Wednesday Nov 29, 2023

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

San Juan The

Star

DAILY 50¢

Cayey Celebration to Put Accent on Flavors, Sounds of the Season

P6

‘Gotcha’ or Empty Complaint?

PREPA Bondholders Use Governor’s Own Words in Attempt to Prove Utility Can Pay More of Its Debt P3

Caravan to Raise Awareness About Stray Bullets Is Set to Roll on Friday P4

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 16

After More Than 2 Weeks, Rescue Arrives for Workers Trapped in Indian Tunnel P13

2 Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING 3

November 29, 2023

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.

PREPA bondholders use governor’s own words in attempt to prove utility can pay more of its debt

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uerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) bondholders are using Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia’s own words to prove that the utility can pay more of its debt than it has let the bankruptcy court know, according to a motion filed this week.

During a recent PREPA bankruptcy hearing, GoldenTree Asset Management LP and Syncora Guarantee Inc. said counsel to the Financial Oversight and Management Board, which represents PREPA, made the assertion that the economy in Puerto Rico is going down and not up.

The argument was made during hearings in support of PREPA’s debt adjustment plan.

“Your Honor has, I think, heard that before, and no doubt will hear it again,” the oversight board attorney said. “I just want to emphasize that the [oversight] Board spends its time, its full time, monitoring Puerto Rico, and trying to provide for a better sustainable economy going forward. We are well aware of the numbers. And the reason why we haven’t broken out the champagne and started celebrating is that Puerto Rico is benefiting big time, as it should, from federal money flowing from both Hurricane Maria and the COVID crisis. And our fiscal plans, and the Judge is -- your Honor has probably noted them in the graphs, [which] show what happens when the Federal money stops, and it’s not a pretty picture. And that’s why we’re still working on it. Our plan here has to -- because it’s issuing 35-year-bonds, and it’s long-term sustainability, we have to plan for the long term, not for the sugar high for a few years of federal money.”

However, the bondholders noted that the next day, Pierluisi made statements during a televised interview that directly contradicted the statements made in court by counsel to the oversight board “to support a plan of adjustment built on an artificially depressed fiscal plan.”

Pierluisi’s remarks came in response to a question posed about the statement made by the oversight board’s counsel. The bondholders said the governor’s remarks confirmed that Puerto Rico has for three years experienced, and will over the next decade continue to experience, “substantial growth” based on a number of factors contributing to a strong economy.

Pierluisi also stated that “it’s important to understand the role that this attorney is playing.”

“This lawyer is striving for us to have the largest reduction, the largest possible reduction in the debt of the Electric Power Authority,” the governor said. “And what he’s saying, on one side, you have the bondholders, the creditors of the authority, saying, ‘Oh no, Puerto Rico is experiencing an unprecedented economic boom, so

any amount can be paid. The Electric Power Authority will generate incredible revenues.’ And what this attorney is doing is saying ‘No, that’s not the case.’”

Pierluisi went on to say that “we have experienced growth. For three years in a row. The Planning Board has said that we will see growth over the next decade.

Part of this growth is indeed fueled by federal funds and the ongoing reconstruction.”

But there’s more to it than that,” the governor continued. “Do you know why? Manufacturing here is thriving, tourism, hotels are at full capacity. We are breaking records in the number of passengers traveling through the international airport. We have a huge number of short-term rental properties contributing to the treasury, to the government, alongside what the hotels contribute through the room tax. In other words, this is a new Puerto Rico, and so, what we’re seeing here is substantial growth. Of course, this attorney wanted to say, ‘Hold on, that’s not the case. Just because there is this growth, it doesn’t mean that the authority can pay off any amount.’ Because, after all, who pays the electricity rates? Everyone -- the general public, businesses. And we do not want electricity rates to go up significantly.”

The oversight board, meanwhile, is seeking to force the bondholders to drop their complaint, arguing that it is void.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Caravan to raise awareness about stray bullets is set for Friday

By THE STAR STAFF

F

or 20 consecutive years, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and the island Public Housing Administration have joined forces with the Manuel A. Pérez residential community and other government agencies to raise awareness about celebratory gunfire into the air.

“Once again, we join the demand that arises from the public housing communities to raise awareness of the danger of gunshots in the air and the need that we all have to live in peace and Public Housing Administrator Alejandro Salgado Colón enjoy Christmas without repeating one more tragedy as a result of this practice,” the Department of Public Safety and guez Rodríguez said “it is important to Public Housing Administrator Alejandro the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, and is continue carrying this message so that Salgado Colón said. part of the public policy of Gov. Pedro Puerto Rico does not suffer the loss of A caravan, which is being organized Pierluisi, will tour various communities a life as a result of a stray bullet again.”

by Manuel A. Pérez residential com- in San Juan with the same call against “This demand must be replicated not plex community leader Roberto “Papo shots fired into the air. only in public housing; this is a message Christian” Pérez in collaboration with Housing Secretary William Rodrí- that has to be heard throughout Puerto

Rico,” he added.

The effort emerged after an increase in NewYear’s Eve fatalities caused by stray bullets, and since its inception in 2004, two deaths have been reported in Puerto Rico, with Karla Michelle Negrón Vélez being the last victim in 2011.

At a press conference, in which the director of the Governor’s Office, Caridad Pierluisi; Rodríguez, the Housing chief; Salgado, the public housing administrator; the commissioner of the Police Bureau, Antonio López; the mayor of San Juan, Miguel Romero; Sens. Juan Oscar Morales and Nitza Morán; and Reps. Victor Parés and José “Cheito” Hernández; it was announced that the motto of the caravan will be “Don’t Take My Life with a Stray Bullet,” and it will take place this Friday, Dec. 1 at 8 a.m., when it will depart from the community center of the Manuel A. Pérez residential complex.

Ex-Gov. Calderón to resume Special Communities flagship project

By THE STAR STAFF

F

ormer Gov. Sila María Calderón revealed Tuesday that her foundation will resume the Special Communities program, which was her flagship project during her tenure in La Fortaleza.

“This is something that I carry in my soul, and it is my life project. Since I arrived at Cantera, my life has not been the same,” Calderón said. “And this coming year, we are going to devote the work of my foundation to the Special

Communities. […] We are going to adapt our programs to the special communities, to the extent we can; obviously I no longer have the billion [dollars] that I had as governor.”

The former Popular Democratic Party governor’s program was blamed for the insolvency problem at the now defunct Government Development Bank [GDB] because the governor used $1 billion in the bank’s capital money for projects in thousands of needy communities.

Calderón has denied the allegation.

“When I came to government, after the

administration of a person I will not mention, the government coffers were bled dry. There was no money to pay the first payroll,” she said in a radio Isla report. “There were more than 30,000 checks written but without funds.

The Development Bank was bleeding. […] It is only two years, or almost three years into my administration that I then make my proposal for the billion [dollars], because there were already some for the special communities. And I am happy and I have no regrets.”

Created to help Puerto Rico’s economy, the GDB evolved and its role expanded to include, among other services, acting as a financing backstop for fiscal losses of the government, its agencies, municipalities, and public corporations. The GDB was also called upon to provide financial support during periods of financial distress, leveraging its strong credit rating, reputation, access to the capital markets and its constructive relationship with the investment community to provide financial support to troubled public entities and assist them in regaining financial stability.

Due to the expansion of services over time and a confluence of other decisions and actions, the GDB found itself immersed in a fiscal and viability crisis. The loss of its investment grade rating in 2014, the resulting loss of market access, and the decision by the government to default on appropriation debt in 2015, left the

GDB with significant non-performing assets, limited available liquidity, and the inability to repay its debts.

The former governor, meanwhile, refused to answer questions about her relationship with former husband Ramón Cantero Frau, but she did talk about the cancer diagnosis she received after her divorce.

“I didn’t have to have chemotherapy, only radiotherapy,” she added. “That becomes known now. I have things, I take care of myself.”

Former Gov. Sila María Calderón

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

5

Former soldiers inducted into Veterans Hall of Fame

By THE STAR STAFF

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welve distinguished veterans with an outstanding record of military performance and contribution to civilian life were inducted Tuesday into the Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame, Veterans Advocate Agustín Montañez Allman said.

The ceremony took place at 10 a.m. in the Puerto Rico Lottery Drawing Hall on Chardón Avenue in Hato Rey. Montañez Allman and Gen. (Ret) Fernando Fernández, who conceived of the Hall of Fame and directs its selection and accreditation process, stressed that the latest induction class constitutes a broad reflection of the great contribution of the Puerto Rican military in the military field as well as in its civic activities, in all orders of the island’s collective life as a people.

Likewise, the Class of 2023 also reflects the honorable fulfillment of duty assumed by veterans in the different conflicts in which the U.S. military forces have participated.

Attorney Montañez Allman, who is also a decorated veteran for his participation in the Persian Gulf War, noted that the Class of 2023 recognizes the military contribution of the female veteran, and several who rendered their last service to the country.

During the ceremony, each new member received the medal and certificate that certifies their entry into the Hall of Fame.

The latest Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame induction class constitutes a broad reflection of the great contribution of the Puerto Rican military not only in the military field but also in its civic activities, in all aspects of the island’s collective life as a people.

The inducted veterans were: Pedro Rosa Nales, a journalist and military veteran who served as a paratrooper in the Army with the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions; Juan Cancel Ríos (1925-1992), who was a prominent Puerto Rican lawyer, athlete and politician who served during World War II; Rear Adm. José M. Cabanillas (1901-1979), who served during World War II as executive officer of the warship USS Texas, which participated in the invasions of North Africa, Normandy and southern France; Dr. Mario E. Rosa

García (1927-2002), who was a prominent physician and pioneer of nuclear medicine in Puerto Rico; 2nd Sgt. (Ret.) Ángel L. Acevedo Bernard, a combat veteran of three wars who served in the Asian-Pacific theater during World War II; Capt. (Ret.) Haydée Javier Kimmich, MD, a former Navy orthopedic hand surgeon who, in 1967, while a civilian physician, volunteered to go to Vietnam as part of the American Medical Association’s “Vietnam Project” volunteer program; and Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Augusto Gautier, a prominent Puerto

Rican military officer and architect who served for 30 years with the Army Reserve, including as its commanding general from 1980 to 1984; Col. (Ret.) Rafael B. Acosta Rosario, a distinguished Puerto Rican military officer, administrator and businessman who served as an infantry officer with the Army in the Vietnam War; Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Félix E. Ocasio Belén, who has stood out for his achievements as an administrator, soldier and civic leader; Margarita Hernández Ortiz, who served for 20 years in the National Guard, graduating from the military in 1999, and who after an accident that caused her to become paraplegic, became a member of the Puerto Rico Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America in 2011, participating for the first time in the National Wheelchair Veterans Games in 2014 in Philadelphia; Comnd.

Sgt. Maj. (Ret.) Pedro Rosado Gómez, who enlisted in the Army in 1982, serving as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, and later joining the Army Reserve, where he served in numerous leadership positions as a noncommissioned officer until his retirement in 2008; Rear Adm. Guido Valdes, who earned his M.D. at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and during a 30-year military career has had numerous assignments with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, as a medical officer, executive officer, and commander in military medical units and hospitals in Afghanistan, the United States, Spain, Iraq and Italy.

Colombian becomes 11 millionth passenger to arrive at LMM

By THE STAR STAFF

A

43-year-old Colombian was welcomed in a festive atmosphere after becoming the 11 millionth passenger to arrive in Puerto Rico through the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (LMM) on Tuesday.

“This historic figure anticipates other passenger movement records in December and in the years to come,” said Jorge Hernández, president of LMM operator Aerostar Puerto Rico. “It is good news for the airport community, the tourism industry, and the island.”

To celebrate the event, Aerostar welcomed the traveler upon his leaving Terminal B with a lively celebration to the sound of Afro-Caribbean rhythms performed by the Gíbaro ensemble and numerous gifts to commemorate the day.

The 11 millionth passenger is Héctor Julián Romero, a Colombian businessman. His arrival on the island oc-

curred at 11:55 a.m. on Avianca flight 214, from Bogotá, Colombia.

Upon arrival of the flight, he was received by the Aerostar team, headed by Hernández as well as representatives of the Tourism Company and the airline.

Hernández welcomed Romero on behalf of the airport community. The Aerostar staff received him with traditional Puerto Rican items and gave him a check for $1,100, courtesy of the company. In addition, an Avianca representative gave Romero a round-trip ticket to return to the island.

“The Luis Muñoz Marín airport is consolidating itself in a competitive industry,” Hernández said. “On December 27, 2022, we celebrated with great joy the arrival of the 10 millionth passenger through our facilities. This year, 2023, in 11 months, we have surpassed that number, and we welcome with satisfaction the news that we have reached 11 million passengers.”

To celebrate the arrival milestone, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport operator Aerostar welcomed Colombian traveler Héctor Julián Romero upon his leaving Terminal B with a lively celebration to the sound of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and numerous gifts to commemorate the day.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Governor appoints Ramos Miró as PRFAA director in Florida

By THE STAR STAFF

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ov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Tuesday announced the appointment of Mayra Ramos Miró as the new director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA) office in the Florida region, under the direction of Luis Dávila Pernás, who currently leads the PRFAA’s Washington, D.C. office.

“With this appointment, we seek to strengthen the functions of the PRFAA office in Orlando, Florida, where we know that there are a large number of Puerto Ricans who require a liaison with our island for different government procedures,” the governor said in a written statement. “Ramos Miró has extensive experience in the field of communications and is very familiar with the Puerto Rican commu-

nities in Orlando. Our goal is to ensure that all Puerto Ricans feel well represented and I am confident that the new regional director of the PRFAA office will do so.”

With more than 20 years of experience in public relations, communications, marketing and business development, Ramos Miró has demonstrated exceptional leadership in her career, during which she has carried out successful projects with globally recognized brands, and her experience will be an invaluable asset in representing the interests of Puerto Rico in the Florida region, Pierluisi noted.

“My goal is to become an authentic bridge connecting Puerto Rico and Florida, fostering collaboration that transcends geographic boundaries,” Ramos Miró said. “With a renewed vision, I aim to cultivate valuable opportunities

for trade exchanges, amplify exposure to tourism, and forge invaluable partnerships. These efforts not only seek to advance our respective regions, but to contribute to the progress and prosperity of every Puerto Rican, whether on the island or in Florida. Together we will work toward a course that not only sustains us but propels us toward success and shared growth.”

Dávila Pernás, the executive director of the PRFAA in Washington, pointed out that “with a career of more than 20 years, Mayra Ramos Miró has managed to obtain vast experience that will be of great benefit in continuing to direct all the projects that the administration of Governor Pierluisi and the PRFAA have been carrying out.”

“With Florida being the state with the largest Puerto Rican population in the nation,

I am proud to be able to count on Mayra’s knowledge to continue reinforcing our commitment to our communities,” he said.

“Likewise, I know that she will keep open the channels of communication with the entire Puerto Rican community in Florida, solidifying the bridge between the island and the other states. I appreciate her commitment and willingness to take on the role and challenge of leading this important regional office.”

In her new role, Ramos Miró will be the primary liaison between the government of Puerto Rico and local and federal authorities in the Florida region. Her experience and strategic skills will be critical in strengthening collaboration and coordination of efforts for the benefit of the Puerto Rican community in Florida.

Cayey Christmas events accentuate flavors, sounds of the season

By THE STAR STAFF

C

ayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez, along with Cidra-Cayey District Rep. Gretchen Marie Hau Irizarry, announced a series of activities to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season, which in the southeastern-central municipality has a special relevance given its reputation as the gastronomic center of Puerto Rico, particularly in the Guavate sector.

“We invite all Puerto Ricans and tourists in general to visit the Ramón Frade Cayey public square, which was recently remodeled and has some unique attractions in Puerto Rico, such as the Concha Acústica that served as a canvas for a spectacular mural, as well as the carousel for children, the monument to the founders and more,” the mayor said. “In Cayey, Christmas is particularly appreciated because it welcomes the traditions of our families, and we welcome friends and relatives from all over Puerto Rico and the diaspora.”

This Saturday, Dec. 2 will be the Christmas lighting in the aforementioned public square starting at 4 p.m., with artisans and exhibits, as well as the renowned Club de Volkys “iluminados,” followed by special recognitions at 7 p.m. At 8:30 p.m. the music begins with the group Son de la Casa, and at 10:30 p.m., La Tribu de Abrante.

On Sunday, the artisans’ booths, exhibitions, and kiosks with traditional food and drinks continue, with live music starting at 1 p.m. with the Trio Carimar, followed at 2:30 p.m. by the Radians School Dance Group, and at 3 p.m., the performances of Son del Campo return. At 5 p.m., Joseph Fonseca takes the stage, followed by Grupo O-K-Mi-C at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, the traditional event of the Christmas Postal Awards, prepared by the children and young people from Cayey’s schools, is slated for Thursday, Dec. 14 at the Municipal Theater and will take place at 6 p.m. with registration and ceremony at 7 p.m.

“Admission for this event is free for the public, and in

Rep. Gretchen Marie Hau Irizarry and Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez

our city this is a particularly beautiful event, due to the large number of participants and the manifestations of the creativity of our students,” Hau said. “We are waiting for you all.”

Vega Baja public square to light up for Christmas on Saturday

By THE STAR STAFF

T

Joining this weekend’s Christmas festivities in Vega Baja will be “Puerto Rico Gana,” the game show that since 2019 has been a fixture on Telemundo.

his Saturday, Dec. 2, the traditional Christmas lighting will be held in the José Francisco Náter public square inVega Baja, with activities for the whole family, Mayor Marcos Cruz Molina announced on Tuesday.

The event begins at 6 p.m. with the music of Algareplena.

“We all go to the Plaza de Vega Baja to bring the flavor of our music with a carnival rhythm and urban sounds without departing from the essence of the plena that distinguishes us,” said Jonuel García Olivo, director of Algareplena. “We are sure that we are going to turn on the party.”

Barreto El Show, recognized for the famous composition “Agua de Coco,” will perform next at 7:30 p.m. His

first big concert this year took place at the Performing Arts Center in Caguas.

Barreto is followed by the production “Puerto Rico Gana,” the game show that since 2019 has been presented on Telemundo with more than 32,000 hours of entertainment, celebrating its fourth anniversary on Puerto Rican television.

Plaza Náter will also see a wide variety of kiosks selling traditional Christmas food and drinks, as well as stalls selling authentic Puerto Rican handicrafts.

“Our artisans from Vega Baja have worked on many alternatives for this event, where visitors will have the opportunity to purchase their Christmas gifts with unique pieces of great design, color and quality,” Cruz Molina said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

7

Biden’s absence at climate summit highlights his fossil fuel conundrum

By JIM TANKERSLEY and LISA FRIEDMAN

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resident Joe Biden signed the country’s first major climate law and is overseeing record federal investment in clean energy. In each of the past two years, he attended the annual United Nations climate summit, asserting American leadership in the fight against global warming.

But this year, likely to be the hottest in recorded history, Biden is staying home.

According to a White House official who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the president’s schedule, Biden will not travel to the summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Aides say he is consumed by other global crises, namely trying to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in its war with Israel and working to persuade Congress to approve aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

At home, Biden’s climate and energy policies are crashing against competing political pressures. Concerned about Republican attacks that Biden is pursuing a “radical green agenda,” centrists in his party want him to talk more about the fact that the United States has produced record amounts of crude oil this year. At the same time, climate activists, particularly the young voters who helped elect Biden, want the president to shut down drilling altogether.

Internationally, developing countries are pushing Biden to deliver on promises for billions of dollars to help cope with climate change. But Republicans in Congress who control spending scoff at the idea and have been unable to reach agreement among themselves on issues such as aid to Israel and Ukraine.

In bypassing the climate summit known as COP28, Biden is missing an opportunity to strengthen his climate credentials, said Michele Weindling, the political director at Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate activist group.

“If Biden wants to be taken seriously on climate by young people at home and by the rest of the world, he needs to use every tool at his disposal

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One to return to Washington in Nantucket, Mass., Nov. 26, 2023. to mobilize the U.S. government to save lives,” she said.

David Victor, co-director of the Deep Decarbonization Initiative at the University of California San Diego, was more blunt. “He’s really got to worry about holding the left together and his reelection,” Victor said.

Biden has angered environmental groups by permitting new oil leases, including the Willow oil project in the North Slope of Alaska. He also expedited liquid gas exports to Europe as it faced an energy crisis from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, helping to make the United States the world’s largest gas exporter.

The United States has produced a record amount of crude oil on Biden’s watch, and the president has urged fossil fuel companies to produce enough to prevent gas prices from spiking. At the pump, gasoline prices averaged $3.25 a gallon nationwide Monday, which is above pre-pandemic levels but down 30 cents from a year ago.

But he also signed the largest climate law in American history, the Inflation Reduction Act, which is pouring at least $370 billion in government subsidies into technologies, such as solar panels and electric cars, meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. His

administration also has proposed tough new limits on emissions from tailpipes and smokestacks.

Republicans have accused the president of waging a war on American energy, and candidates running to try to unseat Biden have promised to open federal lands to far more oil and gas drilling.

That’s led some within the Democratic Party to urge Biden to talk up oil production. Earlier this month, a new polling group called Blueprint, which is dedicated to helping Democrats craft winning messages for the 2024 elections, said Biden was failing to make voters aware of what the group called “moderate” policy achievements — including “issuing historic numbers of oil and gas drilling permits.”

At the same time, some conservation groups are calling on Biden to stop any new drilling. The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental action group, released a report Monday calculating that the greenhouse gas emissions from new oil and gas projects Institution that Biden has approved will exceed the emissions Kashable LLC reductions from all his climate policies put together.

Administration officials say privately that their hopes of Biden attending a third consecutive summit — which would have set an attendance record for an American president — were complicated by the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. Biden has devoted significant time and energy to that conflict, including a surprise trip to Israel.

He almost certainly would have needed to add another trip to Israel, and likely to other countries in the region, if he had chosen to attend the climate conference, aides said.

On Monday, some senior aides were mounting a last-ditch effort to persuade Biden to reconsider his plans and make a trip to the summit, which runs through mid-December, though they appeared unlikely to succeed.

More than 100 other world leaders are scheduled to appear in Dubai, including King Charles III, Pope Francis, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

But like Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping will skip the event. Instead, China, the largest current emitter of greenhouse gases, will be represented

by Ding Xuexiang, a senior aide to Xi. Xi and Biden met in California earlier this month and agreed to work toward a ramp-up of renewable energy that could displace fossil fuels.

If the two men were to reconsider and appear in Dubai, it would “give a moral boost to everyone” at the summit, said Ani Dasgupta, president of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank in Washington.

“It’s a very fraught moment for the world,” he said.

Minimun Rate (%)

Weighter Average Rate (%)

Maximum Rate (%)

18.49%

18.49%

18.49%

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

In countdown to Iowa, Trump is coasting, as DeSantis and Haley clash

By SHANE GOLDMACHER

N

egative mailers are overstuffing Iowa mailboxes. Attack ads are cluttering the airwaves. And door knockers are fanning out from Des Moines to Dubuque and everywhere in between.

The Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the Republican nominating calendar, are poised to play an especially consequential role in 2024. But with only 49 days to go, Donald Trump’s top rivals are running out of time to catch him as Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley thrash each other in the final sprint to the starting line.

Far ahead in national polls, Trump is aiming for an emphatic victory Jan. 15 in Iowa that could serve as an early knockout punch.

He leads in public surveys in the state by twice as much as the biggest winning margin in a competitive contest in the past 50 years.

DeSantis, the Florida governor, is betting on Iowa to pierce Trump’s growing aura of inevitability — and to reassert himself as the main rival to short-circuit Trump’s third run for president. DeSantis, who won the backing of the state’s popular Republican governor, has been barnstorming across all of Iowa’s 99 counties, bolstered by an army of door knockers paid for by his related super political action committee.

On Saturday, DeSantis will visit his final county with an event in Newton held at the Thunderdome, a venue whose name appropriately captures the increasing acrimony and intensity of the race in the state. Trump will be in Cedar Rapids that same day.

For much of the year, the DeSantis team had insisted the 2024 primary was a two-man race. But Haley, a former United Nations ambassador, has ridden the momentum of her debate performances to transform it into a two-man-plus-one-woman contest.

“The more people see of Nikki Haley, the more they like her,” said Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager. “The more they see Ron DeSantis, the less they like him.”

Now Haley, who wore a T-shirt em-

Nikki Haley greets attendees at a campaign event on the Emmaus Bible College campus in Dubuque, Iowa, on Nov. 16, 2023. Haley has ridden the momentum of her debate performances to transform the primary into a two-man-plus-one-woman contest.

blazoned with the words “Underestimate me — that’ll be fun” to the Iowa State Fair, is seeking to snuff out DeSantis at the very start. If she can best DeSantis in Iowa, his strongest early state, her team believes Haley would be positioned to emerge as the singular Trump alternative when the calendar turns to two friendlier terrains — New Hampshire, where she has polled in second place, and her home state, South Carolina, where she served as governor.

Revealingly, Haley’s allied super PAC has spent $3.5 million on ads and other expenditures attacking DeSantis in the last two months in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to federal records, but not a dollar explicitly opposing Trump despite his dominant overall lead.

“Nikki Haley and her donors are greedily wasting millions of dollars targeting Ron DeSantis in Iowa,” said David Polyansky, deputy campaign manager for DeSantis, who called that Dr. José B. Morales Claudio spending a political gift to Trump because the likeliest Médico Generalista second choice of DeSantis supporters is not Haley but Niños, adultos y envejecientes the former president.

Se acepta la mayoría de los planes médicos Trump’s team has gleefully greeted the battling.

787.672.8209 James Blair, national field dimdjmora579@gmail.com rector for Trump, said Haley Urb. Paradis Calle Lope B-24 L-J: 9am-5pm and DeSantis were “trying to Caguas, PR 00725 V-S: 8am-12pm Alternos bludgeon themselves for the

title of first loser.”

“The biggest win in Iowa ever is 12 points so anything above that is setting a record,” Blair added, arguing that even an upset in Iowa would only prove a blip given the former president’s superior organization across the rest of the states on the calendar.

Iowa always plays a critical role in narrowing a presidential primary field but this year it could determine whether there is much of a contest at all. The Trump campaign has told supporters that it has booked its first significant television ads to begin in Iowa on Dec. 1, and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, has pledged to also spend millions in the final weeks even as his standing has slid since the summer.

“Almost everybody is pushing the chips into the middle of the table in Iowa,” said David Kochel, a Republican strategist with years of experience in the state. Only Chris Christie is bypassing Iowa, hoping a muddled result could allow him to break through in New Hampshire.

As the candidates vie for votes, their strategists and spinmeisters are seeking any possible advantage in the unseen but critical contest of expectations-setting. Those who surprise or surpass where they are expected to finish typically emerge with the most momentum — and money.

“If he doesn’t win Iowa, Ron DeSantis has no rationale to move on,” said Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager.

The DeSantis super PAC has spent 10 times more money criticizing Haley in ads and other expenditures than against Trump, records show. But in private, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, have expressed disapproval of those ads, according to two people familiar with their remarks. Several DeSantis allies recently created a new entity to explore fresh avenues of attack on Haley but the decision has caused more turmoil on the team, with the chief executive abruptly resigning last week.

In Iowa and beyond, Trump’s team has almost exclusively focused on DeSantis, whom Trump has treated as his only serious challenger throughout 2023. Blair said it was notable how much the DeSantis operation was spending attacking Haley rather than “trying to grow Ron’s image or hurt the president — because they’ve given up on those things.”

“They’re just trying to stop Nikki Haley from coming in second,” Blair added.

There are two debates planned before the Iowa caucuses that could still jostle the dynamics. Only the first, on Dec. 6 in Alabama, has been announced; the second is planned for January in Iowa. Trump has said he won’t participate in any debates and his team has tried to pressure the Republican National Committee to cancel the rest.

For DeSantis, the endorsement of Kim Reynolds, the state’s Republican governor, has given him a jolt of energy and she plans to campaign heavily for him through the caucuses, including Saturday in Newton, Iowa.

A television ad featuring Reynolds is already running. “He gets things done,” she says in the spot.

Judging from campaign stops, DeSantis’s 99-county tour does appear to have created some momentum in Iowa. He regularly draws crowds of 50 to 100 people to small-town events at pizza shops, coffee houses and family farms, taking questions and posing for photos.

“I’ve been a Trump man all along, but I liked what DeSantis had to say,” said Ev Cherrington, 86, who heard DeSantis speak at a barbecue restaurant in Ames, Iowa, this month and said he was now considering backing him, largely because of the laundry list of policy ideas that DeSantis had recited.

But outside of the bubble of DeSantis’ bus tour, a different reality sets in. As DeSantis visited his 98th Iowa county a week ago after holding around 10 small public events over three days, Trump appeared at a rally in a high school gym in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

He drew roughly 2,000 people, according to The Associated Press — more than all of DeSantis’ events combined.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

9

Even most Biden voters don’t see a thriving economy

By LYDIA DePILLIS

P

residents seeking a second term have often found the public’s perception of the economy a pivotal issue. It was a boon to Ronald Reagan; it helped usher Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush out of the White House.

Now, as President Joe Biden looks toward a reelection campaign, there are warning signals on that front: With overall consumer sentiment at a low ebb despite solid economic data, even Democrats who supported Biden in 2020 say they’re not impressed with the economy.

In a recent New York Times/Siena College poll of voters in six battleground states, 62% of those voters think the economy is only “fair” or “poor” (compared with 97% for those who voted for Donald Trump).

The demographics of Biden’s 2020 supporters may explain part of his challenge now: They were on balance younger, had lower incomes and were more racially diverse than Trump’s. Those groups tend to be hit hardest by inflation, which has yet to return to 2020 levels, and high interest rates, which have frustrated first-time homebuyers and drained the finances of those dependent on credit.

But if the election were held today, and the options were Biden and Trump, it’s not clear whether voter perceptions of the economy would tip the balance.

“The last midterm was an abortion election,” said Joshua Doss, an analyst at the public opinion research firm HIT Strategies, referring to the 2022 voting that followed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling. “Most of the time elections are about ‘it’s the economy, stupid.’ Republicans lost that because of Roe. So we’re definitely in uncharted territory.”

There are things working in Biden’s favor.

First, Doss said, economic programs enacted under the Biden administration remain broadly popular, providing a political foundation for Biden to build on. And second, social issues, which lifted Democrats in the midterms, remain a prominent concern.

Take Oscar Nuñez, 27, a server at a restaurant in Las Vegas. Foot traffic has been much slower than usual for this time of year, eating into his tips. He’d like to start his own business, but with the rising cost of living, he and his wife — who works at home answering questions from independent contractors for her employer — haven’t managed to save much money. It’s also a tough jump to make

year. Millwood’s income as an information- 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act reduced technology systems administrator at the prescription drug prices under Medicare and university was enough to qualify, and they capped the cost of insulin for people with worried that affordability would only wor- diabetes. The administration is also going sen if they waited because of rising interest after what it calls “junk fees,” which inflate rates and prices. Still, the experience left a the prices of things such as concert tickets, airline tickets and even birthday parties. bitter taste.

The more the administration talks about “The housing market is absolutely insane,” said Kiser, who wasn’t old enough to its concrete efforts to lower prices, the more vote in 2020 but leans progressive. “We paid Biden will benefit, Doss said. At the same the same for our one-story, one-bedroom time, Biden can lessen the blowback from cinder-block 1950s house as my mom paid persistent inflation by deflecting blame — an for her three-story, four-bedroom house less out-of-control pandemic was the original cause, he could plausibly argue, and most than a decade ago.”

Generally, voters don’t think Republi- other wealthy countries are worse off.

A frequent theme of conversations with cans are fixing the economy, either. In a poll conducted this month by progressive- Democratic voters who see the economy leaning Navigator Research, 70% of voters as poor is that large corporations have too in battleground House districts, including a much power and that the middle class is majority of Republicans, said they thought being squeezed.

Millwood, Kiser’s partner, said he was From left, Lawson Millwood and Mac- Republicans were more focused on issues concerned that society had grown more other than the economy.

Kenzie Kiser at their home in Clermont, The health of the economy is still a unequal in recent years, and said he didn’t Ga., on Nov. 19, 2023. major variable leading up to the election. see Biden doing much about it.

“From what I see, it really doesn’t look A downturn could fray what the president when the economy feels shaky. cites as a signal accomplishment of Bide- like the working class is benefiting from Nuñez expected better from Biden when nomics: low unemployment. A study of the many things recently,” said Millwood, who he voted blue in 2020, he said, but he wasn’t 2016 election found that higher localized supports a higher federal minimum wage and sure what specifically the president should unemployment made Black voters, an is impatient with the bickering and fingerhave done better. And he is pretty sure overwhelmingly Democratic constituency, pointing he hears about in Washington. another Trump term would be a disaster.

After the phone conversation ended, less likely to vote at all.

“I’d prefer another option, but it seems “I think the likelihood that they would Millwood texted to say that upon refleclike it will once again be my only option choose Trump is not the threat,” Doss said. tion, he would also like to see Biden push again,” Nuñez said of Biden. For him, immi- “The threat is that they would choose the to lower taxes for low-income families and grants’ rights and foreign policy concerns are couch and stay home, and enough of them make it more difficult for the wealthiest to more important. “That’s why I was picking would stay home for an Electoral College dodge them. After being sent news articles him over Trump in the first place — because win for Trump.” about Biden’s support for the extension of this guy’s going to do something that’s real But in the absence of a competitive De- the now-expired Child Tax Credit and the dangerous at some point.” mocratic primary, the campaigning — and appropriation of $80 billion for the InterNuñez isn’t alone in feeling dissatisfied television spots — have yet to commence in nal Revenue Service, in part to pursue tax with the economy but still bound to Biden earnest. When they do, Doss has some ideas. evaders, he seemed surprised. by other priorities. Of those surveyed in the So far, Biden’s messaging has focused “That is absolutely what I had in mind,” six battleground states who plan to vote for on macroeconomic indicators such as the Millwood texted. “It’s been so noisy in the Biden in 2024, 47% say social issues are unemployment rate and tackling inflation. media lately I haven’t seen much that is more important to them, while 42% say the “The truth is, that’s not the economy to most covering things like that,” adding, “Biden economy is more important — but that’s a people,” Doss said. “The economy to most doesn’t seem so bad after all haha.” closer split than in the 2022 midterms, in people is gas prices and food which social issues decisively outweighed and whether or not they can economic concerns among Democratic afford to throw a birthday voters in several swing states. (Among party for their kid.” likely Trump voters, 71% say they are most It’s difficult for presidents focused on the economy, while 15% favor to directly control inflation in social issues.) the short term. But the White ACEPTAMOS LA MAYORIA DE LOS PLANES MEDICOS Dour sentiment about the economy also House has addressed a few •MEDICARE ADVANTAGE • PLAN VITAL TIGER MED isn’t limited to people who’ve been frustrated specific costs that matter for Horario: Lunes a Viernes de 7:30 am a 4:00 pm in their financial ambitions. families, for example, by reMackenzie Kiser, 20, and Lawson Mi- leasing oil from the Strategic Tel: 787.665.6570 llwood, 21, students at the University of Petroleum Reserve to contain Ave. Gautier Benitez Consolidated Mall Suite 70 Caguas, P.R. North Georgia, managed to buy a house this surging oil prices in late

10 Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star

At Meta, millions of underage users were an ‘open secret,’ states say

By NATASHA SINGER

M

eta has received more than 1.1 million reports of users younger than 13 on its Instagram platform since early 2019, yet it “disabled only a fraction” of those accounts, according to a newly unsealed legal complaint against the company brought by the attorneys general of 33 states.

Instead, the social media giant “routinely continued to collect” children’s personal information, including their locations and email addresses, without parental permission, in violation of a federal children’s privacy law, according to the court filing. Meta could face hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, in civil penalties should the states prove the allegations.

“Within the company, Meta’s actual knowledge that millions of Instagram users are under the age of 13 is an open secret that is routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed,” the complaint said, “and zealously protected from disclosure to the public.”

The privacy charges are part of a larger federal lawsuit, filed last month by California, Colorado and 31 other states in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit accuses Meta of unfairly ensnaring young people on its Instagram and Facebook platforms while concealing internal studies showing user harms.

And it seeks to force Meta to stop using certain features that the states say have harmed young users.

But much of the evidence cited by the states was blacked out by redactions in the initial filing.

Now the unsealed complaint, filed last week, provides new details from the states’ lawsuit. Using snippets from internal emails, employee chats and company presentations, the complaint contends that Instagram for years “coveted and pursued” underage users even as the company “failed” to comply with the children’s privacy law.

The unsealed filing said that Meta “continually failed” to make effective age-checking systems a priority and instead used approaches that enabled users under 13 to lie about their age to set up Instagram accounts. It also accused Meta executives of publicly stating in congressional testimony that the company’s age-checking process was effective and that the company removed underage

Andeno Co

Tasa mínima, promedio ponderado, y máxima para préstamos personales pequeños otorgados para la semana que terminó el sábado, 25 de noviembre de 2023

Tasa Mínima (%)

Promedio Ponderado (%)

Tasa Máxima (%)

30%

30%

31%

Meet-up attendees exchange Instagram QR codes at Central Park in New York on Aug. 8, 2021. Meta has received more than 1.1 million reports of users under the age of 13 on its Instagram platform since early 2019 yet it “disabled only a fraction” of those accounts, according to a legal complaint against the company newly unsealed on Nov. 23, 2023. accounts when it learned of them — even as the executives knew there were millions of underage users on Instagram.

“Tweens want access to Instagram, and they lie about their age to get it now,” Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in an internal company chat in November 2021, according to the court filing.

In Senate testimony the following month, Mosseri said: “If a child is under the age of 13, they are not permitted on Instagram.”

In a statement Saturday, Meta said that it had spent a decade working to make online experiences safe and age-appropriate for teenagers and that the states’ complaint “mischaracterizes our work using selective quotes and cherry-picked documents.”

The statement also noted that Instagram’s terms of use prohibit users younger than 13 in the United States.

And it said that the company had “measures in place to

remove these accounts when we identify them.”

The company added that verifying people’s ages was a “complex” challenge for online services, especially with younger users who may not have school IDs or driver’s licenses. Meta said it would like to see federal legislation that would require “app stores to get parents’ approval whenever their teens younger than 16 download apps” rather than having young people or their parents supply personal details such as birth dates to many different apps.

The privacy charges in the case center on a 1998 federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. That law requires that online services with content aimed at children obtain verifiable permission from a parent before collecting personal details — like names, email addresses or selfies — from users younger than 13. Fines for violating the law can run to more than $50,000 per violation.

The lawsuit argues that Meta elected not to build systems to effectively detect and exclude such underage users because it viewed children as a crucial demographic — the next generation of users — that the company needed to capture to assure continued growth.

Meta had many indicators of underage users, according to the Wednesday filing. An internal company chart displayed in the unsealed material, for example, showed how Meta tracked the percentage of 11- and 12-year-olds who used Instagram daily, the complaint said.

Meta also knew about accounts belonging to specific underage Instagram users through company reporting channels. But it “automatically” ignored certain reports of users younger than 13 and allowed them to continue using their accounts, the complaint said, as long as the accounts did not contain a user biography or photos.

In one case in 2019, Meta employees discussed in emails why the company had not deleted four accounts belonging to a 12-year-old, despite requests and “complaints from the girl’s mother stating her daughter was 12,” according to the complaint. The employees concluded that the accounts were “ignored” partly because Meta representatives “couldn’t tell for sure the user was underage,” the legal filing said.

This is not the first time the social media giant has faced allegations of privacy violations. In 2019, the company agreed to pay a record $5 billion, and to alter its data practices, to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission of deceiving users about their ability to control their privacy.

It may be easier for the states to pursue Meta for children’s privacy violations than to prove that the company encouraged compulsive social media use — a relatively new phenomenon — among young people. Since 2019, the FTC has successfully brought similar children’s privacy complaints against tech giants including Google and its YouTube platform, Amazon, Microsoft and Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

11 Stocks

Wall St Moves Sideways After Mixed Fed Statements

U

.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday as investors digested conflicting remarks from Federal Reserve officials, with upbeat consumer data providing some lift.

All three major U.S. stock indexes lost momentum as the session progressed. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were last essentially flat, while the blue-chip Dow retained a modest gain.

“The short-term trend has been an up market, so unless we get information that’s really negative or unexpected, investors are going to continue to buy stocks,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.

“Traders are still going to take profits on uncertain days as we get toward the end of the year,” Carlson added. “But there’s a pretty long list of reasons why this market has the potential to continue to move higher.”

Market participants now await remarks from monetary policymakers ahead of next month’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday he is “increasingly confident” that the current level of central bank’s policy rate is sufficiently restrictive and even hinted at the possibility of rate cuts in the months ahead should inflation continue to fall closer to the Fed’s 2% target.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsby touted progress in bringing inflation down at a pace not seen since the 1950s.

On the other hand, remarks from Fed Governor Michelle Bowman suggested another rake hike could be necessary to rein in inflation in a timely manner.

“I don’t know if it’s a campaign of confusion,” Carlson said. “It feels orchestrated; it’s like if they hear somebody say one thing, they contradict the other.”

Financial markets have priced in a near-certain 98.9% likelihood that the FOMC will let the Fed funds target rate stand at 5.25%-5.50% when it convenes next month, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

The crucial holiday shopping season has shifted into high gear, with survey data from the National Retail Federation suggesting consumers plan to spend about 5% more this year.

That corresponds with the Conference Board’s consumer confidence data released early in the session, which surprised to the upside due to improved near-term expectations.

Later in the week, the Commerce Department is expected to release its second stab at third-quarter GDP, and its broad-ranging Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)

MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

COMMODITIES

CURRENCY

report, which covers income, spending and crucially, inflation.

At 2:17 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64.23 points, or 0.18%, to 35,397.7, the S&P 500 lost 1.65 points, or 0.04%, at 4,548.78 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.16 points, or 0.02%, to 14,237.86.

Boeing added 1.4% after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “sector perform” and set a

Street-high price target.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce firm PDD Holdings surged 18.0% after the company beat revenue estimates.

Affirm Holdings jumped 9.1%, extending its Cyber Monday boost.

Chipmaker Micron Technology’s shares slid 3.0% after the company said it expects first-quarter operating expenses to be higher than previously forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.18-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.10-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

12 Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star

US has warned Israel to fight more surgically in Gaza, officials say

By ERICA L. GREEN

T

he United States has warned Israel that it must fight more surgically and avoid further mass displacement of Palestinians in its war against Hamas to avoid a humanitarian crisis that overwhelms the world’s ability to respond, according to senior Biden administration officials.

The White House has told Israel that replicating the scale of its bombardment in northern Gaza as it makes an expected push into southern Gaza once the recent pause in fighting ends would produce a crisis beyond the capacity of any humanitarian support network, the officials said Monday night. The United Nations has said the fighting has already displaced most of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.2 million.

The statements are the Biden administration’s strongest warning to Israeli officials to date about the next phase of their military operation. For weeks, the White House has been careful to say it does not dictate how Israel conducts its military operations, but President Joe Biden and senior members of his staff have grown more vocal as the humanitarian crisis has unfolded.

They also come as the administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues, said they were ramping up humanitarian aid during the cease-fire that took effect last week, and expressed optimism that aid could continue even when fighting resumed.

People pass a rooftop billboard sitting at street level amid buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023.

Among other things, U.S. officials have told the Israelis that any coming military operations should not hamper the flow of power and water or impede the work of humanitarian sites such as hospitals and U.N.-supported shelters in south and central Gaza.

The Israeli government was receptive to the requests, one official said.

The cease-fire, to allow for the exchange of hostages held by Hamas and

Palestinians taken prisoner by Israel, has allowed for the first extended break in the violence since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas gunmen and other militant groups killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel. Health officials in Gaza say at least 13,000 people were killed during the nearly 50-day Israeli bombardment and ground invasion that followed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that he intends for Isra-

el to continue fighting after the truce ends, though it was extended by two more days Monday.

The Biden administration officials said the United States was planning to take advantage of the extra time. On Tuesday, the United States will begin deploying military relief flights to deliver medical items, food, winter items and other necessities for the civilian population to Egypt, which borders Gaza.

Extraordinary progress has already been made in aid delivery, the officials said, though they acknowledged that the level of assistance was not enough to support normal life in Gaza. The officials also said that the increase in aid, including much-needed fuel, was not contingent on hostage releases, offering hope that the shipments could continue when fighting resumed.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said Monday that since the pause in fighting had taken effect, Gaza had received its largest humanitarian convoy since the war began. The convoy brought the total number of aid trucks to more than 2,000 since Oct. 21, he said.

Kirby said that the administration would “take advantage of every hour of every day that there’s a pause to try to help the people of Gaza.”

“Our team has prioritized getting this much-needed relief into Gaza to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians there,” Kirby said. “Of course, most of them have nothing to do with Hamas.”

CIA director arrives in Qatar for talks on hostage releases

By JULIAN E. BARNES and EDWARD WONG

C

IA Director William Burns arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday for a new round of negotiations aimed at freeing more hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to U.S. officials.

Burns and David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, Israel’s spy service, met with Gen. Abbas Kamel, the head of Egypt’s intelligence service, and Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar.

Both Egypt and Qatar have had prominent roles in the hostage talks. Qatar hosts Hamas’ political leadership in Doha. And Qatari officials in recent days have been speaking with Hamas representatives about how to potentially expand the hostage releases, according to an official briefed on the talks.

Qatar announced Monday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to extend a pause in fighting for two additional days to exchange more hostages and prisoners and to allow more aid to come into Gaza.

One U.S. official said Burns’ talks in Qatar would be meant to build on that agreement.

U.S. officials have been deeply involved in pushing for a deal to release hostages taken during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. Burns traveled to Doha on Nov. 9 as he and Barnea held talks with Qatari officials who have been working on the issue.

Hamas and Israel finally reached a deal on Nov. 21, and exchanges began later that week. During the first four days of the truce, 50 Israelis or dual nationals were released under the framework of the deal, and an additional 19 hostages — 17 Thais, one Filipino and one Russian Israeli dual citizen —

were released through separate negotiations. In exchange for the release of the Israelis and dual nationals, Israel paused its military campaign in Gaza, allowed more aid to flow into the enclave and released some Palestinian prisoners.

Some U.S. officials have expressed hope that the temporary pause can be extended into something of a more permanent cease-fire, though Israeli officials have said their military campaign must continue.

A spokesperson for the CIA said the agency does not comment on the director’s travel.

Israel has been concerned that some of the Hamas hostage releases have separated children from their mothers or broken apart siblings. Throughout the talks this month, Israeli officials have pressed for Hamas to release entire families and over the weekend stressed to U.S. officials that they did not believe Hamas was living up to the bargain.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

13

After more than 2 weeks, rescue arrives for workers trapped in Indian tunnel

By MUJIB MASHAL and SUHASINI RAJ

A

fter a 17-day effort to free dozens of Indian construction workers trapped inside a Himalayan road tunnel, rescuers finally cleared a path through debris Tuesday and pulled the men out, ending an excruciating wait for the workers and their families.

The rescue operation had hit repeated roadblocks, with officials trying multiple ways to reach the 41 stranded men in the northern state of Uttarakhand, including the deployment of miners using hand tools after a drilling machine had failed.

Pushkar Singh Dhami, the state’s chief minister, said the rescued workers were sent for health checks before they reunite with their families. The first rescues came close to 8 p.m. local time. While officials had said the process to get them all out could take about three hours from the first rescue, all the men were removed to safety in less than an hour.

“The workers had decided among themselves that the youngest would exit first, and that the team leaders would leave last,” Dhami, the state’s chief minister, said at a news conference after all the men were rescued.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who officials said had been closely monitoring the efforts, thanked the rescue teams for giving the trapped workers “a new life.”

“The patience and courage that all these families have shown in this challenging time cannot be appreciated enough,” Modi said.

For the families of the workers, scattered across the poorer corners of India, it was a moment of celebration.

Bidang Narjary, 16, in the northeastern state of Assam, said she erupted in tears of

A photo released by the Uttarakhand State showed Pushkar Singh Dhami, right, the chief minister of the Indian state, greeting a rescued worker on Tuesday. joy when she heard her father, Ram Prasad Narjary, on the phone after he made it out of the tunnel. He had been working on the project for the past six months.

“His first words to me after getting out were ‘Don’t worry daughter, I am fine,’” Bidang Narjary said. “All this while I was so nervous about my father. What would we do without him? I kept praying, ‘Dear God, please help my father get out,’ because that’s all that was in my control. I don’t have words for how happy we are.”

The workers’ ordeal, followed closely in India with live updates on television and social media, cast a spotlight on concerns long raised by environmental experts about large-scale construction projects in the fragile Himalayan mountain range. Experts say the country’s environmental reviews of such projects are weak and prone to political interference.

The men were building a tunnel that is part of a major road project on a Hindu pilgrimage route when a landslide early Nov.

12 trapped them behind about 60 meters, or about 195 feet, of debris.

Early Tuesday afternoon, as officials reported that drilling had reached the final few feet separating the rescuers from the trapped workers, videos from outside the tunnel showed a bevy of activity. Dozens of rescue workers in orange jumpsuits carried ropes and ladders, parked ambulances moved toward the tunnel, and people offered prayers at a small makeshift roadside temple in the distance.

Before the workers were pulled out, relatives had been told to be ready, as one would be allowed to accompany each worker to the hospital.

“I will accompany Sanjay when he gets out. I feel at peace at the moment. We feel energized and happy to be told the ordeal will be over soon,” Jyotish Basumatary, the brother of Sanjay Basumatary, one of the trapped men, said by phone from outside the tunnel.

In the hours after the landslide Nov. 12, officials were able to establish communication and confirm the workers were safe. A small pipe running into the tunnel was used to get them food, water and oxygen. About a week into their saga, an endoscopy camera sent through the pipe captured initial images of the workers, easing the concerns of their families.

But over the course of the two-week operation, predictions from officials that the rescuers would soon reach the workers had proved to be overly hopeful.

Initial drilling efforts were hampered by additional falling debris. And by Day 13, the rescue effort appeared in disarray as an American-made auger machine broke down with less than 20 meters to go in the drilling.

As workers tried to extricate it, officials initiated backup plans, including one in which workers began drilling vertically from the mountaintop.

New machines were flown in from different parts of the country. But, in the end, the rescue effort — which also involved international tunneling experts — found success in manual drilling by “rathole miners” in the final stretch of the path that had been mostly cleared by the auger machine.

In India, rathole mining is a term for a method in which workers dig very small tunnels to reach coal.

The rescue operation faced hiccups even in its final hours, threatening to derail the growing confidence of family members who waited in anticipation of their relatives being pulled to safety.

In a statement around 2 p.m. local time, Dhami, the chief minister, had declared the work of putting in the pipe through which the workers would be rescued as complete.

But hours later, Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of India’s National Disaster Management Authority, said about 2 meters, or 6 feet, of drilling still remained to be done. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, he said that “we are near a breakthrough but not yet there.”

As night fell on the mountains, and temperatures dropped, the fate of the rescue remained unclear. It wasn’t until closer to 8 p.m. when the activity picked up again at the site of the tunnel that the first of the men were rescued.

Most of the workers trapped in the tunnel were from India’s poorer states, such as Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam, places with high levels of migration as workers seek employment. Family members said they were working for salaries of about $250 a month.

14

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star

Americans love avocados. It’s killing Mexico’s forests.

By SIMON ROMERO and EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ MEGA

F

irst the trucks arrived, carrying armed men toward the mist-shrouded mountaintop. Then the flames appeared, sweeping across a forest of towering pines and oaks.

After the fire laid waste to the forest last year, the trucks returned. This time, they carried the avocado plants taking root in the orchards scattered across the once tree-covered summit where townspeople used to forage for mushrooms.

“We never witnessed a blaze on this scale before,” said Maricela Baca Yépez, 46, a municipal official and lifelong resident of Patuán, a town nestled in the volcanic plateaus where Mexico’s Purépecha people have lived for centuries.

In western Mexico, forests are being razed at a breakneck pace and while deforestation in places such as the Amazon rainforest or Borneo is driven by cattle ranching, gold mining and palm oil farms, in this hot spot, it is fueled by the voracious appetite in the United States for avocados.

A combination of interests, including criminal gangs, landowners, corrupt local officials and community leaders, are involved in clearing forests for avocado orchards, in some cases illegally seizing privately owned land. Virtually all the deforestation for avocados in the last two decades may have violated Mexican law, which prohibits “land-use change” without government authorization.

Since the United States started importing avocados from Mexico less than 40 years ago, consumption has skyrocketed, bolstered by marketing campaigns promoting the fruit as a heart-healthy food and year-round demand for dishes like avocado toast and California rolls. Americans eat three times as many avocados as they did two decades ago.

South of the border, satisfying the demand has come at a high cost, human rights and environmental activists say: the loss of forests, the depletion of aquifers to provide water for thirsty avocado trees and a spike in violence fueled by criminal gangs muscling in on the profitable business.

And while United States and Mexico both signed a 2021 United Nations agreement to “halt and reverse” deforestation by 2030, the $2.7 billion annual avocado trade between the two countries casts doubts over those climate pledges.

Mexican environmental officials have called on the United States to stop avocados grown on deforested lands from entering the American market, yet U.S. officials have taken no action, according to documents obtained by Climate Rights International, a nonprofit focused on how human rights violations contribute to climate change.

In a new report, the group identified dozens of examples of how orchards on defo-

rested lands supply avocados to American food distribu- prosecutor’s office for environmental crimes met with two tors, which in turn sell them to major American supermar- reporters for the Times. ket chains.

The official, who requested anonymity for fear of repriFresh Del Monte, one of the largest American avocado sals, said the environmental unit had been warned by sudistributors, said the industry supported reforestation pro- pervisors not to investigate avocado orchards bigger than jects in Mexico. But, in a statement, the company also said about 12 acres, even if a complaint was lodged. In turn, the that “Fresh Del Monte does not own farms in Mexico,” official said, owners needed to pay bribes to supervisors, and relied on “industry collaboration” to ensure growers with amounts based on an orchard’s size. abided by local laws.

José Jesús Reyes Mozqueda, the state environmental In western Mexico, interviews by The New York Times prosecutor, did not respond directly to the bribery accusawith farmers, police investigators and Indigenous leaders tions, but said the office had conducted numerous probes showed how local people fighting deforestation and water into claims of illegal deforestation related to avocados.

In Michoacán, more than 25,000 acres of avocado ortheft have become targets of intimidation, abductions and chards authorized for export to the United States are on shootings.

Like deforestation elsewhere, the leveling of Mexico’s lands that were covered in forest as recently as 2014, acpine-oak and oyamel fir forests reduces carbon storage cording to environmental geographers from the University and releases climate-warming gases. But clear-cutting for of Texas at Austin.

(An orchard must be inspected by the U.S. Department avocados, which require vast amounts of water, has ignited another crisis by draining aquifers that are a lifeline for of Agriculture for a packinghouse to process its avocados many farmers. for export, though inspections focus on pest control, not One mature avocado tree uses about as much water as on the land’s legal status).

14 mature pine trees, said Jeff Miller, the author of a global In 2021, Mexican environmental officials sent a letter history of the avocado. to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s regional director for “You’re putting in deciduous forests of a very water Mexico proposing amending an agreement governing the hungry tree and tearing out conifer forests of not so very export of Mexican avocados to ensure they did not come water hungry trees,” Miller said. “It’s just wrecking the en- from illegally deforested land. vironment.”

But nothing happened. “It was ignored,” said Dan WilIn parts of Mexico already on edge over turf wars kinson, a senior adviser at Climate Rights International.

An Agriculture Department spokesperson said “the among drug cartels, forest loss is fueling new conflicts and raising concerns that Mexican authorities are largely lack of response to this letter is a ministerial oversight, and allowing illegal timber harvesters and avocado growers to not an indication of policy intent.”

U.S. authorities did, however, change the agreement to act with impunity.

As soon as avocado orchards pop up in deforested authorize Jalisco — Mexico’s second-largest avocado proareas, illegal wells appear nearby with water transported to ducing state — to start exporting the fruit in 2022. orchards through a labyrinthine system of plastic pipes that often pilfer the water supplies of farmers growing traditional crops such as tomatoes or corn.

The powerful association representing the Mexican avocado industry acknowledged deforestation was a problem, but said it was being addressed, including training and equipping forest fire brigades to provide early warnings when fires are started.

“Nobody wants this economic generator that is the Michoacán avocado to end,” said the association’s director, Armando López Orduña.

But in practice, some law enforcement officials say lo- Donaciano Arévalo in a park on the outskirts of Paracho, in the state of Michoacán, cal corruption leads to major Mexico, on Oct. 18, 2023. After buying nearly 50 acres of land in the area, Arévalo forest loss. Last month, an offi- said he discovered in 2016 that men with chain saws were cutting down trees on his cial with the Michoacán state parcel to make way for avocado plants.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

15

How the Biden administration took the pen away from Meta, Google and Amazon

By FARAH STOCKMAN

O

ne reason that the idea of free trade has fallen out of fashion in recent years is the perception that trade agreements reflect the wishes of big American corporations, at everybody else’s expense.

U.S. officials fought for trade agreements that protect intellectual property — and drug companies got the chance to extend the life of patents, raising the price of medicine around the world. U.S. officials fought for investor protections — and mining companies got the right to sue for billions in “lost profit” if a country moved to protect its drinking water or the Amazon ecosystem. And for years, U.S. officials have fought for digital trade rules that allow data to move freely across national borders — prompting fears that the world’s most powerful tech companies would use those rules to stay ahead of competitors and shield themselves from regulations aimed at protecting consumers and privacy.

That’s why the Biden administration, which came into office promising to fight for trade agreements that better reflect the interests of ordinary people, has dropped its advocacy for techfriendly digital trade rules that U.S. officials have championed for more than a decade.

Last month, President Joe Biden’s trade representative, Katherine Tai, notified the World Trade Organization that the U.S. government no longer supported a proposal it once spearheaded that would have exported the American laissezfaire approach to tech. Had that proposal been adopted, it

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would have spared tech companies the headache of having to deal with many different domestic laws about how data must be handled, including rules mandating that it be stored or analyzed locally. It also would have largely shielded tech companies from regulations aimed at protecting citizens’ privacy and curbing monopolistic behavior.

The move to drop support for that digital trade agenda has been pilloried as a disaster for U.S. companies and a boon to China, which has a host of complicated restrictions on transferring data outside of China. “We have warned for years called the Coalition for App Fairness thanked Tai for dropping that either the United States would write the rules for digital support for the so-called tech-friendly agenda at the World trade or China would,” Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, lamented in Trade Organization.

Still, Tai’s reversal stunned U.S. allies and foreign business a press statement. “Now, the Biden administration has decided leaders and upended negotiations over digital trade rules in the to give China the pen.”

The truth is that Tai is taking the pen away from Meta, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, one of Biden’s signature Google and Amazon, which helped shape the previous policy, initiatives in Asia.

“The term we would use is ‘gobsmacked,’ ” John W.H. according to a research paper published this year by Wendy Li, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Denton, secretary-general of the International Chamber of who used to answer the phone and interact with lobbyists at the Commerce, told me. “We don’t understand what’s going on.” åThe about-face was certainly abrupt: Japan, Singapore and U.S. trade representative’s office. The paper includes redacted emails between Trump-era trade negotiators and lobbyists Australia — which supported the previous U.S. position — were for Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon, exchanging left on their own. It’s unfortunate that U.S. allies and even some suggestions for the proposed text for the policy on digital trade American officials were taken by surprise. But changing stances in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “While they was the right call.

The previous U.S. position at the World Trade Organization were previously ‘allergic to Washington,’ as one trade negotiator described, over the course of a decade, technology companies was a minority position. Only 34% of countries in the world hired lobbyists and joined trade associations with the goal of have open data transfer policies like the United States, according proactively influencing international trade policy,” Li wrote in to a 2021 World Bank working paper, while 57% have adopted policies like the European Union’s, which allow data to flow the Socio-Economic Review.

That paper explains how U.S. trade officials came to freely but leave room for laws that protect privacy and personal champion a digital trade policy agenda that was nearly identical data. Nine percent of countries have restrictive data transfer to what Google, Apple and Meta wanted: No restrictions on policies, including Russia and China.

The United States now has an opportunity to hammer out a the flow of data across borders. No forced disclosure of source codes or algorithms in the normal course of business. No laws sensible global consensus that gives tech companies what they that would curb monopolies or encourage more competition need — clarity, more universal rules, and relative freedom to — a position that is often cloaked in clauses prohibiting move data across borders — without shielding them from the discrimination against U.S. companies. (Since so many of the kinds of regulations that might be required to protect society and monopolistic big tech players are American, rules targeting such competition in the future.

As concern grows about the safety of AI and the power of Big behavior disproportionately fall on U.S. companies, and can be portrayed as unfair barriers to trade.) This approach essentially Tech to freeze out competition, there are good reasons to think takes the power to regulate data out of the hands of governments twice about pushing an agenda that might favor a handful of and gives it to technology companies, according to research by companies that have already amassed a mind-boggling amount of data and political influence.

Henry Gao, a Singapore-based expert on international trade.

While some of this agenda is reasonable and good for the world — too much regulation stifles innovation — adopting this agenda wholesale would risk cementing the advantages that big U.S. tech companies already enjoy and permanently distorting the market in their favor.

Especialistas: Many smaller tech companies complain that Tipos de servicios: .REPARACIÓN big players engage in monopolistic behavior that should be regulated. For instance, Google has been .Instalación accused of privileging its own products in search .Venta Automatizando su Hogar y Negocio results, while Apple has been accused of charging some developers exorbitant fees to be listed in its App Store. A group of smaller tech companies

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Proyecto Dignidad afirma que Ada Norah Henríquez malinterpretó el reglamento POR CYBERNEWS

S

AN JUAN – El Consejo de gobierno de Proyecto Dignidad refutó el martes, las alegaciones de Ada Norah Henríquez, precandidata a la gobernación, sobre la descalificación de Javier Jiménez, también precandidato.

Henríquez había solicitado inhabilitar a Jiménez por no ser miembro bona fide del partido durante un año.

Según el Consejo, Henríquez malinterpretó el reglamento del partido, confundiendo los requisitos para ser miembro del consejo de gobierno con los de

aspirante a la gobernación.

“En el día de hoy, la licenciada Ada Norah Henriquez, aspirante a la candidatura a gobernación por Proyecto Dignidad, presentó públicamente, a la luz de su interpretación del Reglamento General del Partido, sus planteamientos en torno a la calificación de Javier Jiménez, alcalde de San Sebastían, como candidato a la gobernación. Como institución política recibimos y atenderemos sus argumentos en fiel cumplimiento con los principios democráticos que nos guían.

Por el momento, debe quedar claro que no existe razón alguna, en ley o en nuestro reglamento, que descalifique a Javier Jiménez, como aspirante a la go-

bernación por Proyecto Dignidad. La licenciada Henriquez y su equipo de trabajo, confunden los requisitos para ser miembro del consejo de gobierno, con los requisitos para ser aspirante a la candidatura a la gobernación”, expresó el Consejo de gobierno de Proyecto Dignidad en declaraciones escritas.

Henríquez había presentado una querella, en la que argumentó que la posición de Jiménez en el Consejo de Gobierno sería ilegítima debido a su estatus reciente como miembro. Amenazó con acudir a los tribunales si su reclamo no se atiende en cinco días.

La elección especial está programada para el 11 de febrero.

UPR en Arecibo ayudará a estudiantes de escuela superior a completar su solicitud de admisión POR EL STAR STAFF

A

RECIBO – La Oficina de Admisiones de la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo (UPRA) estará celebrando el “Admission Day 2023”, para estudiantes de escuelas superiores públicas y privadas, el jueves, 30 de noviembre de 2023, desde las 9:30 de la mañana hasta las 3 de la tarde. El propósito de este evento es

orientar y ayudar a completar la solicitud de admisión a candidatos de nuevo ingreso para agosto de 2024.

“Le podemos asegurar que UPRA más que una institución educativa; es un lugar donde invitamos a los estudiantes a descubrir su máximo potencial. El Admisión Day es nuestra manera de abrir las puertas a aquellos que buscan no solo una institución educativa, sino una comunidad que nutre el crecimiento personal y profesional. Les extendemos una cordial invitación a explorar con nosotros el camino hacia un futuro lleno de posibilidades y ayudarles a completar sus solicitudes”, indicó la doctora Brenda Laboy González, Rectora Interina.

En la actividad, los asistentes podrán obtener información adicional sobre los programas académicos y ayudas económicas disponibles.

La Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo cuenta

con una gran variedad de programas académicos conducentes a bachillerato en las áreas de Administración de Empresas, Comunicación Tele-Radial, Educación Elemental, Educación Física para nivel Elemental, Enfermería, Ciencias de Cómputos, Estudios Iberoamericanos, Psicología Industrial Organizacional, Microbiología, Tecnología en Procesos Químicos Industriales y Gerencia de Tecnologías de Información y Procesos Administrativos. Además, cuenta con programas de grados asociados en Tecnología Veterinaria, Enfermería y Tecnología en Ingeniería Química, al igual que traslados articulados en diversas especialidades en Ingeniería.

Finalmente, es la única unidad del sistema que cuenta con maestría en Psicología con especialidad en Liderazgo y Gestión Social.

La fecha límite para solicitar ingreso a la Universidad de Puerto Rico es el 19 de enero de 2024.

Repudian hipocresía de Manuel Natal y el MVC con relación a los fondos de campaña política POR EL STAR STAFF

S

AN JUAN – La candidata popular a la Cámara de Representantes por el precinto 5 de San Juan, Guaynabo y Aguas Buenas por el Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), Dra. Elba Beatriz Rivera Estrada, señaló como “un acto de hipocresía”, las declaraciones del coordinador del Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC), Manuel Natal Albelo, con relación a los fondos de campaña política.

“El promotor del ahora bipartidismo independentista trata de engañar a la ciudadanía alegando que ellos viven de pequeñas aportaciones, contrario a los dos partidos políticos principales, como si no tuviéramos memoria. ¿Trata de esconder Manuel Natal que el Sindicato Puertorriqueño de Trabajadores (SPT) invirtió más de $500,000 en la campaña a favor del Movimiento Victo-

ria Ciudadana en las elecciones pasadas?”, cuestionó la candidata popular.

“Mientras Natal insulta a quienes aportan a las campañas de los dos partidos principales, aceptó con gusto el anuncio del activismo político sindicalista que determinó apoyar a la colectividad política y a sus aspirantes, encabezados por la otora candidata a la gobernación, Alexandra Lúgaro. La gran diferencia es que ahora ella no está, y el arraigo de ese grupo ha mermado considerablemente”, expuso Rivera Estrada.

La también educadora señaló que el MVC aprovechó las disposiciones legales que reconocen el derecho de realizar campañas independientes y alegadamente no coordinadas. “Venir a insultar a quienes legalmente hacen aportaciones a las campañas de sus partidos y candidatos preferidos es una muestra más de la intolerancia política del MVC, donde al igual que sus nuevos

socios del PIP, se prohíben las primarias y se intenta acallar las voces internas que no están de acuerdo con el negocio electoral recientemente bautizado con el eufemismo de alianza”, finalizó.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

17

‘The Boy and the Heron’ review: Hayao Miyazaki has a question for you

By ALISSA WILKINSON

I

n 1944, when the future anime master Hayao Miyazaki was 3, his family fled Tokyo for the countryside, where they remained through his earliest schooling.

Miyazaki’s father worked in a fighter plane factory, and young Hayao’s earliest memories, he’s said in interviews, involved war and fear.

Mahito Maki (voiced by Soma Santoki), the protagonist of the director’s new film, “The Boy and the Heron,” was born about a decade before his creator, but there are clear links between their lives. Three years into World War II, Mahito’s mother dies in the bombing of a Tokyo hospital, an event rendered impressionistically, as if glimpsed through a recurring nightmare. The following year, Mahito and his father — whose factory makes fighter planes — move to the countryside, where the widower has married Mahito’s mother’s sister, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura).

In the grand tradition of literary children sent away during wars, Mahito is bored and miserable in his idyllic new home, occupied by a cluster of chattering grannies who tend to the house. He’s haunted by the sense that he could have rescued his mother. Grief fogs the glass between dreams and real life.

That blurred distinction is a hallmark of Miyazaki, whose films (among them “Howl’s Moving Castle,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away”) are windows into the subconscious. In interviews collected in the book “Starting Point: 19791996,” Miyazaki referred to a universal “yearning for a lost world” he refused to call nostalgia, since even children experience it. We long not for what we remember, but what we’ve never experienced at all, only sensed beneath reality’s surface.

In dreams, yearnings break free, and Miyazaki’s films capture that exhilarating terror. “Those who join in the work of animation,” he said, “are people who dream more than others and who wish to convey these dreams to others.”

Elements of “The Boy and the Heron” are familiar to Miyazaki devotees: a lonely child, the threat of violence (reminiscent of “Princess Mononoke”) and a bevy of fantastical, only sometimes cuddly crea-

Mahito Maki has a lot in common with his creator, Hayao Miyazaki. tures that externalize some part of the protagonist’s desires. Arriving at the house with Natsuko, Mahito spots a giant heron.

“How rare,” she remarks. “It’s never flown inside before.” Something isn’t right out here. The grannies warn him away from a tower on the property with an apocryphalsounding tale about his missing granduncle. But that heron (voiced by Masaki Suda) keeps appearing, luring him toward the tower, taunting him with forbidden knowledge. (Robert Pattinson voices the heron in an English-language version that features Christian Bale, Gemma Chan and many others.) Mahito’s mother, the heron claims, isn’t dead at all. After all, did he see her corpse?

Mahito’s grief is a focal point for a child’s anxiety in chaos, stability wrecked by the adults who are supposed to be in charge. Safety is not part of Miyazaki’s dreamworlds. The film is set before the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the feeling of a world flying to pieces is destabilizing to Mahito. His terror manifests in his sleep.

Now 82, Miyazaki is so universally beloved that Studio Ghibli, the director’s animation home, didn’t bother advertising the film before its opening in Japan last summer. A brand unto himself, he retired with his 2013 film, “The Wind Rises” — then,

to help youths live principled, freethinking lives. Knowing the dangers of such forthrightness, the series’ editor suggested Yoshino write a novel instead.

Thus “How Do You Live?” is more elliptical than bluntly instructive. Considered a classic today, it’s about a teenage boy named Koperu (a reference to the astronomer Copernicus) who struggles with change in the wake of his father’s death, while his uncle writes letters offering advice on the challenges his nephew encounters. The novel concludes with the narrator posing the title’s provocative question to the reader, making us a part of the story, instead of just an onlooker.

Although the film isn’t explicitly based on the novel, elements of Yoshino’s story surface throughout, including a rather Copernican-looking character late in the film.

But the clearest link comes early, when Mahito finds a copy of “How Do You Live?” in a stack of books. He discovers a note on the flyleaf from his mother, addressed to him. He reads the book and weeps before setting out on his journey.

The references give the serpentine plot fresh meaning. “The Boy and the Heron” has few straightforward lessons to teach.

Mahito learns he cannot save the world single-handedly, and shouldn’t try. Love and art, balanced together, are how a person can manage to exist without malice or fear. With that, it’s easy to imagine Miyazaki, whose life and work have spanned so many decades, implicitly turning to his audience, a single question in mind: How do you live?

‘The Boy and the Heron’: Rated PG-13.

Sharp teeth, sharp terror and even the cuddliest creatures menace. In Japanese with subtitles, or dubbed in English. Running time: 2 hour 4 minutes. In theaters.

changing his mind, returned. Magical, beautiful and uneasy, his films are beloved by children, but are certainly not just for children. With Miyazaki, the draw is subliminal, tapping an unsettling emotional well that seals over as we age.

Even by his standards, though, “The Boy and the Heron” is enigmatic, at least regarding plot. Better to watch as an exercise in contemplation than storytelling; this is the work of a man pondering life from its endpoint. It’s confounding, meandering through worlds that melt into one another.

Magical fires rage, souls of the preborn and the dead mingle, and the fate of the universe is determined in ways unclear.

To tell a straightforward narrative, though, is not really the point. The Japanese title of the film is “How Do You Live?,” which it shares with a 1937 novel

by Genzaburo Yoshino. The writer had been imprisoned for socialist thinking Préstamos Personales Pequeños by a branch of the Tokyo police tasked with eradiotorgados para la semana que terminó el cating anti-authoritarian sábado, 25 de noviembre de 2023 thought in music, literature and art. Upon release, he Tasa Mínima Promedio Tasa Máxima was invited to contribute to (%) Ponderado (%) (%) a series of books for young 77.50% 105.65% 156.00% people, and intended to publish an ethics textbook

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‘No need to worry,’ says ‘Wallace and Gromit’ film studio, after clay supplier shuts down

By ISABELLA KWAI

I

t might have been an existential question for the creators of the beloved stop-motion animation characters Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep: What would happen if they ran out of clay?

Fans spent a recent weekend worrying about the fate of Aardman Animations when the British newspaper The Telegraph reported that the studio, based in Bristol, England, would be facing its “hour of knead” after the only manufacturer of the special clay used in its creations had closed its doors earlier this year. Having bought what it could, the Telegraph reported, the studio had enough clay left to make only one more film, a new “Wallace and Gromit” feature coming next year.

But no, the studio’s foundations are not crumbling. Aardman Animations said it had plenty of clay to keep molding.

Fans had “absolutely no need to worry,” the studio said in a statement. The studio has “high levels of existing stocks of modeling clay to service current and future productions,” it said.

The manufacturer of the clay, Newclay Products, announced last month that it had stopped selling its products in March. The company had become known for Lewis Newplast, a Plasticine beloved by animators that is malleable enough to mold but strong enough to keep its shape during

or almost 900 pounds, of the remaining Newplast stock.

More than a ton of modeling clay is ordered for each of the studio’s feature films, and about half of that is used to shape the characters, according to modelers for Aardman.

Aardman last week sought to reassure fans, telling them that once its supplies of Newplast were gone, it had plans to transition to new stock.

“Much like Wallace in his workshop, we have been tinkering away behind the scenes for quite some time,” it said, referring to the eccentric inventor who is one of Aardman’s most beloved characBased in Bristol in southwest England, Aardman is known for its signature ters.

The studio is famed for its signature Claymation style in films such as “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the WereClaymation style, producing hits such as Rabbit.” the “Wallace & Gromit” franchise, the filming. Newclay Products did not immediately respond to a spinoff series “Shaun the Sheep,” and the request for comment.

2000 film “Chicken Run.” But its directors, Paul and Valerie Dearing, told the TeleA sequel, “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” is set to graph that they were retiring and had decided to close the be released on Netflix on Dec. 15, and the studio will also company’s doors after they couldn’t find anyone to take it release a new “Wallace & Gromit” film in 2024, premiering over. They said Aardman had bought about 400 kilograms, on Netflix and the BBC.

Hall is suing Oates. Over what is a mystery.

By JULIA JACOBS

W

ith a string of No. 1 hits like “Rich Girl, “Maneater” and “She’s Gone” in the 1970s and ’80s, followed by a more recent cultural resurgence, Daryl Hall and John Oates have long been one of pop music’s most celebrated duos.

But over the decades, there have been hints that things were not entirely copacetic between the two men whose names are almost always uttered in sequence. (Oates is the one with the famous mustache.) In the ’80s the group went on hiatus, and both members have at times pursued solo work. In 2020, they announced plans for a 19th studio album, but it never came to fruition; this year, the musicians performed separate tours.

Now, the discord is undeniable as Hall, 77, has filed a lawsuit in Nashville, Tennessee, against Oates, 75, the partner with whom he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Because a judge allowed the complaint to be filed this month under seal, details on the disagreement are scant, but court records classify it as a contract lawsuit.

Lawyers for the two men did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lore of Hall and Oates dates back to 1967, when the musicians were students at Temple University. As Oates tells it in his 2017 memoir, both men were performing in separate bands at a sock hop in Philadelphia when gunfire

broke out and they ended up in a service elevator together.

A few weeks later, Oates’ band split up after two of its members joined the military, and Hall invited Oates to play guitar for his group. Later on, they started writing music together, landing a deal with Atlantic Records in 1972 that propelled them to pop stardom.

“John and I decided when we first came together as kids that we were both going to share the stage,” Hall, who has generally been seen as the principal writer and lead singer of the duo, told Classic Pop Magazine last year. “And that’s really the way that both of us have treated our careers.”

Known for their soulful music and bountiful heads of hair, the duo gained cultural cachet when their music became frequently sampled by hip-hop artists. Though their most recent studio album was a Christmas-themed effort in 2006, new generations have been exposed to their songs through TV and film placements: See Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s elated strut to “You Make My Dreams” in “(500) Days of Summer.”

Hall and Oates have performed together often in recent years, including in a visit to the White House in 2015 and on their band’s most recent tour in 2021. In an interview that year with GQ, Oates said that he and his collaborator had “way more ups than downs,” adding, “It’s actually a miracle, I’m actually shocked that we are able to still play together and it’s great. It’s something that you have to really appreciate.”

Daryl Hall, left, and John Oates, of Hall & Oates, accept their award during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Barclays Center in New York, April 10, 2014. Hall, 77, has filed a lawsuit in Nashville against Oates, 75 — because a judge allowed the complaint to be filed earlier this month under seal, details on the disagreement are scant, but court records classify it as a contract lawsuit.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

19

Can certain foods really reduce your cancer risk?

By NIKKI CAMPO

O

n average, more than 1 in 3 people in the United States will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. And many of those cases, they say, can potentially be prevented, including by making changes to your diet.

Scientists have a good idea of what foods you should avoid to reduce your risk of cancer, such as red and processed meats, “fast” or processed foods, alcohol and sugary drinks. But knowing what to eat isn’t always straightforward, said Johanna Lampe, a cancer prevention researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Many nutrition studies rely on people to accurately remember what they consumed up to a year ago, Lampe said. And it’s tricky to understand how single foods may influence your health when they’re part of a larger diet, she said, adding that your lifestyle, environment, hormones and genes can also play a role.

No single food can prevent cancer on its own, said Nigel Brockton, vice president of research at the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. But following a healthy diet does seem to reduce the risk, he said.

Here are some foods that experts say are worth adding to your plate.

Broccoli and its cruciferous cousins Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage are rich sources of isothiocyanates, plant compounds that help our cells clear out toxins and repair themselves, which are crucial for cancer prevention, Lampe said.

Broccoli sprouts, for instance, are rich in the isothiocyanate sulforaphane, which may boost our body’s natural lines of defense against daily damage to cells, she added. The compound has been linked to protection against several types of cancer, including prostate, breast, bladder and colorectal.

Research suggests consuming more than four or five servings of cruciferous vegetables per week is associated with a reduced risk of cancer and other chronic conditions.

You won’t find a silver bullet in a single food, experts say, but there are some that may help you build the best defense against cancer.

ucts

Tomatoes and tomato-based prod-

Studies have long connected tomatoes to the reduced risk of prostate cancer thanks to their abundant stores of lycopene, a potent antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color.

But lycopene may be just one of many compounds in tomatoes that help defend against prostate cancer, said Nancy Moran, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. And limited research has found that lycopene may also possibly protect against other cancers like breast, lung and colorectal.

Processing tomatoes, such as by cutting or cooking them, helps us absorb lycopene more easily than when we eat them raw, Moran said. Consuming tomatoes with fat helps, too. So eating them cooked, such as in a sauce or with a healthy fat like olive oil, can help boost the health benefits you get from them.

Beans and other types of legumes Common bean varieties like black and kidney beans, and legumes like chick-

peas, dry peas and lentils, are not only high in protein. They’re also great sources of fiber, which is crucial for gut and immune health, Brockton said.

Fiber is also linked with colorectal cancer prevention. The bacteria in our gut break fiber down into fuel for the cells lining the colon, which keeps them healthy and less likely to turn into cancer cells, Brockton said.

According to Brockton, the protective benefits of fiber kick in after eating around 30 grams — or the amount in about 2 cups of black beans — per day.

Nuts, especially walnuts Tree nuts are rich in healthy fats, protein and fiber, and studies have found that those who consume them tend to have reduced risks of various types of cancer, especially those of the digestive system.

Walnuts in particular contain exceptionally high levels of plant compounds called ellagitannins, which are converted by our gut bacteria into metabolites that may reduce cancer’s ability to grow and multiply.

Dr. John Birk, a gastroenterologist at

UConn Health who has performed colonoscopies for people in clinical trials that investigate the colon health benefits of walnuts, said that it was easy to spot a “walnut colon.” The lining of the colon wall “has a healthier appearance, a sort of glistening reflection of the light shining on it from the endoscope,” he said.

Studies suggest that eating about a handful of tree nuts per day is linked with health benefits.

Berries Fleshy fruits like strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, pomegranates and black raspberries are packed with antioxidants including vitamin C and flavonoids that help protect cells from stress and DNA damage that can increase cancer risk. Plant compounds called anthocyanins give berries their colorful hues and anti-inflammatory heft, and reducing inflammation is important because it “is a big driver of cancer,” Brockton said.

Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, a professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Maine, said a growing body of evidence suggested that certain compounds in berries may help reduce cancer’s ability to develop, grow and multiply.

For the most anti-inflammatory benefits, aim for about one-half to 1 cup of fresh or frozen (and ideally organic) berries per day, she said.

Garlic This pungent allium contains high levels of allicin, a sulfur-containing compound that is responsible for garlic’s strong odor and cancer-fighting abilities.

In one long-term study of more than 3,000 people who live in a region of China known to have high rates of stomach cancer, researchers found that for every 2.2 pounds of garlic that participants consumed per year, they had a 17% reduced risk of developing the disease. That’s about five cloves of garlic per week, said WenQing Li, a cancer researcher at Peking University Cancer Hospital in Beijing and an author of the study.

According to Li, consuming garlic raw — pressed into oil for salad dressing or in guacamole, for example — will help “to keep the flavors and chemicals inside alive.”

20 Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star

How the T. Rex built up that bone-crushing bite

By JEANNE TIMMONS

I

f you have ever stood in the presence of a complete fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex, there is no doubt it was the apex predator of its era.

The adults were enormous, with giant skulls and banana-size serrated teeth.

The strength of the bite of a full-grown T. rex has been the subject of numerous scientific studies, but mysteries endure about what led to this powerful chomp that ruled the end of the dinosaur era.

In research published in September in the journal The Anatomical Record, a team of scientists sought to understand the oral arsenals of the tyrannosaur species that prowled Asian and North American landscapes for millions of years before the T. rex.

Through their analysis of bite forces and the stress all that gobbling put on tyrannosaur craniums, the researchers showed that tyrannosaurs steadily built up their bone-crunching powers over the eons. They also found that even in its juvenile form, the T. rex could deliver a truly nasty bite.

It was not easy for the researchers to build 3D skull models of nine tyrannosaur species for their analysis. Evan Johnson-Ransom, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago who led the research, said that just reconstructing digital skulls of two Asian species “took approximately three months since we had to work with flattened specimens.”

But the team endured, ultimately finding that tyrannosaur snouts fit two basic shapes: gracile for those that were more slender, such as earlier forms of tyrannosaur and juvenile T. rex, and then robust for the heftier snouts, like that of an adult T. rex.

Each 3D model was then subjected to finite element analysis, a technique that determines the stress and strain on biological structures. Stress, in this context, refers to the amount of force exerted upon the skull bones, which were capable of handling extreme exertions.

The Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, March 1, 2019. An analysis of nine species of tyrannosaurs documented the evolutionary forces that led to the dinosaur’s reign.

In an undated image provided by Johnson-Ransom et al., Anatomical Record 2023, a comparison of an adult Tyrannosaurus (a), a Raptorex (b) and an adult and juvenile Tarbosaurus (c and d), showing differing magnitudes of stress on their skulls.

Under moderate to high stress, skulls are “doing a lot of biting or a lot of heavy-duty work when feeding,” Johnson-Ransom said. Lower stress indicates a tyrannosaur species wasn’t biting as hard as others were.

Some of the results were expected: The bigger the tyrannosaur species, the bigger the bite force.

Other results were more surprising: The shape of a snout didn’t necessarily correlate with stress on

the skull. In fact, some of the earlier, gracile-snouted tyrannosaurs had low skull stress, suggesting “they were not biting as hard,” Johnson-Ransom said.

But when a beast like T. rex shattered prey with its bite, the stress on its skull was high.

Emily Rayfield, a professor of paleobiology at the University of Bristol in England who was not involved in this study, praised the researchers for overcoming past technological limitations with their analysis. But the T. rex results surprised her.

“Their wider skulls pack in more jaw-closing muscle, meaning they can bite proportionately harder,” she said, “but their skulls remain relatively highly stressed as a result.”

Before reaching robustness in adulthood, a juvenile T. rex had a gracile snout. The new research highlighted how the feeding abilities of a young T. rex let it occupy a different ecological niche from the one it would grow into in adulthood, when its skull and bite could tackle larger prey.

But even as a juvenile, the study showed, T. rex had a jaw-muscle force that could produce stronger bites than any of its non-rex tyrannosaur ancestors. This was a powerful predator regardless of age.

Other researchers said this finding might be one of the most valuable parts of the study.

“Adult Tyrannosaurus didn’t exist in a vacuum,” said Thomas Holtz, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Maryland who was not involved in the research. “Every adult T. rex had to survive as a baby and a juvenile first, and Tyrannosaurus itself was the product of a long evolutionary history.”

The authors hope their methods can be applied to other, less-studied dinosaurs. Johnson-Ransom has already started, showing at an October meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists what finite element analysis can tell us about Spinosaurs, enormous carnivores that had large sails across their backs.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

21

Help! Our trip to Orlando was ruined and we want our money back.

By SETH KUGEL Dear Tripped Up,

T

his past June, my wife and I, along with two of our children, flew from our home in India to the eastern United States to see family and visit Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The trip included three domestic flights over five days on Frontier Airlines: Philadelphia to Orlando, Orlando to Atlanta, and Atlanta back to Philadelphia. The total cost for four people on three flights was an affordable $939.75, including a $99.99 “Discount Den” membership on Frontier. (We also spent $1,269.52 on tickets at Universal.) But our first flight was delayed and eventually canceled, and Frontier’s staff told us the next available flight was three or four days later — too close to our return flight to India. We were given a QR code at the Philadelphia airport to file for a refund, which we did for all three flights.

But all we got was an email with a credit worth $339.92 and good for three months, plus four additional messages with a $100 voucher for each of us. Since Frontier does not operate in India, the credit and vouchers are useless. I fought Frontier through my Discover card, but lost. (Meanwhile, Universal reimbursed us in full.) Can you help? — Hari, Bangalore, India Dear Hari, The federal rule on flight cancellations in the United States could not be clearer. According to the Transportation Department’s website, “A consumer is entitled to a refund if the airline canceled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel.” Fast-expiring travel credits are not an option.

Frontier’s initial email to you, on the other hand, could not be murkier. You read the email and interpreted it as a partial, useless credit. You forwarded it to me, and I came to the same conclusion.

Yet it turns out the email was trying to inform you that a refund was coming. I learned this after consulting Jennifer de la Cruz, a spokesperson for Frontier.

The email presented what turned out to be a chronological list of transactions related to your reservation, sent with no introduction or explanation. First, there’s a “Payment: Discover” for $439.91, dated May 18, the day you made the reservation for the first leg and joined the Discount Den. Next comes the confusing “Travel Credit,” for -$339.92

on June 29, three days after your canceled flight. This transaction includes bullet-pointed instructions on how to redeem the credit, along with other conditions.

Then comes three more confusing transactions: the first, dated July 2 — the day after you received the email — was a “Payment: Credit File,” whatever that means, for $339.92; the second, labeled “Refund: Discover” for -$339.92, also on July 2, with the word “pending” in tiny, light blue letters; and finally, there’s a “Purchase Total” of $99.99.

“I can certainly appreciate them being confused based on the initial credit showing up first within the chronology of the email,” de la Cruz wrote to me.

Though at first she told me this list was auto-generated by your refund request, making me fear that thousands of Frontier customers were similarly baffled by other cancellations, she later told me this was a human error.

“Normally a customer would not receive an email delineating the process the agent took to initiate the refund,” de la Cruz wrote. Apparently, by using the QR code you were given at the airport, you triggered a manual review process that was then flubbed. If you had instead filed for a refund using the email Frontier sent you around the

time your flight was canceled, she said the process would have been more straightforward. You seemingly had no way of knowing this.

When we later went through your Discover statement together, it turns out you were indeed refunded $339.92 for that first flight.

But about the remaining $500 or so for the other two flights, which you filled out separate refund requests for? And should that $99.99 membership be refunded as well?

This is where things get more complicated. Since you booked each of the three one-way flights separately, rather than as one itinerary with one reservation code, the federal rule about cancellations technically applies only to the first one-way flight. This is why I urge people to use the “multicity” feature on airline booking sites.

Alas, as with a handful of other U.S. carriers, there is no such option on Frontier’s site. When I tried to make a multicity reservation through Frontier’s online chat function, customer service told me I had to create separate one-way reservations, just as you had. (You can make such a multicity reservation through an online travel agency, or OTA, but that introduces a third party into your booking, adding another layer of customer service to deal with.)

So that left you out about $600, at least at first. Six days later, on July 7, Frontier did refund you $327.92 for the Atlanta-to-Philadelphia leg — presumably because whoever handled the “manual” process realized your flights were tied together. I can see why you didn’t spot these refunds immediately on your statement, since the disputes you filed with Discover led to a series of back-andforth charges that ended up being very unclear.

De la Cruz said not refunding your $171.92 for the outstanding flight was a mistake. “This is our fault and we sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding,” she wrote.

You have now been refunded the $171.92, but Frontier did decline to refund your $99.99 membership, since it is good for the year. That is understandable, but frustrating for someone who lives outside the country.

There is still one pressing question here: Why was Frontier unable to get you on another flight for “three or four days?” My initial reaction was that Frontier must not offer frequent flights between Philadelphia and Orlando, and I was going to warn readers that booking tightly scheduled trips on infrequently flown routes could be a recipe for disaster. But no, Frontier typically runs seven flights a day between the two cities.

Instead, it turned out your flight was on June 26, the day that thousands of flights in the United States were canceled because of severe storms. (I wrote about another canceled flight that day, one that stranded a troop of Boy Scouts in New York City, in a separate column.)

That means you were largely the victim of extremely bad luck, exacerbated by a couple of other factors — first, your high-risk strategy of booking three flights so close to one another during a once-in-a-lifetime trip; and second, poor customer service, which can be the part of the get-what-you-pay-for trade-off of booking with a budget carrier.

It’s also worth noting that Frontier is one of the four airlines — along with Allegiant Air, Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines — that do not rebook passengers free of charge on other airlines, according to the Department of Transportation dashboard created for consumers. But on an unusual day like June 26, I’m not sure that would have done any good. Your family’s dream of visiting Universal was dashed more by fate than by Frontier.

22 Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star

Help! I was denied boarding on a cruise, and I wasn’t the only one.

By SETH KUGEL Dear Tripped Up,

O

n Aug. 6, my wife, my two children and I arrived at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal to board the MSC Meraviglia for a weeklong cruise that included a stop in the Bahamas. I am a scientist in the United States on a work visa and awaiting my green card, so I followed my lawyer’s instructions and presented my Chinese passport and my “combo card” — an American document that grants immigrants in my situation permission both to work in the United States and to travel abroad. But MSC Cruises refused to let me board, saying the card did not guarantee I would be readmitted to the country when the boat returned to Brooklyn. I soon met two other would-be travelers in the same, er, boat: Fadia, a 79-year-old Egyptian grandmother set to board with 19 relatives and friends, and Nargis, a Bangladeshi woman ready to cruise with her husband. After hours of pleading our case, even getting Fadia’s immigration lawyer to speak to staff by phone, we were all sent home.

MSC refunded me about $500 in fees and taxes, but I’m still owed about $2,300 for the cruise fare for my family of four. Nargis and her husband have also not been reimbursed, nor have Fadia and her son (who stayed behind with her while the rest of the group sailed). Can you help? — Heng, New Haven, Connecticut Dear Heng, I don’t need to tell you how complex immigration law is, but let’s get everyone else up to speed on how it affects cruise travel.

Before ships allow you to board, they must verify that all passengers have sufficient documentation to reenter the country at the end of the cruise. If the cruise company screws up, they face steep penalties from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. (The same rules hold for airlines.)

That’s why they often err on the side of caution, with the stress in this case on “err.”

MSC Cruises said it will refund all three families and provide each a credit toward a future cruise. In a statement, Field Sutton, the director of communications for the American division of MSC Cruises, wrote: “Several guests who were booked to sail on MSC Meraviglia’s Aug. 6 departure from New York City were unable to board the ship due to a misunderstanding over the documents they provided for international

A Chinese scientist, an Egyptian grandmother and a Bangladeshi woman from Queens were all turned away from a cruise and refused a refund despite having the U.S. government’s permission — and documents — to travel. travel. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.”

It appears that in all three cases, the terminal staff was flummoxed by that “combo card,” a document the size of a driver’s license that the United States provided you and some other immigrants in anticipation of green cards, for which the application process can take years.

As you know, and its nickname implies, the combo card serves two roles. It is an “employment authorization” document and also (here’s the somewhat confusing part) has the words “Serves as I-512 Advance Parole” printed at the bottom.

And now, a brief digression on “advance parole,” a term that indicates an immigrant can leave the United States and return lawfully, as long as they meet all other requirements.

“Presenting a valid combo card will authorize a transportation carrier to accept you on board for travel to the United States,” reads the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

But it doesn’t ensure entry, or reentry.

According to the CBP website, “Advance Parole does not guarantee admission into the United States. Aliens with Advance Parole are still subject to the U.S. Customs

and Border Protection inspection process at the port of entry.” At the port of entry, officials can “parole” — temporarily admit — the traveler, or reject them.

But it is not as bad as it seems, since similar conditions apply to many categories of traveler, including foreign tourists.

“Even a green card holder is not guaranteed reentry into the United States,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, who teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School. “If there’s nothing in the person’s immigration history to indicate that they are inadmissible for other reasons, then they should be allowed on the cruise ship.”

The supervisor at the terminal you interacted with — as you, the other families and Fadia’s immigration lawyer told me over video calls — was not employed by MSC, but by a company called SMS International Shore Operations. SMS provides services for many big cruise lines, including, in this case, vetting of passenger documents.

Christopher Blanchard, executive vice president of SMS, told me that when faced with complex or unfamiliar documentation, SMS staff can, through the cruise line, consult CBP officials to clarify rules. MSC declined to comment on this aspect of the experience.

Blanchard added that SMS is “simply the conduit the cruise lines use to interact with the guest, and we act on their instructions.” According to several cruise industry officials I spoke to, it is common for the cruise lines to defer to the CBP, and on Aug. 6, the SMS staff told you that they were following directions from CBP officials working at the terminal.

Rhonda Lawson, a CBP spokesperson, would not respond to my more detailed questions, writing in an email that the agency “cannot comment on a specific carrier’s decision to deny boarding to an individual.”

Fadia’s immigration lawyer, Seham Elmalak, told me the SMS supervisor she spoke with that day would not connect her with the CBP official involved. Elmalak also said she never spoke to anyone from MSC, which is ultimately responsible.

All these (probably heated) in-person discussions aside, guidance could be found online, in the “Carrier Information Guide” published by CBP and last updated in 2019.

This 84-page government document goes over in excruciating detail who should be allowed to board a plane or ship headed to the United States and who shouldn’t.

Let’s turn to Page 36, which is exclusively dedicated to the combo card and which says that as long as the combo card is unexpired and notes on the front that it is also valid for advance parole, “carriers may board these passengers presenting this document.”

Even with such clear documentation, I don’t believe I can confidently advise immigrants in situations like yours to book international cruises — regardless of the cruise line.

I wrote to six other major lines — Norwegian, Disney, Cunard, Viking, Carnival and Princess — to confirm they welcomed passengers with advance parole status. Norwegian, Disney, Cunard and Viking did not respond to three requests for comment. Carnival responded with an online link to its policy, but when I pointed out that there was no mention of advance parole, it also went silent. Princess did respond, but said it would need to know more specific details and that CPB officials “ultimately have the final judgment in these matters.”

Only MSC staked out a position, with Sutton telling me that “generally speaking, MSC allows those with advance-parole documents to sail” as long as all other documentation is in order.

The San Juan Daily Star San Sebastián, con una cabida superficial de 2,337.4402 ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO metros cuadrados. La finca DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- está localizada en la carretera NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA 445 km. 11.5. Colindando al CENTRO JUDICIAL DE AGUA- NORTE con la carretera 445 DILLA SALA SUPERIOR. km. 1.9: al SUR con terrenos EVANELIS pertenecientes a la sucesión de Gabriel Robles ; al ESTE con GONZALEZ ROBLES terrenos pertenecientes a Alejo JUAN Robles Méndez ; y al OESTE GONZALEZ ROBLES con terrenos de Aníbal QuiñoPeticionarios nes.. Ubica una estructura para EX PARTE fines residenciales en cemento Civil número: AG2023CV01510. y hormigón. El abogado de la Salón: 601. Sobre: Expediente parte peticionaria es el Lcdo. de Dominio. EDICTO. ESTAMilton D. Rivera Adames, Urb. DOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA Villa Rita, Calle 2 B-4, San SeEL PRESIDENTE DE LOS bastián, PR, 00685. Tel. (787) E.E.U.U. EL ESTADO LIBRE 810-7577. Correo electrónico: ASOCIADO DE PR. S.S. estudioIeqalrivera2(dqmail.

A: LAS PERSONAS com. Se le informa además, que IGNORADAS Y el Tribunal ha señalado vista en este caso para el 12 de enero DESCONOCIDAS A de 2024, a las 3:30 de la tarde, QUIENES PUDIERA mediante videoconferencia a la PERJUDICAR LA cual usted puede comparecer INSCRIPCION DEL asistido por abogado y presenDOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA tar oposición a la petición. Este PARTE PETICIONARIA edicto deberá ser publicado EN EL REGISTRO DE LA en tres ocasiones dentro del PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA término de veinte (20) días en QUE MAS ADELANTE SE un periódico de circulación general, para que comparezcan DESCRIBIRA. Y A TODA si quieren alegar su derecho.

PERSONA EN GENERAL Toda primera mención de perQUE CON DERECHO sona natural o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo se idenPARA ELLO DESEE tificará en letra tamaño diez OPONERSE A ESTE puntos y en negrillas, conforme EXPEDIENTE. a lo dispuesto en las regla de POR LA PRESENTE se le noProcedimiento Civil , 2009. Se tifica para que comparezcan si le apercibe de que de no comlo creyeren pertinente ante este parecer los interesados y/o parHonorable Tribunal dentro de tes citadas, o en su defecto los los veinte(20) días contados a organismos públicos afectados partir de la última publicación en el término improrrogable de de este edicto a exponer lo que veinte (20) días a contar de la a sus derechos convenga en el fecha de publicación del edicto, expediente promovido por la el Tribunal podrá conceder el parte peticionaria para adquirir remedio solicitado por la parte su dominio sobre la finca que se peticionaria sin más citárse ni describe más adelante. Usted oírsele. En Aguadilla, Puerto deberá presentar su oposición Rico, 14 de noviembre de 2023. u objeción a través del Sistema Sarahi Reyes Perez, Sec ReUnificado de Manejo y Adminisgional. Arlene Guzman Pabon, tración de Casos (SUMAC), al Secretario(a) Auxiliar. cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electróniLEGAL NOTICE ca: https.//unitedpoderjudicial.

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO pr, salvo que se represente por DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUderecho propio, en cuyo caso NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA deberá presentar su alegación SALA SUPERIOR HUMACAO responsiva en la Secretaría del

LEGAL NOTICE

Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Aguadilla. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticinaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Rústica localizada en el Bo. Cibao de

@

WILFREDO CINTRON CRUZ EX PARTE

Civil Núm.: HU2023CV00721.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO, BAJO EL ART. 13 DE LA LEY 118, PROCEDIMIENTO EXPEDITO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS.

A: MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESION DE

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

23

ROMÁN CRUZ MEDINA, las Reglas de Procedimiento marcado con el número #12, acto mismo de la adjudicación, menos siete días entre ambas Hiram David Cabassa, Esquina efectivo (moneda del curso publicaciones, en un diario de Carretera Dos (2), Mayagüez, DENOMINADOS RICHARD Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que en una distancia de 19.647 en de no comparecer los interesa- metros; por el ESTE, con la legal de los Estados Unidos de circulación general en el Estado Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en ROE, FULANO DE TAL: dos y/o partes citadas, o en su Calle marcada con el número América), giro postal o cheque Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico pago de contado y en moneda

POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los TREINTA (30) días contados a partir de la última publicación de este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación en la secretaría del Tribunal.

Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. RÚSTICA: Solar sin residencia en el Barrio Juan Martin Sector La Villa del término municipal de Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 446.352 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte en una alineación de 8.302 con acceso público; por el Noreste en varias alineaciones de 11.361 y 6.146 con terreno perteneciente a Ezequiela Cruz González; por el Este en una alineación de 16.901 con terreno perteneciente a Ezequiela Cruz González; por el Sureste en una alineación de 11.501 con terreno perteneciente a Ezequiela Cruz González y por el Oeste en varias alineaciones de 9.840 y 27.997 con camino Eugenio Carrión Álvarez. El abogado de la parte peticionaria es la Lcdo.

Ernesto Rovira Gándara, PMB 767, 1353 Ave. Luis Vigoreaux, Guaynabo, PR 00966; Tel. (787)-758-3277; Email: erovira@partnerslegalservicespr. com. Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo, se identificará en letra tamaño 10 puntos y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de treinta (30) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, a 6 de noviembre de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DALISSA REYES DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

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BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

HERIBERTO BARRIENTOS DE JESÚS; SU ESPOSA CONSTANCIA CAMPOS REYES, T/C/C CONSTANCIA CAMPO REYES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: CD2016-605. Sobre: IN REM - EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Manatí, Manatí, 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 13 de julio de 2022, 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: Marcado con el número #11 del Bloque “A” del Plano de Inscripción del Proyecto BC-86 denominado Residencial Flamboyán radicado en los Barrios Coto y Sabana del término municipal de Manatí, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 242.399 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar marcado con el número #10, en una distancia de 20.802 metros; por el SUR, con el solar

(787) 743-3346

#22, en una distancia de 12.00 metros y por el OESTE, con el solar marcado con el número #37, en una distancia de 12.0 metros. Inscrito al folio 220 del tomo 174 de Manatí, finca número #7,239 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Manatí. Además, el Alguacil que suscribe, hago saber 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: Aviso de Demanda de fecha 23 de diciembre de 2014, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Arecibo, en el Caso Civil número CCD2014-0747, sobre cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, contra Constancia Campos Reyes y Heriberto Barrientos De Jesús y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales, por la suma de $71,350.14, anotado el día 22 de julio de 2016, al tomo Karibe de Manatí, finca número 7,239, Anotación A. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 17 de mayo de 2017 y notificada el 8 de junio de 2017 en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $71,350.14 por concepto de principal; $340.45 por concepto de intereses acumulados; $499.96 por concepto de cargos por demora; los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, y la suma de $7,351.40 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente.

La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el

certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 1 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Tribunal de Manatí, Manatí, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $73,514.00.

Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 8 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $49,009.33, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 15 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $36,757.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”.

La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo

y se fijará además en tres (3) de los Estados Unidos de Amélugares públicos del Municipio rica, cheque de gerente o giro en que ha de celebrarse dicha postal a nombre del Alguacil del venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal; todo título, derecho o Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les interés de la parte demandada informa, por último, que: a. Que sobre la siguiente propiedad: los autos y todos los documen- RÚSTICA: Solar identificado tos correspondientes al proce- con el Número dos (2) en el dimiento incoado estarán de plano de inscripción radicado manifiesto en la secretaría del en el Barrio Leguisamo del tribunal durante las horas la- término municipal de Mayaborables. b. Que se entenderá güez, Puerto Rico, con cabida que todo licitador acepta como superficial de 950.79 metros bastante la titularidad y que las cuadrados. En lindes por el cargas y gravámenes anterio- NORTE, con camino municipal res y los preferentes, si los hu- y Solar Número tres (3); por el biere, al crédito del ejecutante SUR, con la Carretera Número continuarán subsistentes. Se ciento ocho (108) de Mayagüez entenderá, que el rematante a San Sebastián, según plano los acepta y queda subrogado en parte con el Solar Número en la responsabilidad de los uno (1); por el ESTE, con el mismos, sin destinarse a su ex- Solar Número uno (1); y por el tinción el precio del remate. EX- OESTE, con el Solar Número PIDO, el presente EDICTO, en tres (3). La propiedad consta Manatí, Puerto Rico, hoy día 24 inscrita al tomo Karibe de Made octubre de 2023. WILFRE- yagüez, Finca 46352. Registro DO RODRÍGUEZ CARRIÓN, de la Propiedad de Mayagüez.

ALGUACIL CONFIDENCIAL La hipoteca consta inscrita al PLACA #135, DIVISIÓN DE tomo Karibe de Mayagüez, SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE Finca 46352. Registro de la PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA Propiedad de Mayagüez. Inscripción octava (8va). Dirección SUPERIOR DE MANATÍ.

Física: Bo. Leguisamo, Solar #2 LEGAL NOTICE Km. 7.5 PR 108, Mayagüez, PR ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO 00680. Número de Catastro: DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- 29-208-002-045-26-000. El tipo NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA mínimo para la primera subasta CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYA- será de $96,938.00. De no haGÜEZ SALA SUPERIOR ber adjudicación en la primera BANCO POPULAR DE subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el 6 DE FEPUERTO RICO BRERO DE 2024, A LAS 11:30 Parte Demandante Vs. DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo CHRISTIAN ALEXIS lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo TORRES VALENTÍN será de dos terceras partes del Parte Demandada tipo mínimo fijado en la primeCivil Núm.: ISCI201600752. ra subasta, o sea, $64,625.33.

(207). Sobre: COBRO DE De no haber adjudicación en la DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE segunda subasta, se celebraHIPOTECA POR LA VÍA OR- rá una TERCERA SUBASTA DINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS el día 13 DE FEBRERO DE DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESI- 2024, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MADENTE DE LOS ESTADOS ÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE cual el tipo mínimo será la miASOCIADO DE PUERTO tad del precio pactado, o sea, RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA $48,469.00. Si se declarase SUBASTA. El Alguacil que sus- desierta la tercera subasta, se cribe por la presente anuncia adjudicará la finca a favor del y hace constar que en cumpli- acreedor por la totalidad de la miento de la Sentencia en Re- cantidad adeudada si ésta es beldía dictada el 13 de enero igual o menor que el monto del de 2017 y notificada el 17 de tipo de la tercera subasta, si el enero de 2017, la Orden de tribunal lo estima conveniente.

Ejecución de Sentencia del 12 Se abonará dicho monto a la de octubre de 2023 y el Manda- cantidad adeudada si ésta es miento de Ejecución del 19 de mayor. Dicho remate se llevará octubre de 2023 en el caso de a cabo para con su producto epígrafe, procederé a vender el satisfacer a la demandante el día 30 DE ENERO DE 2024, importe de la Sentencia por la A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, suma de $90,892.57 de princien mi oficina localizada en el pal, más intereses sobre dicha Tribunal de Primera Instancia, suma al 3.75% anual desde el Centro Judicial de Mayagüez, 1 de enero de 2016 hasta su Sala Superior, en 91 Avenida completo pago, más $80.68 de

24 recargos adeudados desde el día 1 de febrero de 2016 hasta su total pago, más la cantidad estipulada de $9,693.80 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo, incluyendo pero sin limitarse a gastos de mantenimiento, inspecciones y otros adelantos “corporate advances”. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesan los siguientes gravámenes posteriores a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: a. Bitácora: Al Asiento 2023-133328-MY01, el 26 de octubre de 2023, Demanda de fecha 13 de julio de 2026, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, en el Caso Civil Número ISCI201600752, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca con un balance de $90,892.57 y otras cantidades o la Venta en Pública Subasta de la Propiedad.

Pendiente de anotación. Se les advierte a los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como los de Subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados, durante horas laborables, en el expediente del caso que obra en los archivos de la Secretaría del Tribunal, bajo el número de epígrafe y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico por espacio de dos semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana; y para su fijación en los sitios públicos requeridos por ley. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes; entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate y que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores, tal como lo expresa la Ley Núm.

210-2015. Y para el conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy 1 de noviembre de 2023. ALG. IVELISSE FIGUEROA VARGAS, ALGUACIL PLACA #924, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGÜEZ, SALA SUPERIOR.

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE BAYAMÓN

ASOCIACIÓN DE RESIDENTES ESTANCIAS DE RÍO HONDO I, INC. Demandante Vs.

IDALIA SIERRA TORRES; MARCOS CALDERÓN VÁZQUEZ AMBOS POR SÍ Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado(a) Civil Núm.: BY2022CV06171.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (R.60). EDICTO DE SUBASTA ENMENDADO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: IDALIA SIERRA TORRES, MARCOS CALDERÓN VÁZQUEZ, AMBOS POR SI Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS. FÍSICA & POSTAL: URB. RIO HONDO I, B-5 CALLE RIO COROZAL, BAYAMÓN PR 00961.

PÚBLICO EN GENERAL:

El Alguacil del Tribunal que suscribe anuncia y hace constar: 1. Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Bayamón, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor de contado y en moneda de curso legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América, todo derecho, título o interés que tenga la Parte Demandada en el bien inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: URBANIZACIÓN ESTANCIAS DE RIO HONDO I de Bayamón Norte. Solar: 5 del Bloque B. Cabida: 656.972 Metros Cuadrados. Linderos: Norte, con solar 4, distancia de 23.951 metros; Sur, con calle 5, distancia de 28.943 y 2.749 metros. Este, con calle 5, distancia de 2.749, 5.329 metros y 5.442 metros. Oeste, con solares 6, 7 y 8, distancia de 12.906 metros y 19.020 metros. Enclava una casa en concreto dedicada a vivienda. Es traslado de la finca 54,412 al folio 276 vuelto, tomo 1225 de Bayamón Sur. Finca #2467, inscrita al Folio 195 del Tomo 226 de Bayamón Norte Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección III.” DiLEGAL NOTICE rección física: Urb. Rio Hondo ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO I, B-5 Calle Rio Corozal, Baya-

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

món Pr 00961. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables.

2. 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 ejecutante, continuaran subsistentes, entendiéndose que el remanente los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. 3. La propiedad para ejecutar se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. 4. Que el licitador y/o mejor postor pagará el importe de su oferta en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil de Tribunal. 5. La propiedad se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: A. Hipoteca: Afecta por sí a hipoteca en garantía de pagaré a favor de Santander Mortgage Corporation, por la suma principal de $176,250.00, intereses al 5 7/8% anual, testimonio número 318 vencedero el 1ro de marzo de 2033, tasada en una cantidad equivalente al original del pagaré, constituida mediante la escritura número 111, otorgada en San Juan el 27 de febrero de 2003 ante el notario Mariano S. Najeraurriola, inscrito al folio 195 del tomo 226 de Bayamón Norte, según inscripción 5ta. B. Anotación de Embargo a favor del E.L.A: Afecta por sí a embargo a favor de Estado Libre Asociado, Departamento de Hacienda, por la suma de $65,568.66, según se acredita de certificación expedida el 27 de octubre de 2004, inscrito al folio 195 del tomo 226 de Bayamón Norte, anotación letra “A”. C. Anotación de Embargo (Judicial, Ley 209): Afecta por su procedencia a Anotación de Embargo a favor de ASOCIACIÓN DE RESIDENTES ESTANCIAS DE RIO HONDO I, INC, por la suma de $6,079.58, en virtud de Mandamiento en el caso civil número BY2022CV06171 sobre Cobro de Dinero Regla 60 ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, ASOCIACIÓN DE RESIDENTES ESTANCIAS DE RIO HONDO I, INC. Demandante vs. IDALIA SIERRA TORRES, MARCOS CALDERÓN VÁZQUEZ, AMBOS POR SI Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS demandado de fecha 5 de septiembre de 2023, anotado en sistema Karibe, según anotación letra “B”. Dicha subasta se celebrará para con el importe de la misma satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma principal de $5,119.50,

por concepto de cuotas de mantenimiento vencidas y no pagadas al 30 de noviembre de 2022, más intereses desde que se dicte la sentencia al 8% anual ($1.29 diario), a partir de esa fecha en la cantidad de $248.54, al 25 de septiembre de 2023; más $148.00 de costas y gastos según sentencia, más $500.00 por concepto de honorarios de abogado otorgados según sentencia; más $138.62 por concepto de las costas y gastos de pleito, más $950.00 de ejecución de la sentencia mediante embargo de bien inmueble, mueble y vehículo, concedidos mediante Orden de fecha de 5 de septiembre de 2023; más $950.00 por las costas y gastos del proceso en la ejecución de la sentencia mediante Venta en Pública concedidos mediante orden de fecha 3 de octubre de 2023, totalizan la cantidad de $8,054.66 La subasta se llevará a cabo en mi oficina localizada en la Oficina de Alguacil de Subasta, en el 4to piso del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Bayamón, el día 9 DE ENERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Y para la conveniencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general y por un término de catorce (14) días en los lugares públicos que determine la ley.

En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 2 de noviembre de 2023. LCDO. MELVYN FONTÁN LOZADA, DPTO. LEGAL TEL. 787-7953720, MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735. ****

a la publicación de este Edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Edwin Serrano cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección edwin.serrano@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de octubre de 2023.

En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 10 de octubre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. LUREIMY ALICEA GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

sentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Kenmuel J. Ruiz López cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kenmuel.ruiz@orflaw.com y a la dirección notificaciones@ orf-law.com.

EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 2 de septiembre de 2023. En Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, el 2 de septiembre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. VIVIAN J. SANABRIA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Natalie Bonaparte Servera cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección natalie.bonaparte@orf-law. com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, hoy día 3 de octubre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. NEREIDA QUILES SANTANA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

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ORIENTAL BANK

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- SALA DE BAYAMÓN NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA ISLAND PORTFOLIO SALA DE TOA ALTA SERVICES, LLC COMO

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN Demandante V.

SUCESION DE KATIA LUGO RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTA POR SU HIJO ALBERTO HERNANDEZ LUGO Y ISLAND PORTFOLIO AGENTE DE ACE ONE SU VIUDO ALBERTO SERVICES, LLC. LEGAL NOTICE FUNDING, LLC HERNANDEZ MUÑIZ, POR COMO AGENTE Parte Demandante Vs. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO SI Y COMO MIEMBRO GESTOR DE FAIRWAYS JONATHAN M DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUDE LA SUCESIÓN; NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA ACQUISITIONS FUND, MORALES RODRIGUEZ JANE DOE Y JOHN SALA DE BAYAMÓN Parte Demandada LLC. DOE, COMO MIEMBROS Civil Núm.: VA2023CV00091.

ISLAND PORTFOLIO Demandante Vs. DESCONOCIDOS SERVICES, LLC, GABRIEL ESPINAL REY Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. DE LA SUCESIÓN EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICDemandado COMO AGENTE DE DE KATIA LUGO TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS Civil Núm.: TA2021CV01103. AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE RODRÍGUEZ; CENTRO Salón: 504. Sobre: COBRO FUND, LLC. DE DEPARTAMENTO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIEN- DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, Demandante Vs. TO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADE HACIENDA POR JUAN C. UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL DO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. CONDUCTO DE LA MARTINEZ JUARBE A: JONATHAN M PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADIVISION DE CAUDALES Demandado DOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LI- MORALES RODRIGUEZ. RELICTOS; CENTRO DE Civil Núm.: CT2023CV00077. BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO URB SAN PEDRO #130 Salón: 703. Sobre: COBRO RICO, SS. RECAUDACIONES DE CALLE TIMOTEO SALAS, DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENINGRESOS MUNICIPALES A: GABRIEL TOA BAJA PR 00949; TO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS Demandados ESPINAL REY – HC 83 BOX 7163, VEGA Civil Núm.: DO2022CV00212.

UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL URB PALACIO DE PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTAALTA PR 00692-9221; 737 Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y DOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LI- MARBELLA 1198 CALLE FILLMORE DR APT G, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO ANDRES SEGOVIA, ARLINGTON TX 76011. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. RICO, SS. P.R. 00953-5228; 178 AL PUBLICO EN POR LA PRESENTE se le A: JUAN C. OWENSHIRE CIR, emplaza y requiere para que GENERAL; A LA MARTINEZ JUARBE – KISSIMMEE, FL 34744. conteste la demanda dentro de PARTE DEMANDADA ANGELI 2, 2000, POR LA PRESENTE se le los treinta (30) días siguientes Y A LOS TENEDORES emplaza por la deuda recla- a la publicación de este EdicCARR 869, APT 202 DE GRAVÁMENES mada de $12,807.91 y requiere to. Usted deberá presentar su CATAÑO, PR 00962.

POSTERIORES. para que conteste la demanda alegación responsiva a través LEGAL NOTICE

POR LA PRESENTE se le del Sistema Unificado de Ma- YO, EDGARDO ELÍAS VARemplaza y requiere para que dentro de los treinta (30) días nejo y Administración de Ca- GAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL siguientes a la publicación de conteste la demanda dentro de sos (SUMAC), la cual puede AUXILIAR PLACA #193, Aleste Edicto.

Usted deberá prelos treinta (30) días siguientes

guacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, al público en general, POR LA PRESENTE HAGO SABER: CERTIFICO Y HAGO SABER: Cumpliendo con un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia del Secretario de este Tribunal, venderé en pública subasta al mejor postor en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos, efectivo, cheque de gerente, giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, en mi oficina, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, el día 10 DE ENERO DE 2024, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, la siguiente propiedad: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número setenta y siete (77) en el Plano de Parcelación rural San Antonio del Barrio Higuillar del término municipal de Dorado, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de cero (0) cuerdas con dos mil novecientos sesenta y cuatro diezmilésimas (2964.0010) de otra, equivalente a mil ciento sesenta y cinco punto cero cinco (1165.05) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela número setenta y ocho (78) de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con la Calle número dos (2) de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con terrenos propiedad de la Autoridad de Tierras de Puerto Rico. Consta inscrita al folio 90 del tomo 55 de Dorado, finca 2091, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Cuarta Sección. La dirección física es: Comunidad Rural Parcelas de San Antonio, Lote 77 Calll 2 Dorado, Puerto Rico 00646. Los tipos mínimos fijados para la ejecución del bien inmueble antes mencionado lo es la suma de $77,000.00 para la Primera Subasta; $51,333.33 para la Segunda Subasta; y $38,500.00 para la Tercera Subasta. La venta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, hasta donde sea posible, el importe de la sentencia dictada el pasado 6 de julio de 2023 en el caso de epígrafe, ascendente a las siguientes cantidades: $56,787.21 de principal, más $2,609.02 de intereses acumulados hasta el 15 de abril de 2021, más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda a razón de $10.25 diarios, más la cantidad de $321.20 por recargos, más $3,948.51 de otros cargos; más $85.11 por “Escrow Balance”; más los que continúen acumulándose hasta el pago total y completo de la deuda; más la suma de $7,700.00 por honorarios de abogados pactados. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 17 DE ENERO DE 2024, A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, y el

The San Juan Daily Star tipo mínimo para ésta será el de las dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 24 DE ENERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:15 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para esta subasta será la mitad del precio mínimo pactado para la primera subasta. Cuando se declare desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuere mayor.

Todas las subastas deberán ser acordadas y celebradas según lo ordenado por el Tribunal.

La subasta antes indicada se llevará a cabo en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón.

Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. El inmueble antes relacionado NO consta afecto de gravámenes preferenciales.

El inmueble antes relacionado consta afecto del siguiente gravamen posterior: a. Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de La Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $3,000.00, sin intereses, vencedero en 6 años, constituida mediante la escritura número 1160, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 27 de septiembre del 2005, ante el notario Jean Paul Vissepo Garriga, e inscrita al folio 70 vuelto del tomo 237 de Dorado, finca número 2,091, inscripción 6ta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas preferentes, si alguna, continuarán subsistentes; entiéndase que el rematante los acepta y quedan subrogados en la responsabilidad del mismo sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Para la publicación de este edicto en un periódico de circulación general una vez por semana, durante dos semanas consecutivas, y para la colocación del mismo en tres sitios públicos visibles del municipio en que se celebre la subasta, libro el presente en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 20 de octubre del 2023. EDGARDO ELÍAS VARGAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #193, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE BAYAMÓN.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023 LEGAL NOTICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

SUCESION DE ÁNGEL DE JESÚS MORALES, COMPUESTA POR SU HEREDERA CONOCIDA MARÍA ANGELIZ DE JESÚS SANTIAGO; “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ÁNGEL DE JESÚS MORALES; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM) - PARTE CON INTERÉS

Demandado Civil Núm.: CA2019CV02247.

Sala: 407. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: MARÍA ANGELIZ DE JESÚS SANTIAGO POR SÍ Y COMO PARTE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ÁNGEL DE JESÚS MORALES, COMPUESTA POR SU HEREDERA CONOCIDA MARÍA ANGELIZ DE JESÚS SANTIAGO; 71 WATSON RD., JACKSON, TN, USA, 38305, 731-3919129 / 731-660-5622.

DE: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el dIa del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando a siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderiudicial.pr/index.php/tribunalelectronico, salvo que el caso sea de un expediente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en Ia Secretaría del Tribunal y notificar copia de Ia misma al (a Ia) abogado(a) de Ia parte demandante 0 a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su ale-

gación responsiva dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en Ia demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, 0 entiende procedente. Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de Ia Ley NUm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para Ia Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de Ia Unidad Familiar y para Ia Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen Ia ubicación permanente de un (una) menor fuera de su hogar, el inicio de procesos para Ia privación de patria potestad, y cualquier otra medida en el mejor interés del (de Ia) menor. (ArtIculo 33, incisos b y f de Ia Ley NUm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. POR LA PRESENTE, además, se le interpela judicialmente conforme al Art. 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico (31 L.P.R.A. §11021), para que en un término de treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, excluyéndose el dIa del diligenciamiento, acepte o renuncie mediante instrumento público o comparecencia judicial especial Ia herencia de los causantes, apercibiéndosele que, de no expresarse dentro de dicho término, se tendrá por aceptada Ia herencia. B.B.V.A. v. Latinoamericana, 164 D.P.R. 689 (2005). Los abogados de Ia parte demandante son: ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE DEMANDANTE: Lcdo. Reggie DIaz Hernández RUA NUM.: 16,393 BERMUDEZ & DÍAZ LLP 500 Calle De La Tanca, Suite 209 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel.: (787) 523-2670 / Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdiaz@bdprIaw.com EXTENDIDO BAJO Ml FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal hoy 10 de noviembre de 2023. LCDA. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ROSA M. VIERA VELÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

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

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante Vs.

CARMEN SOCORRO MARRERO CABRERA, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO CARMEN S. MARRERO CABRERA Y COMO CARMEN S. MARRERO;SUCESION DE GUMERCINDO

25

RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN brará una TERCERA SUBASTA rán subsistentes, entendiéndo- JUAN PR 00924; CALLE COMPUESTA POR SUS el día 30 DE ENERO DE 2024, se que el rematante los acepta SOLDADO SAN LIBRAN POSIBLES HEREDEROS CONOCIDO COMO A LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA y queda subrogado en la res418, SAN AGUSTÍN, SAN DESCONOCIDOS GUMERSINDO ponsabilidad de los mismos, en mi oficina sita en el lugar JUAN PR 00923.

FULANO Y SUTANO ROSARIO RODRIGUEZ, antes indicado. La propiedad sin destinarse a su extinción el DE TAL; ISAAC RÍOS COMPUESTA POR a venderse en pública subasta precio del remate. La propiedad Por la presente se le emplaza RODRÍGUEZ COMO se describe como sigue: UR- a ser vendida en pública subas- para que presente al tribunal SU VIUDA CARMEN su alegación responsiva denSOCORRO MARRERO BANA: Solar marcado con el ta se adquirirá libre de cargas tro de los 30 días de haber CONYUGUE SUPÉRSTITE Y HEREDERO CABRERA, TAMBIÉN número Ochenta y Ocho (88) y gravámenes posteriores. Po- sido notificado este emplazadel Bloque “A” (88-A) del plano drán concurrir como postores a UNIVERSAL DE ELISA CONOCIDA COMO miento, excluyéndose el día de inscripción de la Segunda todas las subastas los titulares CARMEN S. MARRERO Extensión de la URBANIZA- de créditos hipotecarios vigen- de! diligenciamiento. Usted ORLANDO COLÓN: Y AL CABRERA Y COMO CIÓN SOBRINO, localizado tes y posteriores a la hipoteca deberá presentar su alegación PUBLICO EN GENERAL: CARMEN S. MARRERO, en el Barrio Pueblo de la Mu- que se cobra o ejecuta, si algu- responsiva a través del Sistema El Alguacil que suscribe, cernicipalidad de Corozal, Puerto no o que figuren como tales en Unificado de Manejo y Adminis- tifica y hace constar que en SUS HIJOS JUAN tración de Casos (SUMAC), al cumplimiento de MandamienROSARIO MARRERO Rico, con un área superficial de la certificación registral y que cual puede acceder utilizando to de Ejecución de Sentencia CUATROCIENTOS SETENTA podrán utilizar el montante de Y RUTH ROSARIO Y NUEVE PUNTO DIECISIE- sus créditos o parte de algu- la dirección electrónica https:// que me ha sido dirigido por MARRERO, FULANO DE TE (479.17) METROS CUA- no en sus ofertas. Si la oferta unired,rarnajudicial.pr, salvo la Secretaría del Tribunal de TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, DRADOS; colindando por el aceptada es por cantidad ma- que se represente por derecho Primera Instancia, Sala SuNORTE, en veintiocho punto yor a la suma del crédito o cré- propio, en cuyo caso deberá perior de Carolina, procederé COMO HEREDEROS cero cero (28.00) metros, con ditos preferentes al suyo, al ob- presentar su alegación respon- a vender en pública subasta DESCONOCIDOS el Río Negro y en cuatro punto tener la buena pro del remate, siva en la secretaría del tribu- y al mejor postor, por separaCON POSIBLE (4.50) metros, con el deberá satisfacer en el mismo nal. Si usted deja de presentar do, de contado y por moneda INTERÉS; CENTRO DE cincuenta solar número Ochenta y Nue- acto, en efectivo o en cheque su alegación responsiva dentro de curso legal de los Estados RECAUDACION DE ve guion A (89-A); por el SUR, de gerente, la totalidad del cré- del referido término, el tribunal Unidos de América. Todo pago INGRESOS MUNICIPALES en veinticinco punto cero cero dito hipotecario que se ejecuta podrá dictar sentencia en rebel- recibido por el (la) Alguacil por (25.00) metros, con el solar y la de cualesquiera otro cré- día en su contra y conceder el concepto de subastas será en (CRIM)

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2023CV03825.

(402). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

AL: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL. A: A LA PARTE DEMANDADA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM).

Yo, EDGARDO ELÍAS VARGAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #193, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 16 DE ENERO DE 2024 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 23 DE ENERO DE 2024, A LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se cele-

número Ochenta y Siete guion A (87-A); por el ESTE, en veintidós punto sesenta (22.60) metros, con la Calle “E”; y por el OESTE, en diez punto ochenta (10.80) metros, con la Sucesión Juana Sanfeliz. Enclava una casa de concreto de una sola planta para fines residenciales.

La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 161 del tomo 308 de Corozal, Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas, finca número 5012, inscripcións sexta. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Urbanización Sobrino, A-88, Calle E, Corozal, Puerto Rico. La subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $61,694.74 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 7.125% anual, desde el día 1ro. de febrero de 2023, hasta su completo pago, más recargos acumulados, más la cantidad de $8,260.00, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, así como cualquier otra suma estipulada en el contrato de préstamo, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será la suma de $82,600.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $55,066.67 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $41,300.00. 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 continua-

ditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 10 de noviembre de 2023. EDGARDO ELÍAS VARGAS SANTANA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #193, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.

remedio solicitado en la deman- efectivo, giro postal o cheque da, o cualquier otro, si el tribu- certificado a nombre del (de la) nal, en el ejercicio de su sana Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera discreción, lo entiende proce- Instancia. Todo derecho, título, dente. Representa a la parte participación e interés que le demandante el Lcda. Raquel corresponda a la parte demanDeseda Belaval, Delgado Fer- dada o cualquiera de ellos en nández, LLC, PO Box 11750, el inmueble hipotecado objeto Fernández Juncos Station, San de ejecución que se describe a Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750. continuación: URBANA: Solar Tel. [787] 274-1414. DADA en radicado en la Urbanización San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 14 de Alturas del Parque Ecuestre del noviembre de 2023. GRISELDA Barrio Canovanillas de CaroliRODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SE- na, Puerto Rico, que se descriCRETARIA REGIONAL. FER- be en el plano de inscripción de NÁNDEZ DEL VALLE, LUZ E., la Urbanización, con el número, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL. área y colindancia que se rela-

LEGAL NOTICE cionan a continuación. Número LEGAL NOTICE del solar: 25 del Bloque “B” (BESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO 25). Área del solar: doscientos NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- setenta y ocho punto diecinueNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA ve metros cuadrados (278.19 SALA DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE CARO- m.c.). En lindes por el NORORIENTAL BANK LINA TE, en veinte punto cincuenta Demandante V. LEGACY MORTGAGE metros (20.50 m.) con el solar SUCESIÓN DE ADOLFO ASSET TRUST 2019-PR1 número veinticuatro (24) del VIAFARA MANCILLA Bloque B de la urbanización; Parte Demandante Vs. COMPUESTA POR SUCESIONES DE JOSÉ por el SUR, en veinte punto cinSU ESPOSA ANA metros (20.50 m.) con CARMONA CORREA Y DE cuenta los solares número veintiséis CELIA HERNANDEZ ELISA ORLANDO COLÓN (26) y veintisiete (27) del BloHERNANDEZ FULANO Y COMPUESTA POR SUS que B de la urbanización; por el FULANA DE TAL POSIBLES HEREDEROS ESTE, trece punto cincuenta y Demandados siete metros (13.57 m.) con el DESCONOCIDOS Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV09623. solar número veintinueve (29) FULANO Y SUTANO Sobre: INTERPELACIÓN; Bloque B de la urbanizaCOBRO DE DINERO Y EJEDE TAL; ISAAC RÍOS del ción; y por el OESTE, en trece CUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMRODRÍGUEZ COMO punto cincuenta y siete metros PLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. CONYUGUE SUPÉRSTITE (13.57 m.) con la calle número ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉY HEREDERO dos (2) de la urbanización. SoRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE bre este solar enclava una casa UNIVERSAL DE ELISA LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL de concreto reforzado, destinaORLANDO COLÓN ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO da a vivienda para una familia.

Parte Demandada DE PUERTO RICO. Consta inscrita al folio 146 del A: FULANO Y FULANA Civil Núm.: CA2022CV04107. tomo 1,343 de Carolina Sur, Salón Núm.: (403). Sobre: DE TAL COMO EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA finca número #49,670, Registro POSIBLES MIEMBROS Y COBRO DE DINERO. EDIC- de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, DESCONOCIDOS DE LA TO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS Sección II de Carolina. La proSUCESION DE ADOLFO UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL piedad objeto de ejecución está VIAFARA MANCILLA. PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTA- localizada en la siguiente direcDOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ción: Parque Ecuestre, 225 B4 CONDOMINIO LOS CAL, Carolina, P.R. 00987. Se ALMENDROS PLAZA, ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. informa que la propiedad a ser A: SUCESIONES DE JOSÉ CALLE EIDER NUMERO ejecutada se adquirirá libre de CARMONA CORREA Y DE cargas y gravamen posterior, 706, APT. 710, SAN ELISA ORLANDO COLÓN una vez sea otorgada la escritu-

26 ra 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 $92,699.99, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca #283, otorgada en Carolina, el día 30 de abril de 2005, ante el notario Félix R. Figueroa Cabán, inscrita al folio 124 del tomo 1,355, finca #49,670, inscripción 7ma. La PRIMERA SUBASTA, se llevará a cabo el día 29 DE ENERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, el tipo mínimo para la primera subasta es la suma de $92,699.99.

Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 5 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 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 $61,349.99. Si la segunda subasta no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 12 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 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 $46,349.99. 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 de $68,987.70, con intereses a 5.004% anual, desde el 15 de junio de 2021, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más una suma principal diferida por la cantidad principal de $1,298.79, 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% de cualquier pago que éste en mora por más de quince (15) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, más una suma equivalente a $18,539.99, 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 Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 16 de noviembre de 2023. HÉCTOR L. PEÑA RODRÍGUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #278.

to de Contrato, Cobro de Dinero y Reposesión en que la parte demandante solicita que se condene al demandado a pagar las cantidades adeudadas desde al 16 de agosto de 2023 de $41,339.00 de principal, más $5,834.29 de intereses acumulados a razón del 13.45% los cuales se continúan acumulando hasta el total y completo pago de la deuda; más $421.58 de cargos por mora los cuales se continúan acumulando hasta el total y completo pago de la deuda; más la cantidad de $200.00 de otros gastos; más una suma equivalente al 5% del total adeudado para honorarios de abogados según pactado.

Se le apercibe que, si dejare de hacerlo, se dictará contra usted sentencia en rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle.

Lcdo. José Antonio Lamas Burgos Número del Tribunal Supremo 15693 PO Box 194089 San Juan, PR 00919 Teléfono: (787) 296-9500 Correo Electrónico: jlamas@lvprlaw.com EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy 29 de septiembre de 2023. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ERIKA I. CRUZ PÉREZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

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

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE ARECIBO SALA SUPERIOR

FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

MILTON MEJIAS

Demandado Civil Núm.: AU2023CV00580.

Sobre: INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO; COBRO DE DINERO Y REPOSESIÓN. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: MILTON MEJIAS. BO. ESPINAL, BUZON 1302, AGUADA, PR 00602.

DE: FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO.

Se le emplaza y requiere que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramaiudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Este caso trata sobre Incumplimien-

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

WILFREDO PAOLI RIVERA Y ANA ILZA COLLAZO PAGAN Parte Peticionaria

EX PARTE

Civil Núm.: MV2023CV00071.

Sala: 401. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO BAJO ARTÍCULO 13 DE LA LEY 118 DEL 2022, PROCEDIMIENTO EXPEDITO. CITACIÓN POR EDICTO.

A: JUAN TORRES COLLAZO O SUS HEREDEROS, JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE.

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le notifica que la Parte Peticionaria en el caso de epígrafe ha radicado en este Tribunal una petición sobre expediente de domino al amparo de la Ley Especial para Acelerar los Procesos para Otorgar Títulos de Propiedad bajo el Programa de Autorización de Títulos adscrito al Departamento de la Vivienda, Ley 118 del 2022, con el fin de inscribir la siguiente finca que no consta inmatriculada en el Registro de la Propiedad: RUSTICA: Solar localizado en carretera seiscientos treinta y cuatro (634) del kilómetro tres punto dos (3.2) Interior, Sector Socucho, Bo. Fránquez, del término municipal de Morovis

Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de SEISCIENTOS CINCUENTA Y CINCO PUNTO SIETE MIL CIENTO SESENTA Y CINCO METROS CUADRADOS (655.7165 M/C), equivalentes a cero punto mil seiscientos sesenta y ocho cuerdas (0.1668 cdas.). En lindes por el NORTE, en una distancia de veintisiete punto treinta y seis metros lineales (27.36m) con Pedro Meléndez Cruz; por el SUR, en una distancia de tres punto treinta y cuatro metros lineales (3.34m) con Miguel Meléndez Collazo; por el Este, en dos distancias de treinta y seis punto treinta y seis metros lineales (36.36m) y trece punto cuarenta y cuatro metros lineales (13.44m) con Maricarmen Sanmiguel; y por el OESTE, con una distancia de cuarenta y cuatro punto catorce metros lineales (44.14m) con Camino Municipal. Enclava una casa. Se le cita conforme al Artículo 13 de la Ley Especial para Acelerar los Procesos para Otorgar Títulos de Propiedad bajo el Programa de Autorización de Títulos adscrito al Departamento de la Vivienda, Ley 118 del 2022, mediante la publicación de un edicto en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico, a fin de que, si así lo interesa, comparezcan ante el Honorable Tribunal a presentar cualquier alegación responsiva a la Petición de Expediente de Dominio presentada por la Parte Peticionaria de epígrafe. Usted tendrá un plazo improrrogable de treinta (30) días, a contar de la fecha de la publicación de este Edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación, para comparecer al Tribunal, a fin de alegar lo que en derecho proceda. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le advierte que, de no comparecer ante el Tribunal a presentar una alegación responsiva a la Petición de Expediente de Dominio, radicando el original de dicha alegación responsiva en este Tribunal y notificando copia de la misma al abogado de la parte Peticionaria, dentro del término improrrogable establecido, el Tribunal procederá a continuar con el proceso concediendo el remedio solicitado en la petición, sin más citarle ni oírle.

Favor de notificar copia de su alegación responsiva al: LCDO. LUIS J. VILARÓ VÉLEZ: PO Box 363812, San Juan, PR 00936-3812 Tel.: 787-753-2160

luisvilaro@gmail.com EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Arecibo, Puerto Rico, a 21 de noviembre de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. ANABEL PÉREZ RÍOS, SUBSECRETARIA.

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

CARMEN ROSA OCASIO QUIÑONES Demandante Vs.

LA SUCESIÓN DE CRISTINA COSME MARRERO COMPUESTA POR: JOAQUÍN ENRIQUE OCASIO QUIÑONES, JACQUELINE OCASIO QUIÑONES, ILEANA TORO QUIÑONES, GERARDO TORO QUIÑONES, ISAAC TORO QUIÑONES, LOURDES TORO QUIÑONES Y OSVALDO TORO QUIÑONES

Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2023CV04639.

Sala: 505. Sobre: TRACTO INTERRUMPIDO USUCAPIÓN. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO-ENMENDADO. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EUA.

alega que son ustedes parte indispensable en la demanda sobre tracto interrumpido y usucapión sobre un predio de terreno en Cataño, Puerto Rico, del que los demandados podrían tener algún interés. Es abogado de la parte demandante el Jaime Rodríguez Rivera, quien tiene bufete abierto en el #30 de la Calle Reparto Piñero, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00969-5650, Teléfono 787-7209553 y se notifica a ustedes que de no comparecer a contestar esta demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes después de haberse publicado el edicto, la parte demandante podrá solicitar la anotación de rebeldía y lograr que se dicte sentencia, concediéndosele el remedio solicitado sin más sin más citarles ni oírles. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Extendido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 21 de noviembre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MILITZA MERCADO RIVERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

5414.

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 6 de noviembre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA GENERAL. AMALYN FIGUEROA NIEVES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

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

deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Edwin Serrano cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección edwin.serrano@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de octubre de 2023.

En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 10 de octubre de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. LUREIMY ALICEA GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

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

BARAKAH TWO THOUSAND DRUGS LLC Demandante V.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO; JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y CUALESQUIERA PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA

ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO A: GERARDO AGENTE DE ACE ONE TORO QUIÑONES, FUNDING, LLC. FLORIDA ERA; LA Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA NASHALY Y DESCONOCIDA SANTOS CLEMENTE DE ISAAC TORO Demandado QUIÑONES, COMPUESTA Civil Núm.: BY2023CV03322.

POR A, B, C; LA Salón: 703. Sobre: COBRO LEGAL NOTICE DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENDemandados SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO TO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS Civil Núm.: CG2023CV03210.

Y DESCONOCIDA DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE DE LOURDES TORO NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTAEXTRAVIADO. EMQUIÑONES, COMPUESTA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYA- DOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LI- PAGARÉ PLAZAMIENTO POR EDICPOR D, E Y F; LA MÓN BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE SUCESIÓN PRESUNTA BANCO POPULAR DE RICO, SS. AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO LIY DESCONOCIDA PUERTO RICO A: NASHALY Demandante V. DE OSVALDO TORO SANTOS CLEMENTE – BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO NILDA CARIDAD QUIÑONES, COMPUESTA 6 RES SIERRA LINDA RICO, SS. A: JUAN Y JUANA VEGA NEGRÓN POR G, H E I; ILEANA APT-112, BAYAMÓN, PR DEL PUEBLO. Demandados TORO QUIÑONES, PO 00957-2048.

Por la presente se le notifica Civil Núm.: BY2023CV05042.

POR LA PRESENTE se le BOX 781, BARRET, que ha sido presentada en (402) Sobre: COBRO DE DINEMASSACHUSSETS 01005; RO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPO- emplaza y requiere para que este Tribunal una Demanda conteste la demanda dentro de JOAQUÍN ENRIQUE en su contra en el pleito de TECA POR LA VÍA ORDINAlos treinta (30) días siguientes epígrafe. En este caso la parte OCASIO QUIÑONES, RIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR a la publicación de este Edicto.

PO BOX 781, BARRET, EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS Usted deberá presentar su ale- demandante ha radicado una Demanda para que se decrete DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE MASSACHUSSETS gación responsiva a través del el saldo de (1) pa01005 Y CUALQUIERA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, Sistema Unificado de Manejo y judicialmente garé hipotecario: pagaré a favor ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Administración de Casos (SUPERSONA IGNORADA DE PUERTO RICO, S.S. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERMAC), la cual puede acceder QUE PUEDA TENER TO RICO, por la suma principal A: NILDA CARIDAD utilizando la siguiente direcINTERÉS EN ESTE CASO. de $160,000.00 dólares, con inVEGA NEGRÓN. ción electrónica: https://unired.

Por la presente se les notifica a al 1% sobre el “Primer URBANIZACIÓN FOREST ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se tereses ustedes, que se ha presentado Rate”, vencedero a la presenrepresente por derecho propio, VIEW, B-38 CALLE en la Secretaría del Tribunal tación, constituida mediante la en cuyo caso deberá presentar de Primera Instancia, Sala de ANDORA, BAYAMÓN, PR escritura número 15, otorgada su alegación responsiva en la Bayamón, la demanda de epí- 00956; 10001 EVANSTON en Caguas, Puerto Rico, el día secretaría del tribunal. Si usted grafe, en la que, en síntesis, se 28 de junio de 2005, ante el P1, TAMPA, FL 33624-

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

27

How one family’s pursuit of tennis success ended in heartache

By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

F

our years ago, David Lewis received a phone call from the coroner’s office in Washington, D.C. His oldest daughter, Carolina, a former college tennis player, had been found dead in a hotel room. She was 23.

Lewis would later hear a convoluted story about a night of club-hopping, a man in a disguise, Carolina’s panicked phone calls and the rendezvous with a stranger that preceded her death. But at that moment, all he knew was that he had lost a daughter.

The Lewises are tennis royalty in their native New Zealand. David, 59, had been a touring pro, as had his brother, Mark. Another brother, Chris, played in the 1983 Wimbledon men’s singles final, losing to John McEnroe.

For a time, Carolina and her sister, Jade, carried on the family tradition. When they showed promise on the court as young teenagers, their parents moved the family to the United States so the girls could chase tennis stardom.

Carolina became a standout, competing in Division I tennis at West Virginia and Kansas State. Jade was for a time even better, becoming a promising pro prospect who excelled in her only season at Louisiana State.

But soon it all went wrong. Jade entered a relationship with an LSU football player who abused her; she still struggles with the psychological fallout. Carolina spent her years in college tennis hiding the trauma of a sexual assault she told friends about but never reported to anyone else.

In September 2019, she was lying in a morgue wrapped in a sheet as her mother, Rosaria, leaned over to kiss her one last time.

The Lewises now spend their days battling their anger over what they see as botched and halfhearted investigations into Carolina’s death and Jade’s abuse. Even more, they regret the decision to come to the United States.

Tennis gave David Lewis an identity and a purpose, and it crushes him that his daughters’ pursuit of success in the game ended so horribly.

“It’s like the person who has the terrible car accident wishing he had taken a different route,” Lewis said as he sat on a couch in a friend’s sprawling home, high above Auckland, New Zealand’s suburban beaches and turquoise harbor. He was there to feed the cats while his friend was away.

Raised on the tennis courts For six decades, tennis has been the Lewis family’s identity, its livelihood, a source of all good things. It was even how David found his

David and Rosaria Lewis, whose daughters’ pursuit of tennis careers had a tragic end, at home in Auckland, New Zealand on Oct. 23, 2023. (Ruth McDowall/The New York Times) spouse.

David Lewis and his brothers were introduced to tennis by their parents, who loved the game and played it with their children at the Ngatira Tennis Club in Auckland.

“Dad was a handy player,” David Lewis said.

As their skills improved, the local press provided intense coverage of the three brothers, who were all top juniors and represented New Zealand in junior team events and the Davis Cup. Chris Lewis, born in 1957, was the world’s top junior in 1975 and won the Wimbledon boys’ singles title. Mark, born in 1961, became a solid doubles player.

David worshipped Bjorn Borg. “Saw him play in Auckland when I was very young,” he said.

After David’s playing career ended, he was working as a tournament organizer when he met Rosaria La Pietra in the small German town where she lived. They were married within months, and three years later, in 1996, Carolina was born. Jade came along two years later.

The girls started playing sports, especially tennis, when they were toddlers. That is what Lewises did.

The family moved from Europe to New Zealand when the girls were young children, and the better at tennis they became, the more another move abroad made sense, given New Zealand’s small size and the lack of nearby competition. The family took a threemonth trip to Florida, a hotbed of junior tennis, and realized that if the girls were really serious about the sport, they would have to relocate to America.

“The American tennis dream,” Rosaria Lewis said in an interview, her words laced with scorn. “It was supposed to give them the opportunity.”

In 2011, the family landed in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where David got a job at a tennis academy that Ivan Lendl, the former world No. 1, was setting up.

Carolina was 15, and Jade was 12. In Hilton Head, they were exposed to better players and coaches and competed in junior tournaments nearly every weekend. It was a demanding life, especially for Jade. She endured six hours a day of practice and fitness training, even in the sweltering South Carolina summers.

Carolina and Jade once won a minor pro event as doubles partners, but Carolina was never bent on becoming a tour player. She had interests beyond tennis: She was a massive sports fan. She spoke to her mother only in Rosaria’s native Italian, her volume rising as she switched on that side of her personality. Carolina once recorded a video in which she compared herself to a window, “because what you see is what you get.”

All she wanted from tennis was a college scholarship, and she got one, to West Virginia. She posted a 24-6 record in singles as a freshman and remained competitive as a sophomore against stiffer competition.

She also had an active social life, making a new friend seemingly every time she left her room.

“She could talk to anyone,” said Molly Trujillo, a West Virginia schoolmate who became Carolina’s closest friend.

As Carolina’s social life blossomed, her

coaches began to question her commitment, according to the Lewises. They got on her about her weight. They tried to control her diet and made her do timed distance runs.

Carolina lost some of her spirit, Trujillo said. Sometimes she just seemed sad.

A spokesperson for West Virginia’s sports department said that the coaching staff became aware of these complaints only after Carolina left the school. The university conducted an investigation but did not uncover any evidence to support the claims, the spokesperson said.

“Our tennis coaches are greatly disappointed that these claims have surfaced again,” the university said in a statement that also expressed compassion over Carolina’s death. “With no findings supporting the claims being made, WVU considers the matter unsubstantiated and closed.”

Carolina confided in Trujillo and other friends that tennis was not the root cause of her unhappiness. Two wrestlers had sexually assaulted her during a night out, she told them. She never reported the incident to school officials or told her parents about it.

David and Rosaria learned about what happened only after her death, when her friends told them.

Seeking a fresh start, Carolina transferred to Kansas State. She joined the tennis team and played her final season there in 2018.

But the memories of what had happened at West Virginia lingered. One day, the Lewises received a call telling them that Carolina had overdosed on sleeping pills and was in the hospital. Trujillo received a similar call.

They all quickly flew to Kansas.

Carolina told Trujillo that she had started to indulge in harder drugs, including cocaine. She told Trujillo that even though she had plenty of friends, sometimes she felt so alone.

‘We took our eye off the ball’ David and Rosaria knew little about this.

“We were so focused on Jade, we took our eye off the ball with Carolina,” David Lewis said.

Jade had entered LSU in January 2017, attracted by the offer of a full, lifetime scholarship if she played one season in Baton Rouge for the Tigers. Coaches Julia and Mike Sell — he was a former tour player and had once coached Monica Seles — knew Jade was headed for the pro tour and were happy to have her play at LSU, even briefly.

Continues on page 28

28

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

From page 27 Jade won co-freshman of the year honors in the Southeastern Conference, helping LSU earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.

But off the court, she was in crisis. Jade’s then-boyfriend, a star football recruit named Drake Davis, beat her multiple times beginning in 2017. Sensing that Jade’s life might be in danger, David and Rosaria Lewis moved to Baton Rouge to try to protect her. Jade, fearing for her safety and unable to break away from Davis, refused to listen and became estranged from them, even as the threats and attacks piled up.

Eventually, she spoke out. USA Today’s reporting on Jade’s allegations against Davis prompted LSU to order an investigation and report by the law firm Husch Blackwell. In 2019, Davis pleaded guilty to battery of a dating partner and violating a protective order.

University officials have admitted — during hearings in the state Legislature and in testimony to Husch Blackwell’s lawyers — that they failed Lewis and other women at the school. She is now part of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against LSU. Jade said she still struggles with a sense of shame over what happened at LSU. It has contributed to feelings of emptiness that have led to two Adderall overdoses.

“Say the name Jade Lewis,” she said, “It’s like, ‘Oh, the girl that got beat up by the football player.’”

A tragic night out Carolina graduated from Kansas State in the spring of 2019.

At the end of the summer, she worked at the U.S. Open, handling player logistics. She hoped the job might have been the start of a career in sports, perhaps even tennis.

She had dinner with her father in New York near the end of the tournament. Two days after it ended, she took a bus to Washington, D.C., to visit Trujillo and other friends from West Virginia.

One night, Carolina, Trujillo and their group went to a bar called The Gryphon in northwest Washington. Later, David Lewis said, one of the detectives investigating Carolina’s death would point out to him that she was “wearing a party dress” — which he took as a backhanded suggestion that she was to blame for what happened. The comment still burns him and Rosaria.

At The Gryphon, Carolina met Glenn Gibson, then 37, a former cop who had held various jobs since leaving the police department in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2009.

“Beautiful,” Gibson said when asked during an interview for his recollections of Carolina and that evening. “She had a nice spirit. A very nice person.”

Shortly after midnight, Carolina and her friends, joined by Gibson, headed to a nearby nightclub called Abigail.

Carolina and Trujillo became separated inside the club, and just after 1:30 a.m., Trujillo left. She had to be up early for a babysitting job.

If there were one thing Trujillo could change in her life, she said in an interview, she would go back in time and drag her friend out of the club.

Gibson would later say he saw Carolina leaving Abigail with a couple of men he said he did not know. A security tape confirmed this. One man had dreadlocks and wore a Halloween mask.

Gibson said he was on his way home about 2:30 a.m. when Carolina called him in a panic. She was at an apartment in northeast Washington. Could he pick her up?

Police have never determined precisely whose apartment Carolina was in, but according to her text messages, the men there began fighting, and she grew increasingly afraid, repeat-

In a family photo, Carolina Lewis in 2015, on a trip to Europe. edly asking Gibson whether he was close. She also told him, “I did oxy.”

Around 3 a.m., Carolina escaped the apartment and met Gibson on the street, climbing into his black Mercedes S600.

Detectives with the Metropolitan Police Department later recovered a nearly nine-minute video of Gibson and Carolina checking into the Liaison hotel near Capitol Hill around 3:30 a.m. She was wobbly and walking across the lobby in bare feet, leaning on Gibson affectionately but also for stability. She kissed him occasionally. As the check-in process dragged on, he helped her to a nearby couch. A few minutes later, they headed up to Room 916.

“She seemed fine,” Gibson said in an interview.

According to Gibson’s statement to police, they showered, had consensual sex — a forensic analysis confirmed this — and fell asleep around 5 a.m. He awoke a couple of hours later and left the room briefly to move his car. When he returned to the room, she was dead.

An autopsy later revealed that her blood-alcohol level at the time of her death was 0.24, three times the legal limit for driving in Washington. Also, according to a toxicology report, Carolina appeared not to have taken “oxy.” She took fentanyl.

‘So many questions’ A coroner called the Lewises later that morning. Authorities would rule Carolina’s death a tragic, accidental overdose.

David and Rosaria were once again living in Hilton Head.

After the autopsy was complete, Carolina was cremated.

For the next several months, David Lewis pushed detectives to find out how his daughter had ended up dead of a fentanyl overdose in a hotel room with a man she’d known for only a few hours. He wanted police to figure out who had given Carolina the fentanyl and charge whoever was responsible with murder.

Just before Gibson picked up Carolina, she had received a call from a phone number connected to a convicted sex trafficker named Larry Holt. Police told David Lewis that they could not establish the connection between Carolina and Holt, who refused to cooperate with investigators. Holt could not be contacted for an interview for this article. The phone number used to call Carolina is now a dead line.

David Lewis also had suspicions about Gibson. He believed that the toxicology report alone was proof that his daughter had been sexually assaulted because the lethal level of alcohol and fentanyl in her system had prevented her from giving consent.

However, the law — and juries — often distinguish between being incapacitated and being able to give consent, especially if victims became intoxicated voluntarily.

The San Juan Daily Star The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the investigation.

Police have refused to release transcripts of their interviews with Gibson and redacted large sections of the police report.

The office of legal counsel for the mayor of Washington, D.C., recently ordered police to provide reasons for withholding the information or to release it. So far, police have declined to do so.

“So many questions and no answers,” Rosaria Lewis said.

“It’s like running around in a circle.”

A father’s regrets David, Rosaria and Jade Lewis are back in Auckland now.

More than four years after Carolina’s death, David Lewis can barely sleep at times. Send him an email or WhatsApp message in the middle of the New Zealand night, and a response often arrives nearly instantly. His daughters’ cases are the first and last things he thinks about each day.

Everyone in the New Zealand tennis world knows who he is and what happened to his family. He can sense their discomfort with the pain he has endured. So he tries to avoid that scene, such as it is. Too triggering.

“It was, before we lost Carolina, a huge part of my life,” he wrote of tennis in a recent email. “However now I do something completely different for that reason.”

Jade wasn’t abused on a tennis court, and Carolina didn’t die on one. But when David tries to comprehend what has happened, when he reverse-engineers the last few years to see what he could have done to protect his daughters, his mind drifts to the family’s move to America and the pursuit of tennis excellence that inspired it. He harbors questions about the coaches and athletics staff at LSU, Carolina’s friends who left her alone in the club, and Gibson. He has also come to resent the game at the center of the family’s journey to America, and the pain of that can be hard to bear.

He tries to keep busy. He has worked for a friend’s high-end bathroom fixtures business. He runs several times a week.

He also pushes however he can to get Carolina’s case reopened. His surviving daughter does not approve.

“It’s his way of not dealing with what happened,” Jade said of her father.

He said only a parent who has lost a child can understand.

To the Lewises, it feels like their traumas are still happening to them and will happen to them forever. It is not a matter of getting to the other side. They doubt the other side exists. Tennis was everything for a time for the family. It was their bond, how they communicated.

Now it’s something else — a road they wish they had never taken.

Jade Lewis, a former professional tennis player, walks her dog Dolce in Auckland, New Zealand, on Oct. 23, 2023.

The San Juan Daily Star

GAMES

29

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

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 Crossword #Q7YW66M6 Down

1

2

3

4

5

6

14

15

17

18

19

7

8

9

10

1. Toon babies of '90s-'00s TV

13

21 23

26

27 30

35

36

41

24

32

37

38 43

46

44 47

49

50

52

53

I

T

I

H

C

N

O

R

B

V

I

C

C

4. German article

X

M

B

J

E

L

L

I

N

G

N

O

U

L

6. Helpful step for an employment seeker

T

O

U

C

A

N

O

N

S

N

M

T

Y

O

8. "Who ____?" (knock response)

R

E

A

R

R

A

N

G

E

M

E

N

T

S

10. Pulitzer winner Huxtable 11. Colors

B

L

I

N

D

E

P

R

E

S

S

E

S

E

12. Be situated above 13. Puts up a fight

P

H

O

T

O

S

Y

N

T

H

E

S

I

S

20. Flyers

O

Y

O

D

E

L

D

D

I

F

V

U

M

W

24. Go by train

T

H

N

V

G

A

G

N

I

R

I

A

P

O

31. Eccentric, perhaps

33. Singer and Broadway star Linda

E

U

E

N

B

E

E

A

J

S

T

N

A

R

34. Cornball 35. Tells

N

N

T

L

A

P

D

A

F

L

A

I

R

B

36. Tar

38. Easing of inter-country tension

C

D

E

I

R

C

L

E

A

R

N

E

S

S

40. Records

Y

R

E

B

B

O

R

S

Z

T

A

R

D

Y

44. Rheostat

R

E

W

O

P

N

A

M

E

O

F

I

Q

I

50. "____ Bridges"

W

D

S

Y

L

L

A

R

M

O

D

U

L

E

9. Prepare by beating, as leather

28 31

42

S

3. Book part

7. Haunted house sound

33 34

2. Get by will

5. Lenin's successor

22

29

12

16

20

25

11

39

40

45 48

51

54

55

56

57 58

59

16. Absolutely hate 23. Tie-breaking period 27. Concave bellybutton

39. Went all out

Across

43. Bagnold or Blyton

6. Copycat

46. Those that deserve respect

1. Chops finely 14. Like a pitch called for a strike 15. Plummeted

17. Country on Africa's Gold Coast 18. Formosan, today 19. Gross

21. "True ____" (Wayne film) 22. More bohemian

23. Bully's vague threat

25. Common Father's Day gift 26. "Avatar" race 28. Calls on

45. Program file suffix 47. Left out

49. Toward the rising sun 50. Famed trial venue 52. Insurance giant

55. "The Count of ____ Cristo"

Wordsearch

Word Search Puzzle #W545GB

42. Courage and fortitude 48. Steak that a dog might end up with 51. Plastic ingredient

53. Extremely long time 54. NBA position

56. Body between China and South

Atlas

Dozed

Manpower

Seven

Bronchitis

Fiddled

Module

Sweeten

Blind

Korea 57. Rectangular computer key

Browses

58. Acclaimed 19th century French novelist 59. Flute inserts

Canny

Canons

29. Atlas abbr.

30. Like most fish

Clearness

33. 1968 Turtles hit

Commendable

32. "C'___ la vie!"

Close

34. ___-Magnon (early human)

Cried

37. Joyce of "Three's Company"

Cutes

38. Playa ___ Rey, CA

41. Rock band from New York City

Depresses

Answers on page 30

Drums Flair Frail

Hundred Ideas Inner Inter

Jalopy Jelling

Lodged

Misty

Natives Pairing Peals

Photosynthesis Potency Rally

Rants

Rearrangements Robbery

Shine Tardy

Toucan Yodel

HOROSCOPE 30 Aries

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

(Mar 21-April 20)

Creative ideas may elude you today. You may have a hankering to do something artistic but with only a few vague notions, and you may not like those. This is a good day to work with others’ ideas. Read, play music by a great composer, copy a painting by a master. This way you’ll keep the impulses going without trying to force new ideas that won’t come.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

A strong bond of loyalty that you feel for a friend might propel you into a touchy situation today.

Your friend may ask you to do a favor that’s difficult if not impossible. Look into the situation and see if there’s some way you can help. If not, you’ll have to try to make it up later. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Romantic matters should be going very well now, although today you might have some doubts. Your loved one may be quiet and preoccupied. Don’t let your insecurities get the better of you! What’s probably going on with your friend has little if anything to do with you and more to do with money matters. Your partner will tell you when the time is right.

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Leo

Aquarius

Something may be distracting a close friend or love partner so much that this person isn’t very good company. Nor will your friend want to share the source of their preoccupation. Don’t try to have a long conversation about it. Back off and let your friend come to terms with it alone. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

Your thoughts and feelings may be vague today, and you could be preoccupied. People might talk to you but you won’t hear much of what they say, and you’ll remember even less. This is a temporary condition. Don’t worry that people think you’re rude. The ones that count know you’re not. Spend the day reading escapist novels. It won’t matter if you can’t remember those!

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Confusion may reign today, particularly if you’re intuitive. You may pick up strange vibes that could be unsettling. Don’t try to make sense of them. Your ESP may be a bit off, or those people whose feelings you’re sensing are stressed and lacking direction. Or it could be both. Either way, you should be back to normal tomorrow.

Some bizarre dreams or visions could come to you today. Don’t put too much stock in them.

You might find that the images are partly scenes from your past, partly information you’ve received lately, and partly your own fears about the future. If you view them this way, you should be able to see what they’re telling you. They aren’t prophesies for the future.

Information you receive from friends could have you worrying a little about your financial security. You may be trying to reach a goal that seems to be in jeopardy - if the news you’ve heard is true. It may not be! Check the facts before jumping to conclusions and panicking. You could find that there’s nothing to worry about.

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Today you may have so much to do around the house that you don’t know where to start. Family members aren’t much help. Don’t throw up your hands and let it all go. Look around the room, find something that needs to be done, and handle it. Keep doing this and then stop when you’re tired. There’s no need to work yourself to exhaustion even if you expect visitors.

Usually you have a strong intuitive bond with those close to you, but today you might feel like that part of your brain has shut down. You could get confusing messages, or you could pick up nothing at all. You haven’t lost your gift so don’t worry about it. You’ll have to rely on words for now!

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Today the paranormal could be on your mind.

Books on related subjects may capture your interest, so you’ll probably want to spend the day reading. Some of the concepts might seem strange even to you, but don’t write them off yet. The important thing now is to keep an open mind.

Strange things are discovered every day.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

It may be difficult to focus on household chores today. Your mind is on more exalted matters, such as spiritual and intellectual interests and you feel lazy. It’s OK to do nothing. You don’t have to knock yourself out every day! Relax at home, read, watch TV, and cook if you must do something. Your chores can wait until you feel more energetic.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32 Wednesday, November 29, 2023

The San Juan Daily Star