y Chromecast y en Youtube por el canal @estebanmundo4717.
POR EL STAR STAFF
SAN JUAN – VOCESPR, Coalición de Inmunización y Promoción de la Salud, hace un llamado ante el alza de casos de COVID-19 en la isla, a protegerse con la vacuna bivalente, disponible en el Centro de Comunidades Saludables de VOCESPR en el segundo nivel en Plaza Las Américas, para personas de 12 años en adelante.
Actualmente, según las estadísticas del Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico solo el 10.6% de la población cuenta con la vacunación al día (serie primaria y dosis de refuerzo), por tal razón es vital que todos reciban su dosis de refuerzo para continuar la lucha contra el virus y afrontar nuestra nueva realidad. El nivel de transmisión comunitaria de COVID-19 es alta para los 78 municipios de la isla y la positividad está en 23.6%.
“Exhortamos a la ciudadanía a actualizar su refuerzo con la vacuna bivalente para seguir disfrutando de una
mejor salud, acercándonos a la normalidad y de cara al verano. Además, retomar las medidas de precaución como el uso de la mascarilla en lugares cerrados, lavarse las manos con jabón, uso de alcohol o desinfectantes para las manos y evitar los lugares donde haya conglomeración de personas”, expresó Lilliam Rodríguez Capó, CEO y fundadora de VOCES.
Todas las personas de 6 años o más se considera que está al día si recibe una dosis del refuerzo actualizado de Pfizer-BioNTech o Moderna contra el COVID-19. Ambas han sido actualizadas para atacar la cepa original del coronavirus y las subvariantes de ómicron. Las vacunas originales, conocidas como vacunas monovalentes, ya no están disponibles.
La mayoría de las personas que no están vacunadas necesitarán solo una dosis de la vacuna bivalente, en lugar de dos dosis de la vacuna original. Las personas de 6 años en adelante deben recibir una dosis del refuerzo
bivalente específico contra ómicron de Pfizer o Moderna, independientemente de si completaron previamente su serie primaria, al menos dos meses después de recibir la serie primaria o un refuerzo, según los CDC. Las personas mayores de 65 años pueden recibir un segundo refuerzo bivalente al menos cuatro meses después de la primera dosis de la vacuna bivalente. Las personas con sistemas inmunitarios comprometidos pueden recibir un segundo refuerzo bivalente dos meses después de su primera vacuna bivalente
En el Centro de Comunidades Saludables de VOCESPR, en el segundo nivel en Plaza Las Américas, está disponible la vacuna bivalente libre de costo para personas de 12 años en adelante. Menores deben estar acompañados por padres o tutor legal.
Para más información visite vocespr.org y las redes sociales de VOCES Coalición de Inmunización y Promoción de Puerto Rico.
Alysha Deslorieux, who plays Eliza, the wife of Alexander Hamilton, talks with the STAR about her role in the hit musical that returns to Puerto Rico next week
By JANNETTE RIVERA MELECIO Special to The STARThe multi-award-winning musical “Hamilton,” created by Puerto Rican playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, returns to the local stage with more than a dozen shows from June 13 to June 25 at Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center (Centro de Bellas Artes) in Santurce.
After the production’s resounding success on Broadway and 23 performances on the island in 2019, another group of actors, called the “Angelica cast,” arrives to electrify the San Juan venue with its spectacular staging, choreography and performance.
For actress Alysha Deslorieux, the local run that begins next Tuesday represents a new opportunity to return to the island.
“I’m really excited,” she said in a recent telephone interview. “It’s one of the parts of this tour that I’m looking forward to the most, actually. I’ve been to Puerto Rico a few times and I absolutely love it.”
Deslorieux, who plays Eliza, the wife of Alexander Hamilton, has taken time on her previous visits to teach theater classes to young people with an interest in the performing arts.
“My boyfriend and I are teaching some camps while we’re there as well, so we’re going to get the opportunity to do some musical theater with students. They’re super talented. I had the opportunity to watch their performance at the end of the camp last year. I’m really looking forward to that as well.”
During media interviews with several members of the musical cast, some acknowledged that they were unaware of the figure of Hamilton. The 30-year-old African American actress, whose father was an immigrant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Maarten, said she was unaware of many details, but learning about the historical figure in depth gave meaning to parts of her own life.
“I definitely thought I knew more and this was before I was in the original company. So when I first got this appointment to audition back in, I think it was 2015, maybe 2014, I didn’t know much about Alexander Hamilton other than that he was on the $10 bill” Deslorieux said. “I had no idea he was from the Caribbean, which is where my family is from. I learned a lot very quickly about him and all of the founding fathers. Then it sort of started filling in a lot of blanks for me from, you know, like in the U.S. history that I learned as a kid.”
The musical boldly brings together the interpretation of historical figures, mostly white, in the skin of Latino, African-American, Filipino and other ethnicities. This element has been applauded for its genius in telling the story. For Deslorieux, this also provides a real perspective on those who founded the North American nation.
“I think that that’s one of the most important ways that the story is told, because it reminds us of who these people were that sort of founded our country,” she said. “These were the founding fathers. To quote the show: ‘young, scrappy and hungry dudes.’ They were young and they were rough around the edges. They’re immigrants. And I think the reason that it’s so important to have people of color telling the story is because we are the sons and daughters of immigrants to this country. […] So it’s nice to have this story, even though it’s about white people, told through the eyes of people of color.”
Deslorieux has successfully played the three Schuyler sisters (Angelica, Peggy and Eliza). However, her preference has leaned toward a fusion between Angelica and Eliza.
“My favorite is somewhere between Eliza and Angelica because Eliza gets to have a whole character arc. She … shows up and she’s very young …, and then she goes through this entire arc of how her life changes and
The San Juan Daily Star Monday, June 5, 2023 17 The “Hamilton” companyFrom page 17
develops … all the way up until she dies. She gets to sort of express what she’s done with her life in regard to Alex’s life,” Deslorieux said. “But Angelica really capitalizes on the love between the two sisters. And I think that that’s a really lovely part of the story. It’s one of my favorite parts of it. And she also gets to sing really great music. So it’s really fun to do both of them. Eliza is more of a whole entire character arc, and Angelica is more of a … she pops in and out … but her presence is so strong when she’s on stage. So I think they both are really interesting. It’s hard to decide.”
The character changes that the actress has forged in the skin of the sisters have allowed her to know the dimensions of love beyond relationships, marriage and family.
“It’s kind of the thing that I’ve learned playing Eliza is more about resilience and grace. And as far as between the sisters, I feel like that kind of love is so special. And it really is,” Deslorieux said. “This story ends up sort of defining how Angelica’s life goes and how Eliza’s life goes. Because the love between the sisters is so strong that … Angelica sort of forgoes her feelings for Alexander and allows her sister to find happiness. And I think that that’s a huge sacrifice. And my favorite parts, my favorite moments on stage are always with Stephanie Umoh, who plays Angelica, my sister. It’s my favorite part of the show.”
The character of Eliza, or Betsey, has received praise from critics and commentators for emphasizing the importance of her role in the life of her husband, a founding father of the United States, and in spreading his legacy. In addition, the character extends a humanistic perspective on the relationship between the two due to socioeconomic differences.
“They came from very, very different backgrounds. I think because Eliza had the luxury of not having to marry a rich man, she was able to sort of actually develop a
relationship with someone purely out of love,” Deslorieux said. “And I think that he was such a charming, you know, fascinating person who sort of worked his way up from the bottom that she was able to actually get to know him and fall in love with him and have a family with him. They had several kids.”
Hamilton and Eliza married in 1780 and had eight children. Deslorieux adds that the couple was able to overcome adversity and establish a special bond.
“I think despite the obvious tragedies that happened within their marriage and their lives, I think it started out sort of just like a fever dream for both of them … for him to get married outside of what he thought was possible for him and for her to just be able to explore an actual human connection with someone,” she said.
Deslorieux shares an interesting theory that one of her castmates presented to her recently, that because the musical is called “Hamilton” and not “Alexander Hamilton,” it can be interpreted that Eliza is the main reason for his legacy being carried on, and the title “Hamilton” also includes Eliza Hamilton or even the Hamiltons (his children), who carried on his legacy after him.
“Because Hamilton is a show about legacy, about what you leave behind, ‘who lives, who dies, who tells your story,’ I think that is Eliza -- the orphanage, the Washington monument, the fight against slavery, all things she did in their family’s name,” Deslorieux said. “It was her choice to fulfill his dream of being remembered, of having a legacy, and that makes it her legacy, too. It really changed my perspective on her importance in this show, in her life, and in history. So now, when I think of ‘Hamilton’ the show, I think of any Hamilton that ever existed, not just Alexander, but of anyone who carried on the legacy of Hamilton. And it fills me with pride to think that also means Eliza Hamilton.”
About the musical:
“Hamilton” portrays the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers and first secretary of the Treasury when the new nation was formed. Inspired by Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography -- the musical also blends drama, romance, comedy and tragedy to tell the life of a character, of a country. For tickets, access Ticketera (www. ticketera.com), Centro de Bellas Artes de Santurce or by calling 787-305-3600.
I chose to begin my 2023 Picasso immersion tour in Málaga, though not at the Picasso Museum or even at the artist’s childhood home, itself a charming museum. Instead, I started by climbing the hundreds of stairs that rise from Málaga’s first-century B.C. Roman theater to the Alcazaba, the Moorish hilltop fortress begun in the 11th century that overlooks the city and port from Mount Gibralfaro. Besides the sweeping views it offers of the entire city, the fortress is emblematic of the layering of Mediterranean history, symbols and mythology that Picasso would employ repeatedly in his art.
The Moors essentially used the Roman theater as a stone quarry to build the Alcazaba, which appears as a fortress on the outside, but inside shelters a sprawling series of rooms, patios, arcades, lush plantings and countless gurgling fountains. It goes a long way to revealing the idyllic aspects of the Mediterranean lifestyle and reinforces the city’s identity as a truly ancient hub of Mediterranean civilization, which began with the Phoenicians, who first established the settlement they named Malaka in the seventh century B.C.
That deeply layered Mediterranean heritage is abundant in Picasso’s many self-referential takes on such classical themes as the Minotaur, Pan and the idealized seaside Arcadian mythology with which he identified, and sometimes employed to portray his family, throughout his life.
By ANDREW FERREN
In honor of this year’s 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, museums and other cultural institutions are pulling out all the stops, with about 50 exhibitions and events in the United States and Europe. Some offer novel perspectives on the celebrated artist’s seven-decade career: At the Cincinnati Art Museum, “Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds” focuses exclusively on the artist’s landscapes, while at the Musée Picasso, Paris, the British menswear designer Paul Smith has added bold stripes and saturated hues to the walls where some of Picasso’s best known masterpieces are displayed.
But one of the best places to discover pre-celebrity Picasso is his hometown, Málaga, the Andalusian port city on the southern Mediterranean coast of Spain. This is where the artist was born and, long before he became a household name, where his extraordinary artistic talent became evident to his father, José Ruiz Blasco, a painter and an art teacher, and the rest of his family, as well as their circle of artist friends.
Though the family relocated to A Coruña in northern Spain when Pablo was 9 years old, and he would go on to study and live in Madrid and Barcelona before set-
tling in Paris in 1904, Picasso always considered himself a malagueño. Many of the themes first depicted in his youth would continue to appear in his art until the end of his life.
“He adored Spain and always honored his Andalusian roots,” said his grandson, Bernard Picasso, in a telephone interview. “You can see it in the colors he used, the bullfighting imagery, the Mediterranean.”
Picasso last visited Spain in the mid-1930s, shortly before the Spanish Civil War, which ended in 1939 with Gen. Francisco Franco establishing a military dictatorship that endured nearly 40 years, outlasting Picasso’s own life by more than a year. The artist, who abhorred the repressive regime, never returned to his homeland again.
Were he to turn up in Málaga today, Picasso might be shocked to find a museum bearing his name — the Museo Picasso Málaga opened in 2003 and now draws nearly 700,000 visitors a year. Then again, given his reputation for having an outsize ego, maybe he wouldn’t be surprised at all by the museum, though he’d likely be charmed to find his childhood home, the square where he used to play, the church where he was baptized, as well as the art academy where his father taught — not to mention the city’s famous bullring, cathedral and other landmarks — pretty much just as he left them.
My next stop was the Museum of Málaga in its gorgeous new home in the city’s former customs house, which, while it doesn’t have the name Picasso in the title, offers a fuller picture of the city’s artistic history before its most famous native son arrived on the scene. The museum, which reopened in its new location in 2016, provides an amazingly thorough and detailed chronicle of Málaga from the earliest days of classical antiquity to well into the 20th century. There’s a particularly wonderful display and explanation of the city’s cultural boom in the 19th century, when local artists excelled at portraiture and historical painting, and also depicted Málaga’s social gatherings and revelry. Paintings of elegant garden parties, moonlit festivities on the beach, and raucous celebrations after bullfights offer a delightful snapshot of the city’s ebullient fin-de-siècle social and cultural scene.
“Everyone asks how this creative genius could have come out of sleepy Málaga,” said Ana Gonzalez, a guide
Continues on page 20
From page 19
who left her job in the museum world to found a tour company, Arteduca Málaga, that works with multiple museums and sites to offer a more comprehensive approach to the city, including Picasso’s place within it.
“The reality is that Picasso was born in the right place, at the right time and in the right context. His father was an artist and teacher of painting, and many of his friends were artists who knew to encourage and foster the young boy’s talent,” she said. “When Picasso showed promise as a draftsman, he was given all the materials he needed.”
While not exactly among the city’s new movers and shakers — Picasso’s father often struggled financially — the Ruiz Picasso family enjoyed relative middle-class comfort as evidenced by a visit to Casa Natal, a small museum in the house where Pablo was born. Downstairs, an exhibition space focuses mostly on his prints and drawings as well as several of the artist’s sketchbooks. But it really sets the scene with insightful Picasso quotes — “I have never done children’s drawings. Never. Even when I was very small” — and archival photos covering many aspects of Picasso’s life, from his childhood in Málaga to later candid shots from restaurants and bullfights in the South of France, and wonderful images of him playing on the beach or bobbing in the sea with his young children. Upstairs are period furnishings, family heirlooms and more stories about the family’s life in Málaga.
The house sits at the corner of the Plaza de la Merced, which had an outdoor market in Picasso’s day, so it would have been a colorful and lively place to grow up. Steps from the plaza on Calle Granada is the Parish Church of Santiago Apostal (St. James the Apostle), where Picasso was baptized as a baby. The 16th-century church has a relatively humble facade and a far more ornate interior, with curlicue frosting-like stucco reliefs animating the vaulted ceiling, and a handsomely carved wooden retablo over the altar painted a somber shade of olive green. The very simple baptismal font stands near the rear of the church and might be missed if one is not on the lookout for it.
A hundred yards or so from the church is the entrance of the Museo Picasso Málaga, which features a chronological and thematic overview of the artist’s career, as well as various special exhibitions each year, some dedicated to the charming ceramics Picasso started creating in Vallauris, France, just after World War II. Another gallery typically displays photographs of the artist and his life made by many of the great 20th-century photographers whom he befriended and who had privileged access to him and his family. Opening May 8, the special exhibition “Picasso Sculptor: Matter and Body” is surprisingly the first major exhibition in Spain to focus on the artist’s sculptures.
The building housing the museum was a 16th-century nobleman’s handsome stone palace, now deftly expanded by the New York architect Richard Gluckman to seamlessly blend with the city’s whitewashed buildings. With two floors of galleries around a pretty marble courtyard of the Renaissance palace, the museum tells the story of Picasso’s career with about 250 works — many donated to the museum by Christine Picasso (the wife of Picasso’s oldest son,
Paulo) and her son, Bernard. What astonishes many visitors is not merely the chronological sweep of the artist’s career (more than 70 years) but the range and diversity of painting styles (many of which he invented) and the seemingly boundless materials he transformed into art. There are painted roof tiles; charming sculptures made from bits of scrap metal artfully folded into evocative figures; and ceramic platters transformed into bullrings, with the audience “seated” around the plate’s elevated border and the bullfight occupying the center.
A highlight of the current selection of works is a 1958 tapestry version of Picasso’s groundbreaking 1907 painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” woven by Jacqueline Dürrbach. Only one such tapestry was ever made, and Picasso kept it until the end of his life, hanging it over the fireplace at his villa La Californie in the South of France.
As much of a splash as the museum has made in its first 20 years, there was in fact an earlier attempt to display works by the city’s most celebrated artist. In the mid-1950s, Juan Temboury, then Málaga’s fine arts commissioner, wrote to Picasso’s secretary asking for a few exemplary works to include in the city’s museum. Picasso was said to be delighted and was ready to send two trucks full of artwork. But suddenly there was no further communication from Málaga. Picasso’s son and daughter-in-law, Paulo and Christine, rode a motorbike from southern France to Málaga to investigate, only to discover that a local official of the Franco regime had forbidden the display of Picasso’s work in Málaga.
From that point on, “Pablo Picasso had a strong desire to have a museum in his native city to feature a display of his work,” said Bernard Picasso. “My mother and father tried to help my grandfather make it happen in the 1950s, but it ultimately took another 50 years to become a reality.”
Christine Picasso renewed those efforts in the 1990s by offering to donate a portion of her own collection of Picasso’s work to establish a new museum in the city. Her son Bernard aided in the project with a considerable donation of his own and many ongoing long-term loans. Since the Museo Picasso Málaga opened in 2003, it has helped convert the city into a top cultural destination, not just in Spain, but in southern Europe. In addition to local institutions like CAC, a contemporary art center, and the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga, the city has lured satellite branches of the Pompidou and the State Russia Museums. The sidewalks and pretty pedestrian streets of the historic city center once again bustle with pedestrians amid the palm trees, geraniums and bougainvillea.
It’s a far cry from the decaying city center of the 1980s and ’90s, when Málaga’s airport and railway stations were merely steppingstones on the way to the sun-kissed paradise of the Costa del Sol, which stretches west from the city.
“It was inconceivable at the time this museum started to take shape, back in the 1990s, that the city could possibly be so transformed, but it’s fantastic what’s happened with culture in Málaga in the last 20 years,” said Bernard Picasso. “Evidently, people don’t want to just lie on the beach.”
Within Spain, Málaga is a short flight from both Barcelona and Madrid; the latter is also less than three hours away on Spain’s high-speed AVE rail network. About 300 feet from the Picasso Museum, Hotel Palacio Solecio offers luxury accommodations in a beautifully restored 18th-century palace; doubles from about 300 euros, or about $326. Closer to the port, which has become a restaurant-and-bar hub, the stylish Hotel Only You has doubles starting at 275 euros. Málaga has at least two legacy taverns that remain from Picasso’s day, but despite being founded in 1971 — a mere 52 years ago — the sprawling restaurant, tapas joint and wine bar known as El Pimpi is almost as integral a part of Málaga’s self-image as the city’s most famous artist. Lunch for two, about 40 euros.
The Food and Drug Administrationlast week approved Pfizer’s vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, for adults 60 and older, the second approval granted for shots offering protection from the virus in May.
GSK was the first drugmaker to get the FDA’s permission to market an RSV vaccine, on May 3. The vaccines are expected to be available in the fall before the winter RSV season.
Why it matters: Older adults are at a higher risk.
Each year, about 60,000 adults 65 and older are hospitalized with RSV and about 6,000 to 10,000 die from
the virus, the FDA estimated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in one year, more than 21,000 people in that age group would need to take the GSK vaccine to prevent one RSV death; the number was nearly 25,000 for the Pfizer shot.
The virus was a key driver in the winter’s “tripledemic” of COVID-19, flu and RSV that was particularly hard on young children, resulting in overwhelmed hospitals.
Infants and toddlers are also at elevated risk; RSV is considered a leading killer of infants globally. Several treatments, including a maternal vaccine and a monoclonal antibody for infants against RSV, are under agency review.
Background: Advisers aired safety concerns.
During an advisory meeting March 1 about both vac-
cines, doctors reviewed detailed data provided by the drugmakers.
Pfizer’s product, called Abrysvo, proved nearly 67% effective against cases of the virus with two symptoms and 86% effective against cases with three or more symptoms, according to data submitted to the FDA. The GSK vaccine, called Arexvy, was nearly 83% effective against severe RSV.
But the advisory panel also raised concerns about a few cases in which vaccine recipients developed autoimmune syndromes shortly after receiving the shots.
In a Pfizer study of about 34,000 patients who received the RSV vaccine, a week after the shot, one patient developed a life-threatening case of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition in which the immune system attacks the nervous system. A second patient developed a subtype of that condition called Miller Fisher syndrome eight days after receiving the shot.
Those cases put the incidence rate of the condition at about 1 in 9,000 — although they are typically seen at a rate of about 1 in 100,000 in the general population. Some advisers, also noting the low incidence of severe RSV in the patient pool, found those numbers troubling. The final vote of the FDA’s advisory panel in favor of the Pfizer vaccine’s safety and efficacy was 7-4. The panel voted 10-2 in favor of the GSK vaccine, which was also linked to one GuillainBarré case and two others of a possibly related disorder.
What’s next: When will the shots be available?
CDC advisers are expected to discuss recommendations to health care providers about the shots in a meeting in June. So far, they have signaled that the data from the GSK and Pfizer trials support use of the vaccines in people ages 65 and older.
A Pfizer spokesperson, Jerica Pitts, said the company was ready to ship the vaccine. She did not know the price of the vaccine but said there would be no copay for vaccines deemed medically necessary under Medicaid and Medicare. GSK said earlier that its vaccine would be available in the fall.
SERVICE BY PUBLICATION
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF GWINNETT COUNTY. STATE OF GEORGIA
CIVIL ACTION FILE NO. 21AD-00113-1
For the adoption of a minor child to be known as
By Order for the service by Publication dated the 13th day of July, 2022, you are hereby notified that on the 3rd day of August, 2021, BOVIS, KYLE, BURCH & MEDLIN, L.L.C. filed a Stepparent Adoption in the Superior Court of Gwinnett County. Senei Perez desires to adopt his stepson Sebastian Carvajal Reyna. Respondent Sandi Eligio Carvajal Zorrilla and any interested or affected party has the right to appear and file objections and an answer to the Petition by filing with the Superior Court of Gwinnett County in the above referenced action within thirty (30) days of the date of this publication for Stepparent Adoption. WITNESS, the Honorable Georgie Hutchinson, III, Judge of this Superior Court. This 10th day of May, 2023.
-s-
D/Clerk of Superior Court, Gwinnett County
TIANA P. GARNER, CLERK
Attorney:
Lauren Larmer Barrett BOVIS, KYLE, BURCH & MEDLIN, L.L.C 200 Ashford Center North Suite 500 Atlanta, Ga 30338-2668 Telephone:770-391-9100 *
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. IVONNE MARIE MERCADO LARA
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: BY2022CV06416. (702). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace
constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia en Rebeldía dictada el 16 de marzo de 2023 y notificada el 17 de marzo de 2023, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 3 de mayo de 2023 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 4 de mayo de 2023 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 2 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el Cuarto Piso de la Oficina del Alguacil de Subastas, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Sala Superior, ubicado en la Carretera Número Dos (#2), Kilómetro 10.4, Esquina Calle Esteban Padilla, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América, cheque de gerente o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal; todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad:
URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORI-
ZONTAL: Apartamento Número veinticuatro (24). Apartamento residencial de forma irregular identificado con el Número veinticuatro (24) del Condominio Park West localizado en zona urbana del término municipal de Bayamón, Puerto Rico. El área aproximada de este apartamento es de 850.78 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 79.04 metros cuadrados.
Colinda por el NORTE: en una distancia aproximada de 32’ 9” con espacio aéreo común; por el SUR: en una distancia aproximada de 32’ 9” con espacio aéreo común; por el ESTE: en una distancia aproximada de 29” con el Apartamento Número treinta y uno (31); y por el OESTE: en una distancia aproximada de 32’ 9” con espacio aéreo común y con área común. La puerta de entrada de este apartamento está localizada en su colindancia Oeste a través de la cual se llega a los elementos comunes generales por los cuales se tiene acceso a la vía pública. Este apartamento consta de sala-comedor, cocina, lavadero, dos (2) baños y tres (3) cuartos dormitorios. Le corresponde como anejo un espacio de estacionamiento sencillos identificado con los Números ochenta y uno (8)1 y ochenta y dos (82). Tiene una participación equivalente a 0.006869% en los elementos comunes generales del Condominio. La propiedad consta inscrita al folio 177 del tomo 255 de Bayamón Norte, Finca
12409. Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 178 del tomo
255 de Bayamón Norte, Finca
12409. Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. Inscripción cuarta. La escritura de modificación de hipoteca consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Bayamón Norte, Finca 12409. Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III. Inscripción quinta. DIRECCIÓN FÍSICA: COND. PARK WEST, APT. 24, BAYAMÓN, PR 00961. Número de catastro: 15-061-061-200-20-024. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $114,908.68. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, día 9 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de dos terceras partes del tipo mínimo fijado en la primera subasta, o sea, $76,605.78. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA
SUBASTA día 16 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $57,454.34. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor. Dicho remate se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la demandante el importe de la Sentencia por la suma de $112,540.07 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.250% anual desde el 1 de junio de 2022 hasta su completo pago, más $105.24 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $11,531.10 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato de préstamo. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesan los siguientes gravámenes posteriores a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: a. Aviso de Demanda: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico Vs. Ivonne Marie Mercado Lara (soltera), ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el Caso Civil Número BY2022CV06416, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca, con un balance de $112,540.07 y otras cantidades, según demanda de fecha de 16 de diciembre de 2022. Anotada
Monday, June 5, 2023 22
al Tomo Karibe de Bayamón Norte. Anotación A. Se les advierte a los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como los de Subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados, durante horas laborables, en el expediente del caso que obra en los archivos de la Secretaría del Tribunal, bajo el número de epígrafe y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico por espacio de dos semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana; y para su fijación en los sitios públicos requeridos por ley. 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 que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores, tal como lo expresa la Ley Núm. 2102015. Y para el conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 16 de mayo de 2023. JOSÉ F. MARRERO ROBLES, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #131, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN, SALA SUPERIOR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN LUNA
RESIDENTIAL III LLC.
Parte Demandante Vs. WILMA IRIS
COLLAZO RODRIGUEZ
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: BY2022CV04057.
Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Bayamón, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que los autos y documentos del caso de epígrafe estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables y que venderá en pública
subasta al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina en el Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Sala 410, Cuarto Piso, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $78,401.69 de balance principal, el cual se compone de $73,971.06 de primer principal y la suma de $4,430.63 de balance diferido, más los intereses calculados sobre la suma de $73,971.06 a razón del 7% anual, desde el primero de noviembre de 2018 hasta su total pago y completo pago; más el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad; cargos por demora devengados, más la suma de $7,410.00 estipulada para honorarios de abogado, pactada en la escritura de hipoteca; y cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Predio de terreno radicado en el barrio Mucarabones del término municipal de Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de quinientos cuarenta y dos punto seis mil novecientos sesenta y dos (542.6962) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en veintiocho punto trescientos ochenta y uno (28.381) metros, con el remanente de la finca principal de la cual se segrega; por el SUR, en veintinueve punto seiscientos sesenta y ocho (29.668) metros, con terrenos propiedad del señor Miguel Batista; por el ESTE, en dieciocho punto cero cinco cinco (18.055) metros, con terrenos del señor Camildo Ortiz; y por el OESTE, en diecinueve punto cuatrocientos cincuenta (19.454) metros, con terrenos propiedad de la señora Amalia Torres. Inscrita al folio cincuenta y uno (51) del tomo doscientos sesenta y dos (262) de Toa Alta, finca número doce mil setecientos once (13711), Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón III. Dirección Física: RD 3 1 KM 7G, Buccarrabones Ward, Toa Alta, PR 00953. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 5 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $74,100.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 12 DE
JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $49,400.00. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 19 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $37,050.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados
en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 2102015). Expedido el presente en Bayamón, Puerto Rico a 15 de mayo de 2023. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE BAYAMÓN.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE TRUJILLO ALTO EN CAROLINA
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE MASSACHUSSETS
MUTUAL LIFE INS. CO.
Demandante V. SUCESIÓN
MARTÍNEZ, COMPUESTA POR RAFAEL ÁNGEL LINARES O’NEILL, T/C/C RAFAEL LINARES O’NEILL, ET ALS
Demandados
Civil Núm.: FECI201501021. Sala: 0002. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia notificado por el Tribunal el día 4 de mayo de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica
y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número 6 del Bloque “AJ” de la Urbanización Residencial Interamericana, localizado en el Barrio Las Cuevas del Municipio de Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, con un área de 180.00 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar número 7 del Bloque “AJ”, en una distancia de 25.00 metros; por el SUR, con el solar número 5 del Bloque “AJ”, en una distancia de 24.00 metros; por el ESTE, con los solares números 10 y 11 del Bloque “AJ”, en una distancia de 7.500 metros y por el OESTE, con la Calle número 12, en una distancia de 7.500 metros, tiene pared medianera con la casa en el solar número 5 del Bloque “AJ”. Enclava edificación. Inscrito al folio 227 del tomo 192 de Trujillo Alto, finca número #9,772 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Cuarta de San Juan. -La propiedad está ubicada, según pagaré, en: #6 bloque AJ, Barrio Las Cuevas, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 24 de marzo de 2022, archivada en autos y notificada el 25 de enero de 2023, y publicada en periódico de circulación general, “The San Daily Star”, el 2 de febrero de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber, la suma de $14,261.62 por concepto de principal; $303.41 por concepto de intereses acumulados, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito; $208.60 por concepto de “Escrow Advances’’ y la suma $4,135.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente (“Sentencia”). La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 31 DE JULIO DE 2023 A LAS 11:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal, Sala Superior de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $41,350.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 7 DE AGOSTO DE 2023 A LAS 11:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles
AMBOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
Demandados
Civil Núm.: CG2023CV00189.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.
A: JOSÉ RAMÓN TORRES TORRES; JOHANNA TORRES SANTANA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.
Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 009366603. Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 18 de mayo de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA GENERAL. CARMEN L. SOTO PLANAS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. ÁNGEL MANUEL AYALA IRIZARRY, LEGNA IRIS
GARCÍA MATEO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Demandados
Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV00487.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO
Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA
POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.
Estados Unidos de América, Presidente de los Estados Unidos, Estado Libre Asociado de
Puerto Rico, s.s.
A: ÁNGEL MANUEL AYALA IRIZARRY. Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 00936-6603. Tel. (787) 9190073, Fax (787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 22 de mayo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA GENERAL. BRENDA HERNÁNDEZ ZAVALA, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. ALBERT RODRÍGUEZ ORTIZ Y NAHIR FIGUEROA SANTOS; SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO
URBANO Y VIVIENDA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA (“HUD”)
Demandados
Civil Núm.: HU2023CV00574. Sala: 205. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S. S.
A: SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO
URBANO Y VIVIENDA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA (“HUD”).
451 SEVENTH STR. SW WASHINGTON DC 20410. Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda incoada en su contra dentro del término de sesenta
(60) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Si usted deja de presentar y notificar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Los abogados de la parte demandante son:
ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE
DEMANDANTE:
Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández RUA Núm.: 16,393
BERMUDEZ & DIAZ LLP
500 Calle De La Tanca Suite 209
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
Tel.: (787) 523-2670 / Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdíaz@bdprlaw.com
Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, hoy 25 de mayo de 2023. IVELISSE
C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.
KEYLA PÉREZ FIGUEROA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE MAYAGÜEZ
KEYLINK LLC
Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE CRISELIA ALICEA
ALMODOVAR T/C/C
CRISELIA ALICEA T/C/C
GRISCEL ALMODOVAR
T/C/C GRISELIA ALICEA ALMODOVAR
COMPUESTAS POR
FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE LA SUCESION; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
Demandados
Civil Núm.: SG2023CV00272.
Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.
UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.
A: FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO
POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE CRISELIA ALICEA
POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Roberto C. Latimer Valentin, al PO BOX 9022512, San Juan, P.R. 00902-2512; Teléfono: (787) 724-0230. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento ejecución de hipoteca bajo el número mencionado en el epígrafe. Se alega en dicho procedimiento que la parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de Hipoteca, al no cumplir con los requerimiento establecidos en el Contrato de Hipoteca Revertida por no ser la vivienda principal del deudor, entre otras De acuerdo con dicho Contrato de Garantía Hipotecaria la parte Demandante declaró vencida la totalidad de la deuda ascendente a la suma principal de $76,175.51, más intereses a razón del 5.06% anual, desde que dichas sumas fueron desembolsadas con el primer desembolso el 19 de diciembre de 2011, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más adelantos para el pago de seguros hipotecarios y contribuciones sobre la propiedad, entre cualquier otro anticipo o adelanto hecho por la parte demandante, más una suma equivalente a ($15,750.00), por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado todo según pactado. La parte Demandante presentará para su inscripción en el Registro de la Propiedad correspondiente, un AVISO DE PLEITO PENDIENTE (“Lis Pendens”) sobre la propiedad objeto de esta acción cuya propiedad es la siguiente: RÚSTICA: Solar marcado con el número cuatro en el Plano de Inscripción sito en el Barrio Machucha! de Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, con cabida superficial cuadrado de cuatrocientos sesenta y dos con treinta y cinco centímetros, en lindes por el NORTE, en trece metros con franja de terreno dedicada a uso público; por el SUR, en trece metros y treinta y dos centímetros con David García; al ESTE, en treinta y cuatro metros 11 centímetros con el solar cinco en el Plano de inscripción y por el OESTE,
en treinta y siete metros un centímetro con el solar número tres en el Plano de Inscripción. Según la inscripción 2da, enclava una casa de hormigón y bloques que mide 40 pies con 2 pulgadas de largo por 26 pies con 4 pulgadas, con un valor de $8,650.00, mediante escritura número 118, otorgada en San Germán, Puerto Rico, el día 12 de junio de 1970, ante el notario Pedro Vélez Vargas, inscrito al folio 111 del tomo 87 de Sabana Grande, inscripción 2da. Consta inscrita al folio 110 del tomo 87 de Sabana Grande, Finca# 5,571 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de San Germán. SE LES ORDENA a ustedes a que dentro del término legal de treinta (30) días, contados a partir de la fecha de notificación de la presente Orden, acepten o repudien la participación que les corresponda en la herencia de la DE LA SUCESION DE Criselia Alicea Almodovar t/c/c Criselia Alicea t/c/c Griscel Almodovar t/c/c Griselia Alicea Almodovar. De no hacerlo dentro de dicho término, se dará la herencia por aceptada. SE LES APERCIBE que de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. A 30 de mayo de 2023. LIC. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. NILDA TORRES ACEVEDO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE UTUADO
ESTRELLA HOMES II, LLC
Parte Demandante V. ISMAEL PEREZ MARTINEZ, LA SUCESION DE MARIA MATILDE CRUZ NEGRÓN COMPUESTA
POR JOSEPH PEREZ CRUZ; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: UT2022CV00067. 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 Utuado, hago saber a la parte demandada, ISMAEL PÉREZ MARTINEZ y la SUCESIÓN DE MARIA
MATILDE CRUZ NEGRÓN compuesta por JOSEPH PEREZ CRUZ; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 15 de febrero de 2023, 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: D-20 Jardines de Bubao, Utuado, PR 00641 y que se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar marcado con el numero D-20 del plano de inscripción de la Urbanización Jardines de Bubao II del término municipal de Utuado. Tiene un área de 160.00 metros cuadrados. Colinda por el NORTE, en 16.00 metros, con el Solar D-19; por el SUR en 16.00 metros, con el solar D-21; por el ESTE, en 10.00 metros, con la Avenida Esteves y por el OESTE, en 10.00 metros, con el Solar D-5-A. Enclava en dicho solar una casa construida de cemento para usos residenciales. Finca numero 30,745 inscrita al folio 185 del tomo 556 de Utuado del Registro de la Propiedad de Utuado. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA: En garantía de un pagare a favor de Santander Financial Service Inc., o a su orden, por la suma de $59,500.00, intereses al 7.990% y vencedero el 1 de mayo del 2028, según consta de la escritura número 25, otorgada en Utuado, el 18 de abril del 2016, ante el notario Susan P. Báez Dixon, inscrito al Sistema Karibe de Utuado, finca 30,745, inscripción 4ta. 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 12 de diciembre de 2022, mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la cantidad ascendiente a $42,765.17 de principal, más intereses que continuarán acumulándose al 7.99% anual hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más cargos por demora, más gastos y honorarios de abogado, según pactado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario, más los intereses al tipo legal correspondiente a razón de 5.00% a computarse sobre la cuantía de la sentencia desde la fecha en que se dicte la sentencia y hasta que ésta sea satisfecha conforme a
la Regla 44.3 de las de Procedimiento Civil, 32 LPRA Ap. V., R. 44.3. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 1 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de UTUADO, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma, la cantidad de $59,500.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 8 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, 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, $39,666.67. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el 15 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $29,750.00. 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 ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca
o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En UTUADO, Puerto Rico, hoy 23 de mayo de 2023. ALG. RICARDO ACEVEDO RIVERA, ALGUACIL #414, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE UTUADO.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
ANGEL ROBERTO PÉREZ MOLINA TAMBIÉN CONOCIDO COMO ANGEL R. PÉREZ MOLINA
Peticionario Vs DAMARIS HERNÁNDEZ GASTÓN Peticionaria Promovida Civil Núm.: CA2023RF00274. Sala: 302. Sobre: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: DAMARIS HERNÁNDEZ GASTÓN. 5522 CASABLANCA
LN, APARTAMENTO 1, ORLANDO, FL, 32807. Se le notifica a usted que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría la demanda del epígrafe. Se le emplaza y requiere que radique en esta Secretaría el original de la contestación a la Demanda y que notifique con copia de dicha contestación a la Lcda. Marta S. Arvelo López, 606 Muñoz Rivera Ave. Suite 1, San Juan, P.R. 00918, Tel. (787) 759-6334 / 484-0190, con el correo electrónico licmartaar-
velo@yahoo.com, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Si dejare de hacerlo, podrá dictarse contra usted sentencia en rebeldía concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Carolina, a 26 de mayo de 2023. LCDA. KANELLY M. ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ZORAIDA RIVERA LÁTIMER, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE ARECIBO
WILMINGTON SAVINGS
FUND SOCIETY, FSB COMO FIDEICOMISARIO DE FINANCE OF AMERICA STRUCTURED SECURITIES
ACQUISITION TRUST 2018-HB1
Demandante Vs. JESUS MARTINEZ
MEDINA T/C/C JESUS
MARTINEZ POR SI Y COMO MIEMBRO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN
ANTONIA MARTINEZ
CENTENO T/C/C CARMEN
MARTINEZ T/C/C
CARMEN SANTIAGO; SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN
ANTONIA MARTINEZ
CENTENO T/C/C CARMEN
MARTINEZ T/C/C
CARMEN SANTIAGO
COMPUESTA POR
ELIZABETH SANTIAGO
MARTINEZ, CRUZ
MARÍA MARTINEZ;
FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO
POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE NOMBRES
DESCONOCIDOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS
MUNICIPALES; Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA
Demandados
Civil Núm.: AR2023CV00199.
Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. EMPLA-
ZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS
UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL
PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: JESUS MARTINEZ
MEDINA T/C/C JESUS
MARTINEZ, POR SÍ Y
COMO MIEMBRO DE LA
CARMEN
ANTONIA MARTINEZ
CENTENO T/C/C CARMEN
MARTINEZ T/C/C
CARMEN SANTIAGO. POR LA PRESENTE, se les emplaza y se les notifica que se ha presentado en la Secretaria de este Tribunal la Demanda del caso del epígrafe solicitando la ejecución de hipoteca y el cobro de dinero relacionado al pagaré suscrito a favor de Senior Mortgage Bankers, Inc., o a su orden, por la suma principal de $130,500.00, con intereses computados sobre la misma desde su fecha hasta su total y completo pago a razón de la tasa de interés de 5.060% anual, la cual será ajustada mensualmente, obligándose además al pago de costas, gastos y desembolsos del litigio, más honorarios de abogados en una suma de $13,050 equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original. Este pagaré fue suscrito bajo el affidávit número 7,609 ante el notario María G. Chévere Mourino. Lo anterior surge de la hipoteca constituida mediante la escritura número 332 otorgada el 16 de mayo de 2012, ante el mismo notario público, inscrita al tomo Karibe de Arecibo, finca número 33,380, inscripción 3ra. La Hipoteca Revertida grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación:
URBANA: Solar marcado con el número A veinticuatro (A-24) del Plano de Inscripción del proyecto U M Dos Cinco (UM 2-5), denominado Víctor Rojas número Uno, radicado en el Barrio Hato Abajo del término municipal de Arecibo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos quince metros cuadrados con cincuenta y cinco centésimas de metros cuadrados (315.55 m.c.), en lindes por el NORTE, con la calle número cinco, distancia de veinticuatro metros con veinte centímetros; por el SUR, con el solar A-veinticinco, distancia de veinticinco metros, con veintisiete centímetros; por el ESTE, con la calle número cuatro, distancia de once metros con veintisiete centímetros y un metro con setenta y tres centímetros en arco; y por el OESTE, con el solar A-veintitrés, distancia de doce metros con sesenta y un centímetros. Finca número 33,380, inscrita al folio 50 del tomo 771 de Arecibo. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Arecibo. Se apercibe y advierte a ustedes como personas desconocidas, que deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. jamajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio,
en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. De no contestar la demanda radicando el original de la contestación ante la secretaria del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Región Judicial de Carolina, Sala de Carolina, y notificar copia de la contestación de esta a la parte demandante por conducto de su abogada, GLS LEGAL SERVICES, LLC, Atención: Lcda. Genevieve López Stipes, Dirección: P.O. Box 367308, San Juan, P.R. 00936-7308, Teléfono: 787-758-6550, dentro de los próximos sesenta (60) días a partir de la publicación de este emplazamiento por edicto, que será publicado una sola vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general en la isla de Puerto Rico, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia, concediendo el remedio solicitando en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. Vista la interpelación judicial presentada por la parte demandante al amparo del Artículo 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico se ordena a Jesus Martinez Medina t/c/c Jesus Martinez, por sí y como miembro de la Sucesión de Carmen Antonia Martinez Centeno t/c/c Carmen Martinez t/c/c Carmen Santiago que notifique si acepta o repudia la herencia de la causante dentro del plazo de 30 días contados a partir de la notificación de la orden. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer en dicho termino a aceptar o repudiar la herencia, la herencia se tendrá por aceptada. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal hoy 26 de mayo de 2023. VIVÍAN Y. FRESSE
GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. PILAR H. MERCADO GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDO IRIS YOLANDA
ROSADO RIVERA
Demandante V. FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO; JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA
Demandado(a)
Civil: LU2023CV00051. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN
(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 29 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de mayo de 2023. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, el 31 de mayo de 2023. WANDA I. SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVELISSE SERRANO GARCÍA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO PALMAS DEL MAR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
Demandante Vs CARLOS ROMÁN TORRES
Demandado(a)
Civil: HU2022CV01318.
Núm.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: CARLOS ROMAN TORRES; P/C LCDO. JOSÉ R. GONZÁLEZ RIVERA.
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 30 de mayo de 2023 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de
los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de mayo de 2023. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, el 31 de mayo de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVELISSE M. MONCLOVA CRUZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO
PALMAS DEL MAR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
Demandante Vs FRANCISCO A. ALVARADO SAGARDÍA; ANNED DEL C. ALVARADO SAGARDÍA
Demandado(a) Núm. Civil: HU2022CV01741. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: FRANCISCO A. ALVARADO SAGARDÍA; ANNED DEL C. ALVARADO SAGARDÍA.
P/C LCDO. JOSÉ R. GONZÁLEZ RIVERA. EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 30 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a
usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de mayo de 2023. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, el 31 de mayo de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVELISSE M. MONCLOVA CRUZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA MYRIAM E. ESCALERA RIVERA Y OTROS
Demandantes Vs. CARDIOVASCULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, PSC; MIGUEL ESTEBAN ABREU GARCÍA Y CLAUDIA DRURY JORDAN; COMPAÑÍA DE SEGUROS ABC; ASEGURADORA XYZ
Demandados
Civil Núm.: CA2023CV00692. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO; INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: CLAUDIA DRURY JORDAN; CONDOMINIO LA CIMA DE TORRIMAR, APARTAMENTO 904, CARR. 833, GUAYNABO, PUERTO RICO 00969. POR LA PRESENTE se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal por la parte demandante una acción de cobro de dinero e incumplimiento de contrato por los hechos que se detallan en la misma, la cual puede ser examinada en la secretaría de este Tribunal. REPRESENTA a los demandantes el bufete RIVERA COLON, RIVERA TORRES RIVERA RIOS (Lcdo. Víctor M. Rivera Torres) con dirección en Avenida Fernández Juncos #1420, Santurce, Puerto Rico 00909, teléfonos (787) 727-5710, fax (787) 268-1835, e-mail: victor.rivera@rcrtrblaw.com. Se le advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y que si no comparece en el término de treinta (30) días desde su publicación, los querellantes podrán solicitar que se dicte sentencia en rebeldía, declarándose con lugar la demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO, bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, hoy día 17 de mayo de 2023.
KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. KEILA GARCÍA
SOLÍS, SUB-SECRETARIA.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO
DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
DANNY HERNÁNDEZ
ROSARIO TCC DANIEL GOLDSTAIN
Demandante Vs. POPULAR MORTGAGE INC; JOHN DOE Y/O RICHARD ROE
Demandados
Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01287. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.
A: JOHN DOE Y/O RICHARD ROE.
Se notifica que se presentó en esta Secretaría la Demanda de epígrafe sobre Cancelación de Pagaré Extraviado Por la Vía Judicial. Se le emplaza y requiere que usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Deberá notificar con copia de la misma al LCDO. JESÚS
A. LEDESMA AMADOR, PO BOX 10338, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00922, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto. Si dejara de hacerlo, podrá dictarse sentencia en rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. El primer pagaré hipotecario objeto de esta demanda, fue emitido a favor de Daniel Hernández Ortiz, o a su orden, por la suma de $95,000.00 con intereses al 6% anual y con vencimiento 31 de marzo del 2015, ante el Notario José N. López Sánchez. Dicha obligación quedó garantizada por una hipoteca voluntaria sobre el inmueble que más adelante se describe, según surge de la escritura número #5, otorgada en Caguas, Puerto Rico, el día 14 de marzo del 2005, inscrita al folio #151 del tomo #1682 de Caguas, finca #39508 inscripción quinta en el registro de la propiedad de Caguas sección Primera. El segundo pagaré hipotecario objeto de esta demanda, fue emitido a favor de POPULAR MORTGAGE, INC, o a su orden, por la suma de $88,000.00 con intereses al 6% anual y con
vencimiento 1 de julio de 2016, ante el Notario Namyr I. Hernández Sánchez. Dicha obligación quedó garantizada por una hipoteca voluntaria sobre el inmueble que más adelante se describe, según surge de la escritura número #463, otorgada en Barranquitas, Puerto Rica, el 30 de junio de 2001, inscrita al folio #1 del tomo #1585 de Naranjito, finca 39,508, inscripción 4ta., en el Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas Sección Primera. El pago de dichos pagares se garantizó con hipoteca constituida sobre el inmueble que se describe a continuación:
RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada en el Plano de lnscripción con la Letra B, ubicada en el Barrio Cañaboncito de Caguas, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de QUINIENTOS SESENTA PUNTO NUEVE MIL CIEÑTO TREINTA (560.9130) METROS CUADRADOS, en lindes por el NORTE, en diecisiete punto seis mil cuatrocientos setenta y dos (17.6472) metros, con camino de servidumbre y finca principal; por el SUR, en veinte punto siete mil trescientos ochenta y un (20.7381) metros cuadrados, en varias alineaciones con Francisco Toledo; por el ESTE, en treinta y uno punto ocho mil cientos cuarenta y dos (31.8142) metros cuadrados, en varias alineaciones con Camino Municipal y por el OESTE, en treinta y dos punto ocho mil trescientos setenta y cinco (32.8375) metros cuadrados, con la Parcela A del Plano de Inscripción. Finca #39,508, inscrito al Sistema Karibe de Caguas, Registro de Caguas Sección Primera. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy 26 de mayo de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA GENERAL. VIONNETTE ESPINOSA CASTILLO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE asociado DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR E FAJARDO ANA LUZ CLARK CAMACHO; IRMA LUZ CLARK CAMACHO
Demandante Vs. DORAL MORTGAGE LLC; FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC); JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE (POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO)
Demandados Civil Núm.: VQ2023CV0062. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE
Se le notifica por medio del presente edicto que se ha presentado en este tribunal una demanda en solicitud de cancelación de un pagaré extraviado a favor de DORAL MORTGAGE CORP., o a su orden, por $30,000, con intereses al ·7.5% anual, vencedero el 1 de mayo de 2029, según consta de la escritura número 367, otorgada e San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 16 de abril de 1999, ante el Notario Público Teresita Navarro García, inscrito al folio 1 vuelto del Tomo 65 de Vieques, Registro de la Propiedad de Fajardo, sobre la siguiente propiedad:
URBANA: Solar radicado frente a la calle Leguillow del municipio de Vieques, con una cabida superficial de ciento cuarenta y siete cero cinco metros cuadrados; y en lindes por el Norte, en nueve metros con una solar propiedad de Carlota Mercado; por el Sur, en ocho punto treinta metros con la calle Leguillow; por el Este, en diecisiete metros con un solar propiedad del señor Juan Cruz; y por b1 Oeste, en diez y siete metros con la Calle Progreso. Enclava una estructura en concreto usada como residencia y sótano habilitado para ser usado como local comercial. Finca número 1514, inscrita al Folio 241 del Tomo 41 de Vieques, Registro de la Propiedad de Fajardo. Por la presente se le emplaza y requiere para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de 30 días contados a partir del diligenciamiento del emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.
Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial.pr/index.php/tribunalelectronico/, salvo se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Se le apercibe que si dejare de hacerlo, se dictará sentencia en rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda. Deberá enviar copia de su alegación responsiva a la abogada de la parte demandante cuya información es la siguiente:
Lcda. Lisdaira Serrano Martínez
RUA 17356
273 Ave. Ponce de León Plaza 273, Ste. 700 Hato Rey PR 00917 lisdairaserrano@gmail.com
Extendido bajo mi firma y sello del tribunal, hoy 26 de mayo de 2023. WANDA SEGUÍ RE-
YES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. BRENDA LIZ CORCINO ROSA, SECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR.
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
DEMANDANTE VS. LA SUCESION DE CARMEN DELIA
MELENDEZ ALICEA
COMPUESTA POR
WANDA IVELISSE
GOMEZ MELENDEZ Y ROBERTO LEVIS
MELENDEZ; FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL COMO
POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)
DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: CA2022CV02208. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO Y MANDAMIENTO DE INTERPELACION. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, El Presidente de los Estados Unidos El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.
A la parte co-demandada:
ROBERTO LEVIS
MELÉNDEZ COMO
MIEMBRO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN DELIA MELÉNDEZ ALICEA, a las siguientes direcciones: (a) URB.
JARDIN DE TRUJILLO ALTO A-15 CALLE 1
TRUJILLO ALTO, PR 00976, (b) URB JARDINES DE TRUJILLO ALTO A-15 CALLE 1 TRUJILLO ALTO, PR 00976. Por la presente se le(s) notifica que se ha radicado en la Secretaria de este Tribunal una Demanda Enmendada en Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la vía ordinaria en contra de La Sucesión de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea, en la cual se alega que adeuda a la parte demandante por concepto de hipoteca la suma de $66,380.46 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de febrero de 2022, más intereses al tipo pactado de 4.00% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además La Sucesión de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea 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 $8,742.30.
Además La Sucesión de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $8,742.30 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $8,742.30 para cubrir cualquiera otros adelantos que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca número 332, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 24 de noviembre de 2010, ante la notario Ivonne González Medrano, de la finca número
11,820, inscrita al Folio 85 del Tomo 240 de Trujillo Alto, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección Cuarta. 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. Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. Quedan emplazados y notificados de que en este Tribunal se ha radicado una demanda enmendada en su contra. Se les ordena a que dentro del término de treinta (30) días, a partir de la notificación de la presente Orden, acepten o repudien la participación que les corresponda en la herencia de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea. Los co-demandados miembros de La Sucesión de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea se incluyen en la demanda enmendada ya que como herederos responden por las cargas de la herencia según lo dispuesto en Nuestro Ordenamiento Jurídico. Se les apercibe y notifica que, de no expresarse dentro de ese término de 30 días en torno a su aceptación o repudiación de herencia, la herencia se tendrá por aceptada. También se les apercibe que luego del transcurso del término de 30 días antes señalado contados a partir de la fecha de la notificación de la presente Orden, se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia del causante y, por consiguiente, responden por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme el Artículo 1578 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. 2785. Se ordena a la parte demandante a que, en vista de que La Sucesión de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea, se incluye a heredero conocido de Carmen Delia Meléndez Alicea denominados Roberto Levis Meléndez, proceda a notificar la presente Orden mediante publicación de un edicto a esos efectos una sola vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de la Isla de Puerto Rico. Se le(s) empla-
za y requiere que dentro de los sesenta (60) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto excluyendo el día de la publicación de este edicto conteste(n) la demanda radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo. Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 6257001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramaiudiciai.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le(s) advierte que si dejare(n) de contestar la Demanda en el período de tiempo antes mencionado, podrá dictarse contra usted(es) Sentencia en Rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oirle(s). EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 1 de JUNIO de 2023, en Carolina, Puerto Rico. Kanelly Zayas Robles, Secretaria. Lilliam Ortiz Nieves, Secretaría Auxiliar.
NOTICE
Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de San Juan .
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante VS. SUCESIÓN DE DELFÍN SEPÚLVEDA NAZARIO COMPUESTA POR SU HEREDERA CONOCIDA
TANIA SEPÚLVEDA; SUCESIÓN DE MARIEL IVONNE SANTANA
VÁZQUEZ T/C/C MURIEL IVONNE SANTANA
VÁZQUEZ; SUCESIÓN DE MIRIAM SEPÚLVEDA; FULANO DE TAL
Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHAS SUCESIONES
Parte Demandada
CIVIL NÚM: SJ2021CV08229 (604). SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO; EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: SUCESIÓN DE DELFÍN SEPÚLVEDA NAZARIO COMPUESTA POR SU HEREDERA
CONOCIDA TANIA SEPÚLVEDA; SUCESIÓN DE MARIEL IVONNE SANTANA VÁZQUEZ
T/C/C MURIEL IVONNE SANTANA VÁZQUEZ; SUCESIÓN
LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 25 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 30 de mayo de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 30 de mayo de 2023. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. f/Elsa Magaly Candelario Cabrera, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I .
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE YAUCO HELEN JANETTE PEREZ FELICIANO; DARIO ENRIQUE CATALA SUAREZ; ROSA ENID RODRIGUEZ VELEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Demandantes Vs. AUTORIDAD PARA EL FINANCIAMIENTO DE LA VIVIENDA DE PUERTO RICO; Y FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO DE TAL
Demandados
Civil Núm.: YU2023CV00050. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO
FULANO DE TAL Y
El Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Yauco, dictó la siguiente providencia:
“ORDEN: Vista la solicitud sobre publicación de edictos, la demanda que se acompaña para cancelar un pagaré a favor de LA AUTORIDAD PARA EL FINANCIAMIENTO DE LA VIVIENDA DE PUERTO RICO que se ha extraviado y a las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil vigentes, el Tribunal ordena que se citen por edictos a los demandados desconocidos Fulano de Tal y Mengano de Tal, en su condición de posibles tenedores del pagaré a favor de LA AUTORIDAD PARA EL FINANCIAMIENTO DE LA VIVIENDA DE PUERTO RICO, o a su orden, por la suma de VEINTE MIL DÓLARES
($20,000.00), con intereses al seis por ciento (6%) anual, vencedero el primero (1ro.) de abril de dos mil dieciocho (2018), según Escritura Número Ciento Sesenta y Ocho (168), otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el doce (12) de marzo de dos mil tres (2003), ante el Notario Público Pedro Mario Rivera Matos. La propiedad inmueble sobre la cual se encuentra anotado el gravamen antes detallado se describe de la siguiente
manera: RÚSTICA: BARRIO RIO PRIETO de Yauco. Solar: Cabida: Mil Cuatrocientos Ochenta y Seis punto Cuatro Mil Cuarenta y Ocho Metros Cuadrados (1,486.4048 M.C).
Linderos: NORTE, con el Uso público segregado a favor del Municipio de Yauco, en una alineación irregular que comienza en el punto uno (1) al once “A”
(11A) al diez “A” (10A) al nueve “A” (9A) y al ocho (8) en trece punto ochenta y tres metros (13.83 m.), catorce punto veintidos metros (14.00 m.) doce punto setenta y nueve metros (12.79 m.) y diez punto cero tres metros (10.03 m.) SUR, desde el punto cinco (5) al punto seis (6) y al punto siete (7) en una alineación irregular de siete punto cuarenta y seis metros (7.46 m.) y quince punto sesenta y cinco metros (15.65 m.), con América Piazza; ESTE, del punto siete (7) al punto ocho (8) en cuarenta y uno punto noventa y cinco metros (41.95 m.), con el remanente; y OESTE, del punto uno
(1) al punto dos (2) al punto tres
(3) al punto cuatro (4) y al punto cinco (5) en una alineación irregular de veintisiete punto treinta y cinco metros (27.35 m.), siete punto cuarenta y un metros (7.41 m.), ocho punto setenta metros (8.70 m.) y ocho punto treinta metros (8.30 m.), respectivamente con Américo Piazza. Consta inscrita a los folios Ciento Ochenta y Dos (182) del tomo Cuatrocientos Cincuenta y Ocho (458) de Yauco, finca número Quince Mil Ochocien-
tos Cuarenta y Seis (15,846), Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. Los edictos se publicarán en un periódico de circulación general. En vista de encontrarnos ante demandados desconocidos, se exime a la parte demandante del envío por correo certificado del presente edicto. DADA en Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, 16 de mayo de 2023. CARLOS
G. GONZÁLEZ LÓPEZ, (FIRMADO) JUEZ SUPERIOR”. Se le notifica que de no contestar, o alegar en contra de la demanda radicada en este caso, previa notificación del demandante, dentro de veinte (20) días si el demandado reside en Puerto Rico, o dentro de treinta (30) días si el demandado reside fuera de Puerto Rico, contados desde la publicación del edicto, se le anotará rebeldía, sin más citarle ni oírle, y oída la evidencia del demandante, el Tribunal dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado. La abogada de la parte demandante es la Lcda. Teresa Pacheco Camacho con oficinas en la Calle Santiago Vivaldi Pacheco #24-B, Yauco, Puerto Rico y dirección postal: P.O. Box 5004, PMB 200, Yauco, Puerto Rico 00698.
F/ LCDA. TERESA PACHECO CAMACHO COLEGIADA NÚM. 12,713 RUA NÚM. 11,490
P.O. BOX 5004 YAUCO, PUERTO RICO 000698
TEL. 787-267-5784 / fax: 787-267-6328
teresa@ pacheco-camacholawfirm.com
Expedido bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal para su publicación, hoy día 24 de mayo de 2023. En Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico. CARMEN TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL. DELIA APONTE VELÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR I.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN ÁNGEL DE LA CRUZ CABRAL
Parte Demandante FIORDALIZA PEÑA ALCÁNTARA
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: SJ2023RF00759.
Sala: 702. Sobre: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE DE LOS NEXOS DE CONVIVENCIA). EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.
A: FIORDALIZA PEÑA ALCÁNTARA. Se le notifica a usted que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría la demanda del epígrafe. Se le emplaza y requiere que radique en esta Secretaria el original de
la contestación a la Demanda y que notifique con copia de dicha contestación a la Lcda. Nicolemarie Peña Cartagena, 379 Calle César González, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918, teléfono 787-766-0949, vazquezyasociadospr@gmail.com, abogada de la parte demandante, dentro de los treinta días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Si dejare de hacerlo, podrá dictarse contra usted sentencia en rebeldía concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a 23 de mayo de 2023. SRA. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE BAYAMÓN ASOCIACION DE RESIDENTES Y RECREATIVA CAMINO DEL MAR, INC.
Demandante V. LAURA TARRIDO COLON Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Civil: TB2022CV00308. Sala: 503. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: MONICA SEPULVEDA Y LAURA TARRIDO COLON. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 8 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 30 de mayo de 2023. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 30 de mayo de 2023. LIC. LAURA
I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. CARMEN M. PINTADO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.puts it a different way. “I try to understand everything,” she said. “I am a very curious person.”
Cod psychology would suggest that she inherited that trait from her parents: both academics, both lecturers in Catalan literature, both sufficiently animated by the pursuit of equality that they forced a change in the law to allow Bonmatí to take her mother’s surnames, rather than a patronymic followed by a matronymic.
It is a streak that Bonmatí has not lost, and one best illustrated not so much by her continuing education — she is studying sports management, already aware at age 25 of the need to prepare for a life after soccer — but by her approach to her career itself.
Bonmatí is — her words — “always doing things.” “Making a schedule is quite complicated,” she said. “I need to make sure to get time for myself, because otherwise I feel like I can’t breathe.” Her teammates, she believes, consider her to be “hyperactive.”
She has roles, away from the field, with the United Nations refugee agency, with the Johan Cruyff Foundation, with the Barcelona Foundation. She works with a team for female refugees.
By RORY SMITHAitana Bonmatí always asks the same question. Every game Barcelona Femení plays generates a flood of performance data. The team’s fitness coaches know how far each player ran, how fast, how long. There is so much information, in fact, that they need two days to download it and tabulate it and parse it. Only then is it passed back to the squad.
Not every player pays much heed to that sort of feedback. Some disregard it entirely. Bonmatí, 25, is different. She does not just want the answer; she wants to see the work, too. More than anything, she wants to know the why.
“After some games, you feel so fatigued, so exhausted,” she said. “But the data can be low. That’s because sometimes it is not just a physical thing. It can be to do with stress, with the nerves you had. I like to talk about it with the coaches. I want to understand why these things happen.”
As far as the raw figures go, Bonmatí’s season looks like this: nine goals scored, and 10 created, from midfield as Barcelona swept, yet again, to the Spanish title; five goals scored, and seven more created, in the Champions League on the way to her — and her club’s — fourth final in five years. Only Wolfsburg’s Ewa Pajor has scored more goals than Bonmatí. Nobody has more assists.
The case that Bonmatí has been the most decisive, most valuable player in Europe this season is a compelling one. There is a strong body of evidence, too, to suggest that she should be considered the leading candidate for the Ballon d’Or, at least until the World Cup rolls around.
The easiest explanation for why is one that she rejects without a second thought. It is Bonmatí, the theory goes, who has emerged as Barcelona’s heartbeat in the injury-enforced absence of Alexia Putellas, the club’s captain. “She has taken
a huge responsibility in midfield,” Fridolina Rolfo, Barcelona’s Swedish striker, said earlier this year. “She deserves all of the attention, in my opinion.”
Bonmatí has a slightly different interpretation. “The coach is the boss,” she said. This season, that coach — Jonatan Giráldez — has asked her to play a more advanced role than in previous years, not only because of the absence of Putellas but also because the presence of Patri Guijarro, Ingrid Engen and Keira Walsh means the club is well-stocked with defensive midfielders. “The role has changed,” Bonmatí said. “But not because of me.”
Replacing Putellas, she said, has been a collective effort. “The media always tries to find someone in the team to focus on, and now this year it is me,” she said. “But I have been having good seasons for the last few years. I am ambitious. I just want to be better, more complete, than last year.”
Standing out at Barcelona is more complex than it might appear. Lucy Bronze, the English defender who moved to Catalonia last summer, perhaps captured it best. At Barcelona, she said earlier this year, she has found herself surrounded by an almost industrial quantity of prodigiously gifted players, all spooling off the academy’s production line.
“There are just like clones and clones and clones of these amazing, technical, intelligent players,” she said, sounding simultaneously awestruck and possibly just a little frightened. “There are hundreds of them.”
That Bonmatí has been able to stand out from that group — even at a club that has been carefully calibrated to churn out excellence, and on a team that is packed with the world’s finest players — can be attributed to her search for completeness.
Xavi Hernández, the coach of Barcelona’s men’s team and Bonmatí’s childhood idol, described her as a “perfectionist” in the prologue to the book she published last year. She
When Walsh and Bronze arrived at Barcelona, Bonmatí immediately volunteered to act as their de facto translator. If they needed anything, she told them, they just had to tell her. The gesture was rooted in kindness, but there was a payoff, too. “It means I get to improve my English,” she said. There was no ulterior motive for that — Bonmatí wasn’t hoping to parlay it into an imminent move to England or the United States. She just wanted to be better at English.
Almost everything Bonmatí does is geared toward a process of endless improvement, of smoothing out flaws and making sure nothing has gone unconsidered. She reads, and she reads widely: Her home, she said, is full of books on nutrition, on performance, on psychology. (Even her downtime is not really downtime: The likes of Primo Levi and Viktor Frankl occupy the light reading slot.)
“The more things that I know, the more I can apply what I know,” she said. “The smarter I am about those subjects, the better it is for my performance.”
Then there is her kinesthetic learning: Away from Barcelona’s orbit, but with the club’s blessing, she employs her own fitness coach, nutritionist and psychologist. She questions them, too. “I want to know what I have to improve, and how to do it,” she said.
It is not exactly a surprise, then, that Bonmatí was hardly satisfied by Barcelona’s achievement in reaching the Champions League final yet again. It was her, and her club’s, third in a row, and their fourth overall. The stage was so familiar that Barcelona went in as the heavy favorite to beat Wolfsburg on Saturday, which it did, but not before coming back from a 0-2 deficit with three second-half goals to win, 3-2, and capture its second European trophy.
Being heavily favored was an achievement in itself, of course, testament to how far Barcelona’s women’s team has come, to the status it has attained, to the progress made by Bonmatí and her teammates. That is not what Bonmatí sees, though, when she looks at the data.
“We have only won one of the finals,” she said before Saturday’s match. “We’ve lost two. Personally, I want to win more.”
The Denver Nuggets’ mascot, Rocky, an anthropomorphic mountain lion with a lightning bolt for a tail, dragged a pickax as he stormed around, trying to figure out where all the chatter was coming from. He needed to quiet the voices. They were disrespecting his team.
For weeks, the Nuggets had dominated the NBA playoffs. And for weeks, they thought, no one in the news media had given them their due. Not when they beat Minnesota and Phoenix in the first two rounds. Not when they swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
Now Rocky was ready to avenge them — metaphorically, at least — in a video the Nuggets played during a break in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
In an audio montage of slights from pundits, Nuggets coach Michael Malone lamented the national sports coverage during the conference finals. “And all everybody talked about was the Lakers!” he said just before Rocky found a television in a room and smashed it with his pickax. He kept smashing items until the video showed a framed picture of an unidentifiable Lakers player lying shattered on the ground.
Denver’s finals opponent, the Miami Heat, didn’t fare much better at the start of the championship round on Thursday. The Nuggets led by as many as 24 points and won, 104-93. They entered the series as heavy favorites, an unfamiliar position.
In Game 2 on Sunday night, Denver would look to maintain its home court advantage at Ball Arena with a second straight win in the best-of-seven series, while Miami would try to even things up at a game apiece.
“Even when we win, they talk about the other team,” Nuggets guard Jamal Murray said Thursday. He added, “It fuels us a little more and will be sweeter when we win the chip.”
Neither the Nuggets, the West’s top seed, nor the Heat, the East’s eighth seed, feel that their abilities have been fully respected this postseason, and both teams have used that as motivation. Turning perceived disrespect into fuel is a common technique in sports, even when the slights are only imagined, or perhaps even deserved.
Michael Jordan made disrespect a
theme of his speech when he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, bringing up a time when he was cut from the varsity team at his high school. Later in his career, Jordan invented a moment of disrespect from an opponent named LaBradford Smith, who he said taunted him after scoring 37 points in a game for Washington against Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in March 1993. Intent on humiliating Smith, Jordan scored 47 points against Washington the next night.
Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal would often tell a story about Spurs great David Robinson snubbing him for an autograph when O’Neal was young. He said that snub motivated him in his playing career, but later admitted it never happened.
“David, I want to say I apologize for making up that rumor,” O’Neal said during an NBA video conference in May 2020, nine years after O’Neal had retired. Robinson, who was on the call, burst out laughing.
While Jordan and O’Neal concocted tales of offense, the Miami Heat saw a disregard that was real.
Miami slipped into the postseason, which is why few expected them to make the run that they did. They lost their first game in the play-in tournament before winning the sudden-death second game to get into the playoffs as the eighth seed.
During the Eastern Conference finals, when Miami faced the second-seeded
Boston Celtics, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra took issue with the news media coverage his team received during the regular season.
“I guess nobody is really paying attention,” Spoelstra said, when asked why the team kept believing in itself even when it struggled. He added: “Whether that turns into confidence or not, sometimes you don’t have the confidence. But at least you have that experience of going through stuff and you understand how tough it is.”
The Heat beat the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs, and upset the Celtics in the conference finals, taking the decisive Game 7 on the road in Boston.
Even during that series, they showed why people had doubts. They raced out to a 3-0 series lead against Boston, which led to the Celtics treating themselves like underdogs. But then the Heat dropped three straight games as they turned the ball over and struggled offensively — what you might expect from an eighth seed against an experienced team like the Celtics, who went to the NBA Finals last season.
On the other hand, the Nuggets have held steady in their strengths — the allaround play of Nikola Jokic, who has won the Most Valuable Player Award twice; the dynamic scoring and passing of Murray; the fluid offense and hustle from role players like Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They’ve been the best
team in the West since December.
But even then, as Malone and Murray said, they felt much of the attention from the news media and basketball fans had been devoted to, well, everyone else. Like the Lakers.
Therein lay another example of the pervasiveness of using perceived disrespect as motivation: The Lakers did it, too. Lakers coach Darvin Ham often reminded his team that few believed they could make the playoffs early in the season. He left out that the lack of belief in their ability was based not on bias, but on performance. The Lakers started the season 2-10 and played consistently better only after overhauling the roster in January and February.
The motivational technique worked all the way until they met the Nuggets in the conference finals.
The Heat have undergone an even sharper turnaround. Their best player, Jimmy Butler, has become known for elevating his play in the postseason, and round by round they have defied expectations to get to the finals.
It’s perhaps why the Nuggets aren’t giving the Heat the opportunity to feel disrespected by them.
“Who said that we are favorites?” Jokic said on Wednesday. “The media?”
He was told that Las Vegas betting odds counted the Nuggets as favorites.
“I think we are not the favorite,” Jokic said, having become more comfortable as the underdog. “I think in the finals there is no favorites. This is going to be the hardest game of our life, and we know that.”
Mostly, it was not the hardest game of their lives on Thursday. The Nuggets had a 24-point lead in the third quarter and used their size advantage to disorient the Heat.
But as the Nuggets expected, Miami fought back. The Heat cut the Nuggets’ lead to 9 points with 2:34 left in the game. Miami used a mixture of defensive techniques that have helped them to comeback wins at other points in the postseason just when their opponents felt safe to discount them.
“We knew they were going to do that,” Murray said. “That’s how they play and that’s how they win games, is just be relentless in that sense.”
Often fueled by disrespect themselves, the Nuggets understood the perils of disrespecting an opponent.
Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.
Sudoku Rules:
Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9
Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9
Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9
Answers on page 30
Aries (Mar 21-April 20)
The celestial configuration is speaking of a new period in which you focus on the way you differentiate yourself from others, Aries. Are you aware of the aspects that make you unique? If not, meditate on the subject or ask close friends for input. The upcoming weeks are going to teach you a lot about this subject!
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
This is the beginning of a new cycle, Taurus. There will be new issues cropping up over the next several days. You may have to rethink certain principles that you’ve adhered to in your relationships up until now. Upon reflection, you find that you no longer agree with them. It seems that the conventions and social graces required by society are weighing you down.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
This is a pleasant day, Gemini. Indeed, the celestial aspects are predicting that it will be rather radiant, though likely less intense than the past week or so. You probably had some new perspectives to set up in your professional life, and now you will have to get to work setting goals! You were waiting for just this moment? Perfect!
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
Are you ready, Cancer? Are you in shape for what’s going to happen? The celestial aspects are heralding a new cycle that will be filled to the brim with activities, new people, and new professional perspectives. Let’s hope that you’ve been able to rest up lately. If you haven’t, try to schedule in some afternoon naps!
Leo (July 24-Aug 23)
Will there be change in you during the next few weeks, Leo? This is always the question that one asks with this changing planetary environment. It’s appealing to think that you may be traveling to exotic locations or perhaps changing jobs and meeting some interesting new people. Anything is possible with these aspects. Enjoy the renewed atmosphere!
Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)
A new wind is blowing in your relationships, Virgo, and you probably won’t be too sorry about it! The planets are lining up to signal new beginnings. You will be able to take advantage of your recent reflections and test your new selfimage. You likely won’t be disappointed by the results. Be happy. You have every reason to be!
You will be happy to know that today contains the seeds of change for your love life, Libra. Beginning today and for the next month or so, you’re likely to be amazed by the turn of events in your relationships with others. The plot thickens as new people and groups emerge on your horizon. The aspect ahead is much less individualistic than usual.
Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)
Last month you may have been somewhat more extroverted and sociable than usual, especially regarding your emotional relationships. But beginning today, your attitude will undergo a change, Scorpio. You will probably be calmer and more reasonable. Your thoughts may begin to focus more on the future than the present. You have about a month to firm up your plans.
Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)
As a person who loves to experiment with new ideas and discover new people, you will be delighted with the period that is now beginning. Since communication, togetherness, and sociability will rule the next few weeks, it will be a perfect time to get out and show off your gifts. You will have a ball, Sagittarius!
Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)
Today’s overall outlook is positive for you, Capricorn. You can expect to focus on giving a little more character, expression, or enrichment to your domestic life. You may redecorate a part of the house or find new leisure activities for the children. Don’t be reluctant to suggest something original. They will probably enjoy it!
Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)
You’re embarking on a phase devoted in large part to your love life, Aquarius! Make this time completely fulfilling by introducing fresh new ideas. Don’t let these pleasures grow stale. The cycle ahead is extremely auspicious for romance. It’s a good time to take a trip, just the two of you. If you’re single, you may meet an uncommonly interesting new person.
Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)
After the emotional havoc you went through over the last few weeks, the period beginning today will be quite soothing. You can take advantage of these smoother, calmer waters to rediscover emotional harmony and improve the balance of your energy flow. Moreover, Pisces, if your physical health isn’t quite adequate, the weeks ahead should give you a chance to rest and recuperate.
