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The San Juan Star

Officials: Permits Process Still in Force Despite High Court Ruling

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UPR-Arecibo Ranks 1st for Social Mobility Among US Southern Regional Colleges

Risking Backlash, Macron Pushes Through Law

Raising Retirement Age

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.

Permits still in force despite high court ruling, officials say

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

The permits portal of the Office of Permit Management (OGPe by its Spanish initials) is open despite Wednesday’s Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruling nullifying Joint Permit Regulation 2020, a ruling which won’t go into effect until it is final, Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Manuel Cidre Miranda and Planning Board President Julio Lassús Ruiz said Thursday.

“The permits portal is open and ready to continue receiving requests that users have to submit, as usual,” Cidre Miranda said. “Therefore, you can be sure that our services will not be affected in any way. The Government of Puerto Rico continues to work on a new Joint Regulation and will ensure the continuity of economic development.”

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ing the agencies involved to public hearings to deepen the inquiry into the issue and to prevent the situation from recurring.

Also on Thursday, Cidre Miranda announced the resignation of María Cintón as auxiliary secretary of OGPe. Taking her place will be OGPe legal adviser Félix Rivera.

Industrialists Association President Eric Santiago Justiniano said of the resignation that “this situation can throw us into a ‘legal limbo’ with the construction projects authorized for the past 27 months, so we could be on the cusp of a legal battle in which the country’s economy could be affected.”

“Therefore, as long as the judgment does not become firm and final, any application will be evaluated within the regulatory framework of the Joint Regulations 2020, which remains in force until all legal remedies are exhausted,” he added.

Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González said Thursday that he was under the impression that the permit approval process will stop because of the high court’s decision to nullify Joint Resolution 2020.

Ortiz González asked the permits office to offer an immediate solution so that the situation does not occur again in case the court declares the regulations in dispute null and void again.

“The stalemate in the granting of permits is not acceptable and cannot be an option to which the agencies concerned resort, since it is a major problem that requires immediate solutions,” Ortiz González said. “The blockage in the permitting undoubtedly affects the economy of the island and its economic development. It is not permissible that the permits be stopped and that what happened yesterday happens again, in which approximately 200,000 permit procedures were left in uncertainty. That cannot happen again.”

On Wednesday, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court declared the Joint Permit Regulation of 2020 null and void, apparently placing thousands of permits in limbo.

But Lassús Ruiz said the permits issued would remain in force.

“We are ruled by Joint Regulation 2020 and the permits issued under this rule of law are not in controversy,” he said.

Ortiz González added that soon he will be summon

“Puerto Rico is in a complicated situation to maintain its attractiveness as a place to do business and promote entrepreneurship to achieve urgent economic sustainability,” Justiniano said in a press release. “It is urgent that Puerto Rico have a Permits Regulation that facilitates the use of federal funds toward reconstruction. A Regulation that guarantees the investment of thousands and thousands of young entrepreneurs, SMEs [small and midsize enterprises] that fight for their economic subsistence.”

Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Manuel Cidre Miranda

González Colón: Ruling on permits regulations could cost PR federal funds

By THE STAR STAFF

Resident

Commissioner Jenniffer

González Colón said Thursday that the island government must draft an emergency regulation to take the place of the annulled Joint Permit Regulation 2020, which was invalidated by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, a situation she said could cost the island federal funds.

“Because we could talk here, not only about lives that can be affected by projects that could have the scope to impact their lives and property, but also about the uncertainty that is created since it stops the flow of federal funds, because many of these projects require state and federal approval for the use of these funds, and could even make it so that Puerto Rico does not meet the expectations of time limits for the use of these funds,” the resident commissioner said when queried by reporters. “We are talking about the field of housing, roads and infrastructure. That could cause us to lose federal funds in unsuspected amounts.”

“Not including a lot of private paperwork,” she added. “So I think it’s outrageous what just happened.”

González Colón said the judicial action also affects river pipeline and dredging projects.

The nullification of the permitting regulations is a consequence of Auxilio Mútuo Hospital’s legal challenge of the veterans clinic that is supposed to be built near the San Juan Superior Court. The clinic project has been promoted by González Colón.

“We got these funds for this clinic, which is not for the general public, this is exclusively for veterans services that are not offered by any other institution in Puerto Rico and they are opposing that,” the resident commissioner said. “I think it’s outrageous that Auxilio Mutual continues to question federal funding for the Veterans Hospital for Mental Health.”

Her statement was made at the end of the first coastal erosion summit held in the municipality of Loíza.

Fiscal board: Take Fiona recovery funds for towns from ARPA money, not emergency reserve

By THE STAR STAFF

At a time when towns are fiscally ailing, the Financial Oversight and Management Board has ordered the island government to refrain from distributing $78 million to municipalities to respond to damages caused by Hurricane Fiona.

The oversight board said a legislative resolution allowing the funding is significantly inconsistent with the fiscal plan and proposed that the government withdraw the funds from the American Rescue Plan Act allocation instead of the commonwealth emergency reserve stipulated in the legislation, the letter sent by the oversight boards executive director, Robert Mujica to Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) Executive Director Omar Marrero DÍaz said. Joint Resolution (JR) 4 assigns $78 million to the municipal emergency assistance fund (MEAF) from the Act 91-1966 emergency fund to be distributed among the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico to finance the government’s response to Hurricane Fiona. In its submission to the oversight board, the government instead suggests the $78 million be covered by funds from the emergency reserve established under the certified fiscal plan for Puerto Rico.

“Fiona was devastating, and the [oversight board] continues to support the government so that Puerto Rico recovers,” the letter notes. “The emergency reserve ensures that the government of Puerto Rico has the necessary funds to help the people of Puerto Rico in natural disasters and other emergencies fast and effectively, and that is why the emergency reserve has strict rules to ensure the government can use the funds only for such emergencies.”

As outlined in the certified fiscal plan, the appropriate funding level for the emergency reserve is $1.3 billion. Amounts approved by the oversight board and disbursed to the emergency reserve recipients need to be replenished no later than the following fiscal year. Nevertheless, in February, the emergency reserve had a current balance of $355.5 million, a significant shortfall of $900 million that must be replenished to adequately provide an expedited response during future disasters, the board said.

“JR 4 purports to spend funds without sufficient offsetting revenues or decreased expenditures,” the board pointed out in the letter. “In addition, withdrawing funds from the emergency reserve as proposed by the government would leave Puerto Rico without the commonwealth funds necessary to respond

to future hurricanes or other natural disasters. Therefore, the [oversight board] concludes that JR 4 needs to be more consistent with the certified fiscal plan and budget.”

The ARPA awarded Puerto Rico significant eligible federal funding. Specifically, Puerto Rico would receive $4.02 billion; that is, $2.47 billion to the commonwealth central government and $1.55 billion to the municipalities.

“Therefore,” the oversight suggests in the letter, “the government should examine the availability of ARPA funds to cover the expenditures

and purposes contemplated by JR 4 as this may be a more appropriate resource.”

The oversight board said it cannot approve the government’s suggestion that the resolution’s proposed allocation can be covered with funds allocated in the emergency reserve because the emergency reserve has not been replenished as provided by the certified fiscal plan. Funds were already made available and allocated to the 78 municipalities to support recovery efforts related to the effects of Fiona, the board noted.

Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón

UPR-Arecibo ranks first for social mobility among US southern regional colleges

By THE STAR STAFF

The University of Puerto Rico Arecibo campus has been ranked first on the list of best southern regional colleges for social mobility by U.S. News and World Report, UPR President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado announced Thursday.

“With great pride, we received the news that the Arecibo campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPRA) was ranked first in the southern region of the United States in the category of ‘socially mobile colleges’ (universities that achieve social mobility in the communities they serve),” Ferrao said in a written statement.

U.S. News and World Report (www.usnews.com) established the classifications of public and private universities, Ferrao said.

“This specialized medium has carried out analysis and classifications since 1948,” he said. “As a result, the publication announced that 1,850 undergraduate educational institutions were considered and classified. The list is awaited with great expectation every year since it measures the performance of universities and their campuses in different categories and classifications. We are extremely proud of the performance of the Arecibo campus of our UPR system.”

Regarding the classification obtained by UPRA, Arecibo campus chancellor Carlos Andújar Rojas said it is an achievement thanks to a work plan that officials have been executing and that, without a doubt, has borne fruit.

“Thanks also to the commitment of all teachers, non-teaching staff, and students,” Andújar Rojas said. “In its

55 years of service, this facility has always been a tool for social mobility for thousands of citizens in this region and the rest of the island. This recognition reaffirms that work of service to our society that we wholly fulfill here at UPRA.”

In addition to the top ranking as a university that promotes social mobility, the UPR Arecibo campus ranks fifth in the general category of public universities in the southern region of the United States, which includes 12 states and Puerto Rico.

“Being the fifth-ranked public university is undoubtedly an achievement, but we are going for more, and we want to reach those four positions that we are missing, so we will continue the hard work so that UPRA becomes the main option for young people to start their university careers, and also for those who have already begun or have had to pause their studies,” Andújar Rojas said. “We have over 14 academic offerings of great diversity, tremendous demand in the world of work for those who qualify, and a body of excellent teachers.”

Andújar Rojas added that the Arecibo campus has highly recognized research programs and collaborative agreements with university centers in Latin America, Europe and the United States.

“We also have new virtual library facilities of the first order; all our classrooms have the technology for the benefit of students and teachers, in addition to standing out in sports and the arts,” he said.

Audit finds high levels of immunization against COVID-19

By THE STAR STAFF

The Comptroller of Puerto Rico published a coordinated audit on the actions of the Department of Health to immunize the island population against COVID-19 on Thursday, finding high levels of immunization against the virus.

The audit led by the comptroller general of Peru analyzes the panorama of Puerto Rico and other regions with respect to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on Health and Well-Being, which is part of the 2030 agenda of the United Nations.

In particular, the fulfillment of Target 3B of the SDGs was analyzed; that is, to support research and development of vaccines and medicines against communicable and non-communicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries and to facilitate access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines. The comprehensive joint report will be issued by the comptroller of Peru.

The report reveals high levels of compliance in the island Health Department’s vaccine coverage in planning, programming, management and execution, human resources and training, and monitoring and evaluation, as well as in information systems. With respect to the social participation component, the audit concludes that the department should generate, at the local level or in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tools for greater social participation and reception of citizen opinion to improve vaccination processes.

The audit also indicates that no fragmentations, overlaps, duplications or gaps in the policy associated with the vaccination process were identified. Rather, the vaccination process in Puerto Rico was defined by CDC regulations and its execution was carried out through the Health Department’s Vaccination Program.

In addition, the government’s management of the budget, personnel, infrastructure, equipment and mon-

itoring and follow-up systems to address vaccination against COVID-19 guaranteed the vaccination coverage of the population effectively, the report said.

For the audited period, the Health Department received $49,350,738 in commonwealth funds and $1,146,602,053 in federal funds.

This special report, covering the period from Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2021, is available in www.ocpr.gov.pr.

In addition to the top ranking by U.S. News and World Report as a university that promotes social mobility, the UPR Arecibo campus ranks fifth in the general category of public universities in the southern region of the United States, which includes 12 states and Puerto Rico.

The comptroller’s report indicated high levels of compliance in the island Health Department’s vaccine coverage in planning, programming, management and execution, human resources and training, and monitoring and evaluation, as well as in information systems.

AAFAF looks to maintain PREPA pension payments as system faces liquidity cliff

Gobierno de Puerto Rico DEPARTAMENTO DE RECURSOS NATURALES Y AMBIENTALES

El peticionario, Sr. Juan A. Alvarado Alvarado, Presidente de Ganaderos Alvarado Inc., cuya dirección postal es HC-04 Box 13502 Arecibo PR 00612, ha solicitado a la Oficina Regional de Arecibo del Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA) la renovación de un Permiso de Operación para una facilidad de inyección subterránea (FIS) Clase VII bajo las provisiones del Reglamento para el Control de la Inyección Subterránea (RCIS) del Programa para el Control de la Inyección Subterránea (PCIS) y la Ley Federal de Agua Potable Segura, según enmendada, 42 USC 300f, et seq. (LFAPS).

La FIS consiste de un tanque de retención de 10 pies de ancho por 15 pies de largo por 8 pies de profundidad líquida con capacidad de 8,976 galones para la disposición de aguas exclusivamente sanitarias provenientes de Ganaderos Alvarado Inc. El peticionario solicita además que se le autorice inyectar 425 galones por día de aguas sanitarias de la instalación ubicada en la Carr. 10 Intersección Carr. 636 Sector La Planta Barrio Tanamá en Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

Luego de realizada la evaluación correspondiente de los documentos sometidos, el DRNA tiene la intención de otorgar la renovación del permiso de operación para la instalación en conformidad con el RCIS y de la LFAPS. Esta notificación se hace para informar que el DRNA ha preparado los permisos de construcción y operación de forma tal que el público interesado puede someter sus comentarios con relación a los mismos. Los permisos contienen las condiciones y prohibiciones necesarias para cumplir con los requisitos reglamentarios aplicables.

El público puede evaluar copia de la solicitud de permiso que sometió el peticionario ante el DRNA, los borradores de permiso y otros documentos relevantes en la Oficina Regional de Arecibo del DRNA situada en la Avenida San Patricio #44 Marginal Carr. #2 Km. 80.6 en Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Copia de dichos documentos pueden adquirirse ($0.50 por pliego) en el antes mencionado lugar entre las 8:00 am y las 4:30 pm de lunes a viernes o escribiendo a la siguiente dirección: Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, San José Industrial Park, 1375 Ave. Ponce De León, San Juan PR 00926. Las partes interesadas pueden enviar sus comentarios al Sr. Moisés Soto Pérez, Director Regional, Oficina Regional de Arecibo o solicitar una vista administrativa a la Secretaria del DRNA a la dirección postal indicada anteriormente. Los comentarios por escrito o la solicitud de vista pública deberán ser sometidos no más tarde de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este aviso. La fecha límite para someter comentarios puede ser extendida si se estima necesario o apropiado para el interés público. La solicitud para una vista pública debe señalar la razón o razones que en la opinión del solicitante ameritan la celebración de la misma. De realizarse una vista pública, los interesados o afectados tendrán una oportunidad razonable para presentar evidencia o testimonio sobre si se emite o deniega el permiso, si la Secretaria determina que dicha vista es necesaria o apropiada.

Anaís Rodríguez Vega Secretaria

Este anuncio se publicó conforme a lo requerido por la Ley Sobre Política Pública Ambiental, Ley Núm. 416 del 22 de septiembre de 2004, según enmendada. El costo del Aviso Público es sufragado por la entidad peticionaria.

By THE STAR STAFF

With time working against it, the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) said this week it is pursuing alternatives to ensure that Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) retirees are not left without pension payments.

The PREPA Employee Retirement System (SREAEE) informed its members in February that it may not have sufficient liquidity to pay retirement benefits starting as early as May 2023.

PREPA is seeking authorization from the Financial Oversight and Management Board to amend its budget to make an additional employer contribution from operating cash on hand, the AAFAF said in a status report to the federal Title III bankruptcy court filed by law firms O’Melveny & Myers and Marini Pietrantoni Muñiz LLC this week. It is also seeking budget allocations to pay employer contributions to SREAEE for former PREPA workers who were transferred to other agencies.

“AAFAF is also overseeing the central government transfer to the SREAEE of funds appropriated pursuant to Section 13 of the Commonwealth Amended fiscal year 2022 Budget

Resolution of Puerto Rico’s Legislative Assembly, certified on February 21, 2022, for employer contributions related to former PREPA employees who were transferred to other government agencies and opted to remain in the PREPA retirement system,” the AAFAF said.

José R. Rivera Rivera, chairman of the SREAEE board of trustees, said in a statement in February that the actuarial deficit as of June 2021 was over $3 billion. While in 2022 PREPA was supposed to contribute 166.38% of the total payroll, or $23.8 million per month, it has not made payments to the pension system.

As of December 2022, PREPA owed the SREAEE $895 million in delinquent pension payments. Agencies who took former PREPA employees following the LUMA Energy takeover of the transmission and distribution system owed the system over $8 million.

“The privatization of the Authority has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of PREPA workers and in a wave of retirements, the withdrawal of contributions from members who resigned, and the subsequent reduction of SREAEE revenues, all of which have taken the system to the verge of imminent insolvency,” Rivera said.

SREAEE advisers Asset Consulting Group LLC informed the system’s board of trustees that the system’s economic resources to pay monthly pensions will be depleted in May, including money from active members who are contributing to the pension system, Rivera said.

AAFAF said the administration’s policy continues to be to protect pensions.

The debt adjustment plan for PREPA, which has been in bankruptcy since 2017 to restructure almost $10 billion in debt, proposes to convert the power utility’s pension system from a defined contribution to a defined benefit plan. It also would raise the retirement age and eliminate cost of living adjustments for the pension system.

Small & midsize businesses stand to benefit from $109 million federal injection

By THE STAR STAFF

In coordination with a visit by officials from the U.S. Treasury Department to the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico (BDE), the bank’s president, Luis Alemañy González, announced on Thursday the launch of the “Impulso a Tu Negocio” program in support of small and midsize entrepreneurs in Puerto Rico.

The initiative draws on $109.3 million of funding received by the EDB from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a program that authorizes the Treasury Department to allocate federal funds to capitalize local small business support programs.

“Part of these funds will be used in three distribution modalities,” Alemañy González said. “First, a matching program with commercial banks and credit unions. Second, completing the collateral that the business needs so that a cooperative or bank can make financing viable.

Third, through the BDE’s venture capital program, either in participation with investors or directly with the business project.”

Of the total funding, the EDB will use 60% through the first two modalities, while 40% will be allocated to venture capital proposals.

“For Governor Pedro Pierluisi, small and medium-sized businesses are vital in all sectors of Puerto Rico, so we are focused on continuing to identify all the tools that can promote their growth,” Alemañy González noted. “Local companies are fundamental to our economy, so they count on us to continue supporting them and continue to progress and develop their businesses successfully.”

The Treasury Department officials who visited the EDB were: Samantha Asker, SSBCI program outreach manager; Jeff Stout, director of the Finance Program Office; and Ron Kelly, SSBCI outreach lead. Interested parties can request financing through the website: www.bde.pr.gov.

José R. Rivera Rivera, chairman of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Employee Retirement System

Biden looks to bolster support among seniors with a focus on health care

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

One of President Joe Biden’s promises to America’s seniors when he first campaigned for the Oval Office was this: You will pay less for health care.

So earlier this week, with a possible reelection announcement getting closer every day, the president traveled to Las Vegas to boast that millions of older adults would save on their medications thanks to the health care legislation he championed last year.

Because of the Inflation Reduction Act, he said, seniors will no longer have to make copayments for some recommended vaccines like shingles and tetanus, saving them an average of $70 each year in the future.

“For seniors on fixed income who often need expensive medications to stay healthy, that constant question is can they take the medications and can they pay the bills without giving up important elements of their life,” Biden told an audience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“It’s not just your health,” he said. “It’s about your dignity. It’s about your security.”

In the 2020 election, Biden came up short among people 65 and older to former President Donald Trump, 48% to 52%. The president and his advisers are hoping to increase his support among that group in 2024 by arguing that its financial and medical security will be better protected with Biden in office.

The centerpiece of that argument so far has been the fate of the government’s primary retirement programs, Social Security and Medicare. Biden has been aggressive in seizing on proposals by a handful of Republican politicians to argue that the party would put the popular programs in danger.

He said as much on Wednesday, standing in front of a sign at the University of Nevada that said “Lowering Costs for American Families.” The president recounted his State of the Union speech this year, when several Republican lawmakers called him a liar for claiming that they wanted to cut the social safety net

programs.

“I hope it’s true,” he said, noting that the legislators were being filmed as they denied any interest in doing any damage to Medicare and Social Security. “But I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said.

Beyond that issue, the administration argues that older Americans will also be grateful for the president’s efforts to keep costs down, especially when it comes to their medications, at a time when prices have been rising sharply.

In addition to the $70 average savings on vaccines, White House officials said Wednesday that seniors across the country would benefit from provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that penalize drug companies when they increase the cost of a drug faster than inflation.

Officials said that 27 specialized drugs recently met that criteria, and that their makers would be required to pay rebates to the federal government for the extra costs. Administration officials said that older Americans might see some savings in the future as drug companies keep prices lower to avoid having to pay the rebates.

“Some people with traditional Medicare or managed care Medicare may stand to save starting in just a matter of weeks,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters before the president’s appearance.

Biden also highlighted the impact that his health care actions have had on the cost of insulin, which is a common — and usually expensive — drug for many seniors who suffer from diabetes.

The president’s health care law caps the price of insulin at $35 per month for older adults, and Biden has succeeded in persuading two of the three biggest drug manufacturers to lower costs for younger people in need of insulin. Eli Lilly announced this month that it would cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin at the same $35. Novo Nordisk said it would cut the cost of its insulin drug by 75%.

The focus on medical costs for older adults has been part of Biden’s agenda since before he became president. His campaign website said under the heading “The Biden Plan for Older Americans” that seniors in the United States “deserve to retire with dignity — able to pay for their

prescriptions and with access to quality, affordable long-term care.”

But his policy ambitions are now part of a political effort to win back some in that demographic who have trended toward Republicans as the average age of people living in the country increases each year.

A group of about two-dozen Republican lawmakers is pushing legislation to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, a move that White House officials and the president have seized on. Biden wants to make his Republican White House rival — whomever that turns out to be — pay for a repeal effort by suggesting that it will hurt older adults.

In a statement last month, the White House said that efforts to repeal the law “would give tens of billions of dollars in subsidies back to Big Pharma, raise seniors’ prescription drug prices and raise taxes on an estimated 14.5 million people — all while increasing the deficit.”

Biden’s visit to Las Vegas comes just weeks before he is expected to announce that he is running for a second term. Nevada is a critical swing state that Democrats need in their column if they want to retain control of the White House for another four years. In 2020, Biden won the state with 50.06% of the vote, to Trump’s 47.67%.

Wednesday’s speech took place at the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, a nod to the service unions that are extremely powerful in Las Vegas and an important Democratic constituency.

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One in Las Vegas after speaking at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. With a possible re-election announcement getting closer every day, the president traveled to Las Vegas to boast that millions of older adults would save on their medications thanks to the health care legislation he championed last year.

For applicants vying for Fulbright, native tongue may be a minus

By ERICA L. GREEN

WhenVeronica Gonzalez received word last fall that the U.S. Education Department had rejected her application for a prestigious fellowship to conduct her doctoral research overseas, she scoured the feedback on her application looking for what she did wrong.

In every section, the reviewers heaped praise on the academic aptitude of the student and her rigorously researched proposal to study intimate partner violence in rural Mexico. And they assigned her near-perfect scores in every category, except one — language proficiency — where she was shocked to find she got none.

But it wasn’t because Gonzalez, a social ecology Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Irvine, lacked the language skills to conduct her research in Spanish. The assessors concluded the experiences outlined in her eight-page résumé had more than prepared her. The problem was that she had identified herself as a native speaker of the language, having grown up speaking Spanish with her parents who emigrated from Mexico to Santa Maria, California, where she was born.

“At first, I was just in disbelief,” Gonzalez recalled in an interview. “Then I was incensed.”

Gonzalez’s application suffered from a decades-old regulation — now in the process of a rewrite — that led the Education Department to withhold points from applicants of the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship if they grew up exposed to or speaking the language of the country in which they propose to conduct research.

The rule comes from a 1998 regulatory update to the FulbrightHays award programs, which have been run by the Education Department since the 1960s. The goal of the awards — the domestic counterpart to the State Department’s Fulbright exchange programs — is to promote research and foreign language proficiency among aspiring teachers and professors.

In making the rule, department officials sought to eliminate a perceived unfair advantage to people who grew up with non-English language skills in vying for the fellowship, which awards tens of thousands of dollars per year to doctoral students and is widely seen as a coveted research project in one of the most competitive doctoral programs in the country.

In past years, when students have proposed to conduct research in a language they already know, the department has required them to identify as either a “native” speaker or a “heritage” speaker. It defines a native speaker as an applicant who has “spoken the language in question from earliest childhood and remains fluent” and defines a heritage speaker as a student “raised in a home where a non-English language is spoken” who “lacks native-level fluency.”

Before recent rule modifications, students who identified as such were disqualified from receiving as many as 15 points in language proficiency because of the department’s goal of having applicants — including native English speakers — enhance their skills in a language that is not their own.

A national civil rights group is challenging the department’s interpretation as discriminatory, arguing that it targets students based on their national origin, particularly applicants who are immigrants from non-English speaking countries, or children born to such immigrants.

In a pair of lawsuits filed over the past year, the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan nonprofit legal group, represents

students who they say have been robbed of their competitive advantage and constitutional right to equal protection under the department’s foreign language criteria.

The group argued that the regulation’s language, which included discussion of “non-native-born United States citizens or resident aliens,” has proved to be a decisive disadvantage against students like Gonzalez, who proudly identified as a native speaker in her application. She is the oldest of six children raised by agricultural laborers who did not make it past elementary school, spoke little English and never dreamed of sending their children to college.

Gonzalez, 39, embarked upon college later in life as she sought to establish a new identity after a troubled relationship.

Her lineage was as important to her in demonstrating the “sufficient foreign language skills” the program favors, as other credentials, such as taking Spanish classes and completing an internship in Mexico. Over the years, Gonzalez was relentless in pursuing experiences — including more than 10 other research assistantships, in addition to fellowships and internships — to prepare her for her dream project studying the Indigenous communities that shaped her family, but about which she knew little.

Had she received the 15 points, Gonzalez’s scores would have been 101 and 97 — applications are reviewed and scored separately by two people — which are both above scores that secured the fellowship in previous years.

“I had taken all these steps to ensure that I was going to do ethnically sound research, and give back to my community,” Gonzalez said. “Basically they’re telling us that some stranger can come to our home countries and the countries of our parents and study us and tell our stories, but we cannot.”

In its most recent lawsuit, filed in January on behalf of Gonzalez, the New Civil Liberties Alliance wrote that the department held an “indefensible belief that immigrants and their children are

incapable of receiving training in their native language from U.S. schools because they have already ‘acquired’ that language from family.”

“The department apparently does not deem Ms. Gonzalez to be a ‘real American’ because her native language is Spanish rather than English,” the lawsuit said. “In other words, the native-language penalty is designed to be assessed against individuals whom the department perceives to be nonnative born — even if they are in fact born in the United States — with the express aim of ‘encouraging’ them not to apply for the doctoral fellowship in any country that speaks their native language.”

The Education Department declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

In legal filings, the department has defended its interpretation of the 1998 regulation. In a response to Gonzalez’s lawsuit earlier this year, the agency said the regulation was “motivated by the nondiscriminatory goals of encouraging language training in American schools,” including by discouraging applications to conduct research in English. Under the rules of the fellowship, students cannot apply to study in Western Europe.

The department, which awarded an average award of $37,504 to 90 students in the last application cycle, made clear it preferred applicants who had learned a foreign language at school rather than at home. In its filing, the agency said that it had concluded that its resources for the fellowship “are best directed to promoting acquisition of language skills most likely to be acquired through American educational institutions.”

But in the face of legal challenges, the department has gone to great lengths to try to minimize the harm that critics say it has caused. The department is currently rewriting the regulation, including proposed changes on “how to consider applicants who are proficient in their native language.”

In response to another lawsuit filed last year by the civil liberties alliance on behalf of two applicants from Georgetown University who identified as “heritage” speakers, the department dropped the penalty against all applicants who identified as such that year.

One of the “heritage” speaker applicants represented by the alliance, Samar Ahmad, had originally lost points on her application to conduct research in Arabic because she grew up speaking the language. She sued after losing points as a native speaker, then reapplied as a heritage speaker, and was awarded the fellowship after the department changed course.

Ahmad said she was grateful to ultimately receive the fellowship but loathed being an exception. “They should just change the system altogether,” Ahmad said, “because it’s Discrimination 101.”

In response to Gonzalez’s lawsuit, the department abruptly announced last month that it would only assign one point to the language proficiency criteria this year.

The Education Department argued in a legal filing that the new point system would lessen the penalty against this year’s applicants. But the department has also argued that completely dropping the penalty would undermine its rewrite of the regulation.

In the meantime, Gonzalez said she was still deciding whether to reapply, wary of the fateful line in both of her reviews: “The applicant is a native speaker of Spanish and therefore does not qualify for points in this category.”

“If the reviewers didn’t get the project, or thought it needed work, I would have gone back to the drawing board and figured out what I needed to fix,” she said. “But I can’t fix who I am.”

Veronica Gonzalez, a doctoral student at the University of California-Irvine who is involved in a lawsuit against the Fulbright Program for discrimination against immigrants, in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2023.

Pythons, invasive and hungry, are making their way north in Florida

By PATRICIA MAZZEI

So much for all the efforts to slow the proliferation of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades over the last two decades, including with paid contractors, trained volunteers and an annual hunt that has drawn participants from as far as Latvia: The giant snakes have been making their way north, reaching West Palm Beach and Fort Myers and threatening ever-larger stretches of the ecosystem.

That was one of the few definitive conclusions in a comprehensive review of python science published last month by the U.S. Geological Survey, which underscored the difficulty of containing the giant snakes since they were first documented as an established population in the state in 2000.

Little is known about how long Burmese pythons live in the wild in Florida, how often they reproduce and especially how large the state’s python population has grown, according to the review, which called the state’s python problem “one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe.”

Nor is it known how exactly they travel. The review theorized that South Florida’s extensive network of canals and levees “may facilitate long-distance movement by pythons,” though it suggested that slithering and swimming to points north may take awhile.

“One python transited continuously for 58.5 hours and traveled 2.43 kilometers in a single day,” the review said of a snake followed with radio tracking.

More research should be conducted to develop and evaluate new tools to eradicate pythons and to refine existing ones, the study found, adding that controlling the species’ spread is critical to protecting the Everglades. Earlier studies found that Burmese pythons, which are nonnative apex predators originally from South Asia, had decimated native species, including wading birds, marsh rabbits and white-tailed deer.

Pythons found in Florida have measured longer than 15 feet and weighed more than 200 pounds, the review found; even hatchlings can be more than 2 feet long.

The pythons’ voracious spread is all the more alarming given the billions of dollars that the state and the federal government have spent on restoring the Everglades, the review noted, calling invasive species “one of the greatest threats to restoration success.”

Florida, with its subtropical climate,

numerous entry ports and prolific live animal trade, has at least 139 established invasive species, meaning that they are reproducing in the wild, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. More than 500 nonnative species have been reported in the state over time.

Pythons, like invasive iguanas, have been known to emerge from the occasional South Florida toilet bowl; the review notes that while Burmese pythons have mostly been spotted in and around Everglades National Park and other swamplands, many have also been found in Naples and the western outskirts of Miami.

Once a year, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission holds a python hunt open to the public, challenging people to find and remove as many snakes as they can. Participants must take a training course online or in person about humanely killing pythons using either preferred mechanical methods, like a stun gun, or manual ones, like hunting knives, since the hunt does not allow the use of firearms. Last year’s winner took home $10,000 for hunting down 28 pythons.

Dustin Crum, who has been hunting pythons for a decade, took home $1,500 for capturing the longest snake in the competition, an 11-footer. He won in the same category in 2021 after catching a 15-footer.

“We started out doing this stuff as a hobby and just couldn’t believe we could catch giant constrictors like that in the wild,” said Crum, 42, who now hunts pythons full time. The state pays hunters $50 per foot for the first 4 feet of snake and $25 for each subsequent foot, he said, as well as an hourly rate. Outside of the state-sponsored competition for the public, Crum does use guns to kill the snakes.

“I’ll say a little prayer: ‘Hey, it’s not your fault,’” he said.

Sometimes, scientists ask to get the pythons alive so that they can be tracked. Hunters like Crum deposit them in designated drop boxes during night hunts and email researchers to come get them in the morning.

Pythons became popular exotic pets in the United States in the 1970s. Some eventually grew so large that their owners released them into the wild. By 2000, scientists had documented multiple generations of pythons

living across a relatively large geographic area in the Everglades and Florida’s southern tip. The realization that pythons were prodigiously reproducing and nearly wiping out native species helped lead to regulations restricting python importation and ownership. But by then, it was too late to stop their spread.

Detecting pythons, which like to hide in marshes and thrive in remote habitats, is so challenging that experts do not know how many exist in Florida, though they estimate that there are at least tens of thousands. More than 18,000 have been removed since 2000, including 2,500 in 2022, according to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Melissa Miller of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida is helping lead a large-scale python removal project that also hopes to get a better sense of the snakes’ abundance by putting trackers on more of them and measuring the reproductive output of more females. (She is also part of a team of experts at the university, known as the “Croc Docs,” that researches wildlife in South Florida and the Caribbean.) Another part of the project will use drones to track many tagged pythons at once. Someday, a genetic biocontrol tool might emerge to help suppress the population, she said.

“We don’t really have a reliable estimate of how many are out there,” Miller said. “They’re kind of a cautionary tale to not to release pets, to make sure you report invasive species immediately.”

Florida makes it easy with a hotline: 888-IVE-GOT1.

Pythons are so large that they are not easily kept in enclosures to study them. The USGS review suggested building a research center to conduct captive and small-scale trials.

In late 2021, a team from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida found likely the largest Burmese python ever recorded in the state: a 215-pound female with 122 eggs inside her.

“It helps you visualize what it ate, in pounds of native wildlife, to get to that,” said Ian Bartoszek, the environmental science project manager for the group.

Bartoszek said pythons had adapted over time to Florida, with those closer to the coast behaving slightly differently than those inland. But native species have adapted, too, and python hatchlings now have a few predators: snakes, alligators and at least one bobcat that was caught on camera preying on a clutch of python eggs.

“The Everglades,” Bartoszek said, “is fighting back.”

Little is known about how long Burmese pythons live in the wild in Florida, how often they reproduce and especially how large the state’s python population has grown, according to the review.

Patricia Schroeder, feminist trailblazer in Congress, dies at 82

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Patricia Schroeder, a former leading feminist legislator who helped redefine the role of women in U.S. politics and used her wit to combat sexism in Congress, died Monday in Celebration, Florida. She was 82.

Her death, in a hospital, was attributed to complications of a stroke, said her daughter, Jamie Cornish.

Schroeder, who was a pilot and a Harvard-trained lawyer, had a long and distinguished career in the House of Representatives. She was a driving force behind the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which guaranteed women and men up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a family member.

She helped pass the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which barred employers from dismissing women because they were pregnant and from denying them maternity benefits. And she championed laws that helped reform spousal pensions, opened military jobs to women and forced federally funded medical researchers to include women in their studies.

Elected in 1972 as an opponent of the Vietnam War, Schroeder served on the Armed Services Committee for all 24 years she was in Congress. From that perch, she called for arms control and reduced military spending.

She worked to improve benefits for military personnel and persuaded the committee to recommend that women be allowed to fly combat missions; Defense Secretary Les Aspin ordered it so in 1993, and by 1995, the first female fighter pilot was flying in combat. That only further outraged Schroeder’s critics on the right, like Lt. Col. Oliver North, who called her one of the nation’s 25 most dangerous politicians.

One of the most enduring public images of Schroeder is of her crying when she announced in 1987 that she would not run for president, as her supporters had hoped. At an outdoor event in Denver, she choked up with emotion, pressed a tissue to her eyes, and at one point leaned her head on her husband’s shoulder. The episode dismayed some feminists, who said her tears had reinforced stereotypes and set back the cause of women seeking office.

It was an ironic charge against a woman who had done so much to promote that cause. Schroeder was the first woman

elected to Congress from Colorado and the first to serve on the Armed Services Committee. She had to fight blatant discrimination from the start, facing questions about how, as the mother of two young children, she could function as both a mother and a lawmaker.

“I have a brain and a uterus and I use both,” she responded.

When she arrived on Capitol Hill, she was one of just 14 women in the House, an institution she called a “guy gulag,” where she was sometimes dismissed as “Little Patsy,” even though she was relatively tall.

Schroeder was fully aware that women seemed to make many congressmen antsy. “It’s really funny if two women stand on the House floor,” she said. “There are usually at least two men who go by and say, ‘What is this, a coup?’ They’re almost afraid to see us in public together.”

In her book “24 Years of House Work … and the Place Is Still a Mess” (1998), she wrote of being engaged in battles on every front, “whether we were fighting for female pages (there were none) or a place where we could pee.”

The antagonism toward women was particularly pointed from Rep. F. Edward Hebert, a conservative Louisiana Democrat who was the powerful chairman of what had been the all-male Armed Services Committee. At their first committee meeting in 1973, he made Schroeder sit in the same chair with Rep. Ron Dellums, an AfricanAmerican. As she recounted it in her book, she and Dellums had to sit “cheek to cheek” because the chairman “said that women and blacks were worth only half of one ‘regular’ member.”

It is not clear that he actually uttered those words — other accounts, including Dellums’, do not contain that quotation — but Schroeder was a sharp rhetorical speaker with a tart tongue and she was not afraid to use it.

She was the one who branded Ronald Reagan the “Teflon president,” against whom bad news, like the Iran-Contra scandal, did not stick. Of Vice President Dan Quayle, she said: “He thinks that Roe versus Wade are two ways to cross the Potomac.”

Her analysis of her opponents’ strength carried the sting of truth: “The genius of the Republicans has been how they figured out how to so polarize the middle class that we vote against our own best interests.” During her brief flirtation with running for president, she said the question she was trying to answer was this: “Is America man enough to back a woman?”

Schroeder had been co-chair of Gary Hart’s promising 1987 presidential campaign, until he quit after being exposed as an adulterer. His sudden absence prompted Schroeder to consider running herself.

Had she pursued the White House, she would have been the first woman from a major party to do so since Rep. Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn, who sought the Democratic nomination in 1972.

After her death, President Joe Biden released a statement of condolence, saying in part: “On issue after issue, Pat stood up for basic fairness, sensible policy, and women’s equal humanity. The result was a legislative record that changed millions of women’s lives — and men’s lives — for the better.”

Patricia Nell Scott was born on July 30, 1940, in Portland, Oregon. Her father, Lee Combs Scott, was a pilot who owned an aviation insurance company. Her mother, Bernice, taught first grade. The family moved often, ending up in Des Moines, where Schroeder graduated from high school.

She earned her pilot’s license at 15 and attended the University of Minnesota, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and majored in philosophy, history and political science.

From there she went to Harvard Law School, where she was one of 15 women in a class of more than 500. She married a classmate, James Schroeder, in 1962. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her husband, along with their son, Scott; Schroeder’s brother, Mike Scott; and four grandchildren.

After Schroeder graduated from Harvard Law in 1964, she and her family settled in Denver, where she worked for the National Labor Relations Board, volunteered as counsel for Planned Parenthood and taught at the University of Colorado and Regis College.

In 1972, when President Richard Nixon appeared to be headed for reelection in a landslide, the Democratic Party fielded only a conservative candidate for Congress in Schroeder’s Denver district. Other liberals, including her husband, encouraged her to challenge him in a primary. They did not think she could necessarily win but thought it was important that someone give voice to their views — anti-war, pro-environment and pro women’s rights.

She had almost no money and no backing, but her message and enthusiasm caught on. Gloria Steinem campaigned for her. And she won both the primary and the general election against a Republican incumbent, despite the Nixon landslide. Years later, when she requested her FBI file, Schroeder found out that the bureau had placed her under surveillance during that race, breaking into her home and even recruiting her husband’s barber as an informant.

She was reelected 11 more times with only token Republican opposition. After the Democrats lost the House in 1994 and she had served in the minority for two years, she decided to retire. She would be 56 and the longest-serving woman in the House, and her decision upset many Democrats.

“She was the coach, the leader, the strategist,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., told The Washington Post. “She was, by far, the greatest feminist of my time.”

Even some foes bore her grudging respect. Tony Blankley, press secretary to her nemesis, the Republican speaker Newt Gingrich, said: “I sense her legacy will be effectiveness in political rhetoric,” which he called “an honorable part of this business.”

She and her husband retired to Florida, specifically Celebration, a master-planned community built (and sold) by the Walt Disney Co. She remained an activist, continuing to advocate for the causes that had always animated her, like improving family life and caring for the planet, just as she had imagined doing in her book decades earlier.

“In my dotage, rocking on my porch,” she wrote, “I will probably be faxing or emailing or communicating by whatever 21st-century method I cannot even fathom about social wrongs that need to be righted.”

Former Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) in New York on April 27, 1999. Schroeder, a former leading feminist legislator who helped redefine the role of women in American politics and used her wit to combat sexism in Congress, died on Monday, March 13, 2023, in Celebration, Fla.

How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant lost the AI race

By BRIAN X. CHEN, NICO GRANT and KAREN WEISE

On a rainy Tuesday in San Francisco, Apple executives took the stage in a crowded auditorium to unveil the fifth-generation iPhone. The phone, which looked identical to the previous version, had a new feature that the audience was soon buzzing about: Siri, a virtual assistant.

Scott Forstall, then Apple’s head of software, pushed an iPhone button to summon Siri and prodded it with questions. At his request, Siri checked the time in Paris (“8:16 p.m.,” Siri replied), defined the word “mitosis” (“Cell division in which the nucleus divides into nuclei containing the same number of chromosomes,” it said) and pulled up a list of 14 highly rated Greek restaurants, five of them in Palo Alto, California.

“I’ve been in the AI field for a long time, and this still blows me away,” Forstall said.

That was 12 years ago. Since then, people have been far from blown away by Siri and competing assistants that are powered by artificial intelligence, like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant. The technology has largely remained stagnant, and the talking assistants have become the butt of jokes, including in a 2018 “Saturday Night Live” sketch featuring a smart speaker for seniors.

The tech world is now gushing over a different kind of virtual assistant: chatbots. These AI-powered bots, such as ChatGPT and the new ChatGPT Plus from the San Francisco company OpenAI, can improvise answers to questions typed into a chat box with alacrity. People have used ChatGPT to handle complex tasks like coding software, drafting business proposals and writing fiction.

And ChatGPT, which uses AI to guess what word comes next, is rapidly improving. A few months ago, it couldn’t write a proper haiku; now it can do so with gusto. On Tuesday, OpenAI unveiled its next-generation AI engine, GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT.

The excitement around chatbots illustrates how Siri, Alexa and other voice assistants — which once elicited similar enthusiasm — have squandered their lead in the AI race.

Over the past decade, the products hit roadblocks. Siri ran into technological hurdles, including clunky code that took weeks to update with basic features, said John Burkey, a former Apple engineer who worked on the assistant. Amazon and Google miscalculated how the voice assistants would be used, leading them to invest in areas with the technology that rarely paid off, former employees said. When those experiments failed, enthusiasm for the technology waned at the companies, they said.

Voice assistants are “dumb as a rock,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in an interview this month with The Financial Times, declaring that newer AI would lead the way. Microsoft has worked closely with OpenAI, investing $13 billion in the startup and incorporating its te -

chnology into the Bing search engine, as well as other products.

Apple declined to comment on Siri. Google said it was committed to providing a great virtual assistant to help people on their phones and inside their homes and cars; the company is separately testing a chatbot called Bard. Amazon said that it saw a 30% increase in customer engagement globally with Alexa in the last year and that it was optimistic about its mission to build world-class AI.

The assistants and the chatbots are based on different flavors of AI. Chatbots are powered by what are known as large language models, which are systems trained to recognize and generate text based on enormous data sets scraped off the web. They can then suggest words to complete a sentence.

In contrast, Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant are essentially what are known as command-and-control systems. These can understand a finite list of questions and requests like “What’s the weather in New York City?” or “Turn on the bedroom lights.” If a user asks the virtual assistant to do something that is not in its code, the bot simply says it can’t help.

Siri also had a cumbersome design that made it timeconsuming to add new features, said Burkey, who was given the job of improving Siri in 2014. Siri’s database contains a gigantic list of words, including the names of musical artists and locations like restaurants, in nearly two dozen languages.

That made it “one big snowball,” he said. If someone wanted to add a word to Siri’s database, he added, “it goes in one big pile.”

So seemingly simple updates, like adding some new phrases to the data set, would require rebuilding the entire database, which could take up to six weeks, Burkey said. Adding more complex features like new search tools could take nearly a year. That meant there was no path for Siri to become a creative assistant like ChatGPT, he said.

Alexa and Google Assistant relied on technology similar to Siri’s, but the companies struggled to generate meanin-

gful revenue with the assistants, former managers at Amazon and Google said. (In contrast, Apple successfully used Siri to entice buyers to its iPhones.)

After Amazon released the Echo, a smart speaker powered by Alexa, in 2014, the company hoped the product would help it increase sales in its online store by enabling consumers to talk to Alexa to place orders, said a former Amazon leader involved with Alexa. But while people had fun playing with Alexa’s ability to answer weather prompts and set alarms, few asked Alexa to order items, he added.

Amazon may have overinvested in making new kinds of hardware, like now-discontinued alarm clocks and microwaves that worked with Alexa, which sold at or below cost, the former executive said.

The company also underinvested in creating an ecosystem for people to easily expand Alexa’s abilities, in the way that Apple had done with its App Store, which helped stoke interest in the iPhone, the person said. While Amazon offered a “skills” store to make Alexa control third-party accessories like light switches, it was difficult for people to find and set up skills for the speakers — unlike the friction-free experience of downloading mobile apps from app stores.

Amazon’s misfires with Alexa may have led Google astray, said a former manager who worked on Google Assistant. Google engineers spent years experimenting with its assistant to mimic what Alexa could do, including designing smart speakers and voice-controlled tablet screens to control home accessories like thermostats and light switches. The company later integrated ads into those home products, which did not become a major source of revenue.

Many of the big tech companies are now racing to come up with responses to ChatGPT. At Apple’s headquarters last month, the company held its annual AI summit, an internal event for employees to learn about its large language model and other AI tools, two people who were briefed on the program said. Many engineers, including members of the Siri team, have been testing language-generating concepts every week, the people said.

On Tuesday, Google also said it would soon release generative AI tools to help businesses, governments and software developers build applications with embedded chatbots, and incorporate the underlying technology into their systems.

In the future, the technologies of chatbots and voice assistants will converge, AI experts said. That means people will be able to control chatbots with speech, and those who use Apple, Amazon and Google products will be able to ask the virtual assistants to help them with their jobs, not just tasks like checking the weather.

“These products never worked in the past because we never had human-level dialogue capabilities,” said Aravind Srinivas, a founder of Perplexity, an AI startup that offers a chatbot-powered search engine. “Now we do.”

The tech world is now gushing over a different kind of virtual assistant: chatbots.

No, ‘wokeness’ did not cause Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse

By LINDA QIU

Agrowing chorus of conservative pundits and politicians have said the failure of Silicon Valley Bank was the result of the bank’s “woke” policies, blaming the California lender’s commitments to workplace diversity and environmentally and socially conscious investments.

These claims are without merit. The bank’s collapse was due to financial missteps and a bank run.

Moreover, the firm’s policy on diversity, equity and inclusion — also known as DEI — is similar to ones that have been broadly adopted in the banking sector. So is its approach to taking environmental, social and governance considerations into account when investing — referred to as ESG — although that has become a target of conservatives.

In fact, Silicon Valley Bank is considered about average in the industry when it comes to these issues.

Here’s a fact check.

What was said

“They were one of the most woke banks in their quest for the ESG-type policy in investing.”— Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., in an appearance on Fox News on Sunday

“This bank, they’re so concerned with DEI and politics and all kinds of stuff. I think that really diverted from them focusing on their core mission.” — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News on Sunday

This lacks evidence. First, experts have broadly agreed that the bank’s demise had little to do with “wokeness.” As The New York Times and others have explained, the collapse was due to a bank run precipitated by a decline in startup funding, rising interest rates and the firm’s sale of government bonds at a huge loss to raise capital.

The bank’s loans to environmental and community projects “were not an important factor behind the collapse of SVB,” said Itay Goldstein, a finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “There is no immediate indication that these loans precipitated the run by investors.”

Silicon Valley Bank also was not an outlier in its diversity goals or its ESG investments. U.S. investments in those assets are expected to rise to $33.9 trillion by 2026. A 2022

report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that 59% of banks had lending programs specifically for women- and minority-owned businesses, financing that would fit under the “social” umbrella of ESG.

George Serafeim, a professor at Harvard Business School, said blaming the collapse on such initiatives reflected either “a complete lack of understanding of how banks work or the intentional misattribution of causality for the bank’s failure.”

Maretno Harjoto, a professor of finance at Pepperdine University and expert in ESG investing, agreed that “there is no truth” to the claims. He added that banks will often set ESG and diversity goals due to pressure from investors and stakeholders.

Silicon Valley Bank said in a recent report that it would invest about $16.2 billion over the next few years to finance small businesses and community development projects, affordable housing and renewable energy. That level of investment

was equivalent to about 8% of its $209 billion in assets.

But Silicon Valley Bank was hardly alone in pursuing these types of investments. Of the 30 largest banks in the United States — Silicon Valley Bank ranked No. 16 — all but one (First Citizens Bank) have made ESG investments and released reports on them. And the three largest U.S. banks — JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America and Citigroup — all dedicated 8% to 14% of their overall assets toward social and environmental investments in 2021. All three have committed to at least $1 trillion in sustainable investments by 2030.

Among all banking institutions, Silicon Valley Bank actually ranked about average on ESG issues, according to three metrics developed separately by the financial research firms MSCI, Morningstar and Refinitiv. Among the 30 top banks, its middling A rating from MSCI put it on par with 11 banks, while 11 others received the higher AA rating, characterizing them as leaders. The California lender’s score from Morningstar was among the worst of all 30 banks. And its Refinitiv score was worse than all but one financial institution and on par with Signature Bank, which failed this week.

Silicon Valley Bank’s commitment to improving diversity among its leadership was fairly typical as well. The largest 30 banks in the United States all have a stated commitment to more inclusive career advancement.

The bank’s latest inclusion report noted that 38% of senior leadership and 42% of its board members were women, and that 30% of leadership and 8% of its board were nonwhite.

By these demographics, Silicon Valley Bank was one of the more racially diverse financial institutions, but not extraordinarily so. Analyses have found that about 19% of senior leadership in financial services were nonwhite and 30% were women.

Although the Times was unable to find data on the demographics of boards of directors in the finance sector overall, the boards of the eight banks in the United States considered systemically important were more racially diverse on average than Silicon Valley Bank. Of the 104 board members who govern these banks, 23% were members of a racial or ethnic minority and 39% were women.

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 14, 2023.

Global shares gain as banking sector lifelines bolster confidence

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

Global equities rose on Thursday on news that a large group of banks were infusing cash into U.S. lender First Republic Bank and as a lifeline from the Swiss National Bank to Credit Suisse eased fears of a global banking crisis.

European and U.S. bond yields were also higher, as oil snapped a three-day rout.

Spot gold prices edged up.

The European Central Bank pressed forward with a 50-basis-point rate hike despite recent turmoil in financial markets.

First Republic Bank’s FRC.N shares jumped nearly 22% before trading was halted on Thursday after several large banks were said to be in talks to deposit billions of dollars to salvage the embattled lender, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

“The best lifelines for the banks, or any company, is when other companies are interested. The banks coming in here suggests the bleeding is stopping,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Credit Suisse’s shares spent most of the day up around 20% after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) swooped in with support.

Money markets are still largely pricing in a 25-basis-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week FEDWATCH, while ECB President Christine Lagarde described her central bank’s rate rise on Thursday, which took its key rate to 3%, as a “robust decision” to bring inflation back under control.

“The implications for the Fed’s meeting next week suggests that the Fed will raise rates 25 basis points,” Krosby said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 371.98 points, or 1.17%, to 32,246.55, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 68.35 points, or 1.76%, to 3,960.28 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 283.23 points, or 2.48%, to 11,717.28.

“If you take a look at global central bank rate expectations, it seems we’re nearing the end. The effects of these rate hikes are becoming destructive for the economy,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at data and analytics firm OANDA.

“Markets are up today, but this is like watching a slowmotion train wreck for the economy.”

The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS, which tracks shares in 49 nations, gained 1.27%.

Europe’s STOXX 600 .STOXX closed the day 1.3% higher, rebounding after dropping 0.6% immediately after the ECB rate-hike news to touch a fresh 10-week low.

The banking sector index .SX7P gained more than 1%, bouncing back from an intraday drop following the rate hike.

The SNB confirmed early on Thursday that it would provide “liquidity” to Credit Suisse, which said it was taking “decisive action” and would borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.76 billion).

Europe’s banking stocks suffered their steepest one-day drop in more than a year on Wednesday in the wake of Credit Suisse’s woes, which also followed the collapse of two U.S. banks last week.

COMMODITIES

It has demonstrated what happens when major central banks like the Fed and ECB raise interest rates by hundreds of basis points in a short period of time, said Stefan Gerlach, chief economist at EFG Bank in Zurich and a former deputy governor of Ireland’s central bank.

“Whenever you do something that large, you know there is a risk waiting somewhere in the financial system,” he said, speaking before the ECB decision was announced.

Germany’s 2-year bond yield DE2YT=RR rose to 2.616%,after earlier in the session hitting its lowest level since the middle of December at 2.373%.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR rose to 3.5789%, compared to 3.494% on Wednesday. The two-year yield US2YT=RR, which rises with traders’ expectations of higher Fed policy rates, touched 4.1635% after closing the previous session at 3.975%.

Overnight, Asian shares had fallen around 1%, but it was largely a catch-up move and had none of the frenzy witnessed in Europe on the previous day.

Overnight, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.84% after earlier hitting its lowest level this year.

Poland’s president says 4 of its MIG fighters will go to Ukraine ‘literally in the next few days’

By ANDREW HIGGINS

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said Thursday that his country would transfer four of its Soviet-designed MIG fighters to Ukraine “literally in the next few days,” which would be the first delivery of jets from a NATO country.

However, any such delivery would still fall short of Ukrainian requests for more advanced F-16 fighter jets from the United States. A White House spokesperson, John Kirby, said that the United States still had no plans to send F-16s to Ukraine and Duda’s pledge had not altered that position.

“It doesn’t change our calculus, with respect to F-16s,” Kirby told reporters in Washington. “It’s not on the table right now.”

Poland first pledged MIG fighters a year ago, in the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion, but has so far sent none. The issue of providing Ukraine with warplanes has been a contentious one among the country’s allies, widely seen as a step too far that risked provoking Russia.

Duda made the announcement in Warsaw, after a meeting with the new president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, a retired general and former chair of NATO’s Military Committee. Duda said that the rapid delivery of the four MIGs to Ukraine would be followed “gradually” by more than a dozen others that Poland has in its stocks, once they had been repaired and prepared for combat.

He said that Poland’s air force would replace the jets with FA-50s from South Korea, the first of which are expected to be delivered later this year, and F-35s ordered from the United States.

Polish officials, including Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, had previously said that their country was ready to send Ukraine its entire fleet of MIG-29s — thought to number around 28, but not all operational — but only “within the framework of a larger coalition” of countries that also use the planes. Duda made no mention of any

such condition having been met Thursday.

One European defense official familiar with Poland’s plans cautioned that it might still take some time for the MIG jets to be delivered, citing “some formalities” that needed to be completed first. The official said it was expected that Slovakia would also contribute MIG jets to Ukraine.

Poland — which shares a 330-mile border with Ukraine, has taken in more than 1.5 million war refugees and is the main transit route for Western arms flowing into Ukraine — has long lobbied its allies within

NATO to send more and better weapons to help Ukrainian forces fight back against Russia. It pressured Germany into agreeing earlier this year to send advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, and sent a handful of its own Leopard tanks to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, last month during a visit there by the Polish prime minister.

But Poland has sometimes run ahead of itself in its eagerness to aid Ukraine.

It said last March that it was ready to send its fleet of MIG-29s to Ukraine, on condition that the United States replace them with more modern U.S.-made jets.

The plan fell apart after Poland abruptly announced that, instead of sending the planes directly to Ukraine, it would send them to a U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, for transfer to Ukraine. Blindsided by a Polish plan it had not been consulted about, Washington dismissed the Ramstein idea as a nonstarter. None of the planes left Poland.

An effort to send MIGs to Ukraine in collaboration with Slovakia, which also uses the Soviet-era warplanes, also stumbled, largely as a result of Slovak political ructions, which led to a successful no-confidence vote in December against the country’s strongly pro-Ukrainian government.

Slovakia’s acting prime minister, Stefan Holy, has said since that this country still wants to send its MIGs to Ukraine, but his opponents insist that no decision be taken until after new elections later this year.

Poland’s president said his country would send Soviet-designed MIGs to Ukraine, in what would be the first delivery of fighter jets from a NATO country.

The move, if it happens, would be the first delivery of fighter jets by a NATO country to Ukraine, but would still fall short of meeting Ukrainian requests for more advanced F-16 fighter jets from the United States.

After Macron pushes through pension bill, lawmakers vow no-confidence vote

By ROGER COHEN and AURELIEN BREEDEN

President Emmanuel Macron pushed through legislation to raise the retirement age for most workers to 64 from 62 without a vote of lawmakers in the National Assembly on Thursday, a decision that inflamed an already tense confrontation over the measure in France and set the stage for a no-confidence vote against his government.

Macron’s decision prompted raucous protests inside the assembly chamber, where opposition lawmakers sang the French national anthem and banged on their desks. On the streets, protesters pledged to continue their fight against Macron’s proposal.

The upper house of Parliament, the Senate, approved the bill on Thursday morning. But in the National Assembly, the lower and more powerful house, Macron’s party and its allies hold only a slim majority, and did not have enough votes to pass the bill.

A no-confidence vote in the National Assembly is expected to take place within days, most likely on Monday. If it succeeds, it would bring down Macron’s prime minister and the Cabinet, and the pension bill would be rejected. But that is unlikely.

Here is what to know:

— The decision to use Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, which enables a government to push a bill through the National Assembly without a vote, gives opposition lawmakers 24 hours to file a no-confidence motion against the government, although it is rare for such motions to succeed. The article has been enshrined in law since 1958, but over the past decade it has increasingly been seen as an undemocratic tool used by governments to strong-arm lawmakers.

— Macron says France’s pension system is in “an increasingly precarious state” because retirees are living longer and their numbers are growing faster than those of today’s workers, whose payroll taxes finance the system. But his plan has angered a society that reveres retirement and a generous balance between work and leisure. In polls, roughly two-thirds of French people say they disapprove of the plan.

— Eight large-scale national protests in two months have convulsed France, and a strike by garbage workers has left trash piled neck-high in Paris and other cities.

— For Macron, who has spent much of his time since reelection last year focused on diplomatic issues like the war in Ukraine, the pensions issue could be central to his domestic legacy. He cannot run again in 2027, as France’s constitution limits presidents to two consecutive five-year terms.

Finland’s NATO bid is a shift in its strategy

modate the larger power’s interests. Russia’s invasion in Ukraine has pushed Finland, a small Nordic nation on Russia’s western border, to change tack.

It filed its bid for membership in May, along with its neighbor Sweden, a few months after the invasion.

Here is what to know about Finland’s and Sweden’s bids to join NATO, a 30-nation alliance.

Security concerns pushed Sweden and Finland to seek membership

Finland and Sweden jointly submitted their applications in May, after Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine. If accepted, they would have protection under the alliance’s mutual defense agreement.

Finland and Sweden have not been in any alliance before

to ratify Finland’s membership (after much negotiation) but has demanded that Sweden crack down on Kurdish refugee groups — whose members he considers to be terrorists — and extradite a number of Kurds living in Sweden, some of whom are political refugees. He is holding out even though Sweden has promised to take a harder line.

Finland might join NATO without Sweden Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretarygeneral has raised the possibility that the countries’ applications might be considered separately. In March, Finland’s Parliament passed all of the legislation it needs to join the alliance once it is approved by member states.

By CARLY OLSON

By seeking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Finland is shifting a decades-long geopolitical strategy known as Finlandization.

During the Cold War, the country maintained its independence by staying in the shadow of the Soviet Union, remaining neutral and shaping its foreign policy to accom-

While they held strategic partnerships, they abandoned decades of nonalignment to apply to join NATO.

Turkey’s president has objected to Sweden’s bid

Although both Sweden and Finland have strong backing from most member states, the alliance requires unanimous consent to approve new members. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated he is willing

President Emmanuel Macron of France speaking on Thursday at the Foreign Ministry in Paris.

Finland filed its bid for NATO membership in May.

Assad offers Putin Syria’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine

It was Assad’s first trip to Moscow since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, and it also came on the 12th anniversary of Syria’s uprising-turned-civil war.

Assad said he wanted to “repeat the Syrian position in support of this special operation against neo-Nazis and old Nazis,” he said in remarks carried by the Russian news agency, Interfax, using the Kremlin’s preferred phrasing about the war and its false premise: that Russian forces are fighting Ukrainian Nazis.

Before the meeting, the Kremlin said the agenda would include bilateral relations and the prospects for a peace settlement and a reconstruction program in Syria, which has been ravaged by an earthquake last month and brutal civil war that has raged for more than a decade.

been playing in Syria since the Kremlin intervened in 2015 to prop up Assad.

“Significant results in countering international terrorism were achieved in Syria thanks to our joint efforts and the decisive contribution of the Russian armed forces,” Putin said at the start of the meeting.

When the Russian military intervened in Syria in 2015, its air force conducted dozens of airstrikes a day against opposition forces and Islamic State group militants. Mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, which are currently engaged in some of the most brutal fighting against Ukraine’s troops, were also actively involved in the conflict.

By VALERIE HOPKINS and IVAN NECHEPURENKO

President Bashar Assad of Syria again voiced his full support for Russia’s war in Ukraine on Wednesday during a meeting in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, as the leaders of the two internationally isolated countries sought to strengthen their ties.

The presence of both country’s finance ministers and a Russian minister for construction indicated the possibility of a loan or a financial instrument for Syria’s reconstruction, said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Assad said he hoped the meeting would “result in tangible economic cooperation,” although he gave no specifics.

Putin spoke of Russia’s support following the earthquake last month that killed at least 7,000 people in Syria. He also said that Moscow and Syria are “in constant contact” and noted the role Russian troops have

The next frontier in farming? The ocean.

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

For centuries, it’s been treasured in kitchens in Asia and neglected almost everywhere else: those glistening ribbons of seaweed that bend and bloom in cold ocean waves.

Today, seaweed is suddenly a hot global commodity. It’s attracting new money and new purpose in all kinds of new places because of its potential to help tame some of the hazards of the modern age, not least climate change.

In London, a startup is making a plastic substitute out of seaweed. In Australia and Hawaii, others are racing to grow seaweed that, when fed to livestock, can cut methane from cow burps. Researchers are studying just how much carbon dioxide can be sequestered by seaweed farms as investors eye them as a new source of carbon credits for polluters to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.

And in South Korea, one of the most established seaweed-growing countries in the world, farmers are struggling to keep up with growing export demand.

What was mainly a relatively small Asian industry is now coveted by the West. Far beyond South Korea, new farms have cropped up in Maine, the Faeroe Islands, Australia, even the North Sea. Globally, seaweed production has grown by nearly 75% in the past decade. The focus is moving far beyond its traditional use in cuisine.

Russia’s involvement, alongside Iran, was a game changer in the war, leaving Syria indebted to the Kremlin. Moscow has also helped Assad begin to repair relations with other countries in the region whose leaders had once called for his ouster.

Russia’s increased influence in the Middle East helped it build stronger relations with some of the key players in the region, including Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“Syria is really Moscow’s claim to fame in the region now, in terms of being as productive relationship with major powers,” said Gabuev. Russian-Syrian ties make Israel tread carefully when it comes to Russia, and have a profound effect on Russia’s growing ties to Iran as well.

But even as its champions see it as a miracle crop for a hotter planet, others worry that the zeal to farm the ocean could replicate some of the same damages of farming on land. Much is unknown about how seaweed farms, particularly those far offshore, can affect marine ecosystems.

“Seaweed protagonists believe seaweed is a cure

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad talk during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 15.

It’s being reimagined as a plastic substitute, even as cattle feed. But can seaweed thrive in a warming world?

to everything, that seaweed is a magical panacea for climate problems,” said David Koweek, chief scientist for Ocean Visions, a consortium of research organizations studying ocean-based interventions for the climate crisis. “Seaweed antagonists think seaweed is completely overhyped.”

There’s another problem. Seaweed is itself feeling the impact of climate change, particularly in Asia.

“The water is way too hot,” said Sung-kil Shin, a third-generation seaweed farmer, as he pulled his boat into harbor one morning on Soando Island, just south of the South Korean mainland, where seaweed has long been foraged and farmed.

‘Plastic’ from seaweed

Pierre Paslier once made a living by designing plastic packages for cosmetics. It felt to him like “leasing out my brain to a big plastic polluter.”

He wanted out. He wanted to create packaging that would come from nature and disappear into nature, quickly. With a friend from graduate school, Rodrigo García González, he created a company called NotPla, short for “not plastic.”

From an East London warehouse, they designed an edible sachet of water, made of seaweed and other plant extracts: To drink the water, you simply pop the sachet in your mouth. They designed another one that can hold ketchup and a third for cosmetics.

They also began making a seaweed-based coating for takeout cardboard boxes. Just Eat, a food delivery app in Britain, began using it for some of its orders, including at the European women’s soccer finals in July at Wembley Stadium.

It’s still niche. The seaweed coating, designed for home composting bins, is considerably more expensive than the plastic coating now used on most takeout boxes made of paper.

But Paslier is looking to the future. The European Union has a new law restricting single-use plastic. A global plastics treaty is under negotiation.

“Seaweed is not going to replace all plastic, but seaweed combined with other things can tackle singleuse plastic,” he said. “We are barely scratching the surface.”

Foragers from the past

In the gray light of dawn, Soon-ok Goh, a slight 71-year-old, swam soundlessly in the shallow waters of Gijang, on the southern coast of South Korea. Her feet were sheathed in yellow flippers, her thin, small frame in a wet suit. She surfaced above water for a few seconds, took a long breath that sounded almost like a whistle in the quiet of the morning, then dived down again, yellow flippers upturned.

Goh is among the last practitioners of a vanishing trade. Since the end of the seventh century, women like her have foraged for wild seaweed, along with other seafood, in the chilly waters around the Korean Peninsula.

This morning, a tiny pink-handled knife in hand, she snipped shiny green-brown ribbons of kelp called miyeok. She plucked sea snails clinging to rocks, two kinds of sea cucumbers, a handful of kelp-devouring sea urchins.

All went into her sack.

Her grandmother taught her the trade, Goh said, which is known as haenyeo, or the “sea women.” She has been diving since she was 9 years old. “People who

do this kind of work are disappearing,” she said. “When I’m done, no one will do it.” With demand rising, old practices are getting pushed into the past. What role seaweed plays in your life depends on where you’re from.

For Alaska’s Indigenous people, seaweed has been a source of sustenance for generations. The Irish and Welsh have used it to make pudding. Japanese soup stock is made of kelp. Seaweed extracts also help millions of people worldwide keep their teeth clean; it’s been used to make toothpaste for years.

In Korea, bordered by water on three sides, 20 species of seaweed have been recorded. It is central to cuisine and culture.

After childbirth, mothers are served a soup made of miyeok, iron-rich and brown, and children are served it on their birthdays to honor mothers. Dried, salted sheets of gim are eaten as snacks or dusted over cookies. Wispy tendrils of maesaengi are tucked into a steamy breakfast porridge that’s believed to be a hangover cure.

In decades past, when there was no money to buy rice, you could go to the sea and find seaweed, said Hye Kyung Jeong, a food historian at Hoseo University in Seoul, South Korea. “Seaweed helped people survive during famines,” she said.

This is not the first time seaweed has helped avert a crisis.

Slimy arms race

The new frontier for seaweed production lies beyond Asia.

Steve Meller, an American businessperson in Australia, grows seaweed in giant glass tanks on land — specifically, a red seaweed native to the waters around Australia called asparagopsis, which beef and dairy companies are eyeing as a way to meet their climate goals.

A sprinkle of asparagopsis in cattle feed can cut methane from their burps by between 82% and 98%, according to several independent studies. Cattle burps are a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

“The race is on, I suppose, to get the world’s first commercial supply,” Meller said. “The demand is offthe-roof scale.”

His company, named CH4, after methane’s chemical formula, is competing to bring asparagopsis to the mouths of cows. At least two other Australian startups, Sea Forest and Rumin8, are in the seaweed-for-cattle race. So are Symbrosia and Blue Ocean Barns, both in Hawaii.

Fonterra, a New Zealand dairy producer, has begun commercial trials of the seaweed supplement, and Ben & Jerry’s is planning its own trials soon. The global dairy giant Danone has invested in an asparagopsis startup.

Whether seaweed can make a dent in cattle methane remains unclear. In the United States, there’s another hurdle to overcome: regulatory approval.

Nevertheless, it could be key to the beef and dairy industry’s ability to meet climate goals. Emissions from food systems alone, mainly meat and dairy, could raise the global average temperature by 1 degree Celsius by the end of the century, blowing past the threshold of relatively safe global warming, researchers have said.

Climate pressures

Seabirds dive and squawk around the fishing port in Soando, an island off the southern tip of South Korea, as Shin’s boat pulls in with the morning’s harvest.

Shin, 44, has plied these waters for 20 years and has seen climate change upend his trade. He grows a red kelp species called pyropia, which favors cold water during its growing season. So he has been going further and further from shore in search of chilly waves.

By mid-April, Shin said, the water isn’t as cold as pyropia likes. His yield has suffered. “People want more seaweed these days,” he said. “But there’s no more seaweed.”

Since 1968, the waters where Shin farms have warmed by 1.4 degrees Celsius, slightly higher than the global average. That’s why South Korean scientists are racing to breed strains that can thrive in warmer waters.

Seaweed farms are a far cry from the rows of corn and wheat that make up monoculture farming on land. But even as they signify new opportunities, they present ecological risks, many of them unknown.

They could block sunlight to creatures who need it below. They could scatter plastic buoys in the sea, which already suffers from too much plastic. They could leave their plant detritus on the seafloor, altering the marine ecosystem.

“It needs to be carried out with a great deal of care,” said Scott Pillias, a doctoral student in economics who studies marine systems at the University of Queensland. “We shouldn’t expect seaweed to save us.”

Seaweed farmers harvest seaweed near Soando Island, South Korea, on March 25, 2022.

Pope Francis’ decade of division

By ROSS DOUTHAT

Lent is with us, and so is the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ ascent to the papal throne — an appropriate conjunction, since these are days of tribulation for his papacy.

There is the two-front war that Rome finds itself fighting on doctrine and liturgy, trying to squash the church’s Latin Mass traditionalists while more gently restraining the liberal German bishops from forcing a schism on Catholicism’s leftward flank.

There is the latest example, in the grim case of the Jesuit priest-artist Father Marko Rupnik, of well-connected clerics accused of sex abuse who seem immune to the rules and reforms that are supposed to put limits on their ministry.

And then there are the grim numbers for the Francisera church, like the accelerating drop in the number of men studying for the priesthood worldwide, which peaked around the beginning of Francis’ pontificate and has been declining ever since. Or the unhappy financial picture, now bad enough that the Vatican is charging higher rents to cardinals to compensate for years of deficits.

In the secular press, the narrative of Francis as a great reformer was established early on, and as contrary evidence has emerged the response has often been a decorous silence. It’s been mostly left to his conservative critics to compile the lists of clerics accused of abuse who have been given favorable treatment by this pontiff; or to harp on the failures of financial reform and the absence of any obvious renewal in the pews; or to point out that a pontificate that once promised to make the church less self-referential, less inward-focused, has instead produced a decade of bitter internal arguments and widening theological divisions — while Catholicism’s official verbiage is received with conspicuous indifference by the wider world.

Regarding the church’s evident polarization, at least, the pope’s admirers have their own narrative: The problem is just resistance from conservative Catholics, especially American conservative Catholics, who have blocked, impeded and sabotaged this pontificate, defying both the Holy Spirit and the

legitimate authority of Rome. The Catholic right has started a civil war and blamed it unjustly on the pope, and his apparent failures of governance and leadership are just a testament to the difficulty of true and deep reform.

I have some personal reasons to disagree with this narrative: I was an early doubter of Pope Francis, fearing roughly the kind of unraveling we’re seeing, and my doubts met intense early opposition among many of my fellow conservative Catholics, who were extremely loath to imagine any daylight between themselves and Rome. So the fact that many of them have since ended up in some sort of opposition seems like a consequence of the specific ways that Francis has pursued his liberalization, rather than just a reflexive opposition to anything outside their comfort zone.

Consider a counterfactual scenario where the pope’s early months played out identically — the gestures of inclusivity and welcome, the famous “who am I to judge?” — but thereafter his approach was focused, strategic, designed to seek change but also to maintain unity. This could have meant, for instance, pushing through the changes sought by liberal Catholics that are easiest to square with existing doctrine, like relaxing the rule of celibacy for priests or even allowing female deacons, while simultaneously making strong efforts to reassure conservatives that the church wasn’t just surrendering its commitments or dissolving its teachings about sex and marriage.

That kind of push would have still met conservative opposition (my personal view is that lifting the rule of celibacy would be a mistake), while the limits and reassurances would have still disappointed liberals who wanted much more thoroughgoing change. But the goals would have been concrete and achievable, the limits and boundaries clear, and the pope would have been trying to play something like the role of the father in the parable of the prodigal son, with his rush to welcome the younger brother but also his loving reassurance of the older one.

and especially traditionalists, for being rigid and pharisaical and coldhearted, for being “all stiff in black cassocks” and wearing “grandma’s lace” — the equivalent of the father in the parable turning his elder son and chewing him out for being such an uptight weirdo. And when the traditionalist faction became, predictably, a locus for sometimes paranoid online opposition, the pope who preached decentralization and diversity embraced a micromanagerial cruelty, attempting the strangulation of Latin Mass congregations through such merciful gestures as forbidding their masses from appearing in parish bulletins.

And yet with all this the pope has not actually delivered all that much concrete change to the church’s progressive wing, pulling back repeatedly instead — retreating into ambiguity on Communion for the divorced and the remarried, pulling up short when it appeared he was going to allow new experiments with married priests, permitting his office of doctrine to declare the impossibility of the blessings for same-sex couples that many European bishops wish to license.

Which, also predictably, has created both disappointment at unmet expectations and a constant impulse to push as far as possible, even toward the liberal Protestantism that the German church especially seems to seek, on the theory that Francis needs to be forced into embracing the changes he’s always contemplating but never quite delivering

Seen now at its 10-year milestone, then, this pontificate hasn’t just faced inevitable resistance because of its zeal for reform. It has needlessly multiplied controversies and exacerbated divisions for the sake of an agenda that can still feel vaporous, and its choices at every turn have seemed to design to create the greatest possible alienation between the church’s factions, the widest imaginable gyre.

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Instead, Francis’ opening gambit involved a controversy much more clearly entangled with Catholic doctrine — the question of remarriage after divorce, where the very words of Jesus are at issue. Meanwhile, his larger approach has been to open controversies on the widest possible array of fronts: Sometimes through his statements, sometimes through his appointments, and for a while through the bizarre strategy of conducting repeated conversations with an atheist Italian journalist who famously did not take notes, leaving ordinary Catholics to puzzle over whether the pope had really denied, say, the doctrine of hell, or whether he was just content for readers of La Repubblica to think so.

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All of this Francis has supplemented with a running critique of conservatives,

Dr.

LOÍZA – La comisionada residente Jenniffer González Colón, a invitación de la alcaldesa de Loíza Julia Nazario, se dio cita el jueves a la Cumbre de Erosión Costera en el municipio para discutir esfuerzos a nivel federal para trabajar este apremiante tema ambiental que afecta las costas no solo de Loíza sino de todo de Puerto Rico.

González Colón, quien es Copresidenta del Caucus de los Océanos del Congreso, a su vez invitó a la Embajadora del Reino de Noruega en los Estados Unidos, Su Excelencia Anniken Ramberg Krutnes, a dicho evento.

La comisionada residente recibió recientemente a la embajadora en la Isla y han estado esta semana promoviendo otras iniciativas para avanzar el estudio sobre los océanos y el estrechar la colaboración bilateral entre Noruega y los Estados Unidos, incluyendo a Puerto Rico, en este y otros asuntos que comparten ambas naciones.

“En Puerto Rico tenemos 44 municipios de los 78 que tienen costa y a todos les afecta de algún modo el creciente riesgo de erosión costera, ya

que incluso si en un sector no ha habido pérdida seria, si el de al lado sí la está sufriendo, entonces es cuestión de tiempo. Según un estudio de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, entre María y el fenómeno de oleaje intenso de 2018, nada más, se perdieron el equivalente a 99 kilómetros de playa. Casi 62 millas. Esto es un fenómeno que abarca el campo de la ciencia del océano y de la protección de la infraestructura en Tierra. En el Congreso, lidero esfuerzos que tocan ambas de estas vertientes”, expresó la comisionada residente en declaraciones escritas.

La copresidenta del Caucus de los Océanos ha respaldado medidas y financiamiento para programas de vital importancia para la restauración de los corales y resiliencia costera en jurisdicciones como Puerto Rico.

Por ejemplo, a través del Programa Costero del Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de los Estados Unidos (USFWS), un programa voluntario de conservación del hábitat, se ha ayudado a financiar 217 proyectos en Puerto Rico desde 2010, que ha contribuido con $1,262,092 en fondos federales.

SAN JUAN – La secretaria del Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP),

Eileen Vélez Vega, junto la presidenta de la Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses (AMA), Karen Correa, anunciaron el jueves, la activación del plan de reparación y mantenimiento de los centros de transbordo que están bajo operación de la AMA.

“El plan de reparación y mantenimiento forma parte del Plan Maestro para optimizar la experiencia de los pasajeros que utilizan el transporte público. La movilidad es esencial para la sostenibilidad social, ambiental y económica de las comunidades y la AMA, como parte del sistema integrado de transporte masivo, está activamente mejorando la confiabilidad de los servicios”, explicó la secretaria del DTOP en comunicación escrita.

Las tareas son realizadas por personal de la AMA y no requieren de contratación externa. Estas incluyen la reparación y pintura de las estructuras, el desyerbo de las áreas y la adecuada señalización. La AMA tiene a cargo 19 centros de transbordo en el área metropolitana de San Juan.

“Durante años, estas estructuras fueron abandonadas y no recibieron el mantenimiento que requieren. Tener centros de transbordo apropiados y seguros es parte de los elementos para pro-

veer mejores servicios a los usuarios. Además, seguimos mejorando la disponibilidad, con nuevas unidades y la puntualidad de las rutas”, manifestó por su parte la presidenta de la AMA.

Las labores son parte de las iniciativas para aumentar el patrocinio de la transportación colectiva, que tiene dos elementos esenciales: la disponibilidad y la conveniencia.

Hace un mes, la AMA reforzó su flota con 22 nuevos vehículos para las rutas regulares y el Programa Llame y Viaje, además de nuevos recursos para el taller de mecánica, mediante una inversión de 6.3 millones de dólares, en fondos federales de la Federal Transit Administration (FTA por sus siglas en inglés).

La compra incluyó 12 unidades de 40 pies, a un costo de 5 millones de dólares y 10 unidades para el programa de Llame y Viaje, a un costo de 1 millón de dólares. Igualmente, se destinaron 300,000 dólares para mejorar la calidad del aire en el taller, con un sistema de extracción de gases y nuevo equipo para garantizar la seguridad de los mecánicos, reemplazando equipo de más de 35 años de uso. Además, se reclutaron 25 nuevos conductores, reforzando las rutas regulares y del programa Llame y Viaje.

AMA activa plan de reparación y mantenimiento de los centros de transbordo

Jenniffer González participa en esfuerzo para contrarrestar los riesgos de erosión costera en Puerto Rico

Five international movies to stream now

By DEVIKA GIRISH

‘Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’ (Stream it on Netflix)

The new film by Lijo Jose Pellissery — director of genre-bending gems such as “Angamaly Diaries” and “Jallikattu” — is a quotidian slice of Franz Kafka: a gentle, keenly observed comedy in which a man wakes up after some slumber not as a different creature but simply as another man, with another name, family and memories. The curmudgeonly James (Mammootty), who hails from the South Indian state of Kerala, is on a pilgrimage through the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu with a large group of relatives and friends when the miracle happens. He awakens from a nap, stops the bus and calmly walks into the nearby village, believing he is Sundaram, the long-missing patriarch of a local family. His troupe, whom he no longer recognizes, chases him in chagrin; the villagers watch in amazement as he walks around nonchalantly, fluent in Tamil and in the intimate goings-on of the town.

Is James pretending, ill, or is there some

cosmic magic afoot? “Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam” never fully resolves its mysteries, instead using them as a window into the little things that make us familiar and strange to one another. The visitors and the villagers fumble through linguistic mix-ups, their tongues similar yet different. James’ newly bereft wife and Sundaram’s longbereft one develop an unspoken bond, rooted in an understanding of patriarchy’s universal grasp. And in a running gag, the old Tamil movies playing on a blind woman’s TV echo throughout the village, ironically inflecting Pellissery’s deadpan drama with their high-strung melodramatics, and lovingly pastiching a culture fed on stories that belie belief.

‘Jumbo’ (Stream it on Tubi)

“Woman has sex with a theme park ride” might sound like something spit out by a glitching AI plot generator or dug up from bizarre, unsavory corners of the internet. Yet not only is this a real scene in the French movie “Jumbo,” it’s also a gorgeous cinematic spectacle of grease, metal and skin, directed with punkish imagination by Zoé Wittock. Starring a sensitive Noémie Merlant as a neurodivergent young woman,

Liquidación en monturas de diseñador

“Jumbo” takes its hero, Jeanne, and her unusual affinity for machines seriously, refusing pat, restrictive notions of what counts as normal.

Jeanne lives with her feisty single mother in a nondescript suburb and works at the local amusement park. Her time alone with the rides, which she cleans and oils lovingly, is her refuge from bullying teens and her lecherous boss. When a new spinning attraction arrives at the park, something stirs inside Jeanne — and if you think she’s deluded, wait till you see the contraption reciprocate with flashing lights and whooshing limbs. Though shot through with whimsy, “Jumbo” shines because of its sincere faith in Jeanne’s experience, and the generosity with which it invites us to see the world through her curious eyes.

‘A Human Position’ (Stream it on Mubi)

This Norwegian drama unfolds as a series of exquisite, postcardlike images from Alesund, a port town made up of cobblestone streets, perfectly angled houses and cool blue skies. When the protagonist, a young journalist named Asta (Amalie Ibsen Jensen), enters these tableaux, her palpable discontent feels like an aberration in such a pristine setting.

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What beauty, order and tidiness conceal under their glossy surfaces is the premise of Anders Emblem’s meditative film. Asta lives with her girlfriend in a sunlit house and has just taken up a summer job at the local paper. Something is amiss in her life, and whether the cause is personal or existential (or both) is unclear, but her melancholy sharpens into something more urgent when she stumbles upon the story of an immigrant worker who was deported because of a bureaucratic blunder. Asta starts digging into this case, although her investigation neither leads to any dramatic revelations nor changes the film’s placid rhythms. That tonal contrast — between the comfortable, steady routines of Asta’s life and the precarity of the deportee’s story — is where the film packs an emotional wallop, quietly indicting the ways in which a society that prides itself on its prosperity and harmony becomes blind to its failings.

‘Domestique’ (Stream it on Tubi and Amazon Prime Video)

A horror movie set almost entirely within the walls of a couple’s apartment, “Domestique,” directed by Czech filmmaker Adam Sedlak, observes the asphyxiating intersection of two extreme body regulation routines. Roman (Jiri Konvalinka), a professional cyclist, is impatient to get back to competing form after experiencing an injury; Charlotte (Tereza Hofova), his wife, is desperate to get pregnant. He puts in long hours on his stationary bike and obsessively measures

his calories, while she rigorously logs her fertility cycle in a diary and tries to modulate every aspect of their lifestyles to improve her chances of conception.

As they escalate their efforts in dangerous ways, Sedlak mirrors their blinkered, singleminded perspectives in the film’s visuals. Their home is a flat, murky-gray background for their stilted confrontations and clockworklike routines. The camera zooms in and out of close-ups when they’re together, emphasizing their isolation even in shared spaces. The simultaneous banality and extremity of their situations is the real terror here: The film’s crescendo is inevitable and yet shocking for its reminder of the harm we can wage on ourselves and each other in the name of self-improvement.

‘The Show’ (Rent or buy it on most major platforms)

With a fevered script by comic-book auteur Alan Moore — he of the “Watchmen” and “V for Vendetta” fame — this madcap caper, directed by Mitch Jenkins, takes classic British detective noir and drags it through a Lynchian looking class. Tom Burke plays the shifty protagonist whose name might be Steve or Bob or Fletcher, and who might be a concerned relative or private detective or hit man. He arrives in the town of Northampton to find a man who, it turns out, has just died a gruesome death. As he pieces together what happened to the victim (and slowly reveals his own cards in the process), our antihero finds his dreams collapsing into the realities of this eccentric corner of small-town England.

The characters he encounters in either realm include a pair of American child detectives whose scenes appear in black-and-white, a long-dead duo of comedians who seem to haunt others’ nightmares, a masked vigilante-librarian who trawls the dark web to surveil the townspeople, and a queer musician who dresses up as Adolf Hitler. Excess is the theme here — every scene is embedded with references, looping jokes, clues and outlandish props — and there’s a comic-book feel to all the high jinks. Yet the film is refreshingly perverse, refusing neat moral or narrative explanations. It’s a defiantly weird antidote to the IP-fed multiverse narratives saturating our screens these days.

Mammootty in “Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam.”

John Jakes, whose historical novels hit the jackpot, dies at 90

By ROBERT D. McFADDEN

John Jakes, a superstar writer of historical fiction whose generational family sagas of the American Revolution and the Civil War mingled real and imaginary characters and became runaway bestsellers and popular television fare, died Saturday at a hospice facility in Sarasota, Florida. He was 90. His death was confirmed by his lawyer and literary agent, Frank R. Curtis.

Jakes wrote some 60 novels, including westerns, mysteries, science and fantasy fiction, and children’s books. But he was best known for two series of novels with enormous mass-market appeal: “The Kent Family Chronicles,” eight volumes written in the 1970s to capitalize on the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations (55 million copies were sold), and the “North and South” Civil War trilogy, which appeared in the 1980s (10 million copies).

By the 1990s, Jakes had joined the charmed circle of America’s big-name authors — among them Mary Higgins Clark, Tom Wolfe, James Clavell, Thomas Harris and Ira Levin — whose publishers paid millions in advances for multi-book deals, although they had only vague ideas what the books might say. In 1990, Doubleday and Bantam paid Jakes $10 million for three novels as yet unwritten.

A modest, genial family man who for many years had thick bowl-cut gray hair, Jakes seemed ill suited for the celebrity life. He gave interviews, made promotional appearances on television and was affable for long lines of people at his book signings. His chunky books were prominently displayed at virtually every bookstore in the nation. But he seemed more at ease walking alone on a Civil War battleground, or quietly researching his books at local libraries in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and on Bird Key in Sarasota, where he lived much of the year.

“I feel a real responsibility to my readers,” Jakes told The Washington Post in 1982. “I began to realize about two or three books into the Kent series that I was the only source of history that some of these people had ever had. Maybe they’ll never read a Barbara Tuchman book — but down at the Kmart they’ll pick up one of mine.”

Rarely taking a vacation, churning out

as many as 5,000 words a day, Jakes made no pretense to lofty literary aspirations. Critics called him a journeyman storyteller who strived for historical accuracy, populating his books with the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Loyal readers devoured his accounts of his fictional characters’ abductions, adulteries, secret papers, contested fortunes and other staples of pulp fiction.

Jakes began freelance writing in his spare time while working in advertising from 1954 to 1971. He published hundreds of short stories in Galaxy Science Fiction, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine and other outlets. He also wrote paperback novels and even a few hardcovers, mostly westerns and fantasies, some under the pen names Jay Scotland and Alan Payne.

His breakthrough came in 1974, when he was 42, with the publication of “The Bastard,” the first of eight hefty paperbacks collectively called “The Kent Family Chronicles.”

The books tracked generations of the Kents from the Revolutionary War to 1890. “The Bastard” and its first two sequels, “The Rebels” and “The Seekers” (both 1975), were adapted for television as miniseries in 1978 and 1979. Other books in the series were “The Furies” and “The Titans” (both 1976), “The Warriors” (1977), “The Lawless” (1978) and “The Americans” (1979).

Although they were unabashed massmarket fiction, the Kent books touched a national nerve, coming amid the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For many, they were an anodyne to the disillusionment of the Watergate scandal and the war in Vietnam, and they made Jakes one of the nation’s most popular writers.

His success prompted Harcourt Brace Jovanovich to commission his Civil War-era hardcover trilogy featuring two families, one in South Carolina and the other in Pennsylvania, whose sons meet at West Point and become wartime enemies. The books, “North and South” (1982), “Love and War” (1984) and “Heaven and Hell” (1987) — known collectively as “North and South” — became ABC-TV miniseries in 1985, 1986 and 1994.

“If one is looking for a novel with pur-

posefulness of craft, vivid characterization or an insightful, revelatory vision of human events, ‘North and South’ will be a disappointment,” Mel Watkins wrote in The New York Times Book Review in 1982. “If, however, one is looking for an entertaining, popularized and generally authentic dramatization of American history, without the weight of polemics on either side of the issues, then the first installment of Jakes’s trilogy covering the events before, during and after the Civil War will meet his expectations.”

John William Jakes was born in Chicago on March 31, 1932, the only child of John Adrian and Bertha (Retz) Jakes. His father was a Railway Express executive, and his mother was a teacher. The boy loved pulp magazines and science fiction, but he also attended theatrical productions, took parts in school plays and wanted to be an actor.

After graduating from Senn High School in Chicago, he studied drama for a year at Northwestern University and then transferred to DePauw University, in Indiana, where he enrolled in a creative-writing program and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1953.

He married Rachel Payne, whom he had met at DePauw, in 1951. She survives him, along with his daughters, Andrea Jakes, Ellen Kelm and Victoria Montgomery; his son, J. Michael Jakes; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Jakes received a master’s degree in American literature from Ohio State University in 1954 and then took a job in advertising. For 16 years he was an ad copywriter in Chicago, Rochester, New York, and Dayton, Ohio, where he became creative director at Dancer Fitzgerald Sample. He also wrote for two or three hours almost every night. Some of his early science fiction and fantasy books won a following, and in 1971 he quit advertising to write full time.

After the success of the Kent family and Civil War series, Random House paid Jakes $4 million for “California Gold,” which was a New York Times bestseller for four months in 1989. His $10 million advance a year later produced “The Crown Family Saga,” two novels about a 20th-century Chicago family — “Homeland” (1993) and “American Dreams” (1998) — as well as “In the Big Country” (1993), a collection of his stories set in the American West.

In 2012, Acorn Media released DVDs of “The Kent Family Chronicles” miniseries, with Jim Backus as John Hancock, Peter Graves as George Washington and William Shatner as Paul Revere. Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen and Robert Vaughn also played roles, in wigs, period garb and foreign accents. Almost 35 years later, Jakes was still delighted. “I love melodrama,” he told The Times in an interview. “I never outgrew my fondness for melodrama.”

John Jakes, a superstar writer of historical fiction whose generational family sagas of the American Revolution and the Civil War mingled real and imaginary characters and became runaway bestsellers and popular television fare, died Saturday at a hospice facility in Sarasota, Florida. He was 90.

COVID worsened a health crisis among pregnant women

ers, like Tammy Cunningham, who experienced the kind of severe illness that leads to premature birth and can compromise the longterm health of both mother and child. Lost wages, medical bills and psychological trauma add to the strain.

Pregnancy leaves women uniquely vulnerable to infectious diseases like COVID. The heart, lungs and kidneys are all working harder during pregnancy. The immune system, while not exactly depressed, is retuned to accommodate the fetus.

Abdominal pressure reduces excess lung capacity. Blood clots more easily, a tendency amplified by COVID, raising the risk of dangerous blockages. The infection also appears to damage the placenta, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to the fetus, and may increase the risk of a dangerous complication of pregnancy called preeclampsia.

Pregnant women with COVID face a sevenfold risk of dying compared with uninfected pregnant women, according to one large meta-analysis tracking unvaccinated people. The infection also makes it more likely that a woman will give birth prematurely and that the baby will require neonatal intensive care.

A COVID test came back negative, and Cunningham was happy to return to her job. She had already lost wages after earlier pandemic furloughs at the auto parts plant where she worked. On May 3, 2021, shortly after clocking in, she turned to a friend at the plant and said, “I can’t breathe.”

By the time she arrived at IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, she was in acute respiratory distress. Doctors diagnosed pneumonia and found patchy shadows in her lungs.

Her oxygen levels continued falling even after she was put on undiluted oxygen, and even after the baby was delivered.

“It was clear her lungs were extremely damaged and unable to work on their own,” said Dr. Omar Rahman, a critical care physician who treated Cunningham. Already on a ventilator, Cunningham was connected to a specialized heart-lung bypass machine. But over the next 10 days, Cunningham started to recover. Once she was weaned off the heart-lung machine, she discovered she had missed a major life event while under sedation: She had a son.

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Tammy Cunningham doesn’t remember the birth of her son. She was not quite seven months pregnant when she became acutely ill with COVID-19 in May 2021. By the time she was taken by helicopter to an Indianapolis hospital, she was coughing and gasping for breath.

The baby was not due for 11 more weeks, but Cunningham’s lungs were failing. The medical team, worried that neither she nor the fetus would survive so long as she was pregnant, asked her fiance to authorize an emergency cesarean section.

“I asked, ‘Are they both going to make it?’” Matt Cunningham recalled. “And they said they couldn’t answer that.”

New government data suggests that scenes like this played out with shocking frequency in 2021, the second year of the pandemic.

The National Center for Health Statistics reported Thursday that 1,205 pregnant women died in 2021, representing a 40% increase in maternal deaths compared with 2020, when there were 861 deaths, and a 60% increase compared with 2019, when there were 754.

The count includes deaths of women who were pregnant or had been pregnant within the last 42 days, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy. A separate report by the Government Accountability Office has cited COVID as a contributing factor in at least 400 maternal deaths in 2021, accounting for much of the increase.

Even before the pandemic, the United States had the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized nation. The coronavirus worsened an already dire situation, pushing the rate to 32.9 per 100,000 births in 2021 from 20.1 per 100,000 live births in 2019.

The racial disparities have been particularly acute. The maternal mortality rate among Black women rose to 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, 2.6 times the rate among white women. From 2020 to 2021, mortality rates doubled among Native American and Alaska Native women who were pregnant or had given birth within the previous year, according to a study published Thursday in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

The deaths tell only part of the story. For each woman who died of a pregnancy-related complication, there were many oth-

Fortunately, the current omicron variant appears to be less virulent than the delta variant, which surfaced in the summer of 2021, and more people have acquired immunity to the coronavirus by now. Preliminary figures suggest maternal deaths dropped to roughly pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

But pregnancy continues to be a factor that makes even young women uniquely vulnerable to severe illness. Cunningham, now 39, who was slightly overweight when she became pregnant, had just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes when she got sick.

“It’s something I talk to all my patients about,” said Dr. Torri Metz, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at the University of Utah. “If they have some of these underlying medical conditions and they’re pregnant, both of which are high-risk categories, they have to be especially careful about putting themselves at risk of exposure to any kind of respiratory virus, because we know that pregnant people get sicker from those viruses.”

In the summer of 2021, scientists were somewhat unsure of the safety of mRNA vaccines during pregnancy; pregnant women had been excluded from the clinical trials, as they often are. It was not until August 2021 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with unambiguous guidance supporting vaccination for pregnant women.

Most of the pregnant women who died of COVID had not been vaccinated. These days, more than 70% of pregnant women have gotten COVID vaccines, but only about 20% have received the bivalent boosters.

“We know definitively that vaccination prevents severe disease and hospitalization and prevents poor maternal and infant outcomes,” said Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, chief of the CDC’s infant outcomes monitoring, research and prevention branch. “We have to keep emphasizing that point.”

Cunningham’s obstetrician had encouraged her to get the shots, but she vacillated. She was “almost there” when she suddenly started having unusually heavy nosebleeds that produced blood clots “the size of golf balls,” she said.

Cunningham was also feeling short of breath, but she ascribed that to the advancing pregnancy. (Many COVID symptoms can be missed because they resemble those normally occurring in pregnancy.)

He was born 29 weeks and two days into the pregnancy, weighing 3 pounds.

Premature births declined slightly during the first year of the pandemic. But they rose sharply in 2021, the year of the delta surge, reaching the highest rate since 2007.

Some 10.5% of all births were preterm that year, up from 10.1% in 2020, and from 10.2% in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

Although the Cunninghams’ baby, Calum, never tested positive for COVID, he was hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. He was on a breathing tube, and occasionally stopped breathing for seconds at a time.

Doctors worried that he was not gaining weight quickly enough — “failure to thrive,” they wrote in his chart. They worried about possible vision and hearing loss.

But after 66 days in the NICU, the Cunninghams were able to take Calum home. They learned how to use his feeding tube by practicing on a mannequin, and they prepared for the worst.

“From everything they told us, he was going to have developmental delays and be really behind,” Matt Cunningham said.

After her discharge from the hospital, Tammy Cunningham was under strict orders to have a caretaker with her at all times and to rest. She didn’t return to work for seven months, after she finally secured her doctors’ approval.

Although she is back to work at the plant, Cunningham has lingering symptoms, including migraines and short-term memory problems. She forgets doctor’s appointments and what she went to the store for. Recently she left her card in an ATM.

Calum, however, has surprised everyone. Within months of coming home from the hospital, he was reaching developmental milestones on time. He started walking soon after his first birthday, and likes to chime in with “What’s up?” and “Uh-oh!”

He has been back to the hospital for viral infections, but his vocabulary and comprehension are superb, his father said. “If you ask if he wants a bath, he’ll take off all his clothes and meet you at the bath,” he said.

Louann Gross, who owns the day care that Calum attends, said he has a hearty appetite — often asking for “thirds” — and more than keeps up with his peers. She added, “I nicknamed him our ‘Superbaby.’”

Matt and Tammy Cunningham with their son, Calum, in Kokomo, Ind. on Friday, March 10, 2023. In 2021, deaths of pregnant women soared by 40 percent in the United States, according to new government figures.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

RENATO GARCIA GARCIA

Parte Peticionaria EXPARTE

Caso Núm.: HU2023CV00099.

Sala: 207. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS.

A: JOHN DOE, JANE DOE, RICHARD DOE, LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS Y DESCONOCIDAS A QUIENES PUDIERA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN DEL DOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA EN EL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE DESCRIBIRÁ Y A TODA PERSONA EN GENERAL

QUE CON DERECHO PARA ELLO DESEE OPONERSE A ESTE EXPEDIENTE.

POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica para que comparezcan, silo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle y conceder el remedio solicitando en la petición o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. RÚSTICA: Parcela de terreno radicada en el Barrio Tejas, sector Los Perales, del municipio de Las Piedras, Puerto Rio, con una cabida superficial de Cuatro Mil Seiscientos Cuarenta y Siete Punto Seis Mil Seiscientos

Setenta (4,647.6670) Metros Cuadrados, equivalentes a Uno Punto Mil Ochocientos Veinticinco (1.1825) Metros Cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con Henry Rivera; por el SUR, con Renato García García; por el ESTE, con Francisco Castro; y por el OESTE, con Idalia Sánchez. Número de Catastro: 304-031-319-20-000. Valor de la propiedad es de Treinta Mil Dólares ($30,000.00). La abogada de la parte peticionaria es la Lcda. Lizibel Salazar Acevedo, con oficina en la Avenida Ponce de León 452, Edif. Asociación de Maestros, Oficina 514, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918-3412, dirección postal P.O. Box 367265, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936, Tel. 787-475-2288. Se le informa además, que el Tribunal ha señalado vista en este caso para el a las en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala de Guaynabo, a la cual usted puede comparecer asistido por abogado y presentar oposición a la petición. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo. Se identificará en letra tamaño 10 punto y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de veinte (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación de edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más çitarle ni oírle. En Humacao, Puerto Rico, a 22 de febrero de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA

RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DALISSA REYES DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO

RENATO GARCIA GARCIA

Parte Peticionaria EXPARTE

Caso Núm.: HU2023CV00099.

Sala: 207. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS.

A: SANTOS CASTRO

CRUZ, CARMEN PERALES CRUZ Y FRANCISCO CASTRO.

POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica para que comparezcan, silo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle y conceder el remedio solicitando en la petición o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. RÚSTICA: Parcela de terreno radicada en el Barrio Tejas, sector Los Perales, del municipio de Las Piedras, Puerto Rio, con una cabida superficial de Cuatro Mil Seiscientos Cuarenta y Siete Punto Seis Mil Seiscientos Setenta (4,647.6670) Metros Cuadrados, equivalentes a Uno Punto Mil Ochocientos Veinticinco (1.1825) Metros Cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con Henry Rivera; por el SUR, con Renato García García; por el ESTE, con Francisco Castro; y por el OESTE, con Idalia Sánchez. Número de Catastro: 304-031-319-20-000. Valor de la propiedad es de Treinta Mil Dólares ($30,000.00). La abogada de la parte peticionaria es la Lcda. Lizibel Salazar Acevedo, con oficina en la Avenida Ponce de León 452, Edif. Asociación de Maestros, Oficina 514, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918-3412, dirección postal P.O. Box 367265, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936, Tel. 787-475-2288. Se le informa además, que el Tribunal ha señalado vista en este caso para el a las en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala de Guaynabo, a la cual usted puede comparecer asistido por abogado y presentar oposición a la petición. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que com-

parezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo. Se identificará en letra tamaño 10 punto y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de veinte (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación de edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más çitarle ni oírle. En Humacao, Puerto Rico, a 22 de febrero de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DALISSA REYES DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

JUAN ANTONIO BONILLA RAMOS Y RAMONITA GARCIA FLORES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA ENTRE AMBOS

EXPARTE

Civil Núm.: CG2022CV03198. Sobre: USUCAPIÓN EXTRAORDINARIA Y/O PRESCRIPCIÓN ADQUISITIVA; EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LO ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: OTRAS PERSONAS O MIEMBROS DE SUCESIÓN DESCONOCIDAS, IGNORADAS, AUSENTES DE LA JURISDICCIÓN, Y/O CUYO PARADERO SE DESCONOCE, Y/O A QUIENES PUEDA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN DE DOMINIO SOLICITADA DEL INMUEBLE, INCLUYENDO POSIBLES DUEÑOS ANTERIORES Y SUS HEREDEROS, QUE SE DESCRIBE EN DICHA PETICIÓN.

POR LA PRESENTE, se notifica a ustedes que se ha presentado ante este Tribunal una Petición Jurada sobre Expediente de Dominio, con el fin de justificar e inscribir a favor

de JUAN ANTONIO BONILLA RAMOS y RAMONITA GARCIA FLORES y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA ENTRE AMBOS, el dominio sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: PREDIO DE TERRENO: con un área de dos mil trescientos cuarenta y ocho punto cero nueve seis seis metros cuadrados (2,348.0966 M.C.) o cero punto cinco nueve siete cuatro cuerdas de terreno (0.5974 CDA.) localizado en la Carr. P.R.-919, KM. 10.8 (Int.) Barrio Valenciano Abajo, Juncos, Puerto Rico. Que los vecinos colindantes del predio de terreno, según el plano de mensura son los siguientes: Jesús López López, Juan A. Bonilla Ramos, Mireliz Soto Martínez, Manuel Bonilla Ramos. Que el número de catastro del terreno es el siguiente: 253-022-56420. El inmueble antes descrito no consta inscrito en el Registro de la Propiedad. Se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante el Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días, contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto, a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga, en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria, para que se inscriba el dominio sobre la propiedad antes descrita, a favor de de JUAN ANTONIO BONILLA RAMOS y RAMONITA GARCIA FLORES y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA ENTRE AMBOS. Se les notifica, que deberán 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.poderjudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, y enviando copia a la parte peticionaria: Lcdo. Carlos J. Rodríguez Beltrán y Lcdo. Gabriel J. Pagán Sánchez, cuya dirección es: 10 Calle Teodomiro Delfaus, Juncos, Puerto Rico 00777, Tel. 787-734-7000; y correo electrónico: crodriguez@lawver.com y gabrielpagan.law@gmail.com. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar Resolución, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Expedido bajo mi

firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 15 de diciembre de 2022. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. GLORISSETTE RIVERA REYES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE RÍO GRANDE EN FAJARDO SUPERIOR LIMITADO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. REINALDO MÉNDEZ

HERNÁNDEZ; DIANEPSIS

VIDAL FERNÁNDEZ

Demandados

Civil Núm.: N3CI2016-00318. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, a la parte demandada y al público en general les notifico que, cumpliendo con un Mandamiento que se ha librado en el presente caso por el Secretario del Tribunal de epígrafe con fecha 25 de enero de 2023 y para satisfacer la Sentencia dictada en el caso de autos fechada dictada el día el 31 de octubre de 2016, notificada el 28 de noviembre de 2016, este Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia contra la parte demandada; siendo la Sentencia publicada en un periódico de circulación general, The San Juan Star, el 21 de noviembre de 2019. Se procederá a vender el día 5 DE JULIO DE 2023 A LAS 2:00 DE LA TARDE, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Jardines de Río Grande, situada en el Barrio Pueblo del término municipal de Río Grande, Puerto Rico, que se describe en el Plano de Inscripción de la Urbanización con el número, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación: Solar número seiscientos setenticuatro del Bloque “BJ”, con un área de trescientos cuarentiun metros cuadrados con siete centímetros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en trece metros veintitrés centímetros con la calle cincuentiuno; por

el SUR, en trece metros con la Carretera Estatal número tres; por el ESTE, en veintiséis metros con el solar seiscientos setenticinco del Bloque “BJ”; y por el OESTE, en veintiséis metros con el solar seiscientos setentitrés del Bloque “BJ”. En el inmueble, antes descrito, enclava una casa de una sola planta de concreto reforzado y bloques de concreto para fines residenciales. Finca número 8,245, inscrita al folio 210 del tomo 165 de Río Grande, Registro de la Propiedad de Carolina, Sección Tercera. Que con el importe de dicha venta se habrá de satisfacer a la parte demandante las cantidades adeudadas, según la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo. El remate comenzará por las sumas adeudadas declaradas en la Sentencia, y se llevará a cabo para con su producto, satisfacer dichas sumas. Las cuantías de la sentencia se describen de la siguiente manera: $118,538.00 por concepto de principal adeudada según la Sentencia, más los otros gastos, intereses y recargos que se acumulan hasta la fecha de su total y completo pago, más las costas y gastos del proceso. Debido al incumplimiento de la parte demandada, con los términos de contrato habido entre las partes se declara con lugar la demanda y se ordena la ejecución de hipoteca y venta en pública subasta de la propiedad objeto de este pleito, declarando vencida la suma de $118,538.00 por concepto de principal y otras sumas adeudadas según la Sentencia, más los otros gastos, intereses y recargos que se acumulan hasta la fecha de su total y completo pago, más las costas y gastos del proceso. La subasta se llevará a cabo el día 5 DE JULIO DE 2023 A LAS 2:00 DE LA TARDE. La venta de la propiedad será realizada para cubrir el importe adeudado a la demandante, el cual al momento de la Sentencia ascendía a la suma de $118,538.00 adeudada según la Sentencia, más los otros gastos, intereses y recargos que se acumulan hasta la fecha de su total y completo pago, más las costas y gastos del proceso. Se le advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el mismo acto de la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, efectivo, giro y/o cheque de gerente a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, y para conocimiento de la

parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tenga (n) interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecutando, que los mismos serán eliminados del Registro de la Propiedad, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el termino de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo siempre que haya comparecido al pleito. Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, a 21 de febrero de 2023. SANDRALIZ MARTÍNEZ TORRES, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #737, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE FAJARDO. JORGE A. ORTIZ ESTRADA, ALGUACIL REGIONAL INTERINO #622.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE FAJARDO SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

el cual consiste en el pago de $85,941.25 de principal, más intereses convenidos al 4.0000% anual más recargos hasta su pago, más el pago de lo pactado en la sentencia para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. 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 demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Si la subasta es adjudicada a un tercero y luego se deja sin efecto, el tercero a favor de quién se adjudicó la subasta solo tendrá derecho a la devolución del monto consignado más no tendrá derecho a entablar recurso o reclamo adicional alguno (judicial o extrajudicial) contra el demandante y/o el acreedor y/o inversionista, dueño pagaré y/o su abogado. Si se anula la venta, el comprador tendrá derecho a la devolución del depósito de la venta judicial menos los honorarios y costos incurridos en el proceso de venta judicial. No tendrá ningún otro recurso contra el acreedor hipotecario ejecutante ni la representación legal de éste. Por la presente, también se notifica e informa al Secretario del Departamento de Desarrollo Urbano y Vivienda de los Estados Unidos de América, por éstos contar con una hipoteca a su favor por la suma de $5,487.50, sin intereses y a vencer el 1ro de febrero del 2044, según, consta de la escritura #41, otorgada en San Juan, el 31 de enero de 2014 ante la Notario Ileana Quintero Aguiló, inscrito al folio 152 vuelto del tomo 269 de Aibonito, finca 3,765, inscripción 9na. Además, se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Primera, Segunda y Tercera Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las car-

gas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 20 de enero de 2023. JUAN O. BURGOS BURGOS, ALGUACIL REGIONAL, SALA SUPERIOR DE AIBONITO.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE PATILLAS

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE PEDRO RIVERA LEBRON y SUCESION DE PEDRO RIVERA RIVERA, COMPUESTAS POR

FULANO DE TAL

Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE MABAS SUCESIONES; BENJAMIN CINTRON LEBRON

Demandados ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO – SECRETARIO DE HACIENDA; ADMINISTRACION PARA EL SUSTENTO DE MENORES; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Partes Interesadas

Civil Núm.: G3CI2015-00160.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA.

EDICTO ANUNCIANDO PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de Guayama, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fe-

cha 10 de septiembre de 2021, y según Orden y Mandamiento del 27 de enero de 2023 librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar radicado en el número tres del bloque E en el plano de inscripción de la Urbanización Jardines de Patillas, localizada en el barrio Los Pollos del término municipal de Patillas, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de ciento ochenta y nueve punto noventa y tres metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar número cuatro, en una distancia de once punto sesenta y siete metros; por el SUR, con la calle número cuatro, en una distancia de ocho punto diecisiete metros, y un radio de curva de tres punto cincuenta metros; por el ESTE, con la calle número tres, en una distancia de trece punto cero cero metros; y por el OESTE, con el solar número dos, en una distancia de dieciséis punto cincuenta metros, y un radio de curva de tres punto cincuenta metros. Enclava edificación.

FINCA NÚMERO: 8,340, inscrita al folio 29 del tomo 226 de Patillas, Registro de Guayama.

DIRECCIÓN FÍSICA: URB.

JARDINES DE PATILLAS, E-3 CALLE 4, PATILLAS PR 00723. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 13 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Guayama. Siendo ésta la primera subasta que se celebrará en este caso, será el precio mínimo aceptable como oferta en la Primera Subasta, eso es el tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $79,346.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta primera subasta por dicha suma mínima, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 20 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar antes señalado en la cual el precio mínimo serán dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $52,897.33.

De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta segunda subasta por el tipo mínimo indicado en el párrafo anterior, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes señalado el día 27 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la cual el tipo mínimo aceptable como oferta será la mitad (1/2) del precio

mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $39,673.00. Si se declare desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Con el importe de esta venta se habrá de satisfacer el balance de la sentencia dictada en este caso el cual consiste en el pago de $58,627.25 de principal, más intereses convenidos al 8.0000% anual más recargos hasta su pago, más el pago de lo pactado en la sentencia para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. 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 demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Si la subasta es adjudicada a un tercero y luego se deja sin efecto, el tercero a favor de quién se adjudicó la subasta solo tendrá derecho a la devolución del monto consignado más no tendrá derecho a entablar recurso o reclamo adicional alguno (judicial o extrajudicial) contra el demandante y/o el acreedor y/o inversionista, dueño pagaré y/o su abogado. Si se anula la venta, el comprador tendrá derecho a la devolución del depósito de la venta judicial menos los honorarios y costos incurridos en el proceso de venta judicial. No tendrá ningún otro recurso contra el acreedor hipotecario ejecutante ni la representación legal de éste. Por la presente también se notifica e informa al Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, Secretario de Hacienda, por éstos contar con un embargo a su favor por la suma de $83,367.14 presentado al asiento 2016-002492-EST del tomo Karibe, según certificado de fecha 4 de febrero de 2016, bajo el número CAG-16-0313 y fecha 1 de febrero de 2017. Pendiente de calificación y despacho. Además, se notifica e informa a la Administración para el Sustento de Menores (ASUME) y al Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales (CRIM) por éstos ser partes interesadas en el caso de epígrafe. También, se notifi-

ca e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Primera, Segunda y Tercera Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 10 de febrero de 2023. LITZY M. CORA ANAYA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #247, SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN

JUAN

FEDERAL NATIONAL

MORTGAGE

ASSOCIATION T/C/C

FANNIE MAE

Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE FRANCISCO ROMAN

ACEVEDO COMPUESTA

POR SUS HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS Y/O

PARTES CON INTERES

FULANO DE TAL Y

SUTANA DE TAL

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV01395. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO ANUNCIANDO PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA. El Alguacil

que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de la Sala Superior de San Juan, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fecha 20 de diciembre de 2022, y según Orden y Mandamiento del 17 de febrero 2023 librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA:

PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL:

Apartment one thousand two hundred seven is situated on the twelfth floor of the building, in the section which composes the western part of the building. It consists of a regular rectangular shaped body, measuring approximately thirty one feet zero inches long, by twenty three feet and a quarter of an inch wide, and an open balcony, eleven feet eleven inches long, by five feet five inches wide, that is, an area of six hundred fifty six square feet and eighty seven hundredths of another equivalent to sixty one square meters and ten hundredths of another; bounding on the NORTH, with an interior wall which separates it from the common public corridor to which the entrance door of the apartment opens; on the SOUTH, with an exterior wall which separates it from the common yard on the southern side of the building where the balcony opens; on the EAST, with a party wall which separates it from apartment one thousand two hundred six; on the WEST, with a party wall which separates it from apartment one thousand two hundred eight. This apartment consists of two bedrooms with their closets, a hall, one bathroom, combination of living and dining room, which gives access to the open balcony, storage closets, kitchen equipped with cabinets and thirty gallons capacity water heater. FINCA NÚMERO: 22,351Bis, inscrita al folio 86 del tomo 711 de Monacillos, sección III de San Juan. Dirección Física: COND. BORINQUEN TOWER, APTO. 1207, SAN JUAN, PR 00926. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 11 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de San Juan. Siendo ésta la primera subasta que se celebrará en este caso, será el precio mínimo aceptable como oferta en la Primera Subasta, eso es el tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad,

la suma de $100,000.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta primera subasta por dicha suma mínima, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 18 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar antes señalado en la cual el precio mínimo serán dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $66,666.66. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta segunda subasta por el tipo mínimo indicado en el párrafo anterior, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes señalado el día 25 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la cual el tipo mínimo aceptable como oferta será la mitad (1/2) del precio mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $50,000.00. Si se declare desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Con el importe de esta venta se habrá de satisfacer el balance de la sentencia dictada en este caso el cual consiste en el pago de $$73,872.35 de principal, más intereses convenidos al 5.25% anual más recargos hasta su pago, más el pago de lo pactado en la sentencia para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. 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 demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Por la presente, también se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Primera, Segunda y Tercera Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo

licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 28 de febrero de 2023. PEDRO HIEYE GONZÁLEZ, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE

ASSOCIATION T/C/C FANNIE MAE Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE ALFONSO CRUET IRIZARRY COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS MARÍA SOCORRO CRUET T/C/C MARÍA MORALES

SÁNCHEZ T/C/C MARÍA SOCORRO MORALES, POR SI; JAVIER A. CRUET, PATRICK A. CRUET, SUCESION DE JARVIS CRUET, COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS HEATHER CRUET, JONATHAN CRUET, LOGAN CRUET, MARISA CRUET, ZACHARY CRUET, NATHAN CRUET Y DYLAN CRUET; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O

PARTES CON INTERES EN LA SUCESION Demandados Civil Núm.: FA2022CV00268.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO.

EDICTO ANUNCIANDO SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fecha 5 de julio de 2022 y según Orden y Mandamiento del 19 de agosto de 2022, librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA:

PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL:

Apartamento número Doscientos Tres (203) del bloque “O” de la Loma de Fajardo, localizado en el Barrio Quebrada de la municipalidad de Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Con una cabida superficial de mil doscientos cincuenta punto sesenta y un pies cuadrados (1,250.61 p.c.). Colinda por el NORTE, en treinta y cinco pies cero pulgadas (35’-0”) con el Apartamento número Doscientos Dos (202) del bloque “O” (O-202); por el SUR, en once pies nueve pulgadas (11’-9”) con el Apartamento número Doscientos Cuatro (204) del bloque “O” (O204) y en diecinueve pies tres pulgadas (19’-3”) con las escaleras; por el ESTE, en treinta y ocho pies ocho pulgadas (38’8”) con parte exterior; y por el OESTE, en treinta y cuatro pies nueve pulgadas (34’-9”) con parte exterior y en tres pies once pulgadas (3’-11”) con las escaleras. Dicho apartamento consta de tres dormitorios, dos (2) baños, sala-comedor, cocina, área de laundry y balcón. Este apartamento tiene una participación de cero punto treinta por ciento (0.30%) en los elementos comunes. Le pertenece como anejos los espacios de estacionamientos marcados con el número cuatrocientos ochenta y dos (482) y cuatrocientos noventa y siete (497). Apartamento 203-O. Presentado y pendiente de inscripción en el Registro de la Propiedad, sección de Fajardo. TRACTO

REGISTRAL: Se separará de la finca #18,580, inscrita al folio 64 del tomo 488 de Fajardo. DI-

RECCIÓN FISICA: LOMA DE FAJARDO, APT. O-203, BARRIO QUEBRADA, FAJARDO, PR 00736. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 12 DE

ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 2:30 DE LA TARDE, en mi oficina sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, PR. Con el importe de esta venta se

habrá de satisfacer el balance de la sentencia dictada en este caso el cual consiste en el pago de $106,623.69 de principal, más intereses convenidos al 5.375% anual más recargos hasta su pago, más el pago de lo pactado en la sentencia para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. 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 demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Por la presente se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 27 de diciembre de 2022.

DENISE BRUNO ORTIZ, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #266, SALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDO.

JORGE A. ORTIZ ESTRADA, ALGUACIL REGIONAL INTERINO #622.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Y SUN

WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO

Demandante Vs. CARMEN MARGARITA

GARCÍA ALVARADO

T/C/C CARMEN M. GARCÍA ALVARADO; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2019CV13132.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (IN REM). EDICTO ANUNCIANDO PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de la Sala Superior de San Juan, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fecha

21 de diciembre de 2022, y según Orden y Mandamiento del 17 de febrero de 2023 librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar número Cuarenta y Dos (42) de la Calle “K” de la Urbanización Eleanor Roosevelt en el Barrio Hato Rey de Río Piedras del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico, compuesto de un área de ciento cuarenta y uno punto nueve mil novecientos cincuenta y siete (141.9957) metros cuadrados equivalentes a un (1) área, cuarenta y un (41) centiáreas y nueve mil novecientos cincuenta y siete (9957) diezmilésimas de otra. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar Cuarenta guión K (40-K), de veinte punto cincuenta y siete (20.57) metros, de los cuales tres punto noventa y seis (3.96) metros, se miden a lo largo de la pared medianera que separa la vivienda enclavada en el solar Cuarenta (40) de la calle “K”; por el SUR, con el solar Cuarenta y Cuatro (44) de la calle “K”, en veinte punto cincuenta y siete (20.57) metros, de los cuales tres punto noventa y seis (3.96) metros, se miden a lo largo de la pared medianera que separa la vivienda enclavada en el solar Cuarenta y Cuatro (44) de la Calle “K” de la

vivienda enclavada en el solar que se describe; por el ESTE, con la Calle “K”, en seis punto ochenta y tres (6.83) metros; y por el OESTE, en callejón de servidumbre, en seis punto ochenta y tres (6.83) metros. Se extiende por pared medianera la pared que separa las distintas viviendas. Enclava casa de concreto. FINCA NÚMERO: 14,454, inscrita al folio 66 del tomo 556 de Río Piedras Norte, sección II de San Juan. Dirección Física: URB.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT 376 ANTOLIN NIN, SAN JUAN PR 00918. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 13 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de San Juan. Siendo ésta la primera subasta que se celebrará en este caso, será el precio mínimo aceptable como oferta en la Primera Subasta, eso es el tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $104,000.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta primera subasta por dicha suma mínima, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 20 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar antes señalado en la cual el precio mínimo serán dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $69,333.33. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta segunda subasta por el tipo mínimo indicado en el párrafo anterior, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes señalado el día 27 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la cual el tipo mínimo aceptable como oferta será la mitad (1/2) del precio mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $52,000.00. Si se declare desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. El Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia In Rem, declarando Con Lugar la demanda al incumplir la parte demandada con los términos del contrato hipotecario y ordenando la venta en pública subasta del inmueble antes descrito. A tenor con la Regla 51.3

(b) de Procedimiento Civil y el Artículo 99 de la Ley 210-2015, conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”, el tribunal ordenó que el Alguacil de este Tribunal luego de haberse efectuado la

correspondiente publicación de edictos en un periódico de circulación general, proceda a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor la propiedad descrita en las Determinaciones de Hechos de la Sentencia y que del producto de dicha venta, proceda a pagar en primer término los gastos del Alguacil, en segundo término las costas y honorarios de abogados según concedidos en esta sentencia, en tercer término los intereses acumulados por esta sentencia, en cuarto término los recargos acumulados, en quinto cualquier suma antes indicada como sobregiro en la cuenta de reserva y en sexto término hasta la suma de $174,366.99, para cubrir el principal pendiente de pago más los intereses acumulados hasta el día de la Venta Judicial, disponiéndose que si quedare algún remanente luego de pagarse las sumas antes mencionadas el mismo deberá ser depositado en la Secretaría del Tribunal para ser entregado a los demandados previa solicitud y orden del Tribunal. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. 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 demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Por la presente también se notifica e informa al Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano, por éstos contar con una hipoteca a su orden, por la suma de $104,000.00, intereses al 7% anual y a vencer presentación, según consta de la escritura #383 otorgada en San Juan, el 21 de septiembre de 2007, ante el Notario Namyr I. Hernandez Sanchez, inscrito al folio 23 del tomo 1536 de Río Piedras Norte, finca #14,454, inscripción 5ta. Por la presente, también se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Primera, Segunda y Tercera Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de di-

cha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 6 de marzo de 2023.

PEDRO HIEYE GONZÁLEZ, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN. ***

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

GITSIT SOLUTIONS, LLC Demandante V.

SUCESIÓN DE EUFEMIA

CIRINO ORTIZ T/C/C

EUFEMIA CIRINO, SUCESIÓN DE AGESIMO

OSORIO CALDERON AMBAS COMPUESTAS

POR SUS HIJOS NYDIA

OSORIO CIRINO, FELIPE

OSORIO CIRINO, FREDDY OSORIO CIRINO, ANA

MARIA OSORIO CIRINO, ROGELIO OSORIO

CIRINO, AMANDA

OSORIO CIRINO, MARIBEL OSORIO

CIRINO, JAIME OSORIO

CIRINO, HECTOR OSORIO

CIRINO, VIRGEN OSORIO CIRINO; FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA SUCESIÓN; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM), COMO PARTE CON POSIBLE INTERÉS Demandados

Civil Núm.: LO2023CV00004.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HI-

POTECA - IN REM. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: LA SUCESIÓN DE EUFEMIA CIRINO ORTIZ

T/C/C EUFEMIA CIRINO, SUCESIÓN DE AGESIMO OSORIO CALDERON AMBAS COMPUESTAS POR SUS HIJOS NYDIA

OSORIO CIRINO, FELIPE OSORIO CIRINO, FREDDY OSORIO CIRINO, ANA MARIA OSORIO CIRINO, ROGELIO OSORIO CIRINO, AMANDA OSORIO CIRINO, MARIBEL OSORIO CIRINO, JAIME OSORIO CIRINO, HECTOR OSORIO CIRINO; FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA SUCESIÓN.

Queden emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en su contra. 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 y deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), el cual podrá acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar Sentencia en Rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su discreción, lo entiende procedente. Los abogados de la parte demandante

son:

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA WENDELL WILLIAM COLON MUÑOZ Demandante V. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA ACTUANDO POR CONDUCTO DE LA ADMINISTRACION DE HOGARES AGRICULTORES DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE AGRICULTURA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS Demandado(a)

Civil: CA2022CV03416. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

Lcdo. Andrés Sáez Marrero

T.S.P.R. Núm. 18074

TROMBERG, MORRIS & POULIN, LLC

1515 South Federal Highway, Suite 100 Boca Raton, FL 33432

Tel. 877-338-4101 /

Fax: 561-338-4077 prservice@tmppllc.com / asaez@tmppllc.com

Expido este edicto bajo mi filma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 8 de marzo de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DENISSE TORRES RUIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

A: ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA POR CONDCTO DE LA ADMINISTRACION DE HOGARES AGRICULTORES DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE AGRICULTORES DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS. (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 7 de marzo 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 9 de marzo de 2023. En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 9 de marzo de 2023. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DENISSE TORRES RUIZ, SE-

CRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INS-

TANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HATILLO

REVERSE MORTGAGE

FUNDING LLC.

Demandante V.

SUCESION CARMELO

ANDRES HERRERA

DORTA T/C/C CARMELO

A. HERRERA DORTA

T/C/C CARMELO

ANDRES HERRERA T/C/C

CARMELO HERRERA

DORTA T/C/C CARMELO

A. HERRERA T/C/C

CARMEL HERRERA

COMPUESTA POR JOHN

DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESION CARMEN

ANTONIA HERRERA

ROSA T/C/C CARMEN

HERRERA ROSA T/C/C

CARMEN ANTONIA

HERRERA T/C/C CARMEN

HERRERA ROSA T/C/C

CARMEN A. HERRERA

T/C/C CARMEN HERRERA

COMPUESTA POR JOHN

ROE Y JANE ROE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS;

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandado(a)

Civil: AR2021CV01363. Sobre:

EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA.

NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTEN-

CIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES MIEMBROS

DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION CARMELO ANDRES HERRERA

DORTA T/C/C CARMELO

A. HERRERA DORTA

T/C/C CARMELO

ANDRES HERRERA

T/C/C CARMELO HERRERA DORTA

T/C/C CARMELO A.

HERRERA T/C/C CARMEL

HERRERA; JOHN ROE

Y JANE ROE COMO

POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION CARMEN

ANTONIA HERRERA

ROSA T/C/C CARMEN

HERRERA ROSA T/C/C

CARMEN ANTONIA

HERRERA T/C/C

CARMEN HERRERA

ROSA T/C/C CARMEN A.

HERRERA T/C/C CARMEN HERRERA.

(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 28 de febrero 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 7 de marzo de 2023. En Hatillo, Puerto Rico, el 7 de marzo de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE

GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. BRENDA LIZ TORRES MUÑIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAMUY DDR NORTE LLC S E

Demandante V. BORIKUAS CORP., ET ALS

Demandado(a)

Civil: AR2022CV01148. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ANGEL L. QUIÑONES. (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 16 de febrero 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 13 de marzo de 2023. En Camuy, Puerto Rico, el 13 de marzo de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. YOLANDA RIVERA COLÓN, SECRETARA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO LIME HOMES, LTD.

Plaintiff, Vs. ELIZARDO MATOS CRUZ

Defendant(s) Civil No.: 3:20-CV-01024.

(ADC). FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE AND COLLECTION OF MONIES. DEFAULT

JUDGMENT. On January 17,

2020, Plaintiff filed the instant complaint against ELIZARDO MATOS CRUZ, (hereinafter “Defendant”); for Defendant’s non-compliance with the terms and conditions of a loan and mortgage deed in the amount of TWO HUNDRED THIRTYFOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS ($234,000.00), executed on January 29,2000. Defendant was served by publication on August 24, 2022, pursuant to, and in compliance with the applicable Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Defendant failed to appear, plead or answer the complaint. Accordingly, on December 6, 2022, the default was entered against them pursuant to F.R.Civ. P. 55 (a). Plaintiff’s motion for judgment includes all the evidence necessary to prove the allegations of the complaint. That evidence and the information included in this case are sufficient for the Court to enter judgment by default pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. 55, and ORDERS, ADJUDGES AND DECREES: On January 29, 2000, for value received, a mortgage note payable to Popular Mortgage, Inc., or its order, was executed before Notary Public Mireya Ocasio García, affidavit number 228. The mortgage note in the principal sum of $234,000.00 bears interest on its unpaid principal balance at the rate of 8 3/4% per annum until the debt is paid in full. The principal and interests due under the mortgage note are payable m monthly installments. The mortgage note provides for the payment of late charges in the amount of 5% of each and every monthly installments not received by the person entitled to enforce the instrument within 15 days after the installment is due, and for the payment of 10% of the original principal balance, or $23,400.00 to cover costs, expenses and

attorney’s fees in the event the person entitled to enforce the instrument is required to seek judicial collection. As guarantee of the repayment obligation evidenced by the Mortgage Note, Defendant also executed on January 29, 2000, mortgage Deed number 37 before Notary Public Mireya Ocasio García, to secure the repayment of (a) the indebtedness evidenced by the mortgage note, (b) an amount of 10% of the original principal balance, or $23,400.00 to cover cost, expenses and attorney’s fees in the event of judicial collection, (c) amount of 10% of the original principal balance, or $23,400.00 to cover any advances made under the mortgage deed, and (d) an amount of 10% of the original principal balance, or $23,400.00 to cover interests in addition to those secured by law. The mortgage is recorded at page 217 of volume 1416 of Guaynabo, property number 12779, Registry of the Property of Puerto Rico in Guaynabo, 15th inscription. Plaintiff and Defendant modified the above referred obligation by Stipulation for Plan Treatment on First Lien Secured by Real Property at I-3 Caparra Hills, Guaynabo, approved on April 25, 2017, by the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico in Case No. 16-02354 BKT11. This modified the interest rate to 5.25% per annum, to be paid in consecutive monthly installments of $1,715.23, plus escrow amounts. The mortgage deed encumbers the property described below in the Spanish language: URBANA: Solar 3 bloque I del plano de inscripción de la Urbanización Caparra Hills en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, con un área de 657.636 metros cuadrados. Lindando al NORTE, en 30.670 metros con solar 4; por el SUR, en 30.00 metros con solar 2; por el ESTE, en 23.809 metros con solar 8 y por el OESTE, en 20.01 metros con Calle 2. Recorded at page 191, volume 186 of Guaynabo, property number 12779, Registry of the Property of Puerto Rico in Guaynabo. LIME HOMES, LTD, is the person entitled to enforce the mortgage note pursuant to 19 L.P.R.A. Sec. 601. It was expressly stipulated in the mortgage note and in the mortgage that default in the payment of the monthly installments or failure to comply with the covenants or agreements included in the mortgage note and/or the mortgage deed would authorize the person entitled to enforce the instrument to declare due and payable, and to proceed with the execution or foreclosure of the mortgage. The last payment made by the defendant under the mortgage note was the payment due on November 1st, 2017. The Defendant has failed to comply with the

terms of the mortgage note and the mortgage deed and have breached their duties to pay the monthly installments due since November 1, 2017, until present day. LIME HOMES, LTD, has attempted without avail to collect the indebtedness evidenced by the mortgage note. The entire principal sum and accrued interests and expenses have become due and payable pursuant to the acceleration clause of the mortgage and mortgage deed. After declaring all the indebtedness of the Defendants due and payable, the Defendant owes LIME HOMES, LTD and are ORDERED to pay the Plaintiff the principal sum of $307,352.52, plus interest 5.25000% per annum from October 1st, 2017, until the debt is paid in full. The Defendants also owe and are ORDERED to pay LIME HOMES, LTD late charges in the amount of 5% of each and every monthly installment not received by the person entitled to enforce the instrument within 15 days after the installment was due, until the debt is paid in full. The Defendants also owe and are ORDERED to pay LIME HOMES, LTD all advances made under the mortgage note, including, but not limited to, insurance premiums, taxes and inspections, as well as 10% of the original principal balance, or $23,400.00 to cover costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligation. If the Defendants do not pay the amount of money ordered to pay or ay part of it within ten (10) days from the date of entry of judgment, the property, pursuant to Plaintiff’s request, and with the purpose of collecting the monies due pursuant to the mortgage note, the mortgage deed and this judgment shall be sold to its highest bidder ata public auction or judicial sale, by the United States Marshal for this district or the Special Master to be appointed by this Court. The United States Marshal or the Special Master shall conduct the sale of the property in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 2001 and 2002. The amount of $234,000.00. as set forth in the mortgage deed, shall serve as the mínimum bidding amount for the first public sale. Should the first public sale fail to produce an award or adjudication, two-thirds (2/3) of the amount of the first public sale or $156,000.00 shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the second public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the second public sale, the minimum bidding amount for the third public sale shall be $117,000.00, equivalent to half (1/2) the amount set for the first public sale. The United States Marshal or the Special Master shall issue the corresponding

notice of sale to be published in a newspaper of general circulation. Once the order of confirmation of the sale is entered, the United States Marshal or the Special Master will execute the corresponding deed of judicial sale vesting title of the property to the purchaser, who shall be entitled to the delivery of the property and its physical possession. Possession may be obtained by evicting the property’s occupant without the need of further order of this Court. Plaintiff may apply to this Court for those additional orders as it may deem advisable to its interest, in accordance with the terms of this judgment. The Clerk shall issue all writs necessary to enforce and execute the judgment. SO ORDERED. At San Juan, Puerto Rico, on this 10th day of March, 2023. AIDA M. DELGADO-COLON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC., COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC.

Demandante (a) Vs. LUIS D. PLAZA VELEZ Demandado (a)

Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV07749.

Sala: 807. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: LUIS D. PLAZA VELEZ. VILLA DEL PARQUE, 255 CALLE ROSARIO APT 111, SAN JUAN PR, 00912-3107.

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 de marzo 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 13 de marzo de 2023. En San Juan,

Puerto Rico, el 13 de marzo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ARLENE RIVERA APONTE, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

LEGACY MORTGAGE

ASSET TRUST 2019-PR1

Demandante Vs. SUCESIONES DE JOSE CARMONA CORREA Y DE ELISA ORLANDO COLON

COMPUESTA POR SUS

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS

FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL; ISAAC RIOS RODRIGUEZ COMO CONYUGUE SUPÉRSTITE Y HEREDERO

UNIVERSAL DE ELISA

ORLANDO COLON

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: CA2022CV04107.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ISAAC RÍOS

RODRIGUEZ COMO CÓNYUGE SUPÉRSTITE Y HEREDERO

UNIVERSAL DE ELISA ORLANDO COLÓN; FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE LAS SUCESIONES DE JOSE CARMONA CORREA Y DE LA SUCESION DE ELISA ORLANDO COLON; 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. Látimer Valentín, al PO BOX 9022512, San Juan, P.R. 00902-2512; Teléfono: (787) 724-0230. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca bajo el número mencionado en el epígrafe. Se alega en di-

cho procedimiento que la parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de Hipoteca, al no poder pagar las mensualidades vencidas correspondientes a los meses de julio de 2021, hasta el presente, más los cargos por demora correspondientes. Además adeuda a la parte demandante las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en que incurra el tenedor del pagaré en este litigio. De acuerdo con dicho Contrato de Garantía Hipotecaria la parte Demandante declaró vencida la totalidad de la deuda ascendente a la suma de principal de $68,987.70, más intereses a razón del 5.004% anual desde el 15 de junio de 2021 hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más una suma principal diferida (piggyback) por la cantidad de $1,298.79, la cual no genera intereses, más los cargos por demora que se corresponden a los plazos atrasados desde la fecha anteriormente indicada de cualquier pago que éste en mora por más de quince (15) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, más adelantos para el pago de seguros y contribuciones, entre otros; más una suma equivalente a $18,539.99, 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: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Alturas del Parque Ecuestre del Barrio Canovanillas de Carolina, Puerto Rico, que se describe en el plano de inscripción de la Urbanización, con el número, área y colindancia que se relacionan a continuación. Número del solar: 25 del Bloque “B” (B-25). Área del solar: doscientos setenta y ocho punto diecinueve metros cuadrados (278.19 m.c.). En lindes por el NORTE, en veinte punto cincuenta metros (20.50 m.) con el solar número veinticuatro (24) del Bloque B de la urbanización; por el SUR, en veinte punto cincuenta metros (20.50 m.) con los solares número veintiséis (26) y veintisiete (27) del Bloque B de la urbanización; por el ESTE, trece punto cincuenta y siete metros (13.57 m.) con el solar número veintinueve (29) del Bloque B de la urbanización; y por el OESTE, en trece punto cincuenta y siete metros (13.57 m.) con la calle número dos (2) de la urbanización. Sobre este solar enclava una casa de concreto reforzado, destinada a vivienda para una familia. Consta inscrita al folio 146 del tomo

1,343 de Carolina Sur, finca número #49,670, Registro

de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección II de Carolina. 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 SUCESIÓN DE Jose

Carmona Correa y de Elisa Orlando Colon. 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 Carolina, Puerto Rico. A 14 de marzo de 2023.

LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DENISSE TORRES RUIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

LEGACY MORTGAGE

ASSET TRUST 2019-PR1

Plaintiff(s) V. THE ESTATE OF CARLOS

LUCAS MARTINEZ

SANTANA A ET AL

Defendant(s)

Civil No:: 3:16-cv-02972-FAB.

NOTICE OF JUDGMENT BY PUBLICATION. Notice is hereby given that this Notice of Judgment has been electronically issued on an expedited basis.

Notice of Judgment has been securely signed and sealed.

Counsel must print this Notice and follow the service requirements set forth by the Rules of Civil Procedure. Electronic

Notice of Judgment should not be construed as authorizing electronic service. To request paper copies, please contact the Clerk’s Office at (787) 7723000. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, on this 15th day of March of 2023. AGNES L. FERRER - AUFFANT, ESQ., ACTING CLERK OF THE COURT. VIVIANA DÍAZ MULERO, DEPUTY CLERK.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V.

ANIBAL MONTAÑEZ

GARCÍA; FULANA DE TAL

Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: GM2022CV00718. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO ENMENDADA.

A: ANIBAL MONTAÑEZ

GARCÍA; FULANA DE TAL

Y LA

SOCIEDAD

LEGAL

GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

DE

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 de marzo 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 15 de marzo de 2023. En Guayama, Puerto Rico, el 15 de marzo de 2023. (Se enmienda a los fines de corregir las partes a las que se notificarán por edicto).

MARISOL ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. IRIS V.

RODRÍGUEZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIDRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE SAN JUAN

JOSÉ LUIS RIVERA

Demandante Vs. ISRAEL RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR

ISRAEL RIVERA Y FULANA DE TAL

Demandados

Civil Número: SJ2022CV10452. Salón: 504. Sobre: RECISIÓN DE CONTRATO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: ISRAEL RIVERA; FULANA DE TAL; SLG

COMPUESTA POR

ISRAEL RIVERA Y FULANA DE TAL.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva

a la demanda de epígrafe dentro de los TREINTA (30) DÍAS a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en la Demanda sobre recisión del contrato SJ2022CV10452. Usted debe 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. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

LCDO. PEDRO A. CRESPO CLAUDIO (RUA 17415)

EMPHATIA NOTARY & LEGAL ADVISORS, PSC

Urb. Villa Criollos Calle Corazón A-6 Caguas, P.R. 00725

Tel. 939-337-5550

E-mail: pcrespo@emphatialaw.com

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy día 15 de marzo de 2023. GRISELDA

RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LINDA

LEVY RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE PONCE ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. OMAR MOHAMED

DARHAMED; M. FARIS, CORP.; OMAR M. FARES, CORP.

Demandados

Civil Núm.: PO2020CV01691.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. AL PUBLICO EN GENERAL; A LA PARTE DEMANDADA Y A LOS TENEDORES DE GRAVÁMENES POSTERIORES.

YO, MANUEL MALDONADO, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, al público en general, POR LA

PRESENTE HAGO SABER:

CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Cumpliendo con un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia del Secretario de este Tribunal, venderé en pública subasta al mejor postor en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos, cheque de gerente o giro postal, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el día 5 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar con

un edificio de hormigón armado, que ocupa todo su frente, de dos (2) plantas, techada de tejas de barro y zinc, en la Calle Atocha, Barrio Segundo de la Ciudad de Ponce, Puerto Rico, marcado dicho edificio con el número cuatro (4) de gobierno; midiendo el solar dieciséis (16) metros y novecientos noventa y seis (996) milímetros de frente por veintiséis (26) metros cuarenta y siete (47) milímetros de fondo; con un área superficial de cuatrocientos cuarenta y dos punto seiscientos noventa y cinco (442.695) metros cuadrados. Colindando por el frente ESTE, con la Calle “Atocha”; por la derecha entrando, NORTE, con propiedad de sucesores de Homar & Colom; por la izquierda o SUR, con propiedad de Sucesión de Luis Casals y Sucesión Villaraza; y por el fondo OESTE, con propiedad de Mario Mercado Riera. Finca 30,013 inscrita al folio 74 del tomo 187 de Ponce, inscripción 46ta, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Segunda de Ponce. La dirección física es: Paseo Atocha Numero 4, Barrio Segundo, Ponce Puerto Rico 00733. Los tipos mínimos fijados para la ejecución del bien inmueble antes mencionado lo son las sumas de $240,000.00, para la Primera Subasta; $160,000.00, para la Segunda Subasta; $120,000.00, para la Tercera Subasta. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, hasta donde sea posible, el importe de la sentencia dictada el pasado 17 de junio de 2022 y notificada el 27 de junio de 2022 en el caso de epígrafe, ascendente a las siguientes cantidades: $180,744.21 de principal, más $3,697.48 de intereses acumulados al 30 de septiembre de 2020, más los que continúan acumulándose a razón de $31.38 diarios hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda, más la suma de $1,403.36 en cargos por mora, más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda; más la cantidad de $13,573.45 en seguros e intereses diferidos; más la suma de $24,000.00 por costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados pactados. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 12 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para ésta será $160,000.00 que es las dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 19 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para

esta subasta será $120,000.00 que es la mitad del precio mínimo pactado para la primera subasta. Cuando se declare desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta fuera 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 ésta fuere mayor. Todas las subastas deberán ser acordadas y celebradas según lo ordenado por el Tribunal. La subasta antes indicada se llevará a cabo en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. El inmueble antes relacionado NO consta de afectos de gravámenes preferenciales ni posteriores. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas preferentes, si alguna, continuarán subsistentes; entiéndase que el rematante los acepta y quedan subrogados en la responsabilidad del mismo sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Para la publicación de este edicto en un periódico de circulación general una vez por semana, durante dos semanas consecutivas, y para la colocación del mismo en tres sitios públicos visibles del municipio en que se celebre la subasta, libro el presente en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de marzo del 2023. MANUEL MALDONADO, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE PONCE.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE PONCE ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. CHARLIE GUZMAN

ALVAREZ, POR SI Y COMO MIEMBRO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE EDA BANCHS RAMOS COMPUESTA POR SU VIUDO CHARLIE GUZMAN ALVAREZ, ALEXANDRA GUZMAN

BANCHS, CARLOS GUZMAN BANCHS Y RAQUEL GUZMAN

BANCHS; CENTRO DE DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA POR CONDUCTO DE LA DIVISION DE CAUDALES RELICTOS; CENTRO DE

RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm.: PO2021CV01153.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - REGLA 60. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. AL PUBLICO EN GENERAL; A LA PARTE DEMANDADA Y A LOS TENEDORES

DE GRAVÁMENES POSTERIORES.

YO, MIGUEL TORRES, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, al público en general, POR LA

PRESENTE HAGO SABER:

CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Cumpliendo con un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia del Secretario de este Tribunal, venderé en pública subasta al mejor postor en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos, cheque de gerente o giro postal en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el día 5 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, la siguiente propiedad: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Real del término municipal de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de seis puntos siete mil Setecientos cuarenta y tres cuerdas, equivalentes a veintiséis mil seiscientos veinticinco puntos siete mil ciento setenta y seis metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en quince alineaciones irregulares de cinco punto dieciocho, nueve punto ochenta; once punto ochenta y seis; diecisiete punto sesenta y cuatro; treinta y cinco punto cincuenta y seis; tres punto veintiocho; nueve punto noventa y seis; doce punto sesenta y cinco; doce punto sesenta y tres; once punto cuarenta y siete; doce punto veinte; cuatro punto dieciséis; siete unto ochenta y siete; catorce punto setenta y uno diecisiete punto cincuenta y cinco metros lineales, respectivamente, con acceso a la parcela; por el SUR, en la alineación recta de ciento veintiocho punto noventa y siete metros lineales, con la parcela número treinta y seis; por el ESTE, en una alineación recta de ciento ochenta puntos ochenta y un metros lineales, con la parcela número cuarenta y siete y en una alineación recta de cinco puntos ochenta y dos metros lineales, con la parcela número treinta y seis; y por el OESTE, en una alineación recta de trescientos cincuenta y ocho punto cuarenta metros lineales con las parcelas número 45 y 44. Consta inscrita al folio 225 del tomo 558 de Ponce Sur, finca 7739, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce. La dirección física es: Barrio Anon Calle Real 46 Ponce, Puerto Rico 00731. Los tipos mínimos fijados para la ejecución del bien inmueble

antes mencionado lo son las sumas de $50,000.00 para la Primera Subasta; $33,333.33 para la Segunda Subasta; $25,000.00 para la Tercera Subasta. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, hasta donde sea posible, el importe de la sentencia dictada el pasado 4 de agosto de 2022 y notificada mediante edicto el 29 de noviembre de 2022 en el caso de epígrafe, ascendente a las siguientes cantidades: $7,630.73 de principal, más $823.69 de intereses acumulados hasta dicha fecha, más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda a razón de $1.77 diarios, más la cantidad de $629.28 por recargos, más $344.48 de otros cargos; más $265.95 por “Escrow Balance”; más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda; más la suma de $5,0000 por honorarios de abogados pactados. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 12 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para ésta será $33,333.33 que es las dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 19 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para esta subasta será $25,000.00 que es la mitad del precio mínimo pactado para la primera subasta. Cuando se declare desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta fuera 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 ésta fuere mayor. Todas las subastas deberán ser acordadas y celebradas según lo ordenado por el Tribunal. La subasta antes indicada se llevará a cabo en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. El inmueble antes relacionado NO consta de afectos de gravámenes preferenciales. El inmueble antes relacionado consta del siguiente gravámenes posterior: Aviso de Demanda de fecha 20 de mayo de 2021, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, en el Caso Civil número PO2021CV01153, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, por la Vía Ordinaria, seguido por Oriental

Bank, versus Charlie Guzmán Alvarez EDA Banchs Ramos, por sí y en representación de la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por ambos, por la suma de $7,630.73 más intereses y otras sumas, anotado el día 8 de octubre de 2021, al tomo Karibe de Ponce Sur, finca número 7,739, Anotación A. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas preferentes, si alguna, continuarán subsistentes; entiéndase que el rematante los acepta y quedan subrogados en la responsabilidad del mismo sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Para la publicación de este edicto en un periódico de circulación general una vez por semana, durante dos semanas consecutivas, y para la colocación del mismo en tres sitios públicos visibles del municipio en que se celebre la subasta, libro el presente en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 15 de marzo del 2023. MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE PONCE.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs. LUIS MANUEL LEÓN ORTIZ Demandado Civil Núm.: MZ2022CV01661. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR.R, SS.

A: LUIS MANUEL LEÓN ORTIZ, CONDOMINIO NÁUTICA DEL MAR, APTO. B-203, CABO ROJO, PR 00623. DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: URB. VILLA DEL CARMEN #4493 CALLE CONSTANCIA PONCE, PR 00731 Y PO BOX 8508 PONCE, PR 00732-8508. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días a partir de la publicación de este 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. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato:

BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P.

LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RÚA NÚM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970

TEL: 787-751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155

E-MAlL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com

En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico a 09 de marzo de 2023. LIC. NOR-

MA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

ALEXANDRA MARIE LÓPEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE ALMA

HOMS MADERA T/C/C

ALMA LUZ HOMS

MADERA COMPUESTA

POR FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL

COMO HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS

Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA

SUCESIÓN; SUCESIÓN DE CESAR BUJOSA

VIRUET COMPUESTA

POR SUS HEREDEROS

CONOCIDOS VILMA

ESTHER BUJOSA

ROSARIO Y CESAR

BUJOSA SANTOS, POR SÍ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL

COMO HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS Y/O

PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN

Demandados

Civil Núm.: AR2023CV00014.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPO-

TECA (IN REM). EMPLAZA-

MIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.

UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: SUCESIÓN DE ALMA

HOMS MADERA T/C/C

ALMA LUZ HOMS MADERA COMPUESTA

POR FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL

COMO HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS

Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN; SUCESIÓN DE CESAR BUJOSA

VIRUET COMPUESTA

POR SU HEREDERO CONOCIDO, CESAR BUJOSA SANTOS, POR SÍ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN.

BARRIO FACTOR 682

RD KM 9.3, ARECIBO, PR 00612. DIRECCIÓN

POSTAL: PO BOX

478 GARROCHALES

ARECIBO, PR 00652 Y 273 BENNETT AVE. NEW YORK, NY 10040.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días a partir de la publicación de este 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. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le apercibe que conforme al artículo 1578 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. §11021, usted tiene 30 días para aceptar o repudiar la herencia desde la publicación de este edicto. A esos efectos, de no rechazarla, se tendrá la herencia por aceptada. Representada a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato:

BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P.

LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS

RÚA NÚM.: 11416

PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970

TEL.: 787-751-5290,

FAX: 787-751-6155

E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com

En Arecibo, Puerto Rico, a 10 de marzo de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ALEXANDRA ALVAREZ NATAL, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN EVELYN SANTANA FELIX

Demandante V. JOHN KEVIN ZACHARY

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2023RF00025. 3005.

Sobre: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE). NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN KEVIN ZACHARY.

(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 7 de marzo 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 8 de marzo de 2023. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 8 de marzo de 2023.

LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. ISABEL

C. SOUCHET BURGOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

FIRSTBANK

PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE RAFAEL

PEÑA CORTES T/C/C

FÉLIX R. PEÑA CORTÉS

COMPUESTA POR:

FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; CRIM

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV03874.

Salón Núm.: (508). Sobre:

EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS

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

A: SUCESIÓN DE RAFAEL

PEÑA CORTES t/c/c

FÉLIX R. PEÑA CORTÉS compuesta por: FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

(CRIM): DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA: Y AL PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: El Alguacil que suscribe, certifica y hace constar que en cumplimiento de Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América. Todo pago recibido por el (la) Alguacil por concepto de subastas será en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del (de la) Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Todo derecho, título, participación e interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número ciento noventa y seis A en el Plano de Parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Hill Brothers del Barrio Sabana Llana, Sector Río Piedras del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de cero cuerdas con mil doscientos cuarenta y nueve diez milésimas de otra, equivalente a cuatrocientos noventa punto setenta y ocho metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela número doscientos dos de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la parcela número ciento noventa y seis de la Comunidad; por el ESTE, con el Futuro Expreso Gurabo; por el OESTE, con la calle número cuarenta y cinco de la comunidad. Consta inscrita al folio 232 del tomo 550 de Sabana Llana, finca número #22,568, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección V de San Juan. La propiedad objeto de ejecución está localizada en la siguiente dirección: Communidad Hill Brothers, Calle 45 #196-A, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00924. Se informa que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravamen posterior, una vez sea otorgada la escritura de venta judicial y obtenida la Orden y Mandamiento de cancelación de gravamen posterior. (Art. 51, Ley 210-

2015). En relación a la finca a subastarse, se establece como tipo mínimo de licitación en la Primera Subasta la suma de $124,476.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca #19, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 24 de febrero de 2014, ante el notario Pedro J. Caride Cruz, inscrita al tomo Karibe de Sabana Llana, finca #22,568, inscripción 16ta. La PRIMERA SUBASTA, se llevará a cabo el día 17 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, el tipo mínimo para la primera subasta es la suma de $124,476.00. Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 24 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo sitio y servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes del precio pactada para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $82,984.00. Si la segunda subasta no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 1 DE MAYO DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar y regirá como tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta la mitad del precio pactado para la primera, o sea, la suma de $62,238.00. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo, para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: Suma Principal de $98,459.26, con intereses a 4.00% anual, desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2021, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más una suma equivalente a $12,447.60, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, todo según pactado y una suma de $250.00 adicionales para el pago de honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otra suma que resulte por cualesquiera otros adelantos que se hayan hecho la demandante, en virtud de las disposiciones de la escritura de hipoteca y del Pagaré hipotecario. Para más información, a las personas interesadas se les notifica que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal, durante las horas laborables. Este EDICTO DE SUBASTA, se publicará en los lugares públicos correspondientes y en un periódico de circulación general en la jurisdicción de Puerto Rico. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los referentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continua-

rán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente Escritura de Venta Judicial y el Alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días, de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. 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. Expedido en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 6 de marzo de 2023. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE HILDA

MARIA SANCHEZ

FLORES, COMPUESTA

POR SU HIJA MARIA

ELENA DAVID SANCHEZ, FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS; SUCESION DE ROSENDO REYES

RIVERA COMPUESTA

POR FULANO DE CUAL

Y ZUTANO DE CUAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: BY2022CV04304. (702). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.

A: SUCESION DE HILDA

MARIA SANCHEZ

FLORES, COMPUESTA

POR SU HIJA MARIA

ELENA DAVID SANCHEZ, FULANO DE TAL Y

ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS; SUCESION DE ROSENDO REYES

RIVERA COMPUESTA POR FULANO DE CUAL Y ZUTANO DE CUAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM).

Yo, EDGARDO ELÍAS VARGAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #193, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 20 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS

10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el Cuarto Piso, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Bayamón durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día

27 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS

10:30 DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día

4 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS

10:30 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar radicado en la URBANIZACIÓN

EL CORTIJO, situado en el Barrio Cerro Gordo de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, marcado con el número Siete (7) del Bloque “FF”, con un área de TRESCIENTOS CUARENTA PUNTO SESENTA Y SEIS (340.66) METROS CUADRADOS. En lindes por el NORTE, en veinticuatro punto cero cero (24.00) metros, con el solar número Seis (6); por el SUR, en veinte punto cuarenta y dos (20.42) metros, con la Calle número Nueve (9); por el ESTE, en once punto cero nueve (11.09) metros y un arco con una longitud de cinco punto cincuenta (5.50) metros, con la Calle número Ocho (8); y por el OESTE, en catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros, con el solar número Ocho (8). Enclava una casa para fines residenciales. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 14 del

tomo 1817 de Bayamón Sur, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Primera, finca número 42,724, inscripción décimo tercera. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Urbanización El Cortijo, Calle 8, FF-7, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. La subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $31,083.31 de principal, intereses al 5.75% anual, desde el día 1ro. de febrero de 2022, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $5,080.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más recargos acumulados, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $50,800.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $33,866.67 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $25,400.00. Si se declara desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta 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. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que todo licitador acepta como suficiente la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, 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. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE

LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 10 de marzo de 2023.

EDGARDO ELÍAS VARGAS

SANTANA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #193, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

GARCIA CALDERÓN

Peticionaria EX-PARTE

Civil Núm.: CA2022CV01114.

Sala: 407. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA,EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ANGEL LUIS

CALDERÓN LACEND; MARIA CRISTINA

CALDERÓN LACEND; ADA MINERVA CALDERÓN LACEND.

Por Ia presente se notifica que Ia parte peticionaria, Widalys Y. Garcia Calderón, ha presentado una petición para que se declare a su favor el dominio de Ia siguiente finca: RÚSTICA:

Predio de terreno localizado en Barrio Carruzo, Sector Eliseo Pagán, Carretera Número 8856, Km 1.3 Interior del Municipio de Carolina, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 1,649.2266 metros cuadrados, equivalentes a 0.4196 cuerdas de terreno. En lindes por el Norte en varias alineaciones que sumadas totalizan 70,636.575 metros con Camino Municipal, por el Sur en una distancia de 84.783 metros con Javier Pérez, por el Este en dos alienaciones que suman 18,267 metros con Javier Pérez y por el Oeste en 19,745 metros con Sucesión Juan Velázquez.”

Enclava una casa dedicada a vivienda familiar construida en cemento hormigón Este Tribunal ordenó que se publique por tres veces durante el término de veinte días en un periódico de circulación general diaria para que los que tengan algún derecho real sobre el inmueble descrito, las personas ignoradas a quienes pueda perjudicar Ia inscripción y en general a todos los que desearen oponerse puedan efectuarlo dentro del término de veinte días a partir de Ia última publicación del presente edicto. La abogada de Ia peticionanIa Ia es Ia LCDA.

ADRÍN I. PÉREZ GARCÍA, 72 Calle Calderón Mujica, Canóvanas, Puerto Rico 00729. Dada en Carolina, Puerto Rico a 13

de marzo de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. RUTH M. COLÓN LUCIANO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

GOBIERNO DE PUERTO

RICO. DEPARTAMENTO DE ESTADO. NOMBRE COMERCIAL PARA REGISTRAR. AVISO. A QUIEN PUEDA INTERESAR: De acuerdo con las disposiciones de la Ley Núm. 75 del 23 de septiembre de 1992, según enmendada, mejor conocida como la Ley de Nombres Comerciales del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y la Sección 24 del Reglamento promulgado bajo la ley citada anteriormente, el siguiente nombre comercial ha sido presentado en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico para su archivo y registro

VEGA ALTA COMMUNITY HEALTH

Número de Expediente:

248561-99-1. Propietario: VEGA ALTA COMMUNITY

HEALTH, INC. Dirección:

CARR 2 KM 30, VEGA ALTA, PR 00692. Actividad Empresarial: BRINDAR A LA COMUNtDAD SERVICIOS DE SALUD.

Renuncia a elementos no registrables: NOTIFICACIÓN: Cualquier oposición a este registro deberá presentarse en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este aviso. Este aviso deberá publicarse UNA VEZ en un periódico de gran circulación.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS FIRSTBANK

PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs. BANCO POPULAR PUERTO RICO COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHOS DE DORAL FINANCIAL CORPORATION; FEDERAL DEPOSIT

INSURANCE CORPORATION COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHOS DE DORAL MORTGAGE CORPORATION; JOHN

DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES CON INTERÉS

Demandados

Civil: GR2023CV00005. Sobre:

CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO.

NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

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

(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 6 de MARZO 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 9 de MARZO de 2023. En CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, el 9 de MARZO de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. REGIONAL. MARTA E. DONATE RESTO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. HERIBERTO LOPEZ HERNANDEZ, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2019CV06407. Sala:

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

A: HERIBERTO LOPEZ HERNANDEZ, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

(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 7 de enero de 2021, 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 10 de marzo de 2023. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 10 de marzo de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MILITZA MERCADO RIVERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESION DE ISRAEL VELEZ BERRIOS COMPUESTA POR

FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO; SECRETARIO DE JUSTICIA DEL, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO

Demandado Civil Núm.: VB2023CV00062. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDIC-

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

A: SUCESION DE ISRAEL VELEZ BERRIOS COMPUESTA POR

FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS.

Por la presente se le emplaza

y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto, radicando el original de la contestación ante el Tribunal y sala que se menciona en el epígrafe de este edicto con copia a la parte aquí demandante. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Por la presente el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, conforme al caso de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria vs. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 DPR 689 (2005), le ordena que en el término de treinta (30) días, haga declaración aceptando o repudiando las herencias de la SUCESION DE ISRAEL VELEZ BERRIOS. Se le apercibe que de no expresar su intención de aceptar o repudiar la herencia dentro del término que se le fijó, las herencias se tendrán por aceptadas. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección 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. El abogado de la parte demandante es: Lcda. Melisa Figueroa Castro, 1606 Ave. Ponce de León, Edif. VIG Tower, Suite 706, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00907, Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 722-1932. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 7 de marzo de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. YADIRA

MOLINA TORRES

Demandado

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV11155. 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: YADIRA

MOLINA TORRES.

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 9 de marzo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. BRENDA

BÁEZ ACABA, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. CARLOS A. SANTIAGO

QUIÑONEZ Y OTROS

Demandado(a)

Civil: Núm.: CA2022CV01589. 402. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ISRAEL ARROYO

DIAZ Y FELIX ORLANDO ARROYO DIAZ COMO MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE FELIX

ARROYO HERNANDEZ.

(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 7 de marzo 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 13 de marzo de 2023. En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 13 de marzo de 2023. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. KEILA GARCÍA SOLÍS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DE NEFTALÍ RODRÍGUEZ

TORO Y LUCELENIA

VÁZQUEZ COLLAZO

COMPUESTA POR INÉS MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ

VÁZQUEZ; NEFTALÍ RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ; ALBA RAQUEL RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ; ABIGAIL RODRÍGUEZ

VÁZQUEZ; ISRAEL

RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ Y FULANO DE TAL COMO HEREDERO

DESCONOCIDO DE LUCELENIA

VÁZQUEZ COLLAZO; DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA; DEPARTAMENTO DE JUSTICIA Demandados

Civil Núm.: YU2022CV00304.

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: INÉS MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ, NEFTALÍ RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ ISRAEL RODRÍGUEZ VÁZQUEZ, Y FULANO DE TAL HEREDERO DESCONOCIDO DE LUCELENIA VÁZQUEZ COLLAZO.

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 12 de septiembre de 2022. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCÍA, SECRETARIA GENERAL. MAGDA L. BAHAMUNDI TORRES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN FINANCE OF AMERICA

REVERSE, LLC.

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE LUCIANO DELGADO COMPUESTA POR CARMELINA CORREA

QUIÑONES T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA DE DELGADO T/C/C CARMELINA CORREA

T/C/C C. CORREA; MARIA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LINA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LUCIANO DELGADO CORREA, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS DE NOMBRES DESCONOCIDOS; CARMELINA CORREA QUIÑONES T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA DE DELGADO T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA

T/C/C C. CORREA; MARIA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LINA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LUCIANO DELGADO CORREA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES; Y A LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

HIPOTECA - IN REM. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: SUCESIÓN DE LUCIANO DELGADO COMPUESTA POR

CARMELINA CORREA

QUIÑONES T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA DE DELGADO T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA

T/C/C C. CORREA; MARIA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LINA DEL CARMEN

DELGADO CORREA, LUCIANO DELGADO CORREA, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS DE NOMBRES

DESCONOCIDOS; CARMELINA CORREA

QUIÑONES T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA DE DELGADO T/C/C

CARMELINA CORREA

T/C/C C. CORREA; MARIA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LINA DEL CARMEN DELGADO CORREA, LUCIANO DELGADO CORREA.

LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 13 de marzo 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 60 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 15 de marzo de 2023.

En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 15 de marzo de 2023. GRISELDA

RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ELSA MAGALY CANDELARIO CABRERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN RICARDO ISAAC

PAGÁN SAN MIGUEL Peticionario EX-PARTE Civil Núm.: BY2023CV00882. (605). Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. CITACIÓN POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: PERSONAS IGNORADAS Y DESCONOCIDAS A QUIENES PUDIERA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN DEL DOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA EN EL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA

QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE DESCRIBIRÁ Y A TODA

PERSONA EN GENERAL

QUE CON DERECHO

PARA ELLO DESEE OPONERSEA ESTE EXPEDIENTE.

POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.poderjudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. URBANA: SOLAR de seis varas de frente por veinticinco varas de fondo, radicado en la Calle Toa Baja de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, con una casa de madera, terrera, techada de zinc, colindando por la derecha entrando con solar de Carmen Tibot, antes, hoy Fortunato Román; por la izquierda, o sea, el SUR, con un callejón que la separa del solar y casa de José Romas Rivera, antes, hoy Carmen Jiménez; por su frente, o sea, por el ESTE, con la Calle Toa Baja; y por su fondo, con terrenos de Sebastián Bauzá, antes, hoy Josefa Torres. Alega el Peticio-

nario que adquirió la finca descrita mediante ocupación de la misma a título de dueño de forma pacífica, pública e ininterrumpidamente por más de treinta (30) años, sin justo título. Alega, además el peticionario que de acuerdo a mensura practicada y datos que surgen del portal del catastro digital, la descripción del inmueble al presente es la siguiente: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número ciento noventa y dos (192) en el plano de inscripción para una parcela de terreno propiedad del señor Carlos J. Dávila, localizado en la Calle Dr. Santiago Veve, Barrio Pueblo del término municipal de Bayamón, con una cabida superficial de ciento cincuenta y uno punto nueve mil ciento treinta y dos (151.9132) metros cuadrados equivalentes a cero punto trescientos ochenta y seis (0.0386) cuerda. En lindes por el Norte, en una distancia de veintiséis punto cero quinientos ochenta y ocho (26.0588) metros con el solar ciento noventa y cuatro (194) perteneciente a Quintín Collado Ortiz; por el Sur, en una distancia de veinticinco punto ocho mil seiscientos veintitrés (25.8623) metros con el solar ciento noventa (190) perteneciente a Pérez Graulau Properties, lnc.; por el Este, en una distancia de cinco punto cuatro mil setecientos veintinueve (5.4729) metros con la calle Dr. Santiago Veve y por el Oeste en una distancia de seis punto dos mil ochocientos cuarenta y un (6.2841) metros con el solar ciento ochenta y ocho (188) perteneciente a.P.G. Properties, lnc. Ubicación física

actual: Dr. Santiago Veve 192, Barrio Pueblo, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Catastro número: 085014-015-12-000. El número de codificación del CRIM para la finca descrita es: 085-014-01512-000 y su ubicación física es Calle Dr. Santiago Veve número 192, Barrio Pueblo. Bayamón. Puerto Rico. Se le informa, además, que el Tribunal ha señalado vista en este caso para el n/a de n/a de 2023, a las n/a mediante videoconferencia, a la cual usted puede comparecer asistido por abogado y presentar oposición a la petición. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo, se identificará en letra tamaño 10 puntos y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en las Reglas de Procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de veinte

(20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 22 de febrero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. NÉLIDA OCASIO ORTEGA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE JUANA

DÍAZ

AIDY MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ

SANTOS T/C/C HAYDEÉ MARÍA RODRÍGUEZ

SANTOS

Peticionaria

EX PARTE

Caso Núm.: JD2022CV00118.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. Número de Castrato: 294-081-038-03. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, posibles interesados que incluye a colindantes desconocidos, anteriores dueños desconocidos, Milla Figueroa y posibles herederos de dueños anteriores desconocidos de la propiedad que se describe a continuación:

URBANA: Predio de terreno sitio en el Barrio Pueblo Sector Borinquén carretera número 149 kilómetro 44 del término municipal de Villalba de una cabida de SEISCIENTOS TREINTA Y CUATRO PUNTO TRES

MIL SETECIENTOS

CUARENTA Y SEIS

(634.3746) METROS CUADRADOS, equivalente a Cero punto Mil Seiscientos Catorce (0.1614) Cuerdas, colindante por el NORTE, con Laboratorio Clínico Alfeciza, Inc; por el SUR con Camino Municipal; por el ESTE, con terrenos de Aguedo Maldonado; y por el OESTE, con Calle Borinquen hacia la carretera PR# 149. No consta inscrita en el Registro de la Propiedad. Los interesados incluyen a colindantes desconocidos, anteriores

dueños desconocidos y posibles herederos de dueños anteriores desconocidos de la Propiedad antes descrita. Por la presente quedan notificados que Aidy Maria Rodríguez Santos también conocida como Haydeé María Rodríguez Santos, han radicado en este Tribunal una Petición de Expediente de Dominio sobre la propiedad antes descrita, alegando que Don Pedro Juan Rodríguez Pérez quien adquirió por compra a Milla Figueroa y luego su Sucesión siendo dueños y ha poseído tanto por sus anteriores dueños como por ellos como dueños dicha propiedad por más de 30 años y por ello solicitan Orden para que Ordene al Registrador de la Propiedad de Ponce II que inscriba dicha finca a nombre de los hijos de Don Pedro Juan Rodríguez Pérez cuyos miembros son Aidy María Rodríguez Santos también conocida como Haydeé María Rodríguez Santos (Peticionaria); Ana Teresa Rodríguez Santos; Pedro Miguel Rodríguez Santos y Celenia Rodríguez Santos en partes iguales. Se apercibe que si transcurrido Veinte (20) días desde la publicación de este Edicto, no ha habido reparos u oposición contra la demanda interpuesta, este Tribunal dictará Sentencia de acuerdo a lo solicitado en la misma. Copia de la contestación deberá ser notificada al Licenciado Rubén Román Toro a su dirección en: Apartado Postal número 1831, Yauco, Puerto Rico 00698. En cumplimiento de una orden dictada por este Tribunal expido el presente bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal en Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico, a 28 de febrero de 2023. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL DEL TRIBUNAL. DORIS A. RODRÍGUEZ COLÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN

CASITAS BLANCAS LLC

Demandante V. JOSÉ LUIS RIVERA QUIÑONES

Demandado

Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV06351.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, hago saber a la parte demandada JOSÉ LUIS RIVERA QUIÑONES, y al PÚBLICO EN GE-

NERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 28 de julio de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta por el precio mínimo de $100,000.00 y al mejor postor, pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del alguacil del tribunal, la propiedad que se describe a continuación [805 PUERTA DE LA BAHIA, SAN JUAN, PR 00902]: URBANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento Residencial de forma irregular localizado en la Octava Planta del Edificio Puerta de la Bahía, situado en la Calle Las Palmas, esquina Calle Cerra, del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico. Apartamento número: Ochocientos Cinco (805). Área neta del apartamento: novecientos cuarenta y siete punto cincuenta (947.50) pies cuadrados equivalentes a ochenta y ocho punto cero cinco (88.05) metros cuadrados. En lindes: por el NORTE, con espacio aéreo en una distancia de veintitrés con diez punto cinco pulgadas (23’-10.3’) equivalentes a siete metros con veintisiete centímetros (7m 27cm); por el SUR, colinda con área común en una distancia de treinta y tres pies con nueve punto cinco pulgadas (33’-9.5’) equivalentes a diez metros con treinta centímetros (10m 30cm); por el ESTE, colinda con pared medianera que lo separa del apartamento ochocientos seis (806) en una distancia de treinta y dos pies con cuatro pulgadas (32’-04’) equivalentes a nueve metros con ochenta y cinco centímetros (9m 85 cm); por el OESTE, área común en una distancia de treinta y dos pies con cuatro pulgadas (32’-04’) equivalentes a nueve metros con ochenta y cinco centímetros (9m 85cm). El apartamento consta de un nivel y está dividido en los siguientes elementos: sala-comedor, cocina, área de lavandería, tres cuartos dormitorios con sus closets, un baño. Contiene un calentador de agua y gabinetes de cocina. La puerta de entrada con acceso al vestíbulo del edificio. Le corresponde a esta unidad el uso exclusivo de un estacionamiento marcado con el número ochocientos cinco (805) el cual es elemento privado. Le corresponde a este apartamento en los elementos comunes generales del condominio de cero punto cero cero cuatro seis tres nueve cinco cinco dos seis porciento (0.0046395526%). Finca

21997 inscrita al folio 137 del tomo 398 de Santurce Norte, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección I. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) Hipoteca en garantía de un pagare a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma de $100,000.00, intereses al 3½% por las primeros 48 meses y 5 7 /8% anual por las 432 meses restantes y a vencer el 1 de octubre del año 2049, según consta de la escritura 13 otorgada en San Juan, el 10 de septiembre de 2009, ante el Notario Samuel Garcia Angeli, inscrito al folio 137 del tomo 398 de Santurce Sur, finca 21997, inscripción 2da, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección I. (ii) Demanda radicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, en el caso civil #SJ2021CV06351, seguido par Oriental Bank, demandante, vs. José Luis Rivera Quiñones, demandado, par $99,703.00, anotado al Sistema Karibe de Santurce Sur, finca #21997, el 4 de enero de 2022, anotación

A y última. 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 7 de febrero de 2022, este Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia, mediante la cual se condena a la parte demandada, a pagar a la parte demandante la suma $89,703.00 de principal, más intereses al 5.875% que continuarán acumulándose hasta el saldo total, más la suma de dinero para primas de seguro y/o contribuciones, inspecciones, más recargos por demora, y la cantidad estipulada de $10,000.00 de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 24 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 11:00

DE LA MAÑANA en la oficina del Alguacil, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la cantidad de $100,000.00, sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 1 DE MAYO DE 2023

A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $66,666.67. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 8 DE MAYO DE 2023 A

LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $50,000.00. 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 los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá 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 San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 14 de marzo de 2023. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.

Mets closer Díaz will miss season after injury during celebration

Díaz didn’t appear to hurt himself while pitching Wednesday. He fired his trademark 100-mph fastballs and wicked sliders to strike out the side in the ninth inning and did not appear to be in pain before the celebration began.

After the final out, Díaz hugged his brother, Alexis, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. They were joined by other teammates and with their arms around each other, they bounced up and down in a fairly tame celebration. But then Díaz collapsed to the ground, and teammates signaled immediately for the training staff to come out.

Off to the side, Puerto Rico captain Francisco Lindor, a fellow Met, looked at the ground while hunched over. Robinson Canó, the Dominican infielder and former Met, held his hands on his head. Tears streamed down Díaz’s brother’s face.

adding later about the injury, “The fact that it was him, it’s a big blow in more ways than one.”

By JAMES WAGNER

Arousing 5-2 victory by Puerto Rico over the Dominican Republic on Wednesday earned the team a spot in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic. But the elation quickly turned into despair when star closer Edwin Díaz crumbled to the ground during a postgame celebration on the mound.

Díaz’s teammates formed a circle around him, hanging their heads or crying. Instead of heading to the clubhouse at loanDepot Park to pack up their bags, Dominican players lingered in the dugout, stunned at the scene on the field. And when Díaz, 28, finally stood up, he was first carried and then wheeled off the field, unable to put any weight on his right leg.

Díaz, who signed a record-setting fiveyear, $102 million deal this offseason to remain with the New York Mets, suffered a complete tear of the patellar tendon in his right knee and was to undergo surgery Thursday, the team said. Mets general manager Billy Eppler told reporters that a general timeline for a return is roughly eight months.

“Edwin Diaz is a great human being and a fierce competitor,” Mets owner Steven Cohen wrote on Twitter. “All of us at the Mets are shaken but determined to sustain our quest for a great season. We wish Edwin a speedy recovery.”

Diaz’s injury came after a highly anticipated do-or-die matchup between two baseball powerhouses, which had lived up to expectations. The teams played in front of a thunderous sellout crowd of 36,025 people and Puerto Rico, the runners-up in the previous two installments of the tournament in 2013 and ’17, knocked out the Dominican Republic, a team of superstars that was one of the favorites.

But Díaz’s collapse erased those emotions and renewed the injury concerns that surround the tournament, which is held every four years and lasts two weeks during Major League Baseball’s spring training. It also dealt a huge blow to the Mets, a team that is entering the year with World Series aspirations.

“As excited as we were about the game and all that, it’s one of our brothers” said Puerto Rico center fielder Enrique Hernández, a Boston Red Sox player.

Several top players, many of them pitchers, declined to participate in the WBC or were denied permission to play by their MLB teams. Some cited injury concerns — current or potential — as their reason. Teams often worry that players have to ramp up earlier than usual before the 162-game regular season to compete in games that matter much more than spring training exhibition contests. (Players are required to be covered by insurance to compete in the WBC.)

Puerto Rico manager Yadier Molina said he didn’t see what happened to Díaz because he was hugging his coaches in the dugout after the final out. When he looked up, he was surprised to see Díaz on the ground.

“When you see a guy that works so hard like Edwin, when you see him on the ground like that it just is sad,” he said.

Molina added later about postgame celebrations, “If anything is going to happen, it will happen. Celebrations exist ever since I was born. It’s God’s will. I just hope that Edwin is going to be OK, that his family is OK and we are praying for him.”

Behind eight pitchers, Puerto Rico neutralized a star-studded Dominican Republic offense and played cleaner defense. At the plate, Puerto Rico designated hitter Christian Vázquez homered, while Hernández and Lindor each added two hits. With the win, Puerto Rico advanced to the quarterfinals as the runner-up of Pool D and will face Mexico, which won Pool C, on Saturday in Miami.

In the tunnel outside the Puerto Rico clubhouse after the game, Díaz’s brother and parents, in tears, were escorted away.

“Aside from being the best closer in the game right now, and being a huge part of this team, Sugar is one of the glue guys in that clubhouse,” Hernández said, referring to Díaz by his nickname. He noted Díaz, who saved 32 games for the Mets each of the past two seasons, helped organize dinners and gatherings for the Puerto Rican team.

“He has a really big bank account, but his heart is way bigger,” Hernández said,

Francisco Lindor, center, and his Puerto Rico teammates celebrate after he circled the bases on a hit to center field and scored on a pair of errors by the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night in Miami. Puerto Rico won 5-2 to advance and will face Mexico on Friday at 7 p.m. in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC FIRST ROUND

WEDNESDAY’S SCORES

Venezuela 5, Israel 1

Mexico 10, Canada 3

Puerto Rico 5, Dominican Republic 2 USA 3, Colombia 2

QUARTERFINALS

WEDNESDAY (Tokyo Dome) Cuba 4, Australia 3

THURSDAY (Tokyo Dome) Japan 9, Italy 3

FRIDAY (LoanDepot Park, Miami) Puerto Rico at Mexico (7 p.m., FS1)

SATURDAY (LoanDepot Park, Miami) USA at Venezuela (7 p.m., FOX)

SEMIFINALS (LoanDepot Park, Miami)

SUNDAY Cuba at USA/Venezuela winner (7 p.m., FS1)

MONDAY Japan at Puerto Rico/Mexico winner (7 p.m., FS1)

Edwin Díaz had just closed out Puerto Rico’s victory over the Dominican Republic on Wednesday when he collapsed to the ground. He was unable to walk off the field.

A baseball icon soaks up a lot of lasts

By JAMES WAGNER

On April 23, 1939, Álex Carrasquel, a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators, was summoned from the bullpen in the fourth inning of a game to face Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees. Carrasquel was the first Venezuelanborn player to appear in a Major League Baseball game and 461 players born in the baseball-crazed South American country have followed in his footsteps, according to Baseball Reference.

None, though, has been better than a right-handed batter who made his major league debut on June 20, 2003. Miguel Cabrera, a skinny 20-year-old prospect who homered that day and helped the Florida Marlins win the World Series later that season, has been crushing baseballs ever since. But the wear and tear of 2,699 regular season games has taken its toll, and there is only so much more Cabrera’s cranky right knee can take. Over the winter, Cabrera, the designated hitter of the perpetually rebuilding Detroit Tigers, reiterated that 2023 would be the last season of his career.

So as Cabrera, 39, gets ready to hang up his spikes, he is soaking up a lot of lasts, starting with his fifth and final World Baseball Classic. Cabrera, who was selected as the team’s captain, said he hoped that this farewell lap would begin with a title in the quadrennial tournament, which Venezuela has never won, despite his participation in every edition since the event began in 2006.

“It’s a dream that we want to become reality,” he said in Spanish before Venezuela upset the Dominican Republic, 5-1, in a clash of baseball titans in Miami on Saturday. He added later, “I’m proud every time I can represent my country and be available. I’m lucky because I haven’t had any injuries these days.”

Venezuela, which has a 4-0 record in group play, including a win over Puerto Rico, is in prime position to fulfill Cabrera’s dream. Venezuela and Japan are the only undefeated squads in the 20-team tournament, and both have already punched their tickets to the quar-

terfinals. WBC title or not, Cabrera’s place in MLB history, and in Venezuelan baseball lore, is secure.

He is one of seven players in MLB history to record both 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. Three of them (Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray) were voted into the Hall of Fame, two were suspended during their careers for performance-enhancing drugs (Alex Rodríguez and Rafael Palmeiro), and Albert Pujols, who retired last year, will not be on the Cooperstown ballot until 2028.

No other Venezuelan player has more hits (3,088), home runs (507), runs scored (1,530), runs batted in (1,847), wins above replacement (67.7), Most Valuable Players Awards (two) and triple crowns (one) than Cabrera. Luis Aparicio is the only Venezuelanborn player with more All-Star selections (13) than Cabrera (12). Aparicio, a shortstop, also happens to be the only player from Venezuela in the Hall of Fame. Many believe Cabrera will be next.

“It’s really special to play alongside him,” said Salvador Pérez, 32, the Kansas City Royals’ star catcher who has been Venezuela’s primary backstop in back-to-back WBC tournaments. “I feel like I’m playing with a Hall of Famer.”

Pérez added later, “I’m happy that, in 15 years, I can tell people about playing with him.”

In the waning months of Cabrera’s career, the people around him are doing their best to honor him, starting with a hopeful WBC win for a country where baseball reigns. Only the United States and the Dominican Republic have produced more major league players than Venezuela.

“I want to help Miguel so that he has good memories,” said Venezuela manager Omar López, who is also a Houston Astros coach. “To me, this is very important. Being part of that history for him is very satisfying for me. I hope to leave a good legacy for him so that he remembers me and the coaching staff.”

Once a left fielder or a third baseman, Cabrera, who was never much of a fielder, moved to first base. He eventually transitioned to DH. In his prime, Cabrera was a rare player who could hit for both average and power. From 2004 to 2016, he hit .323 and averaged 33 home runs, 115 RBI and 155 games per season. He won four American League batting titles.

In 2012, he produced one of the greatest offensive seasons in history, claiming baseball’s first triple crown in 45 years by leading the AL in batting

average (.330), home runs (44) and RBI (139). Aaron Judge, the Yankees slugger who won last year’s AL MVP Award, said his college coach used to play highlights of Cabrera from that season for inspiration.

“I admire Miguel with all of my heart,” said Venezuela third baseman Eugenio Suárez, 31, who plays for the Seattle Mariners. “The simple act of watching him play shows me a lot. The consistency in his career and the passion that he plays with are what have maintained him.”

But consistency has been much harder for Cabrera of late. Because of various injuries and struggles, he has averaged 109 games a year — excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season — while hitting .262 and averaging 10 home runs a year since 2017. Last season, in a 96-loss campaign for the Tigers, he had the worst year of his career. And his eight-year, $248 million contract extension with Detroit is set to expire after this season.

Through the years, no matter his stature or contract, Cabrera has prioritized playing for his country. Even though he serves more in a leadership role — an occasional DH (he went 1 for 9 in two appearances), a full-time captain and an unofficial assistant general manager — Cabrera’s presence has meant a lot to the Venezuelan team, its fans and the sport.

“We’re happy for all that he’s accomplished but sad that it’s his final year,” said Jhoulys Chacín, 35, a starting pitcher for Venezuela. “Truth is, we’re very proud of him.”

Pablo López, 27, a Miami Marlins starting pitcher, said Cabrera had inspired others from Venezuela to follow the same path. The pipeline of players arriving from the country sped up in the 1990s but exploded in the 2000s, when Cabrera entered the league.

“He did so much for my generation,” López said. “He motivated us, he gave us reasons for which to play. That if he could do it, we have the necessary tools to do it, too.”

Continues on page 36

Miguel Cabrera is Venezuela’s team captain and part-time designated hitter at the World Baseball Classic.

From page 35

When the Venezuelan team was built, federation officials and coaches consulted with a group of veteran players, leading with Cabrera. Omar López, the manager, said Cabrera called fellow Venezuelans around the majors to gauge their commitment and willingness to do what was needed to win.

Eduardo Brizuela, the Milwaukee Brewers’ vice president and special assistant of baseball operations who also serves as the Venezuelan team’s assistant general manager, said Cabrera’s input was sought in hopes of building a team that could gel quickly.

“He’s the best player of our generation and probably the best player ever from our country,” Brizuela said. “So understanding where he stands and every time he talks to our players, it has such an impact, that being able to have an ally as a player throughout this process with Miguel was huge for us.”

Cabrera said he was grateful for the constant communication with team officials. As for being named captain, Cabrera said, “You know, I don’t like that stuff, but it’s something that you accept and hopefully

you can support the players.”

Andrés Giménez, 24, an All-Star second baseman for the Cleveland Guardians, called it a dream come true to play alongside a star like Cabrera.

“The way he has been treating us, it’s impressive,” said Martín Pérez, 31, an All-Star starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers. He added, “When you have a leader such as Miguel and he makes you feel like part of the team, and if there are no egos in the clubhouse, that feels very good.”

Cabrera said he would play as much or as little for Venezuela as was needed. Carlos Mendoza, a bench coach for the Yankees and Venezuela, said Cabrera had retained the same childlike joy for baseball throughout his career, “as if he were in the little leagues.”

“This is what I love, to play baseball,” Cabrera said. “And every time I get the chance to take the field, I do it with a lot of love.”

Asked if playing in his final WBC entering his final season was bittersweet, Cabrera stayed true to form and cracked a wide grin. “I don’t like bittersweet,” he said.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant suspended 8 games for gun video

By TANIA GANGULI

The NBA suspended Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant for eight games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league after he appeared in an Instagram live video early March 4 “holding a firearm in an intoxicated state” while visiting a nightclub near Denver, according to a league statement.

Morant, 23, has not played since March 3, when the Grizzlies lost to the Denver Nuggets, and the five games he has missed will count toward the suspension. He will be eligible to play again in the Grizzlies’ game Monday against the Dallas Mavericks.

“Ja’s conduct was irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “It also has serious consequences given his enormous following and influence, particularly among young fans who look up to him. He has expressed sincere contrition and remorse for his behavior.”

Silver and Morant met at the NBA’s office in New York on Wednesday. According to the league’s statement, the league’s head of basketball operations, Joe Dumars, who oversees player punishment, and Tamika Tremaglio, executive director of the NBA players union, also attended the meeting.

The league said that it had investigated the video and “did not conclude” that Morant owned the gun or that he brought it to the club. The NBA also said in its statement that it did not determine that Morant had traveled with the gun or taken it to an NBA facility. The league’s collective bargaining agreement prohibits players from having fire -

arms and deadly weapons at NBA facilities or when traveling on league business. Players who violate that policy can

be suspended indefinitely by the commissioner and fined up to $50,000.

Morant had been away from the Grizzlies since March 4, although the Grizzlies did not say whether he had been suspended. By that afternoon, his Twitter and Instagram accounts had been deactivated.

That same day, the agency that represents Morant, Tandem, released a statement from Morant in which he said he took “full responsibility for my actions last night.”

“I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies organization for letting you down,” Morant said. “I’m going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”

The incident at the nightclub happened three days after The Washington Post reported that Morant had been involved in two incidents last summer in which police were called. In one, Morant was accused of threatening a mall security guard. In the other, he was accused of punching a teenage boy during a pickup game at his home. Morant said he was acting in self-defense.

Morant is one of the league’s brightest stars, known for his acrobatic dunks and brash trash talk. He has led the Grizzlies to playoff berths in the past two seasons after a three-year drought for the franchise. He was named NBA’s rookie of the year in 2020 and is a two-time All-Star.

This season, Morant has averaged 27.1 points, 8.2 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game, leading the Grizzlies to the second-best record in the Western Conference. In his absence, Memphis has held on to the No. 2 seed in the West, having gone 3-2 without him.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has not played since March 3.

After this tournament, Cabrera will hand over the leadership of the Venezuelan team to young stars like Ronald Acuña Jr., far right.

Sudoku

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Answers on page 38

Wordsearch

Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

As the stellar skyscape changes from today, so can your focus, Aries. With Venus moving into the sensual sign of Taurus, you’ll develop a new appreciation of your environment and the things you like about it most. You could also be ultra-aware of anything that you don’t like and that you might want to change. Keen to invest in yourself? A massage or spa treat may be perfect.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

Ready to add a touch of beauty or glamour to your life? The weeks ahead can find you ready for a makeover, and a chance to look your absolute best whatever you have in store. Whether it’s a job interview, thoughts of a new romance or the need for a change, this lovely planet can assist you in feeling more confident, Taurus. Socially, you’ll be very happy to reach out and connect.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

Charming Venus dances into your spiritual zone from today, so you’ll be very mindful of others who may need a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. This is also an opportunity to turn the spotlight on yourself and opt for some down time and self-care. Have a relationship you’re keeping under wraps? You may be a Gemini, but you can keep a secret if you really want to!

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

Solo? Feelings could blossom in a relationship that’s been platonic for some time. As the planet of connection enters your social sector from today, something can shift and you may both sense this, perhaps paving the way for a deeper walk. In addition, you’ll have an opportunity to connect and network on social media. If you need a support system, this is the time to build one.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Want to be more popular? The movement of charming Venus into a prominent sector, could do the trick. It’s time to stand in the spotlight and enjoy being a star. If you do, you’ll attract many more admirers. Mind, with dizzying Neptune aspects still on the go, this can be a time of mixed messages. If you’re keen to negotiate or close a deal, you’ll need to scrutinize the details, Leo.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

With a positive focus on your sector of travel, the spirit of adventure may be calling out to you. Have a desire to see more of life and relish new experiences? This is a great time to travel with a partner or friend, and explore places you’ve never been before. Taking on a challenge might be a step forward. The decision to collaborate on a project or creative idea can work out well, Virgo.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

Have issues with finances, relationships, business matters or emotional bonds? You may be ready to dig deep concerning matters that can’t be resolved otherwise. It’s possible you’ll need to do some detective work to straighten things out to your satisfaction. Ready to revamp your love life? If so, a harmonious influence can assist you in wonderful ways by rekindling that spark.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

With Mars still making a harsh angle to Neptune in your sector of leisure and romance, your initial thoughts about someone could mean that you perceive them as being out of your league. Even so, with the planet of relating positively influencing you from today, they may be much more approachable than you thought. Over the coming weeks, things could develop nicely.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

As lovely Venus sashays into your lifestyle sector, you may be tempted to take the path of least resistance rather than stick to your regular discipline. This delightful influence could find you relaxing your diet or preferring to take it easy rather than go for a jog or long walk. On the plus side, you’ll instinctively know how to nurture a goal so that it comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

Venus’s move into your pleasure zone can add extra sparkle to the coming weeks, as it encourages you to indulge your creative side. If life has been busy recently, then spending time in nature and appreciating the peace and calm that comes with being in a soothing environment, may do you so much good. Relaxing with a loved one could also be a restorative, Capricorn.

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

You may feel guided to take extra care of yourself, especially if you’ve been juggling various activities recently. Don’t feel guilty about taking time out Aquarius, as this can be so important when it comes to maintaining a sense of wellbeing. Plus, with Venus in sensual Taurus and a private zone from today, a little pampering and a chance to unwind can help revitalize you.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

Bringing people together may be top priority over coming days, as the planet of harmony moves into your sector of talk and thought. If there have been issues with another or between family members or friends, then you might find yourself playing the part of mediator and helping settle any disputes. Have creative skills? Use the coming weeks to showcase your work.

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