Tuesday May 16, 2023

The San Juan Star

Father’s Name Still First

Top Court Declines to Review

Dispute in Which Mother

Sought to Reverse Customary

Sequence of Surnames on Birth Certificate

Coalition Rejects Abortion Restrictions, Including in Cases of Minors

Britain to Deliver Attack Drones, More Missiles to Ukraine

Teachers, Other Groups Denounce Gov’t Plan to Open Dozens of Charter Schools

GOOD MORNING

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.

Teachers groups to protest new charter schools

By THE STAR STAFF

The Teachers Federation and allied organizations will denounce government plans today to open dozens of new charter schools in Puerto Rico, reviving a decades’ debate.

The groups will explain how this model of privatization of public schools has been linked to corruption in other jurisdictions, by diverting public funds to private entities that seek profit, not a good education. These schools also discriminate against certain types of students, such as those from disadvantaged communities and those that have special needs.

“There is a need to establish a moratorium on the plan for new charter schools because they deviate public funds to private entities, turning education into a business,” the groups said in a statement.

The protest is slated to take place at the site of the construction of the Paradiso Charter School in Rio Piedras.

INDEX

majority of middle-income and upper-income families use parochial or private schools. On average, 70 to 80 percent of the student population at any given public school in the island live below the poverty line, according to numbers from the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (PRIS).

Students under the poverty line are more likely to drop out of school than a student living in a household above the poverty line.

As part of the island’s education reform process in 2018, officials closed hundreds of schools and implemented new online systems to manage teachers’ placements and student enrollments.

The government then moved forward with a plan to open several charter schools, a decision that generated debate and discussion.

A charter school is a public school that operates as a school of choice. Charter schools commit to obtaining specific educational objectives in return for a charter to operate a school. Charter schools are exempt from significant state or local regulations related to operation and management but otherwise adhere to regulations of public schools — for example, charter schools cannot charge tuition or be affiliated with a religious institution.

Unlike the mainland U.S., the island’s public education system mainly serves low-income communities; the

Charter schools receive public and private funds to operate, and their financial and operational models have been the center of many heated debates for decades. People who favor the model see charters as public schools because enrollment is open to all students and there is no tuition. Critics argue that charter schools inject public funds into the private sector, raising concerns over public accountability and potential labor issues.

For decades, teachers groups have warned against diverting funds from public schools at a time when the government is going through a fiscal crisis.

Still, according to public records, for the 2023 school year, there are 4 charter public schools serving 568 students in Puerto Rico, including the Rosalina C. Martinez and Academia De Ciencias Y Tecnologia.

Photo by New York Times

Johnny Méndez rejects electric bill proposal

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmchaul@gmail.com

Minority Leader of the New Progressive Party in the House of Representatives, Carlos ‘Johnny’ Méndez, together with the representative for District #4 of San Juan, Víctor Parés, rejected the increase in the electric bill proposed by the Financial Oversight and Management Board.

The New Progressive Party leaders also called on the Board to urgently push for more renewable energy projects with the goal of increasing the current 6% share of electricity generation from renewable sources.

“We have been clear from the get-go and will continue to stand up for consumers’ pocketbooks. The proposed increases in electricity tariffs of up to 30% are too onerous for the citizen and deadly for small and medium-sized businesses. We reject this excessive increase and which will be detrimental to our people. As we did in the past, we oppose this sharp increase,” Mendez said.

According to the Debt Adjustment Plan of the Electric Power Authority (PREPA) published on April 3 by the Board, a series of increases are detailed, which could reach

up to 30% of the residential bill, as part of the agreements for the repayment of debt and payment of pensions.

“The answer is simple: no. We are not going to endorse any increase so high, it is too much. The effect this increase would

have on our people in San Juan is devastating. A flat charge of $13.00 a month on the residential bill, which we know will end up in more, is a lot. We reject the increase, be it a fixed or evaluation one, you cannot get away with these things. You can’t increase

electricity like that,” Parés said.

The former House speaker argued that the Board should promote, in an agile way, more renewable energy projects to increase the generation rate.

“Last four years we approved Law 172019 (Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Law) which establishes the goal of achieving that by 2025 40% of the energy produced in Puerto Rico is renewable, and by 2050 completely abandon the use of oil and coal, in order to lower the electricity bill. The creation of new projects is urgent, the Board has to promote them with urgency in the face of the reality we are living and the boom in the installation of renewable energy systems, “added the minority leader.

According to available data, in Puerto Rico there are about 70,000 structures with photovoltaic energy systems, with the installation of over 3,000 new systems every month.

“Today, electricity generation is based on oil, which serves to produce 47.4% of electricity in Puerto Rico, while 33% generated by gas, and about 16% by coal. Dependence on fossil fuels is prohibitive. Puerto Rico pays twice as much as the citizens of the states of the union for the same amount of energy,” said the Representative for San Juan.

Hernández Ortíz says his career just beginning after electoral loss

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmchaul@gmail.com

Following his defeat in the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) elections for party president, Luis Javier Hernández Ortíz declared Monday that his political career “is just beginning.”

“All the popular must be clear that my political future is just beginning. I come from a small town, if obviously I have been running the Mayors Association for two years... I think there is a lot of ground that I have gained, I aroused the spirits of many populars who were completely disconnected. This is just the beginning for me,” the former PDP presidential candidate said during a radio interview.

“Anyone, but right now my focus is on this party, on working with Jesus Manuel, to begin, to work on a reorganization,” Hernández Ortíz added, alluding to future plans after the defeat in the internal elections.

Rep. Jesus Manuel Ortíz González was certified Friday as president of the Popular Democratic Party, after narrow-

ly

going to work hard, there is not much celebration, what there is is work, to have that party that rep-

defeating Villalba Mayor Luis Javier Hernández Ortíz. “We are

resents the future,” Ortíz González said in his acceptance message. The newly appointed PDP president promised to detail his agenda for the community after Mother’s

Minority Leader of the NPP in the House of Representatives, Carlos ‘Johnny’ Méndez

Villalba Mayor Luis Javier Hernández Ortíz was narrowly defeated by Jesús Manuel Ortiz.

Supreme Court says father’s surname should come before mother’s surname in birth certificates

By THE STAR STAFF

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court has declined to review a mother’s request seeking to reverse a Court of Appeals ruling that ordered the Demographic Registry to amend her son’s birth certificate so that the father’s surname would come before the mother’s last name.

Justices supporting the decision said Puerto Rico follows the Spanish practice of using both parents’ last names. A child born has a name followed by the first surname of the father and then the mother’s first last name. Dissenting justices said it was time to end the chauvinistic and patriarchal practice.

The case is Cintrón Román v. Jiménez Echevarría, decided on May 2.

The dispute originated when the boy’s father filed a lawsuit in the Court of First Instance against the mother and her wife. The minor was registered by marriage with the mother’s first and her wife’s last name, second. The father challenged the maternity of the wife of the child and claimed his affiliation with the boy.

The Court of First Instance recognized the father’s parentage, but maintained the order of the minor’s surnames, as he was registered. However, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision and ordered that the order of the minor’s surnames be changed so that the father’s surname was first and the mother’s surname was second, based on custom as a source of law.

The boy’s mother then asked the Supreme Court to review the case through a writ of certiorari. However, the Supreme Court declined the petition and upheld the Appeals Court ruling.

The justices wrote divided opinions.

Associate Judge Rafael Martínez Torres said that the order of the surnames is a matter of custom and not of law and that the custom in Puerto Rico is that the paternal surname is placed first. While Martínez Torres said the law does not prohibit changing the order of surnames, it does not expressly authorize it. He said changes must be made to the law that would regulate this matter.

The associate judge also affirmed that giving precedence to the paternal surname is centuries old in Puerto Rico, has rarely been questioned, and cannot be considered contrary to

moral or public order.

Associate Judge Mildred Pabón Charneco said the order of the surnames is a matter that has important implications for minors, who are the ones who will be identified and individualized by name. She advocated for a responsible resolution, which recognizes a new legal reality that rules out historical inequalities but always focuses on the minor’s optimal interest and its full development.

Pabón Charneco mentioned some countries that have abolished the patriarchal tradition of a domain of the paternal surname have recognized the ability of families to choose the order of surnames, offering citizens clear and objective rules.

In the event of a conflict between two parents with equal rights and in which the Legislative Assembly provides other guides, it is up to the courts to determine the order of the surnames, taking into account the optimal interest of the minor. Therefore, the judge considered using alphabetical order as an appropriate objective mechanism to address disputes, especially since the Senate of Puerto Rico approved such an option and the House of Representatives is now examining it.

Associate Judge Erick Kolthoff Caraballo voted to maintain the custom of putting the father’s last name first in cases where families disagree about the order of their son or daughter’s last

names.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maite Oronoz Rodríguez argued in her dissenting opinion that privilegeing the paternal surname over the maternal one seeks to maintain discriminatory notions and practices against women, which violates the principle of equality and non-discrimination enshrined in the Constitution.

“For this reason, I disagree with the course taken in this case, although I still harbor the hope that the procedure of the Court of Appeals will be ruled out in the future for not being a precedent for similar cases,” Oronoz Rodríguez said.

She said there are other non-discriminatory options like a random lottery, a state official making decisions based on the child’s best interest, and alphabetical order.

Associate Judge Luis Estrella Martínez vehemently criticized the Supreme Court for not reviewing the Appeals Court ruling.

“The conservative majority bloc of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, with the balance of its positions, has perpetuated a “machista” custom that is unequivocally unconstitutional,” he stressed.

He said the majority refuses to accept sources of law that invalidate the application of this patriarchal custom and intends to delegate to the Legislature the responsibility of declaring that this custom is contrary to higher-ranking sources of law.

Estrella Martínez pointed out that when the Legislature approved the 2020 Civil Code, it explicitly rejected the Spanish custom of putting paternal surnames first because it was discriminatory and contrary to gender equality that should govern this dispute.

He argued that the subordination of the maternal surname transgresses public order and promotes patriarchal values that should not guide Puerto Rican society.

Associate Judge Ángel Colón Pérez also disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to validate the patriarchal custom of registering the paternal last name first and then the maternal surname on birth certificates. Instead, he said the minor’s best interests should prevail in such decisions.

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmchaul@gmail.com

The former electoral commissioner for the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Eder Ortiz Ortiz will aspire to the vacancy that arose in the senatorial district of Guayama, with the intention of strengthening the supervision of the Central Government, a role he played during the past with the administration of Luis Fortuño.

Ortiz Ortiz explained that with the departure of Sen. Gretchen Hau, the delegation of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) loses an excellent professional, so his election will allow him to contribute with his knowledge and experiences to that body.

Hau gave up her seat in the Senate to fill the House seat left

vacant with the untimely death of Rep. José Aníbal Díaz Collazo

“The voters of Guayama are certain that I will go to the Senate to fight for their rights and to denounce what affects them; as I did in the past when we confronted Fortuño for the dismissal of more than 30,000 workers and maintained an audit of the operations of the Electric Power Authority under Miguel Cordero,” he said.

Ortiz Ortiz added that his oversight work also extended to the Public Private Alliance to privatize the Express 22 and that he was one of the fierce defenders of the opening of the gallery of the Capitol when then-President Thomas Rivera Schatz closed them.

The attorney was in charge of the commissions of Economic Development, Cooperativism, DACO, the Civil Code and Comptroller Affairs, among others.

Ortiz Ortiz also intends to contribute his experience and knowledge in the electoral area. “I was in charge of the preparation of the Electoral Law of 2015 and as Electoral Commissioner of the PDP I won all the cases, recounts and election of 2012 to Edwin Mundo, during my three years in the State Elections Commission, there were seven commissioners of the New Progressive Party (NPP), “he said.

Apart from his performance as a trial lawyer, senator and Electoral Commissioner, Ortiz Ortiz is an accountant and has worked in private companies in positions internationally. Among the companies he has worked for are; Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Frito Lay, as logistics manager for the Caribbean, and at McDonalds as regional purchasing manager for the Caribbean and Central America.

Former PDP electoral commissioner aspires to seat left vacant by former Sen. Gretchen Hau

Coalition criticizes bill restricting minors from having access to abortions

By THE STAR STAFF

The Coalition of Pregnancy Termination Clinics in Puerto Rico criticized Tuesday legislation restricting abortion access to minor women as it defended the right to an abortion.

The Coalition of Pregnancy Termination Clinics in Puerto Rico reaffirmed on Monday the constitutional right to abortion on the island and criticized Senate Bill 495 which would restrict access to abortion for minors.

“We understand that the bill is unconstitutional because it seeks to limit minors from having access to abortions, seeking to shelter itself in a protectionist vision that, based on our experience, is wrong,” said Yari Vale, a physician and spokesperson of the group, in written statements.

The coalition held that the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization does not change abortion regulations in Puerto Rico. The right to an abortion is

constitutionally guaranteed and does not depend on federal constitutional law.

“It is important to note that the state established a law to guarantee access to

pre- and post-natal care for minors, through the Law on Medical Services for Pregnant Women,” added Vale.

Senate Project 495 seeks to establish the “Law to require the intervention of at least one of the parents who holds parental authority or the legal guardianship of a minor under 18 years of age at the time of consenting to an abortion in Puerto Rico.”

During a hearing in the Senate, Alberto De La Vega Pujols, associate professor at the University Hospital, opposed the measure, arguing that it would limit access to medical services for the population that needs them most. “This law limits access to medical services to a population that needs it most. It is discriminatory in many ways and offers no demonstrable medical benefit,” he said.

Senator Joanne Rodríguez Veve, chairwoman of the Life and Family Affairs Committee, highlighted the need to continue the dialogue and seek agreements to ensure the protocols in private abortion clinics protect women.

No movement on electoral code: House speaker

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmchaul@gmail.com

After the incoming president of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), Jesus Manuel Ortiz Gonzalez, announced that he asked that the approval of the draft electoral amendments be stopped, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez anticipated on Monday that it is highly possible that nothing will be

approved on that matter.

“One of the first things I want to do this week is sit down and evaluate that project and see the best avenues of action,” Ortiz González said in a radio interview.

For his part, the House speaker said that in Monday’s session in the House the measure will not be addressed, because the Senate has not taken note of the non-concurrence with the amendments and has not appointed the members of the Conference Committee.

“The Senate is in session tomorrow. If the Senate wants to maintain any kind of opportunity that this can be addressed, it has to receive notification from the House and create its Conference Committee. With that, we have the measure alive, if that does not happen, the game is over. And if the game is over, the excuses are over and we have to deal with what we have. Whoever makes that decision, what he is saying is that he has no problem leaving the Code as it is,” Hernández Montañez said.

According to the House speaker, the New Progressive Party (NPP) does not have much interest in amending the Electoral Code, except for the matter of the chairmanship of the State Elections Commission.

Meanwhile, the legislative delegations of the Citizens Victory Movement (MVC) and the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), together with two independent legislators, expressed a firm rejection of the proposals to modify the Electoral Code.

“The text worked on in the Senate would worsen and aggravate the state of electoral law in Puerto Rico,” the legislators stated in a letter addressed to the Governor and the

Legislative Presidents.

“The PNP-PPD alliance insists on stealing transparency from the electoral process and the rights of voters with a Code that was already demonstrated in November 2020 that it does not work,” said Senator María de Lourdes Santiago, PIP spokesperson in the Senate.

The proposed amendments have been criticized for various aspects, including an excessive concentration of power in the presidency of the State Election Commission (CEE), the lack of effective control mechanisms for early voting, and the lack of guarantees for independent candidates.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez

Title 42 is gone, but not the conditions driving migrants to the U.S.

So while Title 42 is no longer in effect, other new restrictions are. Migrants are barred from requesting asylum at the border unless they prove that a country they transited through denied them protection. Exceptions will be made only under extraordinary circumstances, such as medical conditions, or for asylum-seekers who used a mobile app to secure an appointment at an official port of entry. So far, the number of appointments has been extremely limited.

The Biden administration has announced it will open regional centers, starting in Colombia and Guatemala, where migrants can apply for refugee status and undergo initial eligibility screening for legal entry into the United States. Canada and Spain have agreed to accept some of these asylum-seekers.

Gest, the political scientist, said the United States wants to spread the responsibility for absorbing so many migrants, “but it’s not clear that is going to work.”

bunk in a shelter in El Paso, Texas.

The Mejias family managed to use the government app to book an interview at a port of entry and crossed the border before Title 42 was lifted. Among the many frustrated migrants amassed in Mexico, however, patience is bound to wear thin. Historically, there is no conclusive evidence that more aggressive enforcement and more punitive sanctions deter mass migration.

El Paso, one of the most affected border cities in recent months, recorded a sharp drop in migrant arrests, to just 639 on Saturday, according to internal data shared with The New York Times, compared with 2,131 on May 10. But that masks potential challenges ahead.

By MIRIAM JORDAN

Relative quiet has prevailed along the southern U.S. border since Friday, despite widespread fears that ending a pandemicera policy to immediately expel most migrants, even asylum-seekers, would set off a stampede from Mexico.

A surge in migrants did in fact happen, in the run-up to the expiration of the pandemic-era expulsion policy, known as Title 42. Uncertain of the impact of new deterrent measures, migrants braved turbulent rivers, cut through concertina wire and scaled the steel border wall to reach the United States and turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents. On some days last week, apprehensions reached about 11,000, among the highest recorded.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday that agents apprehended only 6,300 migrants Friday and 4,200 Saturday. The Biden administration’s new policy, combining the carrot of new legal pathways with the stick of more punitive measures for unlawful crossings, was working, Mayorkas said in television interviews.

Most migrants now must prove that they were first denied asylum in a country they passed through en route to the United States. And they could face criminal prosecution, prolonged detention and a five-year ban from reentering. But the lull could be the calm before

another storm.

Economic, political and environmental forces driving people to the United States are unlikely to subside in the coming months, and the new U.S. policies may not all survive. Minutes after the new policies took effect, immigrant advocacy groups sued to block a provision designed to discourage asylum-seekers from coming to the border, likening it to a transit ban struck down during the Trump administration. And hours before Title 42 expired, a federal judge in Florida issued an order barring the release of migrants from U.S. custody without hearing dates. (The U.S. government is challenging the decision.) Beyond U.S. borders, political instability, gang violence and climate change will continue to spur emigration.

Much of the developing world, from Africa and Asia to South America and the Caribbean, is still reeling from economic ruin wrought by COVID-19 and exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

“Everyone is looking at the arrivals at the border, but the root of the problem lies in push factors inside countries of origin that are going to persist,” said Justin Gest, a political scientist at George Mason University who studies immigration. “When crises occur, they generate northbound flows,” he said.

The Biden administration policy aims to dissuade migrants from setting out on the journey to the border.

Since early this year, Washington has been encouragingVenezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians to apply for a “humanitarian parole” program that allows them to fly directly to the United States and stay for two years, if they have a financial sponsor.

But many migrants hail from countries not covered by the program, such as Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras. And even for the four targeted countries, the number of people trying to gain entry surpasses the 30,000 monthly slots, and many people do not qualify because they lack connections in the United States.

Shauyuri Mejias, 48, ofVenezuela, studied the program but realized she could not participate. So she trekked through the treacherous Darien Gap, a jungle that straddles Colombia and Panama, with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild.

“We are the first generation of our family to come to the United States. We have no one to lean on here,” said Mejias, sitting on the bottom

U.S. intelligence estimates that 60,000 to 65,000 migrants were on the Mexican side of the border, according to Raul Ortiz, the Border Patrol chief. Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said smuggling networks were spreading misinformation that the border would be open once Title 42 expired.

A renewed surge could deepen both the humanitarian crisis and political headaches for President Joe Biden and his administration. In recent weeks, shelter operators and physicians in border towns have reported a spike in hospitalizations for injuries sustained by migrants who climbed the border wall.

While scaling the towering steel barrier under the cover of darkness, Rosmarie Cepeda slipped and plummeted to the ground on the El Paso side of the border, shattering her left foot. She underwent surgery, and could take six months to recover. The 40-year-old Venezuelan cook said she decided to take her chances after failing to secure an appointment on the mobile app.

“I was determined to get into the United States. I have three children in Venezuela who depend on me, said Cepeda, who is recovering in a church shelter and has to use a wheelchair.

A new large influx would also tax border processing centers. To ease overcrowding, migrants have at times been released from custody without a date to report to immigration court for hearings.

That practice is coming under fire from Republicans as they gear up to make immigration central to their 2024 election campaigns.

If legal challenges make facilities dangerously overcrowded, the optics will hurt the administration, said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a think tank. “The American public will blame the president.”

Some of the first migrants to be processed in Brownsville, Texas, after Title 42 expired walk from Matamoros, Mexico, across the international bridge to present themselves to U.S. immigration officials on May 12, 2023.

People look through boxes of donated clothes at a migrant camp outside of Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, May 13, 2023.

A U.S. experiment on single-payer care just ended

By MARGOT SANGER KATZ

For the last three years, the United States has been operating an experiment in single-payer health care — for one disease. That era largely came to an end last week as the public health emergency for COVID-19 expired. For COVID, the government bought vaccines and drugs in bulk and handed them out to everyone who needed them, as part of a set of emergency provisions authorized by Congress for as long as the White House said they were needed. It required insurers to pay for all COVID tests and paid testing facilities when uninsured people used them. It guaranteed the hospital bills of anyone who needed hospitalization for COVID.

Now that the government’s official emergency is over, those programs are phasing out. Some people will still be able to get free COVID tests, if their insurance wants to cover them that way. Other people will need to pay copayments or deductibles for those tests.

If you have insurance, you can still get free COVID vaccines. But if you’re uninsured, you may have to pay out of pocket starting next year.

And what you’ll pay for antiviral drugs such as Paxlovid will depend on what kind of insurance you have.

As for COVID hospitalizations, they will now be just like any other hospitalization, possibly subject to huge deductibles

or coinsurance — just like the hospitalizations for people in recent years who had non-COVID pneumonias, even though their illnesses were often just as serious and required many of the same treatments.

The transition is likely to be confusing and bumpy. The details of how your COVID treatment will be covered will depend a lot on what insurance plan you have. And the exact switch from free to not-free for some treatments will be unpredictable, tied to when government supplies of things run out.

But of course, the U.S. health care system for every other

disease tends to be confusing and bumpy. Patients with other ailments — such as cancer, arthritis, hepatitis C or diabetes — have been contending with these vagaries all along. Those diseases are also major public health problems.

Democrats in Congress are pushing for a policy that would limit how much people have to pay for insulin, which many diabetes patients ration for cost reasons. But that approach, too, would be limited to one class of drugs, for one disease.

Proponents of the current system say it deploys market forces to keep costs low, encourage innovation and limit unnecessary treatments. Letting people get unlimited free tests, for example, might have induced some testing facilities to charge outrageous prices, as my New York Times colleague Sarah Kliff has reported. Bulk government purchasing of two mRNA vaccines may have hampered the study and reach of other types of vaccines that might be better in some cases.

But detractors have long said the U.S. system’s patchwork nature and unpredictable consumer costs are harmful, by causing the sick to avoid necessary care or endure financial distress when there is a crisis. For enthusiasts of a “Medicare for All” system, in which the government insures everyone and guarantees most care for free — typically backed by taxes — COVID has been a kind of test case.

What you think about this change may help reveal how you feel about our broader system.

Some Americans will now need to pay co-payments or deductibles for Covid tests.

Abortion showdown in North Carolina may hinge on a single vote

By KATE KELLY

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, now in the waning years of his second term, has suddenly found himself back on a campaign trail.

On Wednesday, flanked by supporters in a fifth-floor classroom at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, Cooper made a direct appeal to residents. But he was not looking for thousands of votes. Just one.

North Carolina’s Republican-dominated legislature has passed a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks. Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the bill. But to prevent the legislature from using its razor-thin supermajority to override his veto, Cooper is asking voters to pressure Republican lawmakers. Convincing just one legislator will keep the state’s current abortion law — allowing it up to 20 weeks — in place.

In Wilmington, he urged voters to send a message to their representatives in the legislature — “ask them to keep their promise” to preserve existing abortion laws, he said, referring to Republican lawmakers he said had previously signaled some support for abortion access.

Let them know, he said, “whether it’s a phone call, or it’s an email, or it’s a text.”

Cooper’s plea, and the showdown between the governor’s office and the legislature, represents an extraordinary moment in North Carolina politics, as well as in the nation’s volatile abortion fight.

Since the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, states have been free to severely restrict or ban the procedure, and many across the South have done exactly that. As a result, North Carolina has become an outlet for women in the region who could not get abortions in their home states.

For North Carolina, the override vote would be a consequential early test of the Republicans’ new, slim supermajority, since Tricia Cotham, a former Democrat, switched parties in April and voted in favor of the ban.

Override votes in the two chambers, each of which require a three-fifths vote of those present to succeed, have not yet been scheduled. But state lawmakers and lobbyists said over the weekend that they expected to see a vote as early as this week.

Republicans say the bill represents a compromise and is less restrictive than other bans that outlaw the procedure at conception or before most women even realize they are pregnant. Democrats say the bill is a disaster

for women’s health, and erects all kinds of financial and logistical obstacles that would cut off abortion access for many women. They complained that Republicans rammed the initial votes through their chambers in two marathon sessions over 48 hours.

A Meredith poll in February showed that 57% of respondents supported the state’s current 20-week ban, or would expand it. About 35% wanted the procedure restricted to 15 weeks or less.

Democratic officials in districts across the state are trying to mobilize voters to oppose the bill. In New Hanover County, where Wilmington is located, party leaders organized a caller chain that contacted Republicans, including Ted Davis Jr., a Republican House member considered a swing vote, and Michael Lee, a Wilmington Republican state senator, every three minutes one day last week. Cooper believes both men might be movable on the issue.

Lee, however, said a 12-week restriction is in line with his thinking on abortion. In a text message, he said that Cooper has mischaracterized his position on the issue.

“I believe a woman should have the right to choose an abortion in the first trimester (3 months) with exceptions,” Lee wrote.

Davis has said in the past that he supported North Carolina’s current law. Cooper is also targeting the district of a fourth Republican, John Bradford, a House member

who said shortly before his election last year that he had “no intention” of rolling back the 20-week law. Bradford did not respond to a request for comment.

The defection of Cotham, a former Charlotte-area educator who had served in the state legislature and unsuccessfully ran for Congress before returning to the North Carolina General Assembly this year, stunned Democrats.

In announcing her decision, she said she had been bullied by the party and was no longer aligned with them on some issues, including school choice.

“The modern-day Democratic Party has become unrecognizable to me and to so many others throughout this state and this country,” she said when she announced. “They have pushed me out.”

Cotham has historically been an outspoken supporter of abortion rights. When she was a Democrat, she accused Republicans of playing doctor. She also spoke publicly about her own harrowing experience with a lost pregnancy that required medical intervention. “This decision was up to me, my husband, my doctor and my God. It was not up to any of you in this chamber,” Cotham said in 2015. Still, she voted in favor of the 12-week ban after she switched parties.

Cotham did not respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday at the Modish Nail Spa

in Mint Hill — the Charlotte suburb where Cotham lives — May Lopez said she was upset by the new abortion restriction.

“I feel terrible about it, because I think they’re just stripping the rights away from women. And I remember. I grew up in the days where my girlfriend died because of the hanger abortion and all that kind of stuff,” said Lopez, who votes largely for Democrats.

Frank McCullough, a Charlotte pastor, and his wife, Barbara McCullough, a retired schoolteacher, both voted for Cotham when she ran as a Democrat last year. Both said they felt betrayed by her decisions to switch parties and help Republicans pass more restrictions on abortion.

“I don’t believe in abortion, but I believe in the rights of a lady to make that choice between her and God,” Frank McCullough said. “We voted for you and here you go turning your back on us.”

People who live in Cotham’s district said that while it leans Democratic, it also features a healthy presence of conservatives who back abortion restrictions.

On Wednesday afternoon in Wilmington, part of Davis’ district, swimmers at the YWCA aquatic center were divided.

“I’m a Christian, and I believe that life begins at conception, and I’m against abortion altogether,” said Joyce Woodard, a retiree.

Emma Evans, a college student who was watching a swim lesson of the 4-year-old she was babysitting, said she was baffled by the passage of the abortion ban.

“I don’t know much about it at all, but I do know I’m for abortion” rights, she said. “A bunch of men are just making rules for these women’s bodies? It makes no sense to me.”

In an interview on Friday, Cooper appeared troubled by the political state of play. During more than six years in office, he had successfully vetoed more than 50 bills. The November midterms, which left Republicans just one vote shy of a supermajority in North Carolina, had threatened his control over the legislative process, which can be upended by a single lawmaker’s absence. Cotham’s party exodus last month deprived him of any remaining comfort.

“I knew things were precarious,” he said. “But then when Rep. Cotham switched, and made it a supermajority by one vote in each chamber, we knew that it was going to be a much tougher fight.”

“I’m worried that women will die,” he said.

Anti-abortion demonstrators gathered in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday, May 12, 2023. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed an abortion ban, but the Republican supermajority could override it.

Island nation strives to go green, but oil and gas come first

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Ribboned shovel in hand, Prime Minister Keith Rowley joined a ceremonial groundbreaking last month to celebrate Trinidad and Tobago’s first large solar farm project expected to generate power for 42,000 homes.

But if anyone thought the project symbolized the twilight of the island nation’s long embrace of fossil fuels, Rowley set them straight.

“We will continue to extract the hydrocarbons available to us as long as there is an international market,” Rowley said, as BP and Shell executives looked on. “If we are going to sell the last barrel of oil or the last molecule of gas, so be it.”

Trinidad and Tobago is known for its white sandy beaches, mountainous rainforests and steel pan drums. But its economy depends on oil and natural gas, not tourism.

It is one of the largest producers of fossil fuels in the Western Hemisphere, and more than a century of drilling has left its mark. The major highways on the main island are clogged by traffic and lined with industrial warehouses. Oil is stitched in the culture, a theme in many calypso songs. Even the steel pan drums originated from the lids of used oil barrels.

If Trinidad seems to be zigging and zagging on climate change policy, it is hardly the only one. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are also building large solar farms while exploring for new oil gushers. Developing nations with fossil fuel riches — a group that includes Guyana, Nigeria and Namibia as well as Trinidad — say they cannot easily leapfrog to renewable energy because they lack capital and because their poor rely on cheap power and oil revenues for social programs.

U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders have no easy response. Industrialized countries are still producers and users of fossil fuels and have failed to put up the $100 billion a year they had pledged to a green fund for poor nations starting

in 2020.

“The countries in the south are telling the countries in the north, ‘You are the ones who caused the climate issue, so why don’t you move first since you have the capital and technologies to advance renewables?’” said Anthony Paul, a former official in Trinidad’s energy ministry who has consulted with governments and companies in several African countries.

Trinidad has a population of just 1.5 million people, but it has long punched above its weight in energy. As the secondlargest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the Western Hemisphere after the United States, it has one of the highest per capita incomes in the Caribbean. It is also a leading producer of petrochemicals such as ammonia and methanol.

But with its oil and gas fields aging, oil production has fallen to 58,000 barrels a day, from 230,000 barrels a day at its peak in 1978. The country’s only oil refinery was shut down four years ago. Gas production has declined 40% since 2010, forcing the country to close one of its four export terminals for liquefied natural gas and three of its 18 petrochemical plants.

At the same time, the country is feeling the effects of a changing climate, with wetter rainy seasons and dryer dry seasons reducing farm yields and stormier seas punishing fishermen and flooding coastal roads and homes.

“We’re facing a huge decision, whether to pivot to a new direction,” said Ryun Singh, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Energy Engineers. “If we don’t get it right, we face economic ruin.”

For now, Rowley’s government wants to double down on fossil fuels by trying to get energy companies to develop new offshore fields.

The oil and gas business “is the basis for our middle class,” said Ainka Granderson, an environmental scientist at the Ca-

ribbean Natural Resources Institute, a research organization in San Juan, a city on the main island. “Oil and gas was once the nation’s spine, but it’s now the crutch that props us up.”

That crutch is becoming increasingly rickety.

On a recent April afternoon, a tanker ship arrived at the Atlantic LNG terminal at Point Fortin to pick up a load of deep-chilled gas for Britain. “Trinidad to the rescue,” said a smiling Jean Andre Celestain, the plant’s chief operating officer.

Because of declining energy export earnings, the nation’s gross domestic product dropped by 20% from 2015 to 2021. The jump in oil and gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a new gas discovery by Shell have led to a small rebound over the past year.

But that is not enough to stem the decline in energy production and revenues, energy experts say.

In an effort to compensate for the shortfall, the country is seeking to reduce domestic use of natural gas so more can be exported. That is the main mission of the solar farms being built on Trinidad by BP and Shell. To drive down domestic demand for gas, energy regulators are proposing to raise electricity rates for residents and businesses. That proposal faces stiff political opposition.

“When you are an oil-and-gas-producing nation, you are always behind in renewables because people enjoy the cheaper rates of electricity that come with fossil fuels,” said David Alexander, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Trinidad and Tobago.

Alexander and another professor are leading an effort to map a “carbon-capture atlas” of depleted oil and gas fields that can be used to store carbon captured from Trinidadian petrochemical plants to help the country offset most or all of its greenhouse gas emissions.

Analysts said Trinidad needed to move fast or risk losing gas customers to other exporters, such as the United States and Qatar, that are building more efficient liquefied natural gas terminals.

That might be a tall order, and even some Trinidadians who have long worked in oil and gas worry that little can be done to halt their industry’s decline.

Ronnie Beharry worked in various field positions before becoming a manager at a gas field operated by Touchstone Exploration. He has only a high school education but can afford to send his eldest daughter to college.

“I tell them to look at other options because we’ve started to go green,” he said, referring to his three children. “I don’t know where things are headed. Sometimes I think the country has a backup plan, and sometimes I don’t.”

Yara Trinidad, a complex that produces ammonia and other chemicals, in Trinidad on April 20, 2023. Trinidad and Tobago is the No. 2 exporter of liquefied natural gas in the Americas. Its output has been falling, but it remains committed to fossil fuels.

U.S. dollar falls from five-week high as data, debt ceiling weigh

The dollar slid from a five-week high on Monday, pressured by a weak manufacturing index in New York state and as it consolidated gains made last week amid fears about the debt ceiling and the U.S. economy.

In emerging markets, the Turkish lira sank to a near record low as weekend elections looked headed for a runoff, while the Thai baht rallied after a more decisive election result.

The greenback took an early dive after data showed the New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State manufacturing index plunged to -31.8 this month from a reading of 10.8 in April.

Action Economics in its blog wrote that the Empire State fall was the largest decline since April 2020 and the lowest since January’s three-year trough of -32.9.

The dollar’s fall came after it notched its best weekly performance on Friday since September last year.

“I think we’re just consolidating today after a big move in the dollar last week,” said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York.

“The things that have weighed on the dollar recently have not gone away, such as the debt ceiling, even though there has been some progress made.”

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday for face-to-face talks, a day before he leaves for a meeting of the Group of Seven nations in Japan.

Though the two sides did not appear close to an agreement, the White House has not ruled out the annual spending caps that Republicans say must accompany any increase in the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt limit.

In late morning trading the dollar index , which measures the greenback’s value against six major peers, fell 0.2% to 102.48. Earlier in the session, the dollar touched a fiveweek high of 102.75.

Analysts have said many factors could be behind the dollar’s recent strength, including concerns about U.S. inflation and safe-haven buying driven by fears about the debt ceiling standoff and global economic growth.

Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said a pick-up in U.S. bond yields over the last two days had supported the currency.

U.S. yields rose on Friday and Monday after a University of Michigan survey of consumers’ long-term inflation expectations jumped to the highest since 2011.

That put a possible Fed rate hike next month back in play, with traders laying down those odds at 17%.

The euro was up 0.2% against the dollar at $1.0875, rebounding after falling 1.54% the previous week.

The dollar was up 0.3% against the yen at 136.14, while sterling was 0.5% higher at $1.2513, rebounding after last week’s 1.45% fall.

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Elsewhere the dollar was last up 0.5% at 19.67 Turkish lira. It earlier jumped to 19.7 for the first time since March 10, when it hit a record high of 19.8 on a volatile trading day.

The dollar sank 0.5% to 33.81 baht in onshore Thai trading. Thailand’s opposition parties secured a stunning election win on Sunday.

U.K. promises more missiles and drones for Ukraine

By MARK LANDLER

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain pledged on Monday to provide a large package of missiles and attack drones to Ukraine, ahead of a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who over the weekend secured promises of billions of dollars in additional military aid from European allies.

Mr. Zelensky, who has been on a whirlwind tour of Europe to shore up support ahead of a counteroffensive against Russia, hugged Mr. Sunak when he landed at the British leader’s country residence outside London, Chequers, on Monday morning. The Ukrainian president — who referred to Mr. Sunak in a tweet as “my friend Rishi” — later said he was “very pleased” by the results of his European tour.

The prime minister’s office said that in addition to the cruise missiles it announced last week, Britain would deliver “hundreds of air defense missiles and further unmanned aerial systems,” including long-range drones to support Ukraine in its anticipated counteroffensive.

“This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke,” Mr. Sunak said in a statement on Monday. “They need the sustained support of the international community to defend against the barrage of unrelenting and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for over a year.”

The two leaders met for around two hours at Chequers before emerging to take a few questions from journalists, with Mr. Zelensky expressing thanks to

Britain, Germany and France for their new weapons pledges over the weekend.

“I am very pleased with our achievements and agreements,” Mr. Zelensky said, according to Ukrinform, a Ukrainian state-funded news outlet. “Powerful defense packages are really important.”

Recent Ukrainian military advances around the embattled city of Bakhmut prompted some Russian military bloggers to claim that Kyiv’s long-anticipated counteroffensive was already underway. But Mr. Zelensky said last week that Ukraine needed to wait for more hardware from the West to arrive, specifically armored vehicles, before it could launch the assault. When asked if that was still fair to say on Monday, Mr. Zelensky told journalists that “we really need some more time.”

“Not too much,” he said, according to the BBC. “We will be ready in some time.”

The Kremlin, though, dismissed the significance of Britain’s new military aid pledge.

“We take an extremely negative view of it,” the Kremlin spokesman,

Dmitri S. Peskov, told journalists, according to the Russian state news agency Tass, but he said the new weapons would “not have any significant impact” on the course of the war.

Britain provided about $2.8 billion in military assistance to Ukraine in 2022, making it one of Kyiv’s largest backers. Mr. Sunak also promised to start training Ukrainian fighter pilots this summer, though he has yet to commit to sending British fighter jets to Ukraine. Instead, Britain has said it will help other countries that supply combat aircraft by providing support systems.

Mr. Zelensky’s brief visit to Britain comes after he traveled over the weekend to Italy, Germany and France, meeting with Pope Francis and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, and President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. On Saturday, Germany announced an arms package of almost $3 billion, and on Sunday, France also pledged more weaponry for Ukraine.

The British government confirmed last week that it would begin supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles,

continuing its policy of being in the vanguard in providing the Ukrainian Army heavier weapons to fight Russian forces.

The missiles, which are known as Storm Shadow and have a range of more than 155 miles, would “allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based in Ukrainian sovereign territory,” according to Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace.

Britain, with its aggressive approach, has often acted as a catalyst for other Western countries to supply Ukraine with heavier weapons. Its decision to send a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks foreshadowed decisions by Germany and the United States to send more sophisticated tanks.

The Ukrainian leader last visited Britain in February, delivering an emotional speech in which he pleaded for NATO countries to supply Ukraine with fighter jets. Mr. Sunak has said fighter jets are on the table, but he has not yet taken the step of committing them.

A spokesman for Mr. Sunak’s office affirmed that point on Monday, telling the BBC that Britain had “no plans” to supply jets to Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, left, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain at Chequers, the prime minister’s official country residence, northwest of London, on Monday.

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China sentences U.S. citizen to life in prison for espionage

By CHANG CHE and OLIVIA WANG

AChinese court said it sentenced a 78-year-old American citizen to life in prison Monday on unspecified charges of spying, the latest in a wave of espionage cases that authorities have pursued amid growing wariness of foreign influence in the country.

The Intermediate People’s Court in the southeastern city of Suzhou said in a short statement that it pronounced John Shing-Wan Leung guilty of espionage and sentenced him. It said that Leung was arrested in April 2021 by state security officials but provided no details about the charges or the circumstances of his detention or trial. The court also ordered about $70,000 worth of his personal property to be seized.

Leung holds a U.S. passport and is a permanent resident of Hong Kong, according to the statement posted on the court’s social media account.

The court in Suzhou did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said the embassy was aware of the reports about the case but declined to comment because of privacy concerns. American citizens arrested in China must sign a privacy waiver to allow embassies and consulates to release information about their cases to the public.

Trials in China on charges of espionage or other sensitive political issues are often shrouded in secrecy, with proceed-

ings closed to the public and the news media. Courts are controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

China has recently stepped up actions against what it sees as a growing threat of spies through a wave of raids, inspections and arrests targeting businesses with foreign ties as well as individuals.

In March, Beijing detained a Japanese business executive from a pharmaceutical company for espionage. Last year, authorities arrested a high-ranking editor of a Chinese Communist Party newspaper while he was having lunch

with a Japanese diplomat, accusing the editor of acting as an agent for Japan or the United States, his family says.

Chinese officials have raided the offices or interrogated the staff of U.S. consulting firms such as the Mintz Group and Bain & Co. Most recently, state media announced a crackdown on the consulting industry in the name of national security, singling out Capvision Partners, a consulting firm with offices in New York and Shanghai. In describing the crackdown, China’s state broadcaster CCTV accused Western countries of stealing intelligence in key industries, including defense, fi-

nance, energy and health, as part of a “strategy of containment and suppression against China.”

Last month, China approved revisions to a counterespionage law that expanded the kinds of activities that could land foreigners behind bars. Experts say the amendments, which go into effect in July, could criminalize a range of mundane tasks related to information gathering such as the work of journalists and due diligence research on companies. Foreign businesses have already begun to reassess their operations in China and increase protections for employees.

A Chinese flag flutters near surveillance cameras mounted on a lamp post in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

New coalition in Thailand challenges military rule after election

By SUI-LEE WEE and MUKTITA SUHARTONO

The two opposition parties that won the largest share of the vote in Thailand’s general election over the weekend said Monday that they had agreed to form a coalition government. It remained unclear, however, whether the ruling junta would hand over power easily.

The results of the election were a stinging rebuke to the country’s military leaders, who have governed Thailand since seizing power in a coup in 2014. Although Thailand is a nation where coups are not uncommon, it had never been under military rule for so long.

Many voters, disillusioned with the neverending cycle of putsches and protests, used the election on Sunday to demonstrate overwhelmingly that they wanted change.

“People have been through enough of a lost decade,” Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the progressive Move Forward Party, told reporters on Monday. “Today is a new day.”

The Move Forward Party — which has called for an overhaul of the military and amending a strict law that criminalizes criticism of the Thai monarchy — secured 151 seats out of the 500-member House of Representatives. The result defied opinion polls, which had predicted a strong victory for Pheu Thai, the country’s largest opposition party, founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Pheu Thai won 141 seats, which, like Move Forward, was short of a clear majority. The two parties announced during separate news conferences on Monday that they had agreed to work together to form a government.

Pita has led the effort to build the coalition. He said that five parties, including Pheu Thai, had already joined him, boosting the

opposition’s control over Parliament to 309 out of 500 seats. “It’s safe to assume that we have secured a majority in forming a government,” Pita said Monday.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general who seized power in the 2014 coup, said Sunday that he “has respect for the democratic process and the election results.” His party, United Thai Nation, won only 36 seats.

Pita’s quick work in assembling a coalition lowered some uncertainty around what many Thais have described as the most consequential election of their lifetimes. But it was still unclear if he would be allowed to lead the country as prime minister.

The military-appointed Senate, which has the power to select the prime minister through a joint vote in Parliament, may still block Pita from the position.

Many analysts questioned whether the Senate would tolerate any election results that threaten the status quo. Move Forward has targeted institutions and policies once considered sacrosanct in Thai society, including abolishing mandatory military conscription and reducing the punishments for the law that protects the monarchy from criticism.

With Pheu Thai in government, it could effectively place the party’s founder and one of the military’s top rivals, Thaksin, back at the center of the country’s politics. The king must also endorse the appointment of prime minister.

At a news conference, Pita said he was not concerned about opposition from the Senate. “With the consensus that came out of the election, it would be quite a hefty price to pay for someone who’s thinking of abolishing the election results or forming a minority government,” he said. “And I don’t think the people of Thailand would allow that to happen.”

But if history is any indicator, the military, which has dominated Thai politics for decades, is unlikely to relinquish power quickly. In addition to engineering a dozen coups within a century, Thai generals rewrote the Constitution in 2017 to stack the Senate with allies and ensure that the military would have the power to determine the country’s prime minister.

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Gregory Raymond, a lecturer researching Southeast Asian politics at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, said there was still a possibility that the two military proxy parties — United Thai Nation and Palang Pracharath — could cobble together enough seats to mount their own claim to government. “That is still, in my mind, the last scenario. It would be highly undemocratic but can’t be ru-

led out at this point,” Raymond said. Analysts warned that the Senate choosing to block Pita’s appointment would likely galvanize protests in Thailand, plunging the country into more political turmoil.

“I think the reaction will be much more dangerous than four years ago,” said Purawich Watanasukh, a research fellow at King Prajadhipok’s Institute in Thailand, referring to the nation’s previous election. “Right now, many people have Pita as their new prime minister in their minds. If Pita cannot be prime minister and Move Forward cannot form the government, it will break the people’s hearts. And it will be very, very bad.”

In 2020, the country’s Constitutional Court disbanded the Future Forward Party, the previous iteration of the Move Forward Party, after the election. Tens of thousand of Thais took to the streets of Bangkok to protest the decision.

What started out as a protest for democratic reforms quickly grew into a pro-democracy movement calling for checks on the Thai monarchy, a subject that was once considered taboo.

The country’s conservatives are likely to step up their campaigns to block the rise of Move Forward in the coming days. Last week, a conservative candidate petitioned the Election Commission and the National AntiCorruption Commission to investigate Pita for failing to disclose that he owned shares of a now-defunct media company that he had inherited from his father. By law, no candidates running for Member of Parliament are allowed to hold shares in a media firm.

Pita brushed off the petition, saying he had already reported the shares to the authorities.

But Move Forward will need to manage many competing interests to keep the coalition intact. It was the only large party that pushed to amend a law criminalizing criticism of the monarchy, arguing that the law had been weaponized by royalists to persecute protesters who participated in pro-democracy demonstrations.

On Sunday night, Pita said he was still going to press ahead with amending the royal protection law.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of Thaksin and a Pheu Thai candidate for prime minister, said on Monday that she was “ready to discuss” the issue of young people being charged with violating the law, known as Article 112. But she added that her party would not vote to get rid of the law altogether.

“We will have to tell Move Forward Party that we do not support the abolishment of Article 112,” she said.

Pita Limjaroenrat, Move Forward Party leader and prime ministerial candidate arriving for a press conference after Thailand’s general election in Bangkok.

Attack of the pharma phantoms

By PAUL KRUGMAN

On Thursday, Brad Setser of the Council of Foreign Relations — esteemed by cognoscenti for his forensic analyses of balance of payments data — testified to a Senate committee about global tax avoidance by pharmaceutical companies. This issue may not have loomed large on many people’s radar screens, and with everything else going on, you may wonder why you should care. But there are at least two reasons you should.

First, at a time when people are once again angsting about budget deficits — much of the angst is insincere, but still — it’s surely relevant that the U.S. government is losing a lot of revenue because multinational corporations are using accounting tricks to avoid paying taxes on profits earned here.

Second, now that it’s looking increasingly likely that Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee, it seems relevant to note that his one major legislative success — the 2017 tax cut, which was supposed to bring corporate investment back to America — was, in practice, an “America last” bill that encouraged corporations to move even more of their reported profits, and to some extent their actual production, overseas.

About pharma: The U.S. health care system, unlike health systems in other countries, isn’t set up to bargain with drug companies for lower prices. In fact, until the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act, even Medicare was specifically prohibited from negotiating

over drug prices. As a result, the U.S. market has long been pharma’s cash cow: On average, prescription drugs cost 2.56 times — 2.56 times — as much here as they do in other countries.

Strange to say, however, pharmaceutical companies report earning hardly any profits on their U.S. sales.

Setser notes that 2022 was an exceptionally profitable year for six major pharma companies, but the pattern — large revenue in the U.S. market, with very low reported profits — has been consistent over time.

How do the pharma giants do that? Mainly by assigning patents and other forms of intellectual property to overseas subsidiaries located in low-tax jurisdictions. Their U.S. operations then pay large fees to these overseas subsidiaries for the use of this intellectual property, magically causing profits to disappear here and reappear someplace else, where they go largely untaxed.

The pharmaceutical industry, where patents rather than manufacturing facilities are companies’ principal assets, is exceptionally well suited to this kind of tax gaming. But it’s not unique. Over time, we have increasingly become a knowledge economy, in which a large share of business investment involves spending on intellectual property rather than on plant and equipment.

And whereas factories and office buildings have specific locations, intellectual property pretty much resides wherever a corporation says it resides. If Apple decides to assign a lot of its intellectual property to its Irish subsidiary, causing a huge surge in Ireland’s reported gross domestic product, nobody is currently in a position to say it can’t.

How do we know that big overseas profits mainly reflect tax avoidance rather than economic reality? That’s easy: Look at where the profits are being reported. As Setser also pointed out, following up on the work of Gabriel Zucman (who just won the American Economic Association’s prestigious John Bates Clark medal; congratulations, Gabriel!), the great bulk of U.S. corporations’ reported overseas profits are in tiny economies that can’t possibly be major profit centers but do offer low taxes on reported earnings.

Which brings us to the Trump tax cut. The core of that tax cut was a reduction in profit taxes, based on the premise that America’s relatively high official corporate tax rate was causing large-scale movement of capital overseas. But that corporate capital flight, it turns out, wasn’t real; it was a statistical illusion created by tax avoidance.

By the way, this isn’t just a U.S. problem. The International Monetary Fund estimates that about 40% of global foreign direct investment — investment that involves control of foreign subsidiaries, as opposed to portfolio investment, such as purchases of stocks and bonds — is actually “phantom” investment driven by tax avoidance that doesn’t correspond to anything real.

It’s not surprising, then, that the Trump tax cut never delivered the promised investment boom. As it happens, right now we actually are seeing a boom in manufacturing investment — but that’s being driven by the Biden

administration’s green industrial policy rather than acrossthe-board tax cuts.

But wait, it gets worse. One particularly ill-drafted feature of the 2017 tax law, with the acronym GILTI (I am not making this up), ended up giving corporations an incentive to shift actual production as well as reported profits overseas. As Setser points out, GILTI is probably a major factor in a recent surge in U.S. imports of pharmaceuticals.

Now, there are some very well thought-out proposals to address corporate tax avoidance. Unfortunately, they’re almost surely moot as long as the House is controlled by a party that wants to deny the IRS the resources that it needs to go after tax evasion.

But you should still bear in mind that cracking down on tax avoidance could significantly reduce budget deficits. And you should also bear in mind that the Trump administration’s only major domestic policy initiative was a flop.

SM lanza por segundo año consecutivo la iniciativa “Influencers con Clase”, la cual busca destacar a 31 maestros por su impacto en la vida de sus alumnos y en el quehacer de su escuela. La iniciativa contará con el apoyo de varios medios y talentos locales, quienes serán portavoces del proyecto. Luego, se llevará a cabo un concurso en las redes sociales, en el que se escogerá al mayor Influencer con Clase.

“Todos conocemos el impacto tan importante que tienen los maestros. Ellos son los influencers que educan, motivan y dejan huella positiva en la vida de cada estudiante. Por eso, en el mes de mayo, cuando se celebra el “Día del Maestro”, los

reconocemos mediante esta iniciativa que destaca su labor y le recuerda al público aquellos maestros que también influenciaron positivamente su vida”, sostuvo Edna Rodríguez Linera, gerente Comercial y Mercadeo de SM.

Simbólicamente se escogieron 31 educadores, representando uno por cada día de mayo, mes del Maestro. Los educadores participantes fueron seleccionados por el personal y los estudiantes de las escuelas donde laboran. A partir del 4 de mayo se estará realizando un concurso de votación a través de la página de Facebook SM Puerto Rico en el que el maestro que obtenga mayor cantidad de “likes”, “love” o “care” bajo su foto publicada será el gana -

dor de este año.

“Este proyecto está hecho con el corazón. Nos encantaría continuar realizándolo anualmente. Por eso queremos hacer hincapié en que no es un esfuerzo comercial de SM, sino un intento genuino de reconocer a aquellos que marcaron nuestras vidas en el Mes del Maestro”, concluyó Rodríguez.

Las votaciones abren el 4 de mayo y cierran el 31 de mayo. Para votar pueden acceder a la página de Facebook de SM Puerto Rico, buscar la publicación alusiva a “Influencers Con Clase” y darle “like”, “love“ o “care” a tu maestro favorito. Si desea conocer más detalles sobre SM, acceda a la página: www.sm-pr.com.

Municipio de Arecibo invierte $90,000 en nueva JIP

El alcalde de Arecibo, Carlos ‘Tito’ Ramírez Irizarry, recibirá mañana martes a la vicepresidenta alterna de la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE), Jessika Padilla, para el corte de cinta de las instalaciones de la nueva Junta de Inscripción Permanente (JIP) de Arecibo, localizada en la Calle Santiago Iglesias Pantín 210, en el centro urbano, donde estuvo la Biblioteca Municipal.

“Con mucho orgullo anunciamos a todos los electores de Puerto Rico que ya pueden contar con el servicio de esta JIP. Conforme a la realidad económica de la CEE, nosotros en el Municipio hemos invertido $90,000 en recursos propios mediante el mecanismo de convenio interagencial para restaurar el edificio, instalar aires acondicionados y preparar todo bajo las necesidades de la CEE, según el contrato firmado. De

igual manera, nuestro compromiso es también pagar los servicios de agua, luz e internet de dichas instalaciones”, señaló Ramírez Irizarry.

La JIP estará ofreciendo sus servicios de lunes a viernes de 8:00 am a 4:15 pm, para inscripciones de nuevos electores, informar cambios de residencia y emisión de tarjetas electorales, entre otras gestiones. “Estamos muy complacidos con la labor de todo el personal que aquí ofrece servicios, que van más allá de lo electoral”, abundó el Alcalde.

Ramírez Irizarry señaló que la JIP además emite certificados de nacimiento y certificados de matrimonio. “Esta es una instalación denominada ‘Isla’, que está preparada para atender a electores de todo Puerto Rico, no solamente del distrito de Arecibo. Exhorto a toda la ciudadanía a que tome nota de este servicio

Exigen sensibilidad a Vivienda con vecinos afectados por socavón en Naranjito.

El líder comunitario naranjiteño, Joel R. Santiago

Chevres, salió en defensa de los vecinos de la barriada La Marina, en Naranjito que desde hace ya dos semanas enfrentan la posibilidad de perder sus hogares tras la formación de un socavón que pone en peligro sus vidas.

“Aquí aceptamos la realidad de una situación de

emergencia que no es culpa de nadie, pero la realidad es que a los vecinos no se les ha tratado con tendrán que elegir de inmediato entre el Programa de Sección 8 o mudarse a un residencial público mientras el Departamento de la Vivienda alega que está evaluando las opciones que podrá ofrecer a largo plazo a estas familias. Esta angustia entre su tercera semana y nuestra preocupación es que obligue a los vecinos a una opción alegadamente preliminar y que luego se olviden de ellos. Todos en Puerto Rico sabemos cómo funcionan las burocracias del gobierno central. Nadie se llame a engaño”, aseguró.

Santiago Chevres, quien además es contador, preside el comité municipal del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) en Naranjito y es candidato a alcalde. “El reclamo que estoy haciendo hoy es en calidad de líder comunitario, no de político. Quiero aclarar esto porque esta comunidad y vivía con

la preocupación de un muro de gaviones que quedó afectado luego del paso del huracán María, y como en tantas otras instancias en todo el país, se anuncian miles de millones en fondos federales que nunca llegan”, señaló.

En este caso de Naranjito, son ocho (8) las residencias catalogadas como ‘inhabitables’ por el Departamento de Vivienda, luego de un evento de lluvias que provocó que colapsaran varias tuberías troncales construidas hace más de cuarenta (40) años cuatro en la entrada al hospital de Naranjito, en la carretera PR#5.

“Eso, a su vez, formó un socavón que causó el colapso de parte de la vía y en el caso del Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP) se han movido rápidamente en el manejo de la situación y el control del tránsito, eso hay que reconocerlo”, finalizó Santiago Chevres.

tan importante, sobre todo ahora que estamos en año preelectoral”, finalizó Ramírez Irizarry.

Iniciativa local exalta a educadores y los convierte en “Influencers con Clase”

Nuevas facilidades de la JIP-Isla de Arecibo

Striking writers’ union denies waiver, imperiling Tony Awards telecast

By MICHAEL PAULSON and JOHN KOBLIN

The union representing thousands of striking television and movie writers denied a waiver that Broadway officials had sought that would have allowed the Tony Awards ceremony to proceed with a live televised broadcast on its scheduled date of June 11, two people briefed on the decision said Friday night.

The denial by the union, the Writers Guild of America, described by people who were granted anonymity to disclose confidential discussions, is imperiling one of Broadway’s biggest nights — a key marketing opportunity that is even more crucial in the fragile post-shutdown theater economy. Industry leaders say that without the ability to reach the broad audience that tunes into a Tony Awards broadcast, several of the newest musicals are likely to close.

Broadway boosters are still hoping that over the weekend the writers’ guild might be persuaded to change its mind. But industry leaders are acknowledging that such a reversal seems unlikely. Without a waiver from the writers’ guild, a live broadcast ceremony is essentially impossible because much of Broadway, including nominees and presenters, would refuse to cross a picket line.

The management committee of the Tony Awards, which is the group charged with overseeing the broadcast, has scheduled an emergency meeting Monday at which it will discuss how to proceed.

One option would be to postpone the event until after the strike is settled, in which case some money-losing Broadway shows would most likely close rather than hang on in the hopes of an eventual boost from a broadcast. Another would be to hand out the awards in June in some nontelevised fashion, which would significantly reduce the marketing value of the awards. But they could try to make up for that by staging some kind of razzle-dazzle songand-dance-heavy broadcast after the strike ends.

None of the parties would speak on the record Friday night, but several people close to the discussions described the state of affairs after The Hollywood Reporter reported that the waiver had been denied.

For Hollywood, the Tony Awards are not a front-burner issue; it is a niche ce-

remony, watched last year by 3.9 million people, far fewer than other awards ceremonies like the Oscars (18.7 million) or the Grammys (12.5 million).

But for Broadway, the stakes are enormous. The Tony Awards are the industry’s biggest marketing moment — a chance to introduce viewers to shows they have not heard of, and to remind them of the joys of musical theater — and that kind of reach is especially important now, with Broadway attendance yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. Four of the five nominees for best new musical are not selling enough tickets to cover their running costs many weeks, and all could use the box office boost that a win, or even a well-performed number on the awards show, often provides.

“The Tony Awards is the biggest commercial for the industry at large, and for a show like mine, which is unbranded and just at the stage where we are finally starting to see some lifeblood, it would be devastating to not be able to be part of this,” Mike Bosner, lead producer of “Shucked,” one of the five shows vying for the coveted best new musical award, said before the denial was announced.

“Our whole timing of when we ope-

ned the show was based on being part of the ramp-up to the awards season, when there are a lot of eyeballs on the show and there’s national exposure,” he said.

Even before news of the WGA’s decision to deny the waiver spread, some producers were pessimistic. “My guess is that there won’t be a broadcast,” Robert Greenblatt, one of the producers of “Some Like It Hot,” which is also a nominee for best new musical, said earlier. Greenblatt is familiar with all sides of the issue — he is not only a frequent Broadway producer, but also a former chair of NBC Entertainment and WarnerMedia.

If the Tonys are delayed or derailed, it will damage many shows.

“Particularly this season, when we’re still recovering from the COVID shutdown, it would be especially devastating to not have that opportunity — to not be able to showcase how many great and diverse plays and musicals are on Broadway right now,” said Eva Price, a lead producer of “& Juliet,” another contender for best new musical.

Already, the WGA strike has affected one awards show, last weekend’s MTV Movie & TV Awards. The host, Drew Barrymo -

re, dropped out in solidarity with the union, and the ceremony turned into a pretaped affair after the WGA said it would picket.

On Wednesday, with the prospect of hundreds of demonstrators marching on picket lines, Netflix abruptly announced that it was canceling a major in-person Manhattan showcase it was staging for advertisers next week, and turning it into a virtual event instead.

Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive of Netflix, also said he would not attend the upcoming PEN America Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History, a marquee event for the literary world that was scheduled to honor him. In a statement, Sarandos said it was best if he pulled out, “given the threat to disrupt this wonderful evening.”

In 2008, the last time the writers were on strike, organizers of the Golden Globes were forced to cancel the awards ceremony after the WGA was actively organizing demonstrations and actors said they would not cross any picket lines.

Winners were revealed in a news conference instead. But during that strike, the WGA did grant waivers to some televised ceremonies, including the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The organizations that present the Tony Awards, the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, declined to comment; they are said to be closely monitoring the situation but unsure how to proceed.

Representatives of the WGA and of CBS, the Tonys’ longtime broadcaster, also declined to comment.

Alex Newell, center, as Lulu in the musical “Shucked” at the Nederlander Theater in New York on Feb. 5, 2023. “Shucked,” which is also in contention for the best new musical Tony, is counting on getting national exposure at the Tony Awards ceremony, its lead producer said.

The San Juan Daily Star Tuesday, May 16, 2023 17

Beyoncé returns to the stage with a ‘Renaissance’ spectacle

became her first solo No. 1 hit since “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” in 2008.

It was, notably, the first Beyoncé album in nearly a decade to arrive without a full suite of accompanying videos. Starting with her surprise self-titled LP in 2013, she has become synonymous with elaborately choreographed and highly produced visual pieces.

On Wednesday, she revealed several futuristic fashion choices: an iridescent-effect minidress; a shimmery gold bodysuit festooned with black opera gloves covering strategic locations; a black-and-silver suit that resembled royal armor. At one point, Beyoncé was dressed in sci-fi bee chic: a yellowand-black leotard with cutouts and sharp angles, and kneehigh black boots. The cyborg theme was fully reflected at the merch stands, with T-shirts, hoodies and totes carrying images of Beyoncé in silvery, “Metropolis”-like robot costumes.

By ALEX MARSHALL and BEN SISARIO

They came from Iceland, Portugal, Switzerland, Detroit.

Dressed in “alien superstar” chic — rhinestone boots and disco-ready, glittery cowboy hats — a huge crowd gathered Wednesday at Friends Arena in Stockholm, their cheers reaching an almost deafening pitch as a woman gradually emerged from below, lights bouncing off the sequins on her outfit.

Beyoncé was back onstage.

The singer, style icon and heroine of the global BeyHive fan community is on the road solo for the first time in seven years with her Renaissance World Tour, which opened in Sweden with elaborate visuals but with unusual physical restraint from Beyoncé herself.

Onstage at the 50,000-capacity arena, she appeared flanked by dancers and backed by a live band, performing for three hours before a giant screen that displayed a constantly morphing tableau that was part retrofuturism and part disco fantasia. At one point, the 41-year-old artist traded dance moves with a pair of giant robot arms; at another, an image of a silvery alien dancer in heels hovered over a disco ball.

But for one of pop’s ultimate dancing queens, Beyoncé’s performance was far less physical than on past tours. She of-

ten seemed to keep her feet stationary while shaking her upper body, and appeared to favor one leg. She spent much of one song sitting atop a prop.

The star’s eagle-eyed fan community speculated online that the singer was injured. A spokesperson for Beyoncé did not respond to questions about her performance.

Kristin Hulden, a Swedish fashion student who was wearing an embroidered jacket she had made that depicted Beyoncé riding a horse (the image on the cover of her latest album, “Renaissance”), said she had noticed the star’s more limited movement, but it hadn’t bothered her. “The show was so great,” she said. “The dancers, the visual — it never stopped.” Like many fans at the opening-night gig, she will attend several shows on the tour, returning to Friends Arena on Thursday and then heading to Hamburg, Germany, in June. “I’m very excited,” she added.

Competition for tickets to pop’s biggest, priciest concerts has been stiff, and many in the crowd had traveled far — even thousands of miles — to guarantee that they would see Beyoncé this time. (Thanks, in part, to favorable exchange rates, tickets in Sweden ended up being far cheaper than in the United States or Britain, costing between 650 and 1,495 Swedish kronor, or about $63 to $146.)

Rhoyle Ivy King, 26, an actor wearing a fluorescent turquoise jumpsuit and shades, said before the show that he had come from Los Angeles for the concert, spending about $2,500. “Anything for mother,” he said. “Seriously.”

Beyoncé has not toured on her own since her Formation outing in 2016, after the release of her pop-culture-dominating “Lemonade.” In 2018, she performed at the Coachella festival and hit the road with her husband, Jay-Z, for their joint On the Run II Tour.

The new tour is for “Renaissance,” an homage to decades of Black queer dance music. The LP, her seventh solo release, opened at No. 1 last summer, and its single “Break My Soul”

The set list featured songs from her debut solo album from 2003 (“Crazy in Love”), her 2008 double album “I Am … Sasha Fierce” (“Diva”), her 2011 LP “4” (including “Love on Top,” which Beyoncé let the crowd finish for her) and her self-titled 2013 release (“Drunk in Love”), alongside a host of tracks from “Renaissance,” including “Move,” “America Has a Problem” and “Cozy.” For the closer, “Summer Renaissance,” Beyoncé sat atop a silver horse that was hoisted from the rafters and then ascended above the crowd by herself, sporting a grand, sparkling cape.

In February, Beyoncé announced the Renaissance tour by simply posting an image to social media. Three months earlier, the demand for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour had led to a Ticketmaster meltdown, leaving many fans frustrated and calling for Washington to examine the outsize market power of Ticketmaster and its corporate parent, Live Nation.

To handle the ticketing for Beyoncé’s tour — which is being promoted by Beyoncé’s company, Parkwood Entertainment, and produced by Live Nation — Ticketmaster had an elaborate plan that included rolling out sales in batches, rather than all at once, and the process went far more smoothly.

Still, Beyoncé drew controversy this year when she performed a private show at a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where homosexuality is illegal. “Renaissance” draws heavily on dance music of the 1990s and LGBTQ culture; at Friends Arena, signs denoted some “gender neutral restrooms” in the official tour font.

Oless Mauigoa, 35, had traveled from Salt Lake City and said “Renaissance” had made him desperate to see the show. “I feel like it’s dedicated to a lot of gay styles,” he said. “I’m connected to it more than anything she’s done.”

Beyoncé played into those connections throughout the show, nodding to the ballroom and vogueing culture that inspired “Renaissance” at the end of the night by giving the stage over to her dancers, who tried to outperform one another to rousing cheers.—

Beyoncé’s tour continues in Stockholm on Thursday and then arrives in London for five shows at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, starting May 29. Its North American leg will open in Toronto on July 9, will head to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 29 and 30, and will close in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome on Sept. 27.

Beyoncé fans wait outside the Friends Arena in Stockholm, where the star began her latest tour on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. The pop superstar opened her first solo tour in seven years in Stockholm and performed tracks from her acclaimed 2022 album, but left most of the choreography to her dancers.

COVID cautions continue for some, even as federal emergency ends

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON

For millions of Americans, the COVID-19 emergency — that disorienting stretch of lockdowns, mandates, free-floating anxiety and exhaustion — came to a muted end sometime during the past couple of years, brought about by vaccines and antiviral drugs.

The expiration of the federal public health emergency Thursday was a barely noticed formality.

But signs remain everywhere of a changed country: in the many thousands of families quietly grieving a loss, in the struggles of those suffering from long COVID and in the continued reliance by many Americans on one of the pandemic’s most hotly debated tools: the humble mask.

“This is my new norm,” said Nicole Uhing, 38, who was masked and shelving books at a branch of the Des Moines Public Library.

Uhing, who said wearing a mask made her more comfortable in her workplace, was unmoved by the government’s decision.

“It doesn’t seem like COVID is going to go away,” she said. “It keeps changing and evolving.”

In interviews around the country Thursday, most people took in the news about the government’s decision with neither relief nor alarm but with a sense of resignation. Many described being newly attuned to lurking risks to public health and to ways in which they could defend against these risks, often with the help of the government. Now they were largely on their own.

“It’s not over. I know people who have the virus now,” said Maria Paula, 52, a home attendant who lives in Brooklyn. “I’m tired of mask-wearing. But the virus is here; it continues here.”

Paula is among those who, like a majority of the respondents in a survey conducted in mid-March by Monmouth University, believe that the pandemic is not over and might never be over. In that same poll, around half of respondents reported wearing a mask when out in public at least some of the time, and about 20% said they wore one most or all of the time.

In interviews, those who said they still consistently wore masks gave a wide variety of reasons. Some had respiratory problems or family members with compromised immune systems. Others noted that the pandemic was hardly over even if the federal emergency had

ended.

There are plenty of illnesses beyond COVID-19, many said, describing the mask as a simple disease-fighting tool that perhaps should have been widely adopted a long time ago.

“In a lot of ways, it has made us more aware of any kind of ailment out there that’s transmissible,” said Melissa Link, 52, a county commissioner in Athens, Georgia, who recently wore a mask to a meeting when she had a head cold. “Nobody can afford to take days off work.”

For Link and others in states with conservative leadership, the emergency had been over for a long time, at least when it came to government rules. Many Republican governors, including the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, prohibited localities from requiring masks years ago, leaving the question of pandemic precautions almost entirely up to individuals or businesses.

But even in more liberal places, where masks were the norm throughout the pandemic and are hardly a rarity now, restrictions have long since been lifted.

“I’d be wearing a mask whether they have a mandate or not,” said Karen Stallard, 65, who was carrying groceries from a trip to Trader Joe’s in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. She has respiratory problems, she said, and calls masks “a medical necessity.” But she added that the choice was a personal one and should be. As for the federal health emergency, she said, “The time has come for it to end.”

Some said their continued mask-wearing was rooted in a sense of social responsibility, out of concern for the elderly stranger one might pass in the supermarket or sit next to on the bus.

“We never think about our old,” said Ariel Hsu, a 61-year-old retiree in Los Angeles. “They are the ones who have suffered the most from this.”

Others had more particular reasons.

Lindsay Kolasa, 46, a herbalist living in Santa Barbara, California, said she wore her mask for her 5-year-old daughter, hoping to keep her safe from all kinds of viruses going around. Anastasia McTague, 28, standing at the front desk of a dry cleaner in Maitland, Florida, said she wore hers for her co-worker, whose mother died of COVID.

“She has been kind of anxious about it the whole time, so I continue to wear the mask because it makes her feel better,” she said.

As with vaccine mandates and school

closures, there was never a universal embrace of masks. A broad array of medical professionals have strongly encouraged wearing masks and mandates, citing studies that showed that masks slow transmission. But a steadily growing bloc of vocal citizens and public officials have condemned mandates as infringements on personal freedom.

Many of the remaining federal COVID mandates are being lifted along with the expiration of the public health emergency. Among other consequences, people will no longer be eligible for eight free at-home tests a month through their insurance. But few of those who were interviewed Thursday were aware of the end of the health emergency, and those who

had heard about it mostly said it would have little effect on their day-to-day lives.

“I took it with a grain of salt,” said Anne Gaines, 53, of Brooklyn, who still wears a mask when in close quarters with other people. “I’m curious: Why now?” she asked of the announcement. “Maybe it’s the vaccine rate? It seems like a moving landscape.”

This sense of puzzlement was among the more common reactions: Why now; what does it mean; and what had really happened over the past three, strange, awful, bewildering years?

“What was it all about?” said Diane Soto, who was wearing a mask and walking into a Chinese restaurant Thursday afternoon in Altamonte Springs, Florida. “I don’t know.”

The essential (and at times, elusive) power of mustard oil

By PRIYA KRISHNA

When chef Asma Khan was growing up in Kolkata, India, she learned that there was very little mustard oil couldn’t do. Dry skin? Weak joints? A common cold? A dab of the oil could cure them all.

But she loves cooking with it most: drizzling it into begun pora, a rich and smoky mashed eggplant, or toasting garam masala in it before adding rice and goat to make tehari.

“You feel it coming through your nose,” said Khan, the owner of the Indian restaurant Darjeeling Express in London. “There is a part of it which is really pungent. There is a sweeter side. It is all coming from the mustard oil. It is like a living oil.”

Mustard oil, which is derived from the seeds of the mustard plant, is an everyday ingredient in parts of India and the subcontinent — and is particularly essential in Bengali cooking. In the West, though, it doesn’t have the same visibility.

Because undiluted mustard oil has a high quantity of erucic acid, which has been associated with lipid buildup in the heart based on studies of rats, the European Food Safety Authority recommends consuming mustard oil only in small quantities.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration banned most brands of mustard oil for consumption, with many labeled “for external use only,” used by home cooks. (Some brands, such as Carrington Farms, are sold specifically for cooking.)

For Khan and many South Asian cooks, mustard oil is what makes much of their food sing.

“The real taste of the Bengal cuisine comes from the mustard oil,” said Satyen Mazumdar, a former owner of the Indian restaurant Masalawala on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Mazumdar’s cooking inspired Masalawala & Sons, an eastern Indian restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, owned by his son, Roni, and chef Chintan Pandya.

At Masalawala & Sons, mustard oil weaves its way throughout the menu, awakening the bhetki paturi, fish steamed

in a banana leaf, and adding a pleasant sting to the kosha mangsho, lush chunks of braised lamb redolent with warm spices.

In the United States, there is a fledgling movement to change the FDA’s stance on mustard oil. Last year, a group of nutrition specialists published a paper that suggested potential health benefits, like improved insulin resistance, of consuming mustard oil.

Pia Sörensen and Davide Bray, scientists at Harvard University, are exploring how to reduce the erucic acid content in mustard oil. Sörensen said that, to prove whether mustard oil is harmful to eat, tests on humans — rather than rats — tracking the health of participants with different levels of mustard oil consumption are necessary. But these studies can take years.

Roni Mazumdar, of Masalawala & Sons, likened mustard oil to monosodium glutamate, or MSG, a flavor-intensifying chemical compound that can be found in a number of dishes, whether ranch dressing or mapo tofu, and faces stigma in the United States. Just like chefs who have educated diners on why MSG is safe to consume, “we are going to create that same cultural context all over with mustard oil,” Mazumdar said. “We are on that exact same path.”

After all, home cooks and professionals alike prepare dishes with mustard oil all the time.

“Think about it: The largest population in this entire world consumes mustard oil,” said Maneet Chauhan, who runs sev-

eral restaurants in Nashville, Tennessee, including Chauhan Ale and Masala House. “And the population is not going down, so there has to be something behind that.”

Bengali-Style

Mustard Oil Fish

Mustard oil, a key ingredient in many South Asian dishes, is especially important in Bengali cuisine. Its earthy, astringent flavor can bring complexity to a simple cooked vegetable, pickle or tadka. This weeknight dish is inspired by bhetki paturi, a mustard oil-coated fish that gets cooked in a banana leaf. In this recipe, foil is a stand-in for banana leaf (though feel free to use the leaf if you have one!), steaming the fish gently and infusing it with flavor. Coconut and mustard oil are a stellar combination here, as the sweetness of the coconut tempers the bitterness of the mustard oil and seeds. The juices that pool around the cooked fish are especially delicious; be sure to spoon those over the cooked rice.

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

1 fresh hot green chile (such as serrano or Thai bird’s eye), finely chopped

2 tablespoons unsweetened grated dried coconut

2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow onion

3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (such as Morton)

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon red chile powder (such as cayenne or Kashmiri)

3 teaspoons mustard oil for cooking (see Tip)

1 1/2 pounds cod or haddock, divided into 4 fillets

4 pieces aluminum foil, each large enough to make a loose packet around a fish fillet Cooked rice, for serving

Preparation:

1. In a large mortar and pestle, coarsely grind the black mustard seeds, then add the fresh chile, coconut and onion, and grind again into a paste. Transfer the paste to a medium bowl and mix in the salt, turmeric, red chile powder and mustard oil until incorporated. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, combine the mustard seeds, fresh chile, coconut, onion, salt, turmeric and red chile powder in a mini food processor and pulse until it resembles a paste, then transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the mustard oil until well blended.)

2. To the bowl, add the fish and toss (with clean hands) to evenly coat with the paste. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450 degrees.

3. After the fish is done marinating, place each fillet on one-half of a piece of foil and fold the other half over the fish. Then fold each side over a few times to create a pouch. You should have four pouches. Place the pouches on a baking sheet, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fillets. (Carefully open a corner of one packet; the fish should be just opaque throughout.)

4. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, divide the pouches among four plates or shallow bowls and serve with rice. Be sure to spoon the juices from the foil over the top of the fish for extra flavor.

Tip: Mustard oil is available at most South Asian grocery stores. Many will have the label “for external use only,” which some cooks tend to ignore. Some brands (such as Carrington Farms and Yandilla) are sold specifically for cooking and can be purchased in stores or online.

Bengali-style mustard oil fish in New York, March 28, 2023. Mustard oil is essential in Bengali cooking, where it features in many fish dishes.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE LUNA COMMERCIAL II, LLC

Demandante V. LUIS ANTONIO CRUZ MORALES, ANA LYDIA HOMAR MORALES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandada

Civil Núm.: JCD2006-0455. (603). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA.

A: LUIS ANTONIO CRUZ MORALES, ANA LYDIA

HOMAR MORALES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS Y AL PÚBLICO

EN GENERAL:

El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto - {243 Pueblo} Rico, hago saber a la parte demandada, y al PUBLICO EN GENERAL: y a todos los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surjan de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante a saber. Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 10 de abril de 2023 - {250 Fecha mandamiento}, por la Secretaria del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor las propiedades que ubican y se describen a continuación: PRO-

PIEDAD A : Dirección Física: 29, calle 25 de Julio (PR-332), Guánica, Puerto Rico. URBA-

NA: Solar radicado frente a la Calle veinticinco (25) de Julio del termino municipal de Guánica, Puerto Rico, con una cabida

superficial de trescientos noventa y nueve punto ochenta y cuatro (399.84) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en treinta (30.00)metros con solar ocupado por la Sra. Ondina Napoleon viuda de Siberon; por el SUR, en veintiocho punto ochenta (28.80) metros con solar ocupado por la Sucesión Rodriguez Chacón; por el ESTE; en trece punto setenta (13.70)metros con el caserío Luis Muñoz Rivera; y por el OESTE, en trece punto cincuenta (13.50) metros con la calle veinticinco (25) de Julio. Enclava en dicho solar un edificio de concreto y bloques techado de concreto que mide treinta (30) pies de frente por sesenta y dos (62) pies de fondo contiene un salón con dos (2) cuartos sanitarios, Consta inscrita al folio 55 del tomo 28 de Guánica, Finca numero 769, Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de San Germán. PROPIEDAD B: Dirección Física: Comunidad Paloma II, Calle 9, Solar 16, Susua Baja Yauco, Puerto Rico. RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el numero dieciseis (16) en el plano de parcelacion de la comunidad Rural Palomas II, radicada en el Barrio Susua Baja termino de Yauco, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de cuatrocientos sesenta y uno punto cuarenta y tres (461.43) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela dieciséis guión A (16-A); por el SUR, con la calle numero nueve (9); por el ESTE, con la parcela numero dieciocho (18); y por el OESTE, con la calle numero uno. En el mismo edificaron la siguiente estructura. Estructura de concreto de dos (2) plantas de sesenta y dos punto cincuenta y uno (62.51) pies cuarenta y un (41) pies. La primera planta dedicada a vivienda. Consta inscrita al folio 161 vuelto del tomo 477 de Yauco, Finca numero 9873, Registro de la Propiedad, Seccion II de Ponce. La finca 9873 se encuentra afecta al siguiente gravamen preferente: Sujeta a pago de legagos a favor de Ramon Corales Santana por $500.00 a favor de Tomas Corales Santana por $1000,00 a favor de Martin Corales Santana por $500.00, según Testamento Abierto #9 en Yauco el 2 de junio de 1992 ante el Notario Luis Nieves Lopez, inscrito al folio 160 del tomo 477 de Yauco, finca numero 9,873 inscripción 2da. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante, hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor, ascendente a $228,446.14 de principal, intereses no pagados ascendentes a $142,340.78, intereses acu-

mulado del 7 de febrero de 2005 al 9 de marzo de 2023 ascendentes a $419,071.75, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la deuda, la suma de $8,449.92 por concepto de cargos por pago atrasado, en adición a costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados según pactados. La venta de las referidas propiedades se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen que afecte las mencionadas fincas. 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 7 DE JUNIO DE 2023, para la Propiedad A a las 1:45 de la tarde, precio mínimo es la suma de $127,000.00; para la Propiedad B, a las 2:15 de la tarde precio mínimo es la suma de $140,000.00, según pactados en la Escritura de Hipoteca de cada finca, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 14 DE JUNIO DE 2023, para la Propiedad A, a las 1:45 de la tarde, precio mínimo es la suma de $84,666.67; para la Propiedad B, a las 2:15 de la tarde, precio mínimo es la suma de $93,333.33, equivalente a dos terceras partes (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta, en la oficina del referido, Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Ponce, Ponce Puerto Rico. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 21 DE JUNIO DE 2023, para la Propiedad A, a las 1:45 de la tarde, precio mínimo es la suma de $63,500.00, para la Propiedad B, a las 2:15 de la tarde, precio mínimo es la suma de $70,000.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localiza en el Centro Judicial de Ponce, Ponce Puerto Rico. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciem-

bre 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 Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 25 de abril de 2023. PEDRO RODRÍGUEZ LUGO, ALGUACIL #369, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Parte Demandante V. ROSIVETTE

TORRES RIVERA

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: MZ2021CV01411. IN REM: EJECUCIÓN DE HI-

POTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, hago saber a la parte demandada ROSIVETTE TORRES RIVERA, y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 16 de septiembre de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta por el precio mínimo de $117,826.00 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 [LOT 4 CALLE 8, BO. PEDERNALES, CABO ROJO, PR 00623]: RUSTICA: Porción de terreno marcado con el número Cuatro (4) en el correspondiente plano de inscripción, radicada en el barrio Pedernales, término municipal de Cabo Rojo, de una extensión superficial de quinientos cincuenta y tres punto cuatro mil novecientos treinta y siete (553.4937) metros cuadrados, equivalentes a cinco áreas y cincuenta y tres centiáreas, colindante por el NORTE, en dieciocho punto setenta y cinco (18.75) metros con terrenos propiedad de Félix Toro Sepúlveda; por el SUR, en dieciocho punto setenta y cinco (18.75) metros con una porción de terreno marcada con el número ocho en el correspondiente plano de inscripción que se describe más adelante y será destinada a uso público; por el ESTE, en veintinueve punto cincuenta y dos (29.52) metros con el solar marcado con el número cinco (5) en el correspondiente plano de inscripción que se describe más adelante; y por el OESTE, en veintinueve punto cincuenta y dos (29.52) metros con la porción de terreno marcada con el número tres en el correspondiente plano de inscripción anteriormente descrito. Finca 10350 inscrita al folio 76 del tomo 891 de Cabo Rojo, Registro de la Propiedad de San Germán. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes:

(i) Hipoteca: Por si, en garantía de un pagare suscrito bajo affidavit 241 a favor de Express Solutions Mortgage Corp, d/b/a Express-So Mortgage Bankers, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $117,826.00, con intereses a razón del 5.00% anual, con vencimiento el 1 de marzo del 2047. Tasándose en $117,826.00. Cuyos créditos y

demás condiciones constan del documento, mediante la escritura 21 otorgada en Cabo Rojo, el 13 de febrero de 2017 ante el notario José Manuel Álvarez Allende, según inscripción 8 del tomo Karibe de Cabo Rojo. La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dictada el 24 de junio de 2022, este Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia, mediante la cual se condena a la parte demandada, a pagar a la parte demandante la suma $114,100.98 de principal, más

$2,370.54 de interés al 5.00% anual que continuarán acumulándose a $15.7372 diariamente desde el 1 de septiembre de 2019 hasta el saldo total, $101.19 de cargos por demora, $88.94 de otros cargos, $11,782.60 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 parte demandada Rosivette Torres Rivera presentó petición de quiebra ante el Tribunal de Quiebras. En la corte de quiebra se autorizó a la parte demandante para que ejecute la garantía hipotecaria del préstamo. Habiéndose autorizado, no hay impedimento alguno para que Oriental presente este caso y solicite la ejecución de la hipoteca y la venta en pública subasta de la propiedad. Oriental no está solicitando el cobro de dinero a la parte demandada, sino la ejecución de la hipoteca para que se venda la propiedad en pública subasta. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 1 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 10 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del Alguacil, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la cantidad de $117,826.00, sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 8 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 10 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, $78,550.67. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 15 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 10 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, $58,913.00. El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto

el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy 08 de marzo de 2023. JOSÉ M. CRESPO NAZARIO, ALGUACIL PLACA #522, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE MAYAGÜEZ.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO CENTRO JUDICIAL DE FAJARDO

SALA SUPERIOR

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. WANDA DÍAZ MEDINA

Demandada

CIVIL NÚM.: FA2022CV00798

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA . ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA. EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, Fajardo, 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 18 de abril de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Río Grande Estates, situado en el Barrio Zarzal del término municipal de Río Grande, Puerto Rico, con el número, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación y contiene una casa de concreto reforzado diseñada para una familia , construida de acuerdo con los planos con el solar número treinta y cuatro del bloque R, con un área de trescientos doce metros cuadrados (312.00mc) en lindes por el NORTE, en trece metros con solar cuarentiuno; por el SUR, en trece metros con calle doce; por el ESTE, en veinticuatro metros con solar treintitres; y por el OESTE, en veinticuatro metros con solar treinticinco. Inscrita en la finca número 11,594, al folio 261 del tomo 245 de Río Grande, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección III de Carolina. La finca antes mencionada se encuentra afectada a un gravamen posterior al que

cuatro metros. Le corresponde en los elementos comunes el 1.17%. Finca Número 22,155, inscrita al folio 183 del tomo 696 de Monacillos. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección 3 de San Juan. La parte demandante alega que dicho pagaré ha sido saldado según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en la Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado 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. Debe notificar con copia de ella a la abogada de la parte demandante la Lcda. Lizbet Aviles Vega, Urb. Los Sauces, Calle Pomarrosa #222, Humacao, PR 00791; Tel. (787) 354-0061, 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 concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 05 de mayo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ

COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MYRIAM RIVERA VILLANUEVA, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

GABRIEL

ROSARIO SANTIAGO

Demandante Vs. MARIA ALTAGRACIA

LEGER FELIZ

Demandada

Civil Núm.: SJ2023RF00463.

Sobre: DIVORCIO, RUPTURA

IRREPARABLE. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: MARIA ALTAGRACIA

LEGER FELIZ.

CALLE LAFAYETTE

CONDOMINIO 702 PISO

3, SAN JUAN, PUERTO

RICO 00909 O SEA LA

PARTE DEMANDADA

ARRIBA MENCIONADA.

POR LA PRESENTE, se le no-

tifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal, por la parte demandante, una acción sobre divorcio. Es el abogado de la parte demandante:

LCDO. FELIPE BRAVO GARCIA RUA #8483

P. O. BOX 21090

SAN JUAN, P. R. 00928

TEL. / FAX: (787) 764-2275

Se le advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez, y que sino contesta la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días de haberse publicado el original de esa contestación ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior, Sala de San Juan, con copia a la parte demandante, se podrá dictar Sentencia en Rebeldía en contra suya, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 8 de mayo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. CARMEN J. CASTRO SERRANO, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL CONFIDENCIAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN SEBASTIÁN EMI EQUITY MORTGAGE, INC. COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIOS DE TRM, LLC.

Parte Demandante Vs. OSVALDO PAGAN

SCHARON, MARIA DE LOS ANGELES PEÑA HERNANDEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Parte Demandados

Civil Núm.: A2CI2012-00742.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Sebastián, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que en los autos y documentos del caso de epígrafe estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables y que venderá en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina en este Tribunal el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la Sentencia que posterior a las peticiones de quiebra radicadas asciende a la suma de $127,680.51 de principal, más los intereses acordadas sobre dicha suma desde el primero de

abril de 2018, más los intereses adeudados sobre dicho principal hasta su total pago y completo pago; más recargos acumulados, más cualquier suma de dinero por concepto de contribuciones, primas de seguro hipotecario y riesgo; cargos por demora devengados; más la suma de $15,885.46 como cantidad estipulada para honorarios de abogado, pactada en la escritura de hipoteca; y cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: RÚSTICA: Sita en el Barrio Culebrinas de San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, identificado en el plano de inscripción como solar tres (3), con una cabida superficial de novecientos ochenta y siete punto ciento ochenta y uno (987.181) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con solar (2), al SUR, con remanente de la finca principal, al ESTE, con punto común donde converge Carretera Municipal y uso Público y al OESTE, con Oscar Urrutia. Inscrita dicha hipoteca al folio 171 vuelto del tomo 571 de San Sebastián, finca número 25,867 del Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de San Sebastián. Dirección Física: RD 109 KM 26.6 Lot 3, Culebrina WD, San Sebastián, PR 00685. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 21 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $158,854.61, sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 28 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $105,903.07. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 5 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $79,427.30. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el mon-

to del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 2102015). Expedido el presente en San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, a 5 de mayo de 2023. LUIS A. NIEVES RIVERA, ALGUACIL CONFIDENCIAL #659, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN SEBASTIÁN.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN ABNER LUIS ORTIZ SANDOVAL Y GISELA PEREZ FUENTES Demandante V. FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC), POR CONDUCTO DE SUCESORES EN DERECHO DE R&G MORTGAGE CORPORATION, JUAN DEL DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y CUALESQUIERA PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2023CV01441. Sala: 701. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JUAN Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 10 de mayo de 2023. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 10 de mayo de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARÍA E. COLLAZO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Demandante V. JAVIER VALENTIN

GOYCO; SUCESIONES DE HIRAM VALENTIN GUILLET Y ELENA GOYCO MORALES COMPUESTA POR JAVIER, HIRAM Y BRENDA TODOS DE APELLIDOS VALENTIN GOYCO, Y FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, ZUTANO DE TAL Y ZUTANA DE TAL, A, B Y C, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES; HONORABLE SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO; HONORABLE SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE JUSTICIA DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO

Demandados Civil Núm.: AG2023CV00362. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S. S.

A: JAVIER VALENTIN GOYCO; SUCESIONES DE HIRAM VALENTIN GUILLET Y ELENA GOYCO MORALES COMPUESTA POR JAVIER, HIRAM Y BRENDA TODOS DE APELLIDOS VALENTIN GOYCO, Y FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, ZUTANO DE TAL Y ZUTANA DE TAL, A, B Y C, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto, radicando el original de la contestación ante el Tribunal y sala que se menciona en el epígrafe de este edicto con copia a la parte aquí demandante. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle.

Por la presente el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, conforme al caso de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria vs. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 DPR 689 (2005), le ordena que en el término de treinta (30) días, haga declaración aceptando

o repudiando las herencias de la SUCESIONES DE HIRAM VALENTIN GUILLET Y ELENA GOYCO MORALES. Se le apercibe que de no expresar su intención de aceptar o repudiar la herencia dentro del término que se le fijó, las herencias se tendrán por aceptadas. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. El abogado de la parte demandante es: Lcda. Melisa Figueroa Castro, 1606 Ave. Ponce de León, Edif. VIG Tower, Suite 706, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00907, Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax (787) 722-1932. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 8 de mayo de 2023. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA GENERAL. ZUHEILY GONZÁLEZ AVILÉS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

FIRSTBANK

PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. SIXTO CRUZ MORALES

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CG2022CV02460. Salón Núm.: (703). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: SIXTO CRUZ

MORALES: Y AL

PÚBLICO EN GENERAL:

El Alguacil que suscribe, certifica y hace constar que en cumplimiento de Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América. Todo pago recibido por el (la) Alguacil por concepto de subastas será en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del (de la) Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Todo derecho, título, participación e interés que le corresponda a la parte deman-

dada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Bairoa del Municipio de Aguas Buenas compuesto de 990.392 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la Carretera número 795 en dos distancias que forman 48.925 metros; por el SUR, en camino dedicado a Uso Público, en tres distancias que suman 75.976 metros; por el ESTE, con la Carretera Estatal número 795 y camino dedicado a uso público en un punto; y por el OESTE, en 30.00 metros, con el solar G-1 aprobado en el Caso número 78-45-F-08L-KPL. Enclava edificación, con un valor de $30,000.00, según escritura número #22, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 22 de febrero de 1991, ante el notario Francisco L. García Enchautegui, e inscrita al folio 224 del tomo 207 de Aguas Buenas, finca número #9,786, inscripción 2da. Consta inscrita al folio 223 del tomo 207 de Aguas Buenas, Finca Número #9,786, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Segunda de Caguas. La propiedad objeto de ejecución está localizada en la siguiente dirección: Bo. Bairoa, Carr. 795 km 0.9, Aguas Buenas, P.R. 00703. Se informa que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravamen posterior, una vez sea otorgada la escritura de venta judicial y obtenida la Orden y Mandamiento de cancelación de gravamen posterior. (Art. 51, Ley 210-2015). En relación a la finca a subastarse, se establece como tipo mínimo de licitación en la Primera Subasta la suma de $107,200.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca #1598, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 5 de noviembre de 2003, ante la notario Georgette M. Rodríguez Figueroa, inscrita al folio 226 vuelto del tomo 207 de Aguas Buenas, finca #9,786, inscripción Séptima. La PRIMERA SUBASTA, se llevará a cabo el día 12 DE JUNIO DE 2023 A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, el tipo mínimo para la primera subasta es la suma de $107,200.00. Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 20 DE JUNIO DE 2023 A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo sitio y servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes del precio pactada para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $71,466.66. Si la segunda subasta no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 27 DE JUNIO DE

2023 A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar y regirá como tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta la mitad del precio pactado para la primera, o sea, la suma de $53,600.00. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo, para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: La suma global de $66,961.74, la cual se desglosa a continuación: una suma principal de $66,589.25, con intereses a 6.125% anual, desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2021, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más una suma diferida de $372.99 (piggy back) la cual no genera intereses, más los cargos por demora que se corresponden a los plazos atrasados desde la fecha anteriormente indicada a razón de la tasa pactada de 5.00% de cualquier pago que éste en mora por más de quince (15) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, más una suma equivalente a $10,270.00, por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otra suma que resulte por cualesquiera otros adelantos que se hayan hecho la demandante, en virtud de las disposiciones de la escritura de hipoteca y del Pagaré hipotecario. Para más información, a las personas interesadas se les notifica que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal, durante las horas laborables. Este EDICTO DE SUBASTA, se publicará en los lugares públicos correspondientes y en un periódico de circulación general en la jurisdicción de Puerto Rico. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los referentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante 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. Se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente Escritura de Venta Judicial y el Alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días, de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Expedido en Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 10 de mayo de 2023. ALEJANDRO URBINA ROQUE, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #997.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL SUPREMO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN GERMÁN

JUAN RAMON VAZQUEZ

QUIÑONES Y CARMEN

JULIA OCASIO ALMODOVAR

Demandante V.

ORIENTAL BANK, COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHO DE RG PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO; JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y CUALQUIERA PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERES EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA

Demandado(a)

Civil: SG2023CV00114. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JUAN Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 11 de mayo de 2023. En San Germán, Puerto Rico, el 11 de mayo de 2023. LCDA. NORMA

G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. LYDIA SANTIAGO MORALES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

RODRIGUEZ RIVERA

Parte Demandante Vs VERISYALI COLON CABRERA

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: JU2023RF00045.

Sobre: DIVORCIO POR RUPTURA IRREPARABLE (CON HIJOS(AS). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.

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

A: VERISYALI COLON CABRERA.

3704 SERENITY DR HICKORY, NORTH CAROLINA 28602.

POR LA PRESENTE, se les emplaza y notifica que se ha presentado mediante el sistema SUMAC de la Rama Judicial de Puerto Rico, la Demanda del caso de epígrafe solicitando el Divorcio por la causal de Ruptura Irreparable, el establecimiento de la Patria Potestad y Custodia de los hijos menores y la Fijación de Pensión Alimentaria. Dentro del término de treinta (30) Díaz desde la publicación del presente edicto usted, deberá presentar original de la contestación ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas mediante el sistema SUMAC y notificar copia de la contestación de está a la abogada del demandante; Lcda.

Katia M. Vázquez Berríos a la dirección postal: 1335 Carr. 203 APT 138, Gurabo, PR 00778 y correo electrónico: lcda.katiavazquez@gmail.com, Tel: 787716-5577. Se le apercibe que, de no hacerlo, se le anotará la rebeldía y se podrá dictar sentencia en su contra, concediendo los remedios solicitados, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy 10 de MAYO de 2023.

LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL.

CARLA M. MARCANO SERRANO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

CARMEN DOLORES

FIGUEROA FIGUEROA, FÉLIX CARRILLO REXACH Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandantes V. SUCESIÓN PEDRO VÁZQUEZ MEDINA, COMPUESTA POR MARIA M VÁZQUEZ

RIVERA, MIGUEL ANGEL VAZQUEZ RIVERA, MIGDALIA VAZQUEZ RIVERA, JOSE DAVID VAZQUEZ

RIVERA, LUIS MANUEL VAZQUEZ RIVERA, ARTURO VAZQUEZ RIVERA, CARLOS RIVERA VAZQUEZ Y BERNARDINA RIVERA

BÁEZ; Y SUCESIÓN DE BERNARDINA RIVERA

BÁEZ, COMPUESTA POR

MARIA M. VAZQUEZ

RIVERA, MIGUEL ANGEL

VAZQUEZ RIVERA, MIGDALIA VAZQUEZ

RIVERA, LUIS MANUEL

VAZQUEZ RIVERA Y ARTURO VAZQUEZ RIVERA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01198.

Sala: 201 B. Sobre· ACCIÓN

CONTRADICTORIA DE DOMINIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: SUCESIÓN PEDRO

VÁZQUEZ MEDINA, COMPUESTA POR

MARIA M VÁZQUEZ

RIVERA, MIGUEL ANGEL VAZQUEZ

RIVERA, MIGDALIA

VAZQUEZ RIVERA, JOSE DAVID VAZQUEZ

RIVERA, LUIS MANUEL

VAZQUEZ RIVERA, ARTURO VAZQUEZ

RIVERA, CARLOS

RIVERA VAZQUEZ Y BERNARDINA RIVERA BÁEZ; Y SUCESIÓN DE BERNARDINA RIVERA BÁEZ, COMPUESTA POR MARIA M. VAZQUEZ RIVERA, MIGUEL ANGEL VAZQUEZ RIVERA, MIGDALIA VAZQUEZ RIVERA, LUIS MANUEL VAZQUEZ RIVERA Y ARTURO VAZQUEZ RIVERA.

Se le notifica a usted que se ha radicado en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala de Caguas, el Caso Civil Núm. CG2023CV01198. Se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de pre-

sentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se requiere que notifique a la LCDA. IVETTE ROSSANA GARCÍA CRUZ, a la siguiente dirección: PO BOX 373151, CAYEY, PR 00007373151. Teléfono 787-286-9900. Email: garciacruzlaw@gmail. com, Abogada de la Parte Demandante, copia de sus alegaciones y/o contestación a la demanda. Extendido bajo firma y sello de este Tribunal. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 5 de MAYO de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL INTERINA. KATHERINE CARRASQUILLO HERNÁNDEZ, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. ISABEL NAVEDO BURGOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2022CV06143. Sala: 504. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ISABEL NAVEDO BURGOS. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 6 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 9 de mayo de 2023. En BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, el 9 de mayo de 2023. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRE-

TARIA. VIVIAN J. SANABRIA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN XUANLU MUSIC LLC.

Demandante V. GARAGE DE MECÁNICA DÍAZ; áNGEL DÍAZ CASTRO T/C/C áNGEL MODESTO DÍAZ CASTRO

Demandados

Civil Núm.: KCD2013-0613. Sala: 902. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. AVISO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PUEBLO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S. YO, el(la) Alguacil que suscribe, por la presente anuncia y hace constar, que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia, expedido el 27 de enero de 2020 por la Secretaría del Tribunal de San Juan, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, quien pagará el importe de la venta en dinero efectivo o en cheque certificado o de gerente, a la orden del Alguacil suscribiente, en moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América, el día 14 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LA(S) 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en las oficinas del Alguacil del Tribunal de San Juan, todo título, derecho o interés que corresponda a la parte demandada sobre el inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar comercial de forma irregular silo en la Urbanización Extensión Reparto Metropolitano, Barrio Monacillos del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 1332.465 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, en un área de 7.134 metros, en un punto donde convergen lasCalles Nine South East y Fifty Two South East; por el Noroeste, en 28.620 metros, con la Calle Fifty Two South East; por el Noreste, en 26.649 metros con la Calle Nine South East; por el Este, en 28.65 metros, con solar A, segregado; por el Sureste, en 20.593 metros, con la Calle Fifty Two South East; y por el Suroeste, en alineaciones de 32.210 metros y 18.251 metros, con parcela perteneciente a Gulf Petroleum, S.A. Inscrita al folio 64 del tomo 608 de Monacillos, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección III, finca número 20,736.

Dirección Física: Calle 54 #1256, Urbanización Reparto Metropolitano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. La propiedad descrita anteriormente está afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: Por sí

afecta a Condiciones Restrictivas sobre edificación a favor de Fullana Corporation; Servidumbres a favor de la Autoridad de las Fuentes Fluviales de Puerto Rico; y del Gobierno de la Capital. Por sí: SERVIDUMBRE a favor de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico, según consta de la escritura número 158, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 6 de diciembre de 1968, ante la Notario Público M.A. Yolanda Pomales Álvarez, inscrita al folio 66 de tomo 608 de Monacillos, finca número 20,736, inscripción 2ª. HIPOTECA: En garantía de un pagaré a favor de Doral Bank, o a su orden, por la suma de $225,000.00, con interés al 7.95%, y vencedero a la presentación, según consta de la escritura número 270, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 30 de diciembre de 2003, ante el Notario Público Manuel L. Correa Márquez, inscrita al folio 96 del tomo 967 de Monacillos, finca número 20736 inscripción 8ª. ANOTACIÓN DE DEMANDA: Es objeto de esta anotación la Hipoteca a favor de Doral Bank, por la suma de $225,000.00 que surge de la inscripción #8ª. DEMANDANTE: Doral Bank; DEMANDADO: Titular, Cantidad Adeudada $309,203.45, por concepto de principal más intereses, según Demanda expedida por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, en el caso

Civil #KCD2013-0613 el día 14 de marzo de 2013, inscrito al folio 96 del tomo 967, Anotación “B” de fecha del 22 de abril de 2013. ANOTACIÓN DE DEMANDA: Es objeto de esta anotación la Hipoteca a favor de Doral Bank, por la suma de $225,000.00 que surge de la inscripción #8ª. DEMANDANTE: Doral Bank; DEMANDADO: Titular, Cantidad Adeudada $309,203.45, por concepto de principal más intereses, según Demanda expedida por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, en el caso

Civil #KCD2013-0613 el día 11 de marzo de 2013, inscrito al tomo Karibe, Anotación “C” de fecha del 5 de abril de 2019. Servirá como tipo mínimo para la primera subasta en ejecución de la Finca Número 20,736 antes descrita la suma de $225,000.00, conforme a lo estipulado en la Escritura de Hipoteca #270, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 30 de diciembre de 2003 ante el Notario Público Manuel L. Correa Márquez. De no adjudicarse la propiedad en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, en las oficinas del Alguacil del Tribunal de San Juan, el día 22 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LA(S) 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA. El tipo mínimo para la segunda subasta será dos terceras partes (2/3) del tipo mínimo dela primera subas-

ta, o sea, $150,000.00. De no adjudicarse la propiedad en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en en las oficinas del Alguacil del Tribunal de San Juan, el día 29 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LA(S) 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA. El tipo mínimo para la tercera subasta será la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo que se pactara para la primera subasta, o sea, $112,500.00. Esta subasta se hará para satisfacer a la parte demandante, hasta donde alcance, el importe adeudado a XUANLU MUSIC LLC. ascendente a la suma principal de $309,203.45, más los intereses sobre dicha suma al 7.95% anual, desde el día 1ro. de abril de 2012, hasta el total pago de la obligación, más la suma de $22,500.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, más aquellas sumas pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca por concepto de seguro y recargos adeudados desde la fecha antes mencionada y hasta el total pago de la obligación. La venta en pública subasta de la propiedad descrita anteriormente se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte dicha propiedad. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si lo hubiera, 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 el precio del remate. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables. El Alguacil 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. POR LA PRESENTE, se les notifica a los titulares de créditos y/o cargas registrales posteriores, si alguno, que se celebrará la SUBASTA en la fecha, hora y sitio anteriormente señalados, y se les invita a que concurran a dicha subasta, si les conviniere, o se les invita a satisfacer, antes del remate, el importe del crédito, sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del Acreedor ejecutante, siempre y cuando reúnan los requisitos y cualificaciones de Ley para que se pueda efectuar tal subrogación. Y PARA SU PUBLICACIÓN en el tablón de edictos de este Tribunal y en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio donde se celebrará la subasta señalada. Además, en un periódico de circulación general en dos (2) ocasiones y mediante correo certificado

a la última dirección conocida de la parte demandada. EXPEDIDO el presente EDICTO DE SUBASTA en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 8 de mayo de 2023.

JUAN A. SANTANA GARCÍA, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMON

BOSCO CREDIT X, LLC, representado por su Agente de Servicios FRANKLIN CREDIT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

Demandante Vs. JOSE LUIS

NORMANDIA CRUZ

Demandado

CIVIL NÚM.: DCD2018-0161.

(504). SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

Al: Público en General.

A: JOSE LUIS

NORMANDIA CRUZ; SCOTIABANK DE PUERTO RICO, (ahora ORIENTAL BANK), por tener Aviso de Demanda anotada a su favor por la suma de $156,782.32.

Yo, EDGARDO ELIAS VARGAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL

AUXILIAR PLACA #193, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 14 de junio de 2023 a las 10:15 de la mañana en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en la oficina del Alguacil de Subastas en el Cuarto Piso, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Bayamón durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una segunda subasta para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día 21 de junio de 2023, a las 10:15 de la mañana y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una tercera subasta el día 28 de

junio de 2023, a las 10:15 de la mañana en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue:

URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORI-

ZONTAL: Apartamento número Ochocientos Dos (802), localizado en el segundo piso del Edificio número Ocho (8) del CONDOMINIO TERRAZAS DE MONTECASINO, cuyo Condominio está localizado en el Barrio Candelaria de Toa Baja y en el Barrio Mucarabones de Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. El apartamento número Ochocientos Dos (802) está localizado en el Barrio Candelaria de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Consiste de una vivienda residencial de un piso, con un área superficial de MIL

CUATROCIENTOS OCHENTA Y CUATRO PUNTO SESENTA

(1,484.60) PIES CUADRADOS, equivalentes a CIENTO TREINTA Y SIETE PUNTO NOVENTA Y SIETE (137.97) METROS CUADRADOS. Colinda por el NORTE, con elemento común general exterior, en una distancia de CATORCE PUNTO TREINTA Y TRES (14.33) METROS; por el SUR, con elemento común general exterior y las escaleras y el vestíbulo del Edificio número Ocho (8), en dos (2) distancias de TRECE PUNTO ONCE (13.11) METROS y UNO PUNTO VEINTIDÓS (1.22) METROS; por el ESTE, con el apartamento número Ochocientos Cinco (805) y las escaleras del Edificio número Ocho (8), en dos (2) distancias de SIETE PUNTO TREINTA Y DOS (7.32) METROS y TRES PUNTO OCHENTA Y SEIS (3.86) METROS; y por el OESTE, con el Edificio número Siete (7), en una distancia de ONCE PUNTO DIECIOCHO (11.18) METROS. El apartamento número Ochocientos Dos (802) está compuesto de un (1) recibidor, sala, comedor, cocina, área familiar (“family room”), balcón, pasillo interior, closet de pasillo interior, cuarto de lavandería (“laundry”), un (1) baño en el área del pasillo interior, dos (2) dormitorios con un closet cada uno y un (1) dormitorio principal (“master bedroom”) con un (1) closet con pasillo (“walkin-closet”) y baño. La entrada principal de este apartamento está localizada en su lindero Sur, la cual conecta el recibidor del apartamento con el vestíbulo del segundo piso del Edificio número Ocho (8) del Condominio Terrazas de Montecasino, el cual es un elemento común general del Condominio Terrazas de Montecasino. Le corresponde como elemento común limitado del Condominio Terrazas de Montecasino un (1) estacionamiento doble (“back to back”) identificado con los Números Treinta y Ocho (38) y Treinta y Nueve (39). Este apartamento tiene una participación de Cero

punto Ocho Mil Seiscientos Cincuenta y Cuatro por ciento (0.8654 %) en los elementos comunes generales del Condominio Terrazas de Montecasino y una participación de Cero punto Cuatro Mil Cuatrocientos Noventa y Uno por ciento (0.4491 %) en los elementos comunes limitados del Condominio Terrazas de Montecasino. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Toa Baja, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Segunda, finca 32,882, inscripción 4ta. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Condominio Terrazas de Montecasino, Apartamento 802, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. La subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $145,272.53 de principal, intereses al 5.875% anual, desde el día 1ro. de agosto de 2018, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $16,270.80, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado y recargos acumulados, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será la suma de $162,708.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $108,472.00 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $81,354.00.

La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad hipotecada a ser vendida en pública subasta se encuentra afecta al siguiente gravamen posterior: Aviso de Demanda, del día 2 de octubre de 2014, expedida en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, en el Caso Civil Número DCD 2014-2655, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, seguido por Scotiabank de Puerto Rico versus José Luis Normandía Cruz, se solicita el pago de la deuda por $156,782.32, más costas, gastos e intereses, anotado el día 23 de mayo de 2018 al tomo

Karibe de Toa Baja, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Segunda, finca 32,882, Anotación A. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL,

expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 9 de mayo de 2023. EDGARDO ELIAS VARGAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #193, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. LEONARD IVÁN

HODAI JIMÉNEZ T/C/C

LEONARD I. HODAI JIMÉNEZ; ÁNGEL

RAFAEL FIGUEROA COLÓN; MINERVA JIMÉNEZ JIMÉNEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: TA2023CV00069.

Sobre: ACCIÓN IN REM, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

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

A: LEONARD IVÁN

HODAI JIMÉNEZ T/C/C

LEONARD I. HODAI JIMÉNEZ; ÁNGEL

RAFAEL FIGUEROA COLÓN; MINERVA JIMÉNEZ JIMÉNEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. Los abogados de la parte demandante son: Lcdo. Guillermo A. Somoza Colombani, P.O. Box 366603, San Juan, PR 009366603. Tel. (787) 919-0073, Fax

(787) 641-5016. Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 4 de mayo de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LUREIMY ALICEA GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE GUAYAMA SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. CARLOS JAVIER SOLIS VEGA T/C/C JUAN CARLOS SOLIS VEGA; JANNETTE RUIZ BERNIER Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandado

Civil Núm.: GM2022CV00738. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. Yo, HÉCTOR E. MÁRQUEZ NERIS, Alguacil de la División de Subastas del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guayama, a la demandada y al público en general, les notifico que, cumpliendo con un Mandamiento que se ha librado en el presente caso, por el Secretario del Tribunal, con fecha 10 de abril de 2023 y para satisfacer la Sentencia por la cantidad de $54,068.21 de principal, dictada en el caso de epígrafe el 27 de enero de 2023, notificada y archivada en autos el 2 de febrero de 2023, procederé a vender en pública subasta, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América, todo derecho, título e interés que haya tenido, tenga o pueda tener la deudora demandada en cuanto a la propiedad localizada en el: Municipio de Arroyo, Puerto Rico, el bien inmueble que se describe a continuación: Descripción: URBANA: Solar “C” guion nueve (C-9) de la Urbanización Arroyo Village radicado en los barrios Ancones y Palmas del término municipal de Arroyo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 360.512 metros cuadrados. Linderos: al Norte, en 16.948 metros, con el lote numero 10; al sur, en 16.332 metros, con la calle numero 2; al Este, en 19.788 metros, con la calle número 1 y al Oeste, en 24.00 metros, con el lote número 8. Enclava una estructura de bloques y concreto compuesta de tres cuartos dormitorios, un cuarto de servicio sanitario, cocina, comedor, sala y marquesina a destinarse exclusivamente para vivienda familiar. Como

parte del equipo de la vivienda incluye un calentador eléctrico de agua. Finca #9020, inscrita al tomo Karibe de Arroyo, Registro de la Propiedad de Guayama. Con el importe de dicha venta se habrá de satisfacer a la parte demandante las cantidades adeudadas, según la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guayama, cuyas cantidades ascienden a $54,068.21 de principal, intereses a razón del 7.950% anual, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda; $3,534.69 de cargos por demora, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda; más costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado El tipo mínimo para la subasta será la suma de tasación pactada, la cual es $56,000.00 para la propiedad descrita. Si no produjere remate o adjudicación la primera subasta, se procederá a una segunda subasta y servirá de tipo mínimo la cantidad de $37,333.33. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en esta segunda subasta, se procederá a una tercera subasta, en ésta el tipo mínimo será la cantidad de $28,000.00. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse a opción del demandante. Para el lote descrito, la PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 7 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. De no comparecer postor alguno se llevará a efecto una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 14 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. De no comparecer postor alguno se llevará a cabo una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 21 DE JUNIO DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. La subasta o subastas antes indicadas se llevarán a efecto en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guayama. Estudio de Título realizado, surge el siguiente gravamen posterior: Hipoteca constituida por los esposos Solís-Ruiz, a favor de la Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico por $15,000.00 sin intereses, vencedero el 9 de mayo de 2011, según Esc. #598 en San Juan el 9 de mayo de 2003 ante julio F. Fernández Rodriguez, inscrita al tomo Karibe finca #9020 de Arroyo, inscripción 3era y última. Se le advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el mismo acto de la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, giro postal o cheque de gerente a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s)

que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el término de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores, previa orden judicial dirigida al Registrador de la Propiedad de la sección correspondiente para la cancelación de aquellos posteriores. Y para conocimiento de la demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Librado en Guayama, Puerto Rico, a 18 de abril de 2023. HÉCTOR E. MÁRQUEZ NERIS, ALGUACIL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO.

VANESSA DE LEON RODRIGUEZ

Demandante V.

AUTORIDAD DE ENERGIA

ELECTRICA DE PUERTO

RICO; JUAN DEL PUEBLO

Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y

CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA

CANCELACIÓN POR

DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA

Demandado(a)

Civil Núm.: AR2023CV00520. Sala: 402. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIDO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SEN-

TENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERES EN LA OBLIGACION CUYA CANCELACION POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 8 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 10 de mayo de 2023. En ARECIBO, Puerto Rico, el 10 de mayo de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ALEXANDRA ÁLVAREZ NATAL, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN REVERE HIGH YIELD FUND LP Demandante V. FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO DEL CUAL Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2023CV02301. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., S.S.

A: FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO DEL CUAL,O

SEA LAS PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS

QUE PUEDAN SER

TENEDORES DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. POR MEDIO del presente edic-

Everybody wants Victor Wembanyama

By TANIA GANGULLI

Boris Diaw was passing through Paris in late September and thought he would check out a basketball game. A young player he had heard about for years was playing.

It was the first home game of the season for the Metropolitans 92, a French league team led by the star teenager Victor Wembanyama. At Marcel-Cerdan Sports Palace in Levallois, near Paris, NBA scouts sat courtside and fans trickled into the stands. A person in a bee costume, the Mets’ mascot, trotted around offering high-fives.

Diaw grew up in Paris and played 14 years in the NBA, including more than four seasons in San Antonio with Tony Parker, considered by many to be the best NBA player ever to come out of France. But on that day in September, Diaw felt as if he had never seen so much excitement about a French player, even before scouts and celebrities watched Wembanyama dominate in a Las Vegas showcase, and before the demand to see him grew so overwhelming that the team had to move a game to a larger arena.

The enthusiasm is intense. So is the pressure.

“I mean, it’s tough for him,” Diaw said. “I hope he can actually get away from that and just focus on his career and playing and practicing and having fun, too.”

Wembanyama has been hailed as the most surefire NBA prospect since LeBron James, and he is all but certain to be the No. 1 pick in the draft in June. But the pressure of being the first player chosen in the NBA draft can crush even high school phenoms, big-name college players and international stars. The teams vying for that top pick in Tuesday’s draft lottery have to consider that, too.

But Wembanyama’s history and the way he has handled the past eight months, as the hype around him has intensified, suggest that he thrives under pressure. When the stakes are the highest, that’s when he’s at his best.

“It’s just something that’s inside of me that’s always been there,” Wembanyama said one October evening in Las Vegas, between a set of exhibition games designed as his American introduction. “It could be basketball or just a card game. Under pressure, I’ve been twice as good.”

One lucky NBA team will be banking on that. The Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs had the three worst regularseason records this year, giving each the best possible shot — a 14% chance — to win the top pick among 14 lottery teams Tuesday.

“Ten days before knowing my future team,” Wembanyama wrote in French on Twitter on May 6. “It’s really a crazy thing.”

‘Expected to Be the Savior’

In many team sports, one player can’t reroute a wayward franchise. Basketball is different. Think of how James, the first overall pick in 2003, lifted the Cleveland Cavaliers to championship contention from obscurity and how Ewing helped lead the Knicks to 13 consecutive playoff berths, including two trips to the NBA Finals. Or how Shaquille O’Neal, selected first in 1992, made the fledgling Orlando Magic a playoff team before he and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to three straight championships.

The weight of carrying a franchise’s hopes can be challenging, especially when it doesn’t work out.

In 2007, when the Portland Trail Blazers had the first pick in the draft, the consensus around the league was that the two best players were center Greg Oden and forward Kevin Durant.

“They even had billboards up around the city,” said Jim Taylor, who was a longtime communications executive for the Trail Blazers. “Honk once for Oden, twice for Durant.”

Portland took Oden at No. 1, and the Seattle SuperSonics drafted Durant second overall. Taylor rode the plane back with Oden, and thinks Oden must not have had any idea what awaited him — an exultant news conference followed by a rally packed with fans.

The Trail Blazers and many of their fans thought Oden’s arrival would mark the start of a dynasty, as he joined Brandon Roy, the

2007 NBA rookie of the year, and LaMarcus Aldridge, who had just made the all-rookie first team. The last time Portland had won a championship, in 1977, Hall of Famer Bill Walton was the big man who had led them there.

“That’s a lot of pressure; there’s no two ways about it,” Taylor said. “I can’t imagine being that young, having played just one year of college basketball, coming in and being expected to be the savior of the franchise or the new upcoming face of the NBA.”

A knee injury sidelined Oden for his first season and later three others. He played his last NBA game in 2014.

There have been more hits than misses at the No. 1 pick — 12 of the past 20 have made All-Star teams — but the expectations for Wembanyama are higher than individual awards.

Wembanyama has long felt destined to do something great.

‘Born for This’

When Wembanyama was 14, he hoped he would not only make it to the NBA but be the top draft pick and lead a team to a championship.

“This is a country of dreams, of the American dream, you know?” said Bouna Ndiaye, Wembanyama’s agent. “‘I’m the best.’ They all want to be the best. Victor, he has this attitude in him every day, doing his best to be unique, and yeah, that’s very different from the French culture. But I think it just fits where he is going now.”

Wembanyama is 7-foot-3 with an 8-foot wingspan, which would set him up to be a great center. But he also has the agility and

shooting touch of a guard. There’s no one else like him, which has escalated the projections of his ceiling almost beyond reason.

But he has spent his life surpassing his and others’ lofty expectations.

“To talk about pressure, I don’t think that that’s an appropriate word for Victor because he, I think he’s born for that,” Ndiaye said. “He’s just naturally born for this kind of situation.”

Wembanyama’s affinity for pressure-filled moments has shown throughout this season with Metropolitans 92.

In October, in a two-game exhibition in Las Vegas that was nationally televised in the United States, Wembanyama faced the NBA’s G League Ignite team featuring guard Scoot Henderson, who is expected to be the second pick in the draft.

With scouts from every NBA team there, Wembanyama put on a show in the first game, scoring 37 points with seven 3-pointers and five blocked shots. But the Ignite won, and Wembanyama said he barely noticed the NBA players sitting courtside to watch him because he was too upset about the loss.

He was asked about shooting so many 3s.

“At some point it was just about taking over because my team definitely needed players to step up,” he said, adding, “Three is more than two, so this time you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

Two days later the teams met again. This time, Wembanyama had 36 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Metropolitans 92 won 112-106.

‘He Has His Own Agenda’

Wembanyama is thinking about both his future and his present. He asks the people managing his schedule not to overload it so he can focus on his team’s games. He keeps telling people he thinks the Mets, who are second in their league, can win the championship. If they do, the championship round would end just a few days before the NBA draft.

In the months since his season began, Wembanyama’s fame has grown. But what hasn’t changed is the way he tries to keep himself grounded. He can often be spotted with a book in his hand, whether he’s boarding a team bus or meeting people after a game.

He still enjoys doing things that allow him to reset so that his goals can’t overwhelm him.

“Victor is living his life,” Ndiaye said with a laugh. “After 9 p.m., you cannot reach him. He’s drawing, reading, listening to music, classical music, he has his own agenda.”

Next on his agenda: reaching his wildest dreams.

Victor Wembanyama, a 19-year-old French basketball star, after a home game with his league team, the Metropolitans 92, in Levallois, France, on the outskirts of Paris, Sept. 30, 2022.

When your champions league dream runs through a war zone

By TARIQ PANJA

By the time Lassina Traoré returned to his team, everybody else was gone.

In 2021, Traoré, a forward from Burkina Faso, had joined the other expensive foreign recruits lured to Ukraine by the country’s perennial soccer champion, Shakhtar Donetsk. Back then, Traoré played in a team built around a Brazilian core, supplemented by other foreign talent and some of Ukrainian soccer’s best players, for a club that was regarded as arguably the top team in Eastern Europe. Then the Russian bombs began to fall, and everything changed.

When Shakhtar returned to practice after a monthslong hiatus abroad, the cosmopolitan air of the club had vanished. A roster that had been dotted with almost a dozen Brazilians just over a year ago now contains only one. Clubs elsewhere in Europe, shopping for bargains amid broken contracts, skimmed off other talent. Even Roberto De Zerbi, Shakhtar’s highly rated Italian coach, had moved on.

Traoré, like all the others, could have gone, too. FIFA, soccer’s governing body, issued an edict shortly after the start of the war that allowed foreigners, whatever their contractual status, to unilaterally quit Ukrainian teams and sign elsewhere.

Traoré was vacationing in Barcelona, Spain, on the day Russia invaded Ukraine. He could only follow from afar as Shakhtar’s foreign stars — crammed in a hotel conference room with their families — pleaded for help as war planes circled the skies above Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Within a few days, they had left the country. Those who escaped did not return.

Traoré returned to Amsterdam, where he had previously played for the Dutch club Ajax, to wait out the early months of the war. While the rest of Shakhtar’s armada of foreign talent found new clubs — some back home in Brazil, others in Europe — Traoré took his time. Slowly, the thought of returning to Shakhtar started to look like not only a viable option but the right thing to do.

“I had many options,” he said after a recent practice in Kyiv, where the team has been based for the last few weeks. “The club knows. I know. And we discussed it. But I decided to stay.”

For him, he said, “it’s in my culture

that when they give you something, you have to give something back. For me, it was time to give back the love they gave me before.”

Traoré said that he understood why many of his teammates decided not to return. He admitted that he had some difficult conversations with his wife and parents before agreeing to do so. (His wife is now living with his parents at their home in Paris.)

For most of the season the team lived in a hotel complex in the western city of Lviv, but it has recently moved to Kyiv, closer to its training ground. A return to Donetsk, in the east, is out of the question; Russian forces have controlled the city since last year, joining separatists that forced Shakhtar into exile as long ago as 2014.

The club Traoré has rejoined is a shadow of the powerhouse it once was. The squad and its finances have been gutted; Shakhtar estimates that it has lost at least $40 million worth of talent for nothing as a result of FIFA’s decision to let players walk away from their contracts.

“We have no money,” the club’s CEO, Sergei Palkin, said on a recent visit to London. The Ukrainian league’s return, as much a symbol of the country’s resolve as a sporting competition, is played out in front of empty stands and to the sound of occasional air raid sirens forcing players from the field. The league’s television contract has collapsed. Sponsors have all but disap -

peared.

“We have no income from Ukraine,” Palkin said. “Zero.”

What money there is has come from Shakhtar’s presence in the Champions League and the Europa League, European soccer’s second-tier competition, and from the record transfer fee the club received by selling its star Ukrainian forward Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea in England.

New money cannot come soon enough. While FIFA allowed foreign players to leave Shakhtar without a fee, it insisted the club pay any debts to the clubs it signed those foreign players from, including a handful that did not play a single minute for the club because of the war, according to Palkin.

Traoré’s decision to return, then, came as a pleasant surprise. He had cost the club $10 million in a transfer fee when he joined from Ajax in 2021. A forward who was not considered a mainstay before the war, he is suddenly a pivotal figure, and not just for what he is doing on the field.

His continued presence, Traoré and the club hope, is a sign to potential recruits that soccer in Ukraine remains a viable career option. It is an option that proved alluring to players with European dreams like Kevin Kelsy, an 18-year-old striker from Venezuela.

Not so long ago Kelsy would not have been a target for Shakhtar, which for years used the wealth of its oligarch owner to shop at a higher price brack-

et. But now, in its more straitened state, Shakhtar has turned to eager young players like Kelsy and recruits from Georgia and Tajikistan.

Kelsy said signing a five-year contract with a club in a country at war was a surprisingly easy decision. The prospect of fulfilling a dream of making it to Europe trumped everything else, he said — even the persistent threat from Russian missiles and planes, the regular drone of air raid sirens and the rumble of distant explosions. His family, though, had questions.

“When I told them, they asked, ‘Why Ukraine?’” he said in an interview in Spanish. “They knew everything that happened, and there was a little bit of nervousness and a little of fear. But I spoke to them about this theme, that it’s very important for me to go to play football in Europe, in a big team like Shakhtar, and in the end they understood.”

Kelsy, like the scores of South Americans who have signed for Ukrainian clubs in the past, views the club as a steppingstone on a journey that he hopes might one day propel him to the club of his dreams, AC Milan. Games in elite competitions like the Champions League, he knows, offer an elite stage to show he belongs. (Shakhtar, which led the Ukrainian league entering the weekend, is on track to return to the competition next season.)

Having lost so many players, Palkin, the Shakhtar CEO, now insists that any new recruits sign contracts that include clauses that would prevent them from taking advantage of any FIFA regulations that would allow them to suddenly leave. Any player who signs on now, he said, surely understands the commitment they are making.

So strong is the pull of making it as a professional in Europe, though, that Kelsy said not even war could stop him from coming. “I try not to think about it,” he said, “and focus on what matters now.”

As a new recruit, Kelsy knows no other reality as a Shakhtar player. That is not the case for Traoré, who recalls far more luxurious times. In those days, jet travel and big crowds were the norm, not the long, arduous bus journeys that are now required to fulfill fixtures in empty stadiums.

“It’s not normal life like we used to have: no home, you can’t see family, and also you have to always be careful, sirens on all the time,” he said. “But you get used to it.”

Lassina Traoré said he returned to Shakhtar as a matter of honor. “For me, it was time to give back the love they gave me before.

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

Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

You were born with a certain grace and beauty, Aries. Today you will be able to cultivate your love for beautiful things. You may feel like trying on designer clothes or expressing your innate aesthetic sense by painting. Today your five senses will guide you with the help of your imagination and your artist’s temperament.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

You have some very urgent desires, but they remain a secret to everyone else. In solitude, you cultivate your interest in philosophy and mysticism. Today, it’s as if you’re absent from the world. Your body and actions are in the real world, but you have gone so far into yourself that it will be hard for people around you to get you out! What incredible concentration!

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

You’re usually the life of the party, but today you may want to pull into your cocoon, far away from the world and all its noise. You need to empty yourself of all negative ideas and thoughts. It’s time to do some mental housecleaning and rid yourself of notions that were planted in you as a child. Now you can start all over again.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

Your judgment about people relies too much on general opinion, Cancer. As soon as you meet someone, you accept what others think about him or her without trying to find out more. This lack of curiosity could lead you to make a hasty decision about someone today. If you take the time to listen with your heart, you could be impressed by what you hear.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Do you have a tendency to give more weight to popular opinion than your own feelings, Leo? Maybe you only want to see movies that everyone talks about, listen to the popular music, or read best sellers. In short, your tastes are exactly like most of America’s. Is this what you want? Even when you don’t like a movie, you may say you do if everyone else does. Listen to your ideas today.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

Your thoughts are leaning toward the past, Virgo. You aren’t moving backward, but you may want to get in touch with your roots in order to move into the future. You would also like to better understand of the mistakes of the past. You’re going to be something of a psychoanalyst today.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

People can read you like a book today, Libra. Because of the current planetary positions, you’re a bit touchier than usual. Your reactions to certain situations are written all over your face. You’re blushing and your hands are sweating and trembling. Each of your gestures reveals emotion. This would be a great time to be in love. Watch out for love at first sight!

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

Your excellent analytical skills may not be up to par over the next few days. You seem overwhelmed by your emotions. You have a hard time hiding your feelings and processing the information you receive. Instead of trying to understand people, you tend to interpret their actions and imagine things that aren’t true. Be careful of your judgment at the moment. It’s way off base!

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

The planetary aspects invite you to explore strong expressions of feeling, Sagittarius. A declaration of love, autobiography, spiritual confession, apology, or reconciliation. All these kinds of communication bring a kind of intimate revelation. This might be what you need in order to take advantage of the powerful inspiration of the moment.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

This is an excellent time to share your feelings with the person you love, Capricorn. It might seem a little scary to you. You’re usually a reserved person, but you may surprise yourself with the passionate declarations that reflect your happiness now. Take advantage of this, because things could change over the next few days. You may go back into reclusive mode!

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

You may feel like walking barefoot, comforting your friends, or playing with children. There’s a tenderness and openness in the air that affects everyone. It will be like a wonderful day in the country, where everyone is happy to see each other, hug, and tell old family stories for the hundredth time. These days make young people laugh and old people smile.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

The current planetary aspects are heightening your natural compassion for other people. Your relationships will be at the front of your mind today, Pisces. You feel good about yourself and other people can tell! People are attracted to you and wish to partake of your healing serenity. Listen without judgment as people pour out their hearts. That is a very precious skill.

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