Wednesday Mar 31, 2021

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

San Juan The

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DAILY

Star

US House to Hold PR Status Hearings Soon

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Photo By Pedro Correa Henry

Claims Taken to ATM

Vieques, Culebra Residents Protest at Agency’s SJ Headquarters

Mass Inoculation Event Today (for Those Who Can) P3

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 16

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SIP Recommended for Ex-Treasury Secretary Maldonado Gautier P6

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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING

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March 31, 2021

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.

10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines available today at mass inoculation event

Today’s

Weather

By THE STAR STAFF

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Wind: Humidity: UV Index: Sunrise: Sunset:

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From ENE 20 mph 70% 10 of 10 6:19 AM Local Time 6:37 PM Local Time

INDEX Local 3 Mainland 7 Business 10 International 12 Viewpoint 15 Noticias en Español 16

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San JuanDAILY Star The

PO BOX 6537 CAGUAS PR 00726

sanjuanweeklypr@gmail.com (787) 743-5606

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(787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 (787) 743-5100

he VOCES Coalition for Immunization and Health Promotion of Puerto Rico, along with the island Department of Health, will carry out a Super VacuTour mass vaccination event for 15 hours straight today from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Pedro Rosselló González Convention Center in Miramar, San Juan.

People from 35 to 49 years old with chronic diseases will be able to make an appointment, as well as those 50 years and older, for their first dose against COVID-19. Also employees from the food, banking, communications and manufacturing industries may participate if they are 21 years of age or older with evidence of their employment and their appointment through protegetevacunate.com.

According to a press release, VOCES has activated all its resources and hundreds of volunteers for the island’s first mass vaccination event with extended hours.

“Health professionals continue to be the heroes in the battle against this pandemic, especially those who, along with thousands of volunteers, have helped us to get Puerto Rico to exceed one million vaccinations administered,” said Lilliam Rodríguez Capó, CEO and founder of VOCES. “We are honored this Wednesday to have the commitment and service of more than 900 volunteers and 600 professionals hired, ready, trained and with a big heart. We are taking a big step by extending our hours and opening access to new categories.”

Receiving a vaccination in today’s Super Vacutour event requires the following: * Have requested and received an appointment on time, by text and by email. * Upon arrival at the event, people will queue their cars in order of arrival and park, keeping their turns. Access to the Convention Center parking is free of charge. * People must present evidence of appointment in printed or digital form along with an employment identification or job letter, depending on the age group or industry to which they belong. If they do not have an appointment at hand and evidence of belonging to the segment of the population called, they will not be given access to the Convention Center. * Once confirmed that they comply with the above, citizens will be given access to the Convention Center facilities in an orderly manner through the side entrances to enter by walking and begin their registration and inoculation process. * Citizens must have completed the registration document and if they do not have it, they can do it at the entrance table.

According to a press release, Super VacuTour will be able to receive up to 10,000 people thanks to the Conven-

tion Center, which has joined the effort by providing its facilities free of charge.

“We are honored to be part of this mass vaccination event for the benefit of our citizens, and to be able to contribute with the facilities and services of the Convention Center to make it viable,” said Jorge Pérez, regional manager of ASM Global, which administers the Convention Center. “The Center welcomes and opens its doors to thousands of people with the usual hospitality, security and enthusiasm so that they receive a dose of protection and hope in our facilities.”

Mariela Vallines, executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention District Authority, added that “we are proud to collaborate with VOCES and the Department of Health in this mass vaccination initiative that will benefit thousands of employees from various commercial sectors, as well as other citizens.”

“We continue to make progress in bringing the benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine to achieve the reactivation of our economy in a responsible and safe way,” she said.

Likewise, the contribution of Direct Relief to the mass vaccination efforts was highlighted.

“Direct Relief has been supporting VOCES in all its vaccination efforts and now for the vaccination against COVID-19, it has financed the purchase of computers for data entry, refrigerators for the transport and storage of vaccines and operational expenses,” said Ivonne Rodríguez Wiewall, executive advisor of Direct Relief in Puerto Rico.

Prevention continues to be a priority to protect people and avoid putting more lives at risk. The use of a mask, maintaining physical distance and washing hands are the strongest tools for reducing infections and, at the same time, preventing new and possibly more dangerous mutations from appearing.

More information can be found at salud.gov.pr and vozpr.org, and the social networks of the Puerto Rico Department of Health and the VOCES Coalition for Immunization and Health Promotion of Puerto Rico.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The San Juan Daily Star

Citizens take Vieques & Culebra residents’ transportation claims to ATM headquarters Say protests will continue at La Fortaleza and Capitol until a long-term solution occurs

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

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iequenses, Culebrenses and citizens from the main island protested Tuesday at the headquarters of the Maritime Transportation Authority (ATM by its Spanish initials) for a genuine solution to the island municipalities’ ferry and cargo service problems, which have dragged on for 30 years.

To the rhythm of bomba and slogans, citizens, community organizations and labor unions joined affected residents at the Roberto SánchezVilella Governmental Center in San Juan, the site of ATM headquarters, to request the repeal of the public-private agreement between the ATM and HMS Ferries, the inclusion of residents as participants in governmental decisions affecting the island municipalities, and for the Puerto Rico Police Bureau to withdraw charges against two Culebra citizens who were arrested in a protest action on Saturday.

Elda Guadalupe Carrasquillo, a spokesperson for the coalition Somos Más Que 100x35 (We Are More Than 100x35), said the demonstrations will not stop until both Vieques and Culebra find “a long-term solution” to their problems.

“La Fortaleza is going to get its turn, too,” Guadalupe Carrasquillo said. “We are going to cover all the bases. If we have to be in the water, we will be in the water; if we have to come here. … We are tired. Enough is enough and this has to be resolved.”

The protest came one day after the U.S. Coast Guard pulled the Cayo Blanco -- the only working ATM barge in operation to provide trips to and from Vieques and Culebra for some 400 residents -- from the water.

“At that moment, two other small barges that the ATM allegedly bought came in, but only one of them was in operation,” Guadalupe Carrasquillo said, adding that the replacement barges could only carry up to 150 people.

“It’s quite curious that physical distancing wasn’t enforced on the barges; however, when we arrived at the big island and the buses picked us up, they were now enforcing safety protocols,” she said.

Guadalupe Carrasquillo said the replacement barge was more unstable than the withdrawn barge because the smaller vessel “is not sufficient for the ocean we are breaking through.”

“We arrived at the island in a maraca,” she said.

As for the public-private agreement, although Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Monday that the contract with HMS would solve the aforementioned problems, the Somos Más Que 100x35 spokesperson said otherwise.

“The contract, how it is written now, is not the solution,” Guadalupe Carrasquillo said. “If we have to sit down to renegotiate the contract, if that would be the only choice, we must do so. If the contract is annulled, the government must pay thousands of dollars, but the government wastes thousands of dollars all the time. If we don’t reach any of those solutions that address our claims, we will carry on.”

“Please consider us whenever you [the government] make

a decision; if you considered us, that contract would not have been approved,” she added. “That contract was based on a study that was completely irresponsible and ill-founded, as the study that the public-private agreement referred to stated that 75% of the ferry users are not residents, and anyone who has been inside those ferries knows that we are in fact residents and we need to travel here [to Puerto Rico].”

At about 11:20 a.m., residents attempted to enter the ATM office to hand over a two-page document to the authority administration that included some 14 issues that they say the entity should set as priorities, including access problems and health precautions.

However, police officers who were guarding the entrance did not allow demonstrators to come in, leading to negotiations between citizens and Sgt. José Guzmán, who is a police officer from the Santurce precinct.

At first, the residents decided to have five young members of their contingent meet with ATM officials as no officials had come down.

However, Guzmán later negotiated that only four residents could enter the building with at least two police officers escorting them.

“I consider it disrespectful that they are making us wait here, that they won’t allow us to enter a public building and to be attended to as citizens of this country,” said Vieques resident Yamilka Ríos, adding that residents were asking to meet with ATM officials as soon as possible because they had little time left before they had to return to the dock in Ceiba as only 14 trips were scheduled for the day.

In a written statement, the ATM said it recognizes the demonstrators’ freedom of speech and is “committed and working strongly.”

The agency said further that it has reached agreements that were made public, among them pending meetings with residents of the island municipalities.

However, as of press time no date for the meetings had been announced.

Ríos pointed out that “if it’s true that a meeting is pending, a date must be established.”

“It is extremely urgent to hold that meeting, preferably today or before the Holy Week weekend,” she said. “I have been informed that it is going to be after Holy Week, but that doesn’t solve the problem. The island will be packed with tourists.”

“What are we going to do? There’s no food, there’s no fuel on the island,” Ríos added. “How are you going to move around

when there’s neither? Which restaurant will they go to?”

As the ATM office was not responding and police officers later said that only one person was to be allowed to enter, demonstrators moved the protest to the José de Diego Avenue intersection with the exit to Román Baldorioty de Castro expressway for 10 minutes.

During that part of the demonstration, at 12:45 p.m,Vieques residents Adelmarí Lassús and Mia Isabel Zenón, who is 12 years old, were able to meet with ATM officials and hand over the written demands for a decent life in both “La Isla Nena” and Culebra.

Only one member of the press, Revista Étnica, was allowed to enter with them, as they were escorted by three police officers to meet with ATM attorney Enzio Ramírez Echevarría and Executive Assistant Vanessa Márquez.

ATM Executive Director Jorge Droz, who assumed his duties on Monday, was not present.

“The least they could have done was to come down and ask what was happening, what did you all need,” Lassús said.

“He [Droz] just began working yesterday [Monday]; he should be a good person and speak with the Viequenses, but that is where he is failing because these are the people who are controlling our lives.”

“With the current maritime transportation system, both Viequenses’ and Culebrenses’ lives are being gambled with,” she added.

Lassús also said the ATM officials assured her they would be sending the claims to the new executive director soon.

“I believe that we left them in good hands; what will happen with them? We’ll see, and we have to wait,” she said. “But as we wait, we will keep fighting and demanding because it has been too long, so it’s time to apply pressure and claim our rights.”

When the STAR asked Zenón how it felt to be demanding something at such a young age that the government should address, she said she did not like having to go through all the trouble “when it is a necessary system for us to live.”

“We live in two completely separate islands, and this is our road, and if that road is not doing well and we still don’t know what is actually happening with it, I really don’t want to live like this all my life,” Zenón said. “Most adults, or my parents, have gone through that because this has been going on for years. It’s not just from now, it’s not from 2015 or 2021, it’s been going on for years and we’re really tired of it.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

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Commercial flights resume at Aguadilla, Ponce airports

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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iven the resumption of commercial flights at Rafael Hernández and Mercedita international airports in Aguadilla and Ponce, respectively, Ports Authority Executive Director Joel Pizá Batiz provided guidance Tuesday on the COVID-19 protocols to be followed by arriving and departing passengers at the two airports starting Thursday.

“We are very happy and excited to resume commercial flights at the Ponce and Aguadilla airports this coming Thursday, April 1,” Pizá Batiz said in a written statement. “For this, we have adopted modern technology such as infrared cameras, strict sanitary measures, a rigorous itinerary of each flight and installed signage, and alcohol [hand sanitizer] dispensers [to prevent the spread of] COVID-19. The health of our passengers, employees and personnel who work there is of the utmost importance to us.”

The Ports chief emphasized that last November the two international airports received certificates of accreditation from the prestigious International Airports Coun-

cil, after completing their rigorous Airport Health Accreditation Program.

Pizá Batiz also stressed that the use of masks inside the terminals, as well as during the duration of the flight, is compulsory by federal law. Violators expose themselves to severe fines and/or jail. Both airports, as well as airlines, will have masks available for those who need them.

The official recommended that those who plan to travel from Aguadilla or Ponce starting April 1 arrive at least two hours in

advance, so there is ample time for the screening processes of the island Health Department and the Puerto Rico National Guard, as well as the inspection of luggage by the federal Department of Agriculture, to be conducted in the fastest and most efficient way possible for all passengers.

Only people who are going to travel, receive a service from a dealer, or offer assistance to a passenger will be allowed inside the terminals. Family members and companions must remain outside

the terminals. Minors traveling must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardian. In the case of disabled people, they can be accompanied by a person to assist them with luggage if necessary, Pizá Batiz said.

“Once inside the terminal, we advise passengers to come with a ticket or boarding pass in hand, to speed up the process,” he said. “All passengers must be aware of their luggage, since unattended luggage will be removed for security reasons.”

Pizá Batiz urged those arriving from a flight not to linger inside the terminal, to prevent crowds of people that could interrupt the flow of passengers leaving the facility.

All travelers arriving from a flight are being asked to fill out the www.travelsafe. pr.gov application on their mobile device to speed up the screening process upon arrival on the island.

“People who are going to pick up passengers, know that they must remain in their cars, and that there will be a designated area for it, since vehicles will not be allowed to enter the terminal area,” the Ports chief said. “Badly parked or unattended vehicles are subject to a fine or to be removed.”

US House panel to hold hearing on PR status

By THE STAR STAFF

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ouse Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) announced earlier this week that he will lead a full committee hearing at 1 p.m. Eastern time on April 14 to consider legislation filed in the U.S. House of Representatives that seeks to resolve the island’s debate over its political status.

In a statement, Grijalva said the committee will evaluate two different pieces of legislation – HR 1522, filed by Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and HR 2070, filed

by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) – to resolve Puerto Rico’s political status, an issue on which Grijalva said the Puerto Rican people deserve “clarity and closure.”

“Legislative approaches that have gathered popular support will receive a fair hearing and due consideration in this Committee, and I will not put my thumb on the scale,” Grijalva said Monday in a statement. “I look forward to hearing about both bills to come to an equitable, and hopefully final, federal agreement on a process to resolve the island’s ultimate political status.”

Grijalva traveled twice to Puerto Rico in the previous congressional term to survey damage from Hurricane

Maria, meet with elected leaders and clean energy advocates, and hold a public forum on Puerto Rico’s political and economic future. He has garnered respect from multiple political factions on the island, and in the mainland U.S., for dealing fairly with all sides of the status dispute.

On Dec. 10, 2020, he wrote to then-President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris urging the rapid implementation of the Biden-Harris Plan for Recovery, Renewal and Respect for Puerto Rico and encouraging the incoming administration to create a federal task force to offer analysis and expertise to the White House and congressional lawmakers on Puerto Rico’s financial recovery and reconstruction as soon as possible.

The Soto legislation seeks to make Puerto Rico a state. The bill requires the president of the United States to notify the governor of Puerto Rico once the “Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act” is enacted. Within 30 days of being notified of the law’s enactment, the bill further requires that the governor issue a proclamation for the election of Puerto Rico’s senators and representatives in Congress. The legislation comes as a result of

last November’s Yes-No statehood plebiscite in which a majority of Puerto Rico voters chose in favor of statehood.

HR 2070 would allow Puerto Rico to determine its future arrangement beyond its current territorial status – whether that be statehood, independence, free association or other alternatives – through a constituent assembly in which delegates will be selected. Sen. Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.) introduced the measure in the Senate.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.)

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Justice Dept. recommends special independent prosecutor to probe ex-Treasury chief’s handling of contract

By THE STAR STAFF

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he island Department of Justice on Tuesday recommended the appointment of a special independent prosecutor (FEI by its Spanish initials) to investigate possible violations of the criminal code by former government official Raúl Maldonado Gautier related to the alleged awarding of a contract when he served as Treasury secretary that caused the illegal disbursement of public funds.

“The Department of Justice (DJ) received a referral from the Office of the Inspector General on February 6, 2020. Following an investigation by the DJ’s Division of Public Integrity and Comptroller Affairs, it concluded that a contract awarded by the then Secretary of Treasury was formalized without the necessary requirements, causing the illegal disbursement of public funds,” Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández said in a written statement. “For this reason, a communi-

cation was referred to the members of the Panel on the Special Independent Prosecutor Panel [PFEI by its Spanish initials].”

According to the communication, the Department

of Justice recommends the appointment of an FEI to evaluate the actions of Maldonado Gautier for “possible misappropriation of funds and undue intervention in government operations, as a result of the awarding of contract 2007-000246 between the Department of the Treasury and Risco Insurance Inc. as of April 1, 2017.”

The preliminary investigation conducted by personnel of the Justice Department’s Division of Public Integrity and Comptroller Affairs revealed that there is sufficient cause to conclude that Maldonado Gautier could have committed crimes under the following: Article 4.2 of the Government Ethics Law; Article 254 of the Penal Code for undue intervention in government operations; and Article 264 of the Penal Code for embezzlement of public funds, which justifies the appointment of an FEI. Emanuelli Hernández added that both Maldonado Gautier and the complainant were notified of the recommendation.

Oversight board warns regulatory entities against increasing freight tariffs

By THE STAR STAFF

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he federal Financial Oversight and Management Board has written to the heads of the Public Service Regulatory Board (NRSP by its Spanish initials) and the Bureau of Transport and Other Public Services (NTSP by its Spanish initials) asking them to stop the implementation of an administrative memo that increases island freight tariffs and to submit by today a detailed schedule for the adoption of 2021 draft regulations.

The letter to NRSP Chairman Edison Avilés and to NTSP President Jaime A. Lafuente was sent in response to a Jan. 22 letter from the NTSP stating that it intended to draft new 2021 regulations on island freight rates that would be consistent with the commonwealth fiscal plan. Last Friday, the oversight board stated at its public meeting that the new island freight tariffs hurt the

economy and violate the Puerto Rico Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) because the board had to grant approval first.

The NTSP had terminated its adoption of the 2020 draft regulations and intended to propose new regulations, “in accordance with the Fiscal Plan,” the oversight board’s letter said, quoting the letter from the regulatory entities.

The NTSP also said in its January letter that before issuing the 2021 Draft Regulations, it “will provide to the Oversight Board a translation of the regulation along with an explanation of how the proposed regulation is compliant with the Fiscal Plan,” and the NTSP plans “to secure the prompt evaluation and approval of the new regulations by the Oversight Board,” the board wrote.

While the oversight board said it welcomed the NTSP letter, it reminded the entity that like 2020 regulations, the new regulations cannot be implemented unless the board approves them first and warned that instructions contained in the aforementioned administrative memo must be repealed.

“Therefore, the Oversight Board requests you provide the detailed schedule for the adoption of the 2021 Draft Regulations by March 31, 2021,” the oversight board stated in its letter dated March 26. “We note [the NTSP] has stated it will be keeping the Administrative Memo in full force and effect, while awaiting Oversight Board review of the 2021 Draft Regulations. NTSP has taken this position even though the Administrative Memo was issued without prior Oversight Board review and even though AAFAF [the commonwealth Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority], in its

December 30, 2020 letter, instructed [NTSP] to repeal the Administrative Memo and to “immediately desist from adjusting tariffs regulated by NTSP.” “As you know from our prior correspondence, the Oversight Board has determined the Administrative Memo is inconsistent with the Fiscal Plan, impairs or defeats the purposes of PROMESA, violates PROMESA, and may not be implemented,” the oversight board wrote. “The NTSP’s refusal to comply with the directives of the Oversight Board constitutes a separate and continuing violation of PROMESA section 108(a)(2).”

The federal board advised the entities that it reserves the right to take actions it deems necessary, including filing a suit for repeated violations of PROMESA.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

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‘No excuse not to be vaccinated,’ with eligibility now open to millions in US

By EDGAR SANDOVAL

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s Texas joined several other states Monday in opening eligibility for coronavirus vaccines to millions of healthy adults, anticipation for the shot could be seen in the long line that snaked outside Booker T. Washington High School in Houston.

“This is a good sign,” said Nelson Garcia, 48, who waited more than two hours with his two young children before he was finally within reach of protection from a disease that could be deadly for people with diabetes like himself. “It looks like everyone wants to get vaccinated. I want my children to see that this is a good thing and that the vaccine may finally help us get back to normal.”

On Monday, Texas became the largest state to expand vaccination eligibility to anyone 16 or older, or about 22 million people. Long lines were replicated across the state and appointments were difficult to snag online. Vaccination spots at HEB. com, the website for the most popular supermarket chain in Texas, were few and far between.

The spike was expected. “Virtually anyone can get a vaccine now,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat who represents the Houston region.

Five other states, including neighboring Oklahoma and Louisiana, as well as Kansas, Ohio and North Dakota, also opened their doors for all adults Monday. Several reported increased interest in the vaccine, but the numbers did not overwhelm the system of vaccine providers.

Also on Monday, officials in NewYork state, once the center of the pandemic that has killed about 31,000 people in New York City alone, announced that beginning Tuesday, all adults 30 and older would be eligible for the vaccine. At least 37 other states have vowed to offer shots to every adult who wants one by mid-April.

Six states — Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and South Carolina — plan to expand eligibility this week, officials in those states said.

On Monday, many in Texas celebrated the milestone, which came with the

state struggling to stay ahead of the pandemic; there have been an average of 3,774 new cases per day over the past week, according to a New York Times database.

“COVID is still here. COVID is not going anywhere,” Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of critical care at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, said as he visited the high school site. “Everybody has to get a vaccine. There is no excuse not to be vaccinated.”

Imelda Garcia, a top official with the Texas Department of State Health Services, called Monday “a truly big day for us here in Texas.” About one in six Texans have fully received the vaccinations needed to fend off a serious coronavirus infection, Garcia said. Still, the number of Texans who have received at least one dose — about 25% — is below the 29% nationwide.

Garcia said the state planned to administer vaccines “as fast as we possibly can,” and she expected to see long lines at vaccination sites for days to come. The state is expected to receive more than 1 million first doses this week, she said.

Health officials found themselves in a race to vaccinate as many Texans as possible as more contagious variants of the virus continue to spread. At least 500 cases of these variants have been identified, state officials said.

“We need to keep people vaccinated very, very quickly,” Garcia said. “So that the variants don’t get out of hand.”

While there were no reports of websites crashing or people being turned away Monday, there were obvious signs that demand for the vaccines was high. The lines were longer than those days earlier at larger sites like NRG Park in Houston.

Vehicles snaked around the cavernous parking lot as people anticipated their turn for a drive-by vaccine.

While younger people were among the crowds at vaccination sites, state officials warned that vulnerable populations, such as older people and those who have preexisting health conditions, remain a priority. This was evident at Booker T. Washington High School, in a historically Black neighborhood of Houston.

Jackson Lee was surveying the crowd when she spotted a man holding on to a

Dr. Joseph Varon, left, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), right, speak about the importance of getting vaccinated, outside a vaccination site at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston on Monday, March 29, 2021. cane and struggling to stay on his feet at the back of the line. She placed an arm around him and gently helped him reach the front.

People in line cheered and applauded as the man, John Custer, 58, walked past them. “I would had waited, I don’t know how long,” he said.

Others like Eddie Taylor, 58, and his wife, Helen Taylor, 60, said they appreciated that many vaccination sites like the high school did not require signing up beforehand. The Taylors got to the end of the line at 8 a.m. hoping to earn a spot before the site shut for the day at 4 p.m.

“You just show up and hope you make it before they close or run out,” said Taylor, the lead pastor of True Faith and Praise Missionary Baptist Church.

In the Rio Grande Valley, where a combination of poverty, lack of access to health care and a close-knit culture accelerated the spread of the virus over the summer, vaccination sites were a bit quieter. A majority of residents in Hidalgo County, home to McAllen, had gotten a vaccine by late March, officials said. More than half of its residents qualified because they tend to suffer from chronic preexisting ailments such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure, said Dr. Ivan Melendez, the county health authority.

Nearly 300,000 people in the region had received their first dose of the vaccine as of Monday, and about 22,000 people were expected to do so in the coming weeks. “I am encouraged,” Melendez said.

“Do we have a long way to go? Absolutely.

But we have come a long way.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

New York must offer vaccine to all prisoners immediately, judge rules

By TROY CLOSSON

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ew York must immediately begin to offer COVID vaccines to all incarcerated people in the state’s prisons and jails, a judge ruled on Monday, making the state one of few in the nation to provide doses to such a broad population behind bars.

The order, the first involving any of the country’s largest correctional systems, comes as the coronavirus continues to roar through facilities in New York. At least 1,100 people living behind prison walls have tested positive for the virus since the start of last month, and five have died.

But even as corrections staff and many other groups, including some who live in closecontact settings like group homes and homeless shelters, have gained access to the vaccines in recent weeks, most incarcerated people in New York have remained ineligible to receive doses.

Justice Alison Y. Tuitt of state Supreme Court in the Bronx wrote in her ruling Monday afternoon that people in prisons and jails had been arbitrarily left out of the rollout and that doing so was “unfair and unjust” and an “abuse of discretion.”

State officials, she said, “irrationally distinguished between incarcerated people and people living in every other type of adult congregate facility, at great risk to incarcerated people’s lives during this pandemic.”

She added: “There is no acceptable excuse for this deliberate exclusion.”

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office did not signal an intention to appeal the decision and said in a statement on Monday evening that eligibility would be expanded to all people behind bars as the judge ordered.

New York must immediately begin to offer Covid vaccines to all incarcerated people in the state’s prisons and jails, a judge ruled on Monday, March 29, 2021, making the state one of few in the nation to provide doses to such a broad population behind bars.

“Our goal all along has been to implement a vaccination program that is fair and equitable, and these changes will help ensure that continues to happen,” said Beth Garvey, acting counsel to the governor.

Public health researchers and infectious disease specialists widely agreed, even in the earliest stages of vaccination efforts when supply was more limited, that the roughly 50,000 people in correctional facilities across the state should be made eligible because of their uniquely high risk for contracting and spreading the virus. A disproportionate number of them are also Black

and Latino, groups that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

But vaccinating incarcerated people has proved politically fraught across the country as states grappling with the same ethical, logistical and legal questions have drawn up drastically different timelines for offering doses. In New York, most of those behind bars had been left out, though other high-risk groups like restaurant workers, public-facing government employees and essential building service workers recently became eligible.

Florida has not yet made people in state prisons eligible, while Texas and Arkansas announced last week that they would start providing doses to some of those behind bars. Some other states, including New Jersey, began inoculating incarcerated people late last year, just as the first vaccine doses were being made available. And in Massachusetts, the roughly 6,400 people in prison have all already been offered a vaccine.

In a similar suit last month in Oregon, a federal court judge ordered the state prison system, which has a population of around 12,000, to offer doses to all incarcerated people. It was the first successful legal battle of its kind nationwide.

Hours after the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in the Bronx was filed early last month, state corrections officials announced that incarcerated people ages 65 and older, who make up roughly 3% of the prison population, would be offered the vaccine.

Around 1,100 detainees in New York City jails, many of whom were at the highest risk of complications from infection, also received doses,

starting in the first weeks of January.

In recent weeks, the state’s age threshold for eligibility was lowered to include anyone 60 years of age and older, and then 50 and older. People with some chronic health conditions were also allowed to sign up for vaccination appointments.

State officials announced Monday that all adult residents would be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine by April 6, which might have led more people behind bars to soon be offered doses even had the ruling not been issued.

Inside prisons, roughly three-fourths of the 1,066 incarcerated people over 65 opted into receiving shots, a spokeswoman for the state corrections department said last week. More than 2,500 people with eligible conditions also received their first doses.

Still, public health experts say that incarcerated people regardless of age or condition should have already been made eligible since they often live in congested units and eat in crowded facilities where social distancing is nearly impossible.

“It’s a population that should be at the top of the list,” Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said in an interview in January, during the first weeks of the state’s rollout. “I can’t think of an insurmountable barrier in all honesty to getting it done aside from stigmatization and discrimination.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends offering doses to everyone at correctional facilities simultaneously, public defenders and civil liberties groups noted in their arguments.

Prison and jail workers across the state were made eligible to receive the vaccine on Jan. 11.

Efforts to place incarcerated people ahead of the general public in the rollout have drawn pushback from some lawmakers in other states.

The state Senate in Kansas, where the majority of members are Republicans, passed a nonbinding resolution demanding that the governor revise a vaccination plan that prioritized those in prisons.

Colorado backtracked on a plan to give prisoners early access to vaccines following opposition from Republican lawmakers and on social media.

And in New York, Republicans in the state Senate and Assembly had raised concerns over vaccinating incarcerated people before fully inoculating essential workers.

Several advocacy groups plan to now focus on continued education and outreach around the vaccine. Some incarcerated people, they worry, may be reluctant to accept doses, largely because of the government’s history of medical experimentation on prison populations and people of color and the dearth of information available to people behind bars.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

9

Ghislaine Maxwell charged with sex trafficking of 14-year-old girl

By BENJAMIN WEISER

G

hislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was charged Monday for the first time with sex-trafficking of a minor, as federal prosecutors accused her of grooming a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual acts with Epstein and later paying her.

A new federal indictment filed in Manhattan charged that on multiple occasions between 2001 and 2004, the girl provided nude massages to Epstein at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, during which he engaged in sex acts with her.

The new charges against Maxwell go further than those contained in an earlier indictment that accused her of helping Epstein recruit, groom and ultimately sexually abuse girls, but did not include sex-trafficking allegations.

The new indictment says that after the girl provided Epstein with the massages, Maxwell or others who worked for him paid the girl hundreds of dollars in cash.

A lawyer for Maxwell did not respond to a request for comment on the new charges.

The indictment comes almost nine months after Maxwell, 59, once a fixture on New York’s social scene, was arrested in New Hampshire on charges that she had lured underage girls — one as young as 14 — into Epstein’s orbit, and contributed to his abuse of them.

The indictment issued Monday cites an additional 14-year-old girl who is identified only as Minor Victim-4.

Maxwell has been jailed since her arrest last year and is awaiting a trial, scheduled for July, in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. She pleaded not guilty to the original charges.

The new indictment also says Epstein and Maxwell each encouraged the girl to recruit other young women to provide sexualized massages to Epstein.

In response, the indictment says, the girl brought multiple women and girls to provide erotic massages for Epstein, and both she and the people she recruited were paid hundreds of dollars in cash.

Epstein, 66, hanged himself in his cell at a jail in Manhattan in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. An indictment said Epstein had recruited dozens of minor girls to engage in sex acts with him at his mansion in Manhattan and the Palm Beach estate, after which he paid them hundreds of dollars in cash.

Prosecutors, in expanding their case against Maxwell, not only added two new counts — sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking conspiracy — but they also broadened the time period of the allegations they have made.

The original indictment alleged crimes by Maxwell from 1994-97, leading her lawyers to argue, as they unsuccessfully sought her release on bail, that it was “inherently more difficult to prosecute cases relating to decadesold conduct.” They said that helped to “call into question the strength of the government’s case.”

The sex trafficking of Minor Victim-4 occurred between 2001-04, the new indictment says.

It adds that Maxwell first met the 14-year-old girl at the Palm Beach residence and over the next three years interacted there with her frequently, while knowing she was a minor.

The government made it clear in its original indictment that the process of grooming victims for sexual activity

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was once a fixture in the New York City social scene, has been jailed since her arrest last summer.

— the seemingly innocuous behavior by a predator to break down a victim’s barriers to abusive conduct — would be a central part of its case against Maxwell.

The new indictment offered more details on how the government might support that accusation against Maxwell.

Describing how she groomed the girl, the indictment said Maxwell asked her about her family and other aspects of her life, and “sought to normalize inappropriate and abusive conduct.”

Maxwell also discussed sexual topics in front of the girl and was present when the girl was nude in the massage room of the Palm Beach residence, the

indictment said.

It also said that at one point, Epstein and Maxwell invited the girl to travel with Epstein and offered to help her obtain a passport, but she declined.

But frequently during the period of the sex trafficking, Maxwell and others who were employed by Epstein sent the girl presents, including lingerie.

In a letter to the judge, Alison J. Nathan, that accompanied the new indictment, the office of Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said its investigation was continuing but that if Maxwell’s trial remains set for July, as scheduled, the government did not intend to seek further indictments in the case.

10

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Here come hot Desks and Zoom rooms. And holograms?

By JANE MARGOLIES

S

ince the pandemic sent workers home last year, a slew of modifications have been made to office buildings to protect against the spread of the coronavirus. Now, as companies prepare to bring workers back, experts say even more changes are on the way.

Expect expanded gathering spaces and fewer personal workstations, for instance, changes that are being fueled by the success of working from home. Companies like Google, Microsoft and Walmart have already announced proposals for hybrid work models that will allow employees to continue to work remotely at least a few days a week.

These new arrangements mean companies may need less office space, and some have already cut back on their real estate needs, according to a survey from the consulting firm PwC. Target said this month that it was giving up office space in downtown Minneapolis, and in September, the sporting goods retailer REI sold its newly built headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.

“We really are at an inflection point,” said Meena Krenek, an interior design director at Perkins+Will, an architecture firm that is revamping offices, including its own, for new modes of working.

Last spring, while lockdowns were in place, landlords and tenants prepared for what they thought would be a return to the office in the summer and fall. Desks were dragged 6 feet apart and Plexiglas barriers installed between them. One-way arrows were stenciled on corridor floors, chairs were removed from conference rooms, and an elaborate choreography was developed to determine how and when teams would return to avoid overcrowding.

Then many workers simply stayed home. As the pandemic dragged on and people got the hang of Zoom, many discovered it was possible to be productive while parked on living room sofas or in backyard lawn chairs.

Now, as company heads are again planning for a return to the office, not

The New York office of the architecture firm Perkins+Will. It is redesigning clients’ workplaces — and its own. only safety measures but also the new work arrangements are driving discussions about the post-pandemic workplace. More than 80% of companies are embracing a hybrid model whereby employees will be in the office three days a week, according to a new survey by KayoCloud, a real estate technology platform.

Workplaces are being reimagined for activities benefiting from face-toface interaction, including collaboration on projects and employee training, as a way to promote a company’s culture and identity.

Common areas will be increased and equipped with furniture that can be moved as needs change. Steelcase and Knoll, suppliers of office furniture, report strong interest in mobile tables, carts and partitions.

But as the amount of space devoted to gathering expands, the fate of one’s own personal turf at the office — a desk decorated with family photos, a couple of file cabinets — hangs in the balance. Why, company leaders are asking, should someone who is in the office one or two days a week require a space that will sit empty the rest of the time?

In some cases, personal desks are being replaced with “hoteling” workstations, also called hot desks, which can be used by whoever needs a place to touch down for a day.

Conference rooms, too, are getting a reboot. In the past, these rooms were predicated on the idea of people gathering in person. A large screen on a wall might be used for presentations or to let an executive in another location make a cameo appearance.

But some employees are permanently moving to remote work, and companies are puzzling over how to give them the same ability to participate as those who are physically present. There are even early discussions about using artificial intelligence to conjure up holographic representations of employees who are off site but could still take a seat at the table.

For now, some companies are having in-person attendees continue to use their laptops so that remote workers can see everyone on their Zoom screens, an effort to “help maintain a sense of equivalency that we’ve come to expect,” said Peter Knutson, chief strategy officer of A+I, a design firm.

Modifications made to offices to protect against the coronavirus are still in effect. Stopgap measures may fade away as the pandemic loosens its grip, but others will be here to stay.

In lobbies, floor decals spaced 6 feet apart may be around “just until people get into the habit,” said Natalie Engels, a principal at Gensler, an architecture firm.

Signs that had proliferated during the pandemic — promoting “self-cleaning” elevator buttons and virus-zapping technologies like ionization and ultraviolet light — will eventually be removed.

But increasingly, moving through an office building is likely to be a hands-free experience aided by mobile apps, sensors and voice controls, even after the reluctance to touch surfaces diminishes.

Sensors will allow employees to enter a turnstile and summon an elevator with the wave of a hand. Landlords who have yet to invest in such systems have experimented with foot pedals to activate elevators. Buttons on walls outside restrooms can be pressed with an elbow, averting the need to touch door handles.

Some companies are adding foot-operated door openers.

The coronavirus has focused attention on air quality in what may be a lasting way. Outdoor spaces — roofs, terraces and courtyards — were popular before the pandemic and have become more so as fresh air has gone from being a nicety to being a necessity.

Landlords have in some cases adjusted HVAC systems to increase the amount of outdoor air being pumped in. They are also upgrading filters to trap smaller airborne particles.

Some measures are being enshrined in leases, said Geoffrey F. Fay, a real estate lawyer with Pullman & Comley. But landlords are doing such things proactively, he added, as they try to make offices as enticing as possible at a time when tenants may be wondering if they even need to rent space anymore.

“Landlords realize we are on the precipice of change,” he said. “They want to make employees feel comfortable to the extent they’re coming back to the office.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

11 Stocks

Wall Street drops as tech stocks hit by spike in yields W all Street’s main indexes slipped on Tuesday as investors pulled out of heavyweight techrelated stocks and flocked to undervalued banks and industrial stocks spooked by a new high in U.S. bond yields.

Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com and Broadcom Inc dropped between 0.9% and 2.7%, with U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hitting a 14-month high.

The Nasdaq is set for its first monthly loss since November following a recent rise in yields that particularly hurt tech stocks, which often have a low-rate environment heavily baked into their high valuations.

“The market is focused on interest rates, the stimulus coming out of Washington DC, additional burden of that spending associated with stimulus and the rotation that has been going on from reopening growth stocks to old line value stocks,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in New York.

Bets on a swift economic rebound backed by vaccine rollouts and unprecedented stimulus has helped the S&P 500 and the Dow notch record closing highs last week, while the Nasdaq is still about 7% below its all-time closing high from February.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden will unveil more details about the first stage of his infrastructure plan, which could be worth as much as $4 trillion.

Despite market weakness, economy-linked industrials stocks hit a new peak while financials and materials traded higher. The small-cap Russell 2000 added 1.4%. Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were in the red.

“For the next day or two, (value stocks) will probably be leaders because we have quarter-end and institutions want to make sure that they have exposure to the names that performed well,” Pavlik added.

Bank stocks rebounded 2.2% as investors took heart from signs that the impact from the fall of a U.S. hedge fund didn’t ripple out to broader markets.

Wells Fargo & Co jumped 3% after the lender said it had a prime brokerage relationship with Archegos Capital and that it no longer had any exposure and did not experience any losses.

At 11:29 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86.61 points, or 0.26% , to 33,084.76, the S&P 500 lost 12.35 points, or 0.31%, to 3,958.74 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 28.43 points, or 0.22%, to 13,031.22.

The Russell 2000 value index added about 0.1%, outperforming its growth stocks, which shed about 0.6% in a continuation of a trend since late last year.

GameStop Corp added about 2% after it named Amazon.com Inc executive Elliott Wilke as chief growth officer, the latest top level appointment after shareholder Ryan Cohen took charge of the video game retailer’s e-commerce pivot.

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12

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The San Juan Daily Star

Could the pandemic spell the end of U.K.’s high-speed rail?

Protesters who were evicted from their camp near the village of Steeple Claydon, England, watch as trees are felled to make way for a high-speed rail project on Feb. 26, 2021.

By STEPHEN CASTLE

A

chorus of bird song gives way to the roar of a chain saw and then the creaking and splintering of timber. A 50-foot tree sways, wobbles and finally crashes to the ground, while protesters shout and jeer.

The construction of the British government’s largest public works project — a high-speed rail line known as HS2 — has long been promoted as helping to save the environment. But it is under growing challenge from those who accuse it of doing the exact opposite.

They have waged a mostly fruitless fight against the project, a grand scheme to cut air and road travel by connecting the north of England to the more prosperous south with trains traveling at up to 225 mph.

Now, with the pandemic prompting a surge in working from home and a slump in train travel, the opponents believe the argument is finally tilting their way, eroding the already shaky rationale for an effort that could cost more than $140 billion.

They include not just the hardened, young ecowarriors who camp among the trees near the ancient English wood of Steeple Claydon, hoping to stop construction, but also people like Clive Higgins, 71, the owner of a stretch of land in the path of the project and a

member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party. He said his generation was raised not to show emotion, but it was impossible when woodlands were torn apart.

“There are times when I crawl into a corner and cry,” Higgins said.

Tom Burke, a veteran environmental activist, formerly supported the rail line, which has been projected to appeal primarily to business travelers. Now he opposes it, citing the carbon footprint of the construction work itself, the threat to biodiversity and the pandemic-altered world.

“We are not going back to the same volume of travel on trains; people are not going to go back to work in the way they used to work,” said Burke, chairman of E3G, an environmental think tank.

The first phase of the project would connect London to Birmingham, around 100 miles to the northwest.

The next phase would push farther, with links to Manchester and Liverpool scheduled for completion between 2029 and 2033. A planned final phase would connect Birmingham to cities to the northeast, including Leeds, in Yorkshire.

The projected cost is immense — around 50 billion pounds, almost $69 billion, for the first stages, and more than twice as much if it is extended to Leeds.

Travel time between London and Manchester is expected to be cut to 90 minutes, from 128.

On a sunny spring morning at Poor’s Piece, near the village of Steeple Claydon northwest of London, Higgins, the landowner and a former IT entrepreneur, said he had invited protesters onto his land after the project took part of it — so far without financial compensation — using rules that allow its temporary seizure. However, money is not what really motivates him, he said.

“We have planted and repaired wildflower meadows, we have recovered ponds, we have planted thousands of trees and planted miles of hedgerows, and the reward I have got from a grateful society is just to come and kick it all to bits — all for no purpose,” he said.

Britain’s green protest movement has stopped or slowed a host of road and other construction projects, but a victory over this one would be much harder. Trains are more popular and climate-friendly than cars or planes, construction of the first leg is already underway, and Parliament has authorized construction of one of its two northern sections.

But no decision has yet been made on whether, or when, to build the final, northeastern phase, so protesters hope that they can at least stop that final stretch.

Andrew Adonis, a member of the House of Lords, a former transport secretary and an architect of the plan, stands by it.

“If the pandemic had come five years ago there might have been a rationale for pausing it, but there is no argument when you have 250 construction sites between London and Birmingham and have spent 10 billion pounds,” he said.

“Unless there is a dramatic change, there will be a need for significant new transport capacity,” he added, arguing that opposition comes from an alliance of NIMBYs and “fundamentalist greens who are against any development of any kind.”

At a protest camp at Jones Hill Wood, about 25 miles from Steeple Claydon, activists have built tree houses and other shelters on a landscape that inspired writer Roald Dahl, and where tree felling was scheduled last year.

They say they have worked hard to monitor wildlife, including the location of badger dens and bat colonies, to hold officials to their promises to protect some species.

But construction work is going on behind a green metal fence erected by security guards who take video footage on their phones of anyone who approaches.

Sitting around a campfire, Ross Monaghan, an activist who has spent a year here, much of it sleeping in a treehouse 80 feet above the ground, said it was “a victory that Jones Hill Wood is still standing, but we haven’t won that battle yet.”

To prevent more felling, he said, “people are going to have to step forward, put their bodies on the line, put their freedom on the line, and I think you will see that happen.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31 2021

13

Ship is freed after a costly lesson in the vulnerabilities of sea trade

By VIVIAN YEE

F

or six days, billions of dollars’ worth of international commerce sat paralyzed at either end of the Suez Canal, stalled thanks to a single giant container ship apparently knocked sideways by a powerful southerly wind.

The ship’s insurers and the canal authorities summoned the largest tugboats in the canal, then two even larger ones from farther afield. They deployed diggers, front-end loaders and specialized dredgers to guzzle sand and mud from where the ship was lodged at both ends. They called in eight of the world’s most respected salvage experts from the Netherlands.

Day and night, with international pressure bearing down, the dredgers dredged and the tugboats tugged.

But not until the seventh day, after the confluence of the full moon and the sun conjured an unusually high tide, did the ship wriggle free with one last heave shortly after 3 p.m., allowing the first of the nearly 400 ships waiting to resume their journeys

by Monday evening.

In the aftermath of one of the most consequential shipping accidents in history, the global supply chain industry will have a cascade of costly delays to contend with and much to assess: the size of container ships, the width of the Suez Canal, the wisdom of relying on just-in-time manufacturing to satisfy consumer demand around the world, and the role, if any, of human error.

But some things were out of anyone’s hands: If the wind and the tide might not be deemed acts of God by the insurance companies, they were a reminder that 21st-century commerce remains subject to random acts of nature.

“We’ve all seen the pictures and thought, ‘How on earth does that happen?’” said Emily Hannah Stausboll, a shipping analyst at BIMCO, a large international shipping association. “People in the industry are asking: Could it happen again? And if so, what do we do to avoid it happening for another week next time?”

How it happened will be the province of teams of inspectors and investigators who were set to begin work after the nowunstuck container ship, the Ever Given, motored under its own power Monday evening into the Great Bitter Lake, north of where it had been marooned since running aground amid a sandstorm last Tuesday morning.

Because the ship sails under a Panamanian flag, Panama will handle the investigation unless Egypt exercises its right to take over, though international pressure for a more thorough accounting could result in the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board stepping in, said Capt. John Konrad, who founded gCaptain.com, a maritime news site.

The Egyptians have already reached one conclusion, investigation or no.

“The Suez Canal is not at fault,” Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, the head of the canal authority, said at a news conference on Monday night. “We have been harmed by the incident.”

Early on, the ship’s owner and operator blamed the wind, and maritime experts agreed that it had been a factor, perhaps the deciding one, as gusts pushed against the vertical wall of containers piled high atop the Ever Given as if against a sail. But Rabie also suggested over the weekend that human or technical error may have come into play.

Under standard procedures, two Egyptian canal pilots

would have boarded the ship before it entered the canal to help it navigate, experts said, though the ship’s captain would have retained final authority.

A reconstruction of the ship’s movements through the narrow section of the canal north of the port of Suez shows the Ever Given weaving back and forth from one side of the canal to the other almost as soon as it entered the channel, gathering speed until the 224,000-ton ship topped 13 knots (about 15 mph).

While it is not yet known what caused the Ever Given to start bouncing around the waterway, once it did, it succumbed to what is known in seafaring as the bank effect. That is a phenomenon in which the stern of a ship tends to swing toward one bank while its bow is pushed away from it, said Capt. Paul Foran, a maritime consultant who as a ship’s captain navigated the Suez Canal 18 times.

Foran said that whoever was giving orders most likely tried to regain control over the ship by putting on speed. But that decision would have made matters worse, robbing the crew of its usual maneuvering tools. Bow thrusters that could push the bow left or right stop working at high speeds; the faster a ship goes, the lower the pressure beneath the hull, sinking the vessel dangerously low in the water.

“The faster you go, the less control you have,” he said, “and on a ship that size, once she gets out of control like that, it gets even more difficult to bring her under control.”

Investigators will use audio from the ship’s voice recorder and tracking data to piece together what combination of commands, and by whom, spelled ruin. But the result was clear: a ship the length of four football fields, wedged diagonally across a vital canal much narrower than four football fields, at a time when global shipping could ill afford further disruption after a year of havoc brought on by the pandemic.

As analysts warned that the Ever Given was blocking nearly $10 billion in consumer goods per day, the queue of waiting ships grew and the internet memes about the epic traffic jam piled up, the Suez Canal Authority and the ship’s owner and insurer scrambled tugboats and dredging equipment to the scene. By the day after the grounding, they had called in a highly regarded team of salvage experts from Smit Salvage, a Dutch company.

“The time pressure to complete this operation was evident and unprecedented,” Peter Berdowski, chief executive of Royal Boskalis Westminster, Smit’s parent company, said in a statement on Monday.

A full moon on Sunday, culminating in a spring tide on Monday, gave the crews an especially promising 24-hour window to work in, with a few extra inches of water providing the assist. By Monday morning’s high tide, the ship was partially floating again, its stern freed.

Until then, the ship’s belly was sagging between its pinnedup bow and stern, causing analysts to worry that its hull would crack under the stress. When the stern swung free without incident, Konrad said, it relieved the pressure on the center, raising the odds the ship would go on to float again without further complications.

“It’s miraculous they did it with no pollution and no injuries,” he said. “Everything kind of went to plan.”

But it was several more hours of anticipation and conflicting reports — the Dutch cautious, the Egyptians prematurely triumphant — before the ship was wrenched loose.

Horns blared in celebration as images emerged on social media of the ship, for so long diagonal, once again parallel with the canal.

Then even the Dutch exulted.

“We pulled it off!” Berdowski said.

The Ever Given making its way through the Suez Canal in Egypt after being freed on Monday, March 29, 2021.

14

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The Taliban think they have already won, peace deal or not

Members of a Taliban red unit, an elite force, in Laghman Province’s Alingar district in Afghanistan, last year.

By ADAM NOSSITER

T

he Taliban’s swagger is unmistakable.

From the recent bellicose speech of their deputy leader, boasting of “conquests,” to sneering references to the “foreign masters” of the “illegitimate” Kabul government, to the Taliban’s own website tally of “puppets” killed — Afghan soldiers — they are promoting a bold message: We have already won the war.

And that belief, grounded in military and political reality, is shaping Afghanistan’s volatile present. On the eve of talks in Turkey next month over the country’s future, it is the elephant in the room: the halfacknowledged truth that the Taliban have the upper hand and are thus showing little outward interest in compromise, or of going along with the dominant American idea, power-sharing.

While the Taliban’s current rhetoric is also propaganda, the grim sense of Taliban supremacy is dictating the response of a desperate Afghan government and influencing Afghanistan’s anxious foreign interlocutors. It contributes to the abandonment of dozens of checkpoints and falling morale among the Afghan security forces, already hammered by a “not sustainable” casualty rate of perhaps 3,000 a month, a senior Western diplomat in Kabul said.

The group doesn’t hide its pride at

having compelled its principal adversary for 20 years, the United States, to negotiate with the Taliban and, last year, to sign an agreement to completely withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021. In exchange, the Taliban agreed to stop attacking foreign forces and to sever ties with international terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.

The Biden administration has yet to definitively say whether it will meet that deadline, just weeks away.

“No mujahed ever thought that one day we would face such an improved state, or that we will crush the arrogance of the rebellious emperors, and force them to admit their defeat at our hands,” the Taliban’s deputy leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, said in a recent speech. “Fortunately, today, we and you are experiencing better circumstances.”

Nearly every day, the Taliban’s website features reports of purported defections to its side, though the details are likely exaggerated, just as both the Taliban and the Afghan government exaggerate each other’s casualties. “59 enemy personnel switch sides to Islamic Emirate,” read one recent headline.

Having outlasted the all-powerful Americans, the rest is child’s play, in the Taliban’s view. The game is essentially over.

“They think they have beaten the Americans, so they can beat the other Afghan forces as well, and get control over the

country,” said Jawed Kohistani, an Afghan analyst and former security official in Kabul.

The Taliban, who governed most of the country from 1996 to 2001, are not interested in true sharing-power, Kohistani said. “They are planning to restore their Islamic emirate,” he added, “and they will punish all those involved in corruption and land grabbing.”

Antonio Giustozzi, a leading Taliban expert, disputed the idea that the Taliban are necessarily bent on reimposing a similarly hard-line Islamic regime. “As long as they can get to power through a political agreement, between establishing the emirate and democracy, there are options,” he said. “The aim would be to become the dominant power.”

With the decisive shift in their military fortunes, their words have become assertive and victorious, a posture that would have been impossible a mere three years ago, analysts say.

The corollary to such posturing is the Afghan government’s insistence that it expects a deadly endgame with the insurgency. Government officials rarely claim that they and not the Taliban are the victors, because they can’t. Evidence of Taliban ascendancy, in the insurgents’ steady offensive in the countryside, their systematic encroachment on cities and their overrunning of military bases, is too prevalent.

U.S. negotiators are pushing ideas of compromise and power-sharing, but government officials are largely resistant to them — in part because any interim government would most likely require Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, to step down. He has steadfastly refused to even consider it.

Instead, the government employs back-to-the-wall language indicating that the bloody struggle will only intensify. Earlier this month, a senior official told reporters inside the intensively guarded presidential palace complex that a compromise, coalition government — recently proposed to both sides by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. peace envoy — would merely be used by the Taliban as a “Trojan horse” for the seizure of power.

It was “totally unrealistic” to think the insurgents would agree to it, “knowing their psychology,” the official said. “I am not promising a better situation in the future.

But we will continue fighting.”

Ghani sounded a largely pessimistic note in remarks to the Aspen Institute in January. “In their eschatology, Afghanistan is the place where the final battle takes place,” he said of the Taliban.

We “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” he said.

The Ghani administration’s bleak outlook also reflects the insurgent group’s territorial gains. In December, nearly 200 checkpoints in Kandahar, the Taliban’s historic stronghold, were abandoned by Afghan security forces, according to the U.S. government’s Afghanistan watchdog.

“I think they are 90% right,” said Giustozzi, of the insurgent group’s claims of victory. “Clearly the war has been lost. Clearly things have gone in the wrong direction.

Things have worsened under Ghani. The trend is in their favor.”

Some analysts caution that while the Taliban may think they have won, other armed actors in the Afghan equation will make a forced takeover difficult. That was the experience 25 years ago, when the Taliban were forced to battle warlords principally in the north and east, and failed to gain total control over the entire country.

A militia in central Afghanistan led by Abdul Ghani Alipur, a local warlord, has already inflamed hostility with the government in recent months. And longtime power brokers in the country’s west and north have rallied fighters to defend against the Taliban, if necessary.

Meanwhile, the Taliban rely on fear to keep local populations in rural areas quiescent. An effective tool is the insurgents’ hidden network of ad hoc underground prisons where torture and punishment are meted out to those suspected of working for, or with, the government.

But the Taliban are also viewed by some as being less corrupt than Afghan officials. The group’s judges adjudicate civil and property disputes, perhaps more efficiently than the government’s faltering institutions.

In some areas under Taliban control, they have permitted schools for girls to continue operating, Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, pointed out in a recent paper — though, he notes, this may be driven more by political imperative than a softening of ideology.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

15

‘Babylon Berlin,’ Babylon America?

By ROSS DOUTHAT

“I

’ve said this before. And I’m telling you, I worry that I’m right. The right is going to pick a fascist within 10 to 20 years.”

That’s a quote from Jesse Kelly, a pugnacious right-wing talking head, on Tucker Carlson’s show last week. His prediction, as you might expect, is very different from the left-wing version of the same prophecy. The left worries that the right is going fascist because conservatism is so racist, anti-democratic and depraved.

But Kelly thinks the right might “pick a fascist” as an understandable response to left-wing radicalism and the corruption of the liberal establishment. It’s the prediction as threat: It’s not that we want the GOP to get fashy, but if it happens, it’ll be the progressives’ fault.

This sounds like a very Weimar sort of sentiment. So I’m going to use it as an excuse to recommend that everyone inclined to draw parallels between 21st-century America and Weimar Germany should catch up with the best dramatic show on television: the German-language, late-1920s-set serial “Babylon Berlin.”

The show is a detective story in the foreground, with the political drama looming behind. It starts before the Great Depression (the most recent season ends with the crash of 1929) and follows Gereon Rath, a police inspector new to the German capital, and his eventual collaborator Charlotte Ritter, a flapper who aspires to become a detective. Their police work takes them through the Berlin demimonde, thick with gangsters, journalists,

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prostitutes and avant-garde filmmakers; inevitably this world is entangled with a political scene inhabited by cross-pressured Social Democrats, right-wing nationalists allied with the military brass and Communists. The Nazis don’t appear until the end of the first season, and then only as the cat’s paw for the main bad guy, a ruthlessly ambitious nationalist. Nobody imagines them as a threat to actually take power — well, nobody except for the Nazis themselves.

“Babylon Berlin” has many virtues, including the will-theyor-won’t-they frisson conjured by its lead actors. But its major success is in evoking a feeling that might be described as almostfamiliarity in its portrait of Germany before the fall.

That is, if you are inclined to see contemporary America, under Donald Trump or after him, as a nation entering its own Weimar period, there will be scenes from the Berlin tapestry that prompt a shock of recognition.

This includes the aspects of Weimar that inspire nostalgia on the left, the Babylon Brooklyn mix of socialist radicalism and sexual liberation. It includes the bully-boy factions in the streets, whose menace antifa and the Proud Boys imitate in our own era. It includes the way that extremes can radicalize one another as the center weakens, the agony of moderate figures trying to decide whether their official political opponents or their more extreme ideological allies are the bigger threat, and the mix of cynicism and naïveté with which the wrong choice is often made.

Above all it includes the depiction of Berlin itself, the show’s real main character, a self-contained world of deracination and atomization, sexual experimentation and depravity, utopian fantasy and reactionary zeal, old and new bigotries, media frenzies and political radicalization. What is the city, if not the late-1920s version of the internet?

But then alongside these familiarities there is the stronger shock of difference. The scale of poverty and degradation on display, even before the Great Depression hits, is a reminder that the world in which the Nazis rose was extraordinarily poorer than our own, with a fundamental fragility even for the middle class that neither the Great Recession nor the coronavirus have yet delivered to Americans. The violent legacy of World War I, its brutalization of an entire generation, is palpable in both the violence in Berlin’s streets and the literal shell shock afflicting multiple male characters: No recent American trauma can compare.

Equally unfamiliar is the scope of viable-seeming political possibilities for the characters to embrace. In the course of the show we meet Stalinists and Trotskyists and White Russians, nationalists and fascists and would-be restorers of the Kaiser, as well as the fractious defenders of the republic. Almost all of them, crucially, have real-world correlatives for their ambitions — still-extant monarchies, the Soviet Union, Mussolini’s Italy. If the tragedy of Weimar is that it went through a doorway that opened into hell, the drama of Weimar is that so many doors were open, so many different political futures seemed entirely possible — in a way that makes our own era’s radicalisms feel more fantastic, ungrounded or made for cable TV. Then the final thing that’s striking about Weimar’s world

compared to ours is the sweeping institutional and cultural strength of the nationalist right. Indeed if anything the show underplays this power: It portrays a right-wing German military eager for a coup and conservative industrialists eager to support it, but the potency of right-wing ideas in the intelligentsia and the German university hasn’t really been depicted; the lone student character so far is an idealistic Communist.

The overall vibe on the show, though, makes some kind of rightward shift in 1930s Germany seem all but inevitable. (Which only makes the role the non-Nazi right played in elevating Hitler seem more shameful.) But that is not at all the vibe of 2020s America, where conservatism feels much more decayed and self-marginalizing, with little of the right-wing infrastructure and ambition that the Nazis channeled, co-opted and corrupted.

Yes, conservatives have Fox News and talk radio, the Republican Party has its business-class support and Trump had Michael Flynn and the MyPillow CEO and Jerry Falwell Jr. But our generals are mostly allergic to politics and the military’s most recent political intervention was a counterstrike against a critique from Tucker Carlson. Our corporations dislike socialism but their main strategy for keeping it at bay is to go all in on cultural-left politics. Our churches are fractured, scandal-ridden and declining. Our aristocracy — sorry, meritocracy — is divided between hand-wringing liberals and militant progressives. And our conservative party isn’t eager to tear our constitution up and start anew: Instead it’s hyperconstitutionalist, because its current share of power depends on some of the Constitution’s most antique instruments.

In this landscape I actually find myself in sympathy, in an odd sort of way, with liberals who might respond to Jesse Kelly’s invocation of some future fascist GOP by saying actually, Donald Trump is already what American fascism looks like. Not because I think “fascist” is the proper term for Trumpism, but because in his presidency we already saw what happens when a weakened and marginalized right gets radicalized and claims the White House without a popular majority.

We got cruelty and demagoguery and corruption — but also a pretty standard Republican agenda. We got flailing weakness in the face of opposition from almost every other power center. We got dramatic failures of governance, not the consolidation of power, when a historic crisis came along.

And when violence was instigated on this right-wing president’s behalf, it took a frightening but also futile form — one that very vaguely resembled the Reichstag Fire, except that the Jan. 6 riot ended with the organs of the security state turned against the extreme right, not mobilized on its behalf.

None of this is an experience I’d care to repeat. But it’s also not an experience that makes Kelly’s the right might go fascist warnings feel exactly like a warning from a German nationalist circa 1928.

Under Weimar’s conditions, the right’s radicalization threatened, and eventually delivered, the outright destruction of German liberalism and the German left. (And then much, much more destruction beyond that.)

But under contemporary American conditions, further right-wing radicalization seems more likely to be a suicide weapon — a way for a weakened movement to instigate a period of crisis, maybe, but one that would probably only hasten its marginalization and defeat.

16

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Preocupada Asoc. de Hospitales por alarmante aumento de pacientes de COVID Por THE STAR

E

l presidente ejecutivo de la Asociación de Hospitales de Puerto Rico Jaime Plá Cortés expresó su preocupación ante el aumento de hospitalizaciones en los últimos días relacionado con la pandemia del COVID-19 “Es necesario que retomemos el tema de la seguridad pandémica para la ciudadanía debido a que los números que reflejan pacientes que han tenido que ser hospitalizados con el diagnóstico del COVID 19 (coronavirus) va en aumento. El censo general que teníamos hace dos semanas reflejaba unos 134 pacientes, sin embargo, al día de hoy tenemos 213 casos lo que indica un aumento peligroso. Estos casi 80 nuevos pacientes reflejan un aumento significativo que nos ubica en una alerta para que la ciudadanía entienda que debe abstenerse a reunirse o acudir a lugares donde se reúna grandes cantidades de público”, señaló Plá Cortés.

El portavoz de la Asociación de Hospitales de Puerto Rico solicitó públicamente a la ciudadanía que tome medidas preventivas en el cuidado de la salud como recomienda el Departamento de Salud.

“Realmente me preocupa que las personas no se están cuidando, algo que nos puede llevar a un repunte en la pandemia, que haga que los hospitales aumenten el número de pacientes COVID. Si la gente no observa las medidas y órdenes del Gobierno, el próximo paso será tomar medidas drásticas otra vez. Hemos notado que se están haciendo menos pruebas de diagnóstico, no estamos manteniendo la distancia recomendada, sobre todo, hay que practicar medidas sanitarias en todo momento para prevenir la pandemia. Estamos en un

proceso que no se ha acabado”, argumentó el presidente ejecutivo de la Asociación de Hospitales de Puerto Rico.

De igual modo, Plá Cortés solicitó a la ciudadanía que sea prudente en la forma y manera que hace uso del tiempo libre en esta Semana Santa. Muy en especial, pidió a los comercios que recuerden mantener las medidas reglamentarias y la aplicación del protocolo del COVID-19 que se mantienen en la Orden Ejecutiva

promulgada por el gobernador.

“No queremos que aumenten los contagios en Semana Santa. Los hospitales de Puerto Rico están preocupados por cualquier descontrol de la pandemia.

Un repunte en la misma le impone gran presión a los hospitales y a su personal médico, que sabido es, ha tenido una gran cantidad de trabajo atendiendo a miles de pacientes COVID por más de un año”, añadió Plá Cortés.

Comisionada residente insta al alcalde de Mayagüez a que hable Por THE STAR

L

a comisionada residente Jenniffer González Colón solicitó el martes, al fiscal federal W. Stephen Muldrow y a la Oficina del Panel del Fiscal Especial Independiente (OPFEI) a que investiguen las alegaciones sobre las hipotecas a propiedades municipales en Mayagüez y al alcalde José Guillermo Rodríguez a que se exprese sobre este asunto, que catalogó como “novel”.

“Yo creo que la situación de Mayagüez es novel. A mí me ha tomado totalmente por sorpresa el ver la lista de edificios y estructuras patrimoniales del gobierno municipal de Mayagüez, no solamente el teatro Yagüez, sino los hospitales, las clíni-

cas. Muchas facilidades que se arreglaron para los Juegos Centroamericanos (2010) estaban ahí. El que se hayan transferido a una corporación privada con garantía del gobierno municipal me parece que es un acto completamente ilegal. Así que yo espero que el fiscal federal Muldrow tome acciones e investigaciones sobre esto, que estamos hablando de fondos públicos, pero también fondos federales, muchas de estas estructuras tuvieron también fondos federales”, dijo González Colón a preguntas de la prensa.

“La enajenación del bien público para garantías de corporaciones privadas sin color en términos del fin público de esa enajenación es un acto ilegal, es un acto inmoral y yo creo que el alcalde, a quien

respeto mucho, debe dar la cara y debe explicar qué significa esto y por qué. El gobierno debe asignar un fiscal especial independiente, debe haber una investigación. Y aquí hay también conflictos éticos porque si tú estas firmando y también eres alcalde y estás enajenando bienes, imagínense que enajenen el Capitolio. Verdad, o que hipotecaran el Capitolio, de eso es que estamos hablando cuando máxime la asignación original era para el sistema de salud en Mayagüez. Yo creo que hay que esperar qué dicen esas investigaciones”, añadió.

“Pero mientras el alcalde no hable, la impresión que a mí me da, es que hubo un acuerdo de enajenar bienes públicos para fines privados. Esto es un escándalo

de marca mayor. Yo nunca había visto un caso de esta magnitud donde tú hipotecas diez, cuatro, quince propiedades municipales. Estamos hablando de centros comunales, centros deportivos, el teatro Yagüez, la Casa Alcaldía. Esto a mi juicio nunca antes visto en Puerto Rico”, señaló.

La pasada semana, agencias federales llevaron a cabo arrestos relacionados a la corporación municipal Mayagüez Econonomic Development Inc. (MEDI) por el uso de unos $9 millones que eran supuestamente destinados al Centro de Trauma del Centro Médico de Mayagüez. Según trascendió, distintas propiedades municipales como el Hospital San Antonio, la Casa Alcaldía, el Estadio Centroamericano, entre otros, fueron hipotecadas.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

17

Drag star Sasha Velour lip-syncs for her operatic life

By ZACHARY WOOLFE

O

pera is about sound bellowing from someone’s throat. Lip-syncing is the opposite. While opera lovers have long been known to silently join in with recordings in the privacy of their homes, can there be a true operatic performance based on mouthing along?

Can a lip-syncer be an opera star?

Absolutely, according to composer Angélica Negrón, who has created the filmed short opera “The Island We Made” in collaboration with director Matthew Placek and drag queen Sasha Velour, a “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner and latter-day lip-sync legend.

“The idea of the lip-sync — of someone embodying someone else’s voice — was something that was essential to the story we’re trying to tell,” Negrón said in a recent interview.

Melancholy and meditative, “The Island We Made” doesn’t tell a story so much as imply a mood; the music is a wash of ambient electronic sound, pricked by glittering pulses of harp. Gliding among three actors who suggest three generations — a daughter, mother and grandmother — Velour is jewel-encrusted and wearing a flowing lemon-colored gown as she prepares tea. A kind of space goddess, she moves her mouth to the ethereal soprano voice of Eliza Bagg singing Negrón’s poetic text: “The back seat, my bed, that house, your face; you named me, protected me.”

“A drag queen is part idea and part human being,” Velour said. “And the idea part is an idea of fluidity and understanding and humanity beyond labels, to be very broad about it. And I felt like that was kind of the spirit of love that this song, this lip-sync, was going to be about.”

Velour, Negrón and Placek separately joined a video call along with Sarah Williams, director of new works at Opera Philadelphia, which commissioned “The Island We Made” and is hosting the 10-minute work on its streaming platform through November. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

SARAH WILLIAMS: Over the summer, we were trying to figure things out as a company. Do we go dark, and is that how we survive? Or are we able to stay active? And I conceived the digital commissions series. I identified four composers, including Angélica, and she started telling me what she imagined. I said, “If you could go big, what does that look like?” And she was like, “Sasha Velour. Am I

crazy?” I said, “Absolutely, but I am, too. Let’s go for it.”

ANGÉLICA NEGRÓN: A big part of this for me was matching the voice with the drag queen. I had a very clear picture of Eliza Bagg’s voice along with Sasha’s lips.

SASHA VELOUR: When you do drag, lip-syncing is so common, but you don’t necessarily think about it, and all the power and tensions it represents. But when we were talking about this project, it was clear that it works as a metaphor for the way that sometimes we make space in ourselves for other people’s voices and experiences — to try to capture someone and reflect them in our own way.

NEGRÓN: The song really developed out of my conversations with Matthew and Sasha. Matthew has a talent for getting juicy things out of people, and we got personal very quickly. We realized there’s something about mothers, about the women that raise us and shape us. We also talked a lot about the silences that can be really deafening, that define a lot and shape a lot of our lives.

MATTHEW PLACEK: Angélica had the same idea I did: to understand the limitations of relationships. And then we started to talk about the figure of the mother and Sasha as a kind of celestial being. We related — in the way that everyone can — about mothers, and our mothers, and I started feeling, like, damn, mothers are screwed. They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. As much as I live for my mother, I hold her accountable for way too much. And it’s unfair.

NEGRÓN: One of the things I really love about Matthew’s vision is there are these symbols, these metaphors, these very concrete things that are a progression, but there’s not a narrative thread in which you could say, “This is about this, and this is about that.” There are certainly a bunch of things that are part of it that do not connect exactly to the experiences I shared with him. Seeing what he makes with other symbols that had nothing to do with my childhood or my upbringing or my relationships, and making new meanings of those from my lived experience — I think that’s what great art does.

PLACEK: The peanut butter and graham crackers is about my mother, or is a part of my mother.

VELOUR: My dad thinks that I insisted on the peanut butter and crackers, and that that was a reference to my childhood. So that’s a good example of these things taking on new

The drag queen Sasha Velour stars in “The Island We Made,” commissioned by Opera Philadelphia. meanings.

We wanted me to be a little otherworldly, a little spiritual — like a goddess of queerness, who brings that understanding to someone throughout their life in different ways. There was a moment when we were talking about going really otherworldly, like a crazy alien face; I could kind of see it in the ’70s house. But Matthew encouraged me to bring it to a human level, too. Because I’m not just an idea; I’m also a real person. I have my own relationship with my mom. I’m channeling and making space for all of these different relationships and bringing my own experiences to it, too.

NEGRÓN: I usually start from a sound that is connected to a memory that is oftentimes connected to a place that is oftentimes connected to a person. In this case, I had this image of my mom cleaning the house when I was young. And she would blast these ’80s ballads by Puerto Rican singers, and there was one song I remember about, like, the world is going to end. And there are very domestic things happening while my mom is belting out that song.

I love micro-sampling, taking like a second or something even smaller and then processing it and manipulating it and recontextualizing it and seeing what happens. So that was the starting point for this song: a micro-sample from one of those songs that are the soundtrack of my childhood.

I also had Matthew’s aesthetic in mind, and I was thinking a lot about the spaces in between the notes, and silence — just the phy-

sical, very visceral feeling of silence. I wanted the song to feel like an embrace. And then there was the harp, which is one of my favorite instruments to write for, highlighting this lullaby quality.

I didn’t sit down to write a poem and then put music to it. Sometimes, as I was sculpting a sound, the word would reveal itself, if that makes sense. And at the same time I was hearing Eliza’s voice, I was imagining Sasha’s lips moving.

WILLIAMS: It’s been out a little over a week now. And I’m very happy to say it had the biggest opening weekend of all of our works on our digital channel. Bigger than “Traviata.”

NEGRÓN: For the past three years, I’ve been writing songs for drag queens and thinking of it as an opera, a larger project. I still don’t know exactly what form it will take.

I get the question a lot: Why do you call this an opera? And it’s really hard for me to put into words what opera is for me, but my first instinct is to say, like, why not call it an opera?

There’s a lot of power in being unapologetic about calling something an opera and taking up space in the opera world, which is traditionally and historically built for people who don’t look like me, and don’t have stories like my personal story. And I think it’s time; it’s past time.

So there might be a future to your collaboration?

NEGRÓN: That’s the dream.

VELOUR: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

PLACEK: I’d follow these two off a cliff.

18

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The San Juan Daily Star

In ‘Philip Roth,’ a life of the literary master as aggrieved playboy

By PARUL SEHGAL

I

n 2013, Philip Roth was around 80, recently retired and finally at peace — or so he was fond of saying.

As a young novelist, he used to goad himself in the mirror: “Attack! Attack!” Later, his credo would become “Let the repellent in.” Over the course of his career — 31 books in 51 years, from the deviltry of his madmen Alexander Portnoy and Mickey Sabbath to the suffering of the tragic heroes in his so-called American trilogy (“American Pastoral,” “I Married a Communist” and “The Human Stain”) — he tilted against the seductions of group identity. Whether he was pilloried as the Jewish second coming of Goebbels (“What is being done to silence this man?” the president of the Rabbinical Council of America wrote to the Anti-Defamation League) or a woman hater, he held to the notion of novelist as the “nose in the seam of the undergarment,” the enemy of public relations. And now, he who found liberation in sex and work reported being rid of the tyranny of both.

“Virtually every night I go to sleep with a goofy smile on my face,” he wrote to a friend, “and in the dark am made positively gleeful by softly uttering aloud, ‘I have recovered my life before I was embattled. The battles are over. I’ve come home.

And I won.’”

On the whole, winners do not, I think, behave as Roth did in those years, frenziedly shoring up the legacy and burnishing the brand. He put together a page-by-page rebuttal of his ex-wife Claire Bloom’s scathing memoir of their marriage, which friends persuaded him not to publish. He dumped one biographer (his erstwhile best friend Ross Miller) and hired another (Blake Bailey), while, in effect, trying to ghostwrite the thing himself, conscripting friends to conduct interviews with the questions he provided.

“What the obsessive man still wanted, when he wasn’t blissfully muttering in bed, was an apology,” Bailey writes in “Philip Roth.” From whom? In short order: villainous ex-wives, the needy children of said ex-wives, feminists who accused him of misogyny, Jewish critics who accused him of anti-Semitism, The New York Times, John Updike, Irving Howe, his bad back, insufficiently devoted editors (“your engine doesn’t throb any longer at the sound of my name,” he chastised one) and possibly the Nobel Committee. From the first page, the message is clear: Roth is owed.

Bailey is the acclaimed biographer of writers including John Cheever and Richard Yates — “the safely dead,” as Hermione Lee has described her own subjects. He once expressed suspicion of writing about the living: “I would have a hard time writing a single page without worrying what the consequences might be,” he said, admitting that he “would almost certainly end up diluting the content somewhat.”

At their first meeting in 2012, a job interview in effect, Roth was every part “the imperious maestro,” Bailey recalls in the acknowledgments, examining the credentials of this “gentile from Oklahoma” — what did he know about the Jewish American literary tradition? Apparently mollified, Roth brought out a photograph album dedicated to old girlfriends — “an artifact

attesting to the only passion that ever rivaled his writing,” Bailey writes. “He doted on these women and vice versa; several of them came to his bedside while he lay dying, as did I.” There’s another version of this story. At a panel on Roth, held a year after his death in 2018, Bailey recalled the interview but added a detail that he doesn’t include in the book. Again, Roth quizzed the gentile from Oklahoma, again he produced the album of girlfriends. But then the conversation turned to the Hollywood adaptations of Roth’s work. Bailey mentioned Ali MacGraw, who starred in “Goodbye, Columbus.” (He thought she was “just wow.”)

“I could have taken her out,” Roth said.

“My God, man, why didn’t you?” Bailey asked.

“OK,” Roth replied. “You’re hired.’”

“And I was. He was totally serious,” Bailey said. He added: “Just as important a literary qualification for a biographer as knowing where he fits into the literary continuum with Malamud and Bellow and so forth is not taking too prim or judgmental of a view of a man who had this florid love life.” It was perhaps the credential that mattered most — this feeling of complicity.

At just under 900 pages, the book is most thoroughly a sprawling apologia for Roth’s treatment of women, on and off the page, and a minutely detailed account of his victimization at the hands of his two wives.

“Always it came back to the women,” Bailey writes. The biography skates through the stages of his life swiftly, each section with a woman at the center: Bess, his indefatigable, much idealized (or so Bailey argues) mother; Maxine Groffsky, the college girlfriend who became the model for Brenda Patimkin in “Goodbye, Columbus”; Maggie Martinson, the disastrous first wife who was originally so attractive to Roth for embodying a certain “goyish chaos.” Later there would be the long relationship with Bloom (not to mention the long affair that he conducted concurrently) and the retinue of “perky Texan” blondes, nurses, prostitutes, students, daughters of his friends.

“I don’t want you to rehabilitate me,” Roth instructed Bailey. “Just make me interesting.” Instead, we receive a narrow portrait of a wide life. We know the ’60s have arrived because we are told that Roth is now regularly propositioning women in the elevator. When he travels to Thailand, Bailey speculates: “Perhaps he was most struck by the ubiquitous availability of sex.”

It’s poignant to recall that Roth told Ross Miller that he did not want his biography to read like “The Story of My Penis” — it must stay centered on the work, not the gossip.

But Bailey is strangely reticent on the work. Roth often claimed he would make a lousy subject of a biography — it would just be him staring at his typewriter, he said: “The uneventfulness of my biography would make Beckett’s ‘The Unnamable’ read like Dickens.” Of those hours, those years (Roth would revise each novel four to five times), Bailey tells us little; is it because it is so difficult to stage such scenes, to make them interesting? Only if you’re a writer for whom ideas have no glamour, no drama of their own. Roth’s own writing was full of provocations on the art of biography, full of masks and veils and alter egos, obsessed with plucking apart the idea of a self. Bailey avoids it all, offering readings of the most tepid kind, primarily noticing biographical correspondences, most of them familiar by now.

In doing so he reduces Roth to the most literal kind of confessionalist, a charge his subject strenuously protested; in 1984, he sat for a Paris Review interview largely to dispel the notion that he was a confessional writer. (He also wanted to clear up the misapprehension that he was hard on women.)

Bailey’s proud refusal to seem prim or judgmental blossoms into a troubling tendency to join the fray. It’s strange to see a biographer get his own shots in at a despised ex-wife; here is Martinson, in Bailey’s description: “A bitter, impoverished, sexually undesirable divorcée.” Strange too the elision of the questions Roth asked of himself, or rather, put in the mouth of his character Zuckerman in his autobiography “Facts.” “Can everything about Josie have been vengeful?” Zuckerman protests, using Roth’s pseudonym for Martinson. “I suspect that Josie was both worse and better as a human being than what you’ve portrayed here.”

Copious, complicitous, written with style and almost filial tenderness and myopia — in many ways the book feels like an unavoidable stage of public mourning. It has been done, and like the psychiatrist at the end of “Portnoy’s Complaint,” having heard a mighty torrent of confession and justification, one is tempted to say: “Now vee may perhaps to begin. Yes?”

19 LEGAL NOTICE IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

CONDADO 3 CFL, LLC Plaintiff Vs.

HERNAN ANTONIO LÓPEZ LÓPEZ, FATIMA JEANNETTE LÓPEZ MERCARDO AND THE CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP CONSTITUTED THEREIN

Defendants Civil No.: 17-1000. (JAG). Re: COLLECTION OF MONIES, FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE. NOTICE OF SALE. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO, SS.

To: HERNAN ANTONIO LÓPEZ LÓPEZ, FATIMA JEANNETTE LÓPEZ MERCADO AND THE CONJUGAL PARTNERSHIP CONSTITUTED THEREIN: AND TO THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL:

Judgment in favor of plaintiff for the sum of $232,360.15 in principal, accrued interest as of January 10, 2020 in the amount of $81,339.87, which continue to accrue until full payment of the debt, accrued late charges of $1,602.99, escrow deficiency in the amount of $110.59, forwarding fee of $20.00, Force Place insurance in the amount of $107.00, accrued late charges and any other advance, charge, fee or disbursements made by plaintiff, on behalf of defendants, and plus costs and attorney’s fees in the amount of $42,675.00 in accordance with the mortgage deed; Pursuant to the judgment, the undersigned Special Master was ordered to sell at public auction for United States currency in cash or certified check without appraisement or right of redemption to the highest bidder to be held on the sidewalk in front of the main gate entrance of the United States District Court, Federal Building, 350 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico or any other place designated by said Special Master, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following properties: PROPERTY A: RUSTICA: Parcela número cuatro (4) radicada en el Barrio Factor I del término municipal de Arecibo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de ochocientos cuarenta y siete punto

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cinco mil seiscientos sesenta y uno (847.5661) metros cuadrados y en lindes al NORTE, con Francisco Lourido; al SUR, con solar número tres (3); al ESTE, con faja de uso público y viraje provisional, y; al OESTE, con Francisco Lourido. Inscrito al folio 35 del tomo 654 de Arecibo, finca número 29,836 Registro de la Propiedad Sección Primera (I) de Arecibo. Physical address: PR-683 KM 0.5 Int., Arecibo, P.R. 00612. PROPERTY B: RUSTICA: Parcela número setenta y cuatro A (74 A) radicada en la Comunidad Animas, Barrio Factor término municipal de Arecibo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de cuatrocientos setenta y nueve punto cuarenta y cinco (479.45) metros cuadrados y en lindes al NORTE, con la parcela setenta y tres (73); al SUR, con la Carretera Estatal número dos (2); al ESTE, con la Calle siete (7), y; al OESTE, con la parcela diecinueve (19). Enclava una estructura comercial. Inscrito al folio 105 del tomo 1031 de Arecibo, finca número 27,229 Registro de la Propiedad Sección Primera (I) de Arecibo. Physical address: PR 2 Km 65.2, Factor Ward, A-74, Arecibo, P.R. 00612. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior or preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax liens (express, tacit, implied or legal), or homeowner associations dues, to the extent specified under the applicable Condominium Law, shall continue in effect. It being understood that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancellation. The present properties will be acquired free and clear of all junior liens. THEREFORE, the FIRST PUBLIC SALE shall be held on the APRIL 30TH, 2021, AT THE 10:25 A.M. Property A; and 10:30 A.M. the Property B, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $113,700.00 for Property A and $170,800.00 for Property B. In the event said first public auction does not produce a bidder and the properties is not adjudicated, a SECOND PUBLIC AUCTION shall be held on the MAY 7TH, 2021, AT THE 10:25 A.M. Property A; and 10:30 A.M. the Property B, and the minimum bid that will be accep-

ted is the sum of $75,800.00 for Property A and $113,866.67 for Property B, 2/3 parts of the minimum bid for the 1st public sale. If said second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD AUCTION will be held on the MAY 14TH, 2021, AT THE 10:25 A.M. Property A; and 10:30 A.M. the Property B, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $56,850.00 for Property A and $85,400.00 for Property B, ½ of the minimum bid for the 1st public sale. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued canceling all junior liens.

For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Federal Building, Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 3, 2021. AGUEDO DE LA TORRE, SPECIAL MASTER.

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

JUAN JOSÉ CAMILO, CARMEN MILADY ANGELES HERNÁNDEZ, T/C/C CARMEN MIDADY ANGELES HERNÁNDEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES, COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados CIVIL NÚM: CA2019CV02312 (403). SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE GARANTÍAS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Yo SAMUEL GONZALEZ ISAAC, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, al público en general.

CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia fechado el 21 de fe brero de 2021 que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, en el caso arriba indicado, venderé en la fecha o fechas que más adelante se indican, en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda legal de los Estados

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

Unidos de América, en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal, en mi oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el Centro Judicial de Carolina, Puerto Rico, Carr.

Núm. 3 Km. 11.7, Ave. 65 de Infantería, Carolina, Puerto Rico, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada, en el inmueble que se describe a continuación, propiedad de la parte demandada Juan José Camilo, Carmen Milady Angeles Hernández, t/c/c Carmen Midady Angeles Hernández y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales, Compuesta por Ambos. Dirección Física: Urb. Eduardo J. Saldana, 36J Calle Ramón Quiñones (D), Carolina, PR 00983. Finca 16,402, inscrita al folio 188 del tomo 428 de Carolina, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Primera de Carolina. URBANA: Solar marcado con el número treintiseis de la Manzana “J”, del Plano preparado por la Autoridad Sobre Hogares de Puerto Rico, hoy Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico, para el Proyecto de Solares denominado Isla Verde Development, radicado en el Barrio Sabana Abajo del término municipal de Carolina, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de doscientos cuarentinueve metros cuadrados con setenta y dos centésimas de metro cuadrado, en lindes por el NORTE, con el Solar J treintisiete de la Urbanización, distancia de setentiun pies con sesenta y ocho centésimas de pie; por el SUR, con el Solar Jtreinticinco de dicho proyecto, distancia de setentiun pie con sesenta y ocho centésimas de pie; por el ESTE, con la Calle “D” de la susodicha Urbanización, distancia de treintisiete pies con cincuentiuna centésimas de pie; por el OESTE, con el Solar J-ocho del mencionado plano Proyecto PRHJ-veintiséis, distancia de treintisiete pies con cincuentiuna centésimas de pie. Enclava una casa de concreto de una planta para una familia. Finca 16,402. Por su procedencia está afecta a: a) Servidumbre a favor de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico. b) Condiciones restrictivas sobre edificación y uso. Por sí está afecta a: a) Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $52,233.00, con intereses al 4.50% anual, vencedero el día 1 de agosto de 2024, constituida mediante la escritura número 464, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 16 de julio

(787) 743-3346

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 de 2013, ante el notario Néstor Machado Cortés, e inscrita al tomo Karibe de Carolina, finca número 16,402, inscripción 29va. b) Aviso de Demanda de fecha 21 de julio de 2019, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, en el Caso Civil número CA2019CV02312, sobre cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Juan José Camilo, Carmen Milady Ángeles Hernández, también conocida como Carmen Milady Hernández Ángeles, por la suma de $35,040.07, más intereses y otras sumas, anotado el día 6 de septiembre de 2019, al tomo Karibe de Carolina, finca número 16,402, Anotación A. El precio mínimo de este remate con relación a la Finca 16,402 antes descrita y la fecha de cada subasta serán la siguiente: Primera Subasta: 3 de junio de 2021 a las 9:45AM, Precio Mínimo: $52,233.00, Hipoteca: Escritura Número 464, sobre Hipoteca, otorgada el 16 de julio de 2013, ante el Notario Néstor Machado Córtes.

Segunda Subasta: 10 de junio de 2021 a las 9:45AM, Precio Mínimo: $34,822.00. Tercera Subasta: 17 de junio de 2021 a las 9:45AM, Precio Mínimo: $26,116.50. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación que se transmite y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y las preferentes, si las hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante las acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de las mismas, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Conforme a la Sentencia dictada el día 26 de octubre de 2019 y archivada en los autos el 28 de octubre de 2019, la anterior venta se hará para satisfacer las sumas adeudadas por concepto del préstamo garantizado por la hipoteca antes mencionada y las sumas que se mencionan a continuación: La suma de $35,040.07, más $12,008.09, que incluye intereses, cargos por demora y otros cargos, que se acumulan diariamente hasta su total y completo pago, más la suma de 10% del principal, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado hipotecariamente asegurados. Se notifica por la presente a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus

derechos sobre los inmuebles a ser subastados con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen del ejecutante descrito anteriormente, o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubieren pospuesto al gravamen del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizado hipotecariamente con posterioridad al gravamen del actor para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si así lo interesan o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogado, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y, para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general, y para su publicación de acuerdo con la ley en un periódico de circulación general de la isla de Puerto Rico y en tres sitios públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida de la parte demandada, expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy día 18 de marzo de 2021. SAMUEL GONZALEZ ISAAC, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

SUCESIÓN DE AMADO CORTÉS CUEVAS, COMPUESTA POR: GRISELLE CORTÉS CRUZ, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; JULIA CRUZ RIVERA, POR SÍ Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA

Demandado CIVIL NÚM: CA2019CV01185 (409). SOBRE: INTERPALACION; COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE GARANTÍAS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS

The San Juan Daily Star ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Yo SAMUEL GONZALEZ ISAAC, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, al público en general.

CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia fechado el 30 de abril de 2020 que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, en el caso arriba indicado, venderé en la fecha o fechas que más adelante se indican, en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal, en mi oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el Centro Judicial de Carolina, Puerto Rico, Carr.

Núm. 3 Km. 11.7, Ave. 65 de Infantería, Carolina, Puerto Rico, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada, en el inmueble que se describe a continuación, propiedad de la parte demandada Sucesión de Amado Cortés Cuevas, compuesta por: Griselle Cortés Cruz, Fulano y Mengano de Tal, como posibles herederos desconocidos, Julia Cruz Rivera, por sí y en la Cuota Viudal Usufructuaria.

Dirección Física: José Severo Quiñones, DD869 Calle Ramos Rodríguez, Carolina, PR 00985. Finca 24,953, inscrita al folio 144 del tomo 621 de Carolina, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Segunda de Carolina.

URBANA: Solar marcado con el número DD ochocientos sesenta y nueve del Plano de inscripción del proyecto de viviendas a bajo costo denominado VBCtreinta José Severo Quiñones radicado en el Barrio Martin González del término municipal de Carolina, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de doscientos treinta y nueve metros con cincuenta y dos centésimas de metro cuadrados, en lindes por el NORTE, con el solar DD ochocientos setenta; por el SUR, con el solar DD ochocientos sesenta y ocho y pared medianera; por el ESTE, con el solar DD cincuenta y nueve; y por el OESTE, con la Calle número catorce. Enclava una estructura dedicada a vivienda, sobre la cual existe una servidumbre por signo aparente establecida por la Corporación vendedora en la pared que divide dicha estructura de la estructura enclavada en el solar número DD ochocientos sesenta y ocho, cuya pared continuara sirviendo a esta estructura y pertenece en común proindiviso en toda su

actual extensión y espesor, al propietario de esta edificación y al propietario de la edificación colindante. Finca 24,953. Por su procedencia está afecta a: a) Libre de Cargas Por sí está afecta a: a) Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Doral Mortgage Corporation, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $88,500.00, con intereses al 6.1250% anual, vencedero el día 1 de mayo de 2031, constituida mediante la escritura número 8, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 13 de abril de 2004, ante el notario Oscar Olivencia Font, e inscrita al folio 220 del tomo 1352 de Carolina, finca número 24,953, inscripción 6ta. b) Aviso de Demanda del día 8 de abril de 2019, expedido por el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, en el caso civil CA2019CV01185, sobre cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico vs Amado Cortés Cuevas, Julia Cruz Rivera y la Sociedad Legal de bienes gananciales, por la suma de $59,278.91, más otras sumas, anotado el día 17 de mayo de 2019, al tomo Karibe de Carolina, finca número 24,953, Anotación A. El precio mínimo de este remate con relación a la Finca 24,953 antes descrita y la fecha de cada subasta serán la siguiente: Primera Subasta: 3 de junio de 2021 a las 9:30AM, Precio Mínimo: $88,500.00, Hipoteca: Escritura Número 8, sobre Hipoteca, otorgada el 13 de abril de 2004, ante el Notario Oscar Olivencia Font.

Segunda Subasta: 10 de junio de 2021 a las 9:30AM, Precio Mínimo: $59,000.00. Tercera Subasta: 17 de junio de 2021 a las 9:30AM, Precio Mínimo: $44,250.00. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación que se transmite y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y las preferentes, si las hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante las acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de las mismas, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Conforme a la Sentencia dictada el día 18 de diciembre de 2019 y archivada en los autos el 14 de enero de 2020, la anterior venta se hará para satisfacer las sumas adeudadas por concepto del préstamo garantizado por la hipoteca antes mencionada y las sumas que se mencionan

20 a continuación: Al 1 de septiembre de 2018, las siguientes cantidades: la suma principal de $60,956.36, más la suma de $6,109.64, que incluye intereses según pactados, cargos por demora y otros cargos, que se acumulan diariamente hasta su total y completo pago, más la suma de 10% del principal, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Se notifica por la presente a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los inmuebles a ser subastados con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen del ejecutante descrito anteriormente, o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubieren pospuesto al gravamen del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizado hipotecariamente con posterioridad al gravamen del actor para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si así lo interesan o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogado, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y, para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general, y para su publicación de acuerdo con la ley en un periódico de circulación general de la isla de Puerto Rico y en tres sitios públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida de la parte demandada, expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy día 18 de marzo de 2021. SAMUEL GONZALEZ ISAAC, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.

MARÍA CRUZ COLÓN, EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; LUIS MARZAN OYOLA

Demandado Civil Núm.: BY2018CV01876.

(403). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE GARANTÍAS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Yo MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, al público en general. CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia fechado el 3 de julio de 2019 que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el caso arriba indicado, venderé en la fecha o fechas que más adelante se indican, en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal, en mi oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Carretera 2 Kilómetro 10.4, Esquina Calle Esteban Padilla, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada, en el inmueble que se describe a continuación, propiedad de la parte demandada Sucesión de Jaime Joel Ferrer Rivera, compuesta por: Joel Alberto Ferrer Cruz, Joany Marie Ferrer Cruz, Jiana Marie Ferrer Cruz y Fulano y Mengano de Tal, como posibles herederos desconocidos; Ana María Cruz Colón, en la cuota viudal usufructuaria; Luis Marzan Oyola. Dirección Física: Urb. Doraville, 3ra Secc., 15-1 Calle 1, Dorado, PR 00646. Finca 24,510, inscrita al folio 173 del tomo 488 de Toa Alta, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección TerceLEGAL NOTICE ra de Bayamón. URBANA: Lote ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO marcado con el número quince DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- de la Sección tres del Bloque NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Uno del plano de inscripción de SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYA- la comunidad Doraville, localizada en el Barrio Higuillar del MÓN BANCO POPULAR DE término municipal de Dorado, Puerto Rico, compuesta de un PUERTO RICO área superficial de novecientos Demandante V. noventa y tres punto ochenSUCESIÓN DE JAIME ta y cinco metros cuadrados JOEL FERRER RIVERA, (993.85 m/c). Colinda por el COMPUESTA POR: JOEL NORTE, en una distancia de veinte metros con la calle núALBERTO FERRER CRUZ, JOANY MARIE mero uno de la Sección Tres del uno del plano de inscripFERRER CRUZ, JIANA bloque ción de la comunidad Doraville; MARIE FERRER CRUZ por el SUR, en una distancia de Y FULANO Y MENGANO veinte metros con el lote númeDE TAL, COMO ro cinco de la Sección Tres del POSIBLES HEREDEROS bloque uno del plano de inscripDESCONOCIDOS; ANA ción de la Comunidad Doraville; por el ESTE, en una distancia

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

de cincuenta metros con el lote número dieciséis de la Sección tres del bloque uno del plano de inscripción de la comunidad Doraville y por el OESTE, en una distancia de cincuenta metros con el lote número catorce de la Sección tres del bloque uno del plano de inscripción de la comunidad Doraville. Finca 24,510: Por su procedencia está afecta a: a) Servidumbre a favor de Carlos Hugo Irizarry.

Por sí está afecta a: b) Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de First Mortgage Capital Inc., o a su orden, por la suma principal de $234,000.00, con intereses al 7% anual, vencedero el día 1 de marzo de 2038, constituida mediante la escritura número 122, otorgada en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el día 27 de febrero de 2008, ante el notario Manuel R. Pérez Caballer, e inscrita al folio 132 del tomo 259 de Dorado, finca número 2,651, inscripción 7ma. c) Aviso de Demanda de fecha 10 de agosto de 2018, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, en el Caso Civil número BY2018CV01876, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, seguido por el Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Jaime Joel Ferrer Rivera y Luis Marzán Oyola, por la suma de $204,170.79, más otras sumas adicionales, anotado el día 15 de octubre de 2018, al tomo Karibe de Dorado, finca número 2,651, Anotación “A”. d) AL ASIENTO 2019-018125-BY04 DEL SISTEMA KARIBE, se presentó el 22 de febrero de 2019, Orden de fecha 27 de julio de 2018, expedida en la Corte de Distrito de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Puerto Rico, en el Caso Criminal número 18-188 (DRD), seguido por Estados Unidos de América, contra Luis A. Marzán Oyola, sobre Anotación Preventiva sobre Aviso de Confiscación. El precio mínimo de este remate con relación a la Finca 24,510 antes descrita y la fecha de cada subasta serán la siguiente: FECHA DE SUBASTA: PRIMERA SUBASTA: 2 DE JUNIO DE 2021 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $234,000.00.

HIPOTECA: Escritura Número 122, sobre Hipoteca, otorgada el 27 de febrero de 2008, ante el Notario Manuel R. Pérez Caballer. SEGUNDA SUBASTA: 9 DE JUNIO DE 2021 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $156,000.00. TERCERA SUBASTA: 16 DE JUNIO DE 2021 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $117,000.00. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta

como bastante la titulación que se transmite y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y las preferentes, si las hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante las acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de las mismas, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Conforme a la Sentencia dictada el día 22 de mayo de 2019 y archivada en los autos el 24 de mayo de 2019, la anterior venta se hará para satisfacer las sumas adeudadas por concepto del préstamo garantizado por la hipoteca antes mencionada y las sumas que se mencionan a continuación: La suma de $204,170.79, más $23,396.02, que incluye intereses, cargos por demora y otros cargos, que se acumulan diariamente hasta su total y completo pago, más la suma de 10% del principal, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado hipotecariamente asegurados. Se notifica por la presente a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los inmuebles a ser subastados con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen del ejecutante descrito anteriormente, o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubieren pospuesto al gravamen del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizado hipotecariamente con posterioridad al gravamen del actor para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si así lo interesan o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogado, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y, para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general, y para su publicación de acuerdo con la ley en un periódico de circulación general de la isla de Puerto Rico y en tres sitios públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida de la parte demandada, expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 17 de marzo de 2021. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.

MÓN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

EDWIN ALEXIS NEVÁREZ MALDONADO

Demandado Civil Núm.: BY2019CV05152.

(403). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE GARANTÍAS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Yo MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, al público en general. CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia fechado el 19 de febrero de 2021 que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el caso arriba indicado, venderé en la fecha o fechas que más adelante se indican, en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal, en mi oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Carretera 2 Kilómetro 10.4, Esquina Calle Esteban Padilla, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada, en el inmueble que se describe a continuación, propiedad de la parte demandada Edwin Alexis Nevárez Maldonado. Dirección Física: Urb. Jardín Dorado, 13G, Calle Edén, Dorado, PR 00646. Finca 13726, inscrita al folio 4 del tomo 264 de Dorado, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Cuarta de Bayamón. URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Jardín Dorado, Barrio Higuillar del término municipal de Dorado, Puerto Rico, marcado con el solar número trece (13) del Bloque G, con un área superficial de trescientos setenta y cinco punto cero cero metros cuadrados (375.000 m.c.). En lindes: por el NORTE, con el solar número catorce del Bloque G, en una distancia de veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros, según Plano en una distancia de 24.27 metros; por el SUR, con el solar doce del Bloque G, en una distancia de veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros; por el ESTE, con la Calle Eden, en una distancia de quince punto cero cero (15.00) metros, según Plano en una distancia de 15.19 metros; y por el OESTE, con el solar cuatro del Bloque LEGAL NOTICE G, en una distancia de quince ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO punto cero cero (15.00) metros.

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUEnclava casa de concreto para NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA uso residencial. Finca 13,726: SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYA-

Por su procedencia está afecta a: a) Servidumbre a favor de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados. b) Servidumbre a favor de la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico. c) Servidumbre a favor de la Puerto Rico Telephone Company. d) Condiciones restrictivas sobre edificación de uso. Por sí está afecta a: a) Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Doral Mortgage, LLC, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $211,612.00, con intereses al 4.50% anual, vencedero el día 1 de junio de 2039, constituida mediante la escritura número 239, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 26 de mayo de 2009, ante la notario Aurora Montalvo Díaz, e inscrita al folio 4 del tomo 264 de Dorado, finca número 13,726, inscripción 4ta. b) AL ASIENTO 2019-124793-BY04 DEL SISTEMA KARIBE, se presentó el día 25 de noviembre de 2019, Demanda del día 5 de septiembre de 2019, expedida en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el Caso Civil número BY2019CV05152, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico versus Edwin Alexis Nevárez Maldonado, se solicita el pago de la deuda por la suma de $179,421.72 o la venta en pública subasta. El precio mínimo de este remate con relación a la Finca 13,726 antes descrita y la fecha de cada subasta serán la siguiente: FECHA DE SUBASTA: PRIMERA SUBASTA: 2 DE JUNIO DE 2021 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $211,612.00.

HIPOTECA: Escritura Número 239, sobre Hipoteca, otorgada el 26 de mayo de 2009, ante la Notario Aurora Montalvo Díaz.

SEGUNDA SUBASTA: 9 DE JUNIO DE 2021 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $141,074.67. TERCERA SUBASTA: 16 DE JUNIO DE 2021 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. PRECIO MÍNIMO: $105,806.00. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación que se transmite y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y las preferentes, si las hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante las acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de las mismas, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Conforme a la Sentencia dictada el día 27 de enero de 2020 y archivada en los autos el 28 de enero de 2020, la anterior venta se hará para satisfacer las sumas adeudadas por concepto del présta-

mo garantizado por la hipoteca antes mencionada y las sumas que se mencionan a continuación: Al 1 de julio de 2017, la suma principal de $179,421.72, más $33,388.16, que incluye intereses, cargos por demora y otros cargos, que se acumulan diariamente hasta su total y completo pago, más la suma de 10% del principal, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Se notifica por la presente a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los inmuebles a ser subastados con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen del ejecutante descrito anteriormente, o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubieren pospuesto al gravamen del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizado hipotecariamente con posterioridad al gravamen del actor para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si así lo interesan o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogado, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y, para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general, y para su publicación de acuerdo con la ley en un periódico de circulación general de la isla de Puerto Rico y en tres sitios públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida de la parte demandada, expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 17 de marzo de 2021. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.

pETE PATEL

Defendants Case No.: 21-CV-95. Case Codes: 30301 and 30404. PUBLICATION SUMMONS.

THE STATE OF WISCONSIN, to: Edward Michael Liceaga 377 Dorado Beach East Dorado 00646 Puerto Rico

You are hereby notified that the Plaintiff named above filed a lawsuit or other legal action against you. You must respond with a written demand for a copy of the Complaint within 45 days from the day after the first date of publication. The demand must be sent or delivered to the court at: Clerk of Court Milwaukee County Courthouse 901 N. 9th Street Milwaukee, WI 53233; and to Plaintiff’s attorneys, whose address is: Mark F. Foley von Briesen & Roper, s.c.

411 East Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1000 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 It is recommended, but not required, that you have an attorney help or represent you. If you do not demand a copy of the Complaint within 45 days, the court may grant judgment against you for the award of money or other legal action requested in the Complaint, and you may lose your right to object to anything that is or may be incorrect in the Complaint.

A judgment may be enforced as provided by law. A judgment awarding money may become a lien against any real estate you own now or in the future, and may also be enforced by garnishment or seizure of property.

Dated this 16th day of March, 2021. von BRIESEN & ROPER, s.c.

Attorneys for Plaintiff BLC Prime Lending Fund II, LLC. Electronically signed by Mark F. Foley Mark F. Foley, SBN: 1005627 LEGAL NOTICE Christopher E. Avallone, SBN: STATE OF WISCONSIN CIR1095465.

CUIT COURT MILWAUKEE 411 E. Wisconsin Avenue COUNTY Suite 1000 BRANCH 18 Milwaukee, WI 53202 BLC PRIME LENDING P: (414) 287-1404 (Foley) F: (414) 238-6520 (Foley) FUND II, LLC., P: (414) 287-1412 (Avallone) Plaintiff, vs.

F: (414) 238-6664 (Avallone) EML OIL, LLC, Email: PRASHANT NAIR, mfoley@vonbriesen.com EDWARD MICHAEL cavallone@vonbriesen.com LICEAGA, A&E Holding ****

LLC-Euclid SHell, A&E LEGAL NOT ICE Holding LLC, A&E ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Holding LLC / A&E Real DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUEstate II, A&E Holding NAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA LLC Lewis Citgo, EML TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSOil, LLC-College Shell, TANCIA SALA DE SAN JUANSUbway real estate, llc, SUPERIOR. AND shree om, inc. C/O BANCO POPULAR DE PR

The San Juan Daily Star CIA, SENTENCIA PARCIAL O RESOLUCION, DE LA CUAL CASO: KCD2017-0694. SO- PUEDE ESTABLECERSE REBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPO- CURSO DE REVISION O APELACION DENTRO DEL TERMITECA. SUCESlÓN DE ANGEL NO DE 30 DIAS CONTADOS A PARTIR DE LA PUBLICACION FIDALGO DIAZ POR EDICTO DE ESTA NOTICOMPUESTA POR: FICACION, DIRIJO A USTED ROSSANNA FIDALGO ESTA NOTIFICACION QUE SE DOMINGUEZ, MARIANITA CONSIDERARA HECHA EN FIDALGO DOMINGUEZ, LA FECHA DE LA PUBLICACION DE ESTE DICTO. COPIA ANGEL GUILLERMO FIDALGO DOMINGUEZ, DE ESTA NOTIFICACION HA SIDO ARCHIVADA EN LOS BELEN MARIE FIDALGO AUTOS DE ESTE CASO, CON DOMINGUEZ, FERNANDO FECHA DE 24 DE MARZO DE FIDALGO ANGLERO, 2021.

LIC. SURILLO GUTIERREZ, ADELA GERARDO NICOLAS FIDALGO DOMINGUEZ ENADELA.SURILLO@GMAIL.COM SAN JUAN, PUERTO T/C/C GERARDO RICO, A 24 DE MARZO DE FIDALGO DOMINGUEZ, 2021. GRISELDA RODRILUIS ANTONIO FIDALGO GUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. POR: F/ ANGELA RIVERA ANGLERO, AMPARO HERNANDEZ, SECRETARIA BELEN FIDALGO AUXILIAR. vs

FIDALGO DIAZ, ANGEL

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicara 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 representado 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 termino de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerara 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 24 de marzo de 2021.

LIC. ALICEA PARRILLA, GLENDA LEE ALICEAPARRILLA@GMAIL.COM LIC. FORTUNO FAS, JUAN C. JCFORTUNO@FORTUNO-LAW.COM LIC. RECIO CURET, KA TIA V. KRECIO@QACLA W.COM SE ENMIENDA NOTIFICACION A SOLICITUD DE LA PARTE DEMANDANTE. EN PONCE, PUERTO RICO, A 24 DE MARZO DE 2021. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCIA, Secretaria. F/EREINA AGRONT LEON, Secretaria Auxiliar.

DESCRITO EN ESTA PETICION DE DOMINIO, LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS A QUIENES PUEDA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCION Y EN GENERAL A TODA PERSONA QUE DESEE OPONERSE

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 23 de marzo 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 30 de marzo de 2021. En CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, el 30 de marzo de 2021. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretaria Regional. f/ GLORISSETTE RIVERA REYES, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

21

le notifica a usted que el 23 de marzo 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 24 de marzo de 2021. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 24 de marzo de 2021. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. f/ JOHANNA RODRIGUEZ BENITEZ, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del termino de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerara 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 26 de marzo de 2021. En GUAYAMA, Puerto Rico, el 26 de marzo de 2021. MARISOL ROSADO RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria Regional. F/ILEANA CRUZ VAZQUEZ, Secretaria Auxiliar.

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 representado usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia

of Judgment, the undersigned appointed Special Master was ordered to sell, at public auction for U.S. currency in cash or certified check, without appraisement or right to redemption, to the highest bidder, at the office of the Clerk of the United States

LEGAL NOTICE IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO.

HIBISCUSPR LENDCO, LLC., Plaintiff v.

ANGLERO T/C/C BELEN RL DÍAZ PROPERTIES AMPARO FIDALGO LEGAL NOTICE INC.; DÍAZ SEGUROS Y ANGLERO T/C/C Estado Libre Asociado de PuerASOCIADOS; RAMÓN AMPARO FIDALGO to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL LUIS DÍAZ RIVERA, THE DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriANGLERO ,RAFAEL ESTATE OF LILLIAM mera Instancia Sala de PonceA. NUNEZ FIDALGO VÁZQUEZ SAAVEDRA, T/C/C RAFAEL NUNEZ Superior. comprised

by Xiomara FEDERAL NATIONAL FIDALGO y SYLVIA M. Díaz Vázquez, Damaris MORTGAGE ASSNUNEZ FIDALGO. SUC. Díaz Vázquez, Ricardo FANNIE MAE ANGEL FIDALGO DIAZ LEGAL NOTICE Luis Díaz Vázquez, and Vs. y AMPARO ANGLERO Ramón Luis Díaz Rivera Estado Libre Asociado de PuerTORRES TORRES, CALDERON: TAMARA Defendants to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL LEGAL NOTICE JOSEFINA BARRETO NUNEZ. DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- Civil No: 17-2255 (CVR). COCASO: JCD2017-0134. SO- Estado Libre Asociado de Puermera Instancia Sala Superior LLECTION OF MONIES AND CARLOS DAMIAN PAVIAL BRE: EJECUCION DE HIPO- to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL FORECLOSURE OF MORTde GUAYAMA. NUNEZ Y ANTONIO LUIS TECA. NOTIFICACION EN- DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriGAGE IN REM. NOTICE OF PEDRO JUAN FIDALGO MERCADO; MENDADA DE SENTENCIA mera Instancia Sala Superior SALE. CORUJO FIGUEROA; de CAGUAS. POR EDICTO. FULANO DE TAL y TO: DEFENDANT AND SARITA RIVERA DELIA JOSE MIGUEL, A: JOSIEANN COSTAS ZUTANO DE TAL. SUC GENERAL PUBLIC VAZQUEZ GLORIA, MARIA TORRES T/C/C JOSIEANN ANGEL G FIDALGO On March 29, 2019, this Court Demandante v.

TERESA, ELADIO, COSTA TORRES T/C/C ANGLE RO. GLORIA Default Judgment, and GLOBAL MORTGAGE issued SONIA IRIS E IGNACIO JOSIE ANN COSTAS FIDALGO CORDOVA, on the same date, Judgment LEGAL NOTICE CORPORATION Y OTROS DE APELLIDOS LOPEZ TORRES, COMO was entered in favor of HibisCARLOS FIDALGO Demandado(a) Estado Libre Asociado de PuerFIGUEROA (SUCNS cusPR Lendco, LLC. To date, CORDOVA JOSE ANGEL MIEMBRO CON INTERES to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Civil: GM2020CV00458. Sobre: Defendants have not satisfied JOSE LOPEZ LOPEZ EN LA SUCESION DE FIDALGO CORDOVA, DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- CANCELACION DE PAGARE the Judgment. Consequently, Y JOSEA FIGUEROA JOSEFINA TORRES MARIA ISABEL FIDALGO NOTIFICAmera Instancia Sala Superior EXTRAVIADO. there is an outstanding balance GIMENEZ) JOSE TORRES Y DE LA CIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR CORDOVA, FULANO Y de SAN JUAN. as of March 7, 2019, DefenISMAEL, OTNIEL, LYDIA SUCESION DE ELVIN ZUTANA DE TAL dants owe Hibiscuspr the sum VILMA ROSA BARALT EDICTO. ESTER DE APELLIDOS A: GLOBAL NOTIFICACION DE SEN- COSTA SANTIAGO T/C/C of $1,145,500.43 in principal; GARRIGA, EN TENCIA POR EDICTO. EL ELVIN ALFREDO COSTA LOPEZ FONTANEZ MORTGAGE CORP., plus interests in the amount of REPRESENTACIÓN DE SECRETARIO(A) QUE SUS$771,183.12 which continues to Y JOEL ANTONIO ENTIDADES X, y Z, JOHN SANTIAGO T/C/C ELVIN LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL CRIBE LE NOTIFICA A LISTED accrue until full payment of the LOPEZ FIGUEROA, DOE Y RICHARD DOE ALFREDO COSTAS DE GANANCIALES CON (Nombre de las partes a las que se les debt at $241.83 per diem; plus QUE EL 19 DE FEBRERO (SUCN. ISMAEL LOPEZ SANTIAGO; FULANO ALFONSO JOSEPH DE DE 2020, ESTE TRIBUNAL notifica la sentencia por edicto) late charges in the amount of FIGUEROA) CARLOS DE TAL Y SUTANA DE T HA DICTADO SENTENCIA, GAIMO VACCARO T/C/C EL SECRET ARIO(A) que sus- $38,450.44; plus and any other RUBEN LOPEZ ROLON AL COMO HEREDEROS SENTENCIA PARCIAL O REcribe le notifica a usted que 19 advance, charge, fee, or disburALFONSO JOSEPH Y LA VIUDA VILMA SOLUCION EN ESTE CASO, DESCONOCIDOS DE DEGAIMO VACARRO de marzo de 2021, este Tri- sements made by Hibiscuspr, QUE HA SIDO DEBIDAMENTE bunal ha dictado Sentencia , on behalf of the Defendants, DICHAS SUCESIONES, SANTANA (SUCN RUBEN Parte Demandante VS. REGISTRADA Y ARCHIVADA Parcial o Resolución in accordance with the Loan LOPEZ FIGUEROA) PARA SER NOTIFICADOS OFG BANCORP. H/NC Sentencia EN AUTOS DONDE PODRA en este caso, que ha sido debi- Agreement and other related Demandante v.

POR EDICTO P/C DE: ORIENTAL BANK; JOHN damente registrada y archivada loan documents, plus costs LISTED ENTERARSE DETAEX PARTE LCDO. JUAN CARLOS DOE; JANE DOE LLADAMENTE DE LOS TERen autos donde podrá usted and agreed attorney’s fees in Demandado(a) Parte Demandada FORTUNO FAS PO BOX MINOS DE LA MISMA. ESTA enterarse detalladamente de the amount of $116,000.00.

CIVIL NÚM: CY2020CV00209.

CIVIL NÚM: SJ2020CV06973. los términos de la misma. Esta Pursuant to the said judgment NOTIFICACION SE PUBLICA9300 SANTURCE PR SALA: 304. SOBRE: EXPESALA: 603. SOBRE: COBRO notificación se publicara una and/or the Order of Execution RA UNA SOLA VEZ EN UN PE00908-3665 DIENTE DE DOMINIO. NOTIRIODICO DE CIRCULACION GENERAL EN LA ISLA DE PUERTO RICO, DENTRO DE LOS 10 DIAS SIGUIENTES A SU NOTIFICACION. Y, SIENDO O REPRESENTANDO LISTED UNA PARTE EN EL PROCEDIMIENTO SUJETA A LOS TERMINOS DE LA SENTEN-

EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- FICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA DE DINERO, ORDINARIO Y OTROS. NOTIFICACIÓN DE cribe le notifica a usted que POR EDICTO. SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. el 12 de agosto de 2019, este A: JOHN DOE Y A: JOHN DOE Y JANE Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, CUALQUIER OTRA DOE DEMANDADOS Sentencia Parcial o Resolución PERSONA QUE TENGA en este caso, que ha sido debiDESCONOCIDOS damente registrada y archivada ALGUN DERECHO LEGAL (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) en autos donde podrá usted SOBRE EL INMUEBLE LA SECRETARIA que suscribe

District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150 - Federal Building, Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, or at any other place designated by said Clerk, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following property: URBAN: Lot of land marked in the registration plan with the letter “B”, located in Caños of the municipality of Guánica, Puerto Rico (previously known as the Barrio Guánica), with an area of three thousand two hundred thirty-two meters thirty centimeters (3,232.30mc); bordered on the NORTH, in four continuous alignments of twenty-one meters sixty centimeters, thirtyseven meters forty centimeters, forty-two meters fifty-two centimeters and forty-five meters, by land of the Land Authority of Puerto Rico; by the SOUTH, in three continuous alignments of thirty-three meters fifty sixty centimeters, seventy eight meters eighty centimeters and fifty meters forty-two centimeters with State Highway 116 from Yauco to Guánica; by the EAST, in two continuous alignments of eight meters twenty centimeters and eight meters ten centimeters, with land of the Land Authority of Puerto Rico; and by the WEST, thirty meters fifty centimeters, with the Parcel “A” previously described.

Contains building of a single story of reinforced concrete and blocks”. The property described above is recorded at page 18 of volume 176, Property Number 2,226 of Guánica, Property Registry of Puerto Rico, San Germán Section. The Property which is described in the Spanish language as follows: URBANA: Parcela de terreno marcada en el plano de inscripción con la letra “B”, radicada en el Barrio Guánica, antes, hoy Canos del término municipal de Guánica, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de tres mil doscientos treinta y dos metros treinta centímetros (3,232.30 m.c.).

Colindado por el NORTE, en cuatro alineaciones continuas de veintiún metros sesenta centímetros; treinta y siete metros cuarenta centímetros; cuarenta y dos metros cincuenta y dos centímetros y cuarenta y cinco metros, con terrenos de la Autoridad de Tierras de Puerto Rico; por el SUR, en tres alineaciones continuas de treinta y tres metros sesenta centímetros; setenta y ocho metros ochenta centímetros y cincuenta metros cuarenta y dos centímetros, con la carretera estatal número ciento dieciséis que conduce de Yauco a Guánica; por el ESTE, en dos alineaciones continuas de ocho metros veinte centímetros y ocho metros diez centímetros, con tierras de la Autoridad de Tierra de Puerto Rico; y por el OESTE, en treinta

metros cincuenta centímetros, con la parcela “A” descrita anteriormente.” The property is subject to the following liens:

BY ITS ORIGIN: Free of Liens.

BY ITS ORIGIN: It’s bound by step easements “VIA FERREA” in favor of the “GUANICA CENTRAL”. BY ITSELF: MORTGAGE in guarantee of note in favor of FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO, or to its order, in the principal amount of $ 1,160,000.00, with a yearly interest rate of 12%%, due on presentation, as per Deed No. 189 on December 31, 2008 before Notary Public Antonio A. Hernández Almodóvar, recorded at page 18 of volume 176 of Guánica, 22nd inscription. At entry 2017104446-SG01, on November 14, 2017, Complaint was filed in favor of LSREF2 ISLAND HOLDING LTD against RL DÍAZ PROPERTIES, INC.; DÍAZ SEGUROS Y ASOCIADOS; RAMÓN LUIS DÍAZ RIVERA; y LILLIAM VÁZQUEZ SAVERRA; XIOMARA DÍAZ VÁZQUEZ, DAMARIS DÍAZ VÁZQUEZ, RICARDO LUIS DÍAZ VÁZQUEZ y RAMON LUIS DÍAZ RIVERA, Execution of Mortgage for the amount of $1,160,000.00, Civil No. 17-2255, United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, October 24, 2017, balance of $1,145,500.43. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax, liens, (express, tacit, implied or legal), shall continue in effect.

It being understood further that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancellation. The lien executed is over the property, and for the purposes of the first judicial sale the minimum bid amount is as follows: The amount of $1,160,000.00, as set forth in the mortgage deed, as amended, shall serve as the minimum bidding amount for the first public sale. Should the first public sale fail to produce an award or adjudication, twothirds of the aforementioned amount or $773,33.33 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 $580,00.00.

Said sale to be made by the appointed Special Master is subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and

22 possession to the property may be executed and delivered after the judicial sale. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued canceling all junior liens. THEREFORE, public notice is hereby given that the appointed Special Master, pursuant to the provisions of the Judgment herein before referred to, will, on the 7th day of May, 2021, at 10:00 a.m., on the sidewalk in front of the main gate entrance of the United States District Court, Federal Building, 350 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, will sell at public auction to the highest bidder the property described herein, the proceeds of said sale to be applied in the manner and form provided by the Court’s Judgment. Should the first judicial sale set hereinabove be unsuccessful, the second judicial sale of the property described in this Notice will be held on the 14th day of May, 2021, at 10:00 a.m., on the sidewalk in front of the main gate entrance of the United States District Court, Federal Building, 350 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Should the second judicial sale set hereinabove be unsuccessful, the third judicial sale of the property described in this Notice will be held on the 21st day of May, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. on the sidewalk in front of the main gate entrance of the United States District Court, Federal Building, 350 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

The records of the case and of these proceedings may be examined by the parties at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Federal Building, Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 26 day of March, 2021. ÁGUEDO DE LA TORRE, SPECIAL MASTER.

FAX: 787-751-6155 T/C/C LAS FLORES DE E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com MONTEHIEDRA Expedido bajo mi firma y sello Demandante v., del Tribunal, hoy 19 de marzo FRANCISCO FELIU de 2021. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte AGOSTO, KIODETTE Rodriguez, Sec Regional. Ida DEMANDADOS MARIE LLANOS Fernandez Rodriguez, Sec AuCIVIL NÚM.: CA2021CV00336. xiliar del Tribunal.

MALDONADO Y LA SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE LEGAL NOTICE Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. GANANCIALES POR EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDIC- Estado Libre Asociado de PuerAMBOS TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Demandada AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriCIVIL NUM.: SJ2019CV07633.

DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO mera Instancia Sala Superior SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO, LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss. de SAN JUAN. REGLA 60. NOTIFICACION DE A: FULANO DE TAL MARIA LESBIA SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHAS SUCESIONES; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN LAS SUCESIONES DE JUANA MORALES TORRES Y SANTOS QUIÑONES FALERO BARRIO DOS BOCAS SOLAR 3 KM 1.0 PR 852 TRUJILLO ALTO PR 00976.

DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: HC645 BOX 5177, TRUJILLO ALTO PR 00976-9759; PO BOX 79639 CAROLINA PR 00984 y BO. CAIMITO CARR. 842 CARCINOMA AVELINO LPA SAN JUAN PR 00926.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar LEGAL NOTICE su alegación responsiva en la ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO secretaría del tribunal. Si usted DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- deja de presentar su alegación NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA responsiva dentro del referido SALA SUPERIOR DE CARO- término, el tribunal podrá dicLINA. tar sentencia en rebeldía en su BANCO POPULAR DE contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o PUERTO RICO Y SUN cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en WEST MORTGAGE el ejercicio de su sana discreCOMPANY, INC. COMO ción, lo entiende procedente.

AGENTE DE SERVICIO Se le apercibe que conforme al DEMANDANTE VS. artículo 1,578 del Código Civil, SUCESIÓN DE JUANA 31 L.P.R.A. §11,021, usted tieMORALES TORRES ne derecho aceptar o repudiar la herencia. A esos efectos, Y SUCESIÓN DE de no rechazarla se tendrá la SANTOS QUIÑONES FALERO COMPUESTA herencia por aceptada. Representa a la parte demandante, POR SU HEREDERAS la representación legal cuyo CONOCIDAS ANA T. nombre, dirección y teléfono se QUIÑONES MORALES Y consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO LUZ MARÍA QUIÑONES FAS, C.S.P. MORALES; FULANO DE LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL PO BOX 9300, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 COMO HEREDEROS TEL: 787- 751-5290,

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

CAPELLAN ROSARIO Demandante v.,

CARLOS MANUEL ALERS COLON

Demandada CIVIL NUM.: SJ2020RF01258 (706). SOBRE: DIVORCIO, RUPTURA IRREPARABLE. NOTIFICACION DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: CARLOS MANUEL ALERS COLON

A: FRANCISCO FELIU AGOSTO, KIODETTE MARIE LLANOS MALDONADO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES POR AMBOS

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRET ARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 6 de septiembre de 2019, 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 publicara 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 representado 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 termino de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación , dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerara 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 24 de marzo de 2021. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 24 de marzo de 2021. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. f/ELSA MAGALY CANDELARIO CABRERA, Secretaria Auxiliar.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRET ARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 24 de marzo 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 publicara 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 representado 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 termino de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerara 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 25 de marzo de 2021. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 25 de marzo de 2021. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria RegioLEGAL NOTICE nal. f/ENID TORRES RUIZ, SeEstado Libre Asociado de Puercretaria Auxiliar. to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriLEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- mera Instancia Sala Superior to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Municipal de San Juan.

DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de SAN JUAN. MONTEHIEDRA WEST COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC. T/C/C MONTEHIEDRA WEST;

LAS FLORES DE MONTEHIEDRA I COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC.

REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING, LLC Parte Demandante VS.

SUCESIÓN EDWIN MALDONADO RODRÍGUEZ T/C/C EDWIN MALDONADO COMPUESTA POR LESLIE E. MALDONADO FELICIANO Y ALEXIS

xiliar del Tribunal I. X. MALDONADO FELICIANO; JOHN ROE LEGAL NOTICE Y JANE ROE COMO Estado Libre Asociado de PuerPOSIBLES HEREDEROS to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DESCONOCIDOS; DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriSUCESIÓN GEORGINA mera Instancia Sala Superior FELICIANO LÓPEZ T/C/C de SALINAS. GEORGINA FELICIANO LUNA ADQUISITION LLC Parte Demandante VS. COMPUESTA POR XAVIER MARTINEZ LESLIE E. MALDONADO RODRIGUEZ FELICIANO Y ALEXIS Parte Demandada X. MALDONADO CIVIL NÚM: SA2019CV00361.

FELICIANO: JOHN DOE SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO, Y JANE DOE COMO ORDINARIO Y OTROS. NOPOSIBLES HEREDEROS TIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. DESCONOCIDOS; A: XAVIER MARTINEZ ESTADOS UNIDOS DE RODRIGUEZ AMÉRICA; CENTRO (Nombre de las partes a las que se le DE RECAUDACIÓN DE notifican la sentencia por edicto) INGRESOS MUNICIPALES LA SECRETARIA que suscribe

Parte Demandada CIVIL NÚM: SJ2020CV02050 (604). SOBRE: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN EDWIN MALDONADO RODRÍGUEZ T/C/C EDWIN MALDONADO: JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN GEORGINA FELICIANO LÓPEZ T/C/C GEORGINA FELICIANO

LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 26 de marzo 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 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 26 de marzo de 2021. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 26 de marzo de 2021. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. f/ Elsa Magaly Candelario Cabrera, Secretaria Au-

le notifica a usted que el 26 de marzo 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 29 de marzo de 2021. En SALINAS, Puerto Rico, el 29 de marzo de 2021. MARISOL ROSADO RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria Regional. f/ BRENDA L. RAMOS POMALES, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

EL SECRET ARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 24 de marzo 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 publicara 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 representado 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 termino de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerara 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 25 de marzo de 2021. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 25 de marzo de 2021. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria Regional. KEILA GARCIA SOLIS, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE GUAYAMA SALA SUPERIOR

SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC Demandante Vs.

MARIA DEL CARMEN RODRIGUEZ CORA; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: GM2021CV00103.

Sobre: SUSTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉLEGAL NOTICE RICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- DE PUERTO RICO. A La Parte Comera Instancia Sala Superior de CAROLINA. Demandada: JOHN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.,

OSVALDO ALMODOVAR RODRIGUEZ

Demandada CIVIL NUM.: CA2019CV04634.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACION DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: OSVALDO ALMODOVAR RODRIGUEZ

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto)

DOE Y RICHARD ROE, DEMANDADOS DESCONOCIDOS CUYA DIRECCIÓN SE DESCONOCE.

Se les notifica por este medio que en el caso del epígrafe se solicita la SUSTITUCIÓN DE UN PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO notarizado bajo el testimonio núm. 9,604 a favor de H & M MORTGAGE CORPORATION., o a su orden, por la suma de $32,300.00, devengando intereses a razón del

8% por ciento anual, vencedero el primero (1ro) de febrero de 2026, garantizado con hipoteca constituida mediante escritura número 5 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 30 de enero de 1996, ante el Notario Ricardo R. Pérez Pietri, la cual consta inscrita al folio 258 vuelto del tomo 122 de Arroyo, finca número 4,171, inscripción Cuarta (4ta). Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general.

Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectando por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo.

Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 6257001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante. Dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oírle(s).

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 16 de marzo de 2021, en Guayama, Puerto Rico. MARISOL ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL I. ILEANA SANTIAGO VEGA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR

SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC Demandante Vs.

BANCO BILBAO VIZCAYA ARGENTARIA; AHORA ORIENTAL BANK; JANEL Y ROSA SANCHEZ; JOHN DOE; RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES

The San Juan Daily Star

DESCONOCIDO

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2021CV00483.

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

A La Parte CoDemandada: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, DEMANDADOS DESCONOCIDOS CUYA DIRECCIÓN SE DESCONOCE.

Se les notifica por este medio que en el caso del epígrafe se solicita la SUSTITUCIÓN DE UN PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO notarizado bajo el testimonio núm. 4058 a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, o a su orden, por la suma de $155,925.00, devengando intereses a razón del 5.50% por ciento anual, vencedero el primero (1ro) de septiembre de 2038, garantizado con hipoteca constituida mediante escritura número 154 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico el 28 de agosto de 2008, ante el Notario Omar lván Arill Vizcarrondo, la cual consta inscrita al folio 100 del tomo 674 de Toa Baja, finca número 30,792, inscripción Segunda. Dicha Hipoteca fue modificada según la Escritura número 275, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 30 de noviembre de 2011, ante el Notario Luis Yamil Rodríguez San Miguel, para un nuevo principal de $168,363.65, intereses al 4.25% por ciento anual, pago mensual de $828.25 y con vencimiento el 1ro de diciembre de 2041, dicha modificación consta inscrita al Folio 100 vuelto del Tomo 674 de Toa Baja, finca número 30,792, inscripción Tercera (3ra). Modificada nuevamente según la Escritura número 218, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 30 de abril de 2015, ante el Notario Jaime E. Dávila Santini, para un nuevo principal de $128,756.16, intereses al 4.00% por ciento anual, pago mensual de $614.70, y con vencimiento el 1ro de mayo de 2045, dicha modificación consta inscrita al Folio 79 del Tomo 747 de Toa Baja, finca número 30,792, inscripción Quinta (5ta) y última. Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general.

Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectando por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo.

Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 6257001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante. Dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oírle(s).

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con e Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 15 de marzo de 2021, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE GUAYNABO SALA SUPERIOR

SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC Demandante Vs.

EDUARDO BRIGNONI RIVERA T/C/C EDUARDO BRIGNONI REYES, POR SÍ Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ALICIA SANCHEZ TOSADO, LA SUCESIÓN DE ALICIA SANCHEZ TOSADO COMPUESTA GLENISHA BRIGNONI SANCHEZ, EDUARDO BRIGNONI SANCHEZ, CARLA IDAMIS BRIGNONI SANCHEZ COMO MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: GB2021CV00133.

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

A La Parte CoDemandada: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, DEMANDADOS DESCONOCIDOS CUYA DIRECCIÓN SE DESCONOCE.

Se les notifica por este medio que en el caso del epígrafe se solicita la SUSTITUCIÓN DE UN PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO notarizado bajo el testimonio núm. 1212 a favor de JANA MORTGAGE BANKERS, INC., o a su orden, por la suma de $57,050.00, devengando intereses a razón del 8.50% por ciento anual, vencedero el primero (1ro) de abril de 2017, garantizado con hipoteca constituida mediante escritura número 71 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico el 31 de marzo de 1987, ante el Notario Frank Pola Jr., la cual consta inscrita al Folio 104 del Tomo 439 de Guaynabo, finca número 19,672, inscripción Cuarta (4ta). Dicha Hipoteca fue modificada según la Escritura número 390, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 14 de octubre de 2016, ante el Notario David Cardona Dingui, para un nuevo principal de $52,387.70, intereses al 4.00% por ciento anual, pago mensual de principal e intereses $250.11 y con vencimiento el 1ro de noviembre de 2046, dicha modificación consta al Tomo Karibe de Guaynabo, finca número 19,672, inscripción Décima (10ma). Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectando por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo.

Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 6257001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante. Dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así

dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oírle(s).

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 16 de marzo de 2021, en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MAIRENI TRINTA MALDONADO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR 807

SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. Demandante Vs.

LEVITT MORTGAGE CORPORATION; AHORA BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO; NELSA ZEQUEIRA CORTES T/C/C NELSA ENEIDA ZEQUEIRA CORTES T/C/C NELSA E. ZEQUEIRA CORTES; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV01207.

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

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, DEMANDADOS DESCONOCIDOS CUYA DIRECCIÓN SE DESCONOCE.

Se les notifica por este medio que en el caso del epígrafe se solicita la SUSTITUCIÓN DE UN PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO notarizado bajo el testimonio núm. 17,844 a favor de LEVITT MORTGAGE, CORPORATION, o a su orden, por la suma de $76,685.00, devengando intereses a razón del 7.50% por ciento anual, vencedero el primero (1ro) de abril de 2026, garantizado con hipoteca constituida mediante escritura número 186 otorgada en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico el 2 de abril de 1996, ante el Notario Luis Rodríguez Bigas, la cual consta inscrita al Folio 145 del Tomo 856 de Río Piedras, finca número 7,625, inscripción Séptima (7ma). Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requieren que presenten al Tribunal su alega-

ción responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC) al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección 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 al abogado de la parte demandante CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo.

Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 6257001. SE LE 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. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 16 de marzo de 2021.

GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. NORMA I. FLORES RIVERA, SUBSECRETARIA.

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

SUCESIÓN DE SERGIO JIMÉNEZ RODRÍGUEZ, COMPUESTA POR: MELANIE JIMÉNEZ, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS

Demandados CIVIL NÚM: GM2019CV00271 (301). SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE GARANTÍAS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Yo Myriam Neco, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guayama, al público en general. CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia fechado el 21 de enero de 2020 que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guayama, en el caso arriba indicado, venderé en la fecha

23

o fechas que más adelante se indican, en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal, en mi oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el Centro Judicial de Guayama, Puerto Rico, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada, en el inmueble que se describe a continuación, propiedad de la parte demandada Sucesión de Sergio Jiménez Rodríguez, compuesta por: Melanie Jiménez, Fulano y Mengano de Tal, como posibles herederos desconocidos.

Dirección Física: Santa Juanita, 713 - 189 Calle Enrique Amy, Guayama, PR 00784. Finca 14846, inscrita al folio 58 del tomo 416 de Guayama, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Guayama.

RUSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número ciento ochenta y nueve (189) en el Plano de Parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Santa Juanita del Barrio Jobos, Pozo Hondo del término Municipal de Guayama, con una cabida superficial de trescientos cincuenta punto cero cero metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con calle número diez de la comunidad; por el SUR, con parcela número ciento noventa y otra de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con parcela número ciento ochenta y ocho de la comunidad; por el OESTE, con parcela número ciento noventa de la comunidad. Finca 14846. Por su procedencia está afecta a: Libre de Cargas. Por sí está afecta a: a. Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Popular Finance Inc., por la suma principal de $34,000.00, con intereses al 7.95 anual, vencedero el día 1 de abril de 2037, constituida mediante la escritura número 138, otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el día 16 de marzo de 2006, ante el notario Sergio Ortiz Atienza, e inscrita al tomo Karibe de Guayama, finca número 14,846, inscripción 3ra., como Asiento Abreviado extendida las líneas el día 14 de febrero de 2017, en virtud de la Ley número 216 del día 27 de diciembre de 2010. (Fue presentado el día 20 de marzo de 2007 al Asiento 941 del Diario 630). b.

Aviso de Demanda de fecha 12 de abril de 2019, expedido en el tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guayama, en el Caso Civil número GM2019CV00271 seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Sergio Jiménez Rodríguez, sobre Cobro de Dinero, reclamando el pago de la hipoteca por $34,000.00, con un balance de $28,938.52 y otras sumas, anotado el 18 de octubre de 2019, al tomo Karibe de Guayama, finca número 14,846, Anotación A. El precio mínimo de este remate

con relación a la Finca 14846 antes descrita y la fecha de cada subasta serán la siguiente: Primera Subasta: 6 de abril de 2021 a las 11:30AM, Precio Mínimo: $34,000.00, Hipoteca: Escritura Número 138, sobre Hipoteca, otorgada el 16 de marzo de 2007, ante el Notario Sergio Ortiz Atienza.

Segunda Subasta: 13 de abril de 2021 a las 11:30AM, Precio Mínimo: $22,666.66. Tercera Subasta: 20 de abril de 2021 a las 11:30AM, Precio Mínimo: $17,000.00. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación que se transmite y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y las preferentes, si las hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante las acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de las mismas, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate.

Conforme a la Sentencia dictada el día 30 de septiembre de 2019 y archivada en los autos el 2 de octubre de 2019, la anterior venta se hará para satisfacer las sumas adeudadas por concepto del préstamo garantizado por la hipoteca antes mencionada y las sumas que se mencionan a continuación: Al 1 de septiembre de 2018, las siguientes cantidades: la suma principal de $28,938.52, más la suma de $2,235.98, que incluye intereses según pactados, cargos por demora y otros cargos, que se acumulan diariamente hasta su total y completo pago, más la suma de 10% del principal, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Se notifica por la presente a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los inmuebles a ser subastados con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen del ejecutante descrito anteriormente, o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubieren pospuesto al gravamen del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizado hipotecariamente con posterioridad al gravamen del actor para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si así lo interesan o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogado, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y, para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general, y para su

publicación de acuerdo con la ley en un periódico de circulación general de la isla de Puerto Rico y en tres sitios públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida de la parte demandada, expido el presente edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal en Guayama, Puerto Rico, hoy día 9 de marzo de 2021. Myriam Neco, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAGUAS.

ESTRELLA HOMES, LLC Demandante v.

CYNTHIA FERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ

Demandada CIVIL NÚM.: CG2019CV01797.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VIA ORDINARIA). ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA 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 de Caguas, hago saber a la parte demandada CYNTHIA FERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ, y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 8 de marzo de 2021, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal por el precio mínimo de $123,190.00 y al mejor postor la propiedad que se describe a continuación, APARTAMENTO L-113, VISTA REAL II, BARRIO CAÑABONCITO, CAGUAS, PR 00725: Urbana: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento residencial de forma irregular, identificado con el número L guión ciento trece (#L-113), localizado en la primera planta del edificio L del Condominio Vista Real II, localizado en el Barrio Cañaboncito del término municipal de Caguas, Puerto Rico, con la descripción, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación: En lindes por el Norte, en cuarenta y cinco pies once pulgadas (45’ 11”), con pared común adyacente al apartamento ciento doce (112); por el Sur, en cuarenta y siete pies tres pulgadas (47’ 3”), con pared adyacente al apartamento ciento catorce (114); por el Este, en veintiun pies cinco pulgadas

24 (21’ 5”), con elemento común; por el Oeste, en diecisiete pies cuatro pulgadas (17’ 4”), con elemento común. Tiene su puerta de entrada y salida por su lado Oeste, que da hacia el área de pasillo que conduce a las escaleras que le brindan acceso al edificio. Consta de balcón, sala-comedor, una habitación dormitorio con un closet en su interior, un pasillo interior, área de cocina, un closet pequeño, una alacena pequeña, una área de lavandería, un baño completo de uso general, una segunda habitación dormitorio, con un closet en su interior y una tercera habitación que es la principal “ master room” en la cual también se encuentra una área de “walk-incloset”, un baño completo y un closet adicional. El área total del apartamento y sus anejos es de mil quinientos siete punto veintiocho (1,507.28) pies cuadrados, equivalentes a ciento cuarenta punto cero ocho (140.08) metros cuadrados, que se distribuye de la siguiente forma: área del apartamento, novecientos noventa y siete punto veintiuno (997.21) pies cuadrados, equivalentes a noventa y dos punto sesenta y siete (92.67) metros cuadrados; área de patio, doscientos catorce punto diecisiete (214.17) pies cuadrados, equivalentes a diecinueve punto noventa y uno (19.91) metros cuadrados; área de estacionamiento, doscientos noventa y cinco punto noventa (295.90) pies cuadrados, equivalentes a veintisiete punto cincuenta (27.50) metros cuadrados. Le corresponde a este apartamento como anejo, el uso exclusivo y particular de dos (2) espacios de estacionamiento marcados con los números sesenta y siete (67) y sesenta y ocho (68), ubicados en las área de estacionamiento del condominio, según ilustradas en el “plot plan” del apartamento. A este apartamento le corresponde como anejo el uso exclusivo y particular de un área privada de patio, según ilustrada en el correspondiente “plot plan” del apartamento, que se acompaña a la escritura matríz. A este apartamento además le corresponde una participación en los elementos comunes del Condominio de punto siete cero dos cinco dos tres (.702523%) porciento. Finca 60093 inscrita al folio 168 del tomo 1729 de Caguas, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA A favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Puerto Rico o a su orden, por la suma de $123,190.00, con intereses a razón del 4.625% por ciento anual, con vencimiento el uno de septiembre del año dos mil

cuarenta. Se tasa esta finca a los efectos de subasta en una cantidad igual a la suma principal del pagaré para que sirva de tipo mínimo en caso de ejecución. En virtud de la escritura 196, otorgada en San Juan, el día 23 de agosto del año 2010, ante el notario Mario Quintero Pintor, según inscripción 5ª, finca 60093, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. 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 dicta el 28 de diciembre de 2019, mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la suma de $104,581.40 de principal, más intereses que continuarán acumulándose desde el día 1 de octubre de 2018 hasta el saldo total al 4.625% anual, $16.30 de escrow balance, $158.35 de cargos por atraso, $12,319.00 de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario, incluyendo primas de seguro de hipoteca, prima de seguro de siniestro y cargos por demora. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 22 de abril de 2021 a las 10:00 de la mañana, en la oficina del Alguacil, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la cantidad de $123,190.00, sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 29 de abril de 2021 a las 10:00 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, $82,126.66. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 6 de mayo de 2021 a las 10:00 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, $61,595.00. 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. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabili-

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

dad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. 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 cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuestos al gravamen del actor y a los dueños poseedores, tenedores de, o interesados en título trasmisible por endoso al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor, y con los cuales no hubiese tenido el efecto la notificación del escrito inicial y del Mandamiento de requerimiento de pago para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviene o satisficiera 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, una vez confirmada la venta o adjudicación, 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 Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy 25 de marzo de 2021.

EDGARDO ALDEBOL MIRANDA #282, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE CAGUAS.

LEGAL NOT ICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, INC. Demandante v.

VIRGINIA GARCÍA COLÓN

Demandados CIVIL NUM.: KCD2016-2395.

SALA: 506. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO - EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 22 de enero de 2020, por la Secretaria del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Sección Norte del barrio de Santurce de esta ciudad de San Juan, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 200.00 metros cuadrados; colindando por el NORTE, en 20.00 metros con el solar #130, propiedad de Juan Angel Giusti; por el SUR, en 20.00 metros con el solar propiedad de Gloria Maria Giusti; por el ESTE, en 10.00 metros con Ramón Torres Arroyo; por el OESTE, 10.00 metros con la calle Antonio Colton. Contiene casa terrera de madera techada de zinc. Inscrito al folio 11 del tomo 437 de Santurce Norte, finca número #16,333 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Primera de San Juan. La propiedad ubica en: 205 Colton St. Villa Palmeras, San Juan, PR. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 3 de noviembre de 2019 y notificada el 4 de diciembre de 2019, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $92,361.09 por concepto de principal; $618.43 por concepto de intereses acumulados, $518.28 por concepto de cargos por demora los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta

el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito; y la suma $10,205.50 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA subasta se llevará a efecto el día 3 DE MAYO DE 2021 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $102,055.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 10 DE MAYO DE 2021 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $68,036.66 equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 17 DE MAYO DE 2021 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $51,027.50, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Artículo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”.

La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento

de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a.

Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes.

Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 26 de marzo de 2021. PEDRO HIEYE GONZALEZ, Alguacil, División de Subastas, Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan.

LEGAL NOTICE M&T 208184 ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

Teresita Morales Pabón

Demandada CIVIL NÚM: CG2019CV01912.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor quién pagará de contado y en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América, giro postal o por cheque de gerente a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia EL DÍA 10 DE MAYO DE 2021, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en Sabanera Del Río, 222 Camino De Guayacán, Gurabo, PR 00778 y que se describe a continuación: Rústica: Predio de terreno identificado con el número doscientos veintidós (222) en el plano de la Urbanización Sabanera del Río, radicado en el Barrio Navarro del término municipal de Gurabo, con una cabida de mil noventa y nueve punto ochenta (1,099.80) metros cuadrados, equivalentes a cero punto dos mil setecientos noventa y ocho (0.2798) cuerda. En lindes por el Norte, en una distancia de cuarenta y dos punto treinta (42.30) metros, con el solar número doscientos veintiuno (221); por el Sur, en una distancia de cuarenta y dos punto treinta (42.30) metros, con el solar número doscientos veintitrés (223); por el Este, en una distancia de veintiséis (26.00) metros, con el área verde del solar que lo separa de la Calle Camino de Guayacán; y por el Oeste, con una distancia de veintiséis (26.00) metros, con el área verde de la urbanización. Enclava en este solar una estructura de una planta dedicada a vivienda. Este solar está afecto por una servidumbre para servicio telefónico con un ancho de uno punto cincuenta (1.50) metros y la cual discurre a lo largo de la colindancia Este y otra a favor de la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica con un ancho y un fondo de uno punto cincuenta (1.50) metros localizada en el extremo Sureste del solar. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita en el Folio 173 del Tomo 394 de Gurabo, finca número 14,706, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Segunda.

El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $400,500.00.

Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una segunda subasta en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el EL DÍA 17 DE MAYO DE 2021, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $267,000.00.

Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una tercera subasta en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe EL DÍA 24 DE MAYO DE 2021, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del pre-

cio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $200,250.00. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura número 270, otorgada el día 13 de diciembre de 2008, ante el Notario Susana I. Valtueña Ruiz y consta inscrita en el Folio 2149 del Tomo 499 de Gurabo, finca número 14,706, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Segunda, inscripción cuarta. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido ascendente a la suma de $351,034.43 por concepto de principal, más intereses al tipo pactado de 6.625% anual desde el día 1 de septiembre de 2017. Dichos intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Se pagarán también los cargos por demora equivalentes a 5.000% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha vencimiento, la suma de $40,050.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, la suma de $40,050.00para cubrir los intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley y la suma de $40,050.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca, más intereses según provisto por la Regla 44.3 de las de Procedimiento Civil.

Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al Procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad del inmueble 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 de remate.

La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita. 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 cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador

The San Juan Daily Star garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la alcaldía, el Tribunal y la colecturía. Este Edicto será publicado mediante edictos dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores sujeto a lo dispuesto en los Artículos 113 al 116 de la Ley 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015, según aplique. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma, en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 25 de MARZO de 2021. FDO. ANGEL GOMEZ GOMEZ, ALGUACIL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYNABO

APEX BANK

Demandante V.

ROLANDO ARMESTO VALDOR, ROSABEL RIVERA VAZQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES POR ESTOS COMPUESTA

Demandados Civil Núm.: GB2019CV00308.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). 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 de Guaynabo, hago saber a la parte demandada ROLANDO ARMESTO VALDOR, ROSABEL RIVERA VAZQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES POR ESTOS COMPUESTA, y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 4 de agosto de 2020, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta por el precio mínimo de $300,000.00 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: 203 D La Ciudadela, Guaynabo, PR 00969, y que se describe de la siguiente manera: PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL: URBANA: Apartamento número #203 de uso residencial ubicado en la segunda planta del Ala “D” del Condominio La Ciudadela, radicado en el barrio Frailes de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 162.21 metros cuadrados, equivalentes a 1,746.0601 pies cuadrados. Los lindes del primer y único piso son, por el Norte, donde ubica el balcón del apartamento, en una distancia de 14.02 metros lineales, con espacio exterior; por el Sur, en una distancia de 14.10 metros lineales con espacio exterior y con el apartamento #202 y área común; por el Este, en varios alineamientos que suman 13.26 metros lineales, con el apartamento #204, con elementos comunes y espacio exterior; y por el Oeste, en una distancia de 12.75 metros lineales con el espacio exterior. El primer y único piso del apartamento, consiste de sala, comedor, sala familiar, cocina, tres baños, balcón, tres (3) dormitorios cada uno con ropero y una lavandería. A este apartamento le corresponde una participación general de 1.066% en los elementos comunes del Condominio y una participación limitada a los costos y gastos del generador de 5.119%, según el documento. Según Acta Aclaratoria y de Ratificación #20, en San Juan, el 24 de septiembre de 2009, ante la Notario Ana L. Toledo Dávila, presentada al asiento 977 del diario 546, se aclara que le corresponde una participación general de 1.063% en los elementos comunes del Condominio y una participación limitada a los costos y gastos del generador de 5.049%. También tiene derecho en capacidad de titular al uso y disfrute de dos espacios de estacionamiento que están designados con su número. Consta inscrita la finca #48,916 al folio 145 del tomo 1359 de Guaynabo, Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA constituida por Rolando Armesto Valdor y esposa Rosabel Rivera Vazquez, en garantía de un pagare, a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por $300,000.00, al 3.50% los primeros 4 años y luego al 5.875%, vencedero el 1 de marzo de 2052, según Esc. #128, en San Juan, a 27 de febrero de 2012, ante Raul J. Vila Selles, inscrita al folio

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 145 del tomo 1359 de Guaynabo, finca #48916, inscripción 2da. Modificada la hipoteca de la inscripción 2da., a $296,135.83, intereses al 3.85%, hasta el 1 de abril de 2019 y luego al 5.875% hasta el 1 de julio de 2056, según Esc. #114, en San Juan, el 29 de junio de 2016, ante Valerie Nicole Hernandez Hernández, inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Guaynabo, finca #48916, inscripción 3ra. 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 dicta el 7 de noviembre de 2019, mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la suma de $285,837.65 de principal, más intereses que continuarán acumulándose desde el día 1 de agosto de 2017 hasta el saldo total al 3.85% anual, $588.04 de cargos por atraso, $30,000.00 de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario, incluyendo primas de seguro de hipoteca, prima de seguro de siniestro y cargos por demora.

La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 3 DE MAYO DE 2021 A LAS 11:15 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del Alguacil, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la cantidad de $300,000.00, sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 10 DE MAYO DE 2021 A LAS 11:15 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, $200,000.00. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 17 DE MAYO DE 2021 A LAS 11:15 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, $150,000.00. 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. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rema-

tante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. 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 cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuestos al gravamen del actor y a los dueños poseedores, tenedores de, o interesados en título trasmisible por endoso al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor, y con los cuales no hubiese tenido el efecto la notificación del escrito inicial y del Mandamiento de requerimiento de pago para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviene o satisficiera 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, una vez confirmada la venta o adjudicación, 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 Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, hoy 12 de marzo de 2021.

FRANCES TORRES CONTRERAS, ALGUACIL #325, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE GUAYNABO.

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

JOHNNY VARADA LÓPEZ, et als Demandante VS.

JOSÉ EDGARDO VARADA LÓPEZ

Demandado CASO. NÚM. FA2021CV00148.

SOBRE: DIVISIÓN DE COMUNIDAD HEREDITARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

A: JOSÉ EDGARDO VARADA LÓPEZ Florida, USA Tel. 352-216-2000

POR LA PRESENTE se le notifica que la demandante ha radicado una Demanda sobre División de Comunidad Hereditaria. Habiéndose ordenado la publicación de un Emplazamiento por Edicto para emplazarlo a usted, durante el término que establece la Ley, en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico. POR ESTE MEDIO, se le emplaza por Edicto y requiere a usted, la parte con interés, para que notifique al: LCDO. RICARDO M. PRIETO GARCÍA, a su dirección postal 6 CALLE CELLS AGUILERA S, SUITE 201-A, FAJARDO, PUERTO RICO, 00738, Tel. (787) 860-0875, y/o a su email: prietolawoffice@ yahoo.com, con copia de su contestación a las alegaciones de la Demanda en este caso, las cuales podrá usted examinar en la Sala de Fajardo, del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sección Superior, dentro de los TREINTA (30) DÍAS contados desde el siguiente día a la fecha de la publicación de este Emplazamiento por Edicto, con la advertencia a los efectos de que si no contesta la demanda presentando el Original de la Contestación, ante el Tribunal correspondiente, con copia a la parte demandante, se le anotara la rebeldía y se dictara Sentencia para conceder el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. Conforme la Sección VII (4) de las Directrices Administrativas para la Presentación y Notificación Electrónica de Documentos

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Mediante el Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos, según enmendadas, el edicto publicado debe contener además un lenguaje similar al siguiente: Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos y (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. EXTENDIDO BAJO Ml FIRMA, y el sello del Tribunal en Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy 16 de marzo de 2021. WANDA I. SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

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

WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, AS INDENTURE TRUSTEE, FOR THE CSMC 2016-PR 1 TRUST MORTGAGE-BACKED NOTES, SERIES 2016-PR1 Parte Demandante Vs.

ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: BY2021CV00777.

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

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS.

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, Lcda.

Marjaliisa Colón Villanueva, al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: 787-8434168. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cancelación de pagaré extraviado.

Se alega en dicho procedimiento que se extravió un pagaré hipotecario a favor de Associates lnternational Holdings Corporation, o a su orden, por la suma de treinta y siete mil dólares ($37,000.00), según consta en el testimonio número sesenta y dos mil cuatrocientos setenta y siete (62,477) de la escritura número treinta y ocho (38), otorgada en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el día cinco (5) de agosto de dos mil cinco (2005) ante el Notario Pedro A. López Villafañe. Inscrito al folio dos ciento veintiuno (221) del tomo dos cientos sesenta y ocho (268) de Bayamón Norte, finca número seis mil trescientos cuarenta y seis (6346), Registro de la Propiedad, Sección Tercera (3ra) de Bayamón. Inscripción Quinta (5ta). Inscrita en virtud bajo la Ley dos ciento dieciséis (216), asiento abreviado. Que grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Sierra Bayamón, situada en el Barrio Hato Tejas de Bayamón, 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 cuatro 94) de la manzana ochenta (80) con un área de trescientos cincuenta punto cero cero (350.00) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con los solares número veintinueve (29) y veintiocho (28), distancia de catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros; por el SUR, con la calle número sesenta y siete (67), distancia de catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros; por el ESTE, con el solar número cinco (5), distancia de veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros; por el OESTE, con el solar número tres (3), distancia de veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros.

Enclava casa. Inscrita al folio doscientos treinta y uno (231) del tomo ciento treinta y ocho (138) de Bayamón Norte, finca número seis mil trescientos cuarenta y seis (6346), Registro de la Propiedad, Sección Tercera (3ra) de Bayamón. 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 Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 26 de febrero de 2021. LAURA SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE AGUADILLA

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs.

JORGE L. PAGÁN RODRÍGUEZ, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: AG2020CV00756.

Sobro: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A) JORGE L. PAGÁN RODRÍGUEZ, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

POR LA PRESENTE: Se le notifica que contra usted se ha presentado la Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero de la cual se acompaña copia. Por la presente se le emplaza a usted y se le requiere para que dentro del término de TREINTA (30) días desde la fecha de la Publicación por Edicto de este Emplazamiento presente su contestación a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia , Sala de Aguadilla, P.O. Box 1010, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00605-1010 y notifique a la LCDA. GINA H. FERRER MEDINA, personalmente al Condominio Las Nereidas, Local 1-B, Calle Méndez Vigo esquina Amador Ramírez Silva, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00680; o por correo al Apartado 2342, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681-2342, Teléfonos: (787) 832-9620 y (845) 345-3985, Abogada de la parte demandante, apercibiéndose que en caso de no hacerlo así podrá dictarse Sentencia en Rebeldía en contra suya, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle.

EXPIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal hoy 24 de febrero de 2021. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA. ZUHEILY GONZÁLEZ AVILÉS, SUB-SECRETARIA.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The San Juan Daily Star

Houston hangs on and reaches the Final Four

By BILLY WITZ

O

nce upon a time, the Southwest Conference was where football ruled and renegades roamed. It was a land of envelopes stuffed with cash, sham jobs and recruiters bearing more gifts than Santa Claus. At one point, six schools were on NCAA probation, Southern Methodist football was suspended for a year, and the string of scandals ensnared even a governor of Texas and a Texas A&M trustee who was a part owner of the Dallas Cowboys.

The league was also where nobody paid much attention to basketball.

The Southwest is long gone, a victim of its own excesses and the musical chairs of conference realignment, its members scattered across the college landscape. But for those who might carry some nostalgia for those wild (south)west days, this year’s Final Four is going to pull at the heartstrings the way boosters used to pull out wads of cash.

Two camps of the diaspora will come together in one national semifinal Saturday after Houston ended a remarkable run by the No. 12 seed Oregon State with a 67-61 victory in the Midwest regional final Monday.

The No. 2-seeded Cougars will play an old colleague, Baylor. The Bears, now in the Big 12, dispatched another Southwest alum, Arkansas, now in the Southeastern Conference, to win the South regional final, 81-72.

Baylor, a top seed, jumped to an early 18-point lead on its deadeye 3-point shooting and fended off the resilient Razorbacks down the stretch, clinching its first Final Four appearance since 1950.

The Cougars, who are in the Final Four for the time since 1984, blew a 17-point halftime lead but steadied themselves when Quentin Grimes hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:21 remaining, putting them ahead to stay.

The Cougars (28-3), who rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit to beat No. 10-seeded Rutgers in the second round, have navigated a wrecked bracket, facing the 15th, 10th, 11th and 12th seeds. Their latest opponent, Oregon State (20-13), was trying to become the lowest seed to reach the Final Four.

Houston has a rich basketball history, dating to the 1960s when Elvin Hayes fueled a team that threatened UCLA’s dynasty and carrying through to the mid-1980s, when the high-flying Phi Slama Jama teams — led by future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler — went to three consecutive Final Fours, losing back-to-back title games.

Much has happened since then. Little of it has been good for the Cougars.

Relegated to Conference USA once the Southwest disbanded in 1996 and then moving to the American Athletic Conference, Houston had little success fulfilling its athletic ambitions to rival big brother schools like Texas and Texas A&M. It hired Drexler as coach, but he

Houston center Kiyron Powell, left, celebrating with Quentin Grimes, whose 3-pointer late in the second half broke a tie, effectively finishing off Oregon State and ensuring the Cougars’ spot in the Final Four. flopped and left after two seasons.

One swing, though, has paid off — hiring Kelvin Sampson, a sage but scandal-ridden coach. He drew the financial backing of Tilman Fertitta, the restaurant and casino mogul who owns the Houston Rockets. He poured $20 million into a campaign to renovate the Cougars’ Hofheinz Pavilion, now known as the Fertitta Center.

Sampson, who in 2018 led Houston to its first tournament-game victory in 34 years, now has the Cougars in position to win their first championship — and he would do it as an outsider.

The only team from outside the Power 6 conferences to win a championship since UNLV in 1990 was Connecticut in 2014, after its first season in the American after spending decades in the Big East. Houston fits that profile well with a band of transfers and overlooked talent.

Six Cougars, including four starters, began their careers elsewhere — none more prominently than Grimes, an acclaimed recruit who marked his arrival in college basketball at Kansas by scoring a game-high 21 points in a win over a Michigan State team that ended up in the Final Four.

But Grimes, not as comfortable as he wanted to be, returned home to Houston.

Sampson has been able to pitch a track record of development, burnished by six years he spent as an NBA assistant, though that stint was essentially an exile after he landed Oklahoma and then Indiana on probation for violating NCAA rules. If this is a redemptive turn, it comes an hour’s drive north of where he was fired more than a decade ago.

If Sampson has rarely had elite talent, he has consistently built winners around hard-nosed ballplayers who build a fortress around the basket they are defending. In his 27 previous seasons as a head coach — at Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana and Houston — that had been good enough to regularly reach the NCAA Tournament but for just one trip to the Final Four, in 2002 with Oklahoma. The backcourt pair from that team — Hollis Price and Quannas White — are on his staff with the Cougars.

They were surely nodding with approval Monday night as the Cougars took space away from Oregon State’s floor full of shooters and left them flustered.

Price and White had to be particularly pleased with DeJon Jarreau, a sinewy 6-foot-5 guard who, like them, is from New Orleans.

A transfer from Massachusetts, who spent a year at a community college, Jarreau had 10 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, but his best work may have been on defense. He was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He badgered Ethan Thompson, who had scored 48 points in the previous two games and had been particularly adept at getting to the free-throw line, where he had made 25 of 26 shots in the tournament. On Monday, Thompson was limited to 11 points, though he contributed seven rebounds and six assists to fuel Oregon State’s late charge.

“Man, it’s like a dream come true,” said Jarreau, who is at his third school with his best friend, reserve forward Brison Gresham. “Growing up, watching the Final Four, watching college basketball, you always think about getting to this point, seeing former players on TV do this. Like I said, as a kid, I’m watching TV growing up, and I’m like I hope I’ll be here one day, and man, I’m really here.”

There were similar sentiments when Baylor clinched its berth just after midnight.

As Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” blared, players bounced around the court, hugged and mugged for selfies, and eventually took turns snipping the nets from the rims.

But in this pandemic season, it was a markedly different celebration. There were only several hundred Baylor fans there to share in the merrymaking, and the traditional confetti shower was a do-it-yourself exercise. The Bears grabbed handfuls from a bucket and tossed them in the air.

As the confetti fluttered down, a portion of the court recalled those days in the Southwest Conference, for it was awash in green.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

27

Texas removes restrictions, but fans show some caution

By JESUS JIMENEZ

G

lobe Life Field was open to 100% capacity Monday night, but the crowd was far from a sellout.

A cautious herd of 12,911 fans filed into the ballpark Monday night for an exhibition game between the Texas Rangers and the Milwaukee Brewers — the first of two games at the stadium before the regular season begins Thursday.

The game marked the first time the ballpark — which opened last season — could be open to its capacity of 40,300 since the state lifted coronavirus capacity restrictions earlier this month. But on the first try, fans weren’t in a hurry to pack the stands. (Those who did make the trip saw the Rangers lose 4-0.)

Eager to see baseball again, Sara Lambin, 42, drove about three hours from Georgetown, Texas, with her two kids for Monday night’s game — the first time she and her family had seen live baseball in more than a year.

Lambin said she saw a dozen spring training games in Surprise, Arizona, last year before MLB, like all other sports leagues, shut down.

“It’s almost like a lull. We’re just ready for it,” Lambin said, sitting 17 rows behind home plate.

In coming to the exhibition game, Lambin said she hoped to beat what will likely be a much larger crowd when the Rangers play their home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 5.

“If this were to fill up, I don’t think I’d be that comfortable,” Lambin said. “We would leave.”

Others, like Porter Burns, 22, were less concerned with the size of the crowd.

“In Texas, I have the freedom,” Burns said as he watched batting practice before the game. “Because I’m vaccinated, I’m not afraid at all.”

Even though there were no capacity restrictions, Burns said he felt the Rangers still had too many rules in place, lamenting that he wasn’t allowed to bring his backpack into the ballpark.

Still, he said he appreciated a chance to see the ballpark before most fans did.

“I wanted to come out here early just to see it without all the people,” Burns said.

While the Rangers played all 30 home games without fans last season, Monday’s game did not mark the first time Globe Life Field was open to spectators. Last summer,

Globe Life Field was open to 100 percent of its capacity Monday night, but the crowd was far from a sellout. the park hosted high school graduations. In the fall, it was open to about 11,500 fans per game for the National League Championship Series and the World Series. In December, it hosted the National Finals Rodeo and a holiday lights display.

Texas has been fully open since March 10 after Gov. Greg Abbott lifted the state’s mask mandate and announced that any business could open to 100% capacity.

“Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared,” Abbott said in a statement earlier this month, adding that Texans should continue to observe safe practices.

“Each person has a role to play in their own personal safety and the safety of others.”

A number of precautions remained in place Monday night at Globe Life Field, just as they will at other major league parks: Masks were required for all fans, unless they were eating or drinking. Handsanitizing stations were available throughout the ballpark. Concessions were cashless, and stickers reading “Do Your Part Stay 6 Feet Apart” were spread throughout the ballpark at concession stands.

Watching the game from behind first

base, Travis Scarangello, 27, said he trusted other fans to take the appropriate precautions.

“As long as people are wearing masks, I don’t think I’m going to get sick,” Scarangello said, adding that he drove more than three hours from Austin to see Monday night’s game.

Keeping a safe distance was easier in some parts of the park than others. Some sections were completely empty, while dozens of fans sat together in portions of right field.

Bryan Dunne, 28, said he felt the safety protocols were a small price to pay to see baseball again in person.

“We had a year off,” Dunne said, adding that before the pandemic he would typically attend 20 games per season. “I’m just happy to be back.”

Aside from the Rangers’ home opener, teams across MLB will not be playing with full crowds to start the season. The New York Yankees will play before almost 11,000 fans and the New York Mets in front of about 8,400 — as long as fans present proof of full vaccination or a nega-

tive coronavirus test taken at least 72 hours before games.

The Colorado Rockies will open to just over 42% of capacity, or 21,000 fans, while the Detroit Tigers will allow only 1,000 fans.

On a night with temperatures in the 70s, the retractable roof at Globe Life was open, allowing a breezy south wind to blow through. Many experts have said the risk of contracting COVID-19 is greater indoors.

Still, some health officials are concerned that protective measures may not be enough, with so many people gathering on a regular basis.

Dr. Philip Huang, the director of health and human services for Dallas County, said that though case numbers and hospitalizations have declined in North Texas in recent weeks, gathering in large crowds is not recommended.

“We think it’s too early to be doing large gatherings, and the more of them, there’s more opportunity for increased spread,” Huang said. “It’s still too early to certainly declare victory.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Mikaela Shiffrin is not going downhill

By BILL PENNINGTON

M

ikaela Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic Alpine skiing champion, stopped competing 13 months ago, an absence tied to the accidental death of her father and later extended by the coronavirus pandemic and a back injury suffered in training.

Shiffrin returned to the start gate in December and in the next four months won three World Cup races and four medals in the world championships, the latter setting American records for most career medals (nine) and victories (six) at the event.

It was a successful winter by any measure, except perhaps Shiffrin’s recent past: In the 2018-19 season, she finished with an astonishing 17 World Cup victories. So it was not a surprise to Shiffrin that her statistical decline this season was much noted in the skiing community, but she did not like all that she heard.

“One of the things that bugged me was so many people saying, ‘Oh, she’s lost it,’” Shiffrin said in a telephone interview from Europe last week. “You know, I’m still here, I’m still doing it.”

Shiffrin chuckled.

“It’s true it wasn’t as good a year as I’ve had in the past,” she said, adding that many people around the world, not just ski racers, could say the same thing about the previous 12 months. “But when I look back at this season, I’ll be proud. I didn’t even know if there was going to be a World Cup or if I was emotionally ready for it. Then I was injured as the racing was starting, and in bed and not training. I felt like I was playing catch-up.”

Ultimately, her 300-day layoff and atypical results have provided Shiffrin with something significant as the 2022 Beijing Olympics approach: incentive.

“I’m motivated from what was lacking this year,” Shiffrin, 26, said. “There’s some missing pieces. That’s one of my biggest goals — to get those back.”

Shiffrin said the best example of her renewed drive was her presence last week on the slopes of the Kuhtai Ski Resort in Austria, where she tested dozens of new skis not far from the headquarters of her equipment sponsor, Atomic. In previous years, after a demanding 21-race World Cup schedule in nine countries, she might have dashed home.

“But this year, I want to stay here because I’m excited to do the work,” said Shiffrin, whose 69 World Cup victories rank third behind Ingemar Stenmark’s 86 and Lindsey

Vonn’s 82. “And that’s a good place to be. I’m looking forward to all the offseason training I can get.”

Though the Beijing Olympics are 11 months away, they are already on her mind.

Shiffrin is the rare athlete with the versatility to compete in each of the five Alpine events, so she must soon decide whether to arrange the extensive spring and summer training needed to prepare for each race.

Then there is the uncertainty of the pandemic’s effect on the availability of on-snow training. Most years, Shiffrin would travel to practice in South America or New Zealand — or both — as well as in California and Colorado. Last summer, she was confined to the western United States.

Shiffrin has not decided which races to enter at the Winter Games. She did not, for example, compete in a downhill race this past season, although her back injury in early October and limited training opportunities probably contributed to that decision.

“I’m trying to decide what I want to ski in the Olympics and where I have the potential to be a medal contender,” Shiffrin said. “You have to be prepared before the next World Cup season starts because there’s a million things

that can get in the way leading up to the Olympics.”

The Beijing Games will be Shiffrin’s third Olympics, but unlike in the period before the 2014 Sochi Games and the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, she has not skied on the mountain racecourses outside Beijing that will be used for the Alpine competitions.

It is customary for test events to be staged at an Olympic venue a year or more in advance, but the ski areas outside Beijing get little natural snow — and the pandemic led to the suspension of travel and planning. Few top racers have skied at, or even visited, the Beijing sites.

“Nobody’s seen it,” Shiffrin said, “and that’s definitely going to add a layer of chaos when we arrive for the first time at the games.

Like, where do we go? What’s happening here?”

Shiffrin is encouraged that the focus on American Olympic ski racing prospects will be more diffuse than it was in 2018, when attention was reserved almost exclusively for her and the now-retired Vonn. Several teammates had breakout performances this winter, including Paula Moltzan, 26, who placed in the top 10 of the last three World Cup slalom races. Moltzan’s teammate, Nina

O’Brien, 23, finished 17th in the season-long giant slalom standings.

In December, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the son of the 1972 Olympic Alpine gold medalist Barbara Cochran, became the first American man to win a World Cup super-G in 15 years.

“The team has shown a level of depth and consistency,” Shiffrin said, “that I haven’t experienced in my career.”

Next week, Shiffrin expects to head back to her home in Colorado, changed by the past 13 months. On Feb. 2, 2020, her father, Jeff Shiffrin, an anesthesiologist, died at 65 from what a coroner ruled a home accident, listing the cause of death as a head injury.

“My life was flipped upside down and inside out,” Shiffrin said. “And never mind me, there was a pandemic. It changes your perspective.”

Noting that she has been on the World Cup circuit for 11 seasons, Shiffrin added, “A sort of staleness could have set in, but I feel lucky to do this and to have people around me who have given so much of themselves to help me be good at it.

“And I have a sense of wanting to figure out what I want to do better. Because I want to do better.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

29

Sudoku How to Play: Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules: Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

(Mar 21-April 20)

The qualities of enthusiasm and determination are ones that can bring the biggest prize, as they may help you get beyond the desire to put something off. Have doubts about moving ahead with a plan?

A strong alignment could help you overcome a lack of confidence. A potent tie suggests you might feel nervous about this, but by going for it anyway, you could surprise yourself.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

If a sense of frustration takes hold, try not to be deterred, as your outlook could brighten as the day progresses. A Venus/Saturn tie, suggests allowing your interest in new ideas to lead the way. Make a call or two, or extend the hand of friendship to someone with a fresh perspective. Interesting opportunities may be on their way, and it is time to encourage them along.

It’s a lively yet potentially fulfilling day, in which friends and new encounters may play a part. You might be ready for excitement or new experiences, and a call to someone could forge a nice connection, especially if it’s regarding business or social affairs.

One matter can show signs of coming to a head though, so tread with care around edgy issues and keep things sweet, Gemini.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

It’s time to make a bold move, if you feel ready and are determined to forge ahead. There may be challenges associated with an ambition, but with savvy, you can work around these. As the Sun and Saturn align, you could be on the verge of forging a business-like partnership that might be a force for good in your life. Commitment and persistence bring the potential for success, Cancer.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

There is a lot of positive energy showing, so don’t let a niggling issue spoil the day’s potential. Still, unless you make a point of doing your best to resolve it, or can drop it, it could play on your mind and leave you with less energy and focus for other things. Need assistance with something? Others are unlikely to refuse you, and may be eager to play their part to get things moving.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

A surprise could come your way today, as the Moon opposes electric Uranus across your communication axis. Someone may have news you hadn’t expected, or there might be a disconnect. Don’t jump to conclusions Virgo, as this temporary aspect suggests that although you might experience some disruption, something quite exciting can emerge because of it.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

As lovely Venus forges a harmonious tie to sobering Saturn, it’s time to take an idea or opportunity seriously. An encounter might not be the most fun you’ve had in a while, but it could be perfect for cementing a business proposition or collaborating on a brilliant idea. Someone can take you and your skills very seriously, and seems keen to move things forward.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Does a situation seem ready to bubble over? This can involve a minor clash with someone, unless you nip it in the bud, sooner rather than later. With the Moon in your sign, you could give this more focus than it warrants. By letting it wash over you, positive solutions might readily show up. Thinking of starting a home business, Scorpio? If so, a great idea may get you going.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

If you’ve reached a dead end regarding a key project, then consider teaming up with a friend, as their high-energy may be contagious. What you really need is fresh ideas, and these might be possible with a good brainstorming session. Plus, with dynamic Mars stirring up your love of knowledge, it’s worth reaching out to others who could have some expertise in this area, Archer.

There is no point in resisting the inevitable. Clinging to the past may keep you stuck, whereas embracing fresh ideas can seem a tad risky, and yet be so freeing.

Something new might be waiting in the wings, and it just needs an invitation from you to set it in motion.

Thinking of making a few changes to your home?

Research prices, as you could cut the cost of plans considerably.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Recent days may have kept you busy, with a dynamic focus on a social zone encouraging you to reach out. Equally, this can be an opportunity to bring a dream into reality, and one that you might have been thinking about for a while. Something could stir in you that inspires you to get going. Require assistance? Ask Aquarius, as by pooling resources you’ll get a lot done fast.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Ready for something fresh? As the Moon faces off with Uranus, a conversation could leave you excited about something you’d never considered, Pisces. If it has the potential to make a big difference to your life, then explore further. You might also be keen to invest in your spiritual development by taking up a course or class that reduces anxiety and enhances inner calm.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

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Ziggy

32

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

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